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I could say I was coordinating this with Thanksgiving, but in fact it has just been a busy month, and I have finally carved out time to write this.  This is my contribution to this month’s RPG Blog Carnival hosted this month by Of Dice and Dragons and this month’s theme is Feasts and Festivals.

Celebrations, feasts, and festivals are quite common across the Sea of Stars.

Let us start with the simple fact that dragons love feasts! Most dragons take the opportunity to eat (and overeat) in public as a sign of power, status, and wealth. Be they in human(oid) or draconic form, the feast as public spectacle is one of the more common ways to be able to see one of the dragons in the lands their rule.

Depending on the dragon, on how often such feasts are undertaken, and not all dragons care to display their hunger to the masses, others, preferring only guests of status, are willing to let rumors of their fabulous meals suffice. Most such feasts are on regular schedules as it takes time to gather and prepare the huge amounts of food that will be consumed. So, such grand undertakings are most commonly a yearly event, but biyearly or even seasonal feasts are not unknown.

The feasts are lavish, often to the point of extreme extravagance, with exotic foods imported from the far corners of the Sea of Stars.  Such feasts are an opportunity to sell rare and unusual ingredients and for chiefs and cooks to gain (or lose) their reputation.

Some examples:

The matriarch of House Sharaza (Silver Sea) hosts a ‘Feast of all the Seas’ every year. The only requirement is that all of the food served comes from the sea in some fashion; everything from whales to seaweed, octopi to sea birds, are potential menu items. There is money and reputations to be earned by those willing to take risk and put in the work.

While the quarterly ‘Feast of Submission’ to the Tyrant Baishmat is more gruesome. Following a lavish meal, one of the teenage children of the nobility is consumed, alive by the Tyrant as a reminder of who rules. Naturally, the Tyrant hated by all, and many wish it dead, but it is a dragon. If you wish such a task, there are alliances to be made, and a Tyrant to be slain, but it will not be easy.

Now, there are many festivals, and most of them were originally religious in nature, and have been . . . adapted under the watchful eyes of the dragons.

Many places have a yearly March of the Dead, a day to remember ancestors and those that have died in the last year. Usually, pictures of those to be remembered are paraded through the settlement, graves, and memorial markers are cleaned. Families gather over a meal to share stories of the dead. For most cultures it is a somber day but some use it as an excuse to party.

In the Eosiant Kingdom, there is the yearly ‘Selection of the Sun’ where young candidates from across Kingdom are tested, physically, mentally, and spiritually, and the top two are sent to personally serve the Sun. Being selected to compete is a great honor and winning is even more of one, so there is a lot of politicking and maneuvering around both stages. The contests are watched, discussed, and, yes, bet upon. The entire set of events takes place over twelve days with lesser contests happening as well.

References to existing festivals in the Sea of Stars: The Empress’ Birthday and Port Day.

Notes: That is all I have inspiration for at the moment but may try for more later.

Image Village feast by Teniers nuorempi / den yngre / the Younger, David – Finnish National Gallery, Finland – CC0.

https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/2025/11/27/feasts-and-celebrations-in-the-sea-of-stars-rpg-blog-carnival/

http://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/?p=27369