Pinning
The Decline of Society
A woman wearing a dragon brooch calmly collects her groceries from the shopkeep, places them in her bag, and walks away purposefully, stoically ignoring the older venfor, who is clutching at her left arm and sweating profusely.
Two men, chatting idly, pass by a one legged woman in a broken-wheeled haycart who is valiantly working to repair the only means she has of making a living. The two men, wearing pins depicting a silhoutted dragon in flight, walk right on by, not even acknowledging her existence. It is as if they did not even see her.
A frantic knock at the door during the worst snowstorm of the season, but the home owners do not answer the pleas for mercy and warmth. They instead opt to remain silent until the unfortunate soul moves elsewhere, away from their door and the scarf with the dragon pin hung on the doorknob.
"Pinning" has become something of a political statement amongst the citizenry of the The Unified Kingdoms of Craysilt, being a "badge of dishonor", as some of the wearers claim, themselves.
"I can't be assed," said Myrtle Frenchworthy, of Stilton Head, when asked about her pin. "Everyone is expected to be so honorable, all the time, when really I've got plenty of problems all on my own, thank you!" Myrtle's pin is an enamel black dragon, wings spread wide.
Eggdar Finchman added much the same sentiment. "If I stopped to help every person I saw that was 'in need', I would quite frankly be destitute. That is a foolish proposition. I keep to myself, and I don't expect anyone else to be sticking their nose into my business, neither."
To this subculture of people, pinning is not only 'surviving', but it is also a display of 'free will in practice'. Essentially, to think of oneself, and one's own comforts and needs, before the comforts or needs of another, is the Pinner way.
That does not mean that pinners do not believe in helping those less fortunate than themselves, says Earl Bagshot, a baker from Craysilt who proudly wears his red enamel dragon pin, and even has a larger version displayed on the wall of his bakery. "I just want to be able to help the way I want to help; not the way some dharak-addled vagabond says they need it. I mean, How do they even know what they want, am I right?"
by Gnelly Gnottingwood
Components and Tools
The participants all wear brooches, or 'pins', that are in the shape of dragons, on their left breast. Each dragon is hand made, and they are all different. Adherents carry a few pins on their person, just in case they meet another 'Pinner' in their travels.
Participants
'Pinners' come from all walks of life, but they are mostly upper-middle-class wine snobs who never tip their wait staff.
Observance
When two 'Pinners' meet, they will spend half an hour going over and exchanging hand made enamel pins crafted in the image of dragons.
History
This attitude, and the enameled pins used to display it, go all the way back to the Wars of the Devil Dragon, Shayna, who employed humanoid agents to sow discord and disharmony within the peoples.
It also garnered Shayna, a devil, quite a few souls with which to grow her already immense power.
It was proven to be an enemy course of action, and yet some folks still adopted the tenets of 'I really don't care' quite deeply, taking the entire concept to heart with vim and vigor.
Execution
This subculture trades pins with one another as they encounter each other out in public spaces. It is rare enough for two of them to meet each other accidentally, that when it happens it is notable amongst the adherents, who make more pins to memorialize the meetup.
Comments