A report from the Orlmarthings who were there.
wlw
Clearwine, Waterday, Harmony, Sea 1617
We attended the Feast of Beasts at Clearwine Temple. We participated in the great processional of Ernalda and Flamal. Desrik danced with a grain goddess and pleased her. Sarlanth, Dinestan, and Orsten helped to ritually defend the sacred precinct from enemies. At the feast, we sat near ducks and a contingent of Greydogs, lead by the infamous duelist Killer Branduan. Then the young priestess Ernalsulva appeared and Sarlanth was overcome with the passion of Orlanth Veradash for her and initiated the rite of Ernalda’s Challenge. Killer Branduan tried to intervene, but we avoided bloodshed and stopped him, but we did not cool Branduan’s anger. Urnalsulva told Sarlanth that if wanted any hope to marry her, he must first return the hands of Hofstaring Treeleaper, her father, to her: that was the first of three impossible tasks he must do to win her hand. Sarlanth accepted the ritual challenge. The Feast of Beasts came to a close and we returned to the tula, taking secret paths to avoid possible ambush by the angry Greydogs. Everyone at the stead wanted to know what happened at the Feast of Beasts, but Desrik bored them to sleep.
We spent the next few days working the stead and talking to elders about what we should do.
About wlw
Flower Day
Also called Shearing Day by many clans. On this day, Ernalda awakens Voria the Spring Maiden, the Newborn who bears the energy of life forward at the new year. The priestesses and god-talkers offer sacrifices to Ernalda to awaken the powers of Earth and Fertility. The women prepare a feast for the entire community from these gifts.
About glw
Plow Blessing Day
Plow Blessing Day opens with the sacrifice of bulls. The agricultural year begins with the ritual plowing of the first fields by the clan chieftain, accompanied by the priestesses and holy women of Ernalda, who bless the fields with their songs and call upon Voria to awaken the seeds. The plowing is followed by games – traditionally including bull taming, foot races, and wrestling – which are avidly followed by unmarried women from nearby clans.
gtw
Windsday, Death Week
Our tribal king, Kangharl Kagradusson (whom many call Blackmor, for good reasons), sent a contingent of Black Spears to summon us to Clearwine Fort. We arrived to find the Colymar King in a foul mood, surrounded by Lunar advisors and sorcerers. Orsten presented him with a gift of wise rulership, which pleased him, and his mood lightened considerably. He gave us small tokens in return. He listened to our explanation of the events at Clearwine Temple, accepted them as true, and offered some support for Sarlanth’s pursuit of Ernalsulva. Blackmor advised us not to place too much trust in the doomed, old gods, however.
About exw
Honoring Day
Ernalda and all women are honored on this day with songs and gifts. While the women conduct the inner ceremonies, the men of the community prepare a great feast.
About gsw
Sword Day
The Sword Day rites of Orlanth the Warrior are unambiguously martial in nature. Priests of Orlanth make sacrifices to defend the clan and ask for help in upcoming raids. After sacrificing rams, bulls, and other war-like animals, the warriors and priests of the clan perform a mock battle sword dance to please the gods of war and to frighten off their foes.
sw
Fireday, Movement Week
The clan moot gathered to discuss Sarlanth’s dangerous and incautious initiation of Ernalda’s Challenge with a famous and powerful daughter-priestess with strong connections to the Culbrea and the Malani tribes. If the quest fails, the clan would suffer greatly. Also, the Greydogs appeared at the moot to press a lawsuit, claiming we had disrupted a marriage proposal between the Lismelder Tribe and Greenstone (to whit, the Malani) and insulted their clansmen in the process. Although their first claim was not completely untrue, our clan ring found their other claims specious and grasping. Our chieftain, Gordangar Kenstrelsson, infuriated that the Greydogs would try to press outrageous claims, angrily ordered them from the tula. Although he was right to do so, we know there will be consequences. The clan ring listened to us more intently then. Because we had shown caution in our touchy dealings with the Greydogs, because we had shrewdly managed to mollify the temper of our moody tribal king, and because a marriage between a son of Orlmarth and a daughter of Queen Entarios the Supporter and King Hofstaring Treeleaper would greatly strengthen the clan and give us powerful allies, the clan agreed to support Sarlanth’s quest.
The clan moot agreed that we may depart for Boldhome no sooner than Life Week of Fire Season. There was too much work to do on the tula right now.
Other Events
It’s Sea Season. The season began with the Earth rites on Flower Day (which we celebrated during the Feast of Beasts it Clearwine Temple). The snows on the ridges are melting, opening up the tula’s prized pastureland. The entire clan sheered the winter coats from the sheep and moved all the herds to the base of Ol’ Smoke Top (“Smokey Hill”) to be counted and blessed before the young shepherds take them up to Voriof’s Sheep Pen. The thanes aggressively patrolled the ridges and the forests for signs of thieves or worse. The carls and cottars were busy plowing the fields, which must each be blessed by the Earth Goddesses and seeded.
Everyone was busy, no one was not working, for there was a lot of work to be done as the clan recovers from winter. Roofs need thatching. Walls need mending. Someone always needs a new chicken coop built and blessed. Latrines need digging. Old hogs and bulls need butchering. Young bulls need gelding. Hundreds of fleeces need washing, drying, picking, and carding. Everyone needs new clothes sewn. Larders empty of meat need filling. It’s time to work hard so the clan can survive through the next year – and pay the Lunar Tax.
Important People We Met
Killer-Branduan Hodirson gsW
Branduan of the Hodirsons is a proud and warlike thane of the Greydog clan and has a reputation for powerful Movement Rune magic. About 25 years old, Branduan is handsome with long braided brown hair and grey eyes. He is a skilled swordsman and duelist, having earned the epithet “Killer” when he violated a king’s hospitality and cut down a hated rival in a banquet hall with his famed sword Biter. Despite that, Branduan embodies Orlanth’s virtues and highly values his and his clan’s honor.
Ernalsulva Entariosdottir exl
A beautiful young Ernaldan priestess of Greenstone and devotee of Ernalda, and the daughter of two Orlanthi heroes, Queen Entarios of Greenstone (the most powerful priestess in Sartar) and King Hofstaring Treeleaper (a great hero defeated by the Lunars). Ernalsulva is the epitome of Ernaldan beauty, with an hourglass figure, green eyes and long, reddish-brown hair.
Kangharl Kagradusson, the Blackmor gW/
The king of Colymar tribe is a complicated figure. A proud and bold thane of his kinsman and now-exiled king Kallai Rockbuster, Kangharl was a leading figure in Starbrow’s Rebellion and none could stand against him in battle. Yet two years later, he seized the leadership of the Colymar tribe from his kinswoman Leika Orlkensorsdottir with Lunar aid. The Colymar king is a big, powerful man, outstandingly skillful with arms. His face has heavy brows, ugly nose, and a dark and angry countenance. He is nicknamed “Blackmor” (an ancient slur against those kings who served the trolls after the Arkating Wars) by the members of his tribe, but never to his face, as he would likely kill anyone he heard using the term.
Acquaintances We Made
We saw Yanioth Brandgorssdottir, chief priestess and Queen of the Clearwine Temple in the processional at the Feast of Beasts.
We met two ducks, Polgo Hoarfoot and his bodyguard Nicholas Wisemustard, at the Feast of Beasts and treated them respectfully.