Nabob and Alvisdan depart from Sigismund amicably, skipping any final pleasantries.
Sigismund still has some time before he must begin preparing 'Lunch'. It seems he will be responsible for the three square meals in a day. This is a common culture overlap between Jorgrim and Ghanbar.
Though, the valley only recently adopted this idea of 'Breakfast'. For most of the history of the Nodavik people, the tradition was that one would wake up in the morning to hunt or perform other activities, then "Lunch" would occur after the hunters came back from checking the traps layed last night. It would be seasoned with last nights gatherings. - Thus "Lunch" was actually rather early in the day, though not as early as "Breakfast"
Their people for generations went most the day without eating, but would have a large meal at the end of the day, and then sleep soon after.
This was "Dinner", and it was made of whatever the hunters caught across the whole day, as prepared by the gatherers.
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After Jorgrim was founded, though, the Valley blessed them by introduced Agriculture, which changed not only how they ate, but when they ate.
Now "Breakfast" was had sometimes - though it was considered optional - as "Lunch" did not always shift later in the day to accomodate.
"Breakfast" would be simply waking up, and throwing together some easily-stored grains such as bread or oatmeal. Sometimes, there would also be pieces of fruit - either many slices of a single freshest fruit tpicked for that very meal - or much more fruit, but coming from the fruit about to spoil that had not yet been used.
"Lunch" stayed the same, but sometimes was shifted to later in the day. When it was later in the day, it was more similar to the "Lunch" within Caerish culture.
Noric has words for their Lunch and Dinner equivalents, and later two new words came to be to represent this early-day meal of oats and sometimes fruit, as well as a new word for a late "Lunch" that was no longer about trap meat and gatherer goods, but instead was virtually identical to how the Caerish prepared Lunches - as a smaller feast of its own.
These words are:
Lunch = Mourengrot ('morning meal')
Dinner = Dasgrofa ('big feast')
Breakfast = Likgrot ('weak meal')
Late Lunch = Hudgrofa ('day feast')
Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
(OOC: some other conlang stuff, just for fun):
Day = Hud
(more accurately translated as "The part of the day where it is light outside". A vague term that could mean from dawn to dusk, but generally refers to about 8 hours centered on high noon)
Morning = Mouren
(a more specific form of "Hud", basically just means the first hours after dawn (or whenever one wakes up, coloquially))
Dawn = Mourenhud
Sun/Solar = Skov/Skovel
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Night = Morg
(more accurately translated as "The part of the day where it is dark outside". A vague term that could mean from dusk to dawn, but generally refers to about 8 hours centered on true midnight (the astronomical version, not the horological version))
Evening = Kveftin
(a more specific form of "Morg", basically just means the last few hours before dusk (or whenever one goes to sleep, coloquially))
Dusk = Kveftinmorg
Moon/Lunar = Synog/Synogel
(fun fact: Synog is the same word for "Eye" and Synogel means "Sight-based")
Caerish culture is not known to Sigismund at this time, but it has its own system.
Jakadim
(present in both Ghanbaran and Sedoric, but Ghanbar practices this particular thing more often) meal ordering is similar enough to both the Nodavik and Caerish traditions:
- They have a breakfast which is a more legit meal than a Likgrot, but almost always lighter than a Caerish Breakfast
- At any point while the sun is still up, one will probably have a Youmelik ('Day Rest') which is usually one to three hours, and often involves getting a meal.
(
OOC: based off a mix of 'brunch' culture and the Siesta held in Spain (also a thing in Morocco, because, well, geography and history I guess))
- There are two kinds of 'Dinners' in Jakadim cultures. early dinners, and late dinners. They have their own words, of course.
- Early dinner is only viable if one had an early Youmelik (generally, the earlier the Youmelik, the shorter, but it can vary). An ideal 'Early dinner' is the highlight of one's day. It is meant to be filling, interesting, satisfying and exciting. It is something like a cross between a hearty lunch and a light dinner. It is not meant to make you lethargic like some heavy meals might, but rather it should give you the majority of your daily energy , and also satisfy in whatever ways it can - according to the means of your livelihood, and other circumstances and contexts.
- Later dinner refers to a meal shortly before bed. It is meant to be a sort of 'final delight' for the day. One would never eat a Later Dinner while the sun is out. Later Dinner is for when you have stayed up late.
[
OOC: Think steak and red wine on a late-night date, at a fancy restaurant, before you take a guy/gal back home.
Though probably not quite as heavy as steak if you're having it literally right before bed, obviously]
A later dinner varies mainly depending on how many more hours you plan to be up for. If you are going to sleep very shortly, it will likely be similar to a 'dessert'. Very much a 'final delight'. Something light and tasty.
If you are planning to have one more activity after this (yes, including
that), or planning to enjoy this over an hour or even two while you let your mind relax from a particularly intense day, it may be more similar to a food item that stays palatable for that long (something which retains heat, or where temp doesnt matter) and a smooth drink, likely alcoholic
Generally, a later dinner is rich and has less complexity than an early dinner.
Also, dark colors. It sounds kind of silly, but it's true that darker colors are more common for later dinners than early dinners.
- It's technically possible to have two dinners, by this system. It's rare, but for the nobility it isn't overly unusual - just not a daily thing
- Generally , the term you use will be based on when you are having that meal. In cases where the time of day is ambiguous enough (say it lasts a half hour, but dusk comes particularly quickly on that day) Use the word for 'early dinner' is broader in definition, so if you only have one dinner (which is the usual), you would use that word - since it does not imply a 'later dinner' in the way that a 'later dinner' implies you have already had a 'early dinner'
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With all that background (
OOC: SORRY!), Sigismund is aware it is different while on the road.
He has previously been made aware there will be a 3-meal system, but its closer to 2.5 or even 2.01 if you're being spiteful
Because while travelling, most groups of any culture use a system which is basically a pale imitation of the Caerish system (three meals each day, and each of them are full meals that give roughly equal nutrition, and serve roughly the same purpose).
Caravans often get up at the crack of Dawn or as much as 4 hours beforehand. Then, they pack things up from the nights rest, and have a really pathetic meal before continuing the journey (usually, the least exciting thing is eaten first - like rations or oatmeal (if adding water from the nearby river to a pile of oats from the stuff you are using as oxfeed counts as oatmeal))
At some point midday, the caravan settles for a rest. The oxen also rest.
If a caravan was crazily rushed for some reason, they may not let the oxen rest until dinner, which means they will probably also skip lunch - but sometimes not if its feasible to eat while travelling on the bumpy road.
This point is lunch. You get to make a real meal here. This is the best time to experiment, honestly. If you do a bad job, people will complain about it all day. If you do a good job, they will be in slightly better moods because tehy ate well. they may even give compliments, who knows?
Once the day's travels are done, the caravan will stop for the night. They may set up camp with tents, or do some other process.
Dinner will be the meal they eat before bed. Keep in mind that most caravans take watch duty, so its customary to set aside something that will keep better in the cold nights for those on watch (who will probably be hungry after waking up in the middle of their sleep)
Depending on the culture of the caravan, dinner may be a mechanical ordeal where everyone takes ladels from a pot, gets 1 bowl, then goes immediately to sleep. No conversation happens.
If it's a jollier group of folks, dinner may last for quite some hours into the night, involving lots of banter and '2nd servings' from particularly shameless individuals.
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So, overall, your responsibilities will change depending on 2 things:
1. The circumstances of each and every day. You may be told to skip making a meal entirely, if you are just gonna death march that day to make up lost time.
2. The atmosphere of the group. If they turn out to be a bunch of humorless veterans, they probably wont much appreciate anything... though even then, food is a great way to get into peoples hearts. If they are a jolly bunch, who know each other already, your food will have more of an impact, becoming the centerpiece that the late night communing takes place.
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Also, it is totally common for the caravan to stop as many as 10 times a day, depending on how often the oxen need to rest and be let to graze.
These breaks are very short, and can range from lightly annoying for the people to something they all fear, as stopping this often means people need to be on guard just in case bandits appear out of ambush and try anything while the caravan is temporarily with its pants down, so-to-speak
It isn't really a thing to eat during these times... but who knows, a chef who prepared snacks is a chef sent by the Gods!
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With all this information, Sigismund knows by default he will be serving 'Lunch' in some hours. The exact time hasn't been told to him yet, so he could get an early start (may be a waste of limited ingredients, should Lunch get suddenly cancelled) or wait for someone to deliver him his advanced warning.
Regardless, what are Sigismund's Lunch Plans? (
OOC: this is a funny sentence to me, lol)
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OOC: Okay, this was a somewhat weird post.
I think I did a bad job of deliver all this info (most of which was probably unecessary) in a way that wasn't so expositional that it almost braeks the fourth wall.
Overall, here is my hopes for this journey:
- We aren't going to RP the entire thing, obviously.
- My thoughts are that we could do it 'by day', where each post of yours would be what 3 meals you make that day, and I would extrapolate on what you had made - either explaining how people liked it or not.
- If this becomes too slow, we will do it 6 meals at a time, or we could just time skip if its all too bothersome
- We will probably avoid random encounters, except that I may throw some curveballs in saying "A MEAL GOT CANCELLED, WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW THAT DINNER NEEDS TO BE EXTRA LARGE?"
To explain a bit more:
Froggychum posts "Day 2: Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all going to be served!"
Sigismund posts "Ok for breakfast i make doo doo, for lunch i make pee pee, and dinner i go all out and build the death star"
Froggychum posts "Epic! People hate breakfast but dont say anything, people hate your lunch and become a bit antsy, but dinner BLOWS them all away (ba dum tsh)
Tomorrow, you will serve breakfast and dinner, but lunch is skipped because of bad weather!"
...
I did a really bad job selling my idea, but trust me it wouldn't be that stupid. I'm just tired IRL lmao
Anyway the main benefits of this are twofold:
1. You get to show off Sig's cooking skills. You do have limited ingredients right now (I wont say what, Ill leave it to you) but you can get more if you request to stop at small towns along the way. This will only be possible if you prove your skill (which will be hard with barebones ingredients, obviously)
2. Good roleplay opportunities, centered around food.
(Honestly, I'm laughing at the idea of you turning a bunch of hardass veterans into your sworn brothers with your demonic cooking magic haha)
The main issue I foresee:
1. This could take a long time. According to the map, the journey would be like 150 km since you are curving around the Sram mountains to reach the city of Abarion. This means we're looking at at least 10 days, more if delays happen (which I will probably avoid)
The main way to deal with that issue is if it goes overlong, we just skip the rest (maybe leave the last day so you can do something really cool as a 'final meal' and i can narrate the arrival into the city) - its a bit crude, but it probably works.
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The very last thing i want to say (this is stupidly long, and not as high quality as I would have liked. Sorry, man)
We are not technically in Jorgrim right now.
But, you are not taking an official road.
So, I'm not making a new thread.
We'll just use this thread until another one is more appropriate
Most likely, that would mean Abarion when we get there, but maybe a town in the Sram mountains that you choose to stop at is worth gettings its own thread, to break it up a bit.
In general, I am very pedantic about organizing threads based on location. It's my favored way for two reasons:
1. Organization
2. It's flavorful to the lore to do it like that, I find
God, with all these lists I feel like ChatGPT...
ok i promise i dont use ai bye!