The Great Mammoth Mi...stery?
As Winter’s first frost creeps from Aeslend’s west across the Vluolst Sea and into the heart of Ehiasall, traditionally hunters and scouts from the furthest reaches of the vast continents gather in the town of Tseten Thaye for one of the most eagerly anticipated annual festivals - the Great Mammoth Migration.
From their summer haven in the white steppes, the mammoths travel north seeking food and shelter from the deep southern freeze. For any hunter worth their salt - only the biggest bull mammoths will do, and only during the migration from the white steppes at the beginning of winter, for this also marks the first days of musk, when bull mammoths are at their fiercest.
But this year, as one winter day turns into the next, each shorter and colder than the last, the telltale sound like thunder underfoot and the trumpeting roars of angry bulls signifying the mammoth’s arrival go entirely unobserved. Numerous scout parties are dispatched to search for the herds - first daily and in pairs, expected to return before nightfall; then in groups of 5 or more with thick fur coats and supplies enough to sustain them through the freezing cold nights - but all return sporting forlorn expressions and no news of the herds.
There are few regions of Moren Ezen that go unaffected by the annual mammoth migrations. In Ehiasall, the festivities are especially widespread, exuberant and long-lived, for winter signifies both the celebration of Yuletide and the Annual Mammoth Hunt, from which the spoils lade the plates of many a feast. To Apora go the tusks of the most impressive bull, the largest and greatest challenge of the season, to be immortalized in prayer and blessing at the Guardian’s Watch Temple, whilst to every corner of the continents — from Mastay to Kestrana — are distributed the thickest of furs, exquisitely polished ivory and rich dried meats by way of vendor carts and merchant stalls.
Depict how your character is affected by this peculiar nonoccurrence, either directly or indirectly. Were they, or someone they’re close to, present with the hunting or scout parties in Tseten Thaye? Are they a merchant expecting a supply of goods that never arrived, or a patron eagerly awaiting their favorite vendor’s arrival? Do they, perchance, know what became of Ehiasall’s mammoths, or perhaps they’ve witnessed Aeslend’s mammoths also exhibiting some puzzling behavior?
Note: In many cultures, mammoths are worshipped as an eighth Guardian, or as vessels of the Guardian’s Spirits. In Ehiasall it is considered cowardice to hunt a bull mammoth out of musk, and widely frowned upon to hunt a cow. In some cultures the killing of a pregnant cow is punishable by death. Aeslend’s mammoths are a protected species, and it is illegal nationally to hunt them.
LOOTBOX EXCLUSIVE
MAMMOTH IVORY TALISMAN
