New Premium Items: Fan Guardian Set!
Posted on January 05, 2023There had better be some weapons in all of these chests of abandoned costumes that Scribe keeps sending to Witch.
Rrr, finally. Here we go. A nice sharp Red Fan Guardian Spear. Perfect. Now, what else is in here?
Hmmm…
This Red Fan Guardian Top and these Red Fan Guardian Pants… Not to mention that Red Fan Guardian Dress… There's even a couple of matching wigs in the ancient guardian styles, like the Crimson Fan Guardian Ponytail and Crimson Fan Guardian Ornate Updo...
So. This box is from that purge, is it? I hadn’t realized their costumes would be so elaborate. So much locked away, all because of a fallen order of defiant, sentimental fools…
…
Tch. I haven't thought about my grandmother in a long time, but these costumes were forbidden during a festival that she told me about, one that her family celebrated but my grandfather's family didn't…
Long before either of them were born, before the first threat of a Curtain Fall, Thespian families each had unique traditions passed down from their ancestors, all distinct from one another. The Narrator hated that, of course. Over time, he eliminated the ones he didn't like, and blended the others together, taking random bits and pieces and rewriting them however he pleased. Usually into one unified celebration of himself, feh. Just another fact of life on the Stage.
But my grandmother whispered some of her oldest stories to me, of a childhood spent celebrating a new year based on the moon. Let's see, judging by the phases... Yes, it would have been around this time of year. Unlike the multicolored autumn Moon Festival we have today, carefully rewritten and closely directed, only some groups of Thespians still kept this particular celebration alive. My grandmother said that they’d gather for many days on sets decorated in vibrant red colors - not the Narrator’s color of blood, but their own color of luck. Even the night sky was lit up in bursts of red from fireworks and lanterns, to scare away some kind of ancient beast who would otherwise attack our children and villagers.
You'd think this beast was a Role, like The Wolf or The Ogre, wouldn't you? Maybe it was, once. But stories shift with every telling. And back then, the Narrator's iron control was not the heavy yoke it became in my days... He thought nothing of the anxious murmurs growing each night as the audience pondered the absence of certain notable Roles from their festivities. Rumors began to spread about those missing Thespians, many of them young, all of them last seen raising their voices in constructive criticism… And then the topic turned to the dark castle where our unseen Creator hid away, as if the joyous luck of the people drove him into shadows...
It didn't take long to draw analogies and fan those flames into outright accusations, especially with his own former guards swinging around their Red Fan Guardian Giant Fans to spread the word.
And when he realized what was happening, that people were turning on him - well. You know the Narrator. The Stagehands ran rampant through the streets, tearing down every decoration to force a permanent end to the festival.
And yet… My grandmother told me that her family and others fought fiercely to save their traditions. Fiercely - but futilely. Every cherished red costume was banned, buried in boxes to rot in the castle dungeons - alongside anyone who dared oppose him.
I always thought she was exaggerating half-remembered childhood memories. Who’d risk such consequences, just for some passed-down party that didn’t even have anything to do with their individual Roles? But looking at how many Red Fan Guardian Hand Fans were seized in this box alone, with each one bearing a personal name on the inside... That's a lot of roles.
Which means a lot of defiant Thespians.
Which means a lot of dead Thespians.
Hrr! Why fight so hard? Why the drive to keep those distinct celebrations? These were powerful Thespians, too, by the looks of it. The Red Fan Guardian Earrings can amplify a performance so much that you’d have to be favored by the Narrator to get such a powerful prop. And they threw it all away.
What a bunch of fools…
…
Even if I did so love hearing my grandmother’s stories… and imagining generations of my former family in crimson finery…
Feh. How long has it been since I visited her grave? Maybe I’ll keep an eye on the moon - take Witch out there when the time is right, to tell him a few of her old tales and traditions…
And we can pass these along to the Headmaster, too. The Pick A Part: Fan Guardian Badge and Fan Guardian Badge Bundle would be better served out in the public Headmaster's Office than buried in the catacombs beneath the castle. Just in case anyone wants to use these forgotten costumes to tell some stories of their own. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have some new, different takes on the diverse traditions of our ancestors, now that we don't have to practice only what the Narrator allowed...
