New Britannia Cultural Festivals & Holidays

Several months ago RG had suggested a discussion on "rituals" that could be incorporated into New Britannia. We had a semi-brief discussion before the thread died out and now that Alpha is fast approaching I'd like to pick up those discussions again.

The only definitive decision that seems be unaninmous among those involved was that there be "no Earth holidays". This is new Britannia after all. The idea that holidays be based on the virtues seemed popular.

What I'd really like to do now is start keeping a list for anyone (especially Devs) to reference and just talk about specific ideas one or two at a time. I will then update this post as we go along. I'm thinking that there would be "national/kingdom" or "global" events and also local town specific events.

Global events I think should occur much with the same pacing as real life. About once a month with a handful of exceptions. Local events would be fun to discuss but also I think ultimately fall to the local communities.

All ideas always open to review. See any blanks that need to be filled in? Feel free to make a suggestion.

Gobal
Kingsday - July 4th

January
The holidays this month follow a theme of endings and new beginnings centering around the cataclysm.

Name Pending
This is more like a pairing of two holidays. First a day of mourning and rememberance of the cataclysm. Details to be discussed.

Name Pending
The 2nd part of these holidays involves a pilgramage to a camp side near where local inhabitants emerged from their underground settlments or other significant location. They set up camp and throw a feast and celebrate new beginnings throughout the night. (Just think of it as a new years party out in the woods).

There is an idea about some sort of ritual to symbolize the idea of renewal and new beginnings.. possibly being 'local' or different for different towns.

Febuary

Local
"Discharge Day"
For large towns and cities protected by the "tesla-like" apparatus. Yearly maintenance on the appratus to replace parts. City defenses are down for the duration. All able bodied citizens muster to protect city. Once apparatus is operational again Celebrate!

"Noroc Day"
The sailors that brave the treacherous waves in the Bay of Storms are as salty as the seas and as hard headed as the barnacles below their ships. They believe in little, but what they do believe in...they believe mighty hard. They believe in themselves and their skill. They believe in their ships. They believe in the stars that they sail by and perhaps most of all, they believe in luck.
In the stars, they follow Noroc; the three legged rabbit. Sailing towards any of the three legs is good luck. Sailing in the direction of the missing leg is never done...terrible luck.
Upon shore, the sailors set a day aside for Noroc. The day comes in early March which marks the five month raining season which makes the Bay of Storms even worse to travel through. The festivals are found in port villages around the Bay and feature barrel upon barrel of rum. Oddly enough, the sailors also exchange gifts. Symbols of luck are very powerful and one or three should always be on one's person. A horseshoe, an acorn, a bronze coin (minted on only one side), a red feather, a vial of salt and a Cat's Eye stone are popular amongst the sailors. Gifts of a black feather, a fang of a snake or coal are considered "bad luck." People that give gifts like these often find themselves at the bottom of the Bay of Storms

 

There are two ideas I'd like to start with.

1st.. Kingday.. for lack of a better name so far. Basically the king's birthday celebrations. Specifically Lord British's birthday.

Now RG / LB doesn't really strike me as someone who'd promote this so perhaps celebrations would be more low-key.. but Lord British has been in the world as a (presumably) beloved leader for centuries. The people will have made some sort of birthday celebrations of some kind by now.

2nd for the month of January.. I think to play off of New Years and the best thing for thast in New Britannia is the returning to the surface to begin anew after the cataclysm. This holiday would represent new beginnings, starting over & overcoming hardships

What specific rituals or traditions may be involved in these I'm not quite sure. Any ideas? or different ideas?

 

On the one hand you will get your general planting and harvest festivals, and midwinter festivals, with others perhaps being more celestial in nature (solstice and equinox). But one of the big things will be the beliefs of the local population in New Britannia. I suspect many holidays will centre around that part. In real life there were lots and lots of saints days and a lot of downtime to fill inbetween the sewing and harvesting of various crops.

What I'd also like to see are some newer local festivals based around the appearence of the avatars (us) - some might be very antagonostic and others perhaps a little more friendly. I think they'd help make players feel a part of the world while offering some interesting opportunities for interaction.

 

I vote for Gunga Din Day.

 

harvest and solistice celebrations I think will be a must. I think they'd be especially important in smaller farming communities. I'd love to see a lot of local events going on and maybe even different ways of celebrating the same things between the many towns.

I can easily see some towns maybe burning effigies of avatars or something.

 

Bowen, I think this is an excellent topic however I don't think we can do it justice unless we have additional information from RG and Tracy. Here's why:

I don't have a clue what Lord British has to do with anything. Is he the King of New Britannia? Does that make all of the honorific titles of Duke, Baron, Lord, and Sir part of some royal hierarchy, or is it truly honorific and there's no real weight to those titles? Does a land owner have more rights than a commerer? Will Lord British one day enlist people into a great army to defeat some evil foe?

What kind of laws are there? There are a ton of planets and moons out there, are we sure there four seasons and not 3 or 7? I could go on and on...

I just have absolutely no idea what kind of world this is in relation to my character or outlanders in general. While I don't expect or need a detailed history at this moment, I do need something more tangible that I can rely on when it comes to government, the rule of law, and where my place in the "kingdom" or if there even is a kingdom before I can tell you how to celebrate "King's Day" and other cultural events.

Until then, it's hard for me to speculate on traditions - and that's saying something because I LOVE to speculate!

 

Local superstitions will also play a role in potential festivals. In a story I wrote they have a barrel day with lots of revelry but the main purpose being to banish spirits from empty/half full barrels as the people believe spirits take up residence in them. It's a silly superstition really but many are and the people of New Britannia might have equally quirky superstitions that could focus on almost any everyday thing in their life.

The seasons will also play a huge role as will local geological activity. On the SotA map I saw an area of volcanic activity so perhaps the locals there might well have festival days related to that.

 

While I agree it would be good to not have them named after Earth holidays, I think for the ease of remembering and for themes we could borrow from those for both concept and themes. I love the idea of celebrating the virtues, and I also think we could weave it into the story and characters a little more. I would personally like to see the following things celebrated:

1. Honesty - August (Labor Day timeframe, a little sooner for variety) Celebrating respect for truth in all of life including an honest day's work for fair wages.
2. Compassion - February (Valentine's Day timeframe) Celebrating love toward one another.
3. Valor - May (Memorial Day timeframe) Celebrating courage to stand up against risks.
4. Justice - March (No correlating holiday) Celebrating fairness and equality
5. Sacrifice - December (Christmas timeframe) Celebrating sacrificial giving to others
6. Honor - October (To be honest, I want a holiday dedicated solely to beer, so Oktoberfest!) Celebrating the courage to remain true to ones convictions and honoring the past, including the brewing of Reinheitsgebot.
7. Spirituality - June (No correlating holiday) Celebrating and cultivating the virtues found in oneself and the surrounding world
8. Humility - November (Thanksgiving timeframe) A reminder to be thankful and humble for the blessings we have.

So that would be February, March, May, June, August, October, November, and December. Pretty spaced out, and I tried to stay as neutral as possible. What think ye?

 

This is my biggest question. How closely does the Earth calendar sync up with the New Britannian calendar? I sincerely hope they aren't 100% similar, because anyone who works the nightshift/ or lives on the other side of the world might only be able to log in when it is dark in New Britannia. I can't imagine it being all that fun when you are in the dark 85% of you game time. I think it would also get pretty boring if we have seasonal changes, but the 4 seasons happen only once a year. I like to see a little more frequency.

Did the time/calendar of the Ultima series sync with the Earth calendar? From what I've read, it sounds like they didn't even come close.

 

If you're talking about time scales, they were talking about 30 mins Earth time = 1 day New Britannian time. That's not final and will be tweaked, but I haven't heard of any updated numbers since the Kickstarter.

As far as calendars, I actually don't think they've ever talked about that.

 

The calendar is something you just have to abandon in a case like this. A literal "year" in-game would go by something like every 2 real weeks. Pretty much every day we play would have at least one holiday or festival in-game and suddenly that only lasts for 1 hour or play time? Nobody can keep that kind of a pace and there's be no point in doing it at all then. You have to enage in a little suspension of disbelief.. especially when every player's perception on time in relation to their own character is going to be different. Real world time is the only time frame we can all reliably relate to.. so that should be what we're working with here regardless of the NB calendar. Everyone will just have to deal with it however suits them best. This is going to be true in a general sense.. holidays or no holidays.

@Trapper.. I had been thinking something similar.. but with the caveat that I think we should try to avoid having NB holidays overlap real world ones. I'd be a shame for example if few people could enjoy a NB december holiday because they're all too busy with Christmas. Rather anything we do in December should probably be near the beginning or middle of the month rather than at the end. I'd prefer it though if we could discuss just one or two at a time. I've made a list of ideas from previous discussions.. I will add yours.

@Venger There are some things we do know. Lord British ruled Britannia for literally centuries. New Britannia is still the same world.. and Lord British still resides in it. Whether or not he remains the leader of the known world is still technically unanswered true.. but he still was and if there was a LB birthday tradition it would've been established long before the cataclysm. I refuse to believe that every time aspect of Britannia culture would have been lost completely. Also the titles of everyone else and their place in society is entire irrelavent as are existing laws. Traditions are traditions because they've been around for a good long while.

Besides all that.. and yes we are speculating quite a bit.. it could very well be that we'd need to change a lot of ideas we can come up with here.. but holidays and festivals can only happen if they're supported by the community.. and they are for the community. This is something we can do regardless or even in spite of established lore if we so wanted.. though it is my hope we will be in-line with established lore. That said.. I find it unlikely that even RG and TH will be spending a lot of time working out specifics for every holiday and festival that exists within NB culture. If we want to see it, we'll have to come up with a lot of it outselves I think.

Naturally any established lore takes precedence.. but anything not established is for the community to either fill in the blanks or go without. Besides I think RG and others would love for us to come up with a lot of this ourselves.. and recall it was RG who suggested we put out ideas along these lines long before any story was officially out. I see that as free reign to speculate.

 

I now wish I didn't ask. 30 mins. equals one whole day? Geez...I was hoping for 18 to 22 hour days in New Britannia.

 

Thus another reason for needing much longer days.

 

I actually prefer something much longer than 30 mins, but they had a reasonable explanation. They want everyone, regardless of where they are IRL, to experience the night time. So with that understanding that perhaps the average gamer will only play a few hours at a time, they need that day/night cycle to occur at least once during that 3-4 hour real-life time period. Sounds reasonable to me. I'd like a 90 min time scale though.

But yeah, regarding calendars and cultural events/festivals/holidays -- Bowen is right, there will be some suspension of disbelief there. Richard did indeed want to know more about rituals on Earth to see if any of them are interesting enough so that he and Tracy can work that into the backstory. Will have to ponder this and look up some things from my own background...

 

I thought they were aiming more at something like 2-4 hours for a daily cycle? I'd prefer 4 hours myself. Your average player will then be logged in for half or a full "day".

6 hours might be best because then you get a four full years every real one.

 

By having the world revolve only once every 16 earth hours, you can experience night quite often too. I don't see a need to experience night several times during a few hour session. Even if you just log in for one hour, the need to experience night during part of that time just isn't there.

 

I thought for a moment I'd look at this topic from a different perspective.. being what traditions exactly do holidays usually entail. What kinds of events occur. I thought it might help put things in perspective to look at what is actually possible to do in-game.. and I also thought it would help come up with ideas for the holidays themselves. Here's what I've come up with so far.

Day of rest
Merchant Sales - Lower prices off all or specific goods.
Gift Giving
Feasts
Festivals
Traditional Foods / Candies
Family/group gatherings
Scavenger hunts
Touraments & Games
Entertainments (plays, performers, magic tricks)
Travelling Door to Door (ie Halloween, Christmas Charolers)

Many holidays have some combination of one or more of these in varying degrees. I also had an amusing thought for Truth/Honesty.. previously someone had also suggested themes surround anti-virtues and I remembered Aprils Fools.. not a holiday but still a tradition. Anyway I'd like to put that off for later discussion

Of course if everyone would rather focus on something else we can do that.. but I'd like to iron out January in some form or other. What are people's thoughts about the suggetsions new beginnings/rebirth/renewal etc theme?

 

Personally I'm hoping for a 2 hour cycle give or take but the day/night cycle is discussion for somewhere else. I'd like to stay on topic if we can.

 

Yeah, but it can be really problematic for those that have a "set" time that they can only play at regularly....and that time just so happens to be daytime in New Britannia 90% of the time. Sure, they're being really conservative to get as many people as possible to experience night time wherever and whenever they get a chance to play. But that really begs the question of why. There must be some in-game events that kick off that often that they want all of us to experience often or that event enables us to do something we wouldn't normally be able to do as part of a core game system.

EDIT: Oops, should a refreshed thread before posting. Ok, I'm done.

 

What about Festivus? The festivus for the rest of us.