Beltane 2025 - Call To The Fires (Monarch of May Nominations)

[Ebon Ilnaren]

Call to the Fires

The Monarch of May and their Green Consort are the representation in RhyDin of the Lady and Lord of the Green, personifying the bounty of Spring and the coming of new growth. It is both a blessing and a responsibility to be the embodiment of a season of joy for the coming year.

Those who wish to nominate themselves or another to be considered for this honor must first find some small piece of one of the sacred woods:

• alder
• ash
• birch
• hawthorn
• hazel
• holly
• oak
• rowan
• willow

Upon this they must inscribe or affix the name they wish to submit. The means can vary, from carving it, etching it with magic or flame, or simply writing it on a scrap of parchment attached to the wood. Once this is done, they must bring it to a clearing in the woods southeast of Rhy’din near the southern shore of Kaiju Lake, the path to said clearing lined by mushrooms leading into the trees from the south road.

There at the far edge of the clearing, druids and fae folk prepare for the Fires of Beltane, blessing and arranging stacks of the holy woods for the Great Bonfire and the many smaller fires. Those bringing their offerings will go to a shrine where a brazier rests atop a moss-covered altar, empty, awaiting the sticks and pieces of bark with the names of those hoping to be named as Monarch of May. The names are to be added to a pile beside the altar, ready to be cast into the brazier at the time of Crowning.


OOC:
The Monarch of May will be chosen by dice roll in the #green-room channel from all those names entered. All names will have an equal chance of selection, regardless of how many times they are submitted.

Players can submit their own character name or someone else’s by posting to this thread. While it is not required, please post something more than just “I nominate ((name)),” We’re a creative community, so try to be a little creative. Note that if a character’s name is submitted by another, but they do not wish to be considered for Monarch, they can reach out to Ebon Ilnaren (Discord: thomsolo), Partly Cloudy (Discord: hiraeth_xo), or Tahlia Blake (Discord: sinsandsecrets) to be removed from the list before the dice are rolled.

The opportunity to be Monarch of May is open to all characters who have not served as Monarch in the past four years. However, we do ask that no more than two alts per player be submitted.

As the character chosen to be Monarch of May will be an active part of the Fires of Beltane ceremony, lighting the Great Bonfire and giving blessings of Beltane to other celebrants, they must be present at the Fires during the live event on Saturday, May 10th.

The Final List:

1. Gillette Brooke
2. Liam White
3. Abyss Chasm
4. Rand al'Tan
5. Eddie Blake
6. Juliane Smith
7. Kaili
8. Myth Ascend

[Gillette Brooke]

:: she walks into the woods, she looks around as she looking for anything on the list
they had for the monarch, she came across some wood oak, as she takes a knife
and put her name on the oak and hands it to the others as she put her self in
the nominat::

[Abyss Chasm]

Abyss didn't really understand what this whole "monarch" thing was but she knew that there was someone that she wanted to nominate someone that she grew to believe deserved it.
Picking up a piece of Hawthorne wood that was laying around, she slowly followed the mushroom lined path. As she walked she used one of her nails to etch letters into the wood, struggling on a few, but was stubborn enough to keep going.
Once she reached the clearing she looked around for signs of where she was supposed to leave the piece of wood. Soon noticing a few people dropping them off at what seemed to be an altar. Abyss was familiar enough with those..she was a goddess after all.
Slowly again she made her way over to the altar, piece of wood in hand.
Once she reached her destination she knelt down and placed the carved wood down while whispering, "I nominate Liam White.." Carefully pulling out another piece of bark she had also carved into, this one birch, placing it beside the other. "And myself..maybe..please?" Bowing her head for a moment, waiting to see if she did it right, before she stood up and walked off the way she had came.

[ValentinaEglantine]

Valentina stepped out of the carriage, sliding her cloak from her shoulders, and laying it on the seat. The air still held a raw edge along the promise of warmth, but the promise wasn't quite fulfilled yet. Stepping out of the blush pink slippers that echoed the petals that danced along her dress, and down her spine, she set those inside as well, and set off barefoot down the path. The gods of this world were not hers, but she kept to the ways of her own as best she could. Coming to the altar, she bowed her head, and knelt, a carved piece of alder wood offered up with both hands, and laid along with the others. She did not speak, the name etched on plaque, and heart, spilled from her lips often enough that surely the gods would not be surprised by her choice.

Rand al'Tan

[Tahlia Blake]

The Triumph was on the South Road - she might be irreverent, but Tahlia wasn't dumb. She'd left the silver daggers in the glovebox, just in case. No reason to piss off whatever lived in these woods - certainly not when she was coming with an offering. Hiking up the path, silver shot jade eyes swept the trees, the mushrooms - this was not her natural habitat. The closer she got to the altar, the slower her steps were.
Ok, sure, she didn't have any faith of her own, but she could feel the prickle of something other - and let out a breath. The holly wood in her hand, her left, not unintentionally, slid between her fingers. Even without looking, she could tell every letter as they caught at the pad of her thumb.

Eddie Blake

Coming to a stop before the altar, she pushed a hand back over golden blonde waves, caught up in a ponytail for her excursion to the wilderness, and settled her gaze on the pile of wood on top of it. She wasn't usually one for odds she didn't lay, but sometimes...random chance worked out just fine. Pressing a kiss that left just a hint of color in the grain, she left the scrap with the others, and headed back down to her car, the city, and her Selkie.

[Through the Door]

Myth chose a branch of an oak tree to submit his nomination. The blue-haired man used a knife to carve the outside smooth and then the letters, each neat and sharp. A slight bit of fire magic in the deepest part of the carved letters darkened them to stand out dramatically against the grain of the wood. He went to the woods and turned in his choice to the pile beside the altar.

Carved into the piece of sacred oak was the name 'Juliane Smith.'

[Larook Helston]

He was strolling along the mushroom lined path one day, in the very very month of May. He was taken by surprise by…..Abyss of all people. He had come to of course to be rather fond of the space cat people as he called them. One more than the others as was well documented. What was she doing out on this most wonderful of days the likes of the realm had not seen in weeks? Lately she could be found in the company of that wizard Liam, but today he was nowhere to be seen or presence felt. Curiosity, puzzlement, or he was he just bored? Who knew.

He fell in behind her at a distance he was sure would not alert her to his presence, but not so far ahead that he might lose sight of her. Into the wood they went. He was acting like some kind of LooneyTunes character trying to hide behind the trees as he followed her deeper within the wood’s until he came to the clearing. From there, he watched Abyss and then it hit him as to what was going on.This was for that Beltane festival that was happening. How cute he thought. He really didn’t care one way or another about the festival, he was eternal and would always be around to be a thorn in somebody’s rear end, but he knew others did, including his wife.

Abyss was observed more closely now. The piece of wood, he had seen her pick that up along her walk but didn’t know until now what it was for. Seeing her seemingly write something on it, had to be a name he thought. The wizard! Of course that was why he was not with Abyss when they seemed to be so inseparable of late. When she started to leave, he held back as a thought came to him. Looking around, he finally spotted a piece of wood on the ground and picked it up, a smile playing on his lips and a gleam in his eyes.

The piece of wood just happened to be hazel and as he brought it up to his nose to take in its faint scent, it triggered a flashback moment for him. Ahhhh, Hazel of East Sussexshire, he had known her well. But no. This would not do. It must be pure. He knew this to be true. Eyes and feet roamed about some till he found a bit of ash. This was much better he knew as he moved his finger along its surface and a name was left upon it. Larook now stepped into the clearing, moving to the altar and placing the bit of wood amongst the others. He knew of no better way to honor the one that gave him purpose and being. The one that held his heart till the end of time and a day after that. His wife’s name…..Kaili was added to the others.

[Juliane Smith]

After weeks of work in both the studio and gallery, Juliane needed space. And fresh air. Gathering up a lunch, her messenger bag full of supplies, and an extra layer as protection if the weather changed — she made her way to The Golden Perch before deciding to walk along the lakeshore. 



Finding a tall willow, freshly leafed, she sat beneath it for a bit, and reached for her sketchbook. Flipping through, pages whirled — including her sketches for the Beltane window displays she’d just installed for the upcoming celebrations.



Beltane.



It wasn’t a holiday Juliane had known prior to her arrival in Rhy’din — and meeting her Scottish sister-in-law, Sianna. And of course, Jules couldn’t think about Sianna without the ache of the absence of her twin brother, Johnny, roaring to the unescapable surface. Perhaps all the work she had been burying herself in had really been to try and outpace the grief, to keep ahead of it.



Scattered at her feet were some young branches snapped off by a recent storm. Setting the sketchbook aside again, she gathered them up, nimble fingers beginning to weave them into an intricate knot. As the lithe twigs bent and entwined, Juliane let her mind wander along the path of memory. Of all that had been in this place, all that had changed.



“Th’ wheel turns and th’ fires are lit to celebrate all the new life to come, aye?” She heard the soft Scottish brogue in the whisper of the swaying tree behind her, felt the gaze of her brother in the curtain of green leaves.



Time passed as she worked, but eventually the knot balanced on one knee as she picked up her sketchbook again, this time digging out some pens and watercolor markers from one of the pockets. She let herself slip into the flow of creation.



Movement to her right drew her attention to the path, the little mushrooms lining it seeming to beckon her with their glimmering.



She nodded, more to herself, than to anyone possibly watching… and finished what she was doing. Standing slowly, she gathered her things, slung the messenger bag across her body, and headed towards the path — her offering held reverently with both hands.



New life had replaced what was once, and was lost. And it was time to celebrate.



——— 



Pinned to the center of her woven willow knot was a painted floral wreath — various leaves with blue tips or edges — and in the center, her offering for Monarch.



Myth Ascend.


[Ebon Ilnaren]

Hail the Monarch of May, Gillette Brooke, and her Green Consort, Sly Demonblade!