The Fortress Moon

A point of curiosity for many (and deservedly so!) the Scribes thought it would be appropriate to develop some information in a general sense of what the Fortress Moon is, or may be.

Chiefly, the Fortress Moon is the moon, the one that lunar calendars used to establish the "lunar year". It shows a luminous face to Ardha during the night, waxing from a dark disc into a silvery-green crescent, all the way to a full circle of luminous green, and then wanes again to a crescent unto darkness. This cycle takes about thirty days, hence the thirty day "month" that makes up the lunar calendar. The reason for the lunar calendar being only twelve thirty-day months long, whereas the entire solar calendar and circuit of Ardha around its red sun takes about 1200 days, has been lost to history. Whatever the reason, it remains the case that each solar year lasts approximately three lunar years, counted each by twelve thirty-day months (with an intercalary "month" at the end/beginning of the new solar year that "offsets" new and full moons for the next set of lunar years).

Of course such calary quibbles tend to arouse less curiosity about the moon than the fortresses that cover its surface and grant its name. For the Fortress Moon is indeed a kind of castle-in-the-sky--or really, a whole world of castles. This is even somewhat evident for those looking on the moon with a naked eye, for many of the fortresses of the moon are lit up so that places on its face are visible even when it is "new" and dark. But scholars with access to telescopes have confirmed that these lit-places, as well as other locations, are in fact fortresses upon the plains and mountains of the moon. In fact, so much of the moon is built up that many have proposed that the whole moon is a single fortress, suggesting that perhaps the world too (Ardha) itself was built along similar lines.

And more! The mere physical characteristics of the Fortress Moon are perhaps dwarfed by the legendaria surrounding the moon. For the Fortress Moon is the home of all the demons that plague the world! Or so many mythologies declare. Certain sects differ on the details--is the moon the last bastion of these demons, constructed for them? or built as a fortress against these demons, a series of castles to garrison against their return?

Regardless of the particulars, it is true that the Fortress Moon is dotted with mysterious fortresses and castles, and that the demons that infest the world are often reported to have come from the Fortress Moon as well.

Some Areas of Interest
(when looking with a telescope)

• the Plain of Daggers / Plain of Towers, a large flat area on the moon observed to be filled with great towers of bewilderingly different shapes. Both names are well known but relate to the same feature
• the Tower of the Sword, a huge keep, in the shape of a xyphos or sword, which points back toward Ardha
• the Face of Kudonia, apparently named after some ancient feature of another world; a carven face that looks down upon a kind of field of Mars
• the Valley of Fear, a huge crater near the Tower of the Sword that also points back toward Ardha. The meaning of its name is lost, but millenarian cults are happy to assert that demons will boil forth therefrom come the end of days ...
• the Smaragdine Castle, a fortress-in-the-air, visible especially because of its emerald-green lights, though it can only be clearly seen when passing over the near face of the Moon
• the Forest Perilous, so called because it is perilous to think too long upon these lunar things rather than engaging with the world as it is; covering a large part of the face of the Moon, this forest lends its green color to the light that shines down upon Ardha when the Moon is bright at night; it is also said to be the source of certain nightmares of the mad

Certain Legends

• the city of Gadeed in particular takes pride in its inheritance, for it claims to have inherited the mantle of Dalan the Great and Pure who was a hero-king of old. Dalan the Great was the hero who commanded a strange fleet that sailed against Fortress Moon, and made battle with the demons therein, defeating them and driving them back. It depends on the mythology of one's cultus whether one believes that he drove them off with the intent of throwing down their fortifications, or if he drove them into the moon and set up fortification against their return ...
• the legendary king of Old Tsurr, Dalan II., is also said to have sailed against the Fortress Moon; this is not as well attested outside of his particular cult, but rather treated as the king's merging his own personal cult with that of the man he claimed as his ancestor
• among those said to have sailed to the Fortress Moon, Hamdi the Voyager is of course among their company. The legendary voyager (who seems to have sailed everywhere--could it be possible in a single lifetime?) is variously said to have literally sailed his blue-painted galley the 'Zourqa to the Moon, or to have found passage there by other means. Either way, he found himself imprisoned there by the demons inhabiting the place and invariably escapes in the stories by clever stratagems
• look not upon the Moon when pregnant, lest your babe be a mad mooncalf!
• a number of demons are associated in particular with the Fortress Moon, many of them documented by the old demonologist Tulket ibn al Rahm. A book of his has been claimed by certain barbarians, The Black Book of the New Moon's Shadow (entry 3). This was not an exhaustive list, the larger list being contained in the Clavis Arce Luna, which no barbarian has yet publicly found/read. Unfortunately, as looking too deeply into matters of the Fortress Moon is seen as demonological and dangerous, it can be difficult to come by materials explaining such relations in polite society
• Regarding the "built" nature of the Fortress Moon, it is called in some sects the Second Moon, built after the first one was destroyed during the War of Gods and Demons, when Dalan the Pure drove off the demons at last. According to those sects, this is well-attested by the fact that the "lunar calendar" doesn't perfectly line up with lunar phases, and with certain references in old legends that the Moon was "made to follow the calendar of the old Moon, according to the will of Men" ... The sources for this are (naturally) poorly attested, so take what one will of it. But they also lend a strange credence to the idea that the world itself was "built up" much in the way that a fortress--or a Fortress Moon--might be
• Never trust a Hanse merchant trying to sell you lunar lumber

It should be noted, there are a couple of other Moons. One of them is a "stationary" Moon that is said to hang over the swamped and ruined temple-city of the ancient Viïs Empire. In a way, this lends something to the theory of the Second Moon and the idea of the "built world". In a way ... but don't let it be heard if you think this, for it is certainly heterodox.

Also, for those in Cothon-Gadeed, there is a personality in the city who has an especial interest in the Fortress Moon, one Lady Khadra al Qamariya. Hence this entry, to some extent--but it is also overdue. The Fortress Moon is of course a legitimate object of interest and adventure for barbarians willing to venture into the Tel al Safina!