apparently....

From: BEThexton <bethexton_at_8sFiYiH5A64OuRFQYATJNViRxUG_LufFGVsTXrmkQfa3JQwU5g2NIZ8YGP3wQd2wwO>
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 18:37:09 -0000


Apparently with the arrival of Sea Season everyone has headed up to the high meadows, and a hush has fallen over the stead….

It looks like people are short on time for grand works, so perhaps we should resume chipping away where possible, just to keep things moving. I'm sure a number of people have ideas for writing up some of the inhabitants. I would suggest a basic format of:

Name, gender, age, bloodline, cult, occupation/role in the stead. Primary relationships (spouse, parents, children, working partner). Physical description. Other notes at whatever length you feel like writing.

For example:

Kentvent, male, 36, Hunter-Brother bloodline, initiate of Pelaskos All-Father and Lady Whitewater, Fisher/boater. Son of X and Y, husband of Z, father of A (initiand) and B & C (children), shares a boat with his younger brother Q. Kentvent is of average height, slight build, and has rich brown hair and beard, only now starting to show a hint of frost. He is a very skilled boatman, and spends much of his time traveling up and down the river on various errands. When at the stead he's apt to be off on his own fishing. He is reserved, and while patient and calm when on the water, being around people seems to draw out flashes of temper from him. He hates farm work and avoids it as much as possible. His marriage to Z is not particularly close, but it seems to satisfy both of them.

Asrelika, female, 67, Swen bloodline, Suchara the Crone initiate, Swenstead hearthmistress. Wife of Invarna, mother to three daughters, of whom Orane is a godi at the chief's stead, and M and her children are back at Swenstead.

Asrelika is as small as Invarth is big. Many of the older children can look down on her, especially now that she is quite stooped. Her hair is pure white, and her face heavily weathered. Despite her declining vigor she drives herself as hard as ever, but she doesn't roam as far from the hearth as she used to, and is inclined to lean on a stick or convenient child on some mornings. Her eyes are still sharp, however, and her voice strong, and few in the stead would cross her. She eschews the finer clothes and other ornaments that her position would let her wear, viewing them as useless frippery.

It is hard to imagine Swenstead without Asrelika, or Asrelika following anyone other than the rye mother. Like her favorite grain she can be tart, but is reliable. She is ever prudent, always looking for food in the storage pits and reluctant to waste it on luxuries like feasting. She hates idleness, and can always find some chore to fill anyone's idle moments. Stead lore has it that once when the chief came visiting, after he got off the boat she asked him to help carry some firewood up to the main stead, while he was headed that way. She doesn't mind singing and story telling, but doesn't see why people can't be doing something with their hands at the same time. Her one luxury is her raspberry bramble, staked and tied into surprisingly neat rows along the outer side of the ditch around the stead buildings. She is not shy to point out that most visitors to the stead seem to arrive while her raspberries are in season.            

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