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Leviathan History
In a small village, two months north by way of foot, a proud people live a simple fisherman's heritage. The sea gives them much of what they need, and they have learned to take from its bounty with great skill. These people have lived alongside the sea as far back as history remembers, with only the mostly forgotten knowledge that they once belonged to some distant shore with a different tongue. Now, they look outside their village for very little, their humble needs satisfied by scraping a respectable living from the wintry soil.
Feast of the Leviathan I
January 1999
A time honored tradition in my home village, The Feast of the Leviathan is a time for friends and family to get together one last time before the harshness of winter forces us all to retreat to our homes until spring. As I am away from my home, and missing the festival for the first time this winter, I wish to recreate the tradition here within the Lands of Chimeron. Having been studying under The Lady Cassa for almost a year now, I feel ready to attempt this great feat, and I hope to see you all there for the celebration.
Feast of the Leviathan II
A Tribute to Chimeron
January 2000
This is now my third year in these Realms and I have learned and grown a great deal. My apprenticeship under the Lady Cassa has finished, and I am now a Master of the Spoon. I recently swore my allegiance to Chimeron, and I have planned this feast as a way of thanking all of my friends for their guidance and acceptance during these past years. The true purpose of the Feast of Leviathan remains the same. We often forget to spend time with our friends and enjoy their company in a world where our duties occupy the majority of our lives. This Feast is time set aside for us to relax together, to tell stories and relive our heroic deeds through song. I look forward to seeing all of you there.
Feast of the Leviathan III
A Taste of the Far North
January 2001
Greetings, my friends. I took the opportunity, before the heavy snows began to fall in my Northern homeland, to make the long journey there to visit my family.
As I got there, their Feast of Leviathan was in full swing, and I partook of many of the traditional foods of my homeland, as I have not done for several years now.
I had the opportunity to bring many of these foods back to the Realms with me, and I am looking forward to serving them, along with some traditional Feast fare, to you this year at my Feast of Leviathan. The purpose of the feast remains the same. A small time with the people who mean the most to us. A time to put aside our burdens and simply rejoice in each other’s company. We often forget to spend time with our friends and enjoy their company in a world where our duties occupy the majority of our lives.
This Feast is time set aside for us to relax together, to tell stories and relive our heroic deeds through song. I look forward to seeing all of you there for a third time.
Feast of the Leviathan IV
Heart and Soul
January 2002
Another winter has been set upon us, and the time for the Feast of Leviathan has come again. As many of you already know, the Feast of Leviathan is a custom from my homeland where friends and family enjoy each other's company before they are beset by a long and lonely winter. The snows here in the realms are not nearly as fierce, and we are able to gather with our kin and fellows even in these cold months, but I hold Feast of Leviathan as a reminder that we should not forget to enjoy the company of the people we love, even in times of strife and war. Especially not in those times.
The coming of this new year finds me with a lot of new friends… and some new family as well. As I look forward to spending this time with them, so should you plan to set aside this time with your close ones. So please, come to the Pen and Sword Tavern. Participate in the tournaments, listen to tales and bardics, find out who the heck stole my wooden fork this year, enjoy the favorite foods of my Courd'ani, as I dedicate this feast to her. The Feast of Leviathan is how my people find strength in each other to survive the hard winter. Let us use that strength to bear us through the many challenges ahead.
I hope I will see you there, and that you will raise a glass with me.
Feast of the Leviathan V
The Roads We Have Traveled On
January 2003
The days grow cold... and I feel the need for the Feast of Leviathan more than ever...
For many more than just myself, this year has been one of change... of new frontiers... of challenges we never thought we would really have to meet. And as I think of all of those who I have bled and laughed with for many years... I cannot think of anyone who has not had to bear some great loss... if not many.
And I think back to the paths that have led us all to where we stand today... our choices... our actions... our words... what we have done wrong and what we have done right... and even as I can trace our roads clearly back to their first steps... I still stand now, amazed as to where they have taken us.
I have said it before, as I have invited you to my Tavern... but perhaps I never really understood how true it was. We never know where the next year will take us. We cannot begin to imagine where we will go... who will come with us... and who we will lose along the way. This is the Fifth Feast of Leviathan I have thrown in my time among you. Its purpose is ever the same as it was the first year I began it here... ever the same as it was when the tradition began, one hundred generations before the time of my grandfather. It is a time for us to raise a glass with our friends... be comforted by their presence... and forget, if just for a day, that the next year holds dangers that we can never foresee.
I invite you again to the Pen and Sword. I ask you to come with your closest friends... your families... your loved ones. I ask you to rejoice in their presence... to eat and drink and laugh beside your fellows. I ask you to take a moment in all of that to honestly treasure who they are and what they mean to you.
For our roads go on again into another year... and the wisest amongst us cannot tell where they will lead.
The days grow cold... and I feel the need for the Feast of Leviathan more than ever...
Feast of the Leviathan VI
A New Chapter
January 2004
Six years of the Feast of Leviathan already... it is almost hard to believe.
Those of you who are familiar with this feast no doubt tire of me introducing it the same way every year. But I will keep doing so, because I believe that it is important to remember, and as new friends find their way to us, I would like to make sure they understand as well.
The Feast of Leviathan is a tradition from my homeland in the far North. It happens at the beginning of the harsh winter, and is the last time the community really sees each other until the spring thaw. It is common for friends to not survive such a long winter, so the bittersweet meaning of the feast is for us to take time to rejoice in our friendships while we still have time.
Here in these lands there is no harsh winter to claim us. But instead, much stronger foes much more often. Again and again the year teaches us that we cannot know who we will lose and what will be taken from us. To come together in a tavern once a year seems like such a small thing. How can it have the power to protect us from the losses of the coming year?
In truth, at its very best, the Feast of Leviathan can slow us down for one day. In that time, however, we are given the rare opportunity to look around at who we have beside us, rejoice in our friendships, and make powerful memories of mirth and laughter. I entreat you to not let that chance pass you by.
I will see you soon. Take care until then, my friends.
Feast of the Leviathan VII
Kingdom as Great
January 2005
And the time approaches for the seventh Feast of the Leviathan.
Those of you who are familiar with this feast no doubt tire of me introducing it the same way every year. But I will keep doing so, because I believe that it is important to remember, and as new friends find their way to us, I would like to make sure they understand as well.
The Feast of Leviathan is a tradition from my homeland in the far North. It happens at the beginning of the harsh winter, and is the last time the community really sees each other until the spring thaw. It is common for friends to not survive such a long winter, so the bittersweet meaning of the feast is for us to take time to rejoice in our friendships while we still have time.
Here in these lands there is no harsh winter to claim us. But instead, much stronger foes much more often. Again and again the year teaches us that we cannot know who we will lose and what will be taken from us. To come together in a tavern once a year seems like such a small thing. How can it have the power to protect us from the losses of the coming year?
In truth, at its very best, the Feast of Leviathan can slow us down for one day. In that time, however, we are given the rare opportunity to look around at who we have beside us, rejoice in our friendships, and make powerful memories of mirth and laughter. I entreat you to not let that chance pass you by.
I will see you soon. Take care until then, my friends.
Feast of the Leviathan VIII
Home is Where the Heart Is
January 2006
And the time approaches for the eighth Feast of the Leviathan.
Those of you who are familiar with this feast no doubt tire of me introducing it the same way every year. But I will keep doing so, because I believe that it is important to remember, and as new friends find their way to us, I would like to make sure they understand as well.
The Feast of Leviathan is a tradition from my homeland in the far North. It happens at the beginning of the harsh winter, and is the last time the community really sees each other until the spring thaw. It is common for friends to not survive such a long winter, so the bittersweet meaning of the feast is for us to take time to rejoice in our friendships while we still have time.
Here in these lands there is no harsh winter to claim us. But instead, much stronger foes much more often. Again and again the year teaches us that we cannot know who we will lose and what will be taken from us. To come together in a tavern once a year seems like such a small thing. How can it have the power to protect us from the losses of the coming year?
In truth, at its very best, the Feast of Leviathan can slow us down for one day. In that time, however, we are given the rare opportunity to look around at who we have beside us, rejoice in our friendships, and make powerful memories of mirth and laughter. I entreat you to not let that chance pass you by.
I will see you soon. Take care until then, my friends.
Feast of the Leviathan IX
The Oak and the Arrow
January 2007
A day of feasting can carry several different meanings with it. Feast of the Leviathan has traditionally been a celebration of the kinship that we share with one another, an aspect of our lives that is both crucially important and often overlooked.
But there are other reasons for feasting besides this, and this year I feel it necessary to add one more purpose to this small tradition I have begun among you. Feasts are often thrown in celebration of a bountiful harvest. We in Vinehaeven have felt this kind of fortune this year, not in a bounty of food but rather, in a bounty of friendship.
The past year has seen our small land graced with two new groups of allies. The Black Arrows, a small group that has grown quickly in both skill and reputation, and The Oaken Guard, a promising band of young men and women with very bright futures ahead of them. This year, I hold Feast of Leviathan as a tribute to them. To the effort and passion they have already exhibited in joining our ranks, and to the promise of many great tomorrows with them by our sides.
So please, make your way to Vinehaeven this year once again. The bounty we have, both in way of food and in way of friendship, is here for everyone to share.
Feast of the Leviathan X
Reign of the Just God
January 2008
Snow has settled over the land, and the time for the Feast of the Leviathan is upon us yet again. Once more I invite you down to the Pen and Sword Tavern in Vinehaeven in our annual celebration of camaraderie and best wishes for the coming year.
Winter in the Southern Wastes thus far has been short but outstandingly harsh. Every day we receive more refugees from the surrounding area, fearing that the winter will simply be too harsh for them to survive on their own. Likewise, surrounding populations of monsters and beasts have been restless as well, perhaps in anticipation of a long and scarce season ahead of them.
In order to help ease the general feelings of unrest in the area I have asked Slaader to return from the Illinarian front in order to aid me in the building of a new temple to Justari. It is our hope that the presence of the Just God will enter the hearts of the people, and bring them peace in the midst of these difficult and trying times. The strength and joyfulness of your presence on that day can only add to the peace.
So please, find your way to my door this season. Help us celebrate the time we have with one another in these Realms, help us stave off the fear of a costly winter just over the horizon. I look forward to seeing you all soon.
Feast of the Leviathan XI
A New Pride
January 2009
The cold Northern wind blows across the land, and it is time once again to feast in tribute to Leviathan. I invite you all once again to the Pen and Sword Tavern to celebrate our kinship with one another in a dangerous and ever changing world.
As the festival of Leviathan approaches, I always take the time to reflect upon the past year. What things have occurred since we last raised cups in this celebration? What friends have we lost? What new people have we welcomed into our lives? What things have passed into oblivion? What new things have been given life by our words and deeds? Speaking for myself, many things about my life have changed in the past seasons. Greatest of these is that I now find myself in the good company of the men and women of Rhiassa. It is in their honor that this year's feast is held.
All is well with the preparations for the feast this year, but for one matter that weighs heavily on my mind. On patrol through the south of Vinehaeven, I came across a dead man, dressed in a kimono of the style of Teng Hua. His body was pinned to a tree with an arrow, as if he was shot while he attempted to flee. Tied to the arrow's shaft was a note, written in a Tenghuanese script that Areni was able to read. The message was short: "The Dragon Assassination Clan comes. Prepare."
So, my friends, find your way here on the day of the full moon of the new year. Celebrate your friendships, help me solve this mystery that threatens these lands, and remember who you are, for each new year changes us as it passes by.
Feast of the Leviathan XII
Another Hero Lost
January 2010
The snow has begun to fall at last, a keen reminder that the Feast of the Leviathan once again approaches. Again, this year, I invite you to the Pen and Sword Tavern to celebrate the fleeting time we have together in a world full of danger and loss.
For those of you who have never heard me say it, the Feast of the Leviathan is an ageless tradition in my homeland. A celebration before the harsh arctic winter separates community and families into their homes until the spring thaw. A time to spend in camaraderie with one another before the dangers of the harsh winter steal away our loved ones for good.
In these realms dangers are always present as well. In the fullness of time we have all lost many friends to the hand of fate. Some who have merely grown old and weary of a hero's life. Some taken from us far before their time. This will be, after all, the 12th Leviathan. As I think back to the many years... to the faces that have been amongst us feasting then never again back in my hall... I am overcome with enormity of this truth: the coming year will take away from us people that we love.
Do not let it do so without taking a single day to celebrate the kinship that we have in one another.
Again this year, as we have begun the preparations for the feast, something seems amiss in the surrounding countryside. Rumors of ghosts in the night are never uncommon, but we have come so far as to find some small groups of roving undead and some small graveyards torn into disarray. There is certainly some cause for concern and I feel as if the time to take action is nigh.
So please, find your way to the Pen and Sword on the 9th of the New Year. Rejoice in the fraternity you have found in once another. Welcome new adventurers to these lands. Spend time with friends who's years with us are limited. Prepare to don sword and magic as you investigate whatever danger lies in the wood.
And take heed. The new year is filled with danger and we can but brace ourselves to the hand of fate.
Feast of the Leviathan XIII
A Brilliant Dawn
January 2011
The days grow shorter and the leaves have turned their brilliant shades of gold and vermilion. Sure signs that the Feast of the Leviathan approaches yet again. Preparations have already begun amongst Rhiassans for the day of festivities.
Perhaps it is the growing number of years on my shoulders, but lately I have found myself thinking a lot about the past. I remember once, when I was still but a boy, the noblest woman whom I have ever known stood tall before a room of cynics and defeated souls and asserted without apology that the greatest days of these realms were not a thing of the past, but in fact, still ahead.
As young as I was, I lacked the depth of experience necessary to understand the weight of her words, but her passion was not lost on me. So truly did she embrace her convictions that I immediately began to embrace them as well. So strong were her beliefs that I never stopped believing them, even to this day. I can say this now with the experience that I then lacked. Our greatest days are still ahead.
I have noted, with keen interest, these past couple of years. The influx of new blood. The new traditions begun, the old ones reprised. New leaders coming into their own, new heroes taking up personal quests for the first time. I can only regard it all with satisfaction, and hope. Greater days lie before these realms indeed, and I thank Leviathan that I have remained long enough to see them.
The purpose of the Feast of the Leviathan is to come together in kinship before the harsh winter drives us apart. By its very nature the celebration heralds a sad parting, if only a temporary one. But as I rest this winter and await the spring thaw, I can do so with great expectations for this coming year. Expectations I place on all of your shoulders. Expectations that you will certainly live up to.
A brilliant dawn awaits us all. Let us feast in the anticipation of it, and work hard to make it a reality.