Richfest

The hot, breezy week of Richfest is not observed in full as a public holiday in Greyhawk. The third quarterly diplomats-and-directors meeting takes place on Starday, Richfest Ist. Details are much the same as described under “Needfest.”

Midsummer Day (Richfest 4th) is the only real holiday, when the city closes shop to celebrate the height of summer and give thanks to the appropriate gods for good fortune. All but the most essential personnel (soldiers, the Watch, and so forth) are free from their obligations. As this is also Godsday and most people attend a worship service at some point during the day, the work-free directive primarily affects workers in the local entertainment industry and those government and religious workers of a general nature, such as messengers, clerks, and cooks. Priests are “on duty” all the time, but nonessential clerics may get the day off. Most shops and both city markets are closed on Midsummer Day by long tradition, and entertainment activities like gambling, the theater, and gladiatorial events are prohibited.

Midsummer Day is called the Holy Day of Pelor. Pelor — master of the sun, light, and healing — is beloved of many of Greyhawk’s populace, and this day sees the largest religious festival held in the Free City in Pelot’s honor. Every priest of Pelor around assists in preparing for the event. The public is invited to the grounds of the Temple of Pelor in the Garden Quarter, and the mass of worshipers fills the open space from the Millstream on the east to the Nobles’ Wall on the south, and spreads westward to the Path of the Sun, the road between Pelor’s Temple and the Grand Theatre nearby. The service lasts from dawn to noon, and the weather is usually altered by the priests just enough to let the sun shine for most of this time.

In the afternoon, a huge feast is prepared and served free to all comers. “A starving man is not a wise one,” the priests say as they hand out cups of soup, mugs of fresh water, and loaves of bread to all. “The sun gives freely, and we do as well.” After the feast, the priests, clad in yellow and gold, lead a festive parade down the Processional to the Old City, where they spread out in small groups and administer healing spells, food, and comfort to all who ask for it. Children are given special attention; if any require greater care than can be given on the spot, they are carried back to the Temple of Pelor and given treatment there, free of charge.

One effect of this benevolence is that many members of the Guild of Thieves, the Guild of Assassins, and the Beggars’ Union who were raised in the Free City remember being helped by priests of Pelor, and the temple and clergy have come under the protection of these three groups. Anyone who harms or steals from a priest of Pelor is hunted ruthlessly and subjected to a horrifying fate. The priests of Pelor have no clue at all that this occurs.

If Pelor’s priests have any fault, it is that they have a very cynical attitude about the city’s nobles and much of the middle class, recognizing that most people will not give charity until shamed into it. The priests have become quite skilled at creating tear-jerking situations at a moment's notice when they recognize an incident that they can exploit — for example, carrying diseased, maimed, or dying children from the Old City along the Processional to the temple of Pelor, in full view of all passersby. Onlookers are simultaneously approached by minor clerics who beg for donations to defray the costs of healing these innocents. Priests exhort all folk they see to give, give, and give again: “To give twice is to be twice blessed! To give thrice is to be thrice blessed! Give!” Miserly citizens complain that they are coerced into donating all their carried wealth by unseen figures who stand behind them and softly murmur encouragement such as, “Give the nice lady your money, or I'll cut out your heart and you can give her that.” Few believe this really happens.

The evening of Richfest 4th is, of course, Midsummer Night. Both moons, Luna and Celene, are full, and a night-long holy vigil by the Celestians and their flock takes place on the grounds around the Grey College Observatory. The height of the service comes when Celene eclipses Luna at midnight. This is a portentous evening, and sometimes astronomical phenomena are witnessed that hint at future events, both good and ill.

Midsummer Night is holy also to druids of Beory, Obad-Hai, and other gods, who consider this night the most sacred of all. All quarrels between the various cults are set aside, and the leaders of the local druidic circles join in a celebration of Oerth and the Great Balance they serve. This is the best night of all for druids to collect mistletoe, with which they cast their spells, and many lower-level druids head west and south from Greyhawk early in the week to be prepared to enter the Gnarley Forest and gather the needed plants with special sickles and bowls.

This is also the night on which the greatest number of werewolves are out hunting everywhere on Oerth, as the combined effect of the two moons makes it nearly impossible for any lycanthrope to avoid were-change. Evil-natured lycanthropes have been known to go temporarily mad at this time and are especially dangerous.

A sort of “working holiday” occurs on the two days after Midsummer Day, Richfest Sth and 6th. These are the Guild Days, for which the artisan guilds of the Free City have prepared for many months. Public displays of craftsmanship are placed in the High Market, and the quality of these goods — jewelry, rugs, clothing (lots of it), furs, sculptures, fine furniture, glassware, armor, weapons, tools, wagons, carts, leather goods, and more — is widely acknowledged to be among the best seen in the whole Flanaess. The displays are heavily guarded, and it is thought by many that the Guild of Thieves is paid considerable protection money to keep the collections safe even at night. Virtually everyone in the City of Greyhawk steals time from their regular work to walk through these exhibits; even beggars from Old City make the trek north to take a glance. Guild Days are not public holidays, but the desire to browse and marvel at these works is overpowering. The Directing Oligarchy opens each day of the craft fatr, and the Lord Mayor Nerof Gasgal makes powerful speeches pointing out that the Guild Days show to the world the exact reason why Greyhawk is the economic and mercantile powerhouse it is these days.

Bids may be placed by onlookers for many items, and the highest bids at the end of Guild Days win. Hundreds of visitors enter Greyhawk to view and bid on these marvelous items, the wealthy worthies coming from towns and lords’ manors in the Domain of Greyhawk, and from surrounding realms, particularly Dyvers, Veluna, Verbobonc, Furyondy, and the Urnst states. Rare travelers from Celene, the Ulek states, Keoland, or impoverished Nyrond are sometimes seen, and a handful of merchants and nobles from the United Kingdom of Ahlissa make the journey and are pleased to do so. Inns and taverns in New City are filled to capacity.

The craft displays are also judged in a series of great competitions. The master of each crafts’ guild judges the work of his or her guildmembers, assisted by one to four senior guildmembers chosen by lot, who cannot enter the competition but can display and sell their works, Competition categories are usually broken down by the type of item crafted (for example, the master of the Guild of Leatherworkers and Tanners might judge categories for boots, saddles, gloves, leather armor, and so on). The creator of the single finest work in each crafts category wins the greatly coveted Medal of Zagig, a stunning achievement that wins accolades from all. This beautiful gold medal (worth 10 gp) with blue and red ribbonis assures the owner who displays it in his shop of higher prices and greater sales for years ahead.

Several startling competitions have been introduced over the years, particularly by service guilds eager to gain the recognition long enjoyed by crafts guilds. Thus, one sees amazing contests sponsored by the Union of Dockers and Wharfmen; the Laborers’ Union; the Guild of Lawyers, Scribes, and Accountants; and the Guild of Barbers and Dentists. The dockers and laborers perform feats of strength, lifting or hauling enormous weights, sometimes while moving through a complex maze. Lawyers and scribes engage in contests to speak or write the most rapidly, often in languages other than Common (such as the Ancient Suloise used by this guild for its documents). The Zagig Medal for the Guild of Barbers and Dentists is awarded to the person who passes a two-stage competition. First, competitors must extract bad teeth from volunteers with actual tooth problems, performing as many operations as possible in 30 minutes. Volunteers are paid 10 sp for their services, but most are wise enough to get slightly drunk beforehand to kill the pain. Second, the competitors must administer hatrcuts and beard trims to the same volunteers within an hour's time. The speed at which the competitors work is staggering (and perhaps even frightening) to anyone new to the city.

In addition, farmers from outlying areas have also latched onto this idea, and during Guild Days they buy space in the Low Market and hold competitions for the finest livestock and vegetables. In recent years, the Guild of Bakers and Cooks and the Guild of Butchers have joined the farmers, and a startling array of baked goods and prepared meats (kept fresh with the use of a few minor cooling spells) are displayed and judged in tents lining the Low Market, with baking and butchering contests as well, A cleric of Zilchus from the Duchy of Urnst described Guild Days as “an overwhelming orgy of professional productivity.”

Costumed jesters, bards, animal tamers, fortune tellers, Rhennee, barbarians, mystics, street vendors, pickpockets, urchins, spies from foreign guilds, and more increase in numbers during Guild Days. This gives the city the carnival-like atmosphere it sees during Needfest or Brewfest, though Guild Days still retain a strongly professional and mercantile character.

However, bribery, sabotage, blackmail, theft, and worse are known to take place behind _ the scenes, as some guildmembers and farmers are determined to win a Medal of Zagig at any cost. Heads still shake over the disgraceful “Farmer Giles’ squash” incident of 581 cy, when the prize-winning squash was found to have been magically enlarged. Anyone who counterfeits a Medal of Zagig earns a sentence equal to regular counterfeiting of Greyhawk coinage: maiming, imprisonment, hard labor, fines, and so on. Still, some try it anyway, though they are careful to display their “medals” only in foreign cities and never in Greyhawk itself.

Right after Richfest, on Reaping 1st, the third quarterly Grand Council of Greyhawk Guilds meets at the Lord Mayor’s Palace. Details appear under “Needfest,” above.

Richfest is a full public holiday in Elmshire, with all the usual entertamments and mertymaking common to the community. Richfest 4th, Godsday, is a major religious holiday. On this day, all the religious leaders in Elmshire have joint services lasting from dawn to dusk, with many breaks for food and music between. A fishing contest and fish fry are held on Richfest 7th.

Midsummer Day is Foundation Day in Narwell. This celebration of the town’s founding (centuries ago at an artesian well) includes a town-wide parade by Greyhawk Militia soldiers. Formerly the town baron’s troops (who doubled as brigands in the old days) did the marching, The town standard is carried with the troops, but this event is not popular with elves, particularly those from Celene. Narwell’s standard includes various tokens taken from Gnarley Forest and Welkwood elves slain in past battles with the town guards or local highwaymen. Foundation Day is fairly riotous, with plenty of drinking, fighting, and music, but with an unpleasant xenophobic edge directed at everyone whose ancestors were not from Narwell.

From Adventure Begins