New Moon

**New Moon** was an event in SMITE made for the introduction of Tsukuyomi. The event began on July 14, 2020 and ended on October 6, 2020. The story for this event takes place right after the conclusion of Grim Omens's story.

## Description

### Welcome to the New Moon Event!

Every 2 weeks we will release an event bundle with 4 exclusive items!
On initial release the bundles will cost 900  Gems and once the next bundle releases the previous bundle will become 1200  Gems.

New Moon has a "Buy All" option which provides a discount of 62% for a total of 3600  Gems.

Individually made purchases will discount the "Buy All" option cost by the value of the previously purchased bundle equal to 900  Gems per previously purchased bundle.

(Purchasing 1 bundle for 900 Gems will result in the remaining three bundles costing 2700  Gems instead of 3600 Gems)

### Quests

Questing is free for everyone!

3 quests will be released every 2 weeks. These quests are linear so complete the first quest in order to unlock the next quest!
Each quest will unlock different rewards! Complete all quests to reveal the hidden image!

### Exclusive Bonus Rewards

* Unlock 2 Bundles from this event to receive the Exclusive Neon Nightmare Xbalanque skin.
* Unlock 4 Bundles from this event to receive the Unlimited Angelic Archon Yemoja skin.

## New Moon Cosmetic Items

These are the items that are available during the event. Each bundle costs 900  Gems to unlock.

### Unlocks

* New Moon Bundle
* Crescent Moon Bundle
* Quarter Moon Bundle
* Full Moon Bundle

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### Collection Rewards

These items are bonus rewards for purchasing a certain amount of bundles in the event.

* 2 Bundles
* 4 Bundles

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## List of quests

* Chapter 1
* Chapter 2
* Chapter 3
* Chapter 4

Play 2 Games.
Reward
Deal 30,000 Player Damage.
Reward
Earn 40,000 Gold.
Reward

Get 1 First Win of the Day!
Reward
Get 40 Kills and Assists.
Reward
Play 1 Arena Match.
Reward

Deal 20,000 Damage.
Reward
Play 2 Games.
Reward
Earn 40,000 Gold.
Reward

Play 2 Games.
Reward
Get 40 Kills and Assists.
Reward
Get 1 First Win of the Day!
Reward

## Hidden Images

These hidden images are revealed after completing all three of a chapter's quests.

* **New Moon**
* **Crescent Moon**
* **Quarter Moon**
* **Full Moon**

## Lobby Backgrounds

* Chapter 1
* Chapter 2
* Chapter 3
* Chapter 4

## Lore

### Chapter 1

The air stank of smoke and death.

The Parthenon burned, and Athens burned with it. The city was aflame with madness. Baying crowds filled the streets, driven into a frenzy of despair by the coming of a new god – and the absence of the old. The skies wept oily rain, and the fires blazed higher. Not natural flames these, for they were of no color known to man, and could burn stone as if it were wood. Throngs gathered in the squares, chanting the name of Cthulhu – the Great Dreamer, whose dreams were now hideous reality.

From the roof of the Acropolis, Zeus watched it all and felt something in him give way. With a gesture he called the lightning to him – it crackled and sparked in his grip, eager to be about its business. He prepared to cast the writhing bolt at the heretical crowds below, but a hand caught his wrist.

“No,” Olorun rumbled. “You will not do this.”

“Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do, here of all places?” Zeus snatched his arm free of Olorun’s grip, and rounded on the new King of Olympus. “Athens is mine – Greece is mine. They are mine to save…and mine to punish. Or would you take that from me as well, usurper?” Zeus bared his teeth as he spoke, and felt a strange joy as he contemplated unleashing his lighting against the other god.

“No one disputes your rights, father,” a new voice intruded. “But while Greece might be yours, Athens is mine. Or have you forgotten?”

Zeus glanced at his daughter. Athena stood nearby, not looking at either of them. The Goddess of Wisdom looked haggard and beaten. Her white robes were stained with soot and blood, and her golden shield was cracked – a testimony to a brief, but savage encounter with their foe. Zeus and Olorun had arrived in time only to witness their foe’s departure.

“I have not forgotten, daughter,” he said, after a moment. “Though I question why you stand here looking sorry for yourself. Where is the great strategist who sprang fully grown from my skull?” He gestured about them, to the thick columns of smoke that rose high into the night sky. “Your city burns, child. Will you not defend it?”

Athena turned. “I tried, father. We tried.” Athena had not met the enemy alone – others had joined her, including her uncle, Poseidon, and Nike, the Goddess of Victory. Despite the presence of the latter, they had been defeated. Injured, Poseidon had fled to the safety of the seas, and Nike lay broken and humbled somewhere in the ruins. Even now, Heimdallr searched for her. “But where were you, when I needed aid?”

Before Zeus could reply, she swung her spear up, pointing it towards Olorun. “Or you? What sort of king cannot defend his subjects?”

To his credit, Olorun did not flinch from her accusations. “If we are to have any hope of defeating this abomination, we must stand together. All of us – not a few, but all the pantheons. Whatever disagreements we might have had, whatever conflicts, it is in the past. It must be. Else we will not succeed.”

“Fine words,” Zeus said, mockingly. “But that is all they are…words.”

Olorun turned. “If you have counsel, I will listen.”

Zeus shook his head and turned away. “My advice is the same as it has been – we find him and we smite him.” He made a fist. “We are the mightiest of our pantheons, save perhaps the Allfather. What can stand against us?”

“Cthulhu is no Titan, father,” Athena said. “He will not be felled by brute force.”

Zeus laughed. “Would you suggest strategy then, child? And how well did that work out for you?” He gestured dismissively. “I know how to fight monsters. They must be met tooth to tooth, and claw to claw.”

Before Athena could reply, there was a sound like tearing metal and kaleidoscopic rift opened in the air nearby. Heimdallr had returned. “I found her,” he called out as he stepped through the shimmering, multi-coloured portal, the unconscious form of Nike in his arms. The winged goddess was singed and battered, as if she’d flown through an inferno. “They’ve gone mad down there,” he continued gravely. “Almost every mortal in Athens has become a gibbering lunatic. And not just here.” He twitched his head, reminding Zeus of a ram annoyed by a fly. “I can hear them…all across Midgard…they chant his name. They pray to him.”

“Not for long,” Olorun said.

Zeus had to admit, if somewhat grudgingly, that the usurper was not a coward. He did not flee from his failings, like Hades. The so-called lord of the underworld had retreated into his deepest citadel with his broken consort and sealed the gates behind them. His hands clenched as he imagined battering down those defences and venting his wrath upon his treacherous sibling.

But that was a pleasure best saved for later. He had foes aplenty in the meantime. His eyes strayed once more to Olorun, and he wondered, not for the first time, how his queen could have allowed the throne to go to another. If she had taken it for herself, he would have understood – angry, yes, but it would have made sense. But to invite an outsider – a god who had no temples, no clergy – and gift it to him?

Perhaps she had been mad with grief. The thought pleased him somewhat, though he knew it was unworthy of him. It was the only way to explain her actions, her desire to build an alliance of pantheons. As if there could ever be peace between beings such as they. When ranged against a greater threat, possibly.

Even then, some gods saw only their own advantage.

As if hearing his thoughts, Olorun turned and met his gaze with one of serene equanimity. As if he were the lord of all the Earth, and the rest of them merely subordinates. Zeus bared his teeth. The Titans had looked upon the world in much the same manner, and he had broken them for their hubris.

As he would break the usurper.

Olympus was his, by right.

And he would take it back, one way or another.

In Olympus, the gods of many pantheons gathered and readied themselves for the storm to come. Some prepared for war, others to flee. And still others sought only their own advantage. Amaterasu wondered which of these she was, or whether it mattered at all.

She stood in an isolated garden, overlooking the eastern slopes of Mount Olympus. The sun had set, and unseen servants had lit torches throughout the home of the gods. The stars above had contorted themselves into unrecognizable patterns and it hurt her eyes to look upon them. Instead, she studied the horizon, and the distant orange glow of a thousand conflagrations. Greece was burning, and the rest of the world would soon follow.

From where she stood, her back to the doors, she could hear divine voices raised in anger. They had been arguing for days, and there was no sign of a resolution. The fragile peace conceived by Hera and established by Olorun was swiftly crumbling as pantheons abandoned any thought of unified action and retreated to their own fiefdoms. Amaterasu understood, for she had been weighing that option herself. This despite knowing that it was perhaps the height of foolishness given the threat they faced.

There was something in the air. A miasma that seemed to enfold the whole of the world. She could sense it – they all could, every god and goddess, whether they admitted it or not. Their worshippers were falling silent, their temples were burning, and all that they had once taken for granted was being rapidly stolen from them.

She heard a soft tread behind her. Her grip tightened on the hilt of the Grass-Cutting Sword, in its sheath by her side. A smell like that freshly fallen rain reached her nose and she relaxed. “What news, brother?” she asked, not looking away from the horizon.

Susano joined her. The God of the Summer Storm looked tired. He had been to every corner of the world in the past few days, gathering what information he could. “War has broken out in China.”

Amaterasu looked at him. “Cthulhu?”

Her brother shook his head. “No – though I have no doubt it is his doing. A civil war, and one that has spread to the Heavenly Court. Guan-Yu and the new goddess, Mulan, are trying to hold things together, but I fear their efforts are in vain.” He sighed and stretched, his exhaustion evident. “Foolishness, all of it.”

“Not simply that,” she said. The Great Dreamer’s mere presence exacerbated the worst tendencies of those who might hope to stand against him – mortal and god alike. She had begun to notice it even in herself. A gnawing doubt, one she had always felt, but now growing stronger since the creature’s arrival. Others suffered similarly, their darkest impulses becoming harder to ignore. The world was going mad around them, and a part of her feared that they were going mad with it. “What news of the south?”

“The lords of the underworld have decided now is the time to rise up again,” Susano said. “With Kukulkan and Xbalanque distracted, Chaac was left alone to face Cthulhu…”

“And?”

He shook his head again, but did not reply. Amaterasu frowned. She had spent fruitless hours trying to find the pattern in their foe’s movements. But there was none. His cults called to him, and he went. It was as simple as that. Cthulhu was more a force of nature than a god. Where he went, madness reigned and the world changed itself to suit him.

“It might be best if we left,” she said, softly. “He will turn towards our lands soon enough. And if Izanami or Kuzenbo should decide to seize the opportunity…”

“Kuzenbo, at least, will not,” a new voice intruded. Amaterasu turned to see Hachiman enter the garden, his ornate armour stained with the dust of hard travel. “I can find no sign of the king kappa or his followers. They have fled to the deepest rivers and lakes, to wait out the crisis.”

“Small favors,” Susano said. Amaterasu waved him to silence.

“What of Egypt?” she asked.

“Egypt burns,” Hachiman said, his voice echoing hollowly from within his helm. “Horus has become obsessed with hunting down his uncle, and neglects everything else. Ra seems to share this mania for he has done little to mitigate it.”

“And Set?”

“He has gone into hiding.”

“Cowards all!” a heavy form bellowed as it crashed down into the garden, nearly uprooting several trees. Amaterasu and the others were nearly knocked sprawling by the sudden arrival of the newcomer. “Cowards,” Raijin, Master of Thunder, bellowed again as he beat his drums with obvious fury.

“What news, Raijin?” Amaterasu asked loudly.

Raijin’s grotesque features twisted into an expression of annoyance. The hulking thunder god seethed with impatience. “A useless waste of my time, Amaterasu. The Norse hide in their halls, or worse – they scheme and plot, like the weaklings they are.” He fixed with her with a meaningful glare. “The time for talk is past.”

“Maybe so,” Amaterasu said, soothingly. “But every war requires a strategy.” She looked to the others for support. “Isn’t that so, Hachiman?”

“Yes,” the Lord of the Eight Banners replied. He pointed at Raijin. “And you would do well to calm yourself, thunder-lord. We have no time for your pointless tantrums.”

“Tantrums,” Raijin growled. He glared at Hachiman. “Match your strategy against my drums, warlord, and let us see what you think of my tantrums then, eh?”

“And how will you fare against the pair of us, oh blustery one?” Susano said. He tapped the hilt of his sword. “Why my sister invited you to join our council I cannot imagine. You contribute nothing save hot air and bruised eardrums.”

Raijin swelled with fury. But before he could reply, Amaterasu stepped between the three of them. “Be silent, all of you,” she said, sharply. More sharply than she’d intended. “Fighting amongst ourselves serves only the enemy. We must-”

She broke off, even as she heard the hiss of steel parting the air. She spun, the Grass-Cutting Sword springing from its sheath into her hand even as she turned. The keen blade intercepted something, slicing it in two before it could strike Raijin. The thunder god roared in surprise as what was left of the shuriken fell to the ground.

“What…?” Susano began, his sword half-drawn.

Before Amaterasu could reply, a sudden gust of wind snuffed the torches, plunging the garden into darkness.

And with the darkness came laughter.

### Chapter 2

In the darkness, Tsukuyomi laughed.

There was precious little mirth in the sound. He had been born in sadness – in the tears from his father’s eye. And in sadness, he lived his life. The sadness of a diamond, nestled in dirt, his brilliance forever hidden by the shortcomings of others. Such was the torment of his existence, to know his fellow gods were blind – wilfully so – to his righteousness. To see them ranged against him, even in the darkest of moments, was a source of irritation to him.

It had come as little surprise to him that Amaterasu had decamped to Olympus. She had ever sought to better her own position by joining her fate to that of other gods. Including those who were clearly her inferiors, such as that blusterous fool Raijin. More than once, he had warned her that her insistence on fraternizing with her lessers would be her undoing.

As it would be here.

When the lights went out, chaos erupted in the garden, even as Tsukuyomi had intended. Raijin, already on edge, rounded on Hachiman. “You – you plan some treachery,” he bellowed, and thumped his drum pugnaciously.

“This is not my doing you bellicose windbag,” Hachiman snarled, reaching for his blade. Susano, ever ready for mischief, joined him in facing down the enraged thunder god, even as Amaterasu pleaded in vain for them to cease.

From where he perched atop a nearby statue of Demeter, Tsukuyomi restrained a laugh. It was all so easy – so effortless. Their alliance had crumbled almost as soon as it had been formed. And that was why they could do nothing save fail. Really, Amaterasu should have known better than to gather such fools to her side. She had never been sensible when it came to such matters.

The argument escalated. Raijin wanted to fight – but that wasn’t the only issue. There was something in the air. A feeling, an itch at the back of every god’s skull. A flicker of madness, awaiting provocation. Yet another thing Amaterasu had failed to take into account. Then, her grasp of strategy had never been great.

Tsukuyomi yawned, stretched and clashed his tonfa together, bringing an end to the disordered babbling. Shingetsu and Mangetsu. New Moon and Full Moon. His closest friends, the only things worthy of trust, for they had never failed him. A lesson he had learned to his cost. A god could not trust other gods – not even siblings. Every god was greedy for the worship of mortals. But not every god was worthy of worship.

He rose smoothly to his feet and leapt gracefully down into the garden. The other gods scattered in surprise. To their credit, they recovered quickly – and acted as he expected. Hachiman and Susano recognized him and began to circle. They were wary – that was good. It showed the proper respect.

He directed his attentions to Amaterasu, as was only right. She was his sister, after all. The sun to his moon. “Hello, dear sister. Did you miss me?”

“What is the meaning of this, brother?” she snapped. Her famous composure was already fraying. He wondered how far he could push her.

“You insulted me,” Tsukuyomi said, gesturing with a tonfa. “You invited Raijin – but not me? Your own brother? For shame.”

“Do not claim righteousness, Tsukuyomi,” Amaterasu countered. “You have shown yourself unworthy of my trust, time and again.”

Tsukuyomi kept smiling, though her words angered him. “And is Susano worthier than me?” he said, indicating their youngest sibling. “Hachiman? Certainly not Raijin. Tell me, did you invite our mother? What of the king kappa?”

Amaterasu shook her head. “I would have, if I thought that they would listen. But they would be no more amenable than you, brother. Always you seek your own advantage, even when it is to the detriment of others.”

“Especially then,” he said, smiling thinly. “What good is victory if there is no one to hold it over?” He snorted and turned. “Not that these fools will help you achieve victory. They lack the stomach to make war on the Great Dreamer.”

“Watch your tone, brother,” Susano said, softly. “Amaterasu may hold you in some affection, however strained, but I am not so soft-hearted.”

Tsukuyomi appraised his brother with a look and sniffed dismissively. “You are nothing more than a vagabond with an inflated ego, brother. Any time you’d like to meet me steel to steel, I will be happy to oblige you. But not today.” He twitched a finger chidingly. “Now be so good as to remain silent, while your betters speak.”

“Enough,” Amaterasu said. “Why are you here, Tsukuyomi?”

Tsukuyomi turned. “Why, I came to offer you my forgiveness, sister. Merely apologize, agree to follow my commands and I will deign to lead this pantheon to victory over our common foes.”

“We have one foe, brother,” Amaterasu said.

“Oh, we will soon have more than that. Cthulhu is as much a sickness as anything. Where he walks, mortals bow in worship. They forget their old gods and take up the cause of a new one. I have seen it myself.” He paused, and allowed himself a smile. “Not mine, of course. But yours, certainly. Already, your temples burn and your people carve Cthulhu’s sigil into their flesh. They dance about great bonfires and raise crude idols.”

“You tell us nothing we do not know,” Hachiman said.

Tsukuyomi ignored him. “But the mortals are not alone in their madness. The longer Cthulhu walks our world, the more his lunacy permeates it. And as the world goes mad, so too do the gods.” He paused. “Well, the weak minded among us, at least.” He glanced pointedly at Raijin as he said it. “Singly, we cannot hope to stand against him. In groups, we turn on one another and fall to in-fighting, or distraction.”

“Then what would you advise, brother?” Amaterasu said, eyes narrowed.

“Only a god of strong will can match such madness. And my will is as strong as folded steel.”

“Your ego, you mean,” Susano murmured.

Tsukuyomi dismissed him with a gesture. “Regardless, if you turn to me, I will lead you to victory. And all I require in return is my just due – your obedience.”

“Never!” Raijin howled, unable to contain himself. He charged, as Tsukuyomi had known he would. The thunder god was as predictable as he was tempestuous. He avoided Raijin’s lunge and leapt aside.

Hachiman and Susano moved towards him from either side – again, predictable. Shingetsu sliced through the air, and several inky, black shuriken erupted from the darkened steel of the blade. The shuriken hissed towards Hachiman and Susano and they were forced to leap in opposite directions, seeking cover.

Tsukuyomi whirled to face Raijin, as the thunder god pounded back towards him. He brought a tonfa up, parrying his opponent’s attack, and swept Mangetsu out. The gleaming blade carved the air into caltrops of light. Raijin stumbled into them, allowing Tsukuyomi to avoid his clumsy blows. He slashed both tonfa across Raijin’s side, and the bestial god roared in pain and retreated.

Laughing, Tsukuyomi heard the whisper of parting air, and spun, catching Amaterasu’s sword on the crossed blades of his tonfa mere inches from his head. He twisted her weapon to the side and met her glare with a mocking smile.

He glanced over his shoulder, and saw Hachiman raise his bow and loose an arrow. He twisted aside, slicing the arrow in half as it passed him. He leapt upwards, striking a pillar in order to vault over their heads. He dropped down, facing all four of them, his tonfa crossed before him. “Four against one,” he said. “Hardly fair odds.”

“You instigated this fight, brother,” Amaterasu said. She glanced at the others. “You cannot complain as to its fairness.”

“I? I did nothing save offer to help. You are the ones who attacked me.”

“The shuriken,” Raijin growled. “You threw it at me.”

“Merely to get your attention.” Tsukuyomi smiled. “Which I succeeded in doing. Only for you to insult me yet again by attacking me.” He shook his head in mock-sadness. “I thought better of you, sister. But I see your envy of my power knows no bounds.” He clashed his tonfa and made a show of readying himself. “What now? Will you send your lapdogs to beat me down, merely for speaking the truth? Or will you call your gaijin allies, perhaps?”

“You wouldn’t know the truth if it stabbed you,” Susano said. He levelled his blade. “Let us deal with him as he deserves, sister. We will cast him from Olympus, and then depart.” He took a step towards Tsukuyomi, but Amaterasu held out her hand.

“No.”

Tsukuyomi’s smile widened. Amaterasu glared at him with a fierceness he had only seen once before. “You speak of insults – of envy…” She shook her head. “You have ever been the envious one, seeing insult where none was intended. Wherever you go, you leave dissension in your wake, no less than the Great Dreamer. That is why I did not invite you to my council, brother. We have little hope as it is – with you at my side, we would have none.”

Tsukuyomi’s smile faltered. He reminded himself that he had wanted to provoke her. He sneered. “And what will you do, sister, when your futile stratagems are defeated by Cthulhu? Go hide in a cave again?”

Amaterasu went still. Then, she waved the others back. “You have outstayed your welcome. If you wish a fight, then I will give you one.” She raised her sword in both hands, and Tsukuyomi readied his tonfa. After a few moments, they began to circle one another.

Tsukuyomi attacked first. He lunged, his blades scraping along the side of Amaterasu’s armor. She staggered and he caught her with a kick, knocking her back against a pillar. She parried his subsequent blows, fighting desperately to keep him at bay.

He wasted no breath mocking her, or the others. If his plan was to work, Amaterasu must be taken off the board. Without her, the rest of the pantheon would splinter into squabbling factionalism. They would be easy prey then. Soon, all of Japan would bow to one god, and one god alone and such was the key to its survival. Tsukuyomi would contend with the Great Dreamer as an equal – no, not an equal.

His superior.

He kept close, preventing her from putting any distance between them. Before she could recover, he thrust his tonfa towards her. She blocked one, but not the other.

She cried out in pain, and dropped her sword. He kicked the weapon out of reach and leaned close as she sank to her knees. “Your plan was doomed to failure the moment you decided to insult me,” he said, softly. “But do not fear – our land, our people will survive. I will defeat the Great Dreamer myself. In return, our worshippers will praise my name and lay offerings in my temples. And you, my sister…you will be forgotten, as is the lot of all traitors.”

“Something you would know much about, brother.”

Susano’s voice cut through Tsukuyomi’s satisfaction like a knife. He whirled, dragging his tonfa free of Amaterasu as he did so. He managed to block Susano’s sword-blow and shove his brother back. As Susano staggered, Tsukuyomi leapt away, out of reach. “You know, Susano, it wasn’t so long ago that you and I were of similar minds. And now here you are, at our sister’s beck and call.”

Tsukuyomi was rewarded by a slight tightening of Susano’s features. His taunt had struck a nerve. He smiled. “What did she promise you, I wonder?”

“Nothing. She knows better.” Susano paced warily towards his brother, sword at the ready. Hachiman and Raijin followed suit. “I chose to join her for the same reason the others did – we must stand together or fall separately,” Susano continued. “The Great Dreamer is too great a threat to be ignored, even by one as foolish and arrogant as you.”

Tsukuyomi shook his head. “I do not ignore the threat, brother. But I see it for what it is. An opportunity. One I will seize with both hands.” He extended his tonfa towards Amaterasu as he retreated. “Our duel is not finished, sister. We will meet again – and then I will come for the rest of you.” He stepped back into the shadows of a nearby pillar. “The sun sets on the pantheons…and I am the new moon that rises to replace them.”

Then, with a final parting laugh, he was gone.