Allender, Portent of Veracity

### Appearance

Largest of all moons, this huge fragment of Gravitas' outer crust rotates through the air like a dish with a reflective concave face and an void black convex face.

### Eclipse Appearance

The desert's sand turns black and the glass particles among it fluoresce a soothing aqua-blue. Allender's rear face is always towards the planet during eclipse and does not change.

### Effect During Eclipse

During this time, it is impossible to speak lies and very difficult to skirt around telling truths.

"*Allender, cosmic shining beacon of hope,
Guiding souls who feel lost from slippery slope.
His humility lights up black desert bright,
By proxy resurfacing any's own might."*

## y'Mond of the Forsooth Confluence

Within the grand hall a prisoner kneeled in darkness. Chained with guards present, he was motionless as the gloom around him portrayed his dire situation. Alas as the sun began to rotate its bright hemisphere around to Paracelsus, trickles of light that grew with time would have the stained windows lining each of the hall's wall in nimiety cascade a chromatic array upon the polished white marble floor below. Each guard beside the captive was clad in a thick set of shining brass armour overlaying rich red robes. Every inch of the metallic sheen was inscribed or set with religious motif or symbol. Full helmets donned, their faces were obscured by the ornate visage of a male deer complete with antlers that stuck proud up into the sky much more for effect than practicality. The prongs on these horned helmets reached even taller than their weapons, spears banded with red fabric that ended in large lanced tips in keeping with the same brass sheen of their armour. The figures kicked the one at their feet on sight of first light to have him look upon the council.

At one end of the room upon raised stone, nine figures sat along one side of a curved table all able to see each other as well as the prisoner before them. They were arranged in groups of three, each trio in matching garments resembling the city they hailed from. The group in the middle wore the same red and brass that the guards did albeit less militant with even more ornamental flourish. These were men of Zeboim and the groups either side from Bela and Admah. One of the figures in red stood to address the prisoner.

"You cry to the public in lies and slander. You say that the gods we hold are ourselves and not our deity. What say you to these crimes?"

As the high religious figure spoke, his voice carried through the hall bouncing from each stone surface in echo. The chamber brightened further.

"I am no criminal and I have spoken no lies. I hunt for the truth for the good of all mortals and have shown this truth to any who will listen. Many who hear follow me, their hearts latching onto the truth like a branch in a coursing river. Now I bring the same truth to those who follow you. I speak of the unthinkable things you have done to those who do not submit in contrasting hypocrisy to your teachings. Teaching that states of humility and patience, love and kindness."

Just as the chamber began to see the full light of day, it once again began to quickly fade to darkness. Corners of the room where sand and grit had accrued illuminated, every surface that could contract the sand of the outside desert gave at least the faintest of glows. The council was unmoved by this shift in condition and spoke of it directly.

"Do you know what that is? What today is? We have experienced it only once before and we now know to use it to our gain."

The captured genasi remained stoic in his position not losing confident eye contact with them once.

"Yes. All of the land knows this is the effect of Allender, our patron moon. Twenty five years ago he gave his first eclipse and now he does the same. As years passed we were beginning to believe that it was the only of the six moons that did not eclipse at all but when at last it did, your organised world with its false icons and cathedrals built on sand almost came crashing down. Your preachers all bore maws of verisimilitude. Unable to lie, their tongues were leashed and chained as I am now, not by shackles but by the truth that they had long concealed. Not sure of the duration, all of your leaders hid themselves to protect their image and all feared this unknown force. This is the same reason that today, not only they, but also I have been hidden from the public as if we were both in the presence of public, all would speak the same damning truth. This truth would lash like a whip at the flesh of your governing body, condemning in retribution your actions and deeds. Your shameful secrets and sins would spill forth like leeches from your wounds and when seen, all would abandon the pustulent corpse of your empire in disgust."

The council remained unmoved by the statement and waited for him to speak again under Allender's procession, his full lens of truth upon the land.

"I understand that you want me off the streets in this time, but now that you are before me, I can speak to you. High leaders of every church in the land, under the same power of Allender's presence, you are unable to hold back any truth from my ears. Why would you allow me such an open book?"

A wicked laugh emanated from a few of the figures around the table. The second leader of a trio dressed in vivid purple on black voiced a reply, speaking for the first time.

"We want to prove to you, that with every truth you could ever long for, the fear in people holds them from destabilising the comfort they know. A government that lies to them is believed better than a new government that is a foreign concept. Tomes of evidence depicting every mouth we have neglected to feed, every mother kept from their child and every atrocity staged by our hand will do you nothing while the majority of citizens of this land remain in an acceptable level of comfort."

The third leader draped in green embroidered with gold stood to follow the sentiment.

"Any truth you could attain from us will do you nothing, especially while you are dead. Do you have any final words?"

"My name is y'Mond. I am a gnomus genasi and despite rebuke for my race, a proud citizen of the Deserts of Light. I minister to the Forsooth Confluence and when I fall they will stay the course. I speak the truth in all things to be a beacon in the darkness. In the darkness of this day all are beacons but the truth we shine will affect no one if we keep ourselves under a shade. I am prepared to die as yet another testimony to your sins contributing to the monolithic chalice of blood on your hands. I will however die a martyr and so long as your crimes exist, victims will exist to expose you, my death only rallying a flame of courage within their hearts. One day something will tip your chalice and rally the flame in the hearts of the many to an inferno. It will ignite your marionette strings and act like a fuse you will be unable to cease as you observe your network of control turn to ash.

My name is y'Mond and I am of the truth. I may be killed this day, but I will never die."

The hall echoed silence, the council observing each other for one leader to give a que. Finally the central figure in red lifted a hand of instruction to the guards. With lances raised, their tips in unison were brought to the y'Mond's temples and as performed hundreds of times, the sounds of gunshots shattered the quiet of the chamber, his life added to the chalice.

## The Heavenly Lens of Truth

Allender revolves around Paracelsus very slowly spinning on an axis of its own. Allender's rotation can be observed much more easily than many of the other moons due to its highly irregular shape. As a huge fragment of Gravitas's outer crust, Allender exists now as a spherical cap with an irregular perimeter. Its external convex face has an abyssal black finish that would disappear at night from sight if not for the stars behind it. Its concave face however is highly pearlescent and reflective known to shine odd beams of light over Paracelsus. These beams have been known to encourage great growth in crops, give hope to lost souls and is considered widely as a blessing and good omen right across the globe. There is even a phenomena where expanses of land are lit up amidst the darkness of night due to a reflection from Allender.

With the shattering of Gravitas, it did not take long before the powers of the six moons that emerged became manifest over the lands. As the weeks, months and years passed, each moon revealed their eclipse period where they would pass in front of a hemisun and affect the land. The second last moon to reveal its eclipse Gisela took ten years to first affect its land. By this time, people were beginning to doubt that the sixth moon Allender possessed a path that passed a sun for eclipse at all. When the year 25AF finally marked the calendar, Allender finally revealed his power. Passing in front of Norber, Allender presented as the only moon able to fully black out a hemisun. Its reflective face took the full brunt of daylight throwing the land into darkness. As mass panic ensued, the desert around them turned black, not just due to lack of light but the physical pigment in a phenomena no one has yet been able to study. Amidst the sand, the glittering silica crystals of the land glow a soothing blue that transform the expanse into a traversable galaxy-esque landscape.

During the first eclipse, it became quickly apparent that during eclipse, no one in The Deserts of Light held the ability to lie. To the best of their knowledge, only truths could be spoken of and were outrightly sprouted without attempt of concealment. Like each of the moons, it is still unexplained just how Allender's effects occur and the full impact of their influence.