New Britannia Cultural Festivals & Holidays

I think this would resonate very well with Richard (e.g., Origin Systems / "We Create Worlds", Tabula Rasa). It would make sense that the populace would have days where they recognize their emergence from The Cataclysm. Now how often they would do that and what they would actually do to observe it....maybe they make pilgramages to some certain historical sites once a year?

 

Now that's an interesting event I hadn't considered. Pilgramages are a tradition for some in many ways. Returning to your homeland. Going to a place of religious signifance or even visiting someone's grave on their birthday, holidays or anniversaries.

I hadn't really considered what RG would think of it apart from the signifance of returning to the surface of the cataclysm. The real world connection with Richard is interesting.. since he's basically "started over" what 3 times now? Origin, Destination and now Portalarium. In that light some meausre of travel seems very appropriate does it?

The question then becomes.. where would they travel to? Perhaps where ever they or their ancestors emerged from? The underground settlement they used to live if it's safe.. or perhaps a monument of rememberance for others. I imagine that undertaking the journey would be a personal choice. I like that idea. Each town would have it's own signifant location and most of those would be within a few days travel I would imagine.

I can see camp grounds set up near various dungeons and entrances to the catacombs where pilgrams would settle in mass, throw a banquet, sing some songs or what have you.. basically party all night long.. get drunk.. have a hangover and pack up and all go home.

 

Yeah, as each region of Novia has a distinct culture in both language and backstory, I would imagine they all emerged from The Cataclysm at different locations and quite likely celebrate them in different ways. If we want to draw real-life parallels for "regional" ideas of how they would celebrate, we've already been told that the northwestern part of the map is European or Scandanavian based. And the region of Ankaria has an Eastern flavor to it. Sure they all could have food festivals and get drunk as that's just not only human nature but just the law of all life forms

 

heh.. indeed.. so a lot of holidays have traditional foods but here I'm getting the impression that in this case that level of tradition would be local. I'll have to review the last few updates it seems. I don't recall the regional info you're mentioning. I'm guessing it's fairly new. I've been distracted lately.

At any rate I'm pretty happy with the current thinking. It sounds interesting with potential for a lot of variety.

I thought there might be a specific practice relation to returning to the surface. It's not quite what I have in mind by it reminds me a baptism. The symbolism of dying of old ways and being reborn. The only other thing I could think of was more suitable for halloween which I don't especially care for but rising from the grave.. just doesn't quite seem appropriate but thought I'd throw it out there. But I thought some kind of parallel.

Perhaps some kind of ritual during the party/banquet that symbolized emerging from underground to start a new life. For whatever reason the notion of some sort of symbolic act is stuck in my head. Perhaps this too would be a local thing.. and/or maybe the concept is global but local communities all do something different.. in which case that could be tabled for later.

 

Actually, this "rising from the grave" is very much a part of the Avatar's story in New Britannia. But it actually might be opposite of what we're thinking. Richard and Tracy are being VERY cagey about death in this game. But they did reveal some very good info peaks about it, such that rising from the grave, or reincarnation, or becomnig alive again after being dead, might actually be feared in this game. Here's a snippet:

GD:
All right, our next question is a shared effort. It comes from both Google and the chat room. Tommy Gun and Lord, oh know I forgot his name, I'll remember it. They want to know if the story isn't completed, they know the story isn't completed by any means but they're curious how you're going to deal with death and resurrection based on how the story represents life and death.

RG:
Oh, fantastic question. We've had lots of discussions around life and death. And in fact, from the view of a local who is not an immortal, the presence of people that somehow seem to come back is another one of the -- well first of all is a sign that they're not of this world that they are one of these, whether or not you admit it to the villagers that you're around, if they see that you have been dispatched in the past and returned in the future they might have some clue that you're not one of them at least.
And so from a game system standpoint, we have not come up with the proper, the final iteration of death cost. And it probably will be variable based on your journey in the world and your state within the game. But we thought a great deal about what it means story wise. The fact that death for you does not seem to be permanent. Tracy, you want to...

TH:
Yeah we've actually had long discussions about avatars and how they're represented in the world. And also not only talked about what that death looks like to a local creature in the world but how that death might be manipulated by local people in the world. How local individuals might manipulate those circumstances to their advantage.

RG:
Well I think some of the things, and again these are, we're not giving away any decisions or descriptions of how this will work in final form. But I think it's funny the speculations we've gone through. For example, if players know there's a chance that if someone dies that they might come back to life, well then they might think that that body was something to either treasure if it was useful or destroy if it was a risk.
And so it's entirely possible that people would, you know, if when an immortal such as yourself dies, if that means the body doesn't quite decay or doesn't go through rigor mortis in the same way. If there's any way to detect at all that your body is different than someone else's body, they might choose to go throw it in prison or in a deep pit or cover it with lyre, dismember it and put it through a blender. Who knows what they might be motivated to do.

TH:
<LAUGHS MISCHIEVOUSLY>

RG:
And if they can't tell based on your corpse whether you are one of these otherworlders, well then they might build another set of rituals to go like "look since we just don't know, you know we used to know that everybody that died was dead and gone forever so we buried them in the graveyard, but now that we know there are some people that, we thought he was dead and buried and threw him in the graveyard and guess what, he resurrected and dug himself out doesn't seem to be zombie, actually seems to be back to life.
Well then we better deal with dead people in a new and unique way compared to have in the past". And so we're going through all these very foundational issues around the practicalities of gameplay, how they should manifest not only in the gameplay of this world, but how that should impact the story. So it's been one of the great fun journeys we've been on in the last month.

TH:
We're looking actually for a real interaction between game and story here. Not just to have the game somehow try to model story and model the existence here, but an integration here that makes sense. So that your gameplay makes sense in terms of the context of the world and things that happen in the world makes sense in terms of how you play the game.

 

hmm well I don't know what anyone else thinks of it but I'm just not looking for a death theme here. I just can't think of anything else to compare to. I just feel like some kind of symbolic ritual is appropriate. Maybe it originates with the whole death and rebirth concept but like most holidays/rituals I think most people might never really comprehend the meaning. It's just something that's done traditionally. On the other hand.. having that history figured and written down just provides that much more depth.

I don't really think it needs to have anything to do with avatars though. This is something specific that the local inhabitants went through. Their world was destroyed and they went through what must have seemed like a living hell for generations. Celebrating their emergence from that life to build anew is what it's all about. So I think the focus should really be all about them.

 

Oh understood. I just provided that as a framework for how the natives might feel about that in general, but it was heavily Avatar-centric.

What about "holidays" or rituals that celebrate discoveries? Those in essence give birth to new knowledge of something. We designated holidays for the discovery of new lands (eg The New World). Perhaps there are similar events that are celebrated as they (re)discovered the ruins and perhaps even reinterpreted what those are. Which is another way of giving new life to something that "died" with the cataclysm.

 

That sounds interesting but something I think would hold much greater significance to scholars and academics. It reminds of little things some people do.. minor ritualistic or superstitious habits. Liking kissing a cross or knocking on wood. A particular gesture or a small feast of a particular traditional food. Perhaps academics have a different way of celebrating the holiday?

Though discovery seems like it would be a different kind of theme. It goes a little beyond the idea renewal.. unless it's a concept of renewal of knowledge?

I'm be more inclined to put that idea down as a "local" addition to the holiday rather than a "global" one. Farmers for example probably wouldn't care.

 

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!

 

Interesting.. I was wondering at first how that fit in until you got to the end.. kinda makes some sense in a certain light. People are thankful for the extra protection.. A creative idea indeed.. putting that in my notes. I'll add that in a possible local tradition. I sense large quantities of alchohol to be consumed after a long day.

 

Would still be nice to have some holiday events happen at the same time than earth holidays... for a good reason, people often take a break from their work and have more time to play.

 

There was suggestion of treasure hunt type day, this brings to mind geocaching and thus discovery day could be celebrated by having geocaching day.

Also very good local/town level idea from Ronan

 

I think the number of people who make special plans for holidays probably outweigh those use them as excuse to get more play time. I think near real holidays might work for those who get extra time off but overlapping with holidays I think will make fewer people around in-game to partake in events.

 

I think we need a day of mourning when we think of the fallen in the big catastrophe. Then I think there should be also feast around the moons and the Lunarrifts.

 

A day or mourning would make sense.. in which case it also makes sense that it should take place before the renewal one. Which would probably mean it should be in December. Maybe a reminder that all things end? Though I'd really like to do something else in December.. ah so many ideas.

We could also tie the two ideas together. Basically two consecutive events. Like New Years Eve and New Years Day kinda thing. You first have a day or mourning and rememberance.. then you head out to whatever camp you go to for the renewal/rebirth party? It's a pretty significant event in recent history.. it would make sense that it'd be a big deal?

 

Not sure about this. Although SotA is set in New Britannia, the story is based on the idea that the players have all come from Earth. Since the players are humans from Earth then it makes sense that they would be aware of and would bring with them the holidays from Earth. So it would seem likely to me that these travelers from Earth in New Britannia would still tend to celebrate the holidays from Earth.

Also I don't see any reason for a "no earth holidays" position. If people want to do that, then more power to them. I don't see a reason to prohibit something that, based on the story, actually makes a lot of sense.

 

I think that's fine if people want to RP it. What this thread is suggesting are NPC-based festivals and quests. They do not come from Earth.

Also, if you RP an Earth holiday then you risk "outing" yourself as an outlander. NPCs may or may not take kindly to that, but hey, choices, right? Let my actions affect how the game responds!

 

Just as long as they don't bring Christmas with them.

 

Yes, on one hand you could say that NPCs would have no reason to celebrate earth holidays and it would only be players celebrating those. Then again, as time goes on and the travelers from earth mix into the society and become part of New Britannia it wouldn't be surprising either if eventually some of those holidays become celebrated by those native to New Britannia as well. Holidays and traditions of the immigrants from earth surely could make their way into society over time.

Yes, NPCs might not like it, but as you indicate (referring to RP), maybe you're a proud earthling and don't care if some in New Britannia don't like it There's not necessarily any reason to hide being from earth just because some might not like it.

There's no reason to think those that celebrated Christmas on earth might not bring that with them to New Britannia and celebrate it there as well. Christmas (and any other earth holiday) should be fine if those that have come to New Britannia from earth want to celebrate it.

 

I know there's no reason to think that "outsiders" wouldn't celebrate Christmas. Now I know why the people of Britannia hate us so much. They don't want to be knocked over the head by our need to needlessly spend money. God help us all.