The year of the strangers has come again. Welcome, strangers. If you retain youself, with a bit of effort a way out shall reveal itself to you. If you don't, you are a rare sort of dead to be reading pages unrelated to your pains and obsessions. In any case, welcome to our world, the last down the line, a dusty unloved world that has been forgotten by constancy, virtue, and sensible arrangement of space. Instead, we have ghosts, devils, and rain.

You are in the crypt of lunatic seasons. In the 365 days of our year, each lunatic cycle takes 45 days, with 8 months in total. The final five days are the eclipse period: when our two moons eclipse and we trade our silver moon for the golden moon; or the gold for the silver. The eclipsed moon will not be back in our orbit until the following year, poached for some other celestial revolution. Our months are as follows:

☽Couronne☽: The coldest month. Nothing to do but take stock of what the old year left, and make plans for the new. Deep snows necessitate planning, and prevent immediate action. The month of speeches. Those born under this month have their birth marked with a crown.

☽Rosenge☽: Ice melts, the water providing for the plants encased beneath. On good years, the end of Rosenge is marked in many blooms. On bad years, only the stems of hardy roses pierce through the frost-crust and manage buds. The month of striving. Those born under this month have their birth marked with a rose.

☽Espade☽: Marked by warmth and the coming of storms. They alternate, prompting people to do all they can in the good times before the wind and rains begin, again, in earnest. The month of frenzy. Those born under this month have their birth marked with a sword.

☽Belier☽: The storms quell. Considered by many the one good month: a month of cool morning fog that gives way to sun and warm evening breeze. A perfect month, said to be the cause of the plight of Rafale. The month of devils. Those born under this month have their birth marked by curling horns.

☽Valtameer☽: High tides, rains resume. The moon comes close and the ocean rises to meet her. Many festivals and appeasements are held. The month of gifts. Those born under this month have their birth marked not by one thing, but three: gems, flowing water, or pearls.

☽Rafale☽: Disasters occur. Strange shiftings of the earth, mudslides, nights of terrible winds and falling stars. Always localised, people await word from foreign shores to learn where the consequences have fallen. The world becomes restless and wishes to be as other than as it is. Elsewhere, Rafale is exactly like Neische. The month of upheaval. Those born under this month have their birth marked by a lit match.

☽Neische☽: Disaster ceases, chaos slowly put to right. It is cold, but quiet. Not yet cold enough for snow. People make tea, light fires, and the rare rural enclaves harvest the year's crops. The month of comfort. Those born under this month have their birth marked by a kettle.

☽Felle☽: Snow falls. Food is frozen and stored for the rest of the year and the start of the next. A time full of plenty if all has gone well. If all has not and the stores will not last, there may be no better time to indulge. The month of temptations. Those born under this month have their birth marked by an apple.

☽The Eclipse Period☽: For five days the moon holds the long note of an eclipse. A strange and wondrous time before the year begins again. Miracles may occur. Children born under this period are marked with an eclipse.