The Contests

Every contest is something the world already does, counted for a week. Nothing here is a minigame bolted on: the Angler’s Cup counts fish you would have caught anyway, the Tempering counts work you would have forged anyway. Turning up is the entry fee.

Spring

• The Forager's Race: Bring in the most from the thaw — root, herb, ore, anything the ground will give up in a week. (scored in materials gathered)
• The Angler's Cup: The rivers are running. Weight counts, not number — one good fish beats a bucket of fry. (scored in pounds landed)
• The Seedbearer: What you planted, and what came up. Judged on the crop, not the acreage. (scored in crops raised)
• The Long Ramble: The roads are open again. Cover ground and see places you had not. (scored in new places found)

Summer

• The Great Hunt: The season's cull. Bigger counts for more — anyone can bring in rabbits. (scored in hunt score)
• The Melee: An open field and no ranks. Last standing takes it. (scored in bouts won)
• The Spire Sprint: How far up the Spire you get in a week, and no further help than you brought. (scored in floors climbed)
• The Test of Arms: Not numbers — quality. Champions, and what commands them. (scored in champions felled)

Harvest

• The Crumbling Span: A raised course of failing tiles; cross clean and it counts. Most clean crossings takes the day. (scored in clean crossings)
• The Cook-Off: The long tables. Judged on what you actually put in front of people. (scored in dishes served)
• The Brewer's Table: The still and the bench. Potency counts, and so does not poisoning the judges. (scored in draughts brewed)
• The Craft Exhibition: A year of work on one trestle. The tier is the thing. (scored in craft score)
• The Produce Show: What the garden gave. Everyone claims theirs was bigger. (scored in crops shown)

Winter

• The Tempering: The smiths' stage of the north: the finest works of the week, flawless or better, counted at the fire. (scored in flawless works)
• The Bestiary Reckoning: What you have actually learned out there, set against what everyone else claims to know. (scored in entries recorded)
• The Forge Trial: The work moves indoors. Highest tier worked, cleanly, in the week. (scored in tier worked)
• The Riddle Gate: A door that only opens to an answer. It is not the same door twice. (scored in gates opened)
• The Hearth Tales: The long nights are for accounts of the year. Bring one worth hearing. (scored in deeds recounted)

Every festival

• The Card Meet: Held at every festival. The solstice meets play for a worldlord; see |wcardtourney|n. (scored in games won)