🍃 Starter Event 🍃
This event is OOC and does not add anything to the plot (aside from establishing that kekes have a weird upgrade show up in waves on a date that doesn't have any significance to them)
Plot and lore stuff that's happened during the group's run for easy tracking
OOC = Out of character. 🌺 = lore-y stuff. 🍁 = plot-ish stuff
Note that events take place in the same city/town/village for the course of a year, switching to a new location for Halloween
Thus far: Bumpytown > Uptree > Artisan City > Flewcoop > Fliptide/Villa Isle
🍃 Cornucopia Festival 🍃
🌺 Snakekeys in Bumpytown celebrate the Cornucopia Festival in fall. This lasts roughly a week and is used to honor the hard-working farmers, foragers, and gatherers
🌺 During the first few festivals, hatchlings were rewarded a piece of candy each day for behaving. Over the years, young Snakekeys learned (by accident) that if the dressed up in costume, looked cute, and generally jumped through a few hoops, it might score them some bonus treats from a few adults. From there, the tradition grew. Now, even older keke will wear something for the season and sweets are passed out more abundantly
🌺 During the festival, it's commonplace to bake or purchase treats to pass out to younger Snakekeys in the evening when they're dressed up in costume. However, not everybody is able to participate in this way. Some keke will donate their goodies to the huge scavenger hunt spread across town. This means there's candies and other sugary things lying around all over the place, just waiting to be stumbled upon!
🍁 A skeleton appears during this event that has signs leading towards it, taunts hatchlings, and puts "a curse" on those it deems bothersome before disappearing at the end of the event in a lightning strike. It's not mentioned, but this is hollowed Kai'in making a very early appearance
🍃 Winterglow Bonfire 🍃
🌺 Snakekeys in Bumpytown celebrate Winterglow Bonfire in winter as a means to chase off fears of cold and lighten the mood
🌺 The path to the bonfire is decorated, commonly with lanterns. Spicy food is made and eaten for the occasion
🌺 During the bonfire, a secret Santa-esque event will take place as further means to spread cheer. Participants don't exactly enter, but are snuck a piece of paper with a child's drawing of their target by an assigned group of often giggly hatchlings. Not only do they have to locate their target, it's commonplace for gifts to be hidden in crafty ways - keep your eyes open!
🌰 The Birthday 🌰
🌺 Snakekeys in Bumpytown celebrate The Birthday in the winter. The event is a big birthday party for the planet, Susie (though her 'birth date' (Feb. 2 for Earth) is a random number and not actually based on anything)
🌺 The Birthday has had many themes bleed into it over the years. What started as cake and a special acknowledgment for nature gained showing appreciation for friends, family, and loved ones. In addition, those who have never had a birthday or don't know the day they hatched will get a special place in the holiday if they chose to do so. Basically, put Mother's Day, Father's Day, Earth Day, Valentines Day, a birthday, and some other stuff into a bowl and stir well. It's a lot to do in one day and makes for quite the exciting jumble! You have until midnight, so don't waste any time!
🌺 A huge cake is made for Susie which is typically set up and prepared in the center of town where decorations are arranged that usually consist of flowers, petals, leaves, paper decorations, and fairy lights. In addition, small meals or cakes are made for those celebrating their birthday with Susie. Early birds might be able to sneak in requests on what they want if the cooks have time to preform!
🌺 Generally, everybody picks a minimum of one thing to be thankful for on The Birthday. This might come in the form of a day spent with loved ones, taking care of plants, or feeding wildlife. Tiny pots with little blooms or succulents inside are commonly passed out to younger Snakekeys to plant wherever they like. As long as there's dirt. Don't go crazy, kids. Some may write cards or letters, others may lay out gifts for Susie (which have a mysterious habit of disappearing, but never when watched)
🌺 After the sun goes down, general holiday shenanigans all start to die down as it's time for the main attraction! While it's dark, glowing items such as sparklers, fairy lights, and glow sticks get their time to shine and are usually everywhere. Mystery birthdays are done with the planet's being saved for very last. After your typical ceremony is done, hatchlings are allowed to attack the giant dessert, which almost always results in a food fight. After everyone's had their fill of sugar, some sort of light show, firework display, or magic performance will be held
🌰 Bloom Season 🌰
🌺 Snakekeys in Bumpytown celebrate Bloom Season in spring, though not exactly by choice... It lasts the first couple months of spring. While the forest flowers, eggs mysteriously appear all through the surrounding area. Where they come from is anyone's guess, but one thing is for sure: somebody has to take care of them...!
🌺 The nursery often calls for help during this time as rooms will need to be prepared, numbers cataloged, space made in the egg pond, and Snakekeys directed as to where to bring the eggs
🌺 With Snakekeys going off on adventures in the woods, some of them are bound to get lost, especially with the chaos of the season. It's not uncommon for volunteers to be armed with maps, compasses, and whistles to go out and keep everybody in check
🌺 While eggs are being found, bystanders may make gifts for the 'parents'-to-be or the nursery. Blankets, clothing, food...anything's appreciated!
🌰 Lack-of-Beach Party / Bread Land!! 🌰
🌺 This is a one-off event not celebrated annually
🍁 The Lakekey is introduced in this event as an elusive character appearing only to lone keke. They're portrayed as giving keke the mer morph by coming on contact with keke (though it develops the following day)
🍁 Bread Guy is also introduced in this event as well as his traveling attraction, Bread Land!!. He vanishes promptly upon the end of the event
🌰 A State of Emergency 🌰
🌺 This is a one-off event not celebrated annually
🍁 This event introduces Fakekeys and their mind-altering effects
🌰 Migratory Sendoff 🌰
🌺 Snakekeys in Uptree tensely "celebrate" Migratory Sendoff in the winter where residents wave off migrating predatory species (but also brace for trouble - the wildlife is agitated)
🌺 Residents will often coax stubborn species to leave while also reinforcing the village walls so that things looking for a safe place to tough out the winter don't settle in Uptree...!
🌺 Equinox Divide 🌺
🌺 Snakekeys in Uptree celebrate Equinox Divide in late winter. The village will divide into two teams, sun and moon, and attempt to incorporate that theme into their lives as much as possible (through art, cooking, decoration, etc.) Whichever team succeeds on having the most influence will win the event
🌺 The sun team is represented by clarity, clouds, and the day. Participants put emphasis on honesty, cheerfulness, and communication. They also tend to be a bit loud and boisterous. When revealing which team they've chosen, sun members will traditionally make a big, flashy deal about it
🌺 The moon team is represented by shadows, stars, and of course, the moon. Participants often put emphasis on stealth, patience, and surprise. When revealing the team they've chosen, moon members traditionally make their peers struggle to discover their loyalties on their own via subtlety
🍁 Equinox Divide is based on supposed ancient tablets, known as the Divide Tablets. These feature heavy moon and sun symbolism. Uptree interpreted these to represent keke from long ago playing a game and celebrating the two celestial bodies. The players would supposedly split into two teams where they would then decorate, throw parties, give gifts, sell wares, and so on that reflected their team of choice. Whichever team had the most influence was shown to eclipse the other. Of course, there's no way that this supposed event could have actually changed what shone in the sky. Regardless, those at Uptree have latched onto this event as "theirs" and repeat it yearly, eclipse or no eclipse
🌺 Welcome to Skinkis 🌺
This event is OOC and does not add anything to the plot (other than introducing Skinkis as part of keke mythos)
🌺 Bloom Season: Sidelines 🌺
🌺 Bloom Season is an event celebrated by Bumpytown in early spring where many eggs randomly appear in the surrounding area. On occasion, eggs will show up further into Uptree woods and have to be returned before something bad happens to them. As Bloom Season approaches, Uptree prepares to send out patrols to check for lost babies
🍁 In 2720, the Bloom Season phenomenon mysteriously spreads heavily into Uptree territory. Not only is this abnormal, but it overwhelms their small nursery