Ghostmoons

Ghostmoons is one of the five main feast days occurring in the Athion year. It marks the onset of the winter snows, and the end of travelling and of war until the spring re-melting. It is a day for remembering the dead; graves and shrines are decorated, and many tales are told of ancient heroes and lost treasure.

For the dead, burial and cremation are both common, possibly reflecting the lasting popularity of the Earth Goddess Daleth, and the Fire Goddess Brynette. In the City of Linrodeth it is rare for a family to have a nearby burial ground, so ancestors are usually honoured with a house shrine (with or without ancestral ashes). Burial rites vary greatly between religions; the Hahnites are noted for their enormously elaborate ceremonies, the Dalethians for their spartan practicality, and the Torians for their twilight dirges.

An odd device is found in ceremonies and on shrines of many denominations. This complex labyrinth is known as the Path of the Dead and is popularly supposed to represent the journey that the soul must undertake after death. What is found at the centre (Judgement, Healing, Rebirth or Eternal Rest) again depends on one’s beliefs. Souls attempting to take a short-cut are doomed to be trapped in Limbo forever. It is believed that on Ghostmoons, it is these souls that return to the world. These ghosts are felt as an area of intense cold or seen as a pale flicker. Although often disturbing and sometimes frightening to meet, ghosts rarely have enough energy to disturb the material world, and there are no reliable accounts of them ever harming a living person.

Lords of the City

136 Raphael Fitz-Simmons

137 Raphael Fitz-Simmons

138 Raphael Fitz-Simmons

139 Raphael Fitz-Simmons

140 Paston Courtney

141 Paston Courtney

142 Samantha Cox

143 Samantha Cox

144 Samantha Cox

145 Beatrice Perignon

146 Matthew Dixon

147 Matthew Dixon

148 Ann Tasker

149 Ann Tasker

150 Ann Tasker

151 Miranda Andrews

152 Miranda Andrews

153 Miranda Andrews

154 Jenny Davy

155 Jenny Davy

156 Jenny Davy

157 Olivia Warin

No Lordship or Sheriff elections held in 144 due to the Great Fire, Incumbents remained in post.

Ann Tasker became Lady of the City in 148 following the invasion by Princess Selina.

No election for Lord of the City was held during 149 and Ann Tasker remained in post.

Interludes

• Copyright page
• The Calendar
• Major Events
• Lords of the City
• Linrodeth Sherrifs
• Linrodeth
• Ghostmoons
• Athion
• Remains of a Writ
• Nyskilde in 141
• A map of Linrodeth Catacombs
• Furrin' Countries
• Floating Market Factions
• Shimiguchi
• A map in the Gelt Mountains
• The City Guilds
• A map of Linrodeth
• Military Units
• A map of Athion
• Religions
• A map of Eastern Athion
• Remains of a recipe
• Linrodeth City Governance
• Witanmoot Definitions
• A map of Oldgate Ward
• A history of the Kingdom of Athion
• Plays and Playhouses
• The Night Sky
• A Map of Salvoyn
• Caralingas Lineage
• Personage Count

A map of Linrodeth Catacombs

Caralingas Lineage

Fonts used:

• Liberation Sans – Title Page – Used under the SIL Open Font License
• Liberation Serif – Body Text on this page – Used under the SIL Open Font License
• Cloister Black by Dieter Steffman – Newspaper Titles – Freeware (according to www.fontspace.com)
• BlackChancery – Descriptive Text, Chronicle Text by Earl Allen/Doug Miles and is public domain (according to www.dafont.com)
• Great Vibes – Decrees and Letters to the Editor – Used under the SIL Open Font License 1.1
• MS Mincho – Kinjuru Signature – Used under the Windows 7 License
• Learning Curve – Times of Cascorach Text – Freeware (according to www.dafont.com)

Images used on the “Ghostmoons” page are from wikimedia.org where they are claimed to be in the public domain.

Image used on the “Definitions (Part Two)” is from South London by Walter Besant printed 1898 and digitised by Project Gutenberg.(see http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44683).

Many interludes are from background and scenario notes. Many may now be incorrect or superseded by other events. Remember that the Chroniclers are not unbiased (but do attempt to write as such).

“A Map of Athion” and “A Map of Salvoyn” from Zygmunt Lozinski’s notes. Shimaguchi based on notes from Zygmunt Lozinski.

Total word count of 219,074 words according to LibreOffice.

Note: Some occasional and hopefully minor edits have been made to normalise spelling and to get page breaks to fall where I wanted them to.

Major Events

Kruthos 136

Banning of Football

Galemir 137

Temple of Hahn begins construction of new law school

Heliora 138

Granting of a Guild Charter to the Thatchers

Menderal 139

Princess Eleanor’s 18^th Birthday Ball

Kryll 140

Sweet water project proposed

Heliora 141

Levestone Riots

Kruthos 141

Battle of Berewic

Pipetal 142

Announcement of the birth of Princess Alexis

Pipetal 144

Great Fire of Linrodeth

Jasmarill 146

Battle of Nyskilde

Setheran 147

Death of King Edmund Carlingas

Kryll 147

Civil War, Linrodeth declares for King Kieran

Springtide 148

Invasion of Linrodeth by Princess Selina

Heliora 151

Birth of Prince Sikander

Setheran 151

Battle of the three roads

Ternost 152

Victory over the Noord

Kruthos 153

Death of Prince Edwin

Jasmarill 153

Invasion of the Noordic Isles

Menderal 153

Repeal of the Football ban

Galemir 153

Discovery of the LFF

Galemir 155

Destruction of the Salvoyn Fleet

Heliora 155

Start of the Siege of Salvoyn

Heliora 156

Loss of the Nyskilde Venture Company

Personage Count

There are many people that have been mentioned throughout the Chronicle. Those mentioned more than 20 times include:

The Night Sky

There are many things which can be seen in the sky, clouds, birds, and of course the sun, the two moons, and the stars.

This article discuss these latter objects. The last, the stars can be divided into two groups. The first of these groups, the fixed stars, are, on the whole, uninteresting. The exception is Polaris, the pole star. This is the navigator’s friend, known to sailors and guides alike as it always occupies the same location in the sky. It is easily recognised as it is part of a group of three bright stars which are grouped closely together and in a straight line. The direction of this group of stars can usually be safely taken as the direction of north.

The second class of stars is the planets or ‘wandering stars’. These can be further subdivided into two groups:- those which always stay near the sun, and those which can wander across all the sky.

The first, Psykomena (the observer of folly) is the fastest moving, but is always close to the sun, thus committing the ultimate folly of assuming that folly only occurs during the day!

The second planet is Alderoth (observer of recovery and health) can be seen further from the sun than Psykomena and shows that for good health, a regular regimen of sleep is required.

The third planet, Panurgio (observer of Vitality and Wit), can be seen still further from the sun, but still shows that a quick mind also requires a regular regimen of sleep.

The next planet, Erosina (observer of love and enjoyment), can be seen yet further from the sun, and can often be seen in the late evenings.

Genhelia (observer of birth and growth) is never far behind Erosina, often reaching the same position in the sky in a matter of days. Genhelia can be distinguished from Erosina by its distinctive blue-green colour.

The second group of planets begins with Psykelia (observer of luck and fortune). Psykelia is the quickest of those planets which do not stay near the sun, thus visibly demonstrating that luck is fickle and cannot be relied upon.

The next is Letophoro (observer of malady and death) is difficult to observe, but also wanders across the entire sky watching death occur at any time.

Adamasto (observer of conflict and war) is next. It too wanders far from the sun, and suffers from a striking orange-red colour as befits its nature. Adamasto shows that the causes of war can occur at any time, but also take time to build, as Adamasto only wanders slowly.

The slowest and last wanderer is Celeno (observer of slowness and dullness). Celeno only moves slowly relative to the fixed stars, but is able travel all around the sky in time, thus showing slow and careful will get you there! (The fastest moving planet, Psykomena, never moves far from the sun, whereas Celeno, the slowest, is the planet most often further from the sun in the sky).

The two most obvious features in the night sky, however, are the two moons, Sisamora and Senemora (These can, of course, be seen during the day, but are not the most obvious daytime features!). Sisamora (observer of good) is the larger of the two. Sisamora changes Phase in a thirty and seven-sixteenths of a day cycle. When Sisamora is full (Around the beginning/end of each month and, of course, during festival days), it can be seen brightly shining. However, it is recorded that it is occasionally suffers during these occasions from strange redness and indeed blackening.

The second moon, Senemora (observer of evil) is harder to describe. Senemora also follows a sequence of phases, but follows it’s cycle in a matter of hours, (21 hours and 13 minutes to be precise!). However its movement across the sky is most fickle. Whereas all the other moons, planets and even the sun, rise in the west and set in the east (within 18 hours indeed), Senemora usually rises in the east and sets in the west 3 or 4 days later! In addition, Senemora is both eager to rise (often rising in the east several hours early then being forced to set in the east within a few hours) and reluctant to set (often rising again in the west, and then setting again within a matter of a few hours)!

The last object in the sky is, of course, the sun. It too, dislikes the winter and is in the sky for less than eight hours on Midwinter Day, while on Midsummer Day it is in the sky for over sixteen hours.

Plays and Playhouses

One of the main forms of entertainment in Athion is go to see the latest play at one of the many playhouses. Even a small rural town will often play host to a touring troupe of actors staging a play in one of the taverns.

Within the city of Linrodeth there are many theatres. The most famous (and rivals) are the King’s Theatre and the Theatre Royal. Both have been patronised by both nobility and royalty, whilst many notables of the city have been seen at the venues.

At the lower end of the spectrum, the Fleapit Theatre has a certain reputation to live up to (or down to depending on your point of view).

While the Bard’s College is not a theatre, it does sponsor several plays during the year and the students are often seen as part of the cast and crew of many of the plays.

Travelling troupes are common as well, with many making tours around the country, often in spite of the dangers of bandits and worse. The profits to be made from staging of popular plays and from dramatising recent events ensures that these troubadours will continue to make the rounds.

Playwrights who can turn even the most mundane of events into dramatic and stirring scenes are in high demand (although many a mediocre play has been rescued by the acting troupe). The plays of the most popular are performed at regular intervals.

A short list of popular plays includes:

The Castaways

The Demon of Berewic

Il Dottore

Innocence Lost

King Lir

The Merry Wives of Faringdon

A Midwinter Knight’s Tale

Miros Pageant

The Opalite of Orissa

Persilus and the Golden Acorn

Please yourself

Roland and Julia

School for Sleaze