Talk:Astronomy

Previous Satellite Names

It's probably safe to assume that, during the height of the Obsidian's Empire's power, their scholars may have, indeed, designated the moons as being related to the Seven Aspects of Rulership (Dominion) plus an eighth at the center of this symbol; the culminating energies of illumination and vigilance (associated with the Obsidian Eye)... But it would also make total sense that these eight meanings would have been abandoned after the fall of the Obsidians hundreds of years ago, and substituted instead for the eight Anti-Virtues, as commoners might associate them with the corrupted evil use/aspect of these as they might apply to the ongoing depredations of the Cabalists (and the general bad memories attributed to the Obsidian Order itself when it was trying to take over the world in the ancient days)...
 

Well, we have eight smaller moons (other than shattered Daedalus), each representing one of the eight Anti-Virtues,...so I imagine that the Obsidians may have depicted that seven of those smaller moons represented the seven "Aspects of Rulership" (whichever ones that later might vaguely match up to the somewhat-similar Anti-Virtues) while the remaining eighth smaller moon (perhaps the nearest or the furthest) would represent the "culminating energies of illumination and vigilance (associated with the Obsidian Eye)..."

Obsidian Association

The Cabalists only associate themselves with one of the eight smaller moons because the moons are currently described as representing one of the eight Anti-Virtues... The Cabalists take the idea of the Anti-Virtues and twist them further by acting upon them in a purely fascist/anti-ethical way... But no, they don't actually live on those moons...^_^ The Cabalists dwell in the dark and hidden places of Novia, fueling their undead and enslaved armies with their pure malevolence...
 

When the original two large moons collided during the Cataclysm, the result (what was left over afterwards) was the single large remaining shattered moon now called Daedalus, and the eight smaller moons of various shapes and sizes...(which formed from the molten debris of the shattered moons).

The Obsidian Empire rose to power sometime after the Cataclysm, as a result of finding the powerful and arcane "obsidian" shards of the shattered moon around the Shardfalls...

The Obsidians harnessed the mystic energy of these shards to build the might of their sorcerous Empire...

They associated the new moons in the sky with the Aspects of Rulership symbolized within the Septagram of Dominion...(the 7 points and the central, circular "O" symbol).

Eventually the Obsidian Empire fell (between the end of the events described in the Sword of Midras).

In the intervening years, after their empire fell, the rest of the world abandoned Obsidian symbolism, and began to view the smaller moons as being related to the eight Anti-Virtues instead.

Within the last few decades or so, the Cabalists (undead remnants of the ancient Obsidian sorcerous cabal) rose to power, apparently having forsaken their ancient master's desire to bring order through dominating rulership of the world, they instead begin engaging in a campaign of apparent destruction fueled by their undying contempt for the lives of others...

The Cabalists began associating themselves with the worst form of the Anti-Virtues (using them in a way that is the destructive opposite of Ethos), and likewise use the moons as their personal symbols, tailoring their horrific actions to the movement of those moons in our cosmos (which includes attacking towns when those moons align with the constellations of Virtue those towns espouse).