Here is a wonderful location to vote upon the setting and what-not.
First order of interest:
Should the setting have more than one moon?
First order of interest:
Should the setting have more than one moon?
sure! maybe two, of different colors? Like, a blue and a red one?
My vote also goes to three. Though I like the idea of them having different complexions. Perhaps each month there's a different color in the sky so at night people can see what month it is.
The more moons the merrier. My vote is for 3.
Since I put forward the idea of having three moons in the first place, my vote is obviously for 3.
However, I would like to point out the drawbacks to having three moons. Having three moons means the tides, waves and the sea in general will be much more violent than on Earth. Tides will be more severe, waves larger and more powerful, etc. Ditto for storms.
This means that ships will mostly likely be coast-huggers for the most part, or else stick to channels and straights, like the English Channel or the Straights of Gibraltar, as the landmasses would shield the waterways from the worst of the effects. Ocean-going ships will be large, expensive and at great risk of being lost to storms etc.
This would mean there would be few and small naval powers capable of ocean crossings, but since most of our Kingdoms don't seem to concentrate too much on navies...
The island Kingdom might be an exception to this; skilled as they are in shipbuilding and navigation. Their expertise might offset the violent nature of the ocean.
However, I would like to point out the drawbacks to having three moons. Having three moons means the tides, waves and the sea in general will be much more violent than on Earth. Tides will be more severe, waves larger and more powerful, etc. Ditto for storms.
This means that ships will mostly likely be coast-huggers for the most part, or else stick to channels and straights, like the English Channel or the Straights of Gibraltar, as the landmasses would shield the waterways from the worst of the effects. Ocean-going ships will be large, expensive and at great risk of being lost to storms etc.
This would mean there would be few and small naval powers capable of ocean crossings, but since most of our Kingdoms don't seem to concentrate too much on navies...
The island Kingdom might be an exception to this; skilled as they are in shipbuilding and navigation. Their expertise might offset the violent nature of the ocean.
I vote for three moons as well, but I like Rynh's idea. Perhaps different combinations of the number of moons in the sky and maybe the moons' colors change as well to let the people know what month it is?
Since according to general consensus on that forum, the effect on tides is dependant on both the size and distance of orbiting objects, we could play with it. Say for most of the time they are too far away to make the tides chaotic, but for a few days once a month (or more often!) An orbit swings close enough to really screw up the motion of the tides, and no sane sailors want to be caught at sea when that happens.
Sounds good to me. I assume the moons would have various names in the different Kingdoms, but the months would be pretty universal translated.
After all, there's not many ways you can say 'Month of the Two Red Moons" or the "Month of the Silver and Blue Moons" or whatever.
After all, there's not many ways you can say 'Month of the Two Red Moons" or the "Month of the Silver and Blue Moons" or whatever.
Well, there are plenty of ways to name months - we use numbers and emperors, dwarf fortress uses the names of minerals, oblivion used agricultural cycles and other stuff - so, while months and seasons can correspond to phases or colors, they don't necessarily have to be named after them.
You make a good point...
So I guess it's been decided that we've got 3 moons, whose colours change depending on the month?
So I guess it's been decided that we've got 3 moons, whose colours change depending on the month?
Thinking more about what you said earlier, each kingdom will likely assign its own name to each month anyway. I do like the idea of mood moons though.
I agree; imagine a large red moon rising the evening before a seige, for instance. That just screams "Something epic/awesome is gonna go down".
Plus, zombie can break down doors during a blood moon. It's science.
Oh damn... I totally forgot about that...
That's from a book right? Hm... Can't for the life of me remember the title...
That's from a book right? Hm... Can't for the life of me remember the title...
well, I was thinking of terraria, but maybe they got the idea somewhere else
Ahah!Found it. Rise of the Blood Moon by Alan Gibbons. A book I ready many...moons...ago... Hm, I almost made a horrible pun then.
If memory serves, it was a very good book that I quite enjoyed, where demons or zombies or something arose outside the walls of the cities of a kingdom during the night of the Blood Moon and the slaves were locked outside in slave pens, pretty much defenceless. The story follows as the main demon lord thingie is trying to kill the sun god and bring about an eternal Blood Moon, or something.
I sure hope we don't end up with one of our moons like that.
If memory serves, it was a very good book that I quite enjoyed, where demons or zombies or something arose outside the walls of the cities of a kingdom during the night of the Blood Moon and the slaves were locked outside in slave pens, pretty much defenceless. The story follows as the main demon lord thingie is trying to kill the sun god and bring about an eternal Blood Moon, or something.
I sure hope we don't end up with one of our moons like that.