abraxaslogs | The Dimming

The Dimming - Thorne

Throughout the Kingdom of Thorne, the Dimming is begun. This festival, held in harmony with the annual cycle of the seasons and the slide of the Singularity into temporary dormancy, is a celebration of two halves. The mood is generally somber and reflective in the days leading to the winter solstice itself, with the promise of a fantastic explosion of life, light and renewal waiting on the other side.

A Hymn for the Night

The Festival begins with song. As the sun goes down across the Kingdom, a many-layered hymn the Summoned have never heard begins to rise up from the streets. The words are strange and arcane, but everyone in Thorne seems to know them. Young, old, rich and poor alike all watch the darkness fall together, each holding the flickering light of a candle as they sing an ancient promise to be light for one another.

In distant Hayle, the bitter cold has the congregants gathering in the tunnels built into the mountainside.

Borrel sees the farmhouses scattered among the fields linked to the central barracks with military processions.

Lamplight scatters on the water as a flotilla of fishing vessels line up along the lakeshore of Nott.

And in Castle Thorne, the King and Queen step out onto the royal balcony to join the ceremony with a heavily gilded lantern each.

For the week to come as the days continue to grow shorter and dimmer, all of Thorne makes the lofty pledge to rely not on the convenience of magic, but on the kindness of others. Enchantments providing light, heat and many other necessities are dispelled, replaced for the season with their mundane counterparts. Many households bring out heirloom lanterns from storage, blow the dust from tools ordinarily rendered obsolete with the simplest word of a spell and get ready for a week of wholesome back-to-basics contemplation.

Street vendors set up stalls with intricate votives and lanterns for sale alongside strengthening mugs of richly spiced mulled wine and baskets of sweetbread. Shadow puppet storytellers delight children with tales of brave Thornean heroes of old, knights accompanying a temporarily weakened mage as she carries the hope of light returning back to its source of the Singularity, fending off attack from monstrous creatures wreathed in darkness. And as midnight falls, a procession of volunteers carry candles to ring the city walls themselves in light: a hundred flickering flames to guard against the night until dawn.

The Winding Thread

The following morning, anyone who listened carefully to the words of the song will realize the Thread the Thorneans made reference to wasn't strictly metaphorical. Symbolising interconnectedness, a long, continuous cord has been strung in a winding path through the labyrinth of each city’s streets— and it isn’t long before each begins gathering colourful ribbons tied like fluttering bunting all along its length. During the Dimming, Thorneans write their wishes on these strips of fabric and affix them to the Thread... while others choose to take a ribbon from it as a vow to make that wish come true by the season’s end.

Few in Thorne believe in gods these days, but according to tradition there is unusual and bountiful luck to be found in answering another’s prayer. Should any of the Summoned ask at any of the streetside vendors for a ribbon of their own, they will be invited to write a wish and tie it to the Thread wherever they like (Don’t forget to sign it so anyone inspired to generosity knows how to find you, though!). They are also welcome to claim any already hanging there if they would like to do a little good for others in the spirit of the season.

The Empty Throne

Every community across the Kingdom has its own Thread, but the courtyard of Castle Thorne itself is the true focal point of the season’s festivities. Set up on a raised platform is a richly gilded throne, notably empty, and as the Dimmest Day approaches the courtyard begins to fill with offerings.

Laid before the throne is an ever-growing carpet of gifts. Candles in decorative lanterns, wreaths and garlands, hampers of food, bottles of wine, some with carefully written cards nestled beside them while others are accompanied by a child’s drawing. These gifts come not only from the residents of the castle and the surrounding town, but also from settlements further afield. Each of the great cities has sent something in tribute— but not to the King, the Queen, or even the High Mage. The throne is not for them.

Any of the Summoned curious enough to peek at a card or ask one of their hosts about the ceremony will discover the gifts are all intended for a mage selected to carry an impossible burden, sacrificing their life to restore magic to the world.

New Dawn's Day

(Coming soon! The events of December 21st and beyond will depend on player actions...)

OOC: Event #5: The Dimming

LOG: Thorne | The Free Cities | Solvunn

PvP: The Mission to the Singularity

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Who wants the cops hanging around, anyway?

[ Yes, he is training with the guards, but that doesn't mean he is one. Ronan inches closer, dropping his voice low: ]

It's better to be forgotten by the royal family. You've got the right idea, staying away for now.

Not most of Nott, there...there is a lot of crime.

[One of the reasons Nadine would prefer to be able to protect herself. There's a lot of rough sorts in Nott, and they don't exactly live in a nice part of town. They can't afford the nice part of town. In a way, it's not that different than those hubs and and Larry had found along the way to Boulder. Keep your stuff close, keep it locked up if you can, be careful of strangers...]

Oh?

[Nadine follows suit, stepping close. She offers her arm for Ronan and inclines her head down the street.]

Come on, let's take a little walk.

[ Ronan's eyebrows lift in surprise at the invitation, but he takes Nadine's arm anyway. Though he doesn't usually project the comportment of a gentleman, he's betrayed by his years of elite private schooling, his bearing reflexively and unintentionally graceful now that he's escorting her. ]

I don't have a lot of details. I've just got a feeling the mages and the royals don't trust each other

Oh?

[Nadine keeps her own voice low, trying to project the image of just two friends strolling along and enjoying the festival.]

I thought the mages work for the royal family. I never had anything to do with the royal family, but I spent a lot of time around the apprentice mages...I never noticed anything, but then again, I've gotten really used to the very open dislike of the royal family down in Nott. But it's hard to tell if that sentiment is genuine or just that whoever's in charge is a real easy target to lay blame for everything on.

[Nott's anti-royal sentiment is prevalent but often sounds to her like they've become a scapegoat. Anything goes wrong, someone's finding a way to blame who's in charge. Especially with the lack of official presence in the city. It's difficult to cut through to the truth.]

I've never dealt with the royal family, either.

[ Thankfully. ]

But that's the thing, right? You'd think they'd wanna get involved. Check out the merchandise, at least. Do you know what rich fuckers in my world do when they find out what I can do? They hire armies to try and find me. I'm a golden fucking goose and Their Majesties are just letting me walk around, free to do whatever. So do they not give a shit?

[ He would love it if that were the case. Really, he would. ]

Or is it just that they don't know about it? Do they not know what they have because the High Mage isn't telling them? And if he's not telling them... Why not?

And no one's come poking around Nott for anyone who left. There's been nothing. One of my group even went and talked to the guy in charge down there, Lord Vela, and said he wasn't concerned about us being there, he wasn't afraid of any reprisal from Thorne, and that he had no intention of sending anyone back. But he talked about the royal family, not the mages. Or whatever he said about the mages wasn't important enough to be repeated.

[Nadine gives a little half shrug. So who is pulling the strings? Did the mages and the actual government have different designs on them? Why was her little band apparently not worth the effort to travel a week to collect, but worth hauling in from a whole other dimension?

And why did Nott just calmly take them in, with promises that they were safe? What designs does Nott have?]

I...don't like any of this.

[ These are all big questions, and it's never been Ronan's job to answer the big questions. Until Bryde came along, no one even asked him. But ignoring all that stuff is exactly how Ronan ended up where he did, so as much as he hates to wonder about this shit, he can't keep shrugging it off. ]

A few of us are in position here. We're moving up the ranks. We're keeping an eye on things. If anything happens, we've always got the Horizon. None of us can get in real trouble as long as we've got that.

The Horizon won't protect our physical bodies.

[Nadine has to point it out. Worst case scenarios need to be taken into consideration. There's an urgent note in her voice, and a look of worry in her eyes. It's easy to consider the Horizon safe, but she has her doubts that it's completely safe.

She has her doubts that anything or anywhere here is completely safe.]

My people and I have talked about this. If you ever use the Horizon as an escape or as a sanctuary, you have to make sure your physical body is protected while you're in there.

[ He is the last person who needs reminding that his body is vulnerable while he's fucking around on the astral plane. ]

Why do you think I hate going there?

[ Other than the way it feels like dreaming with his hands tied. ]

What I mean is, the second one of us is in danger, everyone else can know about it. There's no way for these people to keep us from telling their secrets when we have a whole world that's just ours. Being able to get the warning out makes all the difference.

Okay, good. I'm sorry if I sound paranoid, I just...I worry.

[Nadine sighs.]

I worry about you, up here, in the thick of it.

[He's too young to have to deal with all of this. It doesn't matter to her what he's used to or what he can arguably handle, he still shouldn't have to deal with all of this. And there's so much they don't know, don't understand.]

And I know, you can take care of yourself, but I'm still going to worry.

[ That's not exactly new. Anyone who doesn't want Ronan dead has good reason to worry about him. But that doesn't make it any less surprising that Nadine is so preoccupied with concern for him. He hasn't been anything other than a pain in the ass for her. The distance should have made it easy to banish him from her thoughts, like it did for his brothers and his boyfriend. ]

This is the safest place I've ever been.

[ If that's any consolation. ]

[It isn't much of one. It's not that safe a place, and for it to be the safest...

But Nadine can understand. Her own 'safest place' had hardly been, but that's how it goes sometimes.]

You do look good. Healthy. And...I've got to say, you do look happy. I'm still going to worry about you, though, you can't stop me. I...warmed up to you a lot, when I lived at the castle.

[He's a good kid. She'd shared a home with him for months, of course she'd warmed to him. And every now and then some little look in his eye or tilt of his head puts her in mind of Joe. An older Joe, but still.]

Lloyd's come up, too, by the way. He's...somewhere around here.

[ Having never once been able to convince someone to stop worrying about him when they're determined to keep doing it, Ronan doesn't even try to talk Nadine out of it. His mouth twitches into a small, almost sheepish smile before he glances away. ]

Getting shit-faced? I'd probably be right there with him if I didn't have someplace to be tomorrow.

The Dimming - Thorne

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