Harvest's Noodle Truck
in the swampy woods of the Central Western Corner, just beyond the Butterflywings Rainforest is a secluded group of people who live quietly to themselves. So little is heard and known about them that they've managed to stay well off the grid from the rest of Western Corner Society. They are the only people who have managed to stay free from the oppressive amounts of laws and rules across the land simply by being quiet, out of the way, and their only interactions with society are ones that of pure generosity and philanthropy that no one dares challenge what and how they do the things they do.
While no one has seen or interacted with any of them for long, those that have had the blessed fortune of meeting one of the people have most likely done so during one of the harvest seasons.
Warm all year round with plentiful rain and sun, the Western Corner boasts nearly endless growings seasons with a vast variety of fruits, vegetables, spices, grains, grasses for fabrics, and various livestock that provide a variety of other goods-both necessary and luxurious. The largest harvest season, however, comes during the months of the waning days towards Shortest Day. This is the season of the rumfig harvest.
Rumfigs are one of the largest and most common fruits native to the Western Corner. The fruit trees grow fast and tall and can be densely grown together. The large, waxy purple leaves provide ample shade during the longest and hottest days. The fruit grows in clusters, is both sweet and tart. They are excellent fresh, dried, as wine, and as vinegar. The wood of the trees is incredibly fragrant and resinous and makes excellent furniture in such a hot and humid climate.
During this time, entire fiefs will gather together and work from sunrise to well past night, especially when the moons are full and light the orchards almost as bright as day. The work is hard and arduous, and it is difficult for the harvesters to find the time to make foods that are portable, nourishing, and take as little time as possible to consume. Enter the Harvest's Noodle Trucks.
Here, the people of the very secluded villages emerge, this time only, with carts pulled by very unique beasts of burden not know or seen anyplace else. The smells of fresh soups, noodles, and roasted vegetables will waft throughout the orchards and the various wind chimes that hang off the cart (for both good luck and for warding off predators while they travel) signal to harvesting crews that it is time for a quick meal. The drivers of these trucks never ask for payment. They simply look to bring joy and food to the people they serve. So much mythos and reverence have been placed on these traveling trucks that it is said that a farm or plantation that has been blessed with a visit from the Harvest Trucks will see twice the amount of success when the crops go to market. The strange bearlike peoples who come from a strange place and bring food at a time when the people need it most are a Western Corner staple.
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