Burning Lord Thræsh

Life through the year - Chapter 1: Burning Lord Thræsh

Sun sets on what is the last day of the year. Out in the countryside they have just brought in the last harvest and up near Castle Thræsh you can see the roofs and pediments already covered in the first snowy plumes, shining down in contrast to the dark stone exterior.
Inside City Moondoor preparations for the cold days are underway and you look back on a full year of hard work and great happenings. You met the love of your life and after receiving your families blessing married them under the faith of the divine. And now it is time prepare for the long cold nights. Work will continue of course, especially since you now need to provide more for a potential family. Perhaps its time to stop as a simple laborer and try to pursue a better paying calling. Not something requiring smarts, obviously. Not something like the alchemists and their new weapons of smoke, no they require years of training you hear.
And besides this, alchemists, like all major trades are dominated by the Moondoor Guilds anyway and you can not afford to go climbing ranks as an apprentice at this age. Perhaps though, there is another option. These new creations, which allow a man to copy more books than a hundred scribes in the same time, have only just arrived in Moondoor and maybe people will be more open to new workers there.
But all of these thoughts are for the new year. Now it is time to celebrate the one that is passing and to welcome the new one by burning a Lord. You step into the chill autumn air and make your way to the central square of your district, happy to meet your love there as you arranged earlier in the day. Already you feel yourself giddy for the approaching ceremony.
As you get closer to your destination, the street becomes more crowded, everyone moving in the same direction like a sluggish current, except the odd lamplighter doing their evening round to illuminate Moondoor for the night.
At last you arrive on the square and behold the Lord Thræsh. In the center of the square a large wooden effigy towers over the gathering mass of people. It is almost as tall as the three and four storied buildings around it and shows an old man, hobbled by his years, with a staff upon which he rests. Someone has given him clothing in the form of a simple linen imitating a lordly cloak. At his feet stands a wooden tombstone, upon which is written:

"Here lies Thræsh, Lord of the Mountain. Resting in Ashes, burned by the righteous."

Around the square people have already begun setting up and breaking open barrels of cheap red wines, using small coal and wood fires to warm it, adding spices into the cauldron. Excited to warm your bones after a day out in the cold, you make your way over to one and hand the seller the small pittance charged for the beverage. The quality of the drink will reflect its price, but you mostly care about the warmth. Dipping the two cups you brought with you into the cauldron, you step away from the fire and scan the crowd.
Then you see your love and move towards them with a smile. Arriving you hand one of the cups over and toast before sipping on the wine. A warm feeling runs down your throat and fills your belly with a cozy buzz. You notice a nearby woman staring and you and your love with snide look of disapproval and confusion, but right now you only care about being right here, right now, with your love.
Over at the pyre, they are starting the ceremony and you pull your love close, turning towards Lord Thræsh. You ponder the festivities and your loves insistence that you attend it. Normally, you are the one who is more religious, which is saying something. Your love basically had to be dragged across the doorway when you wed them last year. But perhaps Burning Lord Thræsh holds a special place in their heart.
As you watch on, three honored citizens of the district carry torches to the pyre. Putting them to Lord Thræsh's feet, you feel your eyes momentarily drawn to the sky, looking eastward. There, beyond the city limits, you can spy the mountains rising and, almost at the summit, the snow-covered roofs of Thræsh's Hold shine in the pale moon light. When you look back down the effigy is ablaze. Your love melts into your arms with an excited giggle, watching on.
Around you, citizens start humming familiar melodies and eventually people sing the words belonging to them, until the masses form an entire choir of happy voices, the sweet, hot draught an intoxicating smell on their breath. You can't help but feel excited. A new year is at the doorstep and especially now, it feels like you are crossing over into a new chapter of your life.