Thursday, October 31, 2013

13th Age: Halloween


I, Sargoo the Sapient, would like welcome you to yet another one of my rousing treatises on our World and it's many Ages!

With Autumn fully throttling the life out of Summer, it only seemed appropriate to explore my absolutely favorite holiday: Halloween!

And I assure you I'm not alone, for in my travels across this Dragon Empire I've met legions who share my viewpoint (but of course)!

However, I'm often surprised (not really) at their ignorance of and full meaning to this Hallowed night (pun intended).

You see, in the closing days of the the Dead Wars, the Dragon Emperor and the Great Gold Wyrm were forced to negotiate a treaty with the Lich King to quell the tyrant's campaign.  While the Lich King had realized he could not win, he was well prepared to drag the conflict out for as long as it suited him.  And he had noticed the burgeoning of conflict between the Emperor and the High Druid on the edges of the Empire.

It was this leverage that allowed him to demand his sacrifices and the tending of what he viewed as his, as opposed to the Emperor's, boneyards.  But the Dragon Emperor is no fool and relied on his old friend, the Great Gold Wyrm, for aid in writing the Treaty of Threshold to finalize the cessation of hostilities.

The Great Gold Wyrm knew that giving in to the Lich King's demand would weaken the Empire in the eyes of its other enemies and was well aware of the High Druid, lurking like a tiger in the jungle waiting to pounce.  So he contributed a hidden clause within the Treaty to remind friend and foe alike of his cunning and reach.

You see, the Wyrm was aware of that Samhain was a day when the veil between the living and the dead was at it's thinned.  And just as importantly it was the nadir of the High Druid's power, a secret she fully believed no one else knew.  And so the Treaty allowed that on that precise day each year and in every Age to follow, that the Dragon Empire would be free of the Lich King's tributes and tendings.  A day that the Wyrm knew with absolute certainty that the Druid would immediately notice what day was chosen, Samhain.  Quietly, as if in the eye of a terrible hurricane, the Wyrm reminded both the Lich and the Druid that their opposition was subtle in it's movements and profound in it's achievements.

And so, the Emperor, both as a matter of morale after years of war and as challenge to his enemies, made that day a national holiday.  Halloween.

The one day in the year where the Dragon Empire and it's citizens were freed from the yoke of serving the dead, and choosing to celebrate life.  To walk both boldly into the dark, even amongst the deepest of woods and know that Dragon Empire hand not simply endured, but prevailed.

No comments:

Masters of the Universe Revelation

Netflix dropped Masters of the Universe Revelations last week and like nearly anything in the 21st century, there is some outrage about it. ...