Events, events, and more events!

[Piroska]

We were gabbing in vent this evening and a general consensus was reached: we'd like to see more events on Conquest of the Horde. I suppose that you could consider this a corollary to my recommendation that there be a specific GM (or multiple GMs!) that focus entirely on organizing events -- though this is something that could easily be organized by the community, with the staff's assistance.

So, we were thinking that maybe we could try to organize yearly events. There are a number that currently exist, whether we have knowledge of them from the roleplaying game, the novels, or even in-game events. However, we could easily adapt other festivals for our purpose; I know that Tharnul (God bless him and his creativity!) was able to come up with a number of events that we could put into Warcraft terms.

I'd like to organize events in this thread that we could consider pursuing. It's my plan to update this post with more examples and, hopefully, dates/times/seasons when they could be celebrated.


Calendar

• January
  • Festival of the Lake
  
  
• February
  • Lunar Festival
  
  
• March
  • Dance of the Earth Mother
    
  • Vernal Equinox
  
  
• April
  • Noblegarden
  
  
• May
  • Hordefall
  
  
• June
  • Dance of the Earth Mother
    
  • Midsummer Fire Festival
  
  
• July
  • Engineers' Explosive Extravaganza
    
  • Festival of the Lake
    
  • Renewal of the Sun
  
  
• August
  
  
• September
  • Dance of the Earth Mother
    
  • Brewfest
    
  • Peon Day
    
  • Autumnal Equinox
  
  
• October
  • Hallow's End
  
  
• November
  
  
• December
  • Dance of the Earth Mother
    
  • Feast of Winter Veil
    
  • Day of the Long Spears

Events

• The Birthday of Anvil Stormglaive
  • Celebrated:
    The ale pours free for every dwarf in the city during the holy birthday of Anvil Stormglaive.
  
  Brewfest
  • Celebrated: September
    Celebrated by both the Horde and the Alliance, the Brewfest is a time to enjoy the fermented fruits of the harvest: pretzels, cheese, and booze! The competing breweries Thunderbrew, Barleybrew, and the Ogres, all come together outside of all the major cities in a bid to outdo each other with their special ales, meads, and beers. Brave adventurers are invited to sit back, take a pull, and sample the finest wares these brewers have to offer!
  
  Dance of the Earth Mother
  • Celebrated: First days of spring, summer, fall, and winter.
    Dance of the Earth Mother is a four-part celebration which marks the change of the seasons. Performed at start of spring, summer, fall and winter, the ritual involves burning scented grass and herbs to ease the Earth Mother's transition into her new form. At this time tauren feast on the traditional staples from the previous season; for instance, to usher in spring, tauren consume the last of their winter stores, such as dried meat and preserved vegetables.
  
  Day of the Long Spears
  • Celebrated: 20 December
    A celebration of the day that the jungle trolls managed to reclaim the Echo Isles. Festivities include dancing and the taking of drugs. Competitions of strength and speed are held among the trolls.
  
  Engineers' Explosive Extravaganza
  • Celebrated: 4 July
    Deep within the cavernous halls of the Undermine, goblins labor and toil over their strange and fanciful engineering creations. When they are not constructing powerful devices of destruction, they find making fireworks a diverting pastime. They work tirelessly over strange chemical concoctions used to produce precisely the right color and, of course, spectacular explosions. It is an art form that comes naturally to those who find great pleasure in making things explode in a variety of ways. Competition is fierce among the engineers as they strive for perfection within their pyrotechnics. Since holding an exhibition indoors — particularly within range of a goblin engineer's workshop — is completely out of the question, it was decided by the Tinkers' Union that a day would be chosen wherein the pyrotechnicians would go out into the world and share their creations with the world (for a modest fee, of course). For one glorious day, the sky would be alight with the fantastic creations of engineers throughout Azeroth.
    
    Whether Alliance or Horde, these pyrotechnicians are more than happy to help you set the sky on fire during the Engineers' Explosive Extravaganza. (Just remember, point all incendiaries away from the face.)
  
  Equinox
  • Celebrated: March, September
    The druids of Nighthaven celebrate the vernal equinox and autumnal equinox, and the balance that it represents.
  
  Feast of Winter Veil
  • Celebrated: December
    The term "Winter Veil" is said to stem from a supernatural being referred in many cultures to as Greatfather Winter. As he would walk the land late in the seasons, winter itself would be his billowing cloak. In his wake was the blanketing of the land in snow, and thus it is said that Greatfather Winter would cast his wintry veil over the land. As Greatfather Winter walked Azeroth, it is said he would provide a bounty for those who welcomed his presence. As such, the idea of feasting during the winter veil would bring together communities as they shared whatever they had. Typically, a single day of merriment and feasting welcomed the change, all in anticipation of the land's renewal.
  
  Festival of the Lake
  • Celebrated: Midsummer and midwinter.
    Twice a year, at midsummer and midwinter, Lakeshire holds the Festival of the Lake. In the summer, people fish and swim, while in the winter they ice fish and skate. Like all good festivals, they serve a fine ale during these times. In the winter, they serve hot wine, which the high elves and half-elves seem to like.
  
  Hallow's End
  • Celebrated: October
    The day was once used for a festival near the end of harvest for humans of Lordaeron; the Forsaken later bastardized this practice, and now use the evening for their mysterious "Wickerman" rituals.
    
    Hallow's End marks the day the group of undead, who would later be known as the Forsaken, broke free of the Lich King's dominance and once again regained their free will. They celebrate this occasion by setting fire to a wickerman after a short speech from Sylvanas herself and smearing the ashes across their faces.
    
    In the Warcraft book Arthas: Rise of the Lich King it its revealed that Hallow's End was celebrated by the Alliance before the Scourge even came to Lordaeron.
  
  Hordefall
  • Celebrated: May
    Hordefall is a holiday celebrated in Southshore and Kul Tiras. It is the anniversary of the Second War's end. It involves singing, dancing, and incinerating small orc dolls.
  
  Kodo Run
  • Celebrated:
    The Kodo Run is an event that happens at least once a year. The day is officially declared by the shaman when they have determined the time is right. A group of Tauren hunters search for a herd of Kodo and then set up and hide behind portable grass blinds. They wait until the herd of kodo are near them and then surprise the herd by various means like lighting a bonfire behind them, jumping up and down from behind their blinds, shaking rattlers, and just plain scaring them so that the herd becomes confounded. Eventually, the herd is forced to blindly rush in the direction of the cliff. The lead kodo runs right off the cliff, due to kodos having poor eyesight, and falls down below to its demise on the rocks below. The rest of the herd follows the lead kodo to their doom. The Tauren hunters gather the meat and have a week-long ritual of feasting, tanning, and preserving.
  
  Lunar Festival
  • Celebrated: February
    The Lunar Festival is a time of celebration. The people of Azeroth celebrate their triumph of many thousands of years ago, when an alliance of good races (the night elves, tauren, furbolgs, and earthen) defeated a terrible evil called the Burning Legion. It is also a time of remembrance for the valor and wisdom of that ancient age.
    
    Today, the Lunar Festival is held by the druids of Nighthaven. Both the Horde and Alliance are welcome to celebrate and shoot fireworks — a symbol of Elune's power. Ancient heroes of the past also appear throughout the land, offering gifts to those who find and honor them.
    
    It is a time of happiness, fortune and celebration, but it has a deeper motive as well.
  
  Memorial of Quel'Thalas
  • Celebrated:
    A day of mourning is set aside for the high elves, remembering Quel'Thalas's destruction.
  
  Midsummer Fire Festival
  • Celebrated: June
    The Midsummer Fire Festival isn't merely about that traditional honor; it's a time of merriment, a chance to celebrate the hottest season of the year by lighting great fires across the land and sharing in what the elemental spirits can offer.
  
  Noblegarden
  • Celebrated: April
    The great feast of Noblegarden has long been celebrated by the races of the Alliance and recently adopted by those of the Horde. On this joyous day, it is customary for the nobles and lords from each race to hide coins, candy, and the occasional treasures within special eggs painted to look like wildflowers. These eggs are then scattered around the major cities for the citizenry to find. From heroes to commoners, and everyone in between - the feast of Noblegarden is meant to bring communities together to share the joy of life and friendship.
  
  Peon Day
  • Celebrated: 30 September
    Legend has it that long ago, the leaders of the two races, orc and human, each called upon a lowly worker and assigned him a great task. This task had to be finished by the end of the day, lest the world suffer grave consequence. Working diligently, both completed their task four minutes before the day ended. Thus, on the anniversary of that day, we celebrate in honor of all the peons and peasants everywhere.
  
  Renewal of the Sun
  • Celebrated: Midsummer
    Renewal of the Sun is a tauren celebration practiced once a year by most tauren tribes. This ritual, performed at the height of summer, celebrates the continued rising and setting of the sun. Tauren view this ceremony as a celebration of the possibilities of a new day, and use it to motivate them to change over the following year. At the Renewal of the Sun, all tauren dress in shades of red and orange and wear gold or copper jewelry. Corn, carrots and other sun-hued vegetables make up most of the feast.
  
  Veterans' Day
  • Celebrated:
    It also holds celebrations for the Third War veterans, to honor the citizens of all Alliance races who fought in the war.

[HelveteSong]

I like this a lot, Piroska. Hopefully, we'll get this started and party all year long!

[Judgernaut]

Rubbish! Absolutely rubbish! My eyes bleed! My soul is ripped to shreds!!!

I know that Tharnul (God bless him and his creativity!)

Humbugh, or summit... all I did that time was edit pooping sounds from Austin Powers fat bastard.

But back to actual response, I like it! The more events, the more good reasons for characters to travel. The more we have reasons to get together, the more reasons we have to maim eachother.
Y'know?
Some of the events, if they get a response from players(by which I mean their characters and their opinions towards different events.) could go alot more in depth, I mean even arranged(to some extent)the events that they feel deeply about by these players, maybe? To tie things together, yah?

And in events that dont have much meaning, they should be low maintenance but but high in fun... barfights in the brewfest and scammers selling you fake titanium armor that you later find out is made of tinfoil and so on and so on.

But at any rate, like tony the tiger would say "gGGRREATtt!!"

When I think of brewfest, this song strated to play in my head.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0x4Kw_y4fg[/youtube]
I definately want to hear new versions of this song in these events!!

[Piroska]

Thanks for the feedback, gents.

The celebrations currently listed in the post are all real ones by the universe's standards; even though most of them are based on festivals that we ourselves experience, each one had something that grounded it in lore (somewhat. It's a stretch, I know). I left out events that didn't seem to be any lore for it; for example, Lore is in the Air consists mostly as a plot concocted by a group of alchemists bent on causing mayhem.

That said, I was giving some thought to other events that we could organize. I was thinking of something that would be associated with druids, specifically the equinox. On this day, the center of the Sun spends a roughly equal amount of time above and below the horizon at every location on the Earth, resulting in night and day being of roughly the same length. I thought that this balance would be something that could be (for lack of a better word) venerated by the druids.

Equinox

• Celebrated: March, September
  The druids of Nighthaven celebrate the vernal equinox and autumnal equinox, and the balance that it represents.

[Beltharean]

What I would REALLY REALLY REALLY love to see, is the meeting of the trolls on Zandalar. We could OOCly use uninstanced Zul'gurub, and have a week long event or so, where there's nonstop troll RP! To quote wowwiki;

Every 6 years, trolls from all tribes from all over the world congregate in Zandalar to discuss matters that affect all trolls. Desert and ice trolls rub shoulders with jungle and forest trolls. They meet at Zuldazar, their capital city (which looks like a mountain.)

There ya have it in a nut shell! I think it would be quite the little shindig, and promote the best kind of RP that's out there. Troll RP. :wink:

If the idea is well received by you lot, I can make a more concise project idea, with mini-events that take place 'inside' this larger one.

[Piroska]

I like the idea a lot! It would interesting to see all of the trolls rub shoulders -- and also the conflicts that could arise during such a meeting. Do you think that this is something that could be held annually?

[Beltharean]

Well, in troll tradition it's every 6 years. But I suppose a smaller meeting could be made up for an anual sorta thing. Or, with so many of the trolls going extinct (sand trolls getting steam rolled by adventurers, ice trolls being undead, amani being sammiched between elves and undead. Dark trolls are unheard of, and the jungle trolls are all in a civil war) it could become a more urgent sort of thing, and changed to yearly...

Not my call though, that one would be up to Kretol since it would be a lore change.

[Ben]

THI, MISSUSUS! Is a wondrous idea. It adds depth, and it really helps the server move along. Having set events means that nobody can say "theres no RP, someone organise some" because it'll be THERE. This isn't every day of the year, its just set events that are there and will be done. Hell, people can add to this. I'd like to see some people contributing of saying hell yeah here. because its AWESOME.

[Piroska]

Thanks for the complimentary post, Ben! The goal here is to come up with yearly events so that each month we have something on the calendar to do. Something to which we can look forward. Blizzard does the same with their events on the retail server, however my goal is to ensure that each event is founded in lore.

The fun thing, too, is to make events of our own grounded in our own unique lore. We could easily come up with a day to celebrate when tyranny was overthrown in Silvermoon City -- and when the Forsaken and the sin'dorei rejoined the Horde. We could celebrate the day that Echo Isles were reclaimed by the trolls. Any event of significance could be used as the basis of an event.

I was also thinking about adding to the calendar a Wildhammer dwarf tradition. All the births of a year are celebrated on a single day. I was thinking that this might be something that is either adopted by the Ironforge dwarves or in which they might join for those Wildhammer dwarves that might be in the city. I wasn't too sure, however.

[Maelstrom]

Soon enough, maybe we can celebrate the day Gnomeregan was reclaimed.

[Ben]

and the Day of the Long Spears! To celebrate when the Trolls took back the wondrous jungle islands of the Echo Isles!

[Piroska]

As I mentioned in vent, I really liked the name, Ben. I added it to the big list and also the calendar. As a heads up, we selected 20 December as the day it would be celebrated. I might move that around a bit, but we'll see! If anything, we could make the day general as opposed to specific; for example, the third Friday of December.

[Xigo]

...The Kodo Fall?

Oh lord, that sounds...wrong.

[Ben]

May, May, May, May, MAY! Right, let's see.

Darkmoon Faire!

Have a two week event of somekind in which we celebrate fun, games, laughter, and that it's SUNNY outside again [Although not in Goldshire]. We could use whatever location the Shat portal has goin', unless it's been removed, and just have fun, really. Oh, and script the cannon cause it'd be awesome to have going and if we got that working the same could be applyed to the other fun possa-items out there. Like that trampoline in Nagrand...yeahh...

Anyways, Darkmoon Faire, second and third weeks of May, yes, no?

[Dilly]

Piroska, this is wonderful! I really like the equinox idea. Heh, awesome stuff.