Q is for Quickening
The Old World is full of tradition and ritual. Whether in a cosmopolitan city or a frigid village in the northern reaches of the Empire The Quickening remains practiced and is observed by all the sanctioned cults (and some not sanctioned, but tolerated).
The Quickening is the tradition that occurs on the 11th birthday of a boy or girl. On the day of The Quickening it is common law that the child is officially an adult. Many of the rights granted on this day include: inheritance, apprenticeship, liability, and marriage.
Common ceremonies include “The Dooming." This practice is more superstition than certainty and involves a wise woman of the family, a grandmother or older matriarch, observing some tick or behavior of the child and declaring the thing to be the child's fateful end. Doomings have been recorded for centuries and include:
Thy last meal shall be at an inn or tavern
Terrible things will happen to thy fingers if thou dippest them into too many pies
Thou shalt know a flux so terrible as to be relieved only when death comes
Disease and pestilence loom over thine nether regions
Following the Dooming, the ceremonies may include choosing or promising hands in marriage. This is often for the parents and more often to unite families and increase property or generational wealth. Some communities allow the promised to reject the pairings, but many are honored and many produce happy pairings: these new “adults" have known and played with each other their entire lives in most communities.
Editor's Notes
The Doomings were randomly rolled from a chart of more than 200 doomings from collected fan sources by Dagobah Dave Graffram. The Quickening should not be confused with The Quickening of Highlander.
I wonder how often the Dooming prediction of a child's fateful end came to pass.
ReplyDeleteVisiting from A to Z https://anneyoungau.wordpress.com/
The genealogical A-to-Z is fantastic. I have one going back to the Founding, maybe next year? Thanks for stopping by Anne. On the topic of "doomings coming to pass," of course they should in the game. It might even be a player's meta goal to see opportunities to make it come to pass. The pie contest in the random town that the Big Bad Evil Guy is planning on poisoning someone or all the citizens? "Sure," says the player, "my character wants to be a taste tester!"
DeleteTerrible things will happen to thy fingers if thou dippest them into too many pies ...haha I bet. Here from the A-Z and renjoyed the post. Great entry for a difficult letter, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and for finding the humor of the double entendre of the Doomings. So many are.
DeleteI thought at first this was something real people were doing, but I'm glad to see it's a game!
ReplyDeleteHa! Life would certainly be more interersting if our grandmothers gave us "Doomings" when we turned 12 or 13. Thanks for visiting @Kristin
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