Moon-Serpent Auna is the nocturnal mythic figure of the gem-world Vala Cristalis, guardian of the mysteries and complementary opposite of the Eagle Asvila: where the Eagle rules day and sun, the Serpent rules night, hidden cycles and the secrets of existence.
| Type | Mythic figure |
| World | Vala Cristalis |
| Opposite | The Eagle Asvila |
| Spanish entry | La Serpiente-Luna Auna |
Description
She is called “the Moon-Serpent” in common speech, “Auna” in founding ritual doctrine and “Guardian of the Mysteries” in clandestine arcane writings. Her form is long and curving, as seen in diagrams of lunar phases and tides. She coils around the world and glides each night through the depths of the firmament. Her bond with the Moon makes her patron of night travelers and of mages who study the arcane arts. Her myth is compiled by Mascor Blancarba among the Founding Myths of Caldero.
The depths and the volcanic flows
According to legend, the Serpent rests in the depths of the earth, controlling volcanic flows and the hidden energy of the subsoil. When volcanoes threaten, those who know invoke her to calm the flows; when deep caverns threaten to collapse, they read Auna’s signs in the vibrations of the ground. Caldero, built in the crater of a dormant volcano, lies over her: the Phoenix keeps the volcano asleep from above and Auna from below, and the balance requires both.
Trials
In the darker myths she sets trials for those who seek the deepest mysteries. Students of advanced arcane arts must pass serpentine trials: descent into deep caverns, reading signs in volcanic stones, and interpreting lunar phases in relation to underground flows. The trials follow a specific doctrine of the mysteries that is not fully documented. Clandestine theosophist mages of the gem-world keep serpentine traditions that the Decadian Orthodoxy does not fully approve but tolerates as part of the ancient cosmic order.
The myth of the Lovers
In the Myth of the Lovers and the Lunar Serpent, Ishen and Nalía were destined to unite to seal a pact between the light of the Sun and the reflection of the Moon. The Serpent of Midnight, a manifestation of Auna, demanded tribute to allow the union. Nalía offered a chant that symbolically gave a gleam of her daytime brightness to the moon reflected on a silver mirror. The Serpent was sated, and the union was sealed in the Chapel of Redemption. In this myth she is demanding, not evil: proper tribute earns her blessing.
Present cycle (1824 AE)
- Night rituals in underground sanctuaries invoke her name.
- Lunar and tidal diagrams are consulted in applied arcane astronomy.
- Arcane mages, especially sorcerers such as Vitalis of the Blackwater River, work under her indirect blessing when handling temporal flows or underground energies.
- The people of Caldero leave modest offerings in accessible caverns.
- The harlequin paladin Adam works with serpentine resonances in the Pit.