Blood Eclipse

Around every eleven years, a red eclipse can be seen over the mainland east of Gyven and northwest of the Cheilmaddb territory. People had been traveling to watch the event, but many died while they were there. In recent eclipses, far fewer tourists have been anywhere near the site.

The Blood Eclipse is not an astrological eclipse. Instead, it a gateway opened by a group of mages. They struggle together to open the portal, but invariably they then squabble amongst themselves over who will be allowed to yield the mighty power that can be gained by being bathed in the light of the blood eclipse. In many ways, it has become a tournament now. Everyone involved knows the others will try to kill him in order to gain the power, yet they go there anyways.

One of the biggest problems is that once the gateway opens, everyone there will have some of their magic sucked out of them (one power level). Should they survive to be bathed in the light, then a portion of the magic will be returned to them. What happens is not that the eclipse grants them magic. Instead, the surviving mages will split the power sucked away. Because everyone loses one power level, if non-mages are there, they lose one power level and are typically struck dead on the spot. Some have lost their hearing, their eyesight, etc., but any creature of any intelligence will be killed by the opening. Just before the gateway closes (by exploding in a rush of light), the mages need to have eliminated enough of the others to gain. Some have even been known to bring apprentices to enhance the amount of power to later be split.

It is believed that the Blood Eclipse requires some manner of cosmic alignment, which is why it can only be opened every eleven years or so. They are likely opening a gate to some magical universe, but they are not gaining any additional magic from there, only redistributing the power taken from this universe.

Anyone hoping to gain magical power in this way needs to recognize that these mages are not nice people. They are fully aware that they will need to kill others in order to steal their magic. Anyone attempting to participate should expect to be assaulted by world class battle mages ready to kill them and steal as much of their power as possible. These are spell casters who are at a point where gaining more power and control is so difficult, they are willing to take this extreme risk.