Twelve Days of Yule

All twelve days are filled with fun, food and family. 

Day One: 21st

► The Yule log is lit and homes are decorated. 

Day Four: 24th

► Families throw the Cailleach (totem of an old woman) into the hearth to ward off the evil spirits. 

Day Five: 25th

► First Footing, where the first person to enter a house (preferrably a tall, dark man) brings gifts of food and coal. It brings you luck for the year to come. 

► Large feasts throughout the kingdom. Any leftovers are given to the servants and commoners. 

Day Six: 26th

► Gifts are given to children and games are played amongst the families. 

Day Ten: 30th (Hogmanay Starts)

► Major cities and communities host large parties involving lots of music, food and dancing. 

Day Twelve: 1st (Hogmanay Ends)

► Midnight, fireballs festival where the locals of Liath Mor swing balls of fire to scare away the evil spirits. 

History

For a long time, Yule was banned in Liath Mor due to the upheaval of wars and a sore transistion between their traditional lives and the newer ‘Istaran’ ways. 

However even when Istara loosened its grip, the people of Liath Mor were hesistant to celebrate it. Only since the McNairs were removed from power and an elven family were given the rule, the people have embraced Yule and Hogmanay, again. 

Food, Decor and Family

Food

► A loaf of unleavened bread is baked for each individual in the family, and the person who finds a trinket in his or her loaf will have good luck all year.

► Roasted turkey has become the traditional main course, but glazed ham and leg of lamb, among others, are also common. 

► Side dishes may include black pudding, Yule bread, and soda bread. 

► Yule pudding and shortbread are often served for dessert.

► Hogmanay is celebrated with Cock-a-Leekie soup and venison pie, washed down with whisky. 

Decor 

► Lights such as candles and oil lamps are used to illuminate people’s homes. Special powders are often bought to add to the flames and make them turn different colours. Those with magic might add some flare to their lights. 

► Citizens will hang up new drapes, white in color, to let the sun in, and to symbolize new life for the new year. These drapes will be kept up, until the first sign of the first bloom of the new year.

► Like most of the countries within the Forgotten Kingdoms, Liath Mor lights a Yule log and keeps it burning in their hearth all twelve days. 

Family 

► ‘Redding the House’ is an annual house cleaning  that rids the home of bad luck from the previous year and encourages good luck in the new. Part of this custom may include burning juniper branches within the house until it fills with smoke, then opening all the windows to cast out spirits. 

► Royals will send out little wooden ships into the ocean/river with a piece of paper with all of their bad thoughts/sins, and burn them as they float in the water to start off fresh.

Community

► There’s lots of dancing in every village and town throughout Yule. The most popular being Ceilidh dancing.

Fire Festivals 

► Citizens will continue to burn things that remind them of bad times, and release the bad spirits.

► Fireball swinging 

► Royals will hold a festival for the dead, in remembrance of those who fell that year, burning a pyre in honor of that person. 

The Laws

Most punishments and trials, no matter the species, will be held as equal, unless made toward certain elves. Werewolves must  legally register, announcing them as a werewolf. Failure to do so will result in punishment.  All species will go through the same trial as if anyone goes against these laws.

1. Treason - Any acts or mention of acts to be committed against the ruling Monarch or his family.

2.  Desertion - Treated as treason.

3.  Attacking an Officer - The act or intention of harming one of the Monarch’s officers.

4.  Arson - The destruction of another’s property through burning.

5.  Murder - The intentional killing of a human.

6.  Assault - Harming another human in any way that has not killed them.

7.  Obstruction - Concealing or otherwise aiding enemies of the Kingdom or suspected enemies of the Kingdom.

8.  Theft - The possession of an object neither bought, traded nor gifted to the person holding it. The forceful ownership of another’s belongings.

9.  Poaching and Rustling - Theft or hunting of another’s livestock/on others’ land.

10.  Lewdness - Behaving in an indecent manner in public spaces. Behaving indecently towards animals or otherwise unconsulting beings.

11.  Cult - If a group of people get together, without the knowledge of what is to go on during the meetings toward the ruling monarch.

12.  Secrecy- The concealment of hiding one’s self from the eyes of one another.

13.  Permit - The failure to work without an unregistered permit. (Gambling, Cults, Tavern, Brothel.)

The Pursuit 

In Liath Mor, the King’s army, on both sides of the country,  has a large presence and will take pursuit of the law into their own hands but do it still following the laws set in place. When a crime has been committed, it is the responsibility of nearby soldiers to pursue the criminal. However, if it is found a civilian hasn’t aided the army or has concealed the criminal, they will face the same punishment as the criminal themselves. 

If a criminal escapes the initial pursuit, a bounty is set upon their heads and citizens will be rewarded for delivering the criminal to the local Lord. 

Lewd but otherwise harmless people will net bounty hunters anything around 30b - considered to be ‘breadpay’. Vicious murderers, monsters and traitors can net hunters anything above 13S - more than most people will earn in a year but not necessarily worth the risk. 

Once a criminal is in the care of the local Lord, they will be kept in the dungeons of the castle or prison if there is one in their county. Depending on the status of the criminal, they will either share a cell with others or have a cell more akin to a guest suite. (This is usually determined by the Lord’s own bias.)

The Trial

At the discretion of the local Lord, they often put the criminal to interrogation and torture depending on the crime’s severity and their willingness to talk. 

It is also at the local Lord’s discretion that they will decide if the trial should be public or private. 

Private trials are often ones involving aristocrats, military officials or have topics sensitive to the State. These are held in a private antechamber with the local Lord and their advisors. The criminal in question and accusers are not allowed in the trial, instead represented by written statements. 

Public trials are the most common kind. The local Lord presides over the trial with a small jury of four landowners who listen to the case and determine the truth. These trials have large audiences and often roll out immediate punishments upon conviction. 

Specific cases, depending on the severity of the crime, the punishment for said crime, will be determined by the victim. The punishment can not be excessive, such as the loss of body part or death. If the victim decides punishment is to work for them, they must have acceptable working hours, and not be treated as a slave. The punishment shall be verified with the ruling monarch. 

Other trial types are exceptionally rare and most Lords will not accept them. However, they tend to be favored by small ‘traditionalist’ communities. Trial by Combat pits the criminal against the Lord’s favored guard and it is death that dictates the verdict. Trial by Ordeal is essentially more torture. If they survive, they will be acquitted. 

On very rare occasions, there is no trial. This is usually because a deal is brokered.  

The Punishments

The punishments for every crime vary from case to case depending on everything from the wealth of the criminal and their victim, to the species and motivations. 

1. Treason - The guilty, no matter the species, will define a sentence based on the form of treason they have committed. After the sentence is carried out, they will be brought to the square for public hanging.

a. If seen treasonous acts occurring and does not report them, will result in their eyes being plucked out. 

b. If found speaking in a treasonous way toward the ruling monarch, will result in their tongues being removed.

c. If found hearing that someone is committing treason against said monarch, and does not come forth, will result in their ears to be cut off.

2. Desertion - The guilty is handed to their Commanding Officer for their punishment to do with as they wish. If the Officer is a fair man, he will make the execution quick and will either be a decapitation or a sword down through the heart of the kneeling criminal. If they are cruel, floggings and beatings can be used. And often, those Officers will make the criminal’s fellow soldiers do the beating. This can take days. 

3. Attacking an Officer - Unless the solider is found themselves of ill-meaning or unhonorable, the punishment will be imprisonment. Unless the officer is killed in the line of duty, the prisoner will be flogged in the square, then made a servant to the home of the soldier and their family. 

a. If an officer is murdered, then the persecuted will be hung without question. 

4. Arson - Depending on the building, arson can be punished in a number of ways. However, it all ends in burning of the stake.

5. Murder - There are varying levels of punishment for murder.

a. If an aristocrat committed unreasonable murder of someone of a lower status, they are to pay a sum double the victim’s yearly worth to their family. And double that to the State. If it is considered a reasonable murder, they only have to pay the sum of the funeral. 

b. If a member of the Middle Class commits unreasonable murder of someone of a lower status, they are executed by hanging. If they commit a reasonable murder of someone of a lower status, they are fined and have to work for the family one work week. 

c. If a member of any class commits unreasonable murder on someone of the same class, they are executed publicly. If the murder is reasonable, they may be acquitted or made to pay a fine or work for victims family without pay. 

d. If a member of any class commits unreasonable murder of someone of a higher status, they are publicly humiliated before they are executed. Women are strangled, then burned. Men are beaten then hanged. If the murder is considered reasonable, they will be imprisoned until a patron buys their freedom. 

e. Elves who commit unreasonable murder on a human are humiliated, ears cut and paraded through the city nude. Their ears will be clipped before being hung. For reasonable murder, their original status will be dropped by one station. 

f. For werewolves who are illegal, no trial is needed. They will be hunted by especially equipped bounty hunters, nails removed, then killed. 

g. If a legal werewolf commits murder, they will be tried like any other species other than elves. 

h. If a legal werewolf is murdered, the prosecuted will be brutally beaten, stripped of their status, then exiled from the country.

6. Assault - As with murder, these vary depending on the severity and who committed the crime. 

a. Aristocracy will pay for the victim to have medical care. If it is against a prostitute or indentured servant, an extra amount must be paid to their employer or owner. 

b. For an assault on a lower class, Middle Class must pay reparations to the victim and anyone ‘put out’ by the victim’s injuries. 

c. Assaults against the Aristocracy or Royalty will result in the criminal being ‘repaid in kind’ and then hanged. 

d. Elves who commit assault, will go under a medical procedure to rid them of their beauty, and have their ears clipped. 

e. Those who target and assault a legal werewolf will be flogged, need to pay them a certain fine, and various punishments depending on the severity of the assault.

If a legal werewolf is trapped with a baretrap, then the guilty will be forced to step in the baretrap. 

If a legal werewolf is shot with an arrow as foul play, then the guilty will be shot with an arrow in the same area. 

If a legal werewolf is publicly harassed, the guilty will be stripped nude, flogged, then dipped in honey, fur spread across their body, and displayed in the square for everyone to be seen.

If a legal werewolf is visibly treated unequally, then the guilty will be displayed in the square, and others will be able to humiliate them.

7. Obstruction - The punishment is the same for you as for whomever you aided. If that person was found innocent, you are flogged twice and kept in prison for three years and pay a fine. 

8. Theft - If found guilty of theft, depending on what is stolen, the guilty will have to work for that family until it is paid off in full. 

9. Poaching and Rustling  - You can be shot on sight if found doing either. If it goes to court, however, you must pay the worth of the animals, be flogged, 

10. Lewdness - Given its catch-all nature, there are many different punishments for this. However, royalty and aristocracy cannot be charged for this. This law was designed to protect elves and animals. (Rustlers pretend to be lewd with animals to get out of being executed). 

11. Cults - If a group of people are found meeting illegally, everyone involved will be stripped of their status, stripped of their clothes, and be sent to the mountains to work for the ruling monarch. 

12. Secrecy - Failing to file for a legal werewolf, will result in branding with an emblem to mark visibly. Then be put to manual labor for two years.

13. Failure to Permit- If found holding an illegal brothel, tavern, or establishment including illegal gambling, the property will be taken away from the guilty and given to someone to the lower class to be used properly. The guilty will then need to work for the monarch and be paid in half the other half will be given to the lower class member who now owns the property.