The Winter of 503
current events & announcements
Winter has brought with it a a weight in the air that feels like something more than just frost and snow. Each night rises like a baited breath, a heavy inhale in which no one knows whether to sigh to scream. Every calm moment feels stolen. Denocte feels like it's resting in the center of a hurricane, the winds are swirling violently around Novus and they are still setting their gale-force eyes on the City below the mountains.
Isra has sent Moira a letter saying she's not coming back yet. There is a war brewing on the other side of the Arma mountains; Raum has taken Solterra for his own. And so the queen is staying away for just a little longer. War is calling. Read the letter Here
A gambling den is rising in popularity in the queen's absence. People have been whispering that fortunes can be made if the stars are smiling down on them. But they can be lost as well. Each night the name The White Scarab is being spoken by the merchants to their favorite (or least favorite) customers. Will you try to find it? Read about the lore made by the wonderful @
open threads
Erasmus is gambling at the White Scarab. Do you dare join?
Seasonal writing prompts
This season there is are three prompts that will last for Winter of 503. Completion of a thread using this prompt before May 31st will result in a 150 signos bonus paid by the court account. However each post made in an unfinished thread before the end date will get a bonus 20 signos. Please tag all prompt posts with the tag {Winter} for ease of tracking. Also note that each prompt must be done on the correct board.
New this season! Completing all three prompt posts can be counted as participation in an IC event for some sweet EXP points!
The Castle of Ice and Color @ Vitreus Lake
There is an old stallion by the lake. His eyes are brighter than they should be and his back more swayed than his smile suggests. He's tired, this old artist, but when he looks at his masterpiece under a full moon he feels young again.
The castle towers over the willow tree by the lake and everyone joining the old stallion wonders how they didn't even know such a wonder was being sculpted night after night. Lanterns are hanging in the castle made of ice. The fire flickers like a living things in glass balls and each sways slowly like a dancer saying a prayer. When the orange glow hits the walls of sculpted ice shadows shift and glow and seem to be creatures made of magic waiting for the first brave soul to join them in place not of Novus.
But the loveliest part of the castle has to be the windows made of colored ice. Each window holds in its winter panes a story of sorrow and life. There is a stallion curled with a mare below a new constellation. There's a foal dancing in a meadow of heather and a dragon twisting around him like a string of dark soot. All around the castle there are depictions of life in Denocte. Some of them could break a heart.
But oh some of them could make a heart fly!
Lighting of the Leaf Lanterns @ Night Markets
No one knows where the lanterns made of leaves came from. The markets are alive with speculation but there is not a soul in the entire city that knows why the bonfires are circled with rings and rings of lanterns. But everyone knows what to do with the lanterns, after-all the Night Court has always been known to love a good pagan ritual to the night.
The musicians are playing a little louder in the markets tonight and the dancers seem more wild than usual in their movements. Everything feels both tense and free, like a storm promising a rainbow in the rain. The bonfires are all full of cedar and pine. Merchants have thrown spice packs into the flame and the smell of them mixes strangely together into a smell that has no name but magic.
And when all the lanterns start to lift into the sky, small dragons take flight with them. They float overhead, slow and lazy while the city below grows more wild by the hour.
Lunar Eclipse @ Sideralis Prairie
The shed-stars were the first to start whispering about the message the Night Sky was writing for the city. There is a eagerness in all of them making the air in all their temples electric with religion and faith. The fires outside their tents are burning brighter during the whole week leading up to the lunar eclipse. Singing can be heard from their prayer circles long into each night. It's almost impossible not to slip into their excitement. Can it be so bad to forget about the brewing trouble for just a little white?
The night of the lunar eclipse brings with it a snowstorm. When the red stars to creep across the silver moon the snow is falling in a gently flurry. It's strange to see it lit by only the stars and the bleeding moon. All the bonfires outside the capital have been put out so that the moon is the only real light in all of Denocte. The dimness makes the snow feel as if it's falling slower, and the fat flakes almost look like fireflies floating all around the city.
But when the eclipse is at its peak the snow starts to pick up and the wind holds in its chill the promise of a howl.
