Every seven years, the Festival of Renewal brings together The Three Queens on the banks of the River Elokesh. From the North, Rani Namitha rides in with her retinue, poised on a clockwork throne, its many-jointed limbs of ivory and gold powered by the indentured dreams of lost children. From the West slither The Nag Rani and her host of serpentine progeny, bearing jeweled termites, spidersilk lace, and hallucinogenic face-creams as gifts and symbols of her people’s wealth. And from the skies serenely descend the vampire Rani Swetanjali and the undead nobles of the Midnight Court, in a hum of liturgical song and prayer.
The week leading to the festival sees the riverbank transform into a riot of activity. Pilgrims from all three kingdoms gather, celebrate, and demonstrate piety. Vendors raucously ply their wares, from festive foods to sacred narcotics. Artists use the time to create magnificent, avant-garde works to honour their Rani. Pilgrims hold ecstatic dances, communal dreamings, and song-circles. And the nobility use this time to scheme, plot, and trade secrets.
All the while, the three monarchs fast and pray in preparation for Festival Night, when they’re meant to ritually cleanse themselves of disagreements and misunderstandings in the river’s ice-cold waters. The Festival of Renewal is critical to maintaining the Treaty of the Triple Peace, a treaty that was ratified after decades of war. But even now, there are those who wish to undermine the current peace...
The Festival of Renewal is a setting outline, including NPCs and locations, for the Mystic Lilies RPG by Will Uhl. The adventure focusses on inter-faction politics and the strange, almost alien sights and sounds of the festival.
Art by Suedo Lorenzo
