— [Ces filles] auraient été possédées par des démons, maudites, contaminées par le soleil noir, car c'est le nom que vous avez donné dans votre jargon pompeux, à une éclipse tout ce qu'il y a de plus banal.
Eltibald n'avait rien d'un fou ! Il a déchiffré des inscriptions sur les menhirs des Dauk et sur les pierres tombales des nécropoles de Vojgor, étudié les légendes et les récits des bébés-garous. Dans tous, il était question de cette éclipse d'une manière qui laissait peu de place au doute. Le Soleil noir était censé annoncer le retour imminent de Lilit, une déesse toujours vénérée en Orient sous le nom de Niya, et l'extermination de l'espèce humaine. « Soixante vierges coiffées de couronnes dorées rempliront les vallées de rivières de sang. »
Bien que pour certains, le but que poursuivait alors le conseil des magiciens était d'utilisé les délires d’un fou pour renforcer leur pouvoir. Pour faire éclater les alliances politiques, gâcher les alliances par mariage, semer le trouble dans les dynasties ; bref, pour tirer un peu plus les ficelles des marionnettes à couronne.
While it is theorised that the cult of Lilit was started by nonhumans, its beginnings are lost to the history.[2] The eldest people known to worship her were the Wozgor, primitive tribes inhabiting regions of modern-day Mag Turga, Geso,[3] Kovir and Poviss and Hengfors League.[4] According to the tales, they used to offer their goddess blood sacrifices. When Nordling kings started establishing their realms, most of the Wozgor were either killed or forced to escape East, to which they brought the cult.
The remaining Wozgor mixed with eastern populations and the cult of Lilit transformed into a syncretic religion of Lilit-Niya.[3] It gained popularity in certain regions of Hakland but the true centre was established in Zerrikania where its matriarchal character swayed many women across the country and the elites, endangering the state religion of divine dragons.[2] In the west it became known mostly from old legends and relations of merchants from the east. Often exaggerated, those tales portrayed Niya as a demonic entity posing a threat to the world so the Eltibald's prophecy fell on a fertile ground to provoke anti-Lilit sentiments.[1]
After the Northern Wars, Lilit-Niya started to gain some followers in the Northern Kingdoms and Nilfgaardian Empire. Partially comprised of men who believed that bowing before the cruel goddess would ensure their safety during the prophesied apocalypse,[3] partially of women and children who were hurt by the horrors of war, the cult was growing quickly, eventually becoming a local opposition to the Church of the Great Sun in certain regions of the Empire.[2]
The cult is most popular in Zerrikania and has significant groups of followers in Hakland. Her temples are located underground to avoid the sunlight. In the cellars, priestesses keep lamias whom they give offerings, sometimes of human males. Men are dissallowed to enter the sacred parts of the temples in any other character than an offering – each other case is considered profane. Apart from the temples, the followers esteem various ruins as places of the goddess' rest and tend to leave there minor gifts for her.
Lilit's holidays are new moon (Black Moon's Nights) and solar and lunar eclipses. The solar eclipses are considered special and it is reported that some temples organize orgies connected with human (male) sacrifices.[2]
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