Moon Trace

Far, far to the Southwest of Cassel, there is a number of small kingdoms collectively referred to as Alluth. Their religion revolves around the moon and the worship of the moon goddess. They worship an avatar of the moon goddess in human form. In reality, this avatar is just simply a girl descended from the moon goddess, and has what is known as the Moon Trace.

The Moon Trace is a condition that occurs in females of the Alluthian People. It is extremely rare, occuring in only one in a million girls. The Alluthians believe that a girl born with white hair is a reincarnated personification of Vreathe's Moon Goddess Kalbeth. If a girl is lucky enough to be born with this condition and they are the only living person with the moon trace, they are designated the Avatar of Kalbeth, and can expect to live a care free life of luxury. If a girl is born with this condition and there is already a living Avatar of Kalbeth, they can expect to die, very quickly and brutally, so the people of Yun Alluth are left unaware of the nature of the white hair and continue worshipping the moon goddess.

Raini Moontrace

"Oh yeah, I am totally a goddess, an avatar of the moon walking around in human form. Bow down and-- Give me a break! There's dozens of us walking around on Vreathe with this 'Moontrace'. We can't all be Kalbeth, can we?"

Origin

Many thousands of years ago, there was the Silver Race of humans, the Olimians. They had dominion over all of Vreathe. They were said to have settled other worlds as well and terraformed the Greater Moon of Vreathe. The humans lived there for countless centuries, the aetheric energies of Kalbeth altering them until they were no longer like other humans. When the Goddess Kalbeth returned from the void, these humans of the moon were under her protection. Her Aether bled into them, granting them more power and protection.

At the end of the Silver Age, when the Cataclysm happened, all silver humans were forever altered further, becoming the fey. The humans that lived on the Greater Moon became Fairies and a group of elves known as the Lunar Elves.

During the Bronze Age, a small group of these elves descended to Vreathe, making their homes on a land the local humans called Alluth. Their bloodlines became mixed with the Bronze humans that lived here, and later with the Iron humans. Elves are virtually immortal, but the Lunar Elves disappeared from history several thousand years ago. Whether some still live on the moon or not is unknown.

It was through these elves however that the Moon Trace started to manifest in subsequent generations of humans. Sometimes these humans look more elven than human, but usually it manifested in the form of white hair and altered magic abilities. The moon trace was quite common in the past when Elven blood was still undiluted in the Alluthians, but has become much rarer in recent times.

The Lunar Elves originated from the Kwin tribe of humans during the Silver Age. In modern times the Lunar Elves no longer exist on Vreathe, but are the ancestors of most humans living in Alluth.

Traits

People with the moon trace can primarily be distinguished by their colorless white hair. Under the light of the Greater Moon, their hair will glow. They are also among the only humans able to naturally store Aether in their bodies, though the type of aether is specifically that of the Moon Goddess, which naturally radiates off the greater moon.

When casting spells, the magical energies will glow a pale blue, even from spells that do not normally generate light. The effect is stronger during a full moon and it will even change the color of fire spells to blue. Their magic is also powered up slightly under the light of a full moon, roughly doubling their spellcasting power.

Avatar of Kalbeth

If a girl is the only living person with the moon trace, they are designated the Avatar of Kalbeth. They become one of the most important people across the Alluthian Plains, becoming the head of the religion there, and gaining dominion over numerous small nations. This is what the people of Alluth believe, but the girl, and by extension all of Alluth, is usually under the control of a council of priests. The girl sits in a temple to be worshipped and she performs various religious ceremonies in a bay of water that glows under the moonlight. She often takes no part in the operation of the religion and she doesn't make decisions that affects the surrounding kingdoms.

The symbol of the Moon Goddess. This symbol is also used to represent the Lunar relgion of the Alluthian peoples as well as the Avatar of Kalbeth.

There can only be one

The problem with having an avatar of the Moon Goddess is that there should only be one at any given time. This is what the religion of the Alluthians is built around. The issue with this is that during any given generation of Alluthian people, there could be several dozen to several hundred girls born with the moon trace. Much of the population treats these girls as Minor Avatars, much to the annoyance of the council of priests.

The solution the council of priests has come up with to ensure their control over Alluth is rather terrible. They have zealots in most larger towns and cities across Alluth. When a girl is discovered with the moon trace, she is taken from her home, and often executed and buried somewhere in the desert.

Most people are aware of what will happen if they have a daughter with the moon trace. Great efforts are made to dye the girl's hair and discourage the use of magic. In other cases, the girl's head is shaved. There are parts of Alluth where all females shave their heads. Some will even multilate their heads to prevent hair growth, so no one can tell if they have the moon trace or not.

in many cases, evidence of the moon trace is eventually discovered. The best solution is to send the girl away from Alluth for a better life where the zealots of the land cannot follow her.

Alluthian Bride Ships

One of the worst practices to come out of hiding alluthians with the moon trace involve putting these girls on ships bound for the Elven Kingdoms of Faeon, Terrask, and others. Elven Lords there are interested in taking these girls on as a bride due to their ancestry and they pay large sums of money for smuggling Alluthians to their lands.

Many girls are groomed into being perfect wives and before they realize it they are more or less slaves to these Elven Lords, used for nothing more than creating a suitable heir...

Current Events

The last Avatar of Kalbeth died to sickness roughly 15 years ago. The council of priests weren't that worried because several girls with the moon trace are born each year. they just need to wait and then pick the one they want. The issue is that no new girls with the moon trace has been born in over a decade.

With no appearance of the Avatar of Kalbeth to worship, the people have started to grow restless. The council of priests decided the best course of action is to send mercenaries to other parts of Vreathe to find a girl with the moon trace and take her back to Alluth.

"Go back to Alluth and be worshipped as a goddess? No! I refuse to go back to Alluth, to that terrible desert and be treated like a delicate object for the rest of my life. I do want to go back to Alluth, but I want to go back to change it, not support an awful religion. Go bother someone else with that stuff!"