Hlal's Words (Holy Day)

Garracks Eats it
Whilst the name of this holy day sounds clumsy when translated into Illian its meaning is significant. “Garracks eats it” is an incomplete sentence which, devoutees of the faith say, is correct no matter how one completes it - Garracks devours all things.

This is the most unpleasant of the holy days for humanoids. Whilst sacrifices can be demanded on any day of the year other than Hlal’s Words, Garracks Eats it is the day they are most often called for. Leaders of all nations make sure they keep their prison cells stocked in the lead up to this day in the hopes that they will have a ready supply of criminals suitably deserving to make up the numbers, but often they fall short and the innocent also suffer.

In addition to live sacrifices, all adult humanoids are required to sacrifice items of value, handing them over to kobolds who either throw them into great fire pits or take them to be used by the regime. While peasants can get away with sacrificing low value items like food or trinkets, the kobolds keenly watch those who are known to be wealthy and any rich person sacrificing items that are too low in value stands to be punished.

Garracks Eats It occurs on the day after the northern hemisphere winter solstice and it is intended to serve as a day of pleading to Garracks to allow the world to be reborn in fire from its cold torpor. In places such as Venac, with a warm climate all year and reversed seasons, some of this symbolic meaning is lost.

Judgments
Judgments is one holy day that occurs twice per year, on both equinoxes. It is intended to show reverence to Chronepsis, the god of fate, death and judgment.

All people are required to gather together publically and pass judgment on themselves and their peers. Kobolds monitor this passing of judgment and will publically shame anyone who they feel is holding back by having them judged in front of their entire community. Many an otherwise happy interpersonal relationship has been ruined by people being appropriately honest towards their loved ones and many a reputation has been ruined by people being too honest about themselves when they can’t find an appropriate lie.

Venac has added a secular civic tradition to this compulsory religious event by following up the kobold-supervised judgments with invitations to citizens to pass judgment on the Guild Council and its members. This tradition has existed for as long as the nation has, however how free citizens allow their tongues to be varies with the temperament of the current councils members; Tarsis has perfected the art of receiving criticisms in a receptive, statesmanly manner, however it is well known that smart citizens avoid raising a few thorny topics (most notably piracy).

Day of the Covenant
Unlike the other holy days, which are devoted to a single deity, Day of the Covenant is devoted to celebrating the creation of history’s most important ‘document’ (if there indeed ever was an actual Covenant document).

People are required to show their thanks for the great mercy displayed by the hierarchy in creating the covenant and this ‘thanks’ tends to manifest itself in kobolds demanding menial services of humanoids all day. Given that the majority of places where kobolds would want services performed (their cities and citadels) are off limits to humanoids the majority the tasks actually have some value to humanoids – things like cleaning streets and repairing public infrastructure. It’s said that people were once required to perform useless tasks on this day but kobolds over time have become far more pragmatic. Despite the value of the work that often gets done people universally despise it, especially people of the upper classes and those whose usual occupations don’t involve manual labour.

Day of the covenant is held in early winter (southern hemisphere seasons) on a date determined based on lunar phases.

Hlal's Words
Not all draconic holy days are things to dread. Well, ok, 3 of them are, but one out of four is an ok hit rate isn’t it?

That 25% positive is a day called Hlal’s Words, a day dedicated least unpleasant of the draconic pantheon. It is a day for story telling and learning. Whilst all citizens are required to attend a mass delivered by kobolds, where they are told about how they owe Hlal big time for all creativity and knowledge, it all goes uphill after that. It’s also the only day of the year when sacrifices are never demanded.

In Venac the guild council usually uses the gathering of everyone in the town square after the mass to make a few civic proclamations (the kobolds find this acceptable as it’s evidence of humanoids using the power of knowledge to work together) but after that’s out of the way around mid-morning everyone has a grand old time for the rest of the day.

It’s a public holiday so no one is allowed to work unless you’re job is something like a barkeeper. Throughout the city, presentations of artistic works and scholarly discoveries take place in every inn, park and square big enough to fit such a thing and people drift from place to place enjoying it whilst generally getting more and more drunk or off their heads on greenweed or spin (a hallucinogenic fungus the use of which, in Venac, is illegal on other days but is grown by licensed mycologists for use on this one day of the year).

The main square of town, in front of the temple, is the most prestigious venue for this where only highly respected artists and scholars are invited to present, but the other parts of town are often more fun. The university theatre is well renowned for putting on amazing comic performances whilst a normally seedy inn by the docs called The Drowned Mermaid has had a tradition over the last few years of hosting incredibly engaging talks by scholars that draw crowds spilling onto the streets.

And maybe best of all, after the mass all the kobolds fuck right off from town for the day and (presumably) have their own piss up in their barracks, so everyone feels a little more free than usual. Makes you wonder what life would be like if they vanished permanently…

Hlal's words is in mid-spring, on a date determined by moon phases.