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# Eclipse

A confusing nation, where minds change often

Story
Lysa reached Nyxthar at dawn, when the river mist made the city look unfinished. Then the bells rang and the streets filled as if someone had lifted a curtain.
In the Sunmarket a baker pressed a warm roll into her hands and nodded toward the hilltop temple. "Eat after the bell. You will feel better."
She followed the flow to the Hall of Two Flames. Inside, people stood close and quiet. When the dawn brazier caught, the room seemed to breathe. A few whispered vows. Others only watched, faces lit gold for a moment before they turned back into themselves.
By midday, business felt simple. A cloth merchant named Teren Valis offered her tea, gave her a fair price and found her a guide for the road east. "Selinne will meet you at the Riverside Gate at sunset," he said, as if that settled everything.
At sunset the bells answered again.
Lanterns bloomed across the streets. Shutters closed that had been open all day. The same city, rearranged. Lysa reached the gate early. Selinne was there, hood up, posture different in a way Lysa could not name.
"You came alone," Selinne said.
"Should I not have," Lysa asked.
Selinne started walking without rushing. "Do not take the river path at night. Do not answer if someone calls your name from the reeds. If a house offers you food, eat it there. Do not carry it away."
Lysa frowned. "That is a lot of rules."
Selinne glanced at her, expression unreadable. "Eclipse is generous to visitors who listen."
They crossed a bridge. At a doorway a family paused to touch a mirror hung beside the frame, each whispering something too soft to catch. On a corner two guards traded places without a word. Ahead, an alley that had been busy at noon sat empty except for a lantern behind a carved screen, its light throwing overlapping circle patterns on the stones.
Selinne guided Lysa away with a small shift of her shoulder.
Lysa did not ask why.
Behind them Nyxthar glowed, beautiful and orderly, bells fading into night. Lysa kept her eyes on the road and let the warnings sit in her mouth like a foreign phrase she would learn by repetition.

Street life in Eclipse

## Description

Eclipse is an elven land built around thresholds. Dawn and dusk are not just light changes here, they are social events. The roads fill at sunrise, markets open with a kind of ceremonial urgency and temple bells mark the moment when night gives way to day. At sunset the same bells answer again and the streets empty and refill in a different pattern, with lanterns, masks and closed shutters shaping where strangers are welcome. Outsiders often leave with the sense that they visited two countries that share one map.

## Land And Cities

Much of Eclipse is wooded hills, river valleys and misty lowlands where pale stone towns sit like islands of order in a sea of green. Its most famous city is Nyxthar, a trade hub and pilgrimage destination where inns, markets and temples stand shoulder to shoulder. It is also home to the Hall of Two Flames, a great temple whose central chamber holds two braziers, one tended for dawn rites and one for dusk rites, with a brief interval each day when both are lit together and crowds gather to witness it.

Beyond Nyxthar are smaller cities with reputations that sound like tavern exaggeration until you see them. Eryndel is known for politics that reorganize at sunrise and sunset, with councils, guild blocs and neighborhood patrons shifting their influence with the light. A visitor can complete honest business there, but they learn quickly to confirm everything twice and to treat written agreements as unfinished until they have been spoken aloud again.

## People And Society

Eclipse elves are hospitable in a way that can feel disorienting. A host may be generous, attentive and almost familial when you arrive, then become distant, formal or sharply suspicious after the day turns. Locals treat this as normal, even polite, as if different hours call for different faces. The safe approach for a traveler is to be consistent, patient and careful with assumptions. If you are offered bread and wine at noon, accept it. If you are warned at night to keep your coin purse close, believe that too.

Because alliances and rivalries tend to follow the rhythm of day and night, Eclipse has a reputation for unstable politics. Outsiders call it chaos. Eclipse folk call it living honestly with change. Councils form, bargains are renewed, feuds are paused then resumed, not because nobody can commit, but because committing is treated as something you must choose again and again.

## Religion And Customs

The core faith is the Twin Veil, centered on two sibling deities, Auryel the Dawnbringer and Nytheris the Moonshade. Auryel is prayed to at sunrise for clarity, growth and steady reason. Nytheris is honored at dusk for secrecy, passion and the strength to endure what cannot be spoken in daylight. Temples often keep separate clergy for each rite, with Sunwardens serving the morning and Shadowbinders guiding evening worship.

A common household custom is the Mirror Vigil. Many Eclipse elves keep two mirrors and at each transition they take a moment of private reflection, whispering hopes, warnings or vows to themselves before stepping into the next part of the day. Visitors sometimes find it theatrical. Locals see it as simple hygiene for the soul.

## Visitors

Eclipse can be rewarding for travelers who enjoy culture, ceremony and sharp edged social play. It can also be exhausting. People here do not treat a promise as a single act. They treat it as a practice. If you want to survive and thrive, speak plainly, confirm agreements at both ends of the day and never assume that yesterday’s tone will be repeated tonight.

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