Each year there is a great Harvest Festival in Kern that is a deeply Holy time for the faith of Pracalam, there is no set date to the event but it occurs in the latter part oft he year, in the Autumn days of Tharinos. Extracts of written works by those that went to the first festival in 2018 are as follows:
The First Festival of Kern
by Armeg Kilner, Bethylakian, Scribe and Romantic
The weather was crisp, chill perhaps, but that did not deter the thronging people who turned out to the fields in their tens of thousands to witness the great Harvest Festival of Kern under the wisdom and guidance of Pracalam, husband to Yarrianne and father of the people. Huge fields had been cleared for the celebration as crops were bought in from the fields which included prayer gatherings to Pracalam and the rest of the Eleven, gifts for the Gillieabad and swathes of Bards ready to pass the stories in across the townships of Kern, to keep the festival alive and moving. Interestingly there must have been at least five thousand Taoists and other guests from across the Royal Basin who included fringe worshippers of Pracalam who have been growing across the country since he joined his wife in the heavens.
The famous also joined the local with sightings of Katarina ni Gaothain who is the head of the House of the Last word: She danced and sang with members of the Church of the Eleven and I believe gave voice to the Minstrel or Troubador, more on that entity shortly. Equally Jack Spears put on a College show that hasn’t been seen in many generations with illusionists aiding the bards in the telling of the stories of the defeat of the Daemons in the Shadowed lands. There was a lot of power in this which has led to the investigation by the Colleges and the Tao into the Shadowing which is mentioned, again, later. Alongside these two guild heads were also none other than the Prime minister and Baron of Kern, Mallory de Mandeville who laid on special guards for the area and also heroes of the land in the form, for example, of such worthies as Alianwyn Tallow performing music and song from his own repertoire.
The Blessings that were given through these activities served to provide not only a huge increase in food crop but trade was also a roaring success. The boatmen of the scourge reported favourable currents meaning that many vessels arrived days early and had plenty of time to prepare themselves. Everything was superbly organised by the Reeves of the Royal Basin that were provided by the new Baron and everyone truly enjoyed the many speeches and ceremonies that were given. Specifically the mentions of the new Earl of Haven, the new Baron of Kern and of course, one of the peoples favourites, the chains of office for Jack Spears the Protector of Kern, who abseiled down from his dirigible, “The Protector”, and then delighted the younger children by burning many of the professionally assembled centrepieces at the ceremony. But these were not the strangest of the happenings of the many days of festival as reports were rife throughout by many sober and drunk patrons of two unusual phenomena that have been dubbed already by the experts:
The Minstrel/Troubadour
This being is a tall creature whose voice is heard first as it mimics the melodies that it has overheard in nearby. It seems to summon a shimmering circle of beings around itself, which people have likened to Fae, who dance to the sound of the singing. People hearing the noise report a sense of wellbeing and a need to enter the woodland to seek the Minstrel but upon venturing further within that all activity there ceases. Many seek answers as to who or what this mysterious figure is and how it has come into being for it has been seen on several occasions even after the festival had ended.
The Shadowing Reported in the deeper parts of the Wyld lands this effect seems to lengthen and deepen the Shadows of the woodland there. Strange skulking things have been seen in the woodland there akin to Daemons and unusual guttural voices are said to accompany them. None has thus far dare to enter and follow these beings but reports are that the voices call out for Sourcerers to come to them in the darkness, others that they call for Sarkith and others still that they have seen the very castle of bone itself there.
Holly Goodall
Leave a Reply