Pilgrim's Moon: the Eos System

Below, you'll find names, environments, and associated mythology for each of the moons of Mara, but first, I want to talk a little about implied vs explicit settings, and how this game is kind of neither. I prefer implied settings in TTRPGs, generally speaking, and I always intended Hard Six/Pilgrim's Moon to take place in a setting more implied than explicit. Then I started writing and realized this game is going to fall somewhere between the two. Many of the systems I've been writing for Pilgrim's Moon (like the traversal phase,  when Pilgrims fly spacecraft between planetoids) depends on the setting for context, and there's a level of environmental detail necessary for the game to make sense. Hopefully this isn't an error on my part, but hey, live and learn. 

The Eos System

Eos

An ancient white dwarf star, Eos long ago burned away the last of its nuclear starfire, and now fuses carbon into neon, magnesium, and ether in what remains of its monstrously dense core. The tiny star is still very bright, though - were it not for Mara’s enormous presence in the sky (the planet is nearly 10 times the size of the star it orbits), day on Eosian planets would be blinding fluorescent; as things are, clear days are usually lit in a golden hue.

On Calendars: As the only celestial body with a convenient and regular rotation, Eos’s rotations are counted as one Eosian year. Marrans pay little heed to days or nights - the multiplanetoidary, constantly-traveling society is accustomed to a schedule of several rests, each of several hours, over the course of a 24 hour period, with no preference given to light or darkness. For this reason, services are staffed at all times, or post messages broadcasting when they will be staffed.

Eos is called ‘the Creator’ in the various sects of Marran faith, and is represented as a colorless androgynous figure wearing robes woven of light, and carrying a red fruit and a black sword. 

Mara

A gas giant, ranging from apricot to rust in hue, which dominates the sky on all its moons. Many marrans make a hobby of reading their fortunes in the storms that chase each other across Mara’s surface. Mara’s orbit is extremely tight - about 1% of the distance from Earth to Sol, and its year is longer than its day-night cycle, making tracking time extremely complex for early marrans. 

Marrans call Mara “the Ancestor,” and represent them as a towering red-gold person with both male and female sex characteristics, a necklace of five bright jewels, and an iron disk they ride through the sky.

The 5 Moons: 

Vesta

The largest of Mara’s moons, a paradise of an ocean planet with scattered, sandy archipelagos and research centers and arcologies built to roam the oceans.

Marrans of faith call Vesta “the Giver;” she is represented as a dark-hued maiden, bald, wearing a net of emeralds and silver chain.

Syrinx

A mysterious world, second largest of Mara’s moons, and the only one to boast rings. Covered in purple-blue grasslands, black granite canyons, and large, freshwater seas. Syrinx was primarily a temple world, and many great temples built of black stone yet stand amid the grasses.

In Marran religion Syrinx is called “the Singer” and is represented as a woman garbed in strips of cloth, with only her open mouth exposed. She is usually depicted with dyed lips and a garland of flowers around her bandaged brow.

Adaghist, 

A highly volcanic world, Adaghist’s rusty soil and warm temperatures once made it an agricultural paradise, outside of the frequent eruption zones. Now, those facilities are long abandoned, and the great steam-clouds from the volcanic zones float over fields gone to ruin.

Adaghist is called “the Prophet” in marran religious language, and is represented as a wild-eyed elder carrying a basket of seedpods and wearing a ragged cloak.

Tarsus

Tarsus is the second-smallest planetoid in the system, and is nearly entirely covered in wetlands. There are several mountain ranges, two at the equator and one at the north pole, high enough to escape the swamps and host snow-covered peaks.

Tarsus is called “the Thief” by religious marrans, and represented as a young man in a wide hat and pants with high sandals playing a lute.

Lido

A dusty, cratered planetoid dotted with arcologies and agricultural domes, Lido is called “the Pilgrim’s Moon.” It is your home. It is everyone’s home.