Sunscar Lake Pilgrimage

'Want to free your mind, experience wonder and revelry! Then join us for the Moon Festival in Sunwharf!'- Poster on the Wall of Hillsbreath Keep

Once a year the broken purple moon aligns with the giant white moon and shines with unbelievable strength directly onto the lake, creating a luminescent glow that shifts and flows within the water. This natural phenomenon has long attracted the attention of the immortal races of eastern Lenwir, though those who lived since the Age of Descolation, or heard the stories, know its true cause and pray to Ilya, trapped within her prison. However, the human and mixed races of Lenwir hold no such reverence, for they know not what causes it, only the intoxicating and healing properties it bestows upon them. This means there is a distaste and blasphemous opinion of the festival by the immortals. Though it is not just the immortal races that label this pilgrimage such, but the other cities of Nemir who see it as an excuse for unmodest debauchery and revelry, looking down on those who attend.

The event is portrayed as a pilgrimage by the worshippers of the moon that formed around this natural phenomenon. It is in fact, not a pilgrimage by any stretch of the imagination, but a festival of revelry and excitement. It takes place on the same night every year and throughout the day those involved come down to the water's edge, setting up stalls, tents and other temporary structures. These serve as stations and shelter for the revelry to come. Though along the lakeside a makeshift settlement seems to spring up overnight. Some begin the revelry early, though a large number doesn't come down until the evening.

At 8 bells in the clocktower of Sunwharf a small procession begins its journey, trailing along the road with lit torches and colourful robes and a general aura of silence descends upon the gathered. As it reaches the water's edge and the moon's align the water glows with uncontrolled magic and everyone disrobes and charges into the water. This is usually where the depravity starts as the magically infused water causes a loss of all inhibitions and a jovial ecstasy takes over. From this point any in the vicinity witness acts of depravity and vice. This continues for the remainder of the night such that the sounds can be heard from Sunwharf. As the sun rises the magic fades and the light of the lake dissipates. It is here that a semblance of sanity returns and most people wake, gather their clothes and return silently to sunwharf. The trail of people forms a line of shame or pride, though few discuss the events of the night, whether they can't remember, wish to forget or want to savour the feeling is anyone's guess.

History

The Pilgrimage began shortly following the founding of 'Sunwharf' as the northernmost city in Nemir. Originally it began as nothing more than a collection of people walking from the settlement to the lake's edge when the moons aligned and the waters shone with unnatural light. Later the gathering grew and people began to bathe in the water. Those who did found themselves healed of certain ailments and became intoxicated with the magic of the lake, losing all inhibitions and feeling energised. This discovery led to a group forming that worshipped the broken purple moon, citing its restorative powers as the work of the moon gods. This grew into a religious festival with revelry and all things that come with it. Vendors and entertainers would work their way to the lakeside, and a whole community formed around this festival. One that is still followed to this day.

Lenwir

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Lenwir is the most temperate and largest continent on Venya, retaining the highest and most diverse population P.C (Post-Cataclysm). It has been 2500 years since that fateful age and life here has returned to relative normality with most barely remembering the history of the age.
Lenwir posses varied climates and environments as well as dozens of large cities and a multitude of kingdoms spread across its surface. The most notable of which are 'Sabal' and 'Nemir', one almost entirely human and the other a collection of all races. The struggles within and about the continent can almost exclusively be traced back to one of these larger kingdoms.
Though most struggle with the day to day of life, reminders of the past are never far from sight, with ruins and remnants of the worlds near destruction all around. A horrifying testimony to what may yet wait ahead.

A Tale of Venya

Learn more about the world, its history and the factions here.

The Tale of Sunscar Lake 

Ilya, a champion of Teora and Laki, created from the moon spirit of the purple moon was chained into the lake by Koharu, champion of slaughter and pain during the Age of Strike. He hated her purity and her acts in saving many who should have died alone and bloody on a battlefield, like food stolen from his maw. He united the power of several forgotten dark gods and together they schemed and plotted. They drew her to the side of a lake with a great battle and when the moon was high she walked the land, healing those that had survived, using the celestial powers of the moon. While she worked, her soul was linked to the moon's heart and it fueled her powers, like a great locus.

Kohuru has learnt of this through forbidden knowledge and combined the powers of the other gods to shatter the moon, plunging its essence into the lake. The power that flowed through Ilya became a chain and as the locus struck the lake it pulled her in, imprisoning her forever within the lake's surface and crushing a large portion of the Creator's powers in the same process. The lights that shimmer and flow across Sunscar Lakes' surface are actually the trapped spirit of Ilya, who longs for freedom and revenge on those who cast her here.