The Black Phantasmagoria
"Everyone in the Court are sticks in the mud! Except for us. 'Follow the rules, obey the king, bite your tongue—' things have become so boring since Rymhûl took over. Queen's crown! I wish things never changed, the stories Grandfather told us spoke of freedoms and rights we simply don't have anymore. Thank the Queen that we have the Black Phantasmagoria, or my curiosity would have killed me long ago!"There are always two sides to the same coin. Good and evil—and even though the good side of the coin seems weighted, it sometimes falls the other way. Come, pick up the coin. Give it a good flip. See where it falls today.
In the deep and dark corners of the Court of the Hearth, the high court of Talnor, there exists remnants of the followers of The Sorcerer Queen. They linger and lurk, gathering in small meetings where they bemoan their lost power and status, and how none revere them as they once did. Once a year, they seek out a method to release their pent-up anger and frustration. In some of the deepest most forgotten levels under the city of Thím Gûthuwal, a forgotten ballroom is claimed and outfitted for a lavish masquerade ball that runs for three days straight. Like-minded nobles are invited by invitation only, keeping the invitation process completely anonymous. Keeping with the anonymity, each invitee is required to bring a domino mask customized to fit their style and to never remove it during the ball. Attendees dress in dark, almost black colours of velvet and satin and all wear gloves.
"My favourite part of the Black Phantasmagoria is all the dancing. Just dancing for days! All the swirling dark gowns and dapperly-dressed men! Oh, if only I could keep the man I get matched with this year!"
When the attendees enter the ballroom, they are randomly matched with a partner, even if they are married or courting someone already. The pair then spend the next three days with each other as if they were a couple.
The days are filled with every hedonistic act that can be imagined. Between dances, the attendees are encouraged to go and imbibe in things that are not legal up above, such as mind-altering substances or "sharing a bed" or even partaking in an ritual that attempts to contact the Sorcerer
Choosing the Pairs
The anonymous pairs of the attendees are determined by the flip of coin and the roll of a pyramid-shaped, four-sided dice. When the attendees enter the ballroom, they are each given a card with a pattern made of two heads/tails results and a number. The patterns are a little repetitive, but they never occur more than twice in a group. They enter in two rows, one comprised of men and the other of women. Each "group" comprised of these rows is five men and five women and one man has a code that matches a code that one of the women has, and by the time everyone in the group has been processed, they will be matched up at random by a couple coin flips and the roll of dice.The Culmination
On the last day of this dark celebration, things get progressively darker. The dancing ends and things get moved around in the ballroom until it resembles a temple. An altar is set up at the back of the room and effagies of the Sorcerer Queen are placed around the room, their cold onyx eyes staring at all in attendance. Here, everyone repledges their allegiance to the Sorcerer Queen and all contribute a small portion of their blood to the ritual that they hope will ressurect their chosen monarch. Thankfully, this ritual always ends in disappointment, as the only One who can give life is Avva'ai, their most hated foe. The Sorcerer Queen is gone forever.
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"I feel that the ritual at the end of the Black Phantasmagoria is rather unnecessary. They have tried for long enough. It is not going to work. The only way we can truly honour our Queen by overthrowing that scoundrel Rymhûl and ruling in her stead."
It was an entertaining article and you could easily imagine what was going on between the lines. The dice game was an interesting idea. Unfortunately, the second to last sentence ruined the article a bit. Why do children have to be sacrificed and why does the ritual end in disappointment? You should also include a warning in your article about it, in case you don't want to reconsider and change the sacrifice.
A good point. I guess I was trying to make them seem as evil as possible, but perhaps I did go a little overboard :S I don't usually write something so dark so I usually don't know where the line is drawn for NSFW. Blood is a sacred thing in Eldûra, and that is why these nobles attempt to use it to go against the natural order. The ritual ends in disappointment because they hope it will resurrect the Sorcerer Queen (a la White Witch in Prince Caspian), which is an impossible thing in Eldûra, and so it doesn't. Hmm... yes, child sacrifice is a bit much.