Mekhar

Geography

Mekhar is a land of extremes a view from Saera's surface shows that the moon is covered in jagged hills, steep crags and massive canyons, the surface is barren and seemingly devoid of life but do not let this full you the Cursed moon teems with dark creatures. A thick suffocating essence surrounds the moon seeping into every crevice giving the monn its signature red-green glow, but that pales in comparison to what gives the moon its title the Eye of Mekhar, it is said that the moon itself is the eye of a forgotten god that gazes upon Saera with a spiteful stare.

Localized Phenomena

Unlike the natural phases of Saera's second moon Soria, the phases of Mekhar are determined by the current gaze of its premier eye the phases are as follows: the Slumbering Eye, Waking/Weary Eye, Fettered Eye, Awakened Gaze, and Full Gaze.
Under a full gaze, strange metaphysical phenomena strike the world known as Deirveda or harrowing, a wide-range magical anomaly that harbors dark energy. These Deirveda are known to alter the mental states of the people of Saera mages, in particular, are more susceptible to the effect of a Deirveda.
When Mekhar eclipses the sun Aetherion an event known as a Wicked Moon occurs -- if a Deirveda is a small wave a Wicked Moon is a tsunami. In the event of a Wicked Moon, the effects of a Deirveda are felt ten times over, they have been known to turn whole cities insane in the span of minutes. Some have even flattened whole mountains or even caused whole landmasses to sink into the sea, others have warped regions so greatly that they defy the laws of physics or have totally and literally replaced them with regions from other worlds and dimensions.

History

To tell the story of the cursed moon one would have to go back to the days of the first kyn, the Astari. In the first era, the gods created the Astari to be perfect beings to enact their will however the Astari were ravenously hungry for knowledge and power they sought to control the Aether -- an endeavor some gods found sacrosanct, their cruelty was their greatest flaw, they committed many atrocities against themselves and regularly brutalized the folk of the world in their lust for power. This led to the gods eventually intervening seeking to put a stop to their creations, but not all of the gods were in agreement some sought to help the Astari leading to a war between the gods -- Blatoth-nar-Balorn.
In the end, the Astari were defeated along with the gods who supported them, they and their gods were banished from the world. The gods who supported them, the Balorn, had their souls plunged into the void because they could not be killed their bodies were left behind and were formed into what we now know as Mekhar. It is on Mekhar that the Astari were banished and reside to this day although this would not spell the end for the Astari because, after the Shattering, an event that led to the destruction of the Anorsil, the shackles holding the Astari would be broken and they would descend upon Saera with a fury. For hundreds of years, they would rampage through the lands and corrupt the Kyn creating a new race of dark beings, the Mynar or skorn-- a twisted imitation of the Kyn commonly mistaken as demons. The Astari and their dark children would devastate the ancient elven nation of Ilvanyor along with the demons, and steal the Crown of Death, a shard of the Anorsil, ending the cycle of rebirth provided by Aetherion.
Fortunately for the denizens of Saera, the Astari would be betrayed by their own kind seeking to redeem themselves for the atrocities they committed they fought against their kin and pushed them back to Mekhar although the Crown of Death was never recovered it is believed to be sealed on the moon somewhere. In this regard, a group of brave souls traveled to the moon in search of the crown in hopes of recovering it many died trying and some still fight even now to reclaim the relic -- this group of warriors would be known as the Martyrs. As a tradition, Saera's greatest heroes are chosen to partake in the recovery of the Crown and fight in the name of defending the world from the moon's dark denizens.

Type

Planetoid / Moon