Guide to the Arcane Realm

The Moon: Qarin

The moon, also called Qarin, is the natural satellite that orbits Kaf and is visible in the sky at night. Originally a barren lifeless world, the efforts of Kaf inhabitants in the distant past made it sustainable for lifeforms. Then it became a stronghold in the Ghulat Wars, where the Kaf allied forces created their most advanced technology. Despite that, it was targeted by the Shaytan and fell after an invasion force. It's still unknown what happened to the inhabitants and whether or not any intelligent life still survives there, recent efforts in space programs are trying to get back and see what is left of it.

History

The moon has always been a wondrous place in many cultures and mythologies. Many deities had an affinity for it and the celestial object has provided a light during the usual darkness of night. 

With the Ghulat Wars spurring the advancement of technology, the ability of traveling through space became a possibility for those other than spirits. Of course the first celestial object that was planned to be visited was Qarin.

The dominant races at the time collaborated on the project to travel to and colonize Qarin. First reconnaissance was done using summonable spirits as spirits are generally fine in the vacuum of space. Then nature spirits were sent to the moon in order to make it habitable by conjuring things like air and water. During this time shapeships were being built that could carry corporeal creatures the way there. 

Animals were first used to test the spacecraft before eventually the races took the transformed Qarin. Once their the goals of these select races were to develop the land for resources and later set up a base for military research and development. Here the technological and mystical advancements accelerated beyond that of Kaf, resulting in a colonial society also ahead of its original world.

The prosperity and genius of Qarin would not last however. Despite all their efforts, the Shaytan forces managed to infiltrate some of the R&D bases and cause some destruction along the way. This led the civilization mostly unprepared for the surprise attack due to being directly involved in the war. While it is known that there were some troops to combat the foreign invaders, communication was lost prevent anyone from Kaf from learning what happened on our moon.

Geography and Nature

Qarin's surface was orginally rocky, dusty, and decorated with impact craters and no atmosphere or life. Then the natural satellite was terraformed by former Kaf inhabitants, to look and act like Kaf did in terms of geography with landforms, oceans of water and temperatures to support life. Currently with the naked eye or telescopes, all that can be seen is some plantlife but no signs of complex animal life or civilization.

Another lingering effect of Qarin is an odd feedback from the moon. In short, there is an irregular pattern of mana encompassing the world that prevents even spirits from flying over there and landing. It's unknown what is exactly causing the effect but its also an obstacle to space programs that are attempting to travel there. There are people working on how to remove or weaken the effect but since nobody is sure of what complicated ritual or device caused it, they seem to be developing a counterspell off the slow process of trial and error.

Legacy of Qarin

So far the moon is mostly known for what it has left behind. If you recall that Qarin was originally used as a place to develop new weaponry and magic, it makes sense that Kaf would have gotten most of that to fight in the Ghulat Wars. That means that over the years we have recovered some some artifacts from ancient Qarin, probably only a fraction of what made in its golden age. Just like with our world's artifacts, Qarin had led to much of today's magical and technological knowledge and understanding. 

Author Notes: The moon for this world was interesting to make indeed. Thank you reading, and feel free to comment.