Spring
"As Årethjul breaks free from the soil, they shall breathe life and love into the world once more. The frost shall thaw, the sleeping shall sing forth a new generation, and the sun will come to meet them as the world grows green.
We shall show our goods from the winter and sing songs of love and life to aid their awakening, as the farmers till their fields, the orchardists trim the trees, and the stockmen fill their flocks."
Spring is the season where life returns to the world. The excess frost and chill recedes, many animals begin their mating seasons, and all manner of life flourishes and begins to grow. Many Eddans see this as a time of joy, appreciation of nature, love, and activity. Most of the celebrations will be about the crafts made from the winter season, the tilling and preparation of the land, or various divine or folkloric tales of love or rebirth, both common themes in springtime stories.
This season is the second quarter of the year for the Eddan calendar, and the next three months are titled after it in common translations. They are:
- 4. Growing Spring - When the dead, diminished, or frozen pieces of the land begin to sprout back to life
- 5. Blooming Spring - When the returning plants bloom brightest into their full foliage or pollen-laden petals
- 6. Greening Spring - When all of nature is at its fullest health and most lively coloration in the entire year
Manifestation
Natural Manifestations
Spring is the season of rejuvenation across Edda. All of the industries that slowed for the winter come back in full force, and many breeding seasons for flora and fauna alike come into effect. In general across Edda, Spring brings below-average to average temperatures for the various regions, as well as a greater increase in rain and wind storms, even in areas that remain rather arid.
Of the aforementioned industries, the bustling Agricultural sector is of course the most active, as the soil becomes soft once more and had its fill of water the time for tilling and planting comes, as well as harvesting and maintenance for those who were able to continue growing plants in the winter. Various aquatic industries and mining operations kick back up around this time as well as the lack of ice and frost makes the jobs easier. For the former, however, the increased rain and stormy conditions make ship faring harder, especially for longer expeditions, but many crews would pick weathering a storm to being stuck in ice any day.
Hunters and conservationists also become very active during the spring, as various animals begin to repopulate. While the two groups are often at odds with each other, they do work together just as much to keep a delicate balance between nature and mortal life.
Magical Manifestations
As the chill of Winter recedes, the mana flowing through the leylines shifts away from one pole to others on the theoretical compass of elements. Water based mana is still powerful, but Earth based mana also becomes equal in strength as the land itself awakens fully refreshed. For this reason, mana based around the manipulation of plant matter as well as healing mana is also at a greater peak this season. Other types of mana boosted in this season are those relating to the weather, emotions, animals, and travel.
Much like in Winter, excess mana of these types can cause some disastrous effects, being partially responsible for the wild storms of the season. However, this particular group of increased mana can also cause increased monster attacks, extraordinary growth of animal population, violent or animate plant life, and a whole smorgasbord of other problems, making this a very profitable season for special problem solvers.
Some seasonally effected magical creatures become more youthful and spritely during this season, especially the local Fae. Luckily for many, Spring is the first season which the Seelie rule rather than the Unseelie, with more playful pranks and mischief being caused rather than malicious chaos.
Cultural Aspects
Even for more desolate regions, Spring is a time of renewal and rebirth. Those who track the harvest give thanks to those who govern over fertility and life. Those who follow the warmth of the sun pray to the light-bringers and fire-wielders. Those who traverse the waters plead with masters of the storm and givers of the rain. This is a time where many if not all cultures of Edda have some festival or feast day to commemorate the coming of the season in its various aspects, usually in a joyous and energetic fashion.
With many remaining inside and working with their hands, it's also a season for art festivals and celebration of crafts, with many deities and venerated individuals related to the act of crafting being praised and celebrated in spring.
Given the seasons association with fertility and growth, it's also a season of romance culturally speaking. Many prefer to wed or perform big gestures of affection during the height of the season, and various festivals celebrating love and deities relating to the various types or stages of relationships are performed.
Localization
Due to the different, often strange, temperature currents of Edda, each nation experiences the coming of Spring in different ways
- Atalanta: As Atalanta weans off the winter frost, the nation still gets an extreme amount of precipitation. This is mostly rain, but in the north-western mountains they can still get a moderate amount of snow. Spring is a very notable season agriculturally for the nation, as in the western grasslands of the country there is a massive industry for vineyards, meaderies, and grain fields for beers and ales, with Spring being ideal planting and/or harvesting times for all of the necessary sectors. The vast wildflower plains and forests are also at their healthiest in this season, and the wildlife that weaves throughout them are even more emboldened.
- Magnum Opus: Much like their neighbor, Magnum Opus still remains rather cold and wet as it moves into spring, especially in the north of the nation where the snow never ceases. But as one moves more towards the south you'll find more sunny days as Spring marches onward even as the oceanic wind brings in cooler air still. The many different biomes of the nation all reach their peak of fertility and health, and many odd magical occurrences happen in the woods and rolling hills.
Magnum Opus more than any other nation awakens in the spring, as their mainstays of agriculture, lumber, hunting, and trading resume with fervor once the frost and heavy snow stop impeding them. - Laputa: The nation of snow remains such as Winter fades to Spring, but where intense freezing and chaotic blizzards raged, the citizens of the snowfields will find a much more mild falling of precipitation and longer days to melt the ice. Hunters cherish the Spring, as the crafty animals they hunt for furs and meat grow ever more populous.
- Afallon: The cold, stormy winds whipping the other nations give Afallon a reprise before the true heat of Summer hits, but they do not receive much rainfall as the uptick of Winter fades. The territories around the Oases do gain some greater fortune this season, as the rainfall and snowmelt the other nations provide do lead to general water level increases, which leads to greater volumes of water entering the oases, irrigating and nurturing a wider area than normal.
- The 'Oki Islands: Spring for the warm and humid 'Oki Islands means storm season, as no longer being caged in snow and ice leaves the wind and water to rage violently around the islands. While the various settlements and individuals are prepared to weather them as they have for centuries, it is always a time to be cautious and even more prepared than you think you should be. The choppy waters, however, do lead to some interesting quirks of irrigation, greater schools of fish and other aquatic life being tossed up, and various interesting rarities being dug up by the carving waters.
- Boncly: The mountainous area of Boncly, and the desert within it, remains dry through the spring but with a greater influx of underground reservoirs of water to aid them as global water levels rise, and some brief cool winds cut the edge off the otherwise persistent dryness. On the western side of the nation, they keep their usual temperate environment, but with greater precipitation and wind from the chaos that rages around the 'Oki Islands further west.
Many farmers get to hard work during this season, as many on the western edge of the nation feed those who can't find good farmland in the east, although modern developments in purification, mining, and irrigation have begun to make small areas of fertility for them. - Agartha: Agartha as a whole remains moderately temperate during the spring, but with plenty of rain and cold winds cutting through the eastern part of the nation. The snowmelt from the World-Mountain and it's surrounding range means a heavy risk of flooding to cities on the edges of said mountains, not to mention the capital city within the World-Mountain itself. This also means plenty of mineral-rich rivers streaming down the mountains and nurturing the soil, leading to the prized and internationally renowned crops of Agartha, rich in flavor and health. Much like in Atalanta, many Miners can finally get to work in this season as well with the stone becoming more malleable again.
- The Kaguyan Federation: In Spring the Kaguyan Federation still deals with a greater influx of chaotic storms, but not to the same degree as the 'Oki Islands do. This is the time of year where their most essential crops are being tended to and/or harvested. The various grains, fruits, trees, flowers, herbs, you name it, they all come to greatest life in Spring and are carefully cultivated from here until about the middle of Autumn.
- Hippolyta: As the verdant nation exits winter, it springs back to life with a speed and enthusiasm unmatched by any other nation. The trees regain their leaves, the grass grows tall and wild, thousands of animals sing and wander, and the citizens of the nation get to work tending the pieces of nature around them and giving praise to the land. It still remains rather cold and rainy during most of Spring, with many cloudy days being dealt with, but nature blooms nonetheless. In the larger parts of the nation, where no industry fully stops for winter, time continues much as normal, but the shift in daylight hours gives some key changes to the photosynthetic infrastructure.
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