Longest Night

Longest Night is a three-year-long event that peaks with a night that lasts a year, bringing darkness and cold to the entire world of Elyria.

Timing
Just a few years after The Eye appears in the sky, the planet known as Selene begins its move towards Angelica in the night sky. Over the course of a year, it moves into position between Elyria and Angelica, appearing larger and larger in the sky and blotting out Angelica’s light until the world is plunged into night for an entire year. Conditions grow harsh, the world cools and survival itself becomes a desperate struggle without help. The light of Angelica only returns slowly, over the course of the following year, resulting in three years of twilight and darkness.

Though most scholars keep track of the event on their calendar, there is no preceding event that heralds the approach of the long winter in adjacent years, though some do see the appearance of the Eye as a sign that the long winter will come in the next 5 to 6 years. Those who don’t use the Eye as a harbinger, however, take notice of the long winter event during its first year as the sun is slowly eaten away by the dark disc of the gas giant over the course of a year, eclipsing the star entirely at the zenith of the transit before the sun gradually reappears from the giant’s other side over the course of the final year of the event, marking the end of the event and the beginning of another 52-year period of relatively normal seasonal patterns.

Cultural Impact
Despite its hardships, Longest Night is also one of the most cherished times in Elyria; the need to cooperate to survive brings people together in ways that no other event in or on Elyria can. Despite its darkness, Longest Night has given Elyria some of its most sublime art and inspired displays of charity and goodwill that are unparalleled in other times.

The entirety of the known world experiences the long dark winter period simultaneously, making it one of few such events observed or celebrated by every known tribal culture in Elyria without an obvious singular spiritual or religious source. This had led to a diverse range of rituals in this time, some solemn and somber, others jubilant and playful.

Rituals
There was a time where the practices of each of the tribes were far removed from each other, but as the kingdoms of modern Elyrian have grown and the tribes have intermingled more and more, so have their observances and beliefs. In metropolitan cities and bustling kingdoms, it’s not unusual to see several different observances combined, such that, for example, a Sunsight-style festival culminates in an exchange of gifts mirroring Hrothi or Brudvir practice held over a Neran-style feast. But whatever their individual observances, the time of Longest Night is a period marked by everyone on Elyria.

Longest Night Calendar
At the end of November, Caspian announced a new promotion to celebrate the Longest Night (As well as the return of Gift Cards). The promotion is a "Longest Night Calendar", an advent calendar/box that contains 18 different items, three of them being unique to the Longest Night Calendar. Beginning Wednesday, December 11th and going until Tuesday, December 31st, each Longest Night Calendar held in the inventory of an account with an Elyrian Package or higher will deposit an item into the user’s inventory every Elyrian month (every 28 hours) with a value ranging from $6 USD to $30 USD, while each Premium Calendar will deposit an item ranging from $10 USD to $40 USD. If a calendar is purchased after the start of the event, all unclaimed items from the gift-box will be deposited into the holder’s account during the last opening on the eve of December 31st. The item shares many similarities to a Loot Box.

The Longest Night Calendar costs 75$, with a "Premium" Calendar costing 95$. The Premium Calendar's benefit is the items deposited will range from $10 USD to $40 USD, instead of the normal $6 USD to $40 USD.