Post by wordy on Dec 4, 2010 16:07:10 GMT 10
Tortallan Tourism: The Royal Palace
by greenie and LadyArianne
The Royal Palace – Winter Wonderland or Midwinter Madness?
Wondering where to spend your Midwinter? Heard that the Palace is a good place to go, or have you been advised you should go anywhere but? We’ve invited a couple of biased experts to give us their points of view.
Winter Wonderland
What could possibly be better than Midwinter? Not a lot, except for spending Midwinter at the palace! I’m going to show you all today that without a doubt, the palace at Midwinter is the best place to be.
Anyone who’s anyone knows that Midwinter is the ball season for the court. Not only is it a good excuse to do so, but it’s practically mandatory to spend a lot of money on new dresses, look even prettier than usual, and perhaps even engage in a scandalous liaison or ten. If you don’t upstage the Contes you’ll have a good time, but if you’re adventurous and turn up in sparkly tights you’ll be guaranteed to have a blast!
Midwinter is also time for feasts at the palace. It’s definitely something to make the most of; you can save money on buying your own food and redirect those finances elsewhere (pretty dresses, gifts, bribe money - the possibilities are endless!). The aforementioned balls are definitely the best place to go for your complimentary alcohol – liquid courage is in abundance along with pretty ladies and mistletoe. That’s motive, means, and opportunity handed to you on a silver platter!
Nobody likes to be the last to hear news, and snail mail is so last century. If you want to hear the latest gossip while it’s still fresh then you need to be right there! There’s no need to pretend to be all high and mighty - everyone loves a good bit of gossip, whether it’s which squire didn’t make it out of the Chamber this year and why or who got caught with who doing what with what. Gossip is the perfect icebreaker, so if you’re lacking the guts to get yourself caught in a compromising position, go ahead and make up a few rumours of your own (if they involve the Contes, they’re sure to be believed). You’ll have a whole host of newfound friends within no time!
Feeling that indulging in gossip is too amateur for you? You can really get into the spirit of Midwinter at the palace by raising the stakes and potentially making yourself a nice profit. If it can be done, then you can be sure that you’ll find someone at the palace willing to make a bet on it. It’s an even more enjoyable form of moneymaking than terrorising the peasants in your villages!
Last but certainly not least, the experience of snow at the Palace is worth the visit alone! Not only does it make a pretty sight, but it’s also a great excuse to drink hot cider and hold your lady friend’s hand – to help keep her warm, of course. If you’re feeling daring, make the most of the frozen pond and take your romantic interest for a skate – there’s no predicting where hands might end up if somebody slips! And if they get suspicious, you can always blame the cider.
Still not convinced that the palace is the best place to spend Midwinter? You must have a bit of Trebond in you somewhere – it seems like you’ve inherited the family trait.
Midwinter Madness
Corus … the capital city of the great country of Tortall … it should be the place for you to go for Midwinter, if you were the type to end up half-drunk, half-dead and extremely poorer by the end of the holidays.
There is no free food, if you don’t have the money for it. Strange how that is that the only ones who can afford to pay the biting prices for food get it free within the palace while everyone else has to drudge up money from underneath floor-boards in order to get even a loaf of moldy old bread that’s not good enough for even pigs.
No, if you want free food, or even alcohol, Corus is not the place to go for your holidays, all you’ll get there is a splitting headache and food poisoning, instead go south - to the desert, where you don’t feel the biting chill of winter and you get the hospitality of the locals.
Balls are only good if you are someone, or you’re going with someone. Otherwise all you seem to do is sit there and watch, and that is not the most fun to do while trying to pretend to your stuffy dinner partner that you actually care what they think and are actually listening to them.
So Balls are not that fun, all they do is play the same music over and over again for the enjoyment, and sick pleasure, of the Monarchs. If you are in Corus during Midwinter, I would instead draw your attention to the festive markets - you can buy anything there for less than you would expect and there are always singers, and dancers, and performers on every street to entertain you.
The air is alive with happiness and laughter and despite the fact you are out in the cold, it’s alright because you, and everyone around you, is happy.
Yes - the eternal gossip from the royal courts … it’s the lifeblood of the city and pours down its streets in streams and rivers and all nearby crave for it and it is bitter edged for you can never tell if what you are hearing is true or not.
But something that you can always know will happen, and something that can be truly relied on is the midwinter festival in Port Caynn. With ice and snow everywhere and beacons reflected on the sea it is the perfect place for the largest midwinter market, and festival, in Tortall, encouraging thousands of traders into the city to sell the most extravagant and exotic of wares at lower prices than you could find in Corus.
And if you are wishing to watch some sort of spectacular event, equal (or better to) the knighting of brave men, or women, who have done great service to the crown then there is nothing better than the crowning of the MidWinter King and Queen at the festival in Port Caynn. A regular event that is open to all and celebrates the beauty of the noble city of Port Caynn.
And if you are wishing for a magnificent show of snow, then venture north into the snowy land of Scanra where they create magnificent works of snow and ice and all the people are warm and cheery, when they’re not trying to kill you that is.
In Comparison to all of these spectacular places, Corus is not the best place to have Midwinter, for everything is over-priced, over-crowded and of a bad-quality. Do something different this midwinter and stay away from the capital, all that you can get there is a cut purse-string and a stomach flu that will leave you out for the rest of the holidays.