<hr/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 16pt;"><strong><em>WINTER CHILLED STEEL<br/>IN CHARACTER THREAD </em></strong></span></div><div style="text-align: right;">Information and Character thread (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=114780.0)<br/>Out of Character thread (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=114779.0)</div><hr/><br/><div align="center">(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/30738236/Arpee/abloobloo.png)</div>A dull light spreads over Upper Farran as the winter sun begins to rise, lamps powered by eternal flames closing as an eye becoming heavy and leaden as it does so, their mystical light no longer required until the muggy rays, trapped by snow-laden clouds high above giving birth to flake after flake are no more, and night descends again.<br/>Already various trades of the city are hard at work, bakers readying the dough that will soon enough find its way to hungry mouths, heavily-bundled stall owners setting up their wares in the Merchants District as their breath hangs in the cool morning air and ogre-drawn wagons make their way through the white city roads from warehouses and export/import hubs to the more permanent stores of the district, and the vast mechanical elevators that connect Upper Farran to its subterranean twin, similarly awakening to light filtered through crystals suspended from its high ceiling.<br/><br/>The midwinter festival draws ever closer, a tradition the city gained from its neighbours to the north, the Aesir, to the norse it was a celebration of rebirth, the hunt, and making it half way through the harsh, death-ridden winters of old. In Farran, above and below, it was a celebration of a different sort. Meats of the hunt were still passed around, but there was more of a...<em>Carnival</em>atmosphere, leading to the petitioners of the Carnival of Chaos becoming more active during this time of year, spilling out onto and decorating the streets almost constantly, day and night, providing free entertainment at the cost of sleep, and possibly sanity.<br/>This, of course, is much to the chagrin of their rivals and opposing force in the city, with whom they compete for territory and recruits, the lawful, orderly militant group known as Midnight Steel who act as a police force to their territories, in comparison to the Carnival who favour a more... spiritual approach and act as a church or cult of mirth.<br/><br/>Two such mirthful jesters ride in the back of an ogre-drawn wagon, filled with barrels marked with bright colours and smiling faces, the ogre himself similarly decorated with grease paint. Reaching back, the ogre grasps part of his cargo and grunting, tosses it high into the air, one of his passengers taking aim with a ridiculous, possibly humorous looking bow and fires, the barrel splintering and exploding, releasing a cacophony of sound and colour into the dawning light and fading dark.<br/>The cries of formerly sleeping babes and the animals of the city respond in kind, adding to the morning din as they’re forcefully roused from their sleep, the wake-up call of a brand new day, and one day closer to the festival.<br/><br/><strong>“Those damn clowns start earlier every year,”</strong>a gruff, bearded human with formerly brown, now greying hair and built like a bear states as he stifles a yawn, he and his staff (a young, solidly built and dark-haired man in his early twenties and two women, one of whom with flaxen hair and modest proportions wears the garb of a cook, while the other, a more platinum blonde with dark eyes with facial features similar to the bearded gentleman) prepare the dining area of his inn for his guests, four of which had had their rooms paid for by none other than the Merchant Lord of Steel herself. It would be a miracle if any amongst the number of early arrivals for the festival from around the city state were still awake, but it would be most fortunate if these souls were stirring. The bear, Adamska, had been given strict instructions from the Merchant Lord’s aide that a rickshaw would be there to collect them three hours hence, and it would simply not do should they be late for their appointment.<br/>Given the events of the previous night, as Adamska had heard them from his patrons, it would be a wonder if that would even be necessary, though that aide had always been a stickler for rules, timing and procedure, and was most certainly not one to cross.<br/>