Astonomy in the core

[Nathan of the FoS]

Only the Nocturnal Sea is permanently overcast. The moon and stars just aren't visible while on the Sea of Sorrows, although it does receive "weak and sickly" daylight.

I dunno, sounds like "permanent overcast" to me--especially since heavy fog is common on the Sea of Sorrows? Regardless, the stars are not of much use to seafarers in canon Ravenloft, at least on the Nocturnal Sea and Sea of Sorrows.

[Bluebomber4evr]

Only the Nocturnal Sea is permanently overcast. The moon and stars just aren't visible while on the Sea of Sorrows, although it does receive "weak and sickly" daylight.

I dunno, sounds like "permanent overcast" to me--especially since heavy fog is common on the Sea of Sorrows? Regardless, the stars are not of much use to seafarers in canon Ravenloft, at least on the Nocturnal Sea and Sea of Sorrows.

I suppose, but while they made a point of saying that the Nocturnal Sea is "permanently overcast," they've never used that same phrasing for the Sea of Sorrows.

There is a difference between overcast and foggy, though the net result is that navigation by celestial bodies is functionally useless. The Sea of Sorrows' fog reduces visibility on all sides of a ship to a few yards. The Nocturnal Sea gets fog banks as well, though they aren't permanent like on the Sea of Sorrows. So basically, the Nocturnal Sea has (slightly) better visibility than the Sea of Sorrows, but navigation isn't any better.

[Sareau]

This is an issue that does bother me quite a bit, since a lot of my adversaries natter on quite a bit about the "stars being right" during a good rant.

I think canonically, each domain has the donor realm's sky, but this isn't really a satisfying answer. Generally, I stick to one moon since the donor realms have two or three as well as reliable conjunctions of stars to aid or hinder magic-the players recently arrived can wonder what happened to the moon(s) without my needing to worry.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

I've assumed IMC that the skies for each Ravenloft landmass correspond to those of the world on which that land was based. In Clusters and the Core, the first of the domains they're constructed out of establishes what celestial bodies are visible above the entire landmass, along with related factors like how long a day or a year is.

So the Core's skies are the same as Material Plane Barovia's, Har'Akir's skies are likewise visible over Sebua and Pharazia, etc. Odd exceptions, like Nuitari being present over Sithicus, aren't something that immediately jumps out at you (i.e. you can't just step across the border and see a moon disappear); rather, it's something that a traveller might notice sooner or later, like how someone traversing a Mistway to a desert domain eventually notices they're starting to get sand in their shoes.

[ewancummins]

I've assumed IMC that the skies for each Ravenloft landmass correspond to those of the world on which that land was based. In Clusters and the Core, the first of the domains they're constructed out of establishes what celestial bodies are visible above the entire landmass, along with related factors like how long a day or a year is.

So the Core's skies are the same as Material Plane Barovia's, Har'Akir's skies are likewise visible over Sebua and Pharazia, etc. Odd exceptions, like Nuitari being present over Sithicus, aren't something that immediately jumps out at you (i.e. you can't just step across the border and see a moon disappear); rather, it's something that a traveller might notice sooner or later, like how someone traversing a Mistway to a desert domain eventually notices they're starting to get sand in their shoes.

This is pretty much how I do it.

Neighboring domains tend to have similiar lengths of year, seasons, day-night cycle, stars, etc. It's less jarring this way.

IMC, post-Soth Sithicus now appears to have the 'normal' moon.

[Sareau]

Seems like everyone's on the same page, though I would like to ask how things like the Requiem, which was predicated on astrological influences, then proceeded to affect the Core and everything else instead of just Darkon.

Perhaps the next Quoth the Raven should take submissions on this particular subject to see what emerges...

[ewancummins]

Seems like everyone's on the same page, though I would like to ask how things like the Requiem, which was predicated on astrological influences, then proceeded to affect the Core and everything else instead of just Darkon.

Perhaps the next Quoth the Raven should take submissions on this particular subject to see what emerges...

Darkon shares a sky with the rest of the Core, IMC.



In any case, the Requeim never happened IMC. I didn't care for it, so I have ignored it.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Seems like everyone's on the same page, though I would like to ask how things like the Requiem, which was predicated on astrological influences, then proceeded to affect the Core and everything else instead of just Darkon.

The Requiem occurred at the winter solstice, which is an event that's going to happen on any world with Earthlike seasons. The observation of "Darkest Night" at that time of year wasn't something imported from Oerth: it's an uniquely-Darkonian holiday that the DPs included in the artificial culture of Azalin's domain.

Naturally it'd line up with Barovian astronomical phenomena, as that's what sort of sky Darkon had from the start, which the Dark Powers designed Darkonian holidays to line up with.