End of the year

Start of Cold Seasons

Most of Å+*4~, Fairy Gardens and East T@Ö#Å3 are blessed with a nice warm climate for most of the year, but at the end of the year they can expect a pretty significant weather change. From the height of the summer at Midsummer, the weather gradually starts getting colder and rainier, until the last months of the year. By the 10th month of the year, the weather gets noticeably colder, and life gets slower. Å+*4~ and Fairy Gardens get more cloudy and rainy weather, and in West T@Ö#Å3 it often even starts snowing. Desert and Wastelands get chillier, but aren’t as affected.

In Å+*4~ and Fairy Gardens, people celebrate the last Lanternfest and Harvest Day, which are the last big public celebrations of the year. The rest of the 10th month is dedicated to people buying and stocking up on supplies they’ll need for the following month. These are everything from food and clothes to hobby related supplies. At this time, people spend more time indoors, staying warm and cozy as the weather keeps getting colder and rainier. By the end of the month, it’ll rain every day.

This part of the year is similar in T@Ö#Å3, but temperatures that are colder than on the other side of the world don’t only bring rain, but also snow. Because of that, parts of the city closer to Mountains start shutting down sooner, though the end of the year celebration and its traditions are the same.

Final Celebration

On the last day of 10th month, it’s time for families to gather to celebrate for the one last time. The preparations usually start a day or two before the last celebration. Every family chooses the household from their family to host the party. This family has to stock up on food and bake a variety for sweet snacks for the final celebration. This celebration starts early in the morning when the whole family gathers for a grand breakfast. They eat and chat and have fun, and continue playing games, watching movies, partying and celebrating together after breakfast. Hosts of the party take some time to enjoy their friends' company, before they bring out more snacks and food they prepared the previous day. These are put out for all the family to enjoy and nibble on throughout the day during their other activities. The final celebration concludes at exactly at 22, with fireworks at every Town Square - the moles like to go out with a bang. After that, a lot of people continue to party into the night, until as long as they are able to stay wake. As much as they enjoy all the other fun things they do, the food is the most important part of this day; it’s an all day feast with small beaks for other fun. This is important for what comes next.

Month of Midyear

When the day ends, everyone goes back to their homes, where they’ll spend the entire next month. This will be the peak of the rainy season, where the heavy rain won’t stop for the entire month. Heavy rains that flood the streets and sleepy cloudy weather force the people to stay inside, warm and cozy. They spend this time mainly hibernating, waking up only rarely for short amounts of time. They don’t do much at this time, and they won’t eat either. Apart from a month off because of the weather, this month also serves as a month of rememberance of the days when out ancestors had to spend their days hidden away form the world during the Apocalyptic years.

The last month of the year so passes in peace and quiet, with most of the world’s population hiding at home until the beginning of the new year. Because this is an inactive month for people, set between the end of the old year and beginning of new year, this time is considered to be excluded from the normal timeline. It’s not a part of either year and only named to be Midyear - a time in the middle for two different years. There’s a popular joke going around among people who wake up during this time that says

“The old year has ended and the new year hasn’t started yet, what year is it?”

This is usually followed by the other person acting theatrically mind blown, confused or scared, for comedic effect. This is just about the most fun people are able to have during this unpleasant time of the year.

Midyear in Industrial Area

This time of the year is a bit different in Desert, Industrial Area and Wasteland of T@Ö#Ä3. Industrial Area is run by robots who aren’t affected by weather changes, but as most of the rest of the world is in hibernation, their production slows down at this time, some down time is probably good for the machinery that is otherwise working tirelessly.

Midyear in Desert

Similarly, people living in hotter Desert and Wastelands, aren’t affected by these weather changes as much, but are affected by the majority of the world being in hibernation. Desert in particular relies heavily on Fairy Gardens and Ä+*4~ for food, and with both places being shut down the food supply is cut off for Desert too. Because of this, residents of Desert choose to celebrate the last day of the year and hibernate, just like the rest of the world.

Midyear in Wasteland

People in Wasteland try to be more self-reliant, and are used to living their lives with only rare imports of food and goods from other places. While they are used to this for most of the year, the absence of even those rare visitors and import of valuable resources affect people here that much more. Because they need to conserve energy and resources more than people in the rest of the world, they often choose to even prolong their hibernation period for a week or two. They get the last shipment of supplies from fairies at the last Lanternfest of the year, and they save it for the next year.

End of the year is a bit different for Bat People of Wasteland though. They always gotta be special, and this day is no different. In this part of the world this month is also known as the month of the black sun, the darkest month of all. Because bat people are particularly obsessed with darkness and night, this is their favorite month. It starts with Black Sun festival instead of the last day celebration, and bats tend to remain more active during this month. The weather her doesn't get very cold, and bat people here are very self-sufficient, so they don't need the outside world as much. In the month that is one long night and the rest of the world is asleep, the bats, who look up greatly to ancient vampires get up to all sorts of shenanigans.

Start of the New Year

This is the only month without a Lantrernfest, or any other public celebration for that matter. The first day of the new year, people wake up from their hibernation, ready to celebrate the start of the new year. The weather this time is still pretty similar to before, and so is the new year celebration. People are eager to see their close ones again, and finally get something good to eat again too. They start waking up a day before the new year and start preparing all the food for the next day’s celebration that again starts early in the morning. Same as at the end of the year, the family gathers to eat, socialize and have fun until late night.

Over the course of the next week things start slowly going back to normal. Stores and businesses start opening up again, but people still spend more time indoors until the end of the month when the weather gets warmer and friendlier.