Great Burning

During the Season Of Innocence there were strict rules in place to enforce the static nature of society, keeping Rider culture at the apex of the simple civilization that was allowed to wander the world. The underlying purpose of these rules was always to prevent the horror of history from arising, since history was blamed for whatever forgotten calamity gave rise to the Vow of Earth. By maintaining an unthreatening bucolic simplicity the Earth would be spared from some dreadful fate the Guardians Of Earth envisaged might otherwise come to pass.

In practical terms this meant the suppression of any historical writing, but it also meant that settlements, necessary in themselves to support Rider culture, could never be allowed to grow to the point where they fostered their own stories. This might allow them to think themselves more important than the Riders and it might allow for the return of history.

Great Burnings were declared after no more than three generations had lived in the same town. The settlement was ritually burnt to the ground and its peoples dispersed and allocated to the Rider tribes. They would build new settlements in new places, but none would ever be considered permanent.

Execution

The true authorisation for a Great Burning originated in the Conclave and was spread into Rider culture by their material agents and monitors operating high in the councils of the Rider tribes. Because the Conclave operated in a hidden manner and prefered to keep its influence secret from the Riders, the ostensible decision came from Rider tribal chieftains.
Once a Great Burning had been declared at a particular season and location, all the local Rider tribes and even ones from further afield would gather for a festival, typically lasting for a week and concluding in the ritual burning of the town.
Two or three days of sporting contests were organised between the Rider tribes with the winners receiving special tokens, regular clear geometric solids made of some hard glass like substance where the number of faces and the colour of the token indicated its relative value. These were giant ritualistic versions of the currency used in Rider culture.
At the end of the contests, citizens of the town would be auctioned to the contest winners, divided between the Rider tribes until they were all allocated. These citizens would be expected to follow the Rider tribe ro which they had been assigned. Some might form the nucleus of a new settlement, whilst others would be relocated to existing settlements or would become Riders themselves.

Participants

Before the gathering took place, a committee would have been appointed to supervise the events of the festival, its members determined by negotiation between the local Rider tribes. The "Master of the Flame" held the chair and had the final say in any dispute. Invariably there would be a representitive from the Conclave acting as a shadowy observer.