High Rock — H/F
Holidays and Festivals of High Rock
High Rock celebrates the turning of the year with elegance, wit, and pride. To the Bretons, every holiday is both a sacred rite and a performance of refinement — a chance to display artistry, learning, and lineage. Their festivals are older than the Empire’s calendar, rooted in druidic rites, ancient Direnni customs, and chivalric pageantry. From the fog-shrouded coastlines of Glenumbra to the spired courts of Wayrest and Daggerfall, the Breton year is a cycle of reverence, romance, and rivalry, where beauty and ambition intertwine beneath the Divines’ gaze.
Waking Day
Time of Year: Morning Star 18
Description:
As frost loosens its grip on the fields, the people of High Rock observe Waking Day — a gentle rite of renewal marking the forest’s first stirrings. In Yeorth Burrowland and along the Bjoulsae, families rise before dawn to ring small bronze bells in their windows, calling the spirits of the soil to wake. Children hang wreaths of evergreen and dried berries over doors, while elders scatter salt in garden corners to ward off lingering winter shades.
In the rural north, peasants light fires at crossroads, and bards recite “The Sleep of the Earth,” a poem as old as the Direnni. In Wayrest, the nobles prefer quieter devotion: morning prayer in sunlit courtyards, accompanied by string quartets that echo the rhythm of thawing water.
Purpose:
Waking Day honors Kynareth’s breath — the first wind that rouses both seed and spirit. It reminds Bretons that life, like art, begins in stillness but thrives in motion.
Atmosphere for Play:
A day of calm rebirth. Mist rolls off the rivers, bells chime in the distance, and the smell of thawed soil fills the air. Ideal for tranquil openings, omens of spring, or scenes of subtle renewal before deeper intrigues begin.
Flower Day
Time of Year: First Seed 25
Description:
Spring’s height brings the most beloved Breton holiday: Flower Day. Town squares bloom in riotous color as garlands drape windows and market stalls overflow with petals. In Camlorn, citizens wear crowns of wildflowers and sing madrigals beneath the banners of Mara. In Wayrest, noble houses sponsor elaborate parades where flower-petaled floats carry dancers representing the seasons.
Lovers exchange handwoven bouquets called fleurs de serment, “flowers of oath,” each blossom chosen for secret meaning — passion, fidelity, or the promise of new love. Courtiers often deliver them with veiled poetry, turning flirtation into artful diplomacy.
At sunset, the “Petal Waltz” begins: streets fill with music and laughter, petals scatter like rain, and even the staid clergy of Zenithar loosen their collars to join in the dance.
Purpose:
Flower Day celebrates life’s beauty and brevity — the Breton creed that pleasure and virtue are not opposites but reflections of divine harmony.
Atmosphere for Play:
Vibrant and romantic. Perfume fills the air, laughter hides plots, and behind every compliment lies potential intrigue. The festival offers the perfect stage for love, deceit, or the exchange of secret tokens beneath falling petals.
Festival of Blades
Time of Year: First Seed 26
Description:
The following morning, frivolity gives way to fervor. The Festival of Blades honors martial valor and the memory of the early Direnni duels. Swordmasters gather in city plazas to demonstrate technique and precision, their blades flashing in the spring light.
In Daggerfall, the Knights of the Dragon host tournaments for honor and patronage. In smaller towns, blacksmiths forge symbolic blades from river sand and iron scrap, offering them to Stendarr for the protection of the land.
During the afternoon, children play at dueling with wooden swords, while the nobility engage in formal duels — often disguised tests of political rivalry masked as sport. By sundown, champions are crowned with wreaths of steel and laurel.
Purpose:
To remind the Bretons that strength and artistry share the same edge — a blade honed by discipline and grace.
Atmosphere for Play:
Sharp tension and display. The clash of steel echoes through crowded squares, spectators cheer, and pride runs as hot as blood. Duels can decide love, power, or honor before the watching crowd.
Fishing Day
Time of Year: Second Seed 30
Description:
When the seas calm and the winds turn gentle, High Rock’s coastal villages celebrate Fishing Day — a festival of the sea’s bounty. At dawn, fishermen sail out in garlanded boats, releasing offerings of bread and wine to Mara, patron of love and the waters. When they return, the day transforms into a feast of salt and laughter.
Camlorn and Daggerfall host great seaside fairs with seafood stews, spiced ale, and competitions for the largest catch. In Glenumbra, the Druids of the Wyrd treat it as a rite of balance — returning part of every haul to the waves, ensuring the sea remains generous.
Children carve wooden fish painted in bright hues, believed to bring luck, while the elderly gather to tell tales of ancient storms and sea spirits who guard the coast.
Purpose:
Fishing Day is a thanksgiving to Mara and Kynareth — a renewal of respect for the sea that feeds and threatens in equal measure.
Atmosphere for Play:
Relaxed and festive, with salt in the air and music over the surf. A good moment for seaborne intrigue, smuggling, or quiet reflection amid the hum of celebration.
Moon Festival
Time of Year: Sun’s Dusk 8
Description:
As nights grow long, the Bretons turn their eyes to the sky. The Moon Festival celebrates the twin moons and the gentle goddess Mara, whose light guards lovers and travelers alike.
In Glenumbra’s moors, villagers light silver candles and release them into the fog, their reflections rippling across dark pools. In Wayrest, courtyards fill with musicians performing nocturnes for harp and flute. Couples exchange tokens under the moonlight, and poets compete to compose verses worthy of Mara’s favor.
The nobility often hold midnight masquerades, faces hidden by silver masks, where identities are concealed until the first dawn bell — a tradition said to test whether love can bloom without name or title.
Purpose:
The Moon Festival honors love, destiny, and the fragile beauty of truth revealed only through mystery.
Atmosphere for Play:
Dreamlike and intimate. Lantern light glows through mist, masks hide intentions, and whispered confessions carry more power than any spell. Ideal for intrigue, romance, or betrayal under soft moonlight.
Broken Diamonds
Time of Year: Frostfall 23
Description:
In the Glenumbra region, the somber holiday of Broken Diamonds remembers the tragic death of Empress Kintyra II, who was imprisoned and executed during the War of the Red Diamond. Though the Empire sees it as history, Bretons regard her as a symbol of beauty destroyed by ambition.
Temples hold vigils lit by fractured crystal lamps that scatter light across stone walls like tears. Citizens wear black and white ribbons, representing innocence and loss. In the evening, a solemn procession winds through the streets, ending with the extinguishing of all lights save one — a single diamond lantern raised to the sky, symbolizing endurance through sorrow.
Purpose:
Broken Diamonds warns that power without virtue leads only to ruin. It is both remembrance and warning, tying Breton romanticism to their pragmatic caution.
Atmosphere for Play:
Quiet and mournful. Bells toll through mist, candles flicker on windowsills, and the weight of history presses close. The perfect night for conspiracies hidden beneath mourning veils.
Sovereignty Day
Time of Year: Variable — celebrated regionally in remembrance of High Rock’s stand against outside rule.
Description:
Sovereignty Day is a proud commemoration of Breton independence, honoring the barons and mages who resisted Imperial dominion. In Daggerfall and Wayrest, parades march through cobbled streets, banners of green and gold fluttering from towers. Veterans of the knightly orders display arms and armor from past wars, while choirs sing hymns to Magnus, god of freedom and light.
In countryside hamlets, children reenact the defense of Bangkorai Pass with wooden swords, while druids bless the old standing stones that once marked Breton borders. Toasts are made to those who fought and to those who endured, sealing each with wine poured upon the earth.
Purpose:
The festival renews Breton pride — not in conquest, but in survival. It celebrates the paradox at the heart of High Rock: a people fragmented by houses and creeds, yet bound together by defiance.
Atmosphere for Play:
Triumphant yet restless. Drums and cheers echo through the hills, but pride walks hand-in-hand with political tension. The air itself feels like a held breath before change.
Baranth Do and Chil’a — The Twin Renewals
Time of Year: Evening Star 18–24
Description:
The close of the Breton year mirrors the Hammerfellian calendar due to shared Iliac tradition. Baranth Do marks the extinguishing of the old year; Chil’a, its rebirth.
On Baranth Do, the streets fall silent. Lamps are doused, hearths left cold, and even the noble halls of Wayrest dim their chandeliers. For one hour, the realm rests in utter stillness, a ritual death of the old year. Then, at the toll of midnight, the bells ring, candles are rekindled, and families share warm cider and laughter.
The following days — Chil’a — bring feasting and games. Bards roam from town to town, performing the “Ballad of the Endless Hearth.” Daggerfall hosts winter markets where jewellers sell frost-silver charms said to bring prosperity in the coming year.
Purpose:
Together, these days embody the Breton philosophy of renewal through reflection — the understanding that art, love, and life must all die and bloom again to remain true.
Atmosphere for Play:
Baranth Do: quiet and spectral — candle smoke drifting through the cold air.
Chil’a: vibrant and communal — the clamor of bells, the scent of wine and roasted chestnuts. Excellent for emotional closure or the spark of new beginnings.