This guide for the Moonfall series is a helpful resource before you read When the Moon Hatched and want a strong foundation before you start the Moonfall series.
After you finish When the Moon Hatched, check out our beat-by-beat coverage on our podcast.
You can listen to Fantasy Fangirls coverage on your favorite podcast platform, including Youtube.
Time
Time in this world works differently than our world. It’s important to note that this planet and the sun are positioned where the northern territory, the Burn, gets the sun and the southern part of the planet, the Shade, doesn’t get any sun.
Day and night cycles
There are bands of silver ribbons that are tethered to the northern and southern poles called Aurora Ribbons. These ribbons move across the sky from east to west and that is how people know when it’s dae (pronounced day) or slumber, their version with night. Dae is when the Aurora Ribbons are in the sky and Slumber when they are not. One Aurora Cycle is equivalent to a 24-hour day.
Years
Years in this world are called Phases. If an Aurora Cycle is one 24 hour day, one Phase is 1000 Aurora cycles or just shy of 2 ¾ Earth years.
People here live much MUCH longer lives than we do as they are Fae and not humans. If someone is 9 phases old, that’s 9000 Aurora Cycles or 24.64 years in earth year. This 9 Phase old Fae would be much similar to a 9 year old here on Earth. According to Sarah during our interview with her, a Fae is considered elderly after thousands of Phases.
The start and end of a phase is tracked by how thick or thin the aurora ribbons are.
One eon equals 100 phases or 100,000 aurora cycles.
Gods
This world’s version of Gods are called the Creators. There are 5 Creators, and 5 million phases ago they used their songs to create the world:
- Bulder, the God of Ground, created the globe and sculpted everything from the hot sands of the Burn to the black stone of the Shade
- Rayne, the Goddess of Water, coated the world and filled its dips and valleys to form rivers, and cloaked the Shade in frost
- Clode, the Goddess of Air, soft words rustled leaves, while her shrieks churned the seas into violent waves
- Ignos, the God of Fire, loved Clode so fiercely that he did everything to impress her, from blazing jungles to volcanic blasts
- Caelis the God of Aether, watched on in jealousy while the world was taking shape.
From Caelis’ emptiness is where life bloomed, from people to all sorts of creatures like the dragons. When the dragons were ready to end their eternal lives, they flew skyward, curled up into balls, and calcified into moons. After the world’s beloved moons, the calcified dragons, began to fall crashing into the world.
The other gods discovered it was Caelis to blame when the moons began falling, so they trapped the Aether God in a sterling diadem, known as the Aether Stone, and to this day, it is in that crown where he remains. The story behind this diadem slowly became a myth, until one Aurora rise where for the first time in more than 5 million phases, a Moon fell again.
Magic system
Elemental magic
Elemental magic or the Elemental song is magic gifted to individuals from the Creators.
It’s not just enough to be able to hear the songs in order to wield the Creator’s elemental magic, each song is a whole other language that needs to be learned. The more fluent the wielder is at speaking and understanding their Creator’s songs, the more powerful their magic will be AND the more effective they are wielding it.
Most people who hear the elemental songs can only hear one, maybe two if they are lucky, but there are very rare cases for people hearing more. Those who can hear three songs are called Tri-beads. If someone can hear more than one of the Creator’s songs that’s more languages to learn, making it exponentially harder for that person to wield those songs at a proficient level.
Each Creator has an associated color with their elemental magic to indicate to others that they can hear any of the elemental songs. These colors are worn in the form of a bead on the person.
- Red – Ignos, can wield fire
- Blue – Rayne, can wield water
- Clear – Clode, can wield air
- Brown – Bulder, can wield the ground
Runi
Runi’s are someone who has learned how to wield symbols or runes.
This runic language was found in an ancient tomb that some believe Caelis (God of Aether) wrote in his desperation to be heard.
Runi’s wear a white bead and/or white cloaks with buttons down the front that are stamped with the different symbols that announce the Runi’s talents. For different levels of skill, the buttons are made from different materials: wood being the elementary level, diamond being the most advanced.
Other Magical Abilities
- Truthtunes – people who have the unique ability to tell when another is lying. They are prized by The Crown for their ability to tell if someone can hear the elemental songs or if they are a Null.
- Mindwefts – a very rare ability to dig into people’s minds
- Fleshthreads – the equivalent of healers, and are trained in the art of using runes to mend flesh, muscle, and organs.
Nulls
A null is someone who doesn’t hear any of the elemental songs.
In the Fade and Shade, their ears are clipped to show they can’t hear any elemental songs and it reflects that they are “less than” citizens. This clip is a small circular notch cut into the peak of a fae’s ear.
Parchment larks
Parchment larks are a reliable and very common form of communication in this world. They are runed squares of parchment that have activation lines, and when folded into the shape of a lark these notes will flutter to the one the message is intended for.
Kingdoms
The Burn
The burn is the Northernmost third of the world. This is the side of the world that is always sunny and very, VERY hot and where special clothing is required to protect the skin. Some people even use a sun-deterrent poultice to add extra protection to their skin, especially if they are from the shade and not used to the harsh rays.
There are rainforests, sandy plains, and large bodies of water. It storms often here and is the only territory that gets rain.
Important locations
Dhomm
Dhomm is the capital city of the Burn. The city is made up of rounded clay buildings, with plants, trees, and vines climbing over the city. Dhomm is also the location of the Imperial Stronghold, where the King and his family live.
The Botanic Plains
A large stretch of land in the Burn that is home to many warrior clans, most notably the Johkull Clan which is known for its strong warriors.
Politics
This kingdom was previously ruled by King Ostern Vaegor, and now it is ruled by King Kaan Vaegor, the king’s youngest son.
The Burn uses the currency of Gold. This is different from the other kingdoms’ currency, which is dragon blood. The Burn doesn’t support the mining of fossilized dragon blood.
Elementals wear beads in hair, beard, or on clothing. Young elementals attend Drohk Academy to train, while Nulls are given the option to discover if they have an affinity for runes. If not, they have the option to choose to study something or take an apprenticeship.
Dragon
The dragons that live in the Burn are Sabersythes. They are large and boxy with scales, spikes, and heavily tusked faces and come in different colors, like rust, bronze, red, brown, black, and gold.
They thrive in the heat and do not do well in the cold from the Shade. Going to the Shade is risking death.
They can be aggressive and hard to charm, which makes stealing a Sabersythe egg incredibly difficult.
The Sabersythes nesting grounds are within the volcanoes of Gondragh. This is an uninhabitable location right beneath the sun with lots of volcanoes and rivers of lava. For a sabersythe egg to hatch it has to be either surrounded in lava or doused in dragonflame.
When someone is trying to hatch a dragon egg they stay in a Hatching Hut: A hut that’s generally on the outskirts of the dragon nesting grounds. This is usually where someone who has stolen an egg will make camp so they can successfully hatch the baby dragons in their natural habitats, ensuring a safe and healthy hatchling, while being close to the hatching dragon to bond with it right away.
The Fade
The Fade is the middle third of the world. Unlike the extreme heat of the Burn, it is much colder here. It often snows or sleets but never rains. The Clouds are in a constant state of golden hour color. The territory is encircled by a massive stone wall and most of the population lives within it.
Important locations
Gore
Gore is the capital city of the Fade. The kingdom of The Fade used to be a Creators-blessed place to live. The colorful sky inspired an era of music and arts but when the current king was sworn in, everything changed due to him only caring for his military might.
The Undercity
It’s a large divide in the ground directly below Gore, beneath the wall of the Fade and in an abandoned dragon bloodstone mine. The undercity has become the slums of Gore and is known as a dangerous place to live or visit. This is due to some of these mineshafts collapsing, and creatures from either side of the wall sneak in to find shelter.
Politics
This middle region of the world is ruled by King Cadok Vaegor. Cadok is the twin to Tyroth Vaegor, and they are Kaan’s older brothers and is the son to the late king of the Burn, Ostern Vaegor. Cadok is Married to Dothea Vaegor.
The currency in the Fade is Dragon Bloodstone. Bloodstone is mined from where dragon blood has been spilled. If ground up, it can be used for medicinal properties.
Fíur du Ath
Fíur du Ath is a rebellious group who are working to counteract the tyranny spreading across all 3 kingdoms, with a focus within The Fade. The group is run by The Elding, a mysterious unknown person and is also the group that the FMC Raeve works for as an “Elding Blade.” Elding Blades are the assassins for the Fíur du Ath. Her boss is Sereme, a high-ranking member in the group.
Elementals and Nulls
In the Fade, Elemental beads are worn like earrings on fae ears. Nulls here are viewed as ‘lesser’ than those who can hear the Creator’s songs. Younglings confirmed as a null are held down and clipped forcefully. The clip becomes a marker for those who want to take advantage of them, most likely to force them into the Undercity.
They do what they can to get by, even if it means walking a fine line between safety and death. There are few options for a null to make a living in Gore besides risking it in the mines. Including but not limited to:
- Working in the minds
- Servers in brothels
- Entertainers, also more than likely in a brothel
- Undercity battle pits
Dragon
The dragons that live in the Fade are Moltenmaws. They are covered in feathers with sharp, beaked faces, and are a vibrant mix of unique colors and no two bear the same color palette.
Because they can comfortably travel anywhere, they are often used as charter dragons that people can basically rent out to go to the Burn or the Shade.
They are also the easiest dragons to charm/steal an egg from. In their nesting grounds of Bhoggith, which is just a huge stretch of boggy wasteland. Instead of lava, all a Moltenmaw egg needs to hatch is flame from another Moltenmaw.
The Shade
As the southernmost third of the world, The Shade is forever cast in darkness with the only light being from the aurora ribbons and the Moonplume moons. It’s bitterly cold here and always covered in snow.
Important locations
The Shade’s Capital is Arithia.
Politics
One specific family is tied to the Aether Stone. This Aether Stone is passed down and guarded by this bloodline, more recently on the maternal side. The Aether Stone makes it difficult for those who wear it to conceive, so when a child is born into this lineage it is celebrated by the Arithians.
The Shade used to be ruled by King Ahdrik and Queen Eudora Neván and now it is under King Tyroth Vaedor’s reign, who rules alone since his wife died. He is twin to Cadok Vaegor (who rules the Fade) and older brother to Kaan Vaegor, the Burn’s king. Tyroth has a daughter named Kyzari Vaegor.
In the Shade, elemental beads are worn in hair, beard, or on clothing. Like the Nulls in the Fade, Nulls here are clipped. We don’t get any other information about how Nulls are treated in the Shade, but given the clips we think it’s safe to assume that it’s more similar to their treatment in the Fade than the Burn.
Dragon
The final breed of dragons is the Moonplumes. They are leathery and luminous, and come in gray, pearl, iridescent and white. Their large eyes are black and glittery, their faces are rounded with long necks and long, silken, and brush-like tails.
They cannot go in the sunlight for long or their skin burns. If they did make it all the way to the Burn their skin would blister and burst. Since their eyes aren’t designed to handle so much light, they go blind, their eyes turning milky. Eventually they would die in the environment. If someone conjures a cloud, a moonplume can be protected from the sun just enough to travel outside the Shade, but even this isn’t a foolproof solution.
They have icy flames, are very intelligent, and the hardest to charm and steal eggs from. The Moonplumes hatching grounds are at the most southern point of the world. It’s not just the other dragons that make stealing eggs a difficult task, It is so cold that it is basically inhospitable. If you manage to steal an egg, to hatch you must pack ice and snow on top of it or have another moonplume blow its icy flames on it.
The Tri-Council
The Tri-Council is a council of ancient people, composed of tri-beaded elementals (fae who can hear at least three elemental songs) and very knowledgeable Runi’s. They hold some sway over the kingdoms because of the council’s power and sometimes intervene in political matters. They reside in Bothaim, a neutral city between The Fade and The Burn that does not fall under the rule of any king or queen.
Need More?
We’ve got over 10 hours of podcast episodes deep diving chapter by chapter of the Moonfall series! Including answers to some of our burning questions from Sarah A. Parker herself!
