Post/Author/DateTime	Post
davethebrave371 10-09-05, 06:02 PM	p. 57 of Five Nations Boranel's wife was killed on a moonless night...and I can't find one such night in the last 40 years of Eberron history using the utility. So I suppose the utility is faulty? Or was it a magical occurence?
Just another user 10-09-05, 06:23 PM	maybe there was clouds in the sky? or maybe not all the moons are visible at the naked eye, or are not big/bright enough to not be confused with the stars or the syberis ring shards. Or maybe it is another thing they messed up. ;)
ieattrollsforbreakfast 10-09-05, 06:50 PM	With 13 large moons, there will be very few (if any) truly moonless nights in Eberron. That must mean that the death of Boranel's wife (coincidentally or otherwise) happened to fall dead on one such night, or that there was some magic at work. Whatever you decide to go with, there are plenty of plot hooks there. Bear in mind the planar/moon utility isn't really canon material. Anything that appears in books/dragonshards regarding the cycles of the planes/moons overides it.
Fordel 10-09-05, 06:52 PM	Go with it being cloudy.
davethebrave371 10-09-05, 07:02 PM	With 13 large moons, there will be very few (if any) truly moonless nights in Eberron. That must mean that the death of Boranel's wife (coincidentally or otherwise) happened to fall dead on one such night, or that there was some magic at work. Whatever you decide to go with, there are plenty of plot hooks there. Bear in mind the planar/moon utility isn't really canon material. Anything that appears in books/dragonshards regarding the cycles of the planes/moons overides it. Well, the problem is I've been using the moon utility for my campaign, and that would definately skew the moon cycle. That's why I'm going with magic, because on top of the fact that one such night wouldn't happen very often, there should have been other crazy things that either a) happened or b) were prevented from happening on that night. Yet no other word has been said on the matter. It seems like a rather portentous night for one measly murder.
Radkres 10-09-05, 07:09 PM	The ring was in eclipse by the planet. The Eberrons shadow blocked the sunlight from the moons as the ring is stuck in a south polar orbit with the planet still seasonally changing there would be times of long nights and long days with the ring being eclipsed waxing and waning throughout the year.
Just another user 10-09-05, 07:20 PM	Maybe it was one of the nights when Mabar is coterminus, or Irian or Syrania remote, all these situation are described are causinga black sky at night
zambuka 10-09-05, 07:45 PM	The problem with the utility is that it doesn't actually give the paths of the moons. Moonless nights are going to be more common that one would expect because there will be regular eclipses as the closer moons move in front of the further moons. For a moonles night all you need is a few of the larger closer moons to be new and eclipsing some of the further and smaller moons. This moonless night can occur within the time frame of Boranal's wife's murder without it messing up the moon phases. Edit: Additionally not all the moons will be visible at the same time regardless of phase. A moon can be positioned in its orbit such that it is visible during the day but not at night so even if only a few moons are in the new phase (fully dark) you can still have a moonless night this way. Add the idea of the closer moons occasionally eclipsing the further moons and moonless nights are not that uncommon at all.
Thomar_of_Uointer 10-09-05, 07:59 PM	Yeah, a "moonless night" is not going to be a night with all moons dark (as shown in the utility). It will be a night with all moons on the bright side of the planet at some time. Thus, a moonless night would be one where all moons are between waxing half, new, or waning half. Such a night, depending on the exact specifics of waxing and waning, could last anywhere from a few minutes (all moons on one side of Eberron) to all night (total solar eclipse/conjunction).