Today the people of %cn are having the New Life Festival
in celebration of a new year. The Emperor has ordered yet another
tax increase in his New Life Address, and there is much grumbling
about this. Still, despite financial difficulties, the New Life
tradition of free ale at all the taverns in the %ct continues.
The people of %cn certainly know how to hold a celebration ...&
The 15th of Morning Star is a holiday taken very
seriously in %cn, where they call it South Wind's Prayer,
a plea by all the religions of Tamriel for a
good planting season. Citizens with every affliction known
in Tamriel flock to services in the %ct's
%tem temple, as the clergy is known to perform free healings
on this day. The people know that only a few will be judged
worthy of this service, but few can afford the %tem's usual
price...&
Today is the 16th of Sun's Dawn, a holiday celebrated all over
Tamriel as Heart's Day. It seems that in every house, the Legend
of the Lovers is being sung for the younger generation. In honor
of these Lovers, Polydor and Eloisa, the inns of the %ct offer a
free room for visitors. If such kindness had been given the Lovers,
it is said, it would always be springtime in the world.&
On the 7th of First Seed every year, the people of %cn celebrate First
Planting, symbolically sowing the seeds for the autumn harvest. It is
a festival of fresh beginnings, both for the crops and for the men
and women of the %ct. Neighbors are reconciled in their disputes,
resolutions are formed, bad habits dropped, the diseased cured. The
clerics at the %tem run a free clinic all day long to cure people of
poisoning, different diseases, paralyzation, and the other banes found
in the world of Arena.&
Be warned that today is Jester's Day in the %ct of %cn,
and pranks are being set up from one end of town to the other.
It is as if a spell has been cast over the community, for even the
most taciturn and dignified councilman might attempt to play a
joke on his %t. The Thieves Guild finds particular attention
as everyone looks for pickpockets in particular.&
The celebration of Second Planting is in full glory this
day. It is a holiday with traditions similar to First Planting,
improvements on the first seeding symbolically to suggest
improvements on the soul. The free clinic of
the %tem is open for the second and last time this year, offering cures
for those suffering from any kind of disease or affliction.
Because peace and not conflict is stressed at this time, battle
injuries are healed only at full price.&
Today is the 16th of Mid Year, the traditional day for the Mid Year
Celebration. Perhaps to alleviate the annual news of the Emperor's
latest tax increase, the %ct temples offer blessings for only half the
donation they usually suggest. Many so blessed feel confident enough to
enter the %lp dungeons when they are not fully prepared, so this
joyous festival has often been known to turn suddenly into a day of defeat
and tragedy.&
The bargain shoppers of the known world are out in force today and it is
little wonder, for the 10th of Sun's Height is a holiday called the
Merchants' Festival. Every marketplace and equipment store has dropped
their prices to at least half. The only shop not being patronized today
is the Mages Guild, where prices are as exorbitant as usual. Most
citizens in need of a magical item are waiting two months for the
celebration of Tales and Tallows when prices will be more reasonable...&
You will have to wait until tomorrow if you are planning on
making any equipment purchases, for all stores are closed in
observance of Sun's Rest. Of course, the temples, taverns, and
Mages Guild in the %ct are still open their regular hours,
but most citizens chose to devote this day to relaxation, not
commerce or prayer. This is not a convenient arrangement for
all, but the Merchants' Guild heavily fines any shop that stays
open, so everyone complies.&
Perhaps no other festival fires the spirit of the %ct of
%cn as much as the one held today, Harvest's End. The work of the
year is over, the seeding, sowing, and reaping. Now is the time
to celebrate and enjoy the fruits of the harvest, and even visitors
to the %ct are invited to join the farmers. The taverns offer
free drinks all day long, an extravagance before the
economy of the coming winter months. Underfed farm hands gorging
themselves and then getting sick in the town square are the most
common sights of the celebration of Harvest's End.&
No other holiday divides the people of %cn like the 3rd of
Hearth Fire. A few of the oldest, more superstitious men
and women do not speak all day long for fear that the
evil spirits of the dead will enter their bodies. Most
citizens enjoy the holiday, calling it Tales and Tallows,
but even the most lighthearted avoid the dark streets of %cn,
for everyone knows the dead do walk tonight. Only the Mages
Guild completely thrives on this day. In celebration of the
oldest magical science, necromancy, all magical items are
half price today.&
Today is the 13th of Frostfall, known throughout Tamriel
as the Witches' Festival when the forces of sorcery and
religion clash. The Mages Guild gets most of the business since
weapons and items are evaluated for their mystic potential
free of charge and magic spells are one half their usual
price. Demonologists, conjurors, lamias, warlocks, and
thaumaturgists meet in the wilderness outside %cn, and the
creatures created or summoned there may plague Tamriel
for eons. Most wise men choose not to wander this night.&
Once the 30th of Frostfall, the Emperor's Birthday, was
the most popular holiday of the year. Great traveling
carnivals entertained the masses, while the aristocracy of %cn
enjoyed the annual Goblin Chase on horseback. Recently,
these traditions have fallen into neglect. It has been decades
since there was a big carnival in %cn and longer still since a
%t of the %ct sponsered a Goblin Chase. It is rumored that the
Emperor has even begun refusing any audience.&
Today is the 20th of Sun's Dusk, the Warriors Festival in
%cn. Most all the local warriors, spellswords, and rogues come to the
%ct's equipment stores and blacksmiths where all weapons
are half price. Unfortunately, the low prices also tempt many an
untrained boy to buy his first sword and the normally quiet %cn
streets ring with amateur skirmishes. The %t has pardoned most of
these ruffians in the past, but has promised to be less merciful
this year.&
Today is the 15th of Evening Star, a holiday reverently observed
by the %tem as North Wind's Prayer. It is a thanksgiving to the Gods
for a good harvest and a mild winter. Some years, like this one,
the harvest was not particularly good and the winter unseasonally
harsh in %cn, but as the %t is fond of saying, "It could be much
worse." The temples offer all their services blessing, curing,
healing for half the donation usually requested.&
On the last day of the year the Empire celebrates the
holiday called Old Life. Many go to the temples to reflect
on their past. Some go for more than this, for it is rumored
that priests will as the last act of the year perform
resurrections on beloved friends and family members free
of the usual charge. Worshippers know better than to expect this
philanthropy, but they arrive in a macabre procession with
the recently deceased nevertheless.&
Game images and texts are Copyright Bethesda Softworks
