Author: Longest Night Midwinter Masque

 

From the frozen wastes of Skaldia, to the rocky desert of Khebbel-im-Akkad, from the wet, chilly isles of Eire to the exotic land of Ch’in—where would our heroes be without high-quality wool? Wool for blankets, wool for cloaks, for dry weather, for wet, for cold…

Founded in 1984 by a couple who likewise understood the timeless value of wool and an aversion to “fast” fashion, Half Moon Travel Clothing has built a reputation for quality garments that last all over the world. With a base of operations in Colorado, this family-owned enterprise took the Renaissance Festival Circuit by storm. You will be hard-pressed to visit a Renaissance Festival on a cold, rainy day without spotting at least a dozen garments crafted by these artisans worn proudly by their owners.

With buttons sourced through the Tagua Initiative and wool that is simultaneously water-resistant, biodegradable, recyclable, and energy efficient, purchasing a Half Moon garment supports small communities in Ecuador, helps conserve the Amazon rain forest, and keeps you warm and dry throughout all conceivable weather.

Visit  for their website  to view Half Moon’s extensive catalog! Have an idea for a custom garment? They will make it for you! Have a custom design? Send them an image and they will replicate it! Best of all, as we celebrate Jacqueline Carey and her extraordinary world at the Longest Night Masque, Half Moon Travel Clothing will be on site with gorgeous cloaks, capes, coats, jackets and vests for you to try on and take home! You can also place custom orders with the owner at the Masque!

Not so much into wool? That’s okay—they are working with other fabrics too, including silk, so drop them a line! You can contact Half Moon through their webpage here https://hmoon.com/contact/. You can also follow Half Moon on Facebook or any of their myriad Festival fan-pages.

(Editor’s note: “I own no less than six of their pieces. I can attest to their quality, beauty, practicality, dependability, and customer service. I would dare Skaldia in the dead of winter with a Half Moon cloak any day.” ~ Melusine Shahrizai)

 

The marque is the ubiquitous symbol of the Court of Night Blooming Flowers, marking the skin of those who serve Naamah much as she marked the skin of her own lovers.  Adepts bear the marques of their Houses with pride as these pieces of artwork develop on their bodies.  Blossoming from the base of the spine up to the flowers in the finial at the nape of the neck, the marque is a pleasing reminder of the holy work done by the members of the Night Court in service to Naamah.

Many readers of the Kushiel’s Legacy series have found themselves inspired by the adepts’ marque  – Phedré’s in particular – and have chosen to adorn themselves with tattoos of their own.  If you have a marque or other body art inspired by Jacqueline Carey’s novels, we encourage you to submit a photo for inclusion in an online gallery on our website.

Email a digital photo to info@thelongestnightmasque.com along with your name and any special details you would like included.  Please include the name of your tattoo artist and/or person who designed your work so that we may give proper credit.

There’s been a wave of interest recently about the sharper pleasures in life. Giving credit where credit is due, this possibly issues from a more open mindedness in society, an availability of (very well written) romances involving said pleasures, and a general wave of acceptability for those of us who sit outside the norm.

Not a certain book and film series which will not be named…

 

That said, even fun, exciting past times need their limits – and this is a good thing! Boundaries give us a field to play upon, as well as keeping our partner(s) safe and happy. Healthy Kink can be summed up in a tried and true mantra: Safe, Sane, and Consensual.

To the outsider looking in, certain aspects of BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism, and masochism) just don’t seem all that safe or sane. Bondage restricts movement, sometimes even inhibiting speech, so how can that be safe? Disciple – the stereotypical whips and chains – couldn’t possibly be safe, could they? It’s not so hard really, but it relies on honest communication between the parties involved. Lay out which activities which are a definite “yes,” which are “maybes,” and which are very hard line “no.”

So what about the sane part? To be blunt, being sane means keeping the scene (the place and actions which participants are playing) well within the previously agreed limits. Do not surprise a partner with a new toy, binding, or punishment if the idea happens to pop into your head half way through a scene. It’s not sexy to rush someone into a scene without fully explaining what might occur and obtaining their consent ahead of time. Bank that idea, describe it later and, if all are in agreement, go with it next time and have fun!

Finally: consent. The practice of healthy kink is 100% dependent on the concept of consent. Healthy, pleasurable, exciting scenes all depend on what the dominant and submissive find enjoyable and to which they both consent.    Consent can be a discussion over coffee, on the phone, in a club geared toward the lifestyle, or in the privacy of the bedroom. Pushing one’s boundaries can be fun, but make sure there is a Safe Word or Signal that is memorable and well known to your partner(s). If the Safe Word or Signal is given, the scene stops, no questions asked.  The Safe Word/Signal is sacrosanct in the practice of healthy kink.

Again, unlike a nameless book/film franchise.

Kink should be fun for all involved. Consent is not a chore, but it is a requirement. Planning scenes with your partner(s) can be an enlightening experience, a way of getting to know someone and their desires better.

Following these basic concepts can lead to a a lot of fun, so make some notes and give it a try the next time you’re feeling sexy.

With games of chance, you may be lucky but be careful or Bryony House will give you a run for your money!

At Bryony House, our motto is simple. Wealth seeks company.  We serve as Naamah did to feed Blessed Elua, for the love of coin but also for the love of company.  You will never find a dull night in Byrony House. To celebrate our preparations of the Longest Night, we will share you the rules to some of our favorite games of luck and logic.

These games, and a few more surprises, will be available for play at this year’s Longest Night Midwinter Masque. We hope we will see you all there!

~Arietta de Millazza nó Bryony, Dowayne of Bryony House

~Nymeria nó Bryony, Second of Bryony House

LIAR’S DICE

Liar’s Dice requires two or more players and is typically played with a set of five 6-sided dice for each player.  The game is played over multiple rounds. The House begins and play proceeds clockwise around the table.

v  To begin each round, all players roll their dice simultaneously. Each player looks at their own dice after they roll, keeping them hidden from the other players.

v  The first player then states a bid consisting of a face (“1’s”, “5’s”, etc.) and a quantity. The quantity represents the player’s guess as to how many of each face have been rolled by all the players at the table, including themselves. For example, a player might bid “five 2’s.

v  Each subsequent player can either then make a higher bid of the same face (e.g., “six 2’s”), or they can challenge the previous bid.

v  If the player challenges the previous bid, all players reveal their dice. If the bid is matched or exceeded, the bidder wins. Otherwise the challenger wins.

v  If the bidder loses, they remove one of their dice from the game by placing it in front of their dice cup.

v  The loser of the previous round begins the next round.

v  The winner of the game is the last player to have any dice remaining.

 

Glückshaus (HOUSE OF FORTUNE)

Glückshaus is a medieval gambling board game for multiple players. It’s played with 2 dice.

v  The board is divided in fields numbered from 2 to 12 (with 4 often left out), arranged in the form of the rooms of a house. Each player rolls two dice.

v  On a roll of 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 or 11, the player places a coin on the board if that room is empty, or takes the coin if it is occupied.

v  If the player rolls snake eyes (2), he has rolled a “Lucky Pig” and collects all the coins on the board, except for what lies in room seven.

v  If the player rolls a 12, he is “king” (König) and wins all the coins on the board.

v  If the player rolls a 7, there is a “wedding” (Hochzeit) going on in the room, and one has to put a coin on there no matter what (a dowry). This builds up a jackpot until the “king” (12) is rolled.

v  If playing on a board with a 4, a coin is donated to the House whenever a 4 is rolled.

v  The game ends when one player has won all the coins.

 

ROULETTE

Roulette is a perpetual game that up to 6 players may join at any one time, to bet until they retire from the table or run out of coin.

A roulette wheel consists of a spinning disk with divisions around its edge that revolves around the base of a bowl. A ball is spun around the outside of the bowl until eventually ball and wheel come to rest with the ball in one of the divisions.

The divisions around the wheel are numbered from 1 to 36 in a seemingly random pattern and alternate red and black. Additionally, there is a green division numbered 0.

Prior to rolling the ball, people place bets on what number will come up by laying down chips on the betting mat, the precise location of the chips indicating the bet being made.

Possible Bets:

1:1 odds (even money)

o   Rouge (Red) A red number

o   Noir (Black) A black number

o   Pair (Even) Even numbers

o   Impair (Odd) Odd numbers

o   Manque (Low Bet) Numbers 1 – 18

o   Passe (High Bet) Numbers 19 – 36

‘En Prison’ Rule

o   For all even money bets, when a zero turns up, the player has two options:

§  Reclaim half the bet and lose the other half.

§  Leave the bet (en prison = in prison) for the next spin of the roulette wheel for an all or nothing gamble

2:1 odds

o   Premier Douzaine (First Dozen) Numbers 1 – 12

o   Moyenne Douzaine (Middle Dozen) Numbers 13 – 24

o   Dernier Douzaine (Last Dozen) Numbers 25 – 36

Colonne (Column Bet) A column of 12 numbers

5:1 odds

o   Sixain (Line Bet) Pick 2 adjacent rows of 3 for a total of 6 numbers.

8:1 odds

o   Carre (Corner Bet) Pick a square of 4 numbers

11:1 odds

o   Transversale (Street Bet) A row of 3 numbers

17:1 odds

o   En Chaval (Split Bet) A pair of 2 adjacent numbers

35:1 odds

o   En Plein (Straight Up) A single number

From Kali nó Mandrake, Dowayne of House Mandrake:

“Yield all.” Dominance and power call to me — and usually highlights my face with a mischievous smile and a glimmer in my eye. For the unfamiliar, Mandrake House and the idea of BDSM may seem a bit intimidating at first. For the rest of us, BDSM is a sensually exciting and all-encompassing realm that holds only those boundaries that you express for yourself. Respect and consent are the foundations where your sexiest and darkest fantasies come to life. This is the place where you allow yourself to indulge in your desires.

“That which yields is not always weak.” I take great pride in a patron’s willingness to yield to me. Complete trust and intimate knowledge are the epitome of what Mandrake House and our patrons revere, and every encounter flourishes from these essential principles. Understanding a patron’s limits, and being able to read their body language, keeps them comfortable and enjoying our play. Knowing what turns someone on: mentally, physically and emotionally, is extremely vital. Fetishes, desires, fantasies, and what a person is willing to explore are all used to create the perfect scene. Power in my world is playful and wickedly deceptive; even when someone surrenders and yields to our control, they still hold the true power: the signale.

“Naamah chose her patrons like victims and whipped them to violent pleasures, leaving them sated and half-dead.” While every House holds a different facet of Naamah, only a true Mandrake can command power and violent pleasures like Naamah. From the lightest tap to the wickedest touch, pain can be a part of immense pleasure; it can awaken your body and bring different sensations to your skin. As with any sensual experience, all the best should leave you sated, euphoric and suffused with languor. It is my pleasure to take a patron on a sexual journey, a wildly erotic fantasy that we write together, the details outlined before we begin. Foreplay is full of sexy rituals that establish trust, dominance and obedience through flirtatious rewards and playful punishments. Commands and restraints are stimulating toys to help my patrons be present in the moment and free themselves from the outside world. What arouses and excites you? What are your innermost desires? What would you like to explore? Do you dare allow yourself to come into my world and experience pleasures you may have never known existed?

 

From Kyros nó Mandrake, Second of House Mandrake:

“Do you trust me?” Is this a familiar query between you and a lover or patron? Sensual trust is sacred in Terre D’Ange. Violating another is considered blasphemy in the teachings of Blessed Elua. Mandrake House takes this principle to its sharpest edge. Our patrons trust us with their most shadowed longings. We honor the sanctity of this trust by delivering dividends on their desire.

Sensational. This is the essence of Mandrake House. From the tingling you feel when courting the whispered rumors of our twilight practices, to the keen pleasures administered by our skilled hands, sensations—pure and unadulterated are our gifts to you. Charting the course of your lusts and limits with every quiver of your lips. Relishing your expression as a blindfold teases you with uncertainty. Adorning your wrists, ankles, and neck with restraints. Gazing upon the divine arch of your back as you straddle a spanking bench.

Our tools may resemble instruments of torture, but it is precisely our torturous trade that makes us alchemists of pain into pleasure. The caress of cuffs and collars. A whisper of rope. The careful balance of punishing pleasures played through a flogger, a whip, a cane, a paddle—or simply, our palms. The physical tools of our practices are only playthings. What matters most in the power exchange between an adept of Mandrake House and a patron is a simple answer to a complex question: “Do you trust me?”

From Jocaste nó Dahlia, Dowayne of House Dahlia:

You don’t choose Dahlia House. It chooses you. It chooses you because you have a spine of steel, under those soft curves of flesh. It chooses you because you trust none except your own counsel. It chooses you because you have the stamina and worth to rise above. You merely bend when others might break. It chooses you because you command respect, inspire honesty and encourage reverence. You are a king, a queen, the sensual ruler of a sexual empire; only the strongest of Elua’s children can endure and truly savor the life of a Dahlia.

I wasn’t meant to be Dahlia. I was meant for either Gentian or Balm even with my Jasmine and Valerian qualities. I wasn’t meant to be proud, in the spotlight, glamorously haughty or aloof. I was meant to be accessible, transparent, gloriously spiritually open and available. More than anything Gentian and Balm both called to my deep sense of selfless service.

But Dahlia called to me because I have always been called to be a leader – a role I naturally volunteer for even if I eschew recognition for it. I didn’t want to be a leader of Balm adepts, so focused on a singular role. Nor did I want to lead Gentian in the deepening of their craft.

No, I wanted to lead leaders. I wanted to be a leader who could teach others how to lead. How to stand above the pettiness below them. How to charge forth with a plan that ensures others follow. To understand, to discern, to heal, to guard and Love your realm well.

To do so, a Dahlia has to master the several languages and canons of Naamah’s arts. Dahlias know better than most how to show the various facets of Naamah in order to lead and inspire the hearts of those who we choose to invite into our bedchambers. To be a Queen is to represent the highest of who we are, including the many faces of Naamah’s arts.

We have to be:

As sensual as Jasmine

As delicately strong as Cereus

As commanding as Mandrake

As devoted as Heliotrope

As daring as Byrony

As masterful as Eglantine

Yet, our hearts might better align with Orchis, Alyssum, Gentian or Valerian. Only those we choose to trust may see who we really are behind the regal facade, a rare gift for any Dahlia to bestow upon a patron, friend or lover.

Only the most privileged, the most modest, the most daring of patrons may enter our chateau – no one is guaranteed a private audience, but all may come to share in the luxurious revelry of our sumptuous courtyard and lounges. To mingle with Dahlias and their chosen consorts is often what our patrons love most. We do not depend on patronage, we inspire it. Dahlia desire is fueled by the more rare a patron’s gift is – whether that be the gift of their submission or dominance or the precious jewels flowing from their pockets.

Our attention is the gift we share in return.

From Odilia nó Dahlia, the Second of House Dahlia:

Upright and Unbending, Dahlia adepts are Queens and the bedroom is our kingdom.  To enter Dahlia House is to trespass upon a sovereign kingdom and come face to face with a council of sovereigns expectantly waiting for worship and fealty, if only for a night.  In this, Dahlia and Mandrake have a kinship.  What Dahlia does not provide in pain, it certainly provides in power.  To come face to face with a Dahlia is to come face to face with royalty, where the expected tribute is pleasure, and it is an honour to be permitted within the sovereign’s bed.  A night with a Dahlia is a gift and no patron is selected who does not understand, who is not inspired, and who does not worship what is offered.

I was born to be a Dahlia and I knew it.  Haughtiness came easy, elegance was second-nature, and cool composure was as easy as breathing.  Even leading was simple and natural.  But my struggle with my Dahlia identity is my duty as a queen to love all the subjects who come to my throne.  Naamah bestowed herself like a queen when she lay with the King of Persis; that is the easy part.  But Naamah loved each and every one of her patrons with her entire being, body and soul.  It is easy to be haughty when you consider yourself better than all the rest.  The Dahlia struggle is the struggle to find humility and willingly give your gifts in order to earn the worship of the patron.