Unlike many of us, the people of Chybisa are constantly surrounded by reminders of the rhythm of nature. Even the kingdom's capital of Burzyn is hemmed in by farmland, with the peasant's activity in the fields forming a backdrop to the scenery of the town-dweller's daily life. To Chybisans, the passage of time is not a turning of the calendar's page. It is measured in the spring thaw, the turning of the soil, the sowing, and the harvest, and punctuated with the passage of the great spring and fall caravans and the hustle and bustle of the market fairs they bring.
The almanac that follows below is intended to help GM's and players, especially those who are using the medium of PBeM, by indicating what sort of things are happening around them in the background of stories set in Chybisa. The agriculture-related entries are drawn from the work of Andy Staples in his article The Medieval Farming Year. Andy does careful work, and it is always accompanied by an extensive bibliography. For a more detailed description of those events, click this dot: to see the original article.
Arthur Reyes has undertaken a similar effort and put together a calendar that encompasses the whole of H�rn and all its religions. Click this dot: to find it at Lythia.com (scroll down the page to the entry for "H�rnWorld Calendar").
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Winter crops (wheat and rye), planted last Halane, already cover about half of the active field. Sowing and harrowing of the spring crops (barley, oats, peas, beans and vetches) on the remainder of the active field begins with the new year. Meanwhile, plow teams begin the first plowing of the fallow fields while the soil is still soft enough to turn easily. Each team consists of a heavy plow pulled by four to eight oxen, guided by a plowman and an ox-goader. The team can do as much as one acre a day; most villages have sufficient oxen to complete the plowing within 60 days. The spring thaw signals the time the miners return to the Anadel Hills to re-open the mines, repair damage caused by the harsh winter or marauding Bujoc, and drain them of water that accumulated over the winter. Timbercutters and charcoalers set to work providing the fuel which will be used in the smelting and refining that follows. As the strong winter winds subside, Chybisan maritime trade resumes. Niviks carry trade to markets as far away as Aleath, while talbars and barges trade along the river. Early spring is the foaling season and their birthing heralds the Great Horse Fair that follows in the month of Peonu. |
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Peoni's month begins with the Restoration Festival, a Peonian celebration of spring's renewel of life after the dark and cold of winter. Last year's straw idol is taken from the village shrine and cermoniously burned in the newly sown field while a new one, made of the hay left from last year's harvest, is installed in the shrine. Sowing and harrowing of the spring crops is usually complete by early Peonu and children defend the newly-sown seed from crows and other marauding birds with slings. The first plowing of the fallow is usually complete by the end of the month. With sowing of the fields complete, attention turns to gardens. They grow not only such staples of the peasant diet as cabbages but also cash crops such as flax and hemp. Dyeplants like madder (red), woad (blue), dyer's greenweed (green) and weld (yellow) are also grown in gardens, for home use as well as for sale to clothiers and at the market. Culinary and medicinal herbs, such as parsley, fennel, celery, camomile, mint, summer savoury, catmint, mustard, opium poppy and coriander, also find places in the garden. Cows come back into full milk as pastures go green, an event which in some areas is believed to be associated with the eclipse of Yael on the 14th day of Peonu. This is a hold-over from religious practices common to the region before the arrival of Peonian missionaries; today such beliefs are carefully discouraged by Peonian clerics. The eclipse of Yael also marks the beginning of the Great Horse Fair, the time when the Hodiri bring their two-year old horses to market in Burzyn, trading them for the products of civilization. The barbarians arrive when they arrive, but the fair always runs through the end of the month when it merges with the market fair that accompanies the arrival of the annual Genin's Trail caravan. The Feast of Saint Fardir falls on 16 Peonu, with a tournament at Namadees sponsored by the Order of the Spear of Shattered Sorrow and the Lady of Paladins. Tradition holds that Fardir's last battle was fought near the present-day abbey, and that the silver spearhead of Protector, his enchanted spear, is hidden in the hills of Anadel across the river from Ulmstane. Merchants from Thay who form the Genin's Trail Caravan begin arriving in Burzyn as early as 24 Peonu. There they become part of Burzyn's semi-annual market fair as the great caravan grows in size and prepares to continue their journey to Tashal. The caravan brings the raw materials of trade and the reknowned Thay pottery, but Melderyni merchants arriving at Burzyn's dock to join them also carry luxuries from Lythia - olives, wine and spirits, spices (saffron, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon), incense, sponges, exotic dyes, rare quicksilver, ivory, pearls, fine linens and sometimes silk and cotton. Chybisan merchants join the caravan as it leaves Burzyn, taking Hodiri horses, Sindarin and Chymak craftwork, and refined Chybisan metals from the mines of Anadel to the markets of Tashal. |
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Haymaking is the main event of Kelen, and in Chybisa it is a communal activity of games and competitions. Kelen is the traditional month for the Peonian Oedolynaech, or fourth baptism, and in some areas of the kingdom the haymaking is part of that rite of passage, marking one step in the transition to adulthood when a youth is permitted to wield the scythe. Those not yet old enough to mow follow behind, turning the hay to ensure it dries evenly. In areas where three plowings of the fallow field are the norm the second is generally begun after the haymaking. This plowing is a little deeper than the first to expose the roots of weeds to the air and Nolomar's rays. As much manure as is available is spread on the field before the teams begin their work. The end of the month brings the shearing of the sheep, marking the end of spring. |
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The second plowing of the fallow field is usually complete by the end of Nolus. In the active fields, the loathsome task of weeding is the most important task. The Tashal Fair is in full-swing by now, and those who can afford the time away, typically only members of the noble and merchant classes, will travel there during Nolus. For the peasantry, Nolus is the hungry month. Grain stores are at their lowest ebb, awaiting replenishment from the forthcoming harvest, and peasants in need eke out their diet by foraging and many no doubt by poaching. The Angyla Festival, held on the 27th in most parts of Chybisa, gives some relief, with a day of revelry highlighted by a grand feast that is typically sponsored by the wealthier villagers. This is the traditional occasion for the Peonian Frinaech, or third baptism, marking the passage from infancy to childhood for those who will be old enough to participate in next month's harvest. |
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The main grain harvest begins in Larane if the weather allows and usually is completed by the end of the month. The winter crops (wheat and rye) ripen and are harvested first, followed by the spring grains (barley and oats). A team of five people - four reapers and a binder - can harvest two acres of crops a day. As important as the harvest is, it is interrupted for at least two days to celebrate the Laranian Feast of Saint Ambrathas. Burzyn's Sabalyne Common resembles a camp of war as knights from all over Chybisa, accompanied by their retainers and men-at-arms, converge for the tournament hosted there on 17 Larane by the Temple of Larani. As this is also the traditional date for the knighting of squires, the tournament opens with the concluding rites of the Laranian Tirannon ritual. More ambitious knights often choose instead to make the journey to Olokand for the Chelebin Tournament of Chivalry (12 - 22 Larane), Kaldor's most important tourney. |
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Winnowing and threshing are the main works of Agrazhar as the grain harvest is carefully prepared for storage. Left unground, grain can last several years if kept dry and free from vermin. Flour has a much shorter shelf-life, and milling the grain is done as and when necessary. Beans and peasecods are brought in from the fields and carefully dried as a source of both food and animal fodder over winter. Flax, hemp and other cash crops are harvested from the garden and carefully prepared to make them ready for use in the indoor months of winter. The fruit harvest begins late in the month; some will be put into storage, while some goes into ciders in preparation for next month's Harvest Home Festival. |
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Peoni's faithful begin the month with fasting, prayer and meditation in preparation for the Harvest Home Festival. Their fast is broken on the fourth day with a lavish feast on the bounty of the fresh harvest. The Harvest Home Festival bridges religious affiliations, and all present in the village take part in the festivities. By Azura beechnuts and acorns are ripening and falling, and swineherds drive their charges into the woods to forage for them, a process known as pannaging. Whatever wild fruits and nuts are available are also collected for human consumption. Wheat stubble, which was left standing in the fields, is gathered in to mix with hay as winter fodder. The third and final plowing of the fallow field is done prior to next month's sowing of the winter crops. Livestock are turned out onto the previously active fields to graze whatever stubble remains. |
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The celebrations of Azura are followed by the accounting of Halane. Rents, debts and obligations are summed and paid. Serfs who failed to meet their labor obligations are fined, with the debt usually paid in kind rather than coin. Manorial lords have their own obligations to pay and it is in Halane that tribute, aid and scutage usually comes due. In urban areas, landlords begin collecting from their tenants the property taxes that will fall due on the first of Savor. On the manor, the previously fallow field becomes the next year's active field with the sowing and harrowing of the winter crops (wheat and rye). Old stock and swine are slaughtered in Halane and smoked or salted to provide a supply of meat, however meager, for the coming winter. Reeds and sedges are cut to be dried for thatching, and bracken is gathered to use as winter bedding for cattle. Threshing and winnowing continue whenever the weather is too wet to do outside work. The Genin's Trail Caravan returns to Burzyn at the end of the month, with their arrival marking the beginning of Burzyn's autumn market fair (23 - 25 Halane). Still called the Salt Fair, it is better known for more exotic goods carried from the great fair at Tashal: perfume from Tharda; amber, fur and rich honey from Orbaal; gems, jewelry, arms and armour from Azadmere; brassware and fine cloth from Kanday; and vellum and fine Vemionshire wool from Kaldor. |
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The month begins in urban areas with the payment of the annual property tax. Landlords are responsible for the tax, even if they have failed to collect it from their tenants. In rural areas, preparations for the hardships of winter are well underway. Peasants continue to collect as much firewood as custom permits, but almost all other outdoor work is complete. The last of the meats are salted and smoked and what little threshing work remains is completed.
Talbars and barges continue their trade along the river, but by the end of Savor most sea-going vessels have returned to their ports for the winter. |
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The onset of winter brings the closing of the mines. Those deemed safe from the ravages of the barbarians are left to the elements; the others are left in the care of mercernaries. With the mines closed, the miners' barge traffic ceases and there is little other traffic on the river. The cold and rain of winter largely confine peasants indoors where they perform whatever tasks they can to while away the hours and perhaps earn a little cash: hemp is wound into rope or cord; flax and wool are spun into yarn; women weave and embroider; men carve or engage in other handicrafts. When the weather permits, villagers assart woods and maintain the fief's fences, bridges and ditches. |
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The noble class entertains itself during the dormancy of winter with formal courts and less formal fetes. More than an exercise in hospitality, these occasions give the host an opportunity to display his wealth, power, and prestige to his peers as well as his vassals. The barons of Chybisa typically host these affairs during the month of Navek. For the peasant class, the monotony of the short days and long winter nights is broken only by the onset of calve birthing. The month ends on the Night of Shadows with, as superstitious folk believe, the night of Navek's new moon heralding the arrival on Kethira of demons and the servants of evil gods for a thirteen-day reign of mischief and terror. In some rural areas of Chybisa, huge bonfires light the night sky, intended to drive the demons away. |
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Morgat is the time for the pruning of orchards and, where they grow, the vineyards. Late in the month, the end of winter is heralded by the onset of lamb and kid birthing, prompting peasants and craftsmen to repair tools in preparation for the coming spring. The year ends with the Royal Court, the occassion when Chybisa's barons and other important and influential people enjoy the hospitality of the crown. |