Lore24 Roundup 9

February 26th - March 3rd (Days 57-63)

Welcome to Lore24 Roundup 9!

We push on through the bitter A'arden winter to emerge into the realm of the beasts of A'arde; the non-magical variety, but some can be equally as scary! As always, all original posts can be found on my Mastodon.

Remember, all Lore24 posts are initial thoughts - they are not finalised at this stage!

Breakdown of Lore24 Roundup

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57. The Festival of Winterrise

58. The Month of Bleakmoot

59. Midwinter

60. Wintershield

BONUS: Eadar Amail

61. The Lepucorn

62. Tufted Rat

63. Eirinnean Wut Bat

57. The Festival of Winterrise

Winterrise is a solemn festival intended to welcome the coming winter and to pray for mild conditions for the duration. It is a time to seek the benevolence of Icyline and her daughter, Eira, as well as the blessing of Dainan, the God of Endurance. The festival also coincides with the Ice Dance, the Holy Celebration of Eira.

During Winterrise, everyone dresses in white, pale blue and silver clothing, occasionally decorated with snowflake or frost patterns, though these are more common father from the equator. Throughout the day, families and friend groups will gather to walk through the streets, each person carrying a burning candle, to an altar of ice, constructed at communal points throughout the village, town or city. Street trading is forbidden on this day because of the solemn nature of these processions. Once they have arrived at the ice altar, participants are sprinkled with iced water, blessed, and then take a moment to pray. At the end of their prayer, their candle is extinguished by dunking in iced water. Food served on this day is usually cold, including leftovers from Deadhallows feasts, and the beverage of choice is usually fruit punch or rum.

Ok, so this one was tricky, as I couldn't immediately think of anything that resembled a welcoming of winter festival in real live. My searches didn't turn up much - perhaps I was simply using the wrong keywords, but it was starting to become a bit of a problem. In the end, I actually looked to some other TTRPG setting lore for some ideas. The symbolism for this festival ended up being a little darker than I had originally intended, but for such a solemn occasion, it worked!

58. The Month of Bleakmoot

Bleakmoot is the twelfth month of the year in the northern hemisphere, and the sixth in the southern. It is the second month of the Season of Winter and its name is a reflection of the dark and dour days of the month. Bleakmoot features the public holidays of Midwinter and Wintershield.

Bleakmoot is a dark and cold month generally, with exceptions along the equator, and most folks remain indoors to hide and protect themselves from the cold. Preparations are focused on the festivals of Midwinter and Wintershield, and the latter half of the month in the northern hemisphere focuses on Eadar-Amail. Bleakmoot is generally a wet month, featuring a lot of rain, sleet, snow and hail, and some have referred to it as "the Month of Trials". Postal communication is heavily disrupted in areas experiencing blizzards or heavy rains, and many high-elevation populations are completely inaccessible.

Bleakmoot is associated with the Seasonal Aspect of Darkness. Spells that inhibit the senses are more potent during this month, while rituals completed in complete darkness experience an increase in potency. The deity associated with Bleakmoot is Icyline, the Goddess of Winter, Frost, Change and Isolation.

The cold and bitter winter... even in modern times we struggle to face what challenges the season has to bring. Imagine now that there are no snow ploughs, no digital communication, no gas-fired central heating... a truly dark time indeed. But there is still hope in the darkness, right?

59. Midwinter

Midwinter, also known as the Feast of Deadwinter, observes the central point of the winter season, and is a chance to share hopes and dreams for the future. It is a family celebration that honours light and love in dark times.

Homes are decorated with handcrafted ornaments made from holly, ivy, evergreen, mistletoe, birch, oak, yew and handpicked, dried elderflowers and elder leaves. Wreaths of oak twigs, holly leaves, and sweetgrass are hung on doors, while homes that can accommodate them will bring in an evergreen pine holiday tree to decorate with ornaments and ribbons. These can include woven stars and suns, baked gingerbread biscuits and sprigs of brightly tied winter flowers. Feasts of boar, ox and turkey are common, while drinks are spiced with winter flavours, such as orange, clove, cinnamon and winter apple. During the day, gifts of food are made to the less fortunate, while offerings to Gods and Spirits are made at winter altars. At night, folks gather around a large fire to burn a Deadwinter Log, share a feast, drink spiced alcohol and sing songs to ward away bad luck, evil spirits and fiends, including Kholkaeryn.

Midwinter and Wintershield are based around Yule celebrations, split across two days and with Midwinter focusing more on the reflection side of Yule, and Wintershield the gift-giving! It's a bit like our Christmas and Boxing Day!

60. Wintershield

Wintershield occurs the day immediately after Deadwinter, and is a celebration of the passing of Midwinter. It is a day of hope and cheer, and is considered another family-focused festival.

The festival is characterised by feasting and the exchanging of gifts. Cornbread and plum pudding are popular food choices, along with leftovers from the day before, while the beverage of choice is generally buttered rum. Gifts can include good luck tokens carved from oak or birch, useful items for the year ahead, or decorative items made from silver (usually between lovers). Some individuals may spend a great deal of money to buy the perfect Wintershield gift. Hopes and dreams for the coming year are carved or burned into small wooden blocks or written on paper, and then burned in a fire scented with cinnamon to bring good luck and prosperity.

Wintershield is also a day for seeking visions of the year to come; medicinal broths can be used to bring about visions, or some may attempt vision rites using a black mirror. It is considered good luck to hang a map over the fireplace during Wintershield.

Yes, "medicinal broths", I know... But in parts of the world that is honestly a custom, and I liked the idea of seeking visions in the darkest parts of winter to help prepare for the year ahead! Additionally, the gifts noted here are only what is typical, if other things can be afforded, then they will be!

BONUS: Eadar Amail

In A'arde, New Year takes place over a period of five days known as Eadar-Amail, or "The Transitioning". During this time (between Bleakmoot and Wintersun in the Northern Hemisphere and Goldrise and Firewane in the Southern), and for reasons that remain unclear to this day, the Weave Wells across the world enter a period of unstable activity, and it becomes exceedingly dangerous to attempt magics above the First Level. Portals between worlds become perilous to traverse, and beings not of this world become temporarily restricted, or cut off completely, from their sources of power as a result. Because of this, many beings of this nature tend to return to their Realms and abandon A'arde during this time, in order to prevent their own accidental destruction. Only Arcania, the Goddess of Magic, has been known to remain on A'arde during this time, and it is theorised that she does so in order to strengthen and repair the Weave to prevent the collapse of magic and the instigation of pure Chaos.

During these five days, the use of magic is restricted within cities, and many of the villages shun its usage completely. Caretakers of Weave Wells will often close off all unnecessary access to the Wells, shops will close for the full five days and buildings will be reinforced against physical incursion. Additionally, most folks will avoid travelling during these five days, as the Weave Wells will send out magical anomalies that make regular travelling dangerous. It is not uncommon to see entire households barricading themselves into their homes to avoid these magical anomalies for the full five days, only entering the streets in case of dire emergencies, and then re-entering daily life when Eadar-Amail is over.

It is common for families to gather for these five days, to talk about the year just passed and what plans are for the year ahead. Small altars are set up in the home to “help guide the Gods and Spirits back” at the end of the Transitional Period, charms made of iron and protective herbs (such as hyssop, holly, mistletoe and mugwort) and woven wreaths made of onions are placed on doors to ward off negative energies and evil spirits that may have become trapped in the Material Plane. Food and drink is kept simple, in order to ensure that nobody needs to travel outside unnecessarily, and often consists of simple but hearty stews, bread, cheese, dried meats and honeyed meads.

Eadar-Amail was one of the first things I wrote about, back when I was starting to craft A'arden Lore. For this reason, it is a bit more developed than the other entries, so I didn't feel comfortable using it in Lore24 - it felt like cheating! However, I wanted to share it here with everyone so you could see the complete A'arden year.

61. The Lepucorn

A lepucorn is a horned rabbit most commonly found in forested regions. It is a generally shy creature, but can become aggressive during mating season or when a female has kits in the nest. Lepucorns are herbivores and will eat grasses, seeds, fruit and vegetables. When fresh greens are in ample supply, lepucorns don't need to drink much water, but should their food supply become lessened they will drink more. Lepucorns hibernate during the winter and are most active in the early morning and late afternoon. If a lepucorn has to fight, it primarily uses its horns, followed by its bite and kicks. Lepucorn spittle is mildly toxic but not fatal, with bites generally causing an itchy rash.

There are two types of lepucorn: the pronghorn and the smoothhorn. Pronghorns have pronged antlers like stags, while smoothhorns have sweeping, unpronged antlers like antelope. Males and females both have horns and there is little difference in size. The most common coat colours are black, brown, grey and tan, and their eyes are usually brown or amber. The largest known lepucorn reached 12 inches in length, and they are known to be very fast creatures.

The Lepucorn is basically a variant of the Jackelope, but I always hated the name. This is because a typical jackelope uses a rabbit's body and stag antlers, but the name comes from Jackrabbit (a type of hare, not rabbit) and antelope (which has completely different horns!). That kind of thing tends to make my sensibilities prickle, so I coined the name "lepucorn", from lepus (rabbit) and cornu (horn).

62. Tufted Rat

Also known as the Lion Rat, the Tufted Rat is a domesticated rat that has become a popular pet amongst the upper-middle classes and Nobility. Tufted Rats are the longest-living of all rats, reaching six years on average, though the oldest known lived to the ripe old age of ten. However, Tufted Rats are not able to survive for long in wild environments and they are entirely dependent on their owners. Despite this dependency, Tufted Rats are very intelligent creatures with an incredible memory. They are able to learn tricks, perform simple tasks and can identify individuals with great ease. Tufted Rats are omnivorous, but require a balanced diet as they are prone to preferential eating. They will also overeat if bored. Tufted Rats are more likely to run than fight, though they are still capable of giving a nasty nip if necessary. They are social and playful animals that love to engage with toys and puzzles.

Tufted Rats are the largest of the standard rats, reaching 10-12 inches body length with an average tail length of 8-10 inches. Their fur colours are usually white, golden, tan or champagne, and they have a distinctive mane of soft, fluffy hair about their necks and a tuft on the tip of their tail. Females are generally smaller with smoother manes.

Tufted-tailed rats are a thing in real life (native to Madagascar) and they are super adorable. They tend to look more like mice or gerbils, I think, but I thought the idea of a chonky rat with a big old mane sounded adorable! I actually really quite like rats, though my mother hates them, and would love to have one as a pet. One of the PCs in my Sunday game has a pet sewer rat that decided to stick around when he discovered that getting doted on was far more preferable to being constantly hunted and starving!

63. Eirinnean Wut Bat

First recorded on the forest and woodland regions of western Eirinn, the Eirinnean Wut Bat is a fairly common sight throughout the continent, but is absent from the Isle of Swords, Farthest Reach and the colder northern areas. Reaching an average of 4-5 years of age, these bats are nocturnal creatures that feed on midges, moths and other flying insects. They hunt using echolocation and rarely have to fly far to find food. Eirinnean Wut Bats roost in tree holes barns, roof spaces, and even crafted roosting boxes, usually in small colonies. They hibernate over the winter (Frostrise to the end of Rainmoot) but have been seen hunting on dry, warm nights during this period, particularly closer to the equator. Eirinnean Wut Bats are generally curious and friendly creatures that have no issues with flying close to Humanoids and Demihumans, including around cities. They are harmless; incapable of delivering anything more than a short sting with their bite.

Eirinnean Wut Bats reach 3.5-4.5cm in length and have a wingspan of 20-23cm, making them one of the smallest known bats. Their fur is light brown with dark patches on their faces and legs, while their skin is dark brown to black. They can be identified by sound as well, usually interspersing chittering and squeaks with a distinctive bark, "wut", from which they gained their name.

The name of this bat comes from a long-standing joke at my expense, really! One night a pipistrelle bat flew over my head, practically dive-bombing me, and made a funny noise which I described to my husband as sounding like a squeaky "wut" sound. He thought this was hilarious and has been teasing me about my impression ever since!

Stay tuned for more as we begin to explore Non-Magical Beasts in earnest!