Post/Author/DateTime	Post
fuindordm 03-18-05, 09:35 AM	I feel kind of bad to have started a thread (Calculated sizes of the moons) that harps on the scientific plausibility of the last Dragonshard article. There hasn't been enough attention paid to the rich possibilities in the other 95%. In real life, people have ached for a theory of personality types for so long that astrology has gorwn into much more than a simple "what's your sign, baby" way to pigeonhole people into one of twelve personality types. Your complete personality profile depends on the position of all the planets, and on their relative positions around the sky, and on the position of the constellations on the sky at your time of birth. As we physicists say, with enough free parameters you can fit an elephant. (meaning a curve with, say, a dozen variables that are constrained only by the data you're trying to model will invariably give you a good description of that data.) Astrology has become something similar--with so many planets and combinations of planets adding bits of data to a personality profile, and personalities by their very nature being made up of opposing urges, almost anyone will find almost any personality profile to agree with their self-perception. But what if the moons of Eberron really do have a magical influence on people's lives? We can borrow some principle of Earthly astrology to add a bit of complication to Eberron astrology. Rising signs: If any of you are familiar with Word of Darkness' nature and demeanor system, this can be a really fruitful role-playing aid. Our demeanor is the image that we like to show off to the world, but we can't deny our inner nature when the chips are down. In our astrology, the rising sign is the constellation that lies at the eastern horizon when you are born, and even if there is no planet there then that sign has a heavy influence on your personality--your character's demeanor, perhaps, while the ascendant moon governs your nature. In Eberron astrology, the ascendant moon need not always be in the sky or in full phase. The place of a rising sign could be taken by the moon nearest the zenith at the time of your birth, or of the moon closest to full. Conjunctions and Oppositions: Assuming that the moons all travel in the same plane, then Eberron astrologers probably assign great importance to their relative positions on the sky. An opposition occurs when two moons are at 180 degrees from each other (+/- a couple, generally), and a conjunction occurs when they are almost touching. In astrology, the influences of opposing planets tend to cancel each other out, while the influences of planets in conjunction tend to reinforce and synergize with each other. For example, Mars and Venus in conjunction might indicate an especially passionate and romantic nature, willing to go to great lengths for love; while the same two planets in opposition might indicate a passive character who can never seem to earn the affection of others. Astrologers also assign importance to other angular intervals (this makes personal horoscopes much more interesting) such as 90 degrees, 30 degrees, and 60 degrees; some of these relationships are favorable, while some are unfavorable. Three or more planets marking the vertices of a polygon generally indicates something very special. The Ring and Constellations On Earth, the planets follow the plane of the Ecliptic, which is roughly speaking the plane that all the planetary orbits lie on (although each orbit varies by a few degrees from this plane, so true conjunctions where planets can eclipse each other are rare). This makes one axis on the sky--the Milky Way, defining the plane of our galaxy makes another. The constellations of the Zodiac mark off roughly equal intervals on the Ecliptic called 'houses' which modify the influence of the planets--the Moon in Scorpio means something different from the Moon in Gemini. Yet more variety! We are given the constellations of the dragons, named after the gods of the dragons, and when a moon passes through the constellation its influence changes slightly. For example, if your ascendant moon is Olarune the Shield, then in one constellation it might mean you're destined to protect the arts of magic (and a scholar); in another that you're destined to protect wealth (and a miser). As for the Ring, imagine that the Milky way is as bright as the moon. If it lay in the ecliptic, the moons would be much harder to see--it seems more likely that the Ring of Syberis is tilted somewhat with respect to the path of the moons. A conjunction of a moon with the Ring could be particularly auspicious, intensifying the influence of the moon, and people born when an ascendant moon lies over the ring (a rarity!) could be champions of caricatures of the moon's ideal. Perhaps this is the condition that must be met for paladins to be born? Alternatively, the Ring could be dimmer and all the moons following each other on the same plane. In this case, the constellations of the dragons could appear staggered above and below the ring, as if they're holding it in place. The moons could sometimes be very hard to identify against the changing texture and colors of the rings, giving rise to the belief that the ring itself can enhance or absorb the influence of the moons on Eberron. With such a complex sky and so much to explain though superstition, I wouldn't be surprised if the position of astrologer were common and highly respected on Eberron. We live in an era of rational thought, and astrology is immensely popular today despite having no correlation with reality (and believe me, it has gone though numerous highly convincing studies--professional astrologers are no better at analyzing character traits or sorting people into their signs than random chance)--Reagan had his own astrologer, and many people pay $30-$50 for a professionally drawn up astrological profile, complete with optimal life strategies to follow. In ancient times, astrologers were commonly used to determine the most propitious day to start a serious undertaking (this could be modeled in-game by allowing a small luck bonus to those who make a DC20 skill check and are willing to delay a task 1d6 days to wait for the moons to come into a more favorable configuration). Horoscopes were'nt just for people--bridges, wars, kingdoms, and treaties also had "birthdays" and it behooved one to arrange it favorably. Which of the kings and queens pay attention to astrology (after all, even the dragons do it!)? Which consider it bunk (it's so complicated, you can justify almost any result)? Does your character think that their personality is influenced by the moons? Are they superstitious about one or other moons being ascendant? Perhaps they were born with a moon in opposition to their ascendant moon, and this signifies something about their most dangerous opponent or self-destructiver personality trait. A conjunction of two moons can be an eerie sight, like eyes staring down. What about a beholder who styles itself the "Master of Moons" whose twelve eyes have affinities with the moons and fearsome, unusual powers over destiny. Ben
Purple Yin 03-18-05, 12:30 PM	As we physicists say, with enough free parameters you can fit an elephant Really? We geneticists have a similar saying, but it involves nucleotides, and making...elephants...umm... yeah... So! I think it’s really good to see it this way, not the way an arch-mage (the rare few there may or may not be...) might see it, but as a commoner would. Great, now I’m imagining the countryside littered with travelling sages telling farmers daughters how their fates are in conjunction... I think there would be as many versions of this belief system out there as there are in reality, ranging from fun things for farm children to gossip about, to business decisions being made in the major cities, and if the dragons really have the most advanced models of the astrological universe, then they may even treat conjunctions and orbits as a kind of caste system- born under X star? Put him into combat training, he’ll be a commander one day. Born under Y star? Teach her the name of every star in the sky. She’ll be a sage one day.
DarkWarriorKarg 03-18-05, 01:12 PM	With 12 moons and a ring bobbing about, can you even see anything else? Maybe the 12 moons would be used like RL astrologers use the traditional signs...
Liane the Wayfarer 03-18-05, 03:54 PM	With 12 moons and a ring bobbing about, can you even see anything else? Maybe the 12 moons would be used like RL astrologers use the traditional signs... It all depends on the relative brightness of objects in the sky. Heck, the stars we see at night are, after all, distant suns, many of them far brighter than our own - if you're as close to them as we are to ours. So, nothing in Eberron's astrology stretches credibility. I'm interested to see these ideas develop.
fuindordm 03-18-05, 04:06 PM	With 12 moons and a ring bobbing about, can you even see anything else? Maybe the 12 moons would be used like RL astrologers use the traditional signs... Well, the ECS mentions the constellations too. Even with a full moon you can see a heck of a lot of stars in the wilderness without light pollution, and I'd hazard that with 12 moons and the ring you could probably still see the couple of hundred brightest stars pretty clearly at night. This would actually make the constellations more distinctive, since the stars would be a little more 'special'--but there might not be any constellations other than those 12. Ben
Purple Yin 03-18-05, 05:22 PM	given the inherant magical nature of eberron, the stars could concevibly be the progenitors waiting for the prophesy to end, or just watching it unfold.