On the western outskirts of the sandy city of Heshgarat stands the Necanium. Easily the size of the city, these ancient cairns with high round domes contain the remains of the honored dead. The entrance of each is carved with multiple felines and statues of them line the pathways between the burial mounds. Local legends recognize cats as the guardians of the dead, and they are considered sacred in the Necanium and within the city’s walls. While all cats are revered, the Heshgarat cats that call the area home are especially so on account of their uncanny abilities and potency against the undead.

Locals grow catwort plants on the wide ledges that are popular on the city’s buildings, and most have feline figures embossed on them somewhere. Dozens of cats can be found in the streets and dogs, mice, and rats are conspicuous by their absence. Pestering a cat within the city results in stern looks from the locals, while hurting one usually results in being whipped and chased beyond the walls.

Each year the city holds a week-long celebration during the spring equinox, just before the rainy season begins: the Feast of Cats. Locals stake out cat-shaped frameworks covered in choice strips of raw meat and bowls of specially spiced milk. Thousands of cats appear at this time and even Heshgarat cats, typically only seen in the Necanium, can be found walking the streets.

Interactions with cats during the feast are considered signs of the god’s favor. As a consequence, many locals spend long hours sitting with food or milk on their laps, hoping to entice a cat to visit them and earn their blessings.

Game Mechanics

A Heshgarat cat is similar in size to a large lynx, with large rounded ears and thick black fur lined with silver and white stripes. Found primarily lairing in and around the cairns of the Necanium to the west of their namesake city, they are considered guardians of the dead.

In the mountains far to the east snow is everpresent. The extra snow accumulated over winter brings the risk of dangerous unpredictable avalanches to highland settlements and the trails that connect them.

Fallsday sees pairs of the bravest members of those settlements, known as honreas, deliberately triggering avalanches. Their aim is to alleviate the danger by funneling the snow down established channels and from sun up to sun down waves cascade down the mountainsides. Honreas must have enormous trust between them, as there is much danger and little chance of rescue if they find themselves in trouble. Often siblings and relatives work together, but for romantic couples it is seen as the ultimate test of their bond and compatibility.

As well as serving their community, such duty is seen as a religious observance, and local temples to Honie and Oreas, the deities of winter, organize the volunteers and provide blessings before they set off. Fallsday itself occurs on the day before Kassag, the day when the temple celebrates the deities’ wedding, though particularly snow-heavy years may mean the artificial avalanches must also be triggered before or after the actual day. Only those who serve as honreas may be married on Kassag, and such weddings are considered especially blessed.

While the honreas work on the slopes above, everyone else remains tucked away in their homes during Fallsday. Family and friends of the Honreas spend the day in a somber mood, prepared for either celebration or grief. Regardless of the result, tradition dictates last year’s cirani, a spiced raspberry wine, is consumed that evening.

At dusk, a fire is lit in the steeple of each temple, and throughout the night honreas find their way back to them to be cared for, fed, and allowed to rest. At midday, each temple swings wide its doors and each honreas is presented with a Kassag coin. These large golden coins are uniquely stamped each year and only given to the honreas who returned to a temple on Fallsday night. Any remaining are melted into rings and presented to those who marry at the great feast that evening.

The feast of Kassag begins In the hours before dusk, ceremonies are held for those permitted to wed, then, and as the night closes in, the temples provide many barrels of freshly made cirani. Incredibly sharp and potent, the Cirani lowers inhibitions and suppresses animosity and the saying goes that “a Kassag truth is free of anger.”

Game Mechanics

Adventurers who serve as honreas receive the blessing of the winter deities. They can use the Help action to aid their Fallsday partner as a bonus action for the next week.