Long Nights and Winter Lights
Winter traditions have been part of the human experience since we're clawed out of the primordial muck using thumbs and thought to ourselves "I ought to buy my child nine pairs of socks”. First thing we did with those dexterous extra digits was to throw up a pine tree in the den and shove some well smoked meats under it to give to people on a specific day but not before. We’ve been doing that for about thirty thousand years, give or take. So let’s try something a little different?
The setting-specific holiday we focus on in Bravado is Winter Lights, a Quiet-Folk holiday focused on the notion of Ritual and Tradition, honoring the beliefs of the varied many across the Lonestar. The Lovelace community celebrates this season every year not on a specific day, but as a kind of blanket period during which they assume and honor the traditions of their neighbors. What that looks like in the playspace, in terms of decoration, is a ton of tea lights all over the camp. So if you want to buy into this tradition and thusly the attentions of the Quiet Folk who celebrate the soft and quiet light of community, you should put tea lights all over your personal areas.
In addition, the Nomads who travel the Long 360 out of Essex have their own tradition of decorating “Loop” trees along the highways. What was once a seemingly out-of-place garish display of garland and lights that has slowly become an important cultural touchstone of the Winter season in the Lonestar. We can’t wait to see how our players bring the trees of Bravado to life with festive in-genre decorations (that of course, can be easily cleaned up after game off).
Similarly, the Junkerpunks celebrate Cargo-Net Day, another “new/old” tradition based on holiday themes. This holiday and its rituals have been completely designed by our amazing players, and we are excited to support it by honoring the related plot requests they’ve put in to our writers. We love the tales of Nopalito Joe and Kelpie.
We encourage you to put your brilliant minds to work to come up with amazing holiday traditions to fit within our shared story. Something from your character’s past? Something entirely new? Winter Lights is all about discovering and celebrating tradition, and we are excited to see the creativity our players bring to that.
We’re attaching a link HERE to a useful article that we hope will give you something to think about when designing holidays for the LARPspace that are clever and respectful.
THE LONG NIGHT
Every year in January Camp Bluebonnet Shores closes its massive eyes and takes a long nap to rejuvenate itself and heal from all of our intense LARPing on its pine-studded spine. And by that we mean the Girl Scouts of America use that month to fix up the camp infrastructure and DR:TX takes a month off for holidays and our own sanity. Shan & Aesa wanted to build a story for this normal gap in schedule, and thus the Long Night was born. The story of the Long Night first started at the beginning of 3.0, so we felt it important to update this story for a new edition.
The way we explain that in character is The Long Night; a period of time at the end of every year during which the sun does not shine on Bravado. Massive clouds appear over the town, huge stationary mountains that block the light of the sun. It lasts about a month until the sun comes out again and life resumes itself in all its baleful splendor. So when your LCs aren’t here in January (or maybe they are you masochistic maniacs) it’s probably because it’s VERY DARK and VERY COLD.
Every year, the Long Night brings the San Saba to a quiet halt. The cold weather and the deep shadows cloak the region in an inky gloom during the deepest part of winter, a remnant of the radioactive blast used to level old Bravo so many years ago. As the shadows lengthen and twist through the trees, the mournful wail of the undead seems closer than ever. The candlelight glow of shrines and memorials dot the landscape of every town nearby as the Long Night draws to a close, but the threats remain.
Each year, the skies around the San Saba grow darker earlier than normal and things start to stir in the night. Where as the influence of terrible undead terrors like the Archons, the Nightmares, and Longwalkers are long gone, there are still mysteries that go bump in the night. Previous stories of these creatures are a thing of the past, but as the shadows lengthen, one can’t help but wonder…
Nominally, the effects of the Long Night are a side effect of the bomb that was used to level old Bravo back at the end of the 2.0 edition. During the Hiway War, the final battle was decided by literally nuking our hometown and killing every living (and unliving) thing for a huge area. The blasted ozone layer over the area tends to increase the ambient radiation in the area during this time of year, which leads to increased cloud cover, harsh weather, gloomy and dim conditions even during the day, and prime conditions for the noctural predators of the wasteland to thrive. Night falls earlier as the Equinox wanes, and the weather and wasteland grows even more hostile to life.
Every survivor in the area hunkers down for the dour cold of January, barricading doors against the churning masses of undead and terrible critters that hunt the darkness. Undead grow restless in the gloom, and the more predatory dead like Hunters and Gore Hounds roam further than ever. Critters react strangely to the increased radiation, mutating and changing for a new year, like shifting into a new skin or a fresh change of clothes. Raiders grow more desperate, breaking down doors in the wee hours of the morning hunting for dwindling fresh meat, much to the consternation of those survivors huddled inside. The winter is a time where survival is not just a memory, but a mandate.
Ghost stories and frightful tales take center stage during the Long Night, as the huddled masses share legends and memories of times long before. From terrible faced things many hands taller than any survivor, to glowing apparitions in the forest on moonlit nights, the imaginations of survivors run wild during this time. No one is truly sure exactly what stirs during the darkest hours of the Long Night, but there is something out there. Strange footprints, sounds, and evidence of things moving about in the woods around Bravado are not just figments of an overactive imagination. There are terrible threats that hunt the night and any sane survivor takes shelter from the creeping darkness.
Daylight is spent on anxious and focused survival, gathering food and herbs to eat, refilling water stores with mostly rad-free water, and spending the few hours left repairing and maintaining the protections for the upcoming night. Families spend time repairing armor, barricades, and gear from the threats the night before, and try their best to prepare for what is coming. There’s precious little time for true community in the cold winter nights, so the focus instead turns inwards — to those closest and most cherished. When survival is even more desperate, you hold close that which matters most.
Many strains have traditions of candlelight memorials, remembrances, or simply celebrations to remember those that have been lost. Some share simple meals, pray for the salvation of the next dawn, or share thanks for what remains. The gloomy conditions bring a somber, but hopeful tone for the upcoming year, as the few weeks of darkness will eventually give way to a return to the searing sun of the San Saba soon enough. As the Long Night comes to end, thoughts of seeing friends once more and gathering in town becomes a welcome respite.
How did you survive the Long Night? Where there any strange happenings that you recall from the darkest hours of the year? What preparations did you take? What traditions did you share with your loved ones, or what have your mourned during the Long Night? Share with us your stories and we hope to see you at our next event!
“When the haunted Hallows moan,
And the Long Night looms so near,
Remember child, dog, and delver,
That the dead can smell your fear.
Remember always to carry a light,
To ward off the fearful zed,
To remind them that they have no business here,
And that it is you that they must dread.
So in these small and quiet days,
When the world beds itself down,
Protect those who would bear your light,
Through the tired streets of town.
Plant a torch and be the Light,
That leads your family home,
In the last and frigid nights,
Come home to Bravado.” ”