Love's Night

As summer turns to fall, the constellation known as the Lovers ascends in the sky of Hyperborea. Though the loving for which it is named are long forgotten (the Demon Prince Zunkareth and the angel Vyrista, perhaps, or the Hierophant Lion and Blind Priestess Tiger from before the world began, or the sisters of Elsamere whose love shielded their nation from destruction), it is obvious that they look down on the lands they once loved with affection. Love's Night is the particular holiday celebrated for them, a tenday from the end of Eccaro, before Reaptide throws the farms of Hyperborea into a frenzy of harvest time work. Though most claim to view it as a holiday for the young, it is an open secret that celebration is for any who care to take it up. The constellation is generally brightest on Love's Night.

Young lovers tend to view the night as an opportunity to slip away from the working and waking world -- it's a common joke that more virgins are sacrificed on Love's Night than in the darkness of Deadwinter. Those with less interest in such illicit activities turn to the early bonfires of Love's Night in more general merrymaking -- all forms of love are celebrated, and even those who are overtaken with infatuation are expected to make some time for their dearest and most beloved friends.

It's rumored in some quarters that the most enduring forms of true love are blessed by the Lovers on their night, though the forms this blessing takes are myriad. Some couples of age are young again for the night; some friends are able to undertake grand adventures under the starlight; long-lost loves are reunited.

Love's Night is a holiday enjoyed throughout Hyperborea, though some areas celebrate more vociferously than others. Bailymena's neighborhood celebrations rival the formal balls of Beruge. So lift your candle to the sky in the name of love.