Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ChrisTheS Aug 06, 2008 10:05:00	Is there anything semi-official out there that's got a description of each moon (actual size/apparent size/color/distinguishing features) and it's position in the sky relative to the others and the planet (plus orbital eccentricities, etc.)?
#2 dread_lord Aug 06, 2008 10:16:04	I've wondered about that myself. So far I've been describing one primary moon that is larger than the others, silver, and waxes full once a month. The others are moving faster or slower and have some influence over manifest zones, but I don't like the idea that they are the same as the planes or even direct representations of them. But I'm still a little fuzzy over any details.
#3 RedRider Aug 06, 2008 10:22:37	Strangely enough, there's a Dragonshard article about them.
#4 ChrisTheS Aug 06, 2008 11:31:59	Sweet! Thanks That added to the calendar tool should be useful. Although it might be nice to just have a direct size comparison too... trigonometry was never one of my strongest subjects.
#5 RedRider Aug 06, 2008 11:54:00	I think someone did that back after the article was posted. I'm sure someone can supply a link.
#6 Nived Aug 06, 2008 12:12:47	ieattrolls has put far too much thought into Eberron's moons. Enjoy.
#7 ChrisTheS Aug 06, 2008 12:18:18	Well, I just did a rough comparison myself, using the Earth-Moon distance/size and comparing the apparent size of Luna to a penny... the conclusion being that Eberron's sky looks like one of those highly unrealistic but exceedingly cool planets that you get in a lot of sci-fi cover art. Zarantyr: about the size of a large hatbox Olarune: volleyball-size Therendor: slightly smaller than a baseball Eyre: a little bigger than an old silver dollar Dravago: about the size of a Chips Ahoy cookie Nymm: dime-size Lharvion: somewhere between a penny and a nickel Barrakas: little bit bigger than a penny Rhaan: pea gravel Sypheros: medium-size button, just smaller than a dime Aryth: your average woman's shirt button Vult: also dime-size Not an exact calculation, because I don't feel like figuring out the exact ratios right now...
#8 ieattrollsforbreakfast Aug 07, 2008 9:22:51	ieattrolls has put far too much thought into Eberron's moons. Enjoy. I'll repost the size comparison, just for the fun of it: Relative Sizes of Eberron's Moons
#9 JohnLynch Aug 07, 2008 9:38:06	I dunno. Rhaan seems a bit too big. I think it should be 0.9340184 times smaller then it is now.
#10 Nived Aug 07, 2008 11:24:53	Hey it is awesome work, ieattrolls, I have it bookmarked in my Eberron reference folder... No offense meant :D
#11 Astos Aug 07, 2008 11:53:46	This thread rocks! I was searching for something to show my PCs what Eberron's sky looked like, I just did a bunch of searched on Deviant Art for "moons" the other day and got back mostly pictures of people pulling their pants down, and nothing I considered Eberron-ish even among the others. These are wonderful! What did you make them with?
#12 ChrisTheS Aug 07, 2008 17:20:10	Yet more proof that no actual astronomy goes into the creation of fantasy planetary systems Since either Eberron is a lot bigger than Earth (and it shouldn't be - it should actually be just slightly larger than Mars), or its core is really, really dense (which means that there's a magic gravitational anomaly between the mantle and the ring system to prevent everyone from getting squished by their own planet's gravity), or Zarantyr is made of something more light-weight than pumice. Although it does explain why there are so many aquatic features like Shargon's Teeth, and why the services of the Lyrander are so highly prized... I wouldn't want to try to sail far from shore without magical aid on a planet with tides like Eberron must have.
#13 ieattrollsforbreakfast Aug 07, 2008 17:28:54	Hey it is awesome work, ieattrolls, I have it bookmarked in my Eberron reference folder... No offense meant :D None taken, it's good to know someone other than me is getting use out of those pictures!
#14 herogoeth Aug 09, 2008 20:57:41	Wow, Trolls. That's Obsessive. Well Done.
#15 Astos Aug 12, 2008 11:43:00	Yet more proof that no actual astronomy goes into the creation of fantasy planetary systems Since either Eberron is a lot bigger than Earth (and it shouldn't be - it should actually be just slightly larger than Mars), or its core is really, really dense (which means that there's a magic gravitational anomaly between the mantle and the ring system to prevent everyone from getting squished by their own planet's gravity), or Zarantyr is made of something more light-weight than pumice. Although it does explain why there are so many aquatic features like Shargon's Teeth, and why the services of the Lyrander are so highly prized... I wouldn't want to try to sail far from shore without magical aid on a planet with tides like Eberron must have. Perhaps the moons somehow have less gravitational effect on the planet. There are the same number of moons as planes, right? That is, assuming the giants destroyed one when they locked out Dal Quor. That would imply the moons are linked the the planes, at least in my mind. Maybe part of their "gravity" is directed "inwards" towards the plane, if I am making any sense. Or in other words, maybe they aren't entirely in this world; they are partially in their linked plane. Something like that. That would explain your gravity stuff, yes? I am not sure actual astronomy is necessary, though it is certainly an interesting exercise to figure out why it isn't "normal". I do like the idea of Eberron having pretty crazy tides! I also like the idea of Eberron's moons being "weird" and if you got to them you would be in sort of a partially different world. (Am I imagining something, or did I read somewhere that if you fly high enough up you get to Syrania? Sort of a similar thing....)
#16 Nived Aug 12, 2008 11:53:07	Its a world with flying scaled creatures the size of buses and floating eyeballs with little eyeballs that shoot frikkin lazers. You're saying that it doesn't adhere to physics? I'm shocked.
#17 goblin_pride Aug 12, 2008 15:02:21	You're saying that it doesn't adhere to physics? I'm shocked. I'm speechless as well. No wait, that's just gas.... As to the question of tides, chances are that biggest moon is going to exert the biggest influence and the others will sort of mellow out the tidal changes caused by it. I'm not saying that you won't get Baffin Island scale tidal changes in places but for the most part, having the sea pulled in all directions at once will prevent truly obscene tidal chages. That big bugger alone would cause tidal forces so strong that it could literally wash the tide across continents.
#18 ChrisTheS Aug 13, 2008 9:38:54	That would explain your gravity stuff, yes? I am not sure actual astronomy is necessary, though it is certainly an interesting exercise to figure out why it isn't "normal". I was being a bit facetious, but yeah. Musing on the physics of fantasy worlds is one of my hobbies - at one point I worked out how big Abeir-Toril would have to be in order to accomodate all of its diverse ecosystems, and concluded that it wouldn't actually be sustainable as a terrestrial body... Anyway, an idea I came up with last night is that instead of Eberron being the center of gravity for the planetary system, Siberys is: part of the magical field that even allows a terrestrial planet's gravity to sustain a significant ring system also amplifies the gravitation for the outside of the system only (which actually feeds quite nicely into my explanation for integrating the Eberron system into Dragonstar - namely, people don't go there because there isn't one captain in a hundred billion who can stop his ship from crashing because of the conflicting gravity wells).