Zeolith
The anniversary of the Zeolith is an homage to the everyday man and what he can achieve. Due to the celebrations, the streets are packed with all kinds of inventors, presenting unique and innovative designs. The streets are filled with visionaries and engineers, who hope to attract wealthy patrons to sponsor their future endeavors.
Kids are playing, while adults are networking and everyone is either asking or answering questions. There are huge bowls of water in every corner, filled with water, mint, and green apples - the faucets seemingly never stop filling people’s glasses with the fragrant liquid and everyone drinks freely. The river might be clean for centuries, but this celebration reminds everyone that clean water was not always available for all.
Celebrated on the 15th of December in the City of Saria, in the kingdom of Lothen.
History
Up to three centuries ago, the waters of the River Roa brought more misfortune to the city of Saria than good. With its waters flowing poisonously down from the swamps of Dead Gods Lane, the damage they caused was manifold. People and livestock were falling ill, the water was unsuitable for water supply, the soil was barren, and the waters were bringing down dead and diseased fish. The few wells with clean water that existed outside the city were all owned by wealthy families who traded them as if they were luxury items.
All that changed when a peddler arrived in town unlike any other. The black-haired man with the white fringe put a thin layer of a crystalline mineral between two layers of thick tulle. This "potion," as he called it, he put into the mouth of a bucket, and then there he dumped water from the river. While the water fell in contaminated, as soon as it filtered through it was tasteless, odorless, colorless-clean. One afternoon the town had its new hero.
The Lord Baron of Saria then was Veren Strallis. Following the peddler's instructions faithfully, he ordered the extraction of the wondrous mineral from the west and began the construction of a series of dams that acted like giant sieves of Zeolith. While Baron Veren could have delayed the project because of the gigantic construction and exploration costs it required, he did not. Instead, to relieve the already poor economy of his city, he chose to mint the gold bars of his stockpile into coins, and thus stimulate the market. These coins were later named Verenrad.
The project may have taken nearly half a decade to complete, but a change had already come to Saria. Since then, every year at this time the anniversary of Zeolith is celebrated for a week. Roa's bridge fills with stalls of inventors, researchers, and manufacturers, advertising their patents and their efforts for the prosperity of the city. The provosts circle the stalls looking for the next researcher to put under their wing and sponsor their study. Giant glass flasks of flavored water are placed in every corner of the central city, and provided free of charge to all citizens.
Verenrad
Most Verenrads have now been turned into medallions and are considered part of the formal attire for special occasions of the ruling class. Silver and bronze Verenrad jewellery can also be found in lower social classes.
If a gold Verenrad is used in everyday dress, it is considered a sign of neopluteness and arrogance.
Comments