Midnight's Twilight Hours
The Three Midnight Hours[edit]
A result of the shadow's invasion, more hours of dark than of light, three hours during which legates can pray and make their unholy rituals, a manifestation of the evil in the world in the passage of time.
The world used to only have 25 hours. The 26th hour was added the end of the Third Age, when Highwall fell. Aryth used to have 24...before the Veil. On an Earth-like world, twilight is the half hour before sunrise and after sunset. Also called the Fading Time, Aryth has both twilight times extended to a full hour each -- extra half hour towards daylight and an extra half hour towards darkness.
Under this preternaturally long twilight[edit]
- things get confusing
- Solutions are unclear
- trails are lost
- memories grow faint
- The stars, too, are dimmer and more difficult to make out
You will never see the evening or morning stars as crisp pinpoints of fire. They should be at least partially visible, but even the brightest are barely seen until the sun's light is mostly gone. In the morning they nearly vanish as soon as the horizon begins to light.
During the 26th hour[edit]
- the Shadow's Hour, Legates pray
- The stars slow their movements across the sky and grow faint, but they do still move, and they are still visible
- Even the beasts of the wild are still for fear of drawing attention
- If the moon is visible, it is small and distant, providing little light
- This is also when the Lost are most likely to stir
It is said that should the stars ever completely stop, they will fall. And if the sky loses all of its stars, Izrador has won. Some say it is the prayers of Legates that empower the Shadow in slowing the heavens, each nigh trying to rip them apart with his hatred.
The sun struggles to be free of the darkness as it rises, and as a child avoids bedtime and fears what may be under their bed, the sun fears and fights and cries against descending into darkness. When the sun is farthest from the waking world, the Shadow rules. The heavens grow distant, and all are consumed...even light itself.
We now have 12 hours of light, 12 hours of darkness and 2 hours of twilight, with 2600=0000:
- 0500-0600: Morning twilight
- 0600: Sunrise
- 1200: Midday
- 1800: Sunset
- 1800-1900: Evening twilight
- 2500-0000: Shadow's Hour
Daylight remains constant, the in between times are extended, and the darkness grows in strength.
