Winter Convergence Holiday Special

14.12.2023 - 19:59 / newworld.com

The time of the Winter Convergence is near. Where the sky lights up in brilliant colors, mysterious rocks fall to the ground, and people spread presents and cheer across the island. But alas, this is also when dark creatures and wicked spirits of the season look to bring an Eternal Winter upon all of Aeternum, encasing everything in ice and snow.

Would you like to know more about Winter Convergence? Sit for a while, and let me tell you about it!

Our story starts, of course, in the land of Aeternum. A mysterious island where travelers from many different times and places find themselves having to make a new life. These people often wash up on shore with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and thus the only thing many of them keep close are the memories and traditions from wherever they called home.

And there are few traditions across the world that are more important than the winter festivals. These go by many names throughout the world, but they share many things in common. They are a time for celebration and gathering. A time for feasting and decorations. And most of all, a time to put aside grudges and to spread gifts of merriment to all of your neighbors. And while every celebration is a bit different, the people of Aeternum have come to call this time of cheer the Winter Convergence.

Let’s take a trip down to Aeternum and watch the people prepare for the festivities.

Here we are in Corinth, at the beginning of the season. The people of the village prepare for the winter, getting their food packed and their supplies put away for the coming cold. But they also know that the Winter Convergence is soon, and so too are they readying their decorations, their recipes, and their gifts for the celebration. They’ll start lighting the hearths and keeping watch on the hills, doing all they must to keep the spirits of the Eternal Winter from reaching their doorstep. They’ll begin putting up streamers in the streets, wreaths and twinkling candles on their homes, and make way into the town square for the centerpiece of the festival, the Tree of Light.

And each night, they’ll look into the sky, waiting for the brilliant ribbons of light that are the hallmark of the Winter Convergence. They’ll wait eagerly for the glowing streams to wink into existence, for they know that with the ribbons comes the Gleamite.

And what is Gleamite, you might ask?

Well, no one really knows. But the people of Aeternum do know that it falls with the winter lights, coming down in small showers across the island. The spectacle of a Gleamite shower is one of the highlights of the Winter Convergence, with some sitting high on the cliffs scanning the landscape to see the twinkling of the Gleamite as they fall to the ground. The Gleamite