When Maharet and Mekare are still mortal witches in ancient Israel, before ancient Egypt’s construction of the Pyramids, nearly four thousand years before the Common Era, their family can count back fifty generations of witches, to the era of the world that they refer to as the Time Before the Moon. Totaling anywhere from seventy-five hundred years to nine thousand years before the Common Era, it is an epoch of Earth’s history before the moon entered the sky. At the time, the Taltos live on a paradisiacal island, in perfect harmony with one another and with the land, and Amel has constructed the city of Atlantis from his luracastria creation to protect mortals from the exploitation of the Bravennans. When the moon finally ascends into the sky, the Time Before the Moon ends, and horrific floods, gale-force storms, and tumultuous earthquakes ensue. The Taltos flee their island, witches take shelter in Mount Carmel, Atlantis falls into the ocean, and Amel dies, though his spirit drifts on the etheric plane until fused with the blood of Queen Akasha.
The Time Before the Moon is referenced in The Queen of the Damned (1988). For more perspectives on the Time Before the Moon in the Vampire Chronicles, read the Alphabettery entries Maharet and Mekare.