So, where's the Sun on the Moon?

Not really a spoiler unless it is explained in side quests (if so just say that), but from the moon, there is clearly light and shadows...but no sun to be seen in the sky. What's up?

I was actually wondering that myself.

If it is modeled per our real Earth, Moon, and Sun, then due to the lack of an atmosphere on the Moon, the "sky" would always be dark and would be like night time on Earth in general appearance even at "high noon". The Sun would appear as a "larger" star in the night sky, bright enough to "light up" the surface and cast shadows, but it's apparent size would be smaller than say a full Moon as seen from Earth.
Remember, the only reason we see a "bright blue sky" on Earth is due to our atmosphere refracting and being illuminated by the Sun light and without it we would see what the astronauts see outside of our atmosphere, a field of darkness with small light points from stars/galaxies.

I don't think the game explained fully why we can walk the surface of the Moon in game and not suffocate (and irradiate), but lets chalk it up to magic :D

To add, in real life due to the rotational speed of the Moon, a full day/night cycle last about 4 weeks, so the changes through out the "day" and "night" are very small compared to a typical 24 hour day/night cycle on Earth

This website shows a video of what it is like from the Moon surface having a sunrise:
https://earthsky.org/space/how-often...from-the-moon/

I have crazy theory in regards to this. The moon actually gives off its own light instead of only reflecting the sunlight. Just giving this out because I read somewhere that the devs put some of the theories in regards to the moon into reality when it comes to the world of FFXIV like the moon is hollow, has a moon base or perhaps even a giant artificial satellite i.e. crafted by intelligent design.

Today I learned :)

My main question was just where physically is the sun- I was expecting one of the various stars to appear larger..but as seen on your link it’s actually not that much bigger than other stars.

So which of those little balls is our sun I wonder. Maybe someone out there is comparing skyboxes….

Better question, where is the sun and moon on Elpis? Moon probably didn't exist yet because [readacted].

But I see no sun either, it's just lightsource from nowhere.

Interesting I also expected that the sun would look significantly bigger than other stars in the sky, but I guess we just need think it is because it’s the only one we see in the sky during the day on Earth. Still I don’t think the game’s moon sky box even included a slightly bigger star that should represent the sun.

Also the the habitability of the moon was explained in game, IIRC that Hydaelyn and the Loporrits’ magicks made a large section of the Moon have a breathable atmosphere and warm temperatures (I think they even pointed to wind and fire aspected crystals as being part of that process) and higher gravity. So presumably if you traveled far enough away from Mare Lamentorum the moon would become inhabitable. Though the habitable zone does seem to extend even past the traversable in-game zone, considering how large the Moon’s engines likely are, and that Zenos and Fandaniel despite being teleported relatively far from their intended destination, still ended up in a habitable portion of the Moon.

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Originally Posted by Nekaru_Infitima

Better question, where is the sun and moon on Elpis? Moon probably didn't exist yet because [readacted].

But I see no sun either, it's just lightsource from nowhere.

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The reason you only see light sources are:

Elpis is "inside" of a containment area of Amaurot, as a place to isolate all the experimental concepts (critters) being created.
Within are further internal containment areas; The Gates of Pandaemonium (where the really bad critters were kept) and Ktisis Hyperboreia (where critters that are undergoing final evaluation are processed)
Think of it like a really "big" TARDIS

My Bad.... I had mixed up some other lore

The Sun and Moon are visible in Elpis


https://i.imgur.com/ldPRJ27.png

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Originally Posted by Kirika-

The reason you only see light sources are:

Elpis is "inside" of a containment area of Amaurot, as a place to isolate all the experimental concepts (critters) being created.
Within are further internal containment areas; The Gates of Pandaemonium (where the really bad critters were kept) and Ktisis Hyperboreia (where critters that are undergoing final evaluation are processed)

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Where/when was that stated? I’m pretty sure the game said that Elpis is physically located in the skies above Amaurot. Especially since the Meteia were able to leave/depart the planet’s atmosphere to outer space from Elpis. That’s pretty damming evidence that Elpis isn’t “inside” Amaurot.

Also even parts of the Ktisis Hyperboreia have to be located “outside” the building, as Meteion herself was also to escape into outer space from the third level of the dungeon.

Okay, nvm. So there is a sun in Elpis. But there is no moon at night and neither does it get very dark at night.

Judging from the shadows light source is about 45 degrees to the left of Etheirys, but there's nothing there...

Really wish the moon ad a proper day/night cycle to match the details of the rotating etherys.

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Originally Posted by Roda

Really wish the moon ad a proper day/night cycle to match the details of the rotating etherys.

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I feel like the reason we don't have a day/night cycle, and part of the reason why we aren't able to see the sun, is because it would be too complicated. Daytime lasts for 2 weeks on the moon, so they would need to adjust that. Then that could mess up the game clock for the moon in regards to timed nodes and fish.

Considering they decided against putting Kugane 12 hours behind Eorzea for similar reasons and said it would confuse players, I can see why we're in perma-daytime. Though I am a bit disappointed with how small the actual moon section of the moon is and how big the rabbit hole is. I wish there was more moon and they left the ship portion sort of like the Foreign Quarter of Ala Mhigo size. Maybe some more interesting and larger caves with glowing fauna and more Promyvion monsters.

There doesn't appear to be a sun during the Amaurot dungeon either, even when in the space section. Instead where it seemingly should be there's just some kind of nebula-like mass of red energy.

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Originally Posted by Veloran

There doesn't appear to be a sun during the Amaurot dungeon either, even when in the space section. Instead where it seemingly should be there's just some kind of nebula-like mass of red energy.

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Well with the Amaurot dungeon at least, it could feasibly have the excuse of it being on the night-time side of the planet, and thus the sun is located behind the planet in skybox of that level of the zone.

But all of this largely just the same symptom of noticing the "seams" in environmental video game design (the FFVII Remake had a more egregious error with it using the same skybox in two different zones that are commented on in the in-game narrative as being different/unique).

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Originally Posted by MikkoAkure

I feel like the reason we don't have a day/night cycle, and part of the reason why we aren't able to see the sun, is because it would be too complicated. Daytime lasts for 2 weeks on the moon, so they would need to adjust that. Then that could mess up the game clock for the moon in regards to timed nodes and fish.

Considering they decided against putting Kugane 12 hours behind Eorzea for similar reasons and said it would confuse players, I can see why we're in perma-daytime. Though I am a bit disappointed with how small the actual moon section of the moon is and how big the rabbit hole is. I wish there was more moon and they left the ship portion sort of like the Foreign Quarter of Ala Mhigo size. Maybe some more interesting and larger caves with glowing fauna and more Promyvion monsters.

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Eh, I'm still of the mind that the world should have proper timezones too. (at least according to the day/night cycle, clock can stay static to eorzea time.) Sooo.. yeah.

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Originally Posted by Nekaru_Infitima

Better question, where is the sun and moon on Elpis? Moon probably didn't exist yet because [readacted].

But I see no sun either, it's just lightsource from nowhere.

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Oh and the sun is there
https://i.imgur.com/e5AHODm.png

The real question is why are the shadows in Labyrinthos all facing the wrong way in relation to the light source in the middle?

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Originally Posted by Kirika-

The reason you only see light sources are:

Elpis is "inside" of a containment area of Amaurot, as a place to isolate all the experimental concepts (critters) being created.
Within are further internal containment areas; The Gates of Pandaemonium (where the really bad critters were kept) and Ktisis Hyperboreia (where critters that are undergoing final evaluation are processed)
Think of it like a really "big" TARDIS

My Bad.... I had mixed up some other lore

The Sun and Moon are visible in Elpis


https://i.imgur.com/ldPRJ27.png

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Updated my post with corrections

So does that mean the Moon in Elpis is different from the current moon the Loporrits and Zodiark were on/in?

Or does that just mean Hydaelyn didn’t literally create the celestial body/satellite that is the moon and more just terra-formedk (or Lunar-formed I guess is the proper term) it into its current state?

Heard from others that apparently the Moon only appears in Elpis during Umbral Wind weather conditions, which makes things even more interesting. Maybe there was some proto-spiritual moon existing before Hydaelyn made it manifest physically?

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Originally Posted by Theozilla

Heard from others that apparently the Moon only appears in Elpis during Umbral Wind weather conditions, which makes things even more interesting. Maybe there was some proto-spiritual moon existing before Hydaelyn made it manifest physically?

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The moon rather abruptly fazes into existence around 8 PM or so as opposed to being immediately visible like in the other zones, so its presence is definitely not an oversight. Until further notice, I think I'd like to assume that it always existed and that Venat/Hydaelyn simply shoved Zodiark and the ship into it later.

I also find it rather curious that the Umbral Wind weather also manifests both on the moon itself and in Ultima Thule.

Perhaps there are some celestial oddities to be seen in those zones as well...?

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

Until further notice, I think I'd like to assume that it always existed and that Venat/Hydaelyn simply shoved Zodiark and the ship into it later.

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This is inconsistent with Y'shtola's line,

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This heavenly body we know to be the moon was in fact created by Hydaelyn! When the watcher said he was created together with this place, I thought he only meant this facility... Truly, Hydaelyn's powers are far beyond anything I could have imagined.

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Did I miss something that suggests she was somehow wrong in this discovery?

I forgot about that line...but that just suggests that something profoundly weird is going on if the moon definitively isn't supposed to exist at all in that point in time.

The fact that it happens specifically during umbral wind; which as mentioned also is present in the two zones in the Sea of Stars makes me really question what it all means.

Perhaps the moon was a concept in the making that wasn't originally planned to serve as Zodiark's prison and an ark, but would later be repurposed as such, and this "phantom" moon that's fleetingly visible is just an incomplete husk waiting to be made solid and whole with the power of creation magicks...?

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

I forgot about that line...but that just suggests that something profoundly weird is going on if the moon definitively isn't supposed to exist at all in that point in time.

The fact that it happens specifically during umbral wind; which as mentioned also is present in the two zones in the Sea of Stars makes me really question what it all means.

Perhaps the moon was a concept in the making that wasn't originally planned to serve as Zodiark's prison and an ark, but would later be repurposed as such, and this "phantom" moon that's fleetingly visible is just an incomplete husk waiting to be made solid and whole with the power of creation magicks...?

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Yeah, that's what I am wondering now too. Because the fact that the moon only appears in the Elpis zone during the Umbral Wind weather conditions, I think suggests that the moon's presence in the Elpis zone is intentional and not just a glitch/typo on the developers part. So it's likely an intentional mystery that remains to be addressed.

I noticed something else freaky which is that while the moon phases into existence at around 8 PM or so, it abruptly vanishes again at it approaches the highest point in the night sky around midnight, then doesn't come back for the rest of the night.

At this point I'm wondering if maybe the other parts of the moon that were not rendered habitable by Hydaelyn and Loporrits have some secrets that remain to be unveiled. Some of the Sharlayans expressed in interest in further exploration once they formulate a method of surviving outside of the safe zone Mare Lamentorum exists within.

As far as I understood it, the reason the moon has breathable atmosphere is due to the loporrits being arcane entities, they don't need air but Etheriys population does so they made an atmosphere there.

With regards to the sun, i aint a clue.

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

I noticed something else freaky which is that while the moon phases into existence at around 8 PM or so, it abruptly vanishes again at it approaches the highest point in the night sky around midnight, then doesn't come back for the rest of the night.

At this point I'm wondering if maybe the other parts of the moon that were not rendered habitable by Hydaelyn and Loporrits have some secrets that remain to be unveiled. Some of the Sharlayans expressed in interest in further exploration once they formulate a method of surviving outside of the safe zone Mare Lamentorum exists within.

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I obviously don't know, but if it just appears without transition effects/fade in/out, I am inclined to think it's a glitch...especially if it uses the same texture as the modern-day moon. I would also be inclined to believe they copy/pasted another zone as their base template for Elpis.. like the Diadem, and just didn't check the specific weather effects.

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Originally Posted by kaynide

I obviously don't know, but if it just appears without transition effects/fade in/out, I am inclined to think it's a glitch...especially if it uses the same texture as the modern-day moon. I would also be inclined to believe they copy/pasted another zone as their base template for Elpis.. like the Diadem, and just didn't check the specific weather effects.

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As much as I love a good mystery, I'm inclined to agree. After a bit of investigation, I discovered that the constellations also only appear during Umbral Wind.
Though, the fact that the constellations are different post-sundering brings with it its own interesting set of questions, unless I'm forgetting some established lore about the stars and their arrangement in the night sky (which is also pretty likely).

Edit for clarity: The moon doesn't appear after a midnight weather transition into Umbral Wind (as mentioned by others), but the constellations still do.

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Originally Posted by kaynide

I obviously don't know, but if it just appears without transition effects/fade in/out, I am inclined to think it's a glitch...especially if it uses the same texture as the modern-day moon. I would also be inclined to believe they copy/pasted another zone as their base template for Elpis.. like the Diadem, and just didn't check the specific weather effects.

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It does fade in/out, but very rapidly compared to how it does in any other zone.

I suppose barring revelations in quests, word of god and/or a bug fix it's hard to say whether it's intentional or not.

Could the moon's presence in Elpis be a result of the environment there specifically being tailored to the concepts?

We know the ancients were interested in other worlds, and no doubt were aware of the existences of moons around other planets. That being the case, might they not have toyed around with concepts that would have some form of connection with a moon in order to try and gauge how life on these other worlds might be affected by them? If that were the case, the brief existence of the Moon in Elpis' sky could be attributed to an artificial phenomenon meant to nurture concepts meant to have a connection to them, like how they might conjure an artificial storm to provide water to plants?

Whatever the truth is, it's fascinating all the same. I wonder if it'll have something to do with the Pandaemonium raids...

I wish someone famous enough to be on one of those Q&A section ask Yoshi P about the lighting and the sun on the moon X.X...
I know they said footage shown are subject to change in the promoting video about the moon, but the video emphasized the sun so much and it seemed to work perfectly fine in the video, I feel there is something really game breaking that they have to yeet the sun. Especially given how much effort they put into weather and day/night cycle in other maps.

I mean the planet is also in an odd position on the Mare Lamentorum map, if you think about it. Given that the beam from Garlemald hit the moon dead on where Mare Lamentorum is, the planet should be hovering nearly perpendicular to it when we get there, ie almost directly above our heads.

(Also the planet should rotate, though I get the weirdness that could possibly ensue if they had it rotating at the "right" speed to account for a 70 minute revolution, I guess? Also, why they'd want to avoid showing us more of the map and supposedly committing to landmass placement.)

Basically the sky on the moon is weird if you think about it too hard, but I think its weird for out-of-game reasons. Maybe showing the proper mechanics was too disorienting.

The moon on Elpis is a dev oversight imo till shown otherwise.

Could be that the moon is tidally locked. Doesn't explain everything, but it does inject a fair amount of sense. For its size, the moon is quite close to the planet. Makes sense to me that tidal locking could occur.

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Originally Posted by Alleluia

(Also the planet should rotate, though I get the weirdness that could possibly ensue if they had it rotating at the "right" speed to account for a 70 minute revolution, I guess? Also, why they'd want to avoid showing us more of the map and supposedly committing to landmass placement.)

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Actually the wiki has the high ress texture of the planet and while there are a ton of very convenient placed clouds, it still shows a lot^^


It still irks me, it feels wrong never gettin a glimps of the sun lol

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Originally Posted by Absimiliard

Could be that the moon is tidally locked. Doesn't explain everything, but it does inject a fair amount of sense. For its size, the moon is quite close to the planet. Makes sense to me that tidal locking could occur.

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Yeah, probably. That does explain why Etherys never moves as far as rising/setting on the horizon goes.

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Originally Posted by Alleluia

(Also the planet should rotate, though I get the weirdness that could possibly ensue if they had it rotating at the "right" speed to account for a 70 minute revolution, I guess? Also, why they'd want to avoid showing us more of the map and supposedly committing to landmass placement.)

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It does rotate, on a 70 minutes cycle.

In the recent Q&A session, Yoshi specifically hint-hinted that there is some deeper significance to the moon and the fact that it's present in all of the reflections that we're going to learn about in the future.

Perhaps the moons of the Source and the shards are linked in such manner that they could potentially end up being a simpler method of traversing the rift; possibly as some kind of contingency plan in the event the Sundering started to make things go awry in the absence of Hydaelyn and Zodiark.

That would potentially lead to us getting another shard-focused expansion sooner then later, though, which I would rather not see happen right after the nuttiness of Endwalker as well as all the teasing of Source-side locales.

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Originally Posted by Kirika-

The reason you only see light sources are:

Elpis is "inside" of a containment area of Amaurot, as a place to isolate all the experimental concepts (critters) being created.
Within are further internal containment areas; The Gates of Pandaemonium (where the really bad critters were kept) and Ktisis Hyperboreia (where critters that are undergoing final evaluation are processed)
Think of it like a really "big" TARDIS

My Bad.... I had mixed up some other lore

The Sun and Moon are visible in Elpis


https://i.imgur.com/ldPRJ27.png

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This raises so many questions. Might be an oversight by the dev team.

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Originally Posted by Nav_Fae

This raises so many questions. Might be an oversight by the dev team.

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It absolutely is, the moon is only visible when umbral wind is the weather as seen in this screenshot. I've submitted this as a bug report, I'd encourage others to do the same.