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mpr_daily_download_feedMauro Giuliani - Variations on a Theme by Handel
Ricardo Gallen, guitar
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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.
notalwaysrelated_feedRead Who Naps BEFORE The Turkey?!
Mom: “Are you coming to dinner today? You went back to sleep?! Get ready! Dinner is in one hour.”
ndrosennotalwaysworking_feedRead When The Job Expects You To Toe The Line
Me: "I'm going to be late. I'm at the hospital."
I explain the situation, but my boss seems unconvinced.
Boss: "How convenient that you broke your toe before your Black Friday shift."
sharonlee_feedSo, Thanksgiving.
Went to work early and wrote, eh, 700ish words on the story that woke me up yesterday. Closed that and wrote another 800ish words on the WIP.
Made a fancy dinner — two chicken breasts, stuffing, gravy, asparagus, San Pellegrino Limonata with a splash of Pinot Grigio. I had dessert on hand, but I went back to write some more, at which point, there was a BOOM! that shook the whole house and the windows in their frames. The cats leapt up. I leapt up. Honestly, I thought a tree had hit the house, and ran outside — but all was well. Did a quick tour of the house, including the basement — all was as it should be.
Turned out that a propane tank had exploded in Oakland (Maine) about 5 miles from my house. People on the neighborhood list on Facebook were saying they heard the BOOM! in Winslow, across the river — call it 8 miles away. The house was reduced to flinders and flame, one guy was lifeflighted to Portland. A dog was found in the area, badly burned; people passing by took him to the emergency vet. Fire departments from at least five towns were called in. It’s a right mess, and I’m glad I was no closer than five miles, because it was plenty scary right here.
Tomorrow morning, Sarah’s due to clean. After, I intend to devote myself to My Art for the rest of Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
I do still have one burning question to resolve today, which is!
Do I want to have a chicken sandwich for dinner?
Hope everybody had a good day, whether or not it was a holiday.
Today’s blog post title brought to you by Marc Cohn, “Silver Thunderbird“
rolanniSo, Thanksgiving.
Went to work early and wrote, eh, 700ish words on the story that woke me up yesterday. Closed that and wrote another 800ish words on the WIP.
Made a fancy dinner -- two chicken breasts, stuffing, gravy, asparagus, San Pellegrino Limonata with a splash of Pinot Grigio. I had dessert on hand, but I went back to write some more, at which point, there was a BOOM! that shook the whole house and the windows in their frames. The cats leapt up. I leapt up. Honestly, I thought a tree had hit the house, and ran outside -- but all was well. Did a quick tour of the house, including the basement -- all was as it should be.
Turned out that a propane tank had exploded in Oakland (Maine) about 5 miles from my house. People on the neighborhood list on Facebook were saying they heard the BOOM! in Winslow, across the river -- call it 8 miles away. The house was reduced to flinders and flame, one guy was lifeflighted to Portland. A dog was found in the area, badly burned; people passing by took him to the emergency vet. Fire departments from at least five towns were called in. It's a right mess, and I'm glad I was no closer than five miles, because it was plenty scary right here.
Tomorrow morning, Sarah's due to clean. After, I intend to devote myself to My Art for the rest of Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
I do still have one burning question to resolve today, which is!
Do I want to have a chicken sandwich for dinner?
Hope everybody had a good day, whether or not it was a holiday.
Today's blog post title brought to you by Marc Cohn, "Silver Thunderbird"
sharonlee_feedTali had some Sekrits to tell me at breakfast:
The long back yard:
Dressed for success:
Coon cats at work:
Feast:
Glass in the sun
notalwaysworking_feedRead No Such Thing As A Silent Night
Our coffee place was swamped all day on Thanksgiving. I don't know why, but so many customers felt that they just HAD to be here on this holiday, and everyone wanted complicated versions of the seasonal drinks. Whatever.
We're finally closed, and we've started cleaning the place.
Manager: "Okay, we survived Thanksgiving. Now I need to enact this policy I received from corporate."
notalwaysworking_feedRead Minimum Wage, Minimum Effort: Thanksgiving Edition
Me: "It's just, I already had Thanksgiving booked off and approved. The trip is booked and paid for."
Boss: "I don't know what to tell you. You read the new policy. There's no guarantee that you'll have your time off approved."
Me: "Even though it was already approved?"
notalwaysworking_feedRead Is This Clerk The Mindreader Customers Have Been Seeking?!
Clerk: "Oh, look at that! It's so pretty!"
Me: "Isn't it nice? And it was the last one left!"
Clerk: "I can't find a price or a barcode on it."
Read Is This Clerk The Mindreader Customers Have Been Seeking?!
ndrosennotalwaysrelated_feedRead She’ll Probably Run Into This Problem Vegan And Again, Part 5
Enter my cousin, back from her first semester away at college. She took one look at all of the frantic activity happening in the kitchen where my sister, our mom, and I were hard at work, wrinkled her nose, and asked in kind of a snotty tone of voice if anything was vegan.
Read She’ll Probably Run Into This Problem Vegan And Again, Part 5
notalwaysfriendly_feedRead A-Salted For Thanksgiving
I’m hosting a small Friendsgiving at my apartment. It's nothing fancy, with just six of us, a turkey, and a few side dishes everyone’s bringing.
One guest, a woman I have only met a handful of times, insists she’ll "help out in the kitchen." At first, it’s nice, as she’s chatting, stirring things, asking if I need help basting, etc. But then she starts… adjusting things.
lsandersonmpr_daily_download_feed - Mauro Giuliani - Variations on a Theme by Handelrmjwell - Burlesque Picture of the Day, 2025-11-27: Josie Starre!dorktower_feed - Ia! Ia! – DORK TOWER 28.11.25marycatelli in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
girlgenius_lair - Friday's Comicbillroper - Thanksgivingseaofstarsrpg_feed - Feasts and Celebrations in the Sea of Stars (RPG Blog Carnival)notalwaysrelated_feed - Who Naps BEFORE The Turkey?!ndrosen - Thanksgivingnotalwaysworking_feed - When The Job Expects You To Toe The Linesharonlee_feed - If there’s a God up in heaven, he has a Silver Thunderbirdrolanni - If there's a God up in heaven, he has a Silver Thunderbirdsharonlee_feed - Thanksgiving 2025 in picturesnotalwaysworking_feed - No Such Thing As A Silent Nightprisca in fic_promptly - Thursday, November 27 - Free for Allnotalwaysworking_feed - Minimum Wage, Minimum Effort: Thanksgiving Editionnotalwaysworking_feed - Is This Clerk The Mindreader Customers Have Been Seeking?!ndrosen - Portrait of Franklin Roosevelt as a Scoundrelnotalwaysrelated_feed - She’ll Probably Run Into This Problem Vegan And Again, Part 5notalwaysfriendly_feed - A-Salted For Thanksgivinglsanderson - 2025.11.27branchandroot