A notable feature of the Feast of the Leviathan is the large banner we hang in or near the front of the hall each year, appropriately named "The Leviathan Banner". This banner is older than a substantial number of our players; it was created for and hung at the first Feast of the Leviathan in 1999. I still vividly remember painting it on a piece of canvas I bought from Home Depot on the floor of my bedroom in my parent's house all those years ago. Very low-tech compared to how we do a lot of things these days.
One of the features of the Leviathan banner that not everyone notices is the wealth of patches around the periphery. These are the servant patches that have been issued every year of the event without fail from the beginning to the current day.
For those of you who are not familiar with the tradition; long long ago when the southern Realms feasting traditions began and the Servant's Guild was established, it was the normal practice to create a servant patch if you were throwing a feast event. These would be handed out to your kitchen staff at the end of the event. Servants would wear white sashes that they would adorn with the patches they had earned as a way of showing their experience and rank. Throughout the 90's and early 2000's you wouldn't have to look far at a feast to find a white sash covered in patches.
Of course conventions change over time, and their importance ebbs and flows as well. For many years the tradition of servant patches largely faded from the Realms. Regardless, I'll happily admit that I'm an extremely stubborn person. Even through years when I was the only one still doing it, I created a themed patch for Feast of the Leviathan every single January and distributed it to my staff along with their gold wage for the day. Along with that I continued a related aspect of that tradition that was more personal to me; adding the patch to the Leviathan banner, lovingly sewn in place every year by Karen Veale.
The theme of Leviathan every year is recored in those patches, so without further ado lets talk a walk through the Feast of the Leviathan's history through the timeline of the patches.
During the year between the first Feast of the Leviathan and the second I had become a member of Chimeron and felt inspired to try and honor my new country through the medium of food. Chimeron, of course, is a kingdom composed of many nations, therefore I sought from each nation a description of their "national dish" which I prepared for each of the courses. I would recount the list here except that it was 26 years ago and I can't remember any of them except for the official dish of Clan McKrye which was of course "huge hunk of beef".
Looking at the design of the patch it was clear in retrospect I had no concept of what I was doing at the time in establishing a theme. This is the only time the patch ever had any part of the Leviathan symbol other than the head. I also apparently could not decide back then if the event was called "Feast of the Leviathan" or "Feast of Leviathan" though the official event announcement for this one used the former. The simple addition of a rowan branch did at least clearly communicate the theme.
The Feast of the Leviathan III - A Taste of the Far North
January 2001
When I wrote the backstory for Aeston I made the arbitrary decision to make the character a traveler from a northern, subarctic climate. In my headcanon I always assumed it was the Realms equivalent of somewhere on the coast of Newfoundland. When I threw the third Leviathan I decided to try serving the different meals I learned how to cook growing up and so the theme of this feast became feeding people traditional meals from Aeston's home village in the "far north". Notably this was the first Leviathan where lasagna was one of the courses, which would become a mainstay for many of the years that followed.
The snowflakes on the patch were meant to be evocative of the idea of a northern clime. Of course this was also the first year (but certainly not the last) where there was a snowstorm on the day of the event so I did have to endure some teasing about having brought the arctic weather with me. This was another year, and the final time, where I didn't include the "the" in the title. Notably this was the first time I chose to use Apple Chancery as the font on the patch which (with only a couple exceptions) would be featured on every patch going forward up through today,
The Feast of the Leviathan IV - Heart and Soul
January 2002
One of my seminal experiences as a young player was when two of my mentors from Chimeron, Lucas and Dirk, took me to Tournaments of Creathorne in 2001.
For players who've started the game in the last 15 years or so its hard for me to communicate to you how divided the North and South factions of the Realms were back in that era; almost to the point where they were two different communities. Apart from some of the biggest events of the year like North/South War and Queen of Hearts, it was generally the case that Northerners went to Northern events and Southerners went to Southern events. Of course I'm sure there were dozens of people whom I didn't really know as a newbie who freely crossed that line, but in my memory the act of us going to Creathorne that year, as a delegation from Chimeron to 'bridge the gap' was a monumental one.
After that event, which was unlike anything I had ever experienced up to that point in my life, I decided that one of my goals as a player was to be one of the people that bridged that gap regularly and bring the two halves of the community together more consistently. Looking back at it, I really do believe that effort succeeded, over the course of years, in largely erasing that divide. I made a lot of very close Northern friends my own age and our regular "questing party" might have been the first in Realms history to contain notable and upcoming characters from both halves of the community. One of those characters was Makalya Darkwillow of (at the time) Creathorne.
I wont bore you with too many personal details but suffice it to say that the relationship between Aeston and Makayla developed to the point where the fourth Feast of the Leviathan was thrown in her honor. My intent was to serve all of her favorite foods as the various courses of this feast and because of that I think this Leviathan cemented its place in history as the first Realms event to but a whole cooked lobster on each table. The patch for this one features a leaf because Makayla was a maple dryad. So yes, Aeston did end up basically falling into the trope of a young hero becoming enchanted by a fae. They're tropes for a reason, I guess.
The Feast of the Leviathan V - The Roads We Have Traveled On
January 2003
In 2002 a rather monumental event occurred in Chimeron; Queen Meg retired from her position as regent and King Pyr took up the mantle of leadership. Therefore, the theme of the fifth Feast of the Leviathan was the observance of such a pivotal change in the community and also to pay tribute to the new leader of our kingdom. Extremely ironically, however, a political incident transpired that day that would cause an irrevocable wound at a time when we were gathered to celebrate unity. Recounting all of it here would perhaps be a bit much but the historical record of Rhiassa contains a rather complete, if one sided, retelling of the situation and the outcome:
http://rhiassa.com/history/index.html#1003.
A keen observer will note the font on the patch had temporarily deviated from the now established Apple Chancery. The iconography of a road stretching into the distance was meant to evoke the idea that we were transitioning from one age of the Realms into a new one far ahead. On a personal note, this was the first event my wife ever attended, as part of Emperor Lysis' retinue, and the first time we met.
The Feast of the Leviathan VI - A New Chapter
January 2004
I'll admit right off the bat that the theme of of the sixth Feast of the Leviathan was a more personal one, aimed to express a big shift in my individual journey in the Realms. In the midst of 2003 I had decided that, while it was a nation that still contained some of my best friends and most valued mentors, Chimeron no longer felt like home to me. Against the advice of many, I parted ways with that kingdom and spent the remainder of the year as an independent. I certainly didn't regret any of my choices in those years but I also knew it was time for me to start a new chapter for myself.
The patch for this one is pretty simple. Just a quill writing the number 6 as if writing a new part to my story. This is the same quill graphic I always used for "The Pen and Sword" which has always been the name of Aeston's tavern. Notably, this was the last Feast of the Leviathan that would ever be held in that original building, the Knights of Columbus in Auburn (which is now a Dollar General). That original site gave us a lot of fun memories, including the surprisingly large coat closet that would be affectionately dubbed "the plot closet", but truth be told we had more or less outgrown the size of the hall as the feast got bigger every year. What started out in 1999 as a humble 30-ish person event was now regularly drawing over a hundred people.
The Feast of the Leviathan VII - Kingdom as Great
January 2005
In the end, I didn't spend more than a few months as an independent. During the course of 2004 I had joined The Free Kingdoms as a citizen directly sworn to King Jarrod. This would be the first time, therefore, that the Feast of the Leviathan would feature a high table populated by a royal court other than Chimeron's. Between the sixth and seventh Feast of the Leviathan I needed to find a new hall to throw the event at. And since I had moved back to Connecticut from Worcester during that year as well, I looked for a hall within the state. I found a pretty decent hall, a Knights of Columbus, in Windsor Locks, and they talked me into paying for a bartender as well. So this was also the only Feast of the Leviathan in its long history to ever serve alcohol.
Ultimately we never used that hall again, the kitchen was far, far too small. I'm talking probably about only 100-150 square feet. The patch for this one is simple enough, with a crown to represent a day honoring the Free Kingdoms. The subtitle for the event is a part of a quote from Labyrinth, in Sarah's final confrontation with Jareth, that always stuck with me.
The Feast of the Leviathan VIII - Home is Where the Heart Is
January 2006
As mentioned, I moved back to Connecticut in 2004 and, no huge surprise, I brought Realms with me. I had a number of close friends that still lived in our home town and, through a somewhat circuitous series of events that didn't actually involve me, had hit a few Realms events on their own. Through 2005 we decided to start a small nation together, Vinehaeven. We started a weekly combat practice at the UCONN Storrs campus where, by then, I had started going to graduate school. Therfore the official introduction of Vinehaeven to the Realms would happen at the upcoming Feast of the Leviathan. We got a new hall for this one, a Knights of Columbus in Indian Orchard, MA, which we used for quite a few years. It was big enough for our expanded size and even had some nice outdoor space which was something we had never enjoyed before.
The patch this year featured the Vinehaevan heraldry, a stylized grape vine, to pay homage to the fact that we were a group from Connecticut. I remember spending several days with the other Vinehaeven members painting all of our banners so we'd have enough of them to hang up on the day of the event. Also if you've ever heard any rumors of a Leviathan cake that had so much blue dye in the frosting that it changed the color of people's bowel movements later on... well this is the year that it happened.
Hosting Nation Count: 3. Hall Count: 3.
The Feast of the Leviathan IX - The Oak and the Arrow
January 2007
Throughout 2006 UCONN practice had become a very successful institution. Through the help of many members of the community, some of whom drove hours to attend it weekly, to the ample recruiting we had done from the student body, we had built something pretty amazing. I decided that it would be a benefit to everyone's early Realms experiences if we created a militia-like newbie group that people could belong to when they started going to events. Thus the Oaken Guard was born. Simultaneously, a group of UCONN newbies wanted to do start Realms in their own way and created a newbie nation called The Black Arrows.
Those two groups had spent the last year making a very favorable impression on the whole community and I thought it made a lot of sense to hold the ninth Feast of the Leviathan in their honor. The subtitle 'The Oak and the Arrow" was also a homage to one of my favorite poems from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The patch for this one featured a version of each of those groups' heraldries.
The Feast of the Leviathan X - Reign of the Just God
January 2008
Once upon a time I remember being astounded that I had begun an eventing tradition that had lasted an entire decade. And for the 10th incarnation of the event I decided that it would be interesting to add a new dimension to the event that had not existed in the past. As I mentioned already, our new hall in Indian Orchard had some substantial outdoor areas, including a small wooded side with trails and a lake with a large open shore, not to mention a big lawn area around the hall. So I thought that we could start to incorporate a significant questing component to the event. In order to make that happen I asked the Lost Kingdoms plot staff, Shawn Stoddard and Mike Amend, to come on board and help us make it happen, we also thought we could integrate Justari plot into the overall theme in an interesting way.
Honestly I don't remember a ton of specifics about the plot. I do recall that the questing during the day involved going out on some mini-quest like missions to investigate some civil unrest, and ultimately find a single villager that was the source of all of it. During the final dinner course that person was brought into the hall in chains, and a trial, blessed by Justari, was conducted as kind of a 'dinner theater' component to event. It was uncovered through that trial that the villager was a Skald, basically a shapeshifting, high-ranking monster from the Lost Kingdoms, who was sowing civil disobedience to attempt to weaken Vinehaven so it could be more easily invaded. Then the hall was attacked by a bunch of rock monsters called Wolds which pretty much devolved into a strange bridge-like battle on the long wheelchair ramp. Our first attempt at Leviathan questing was by no means perfect, but we learned a lot that we would use in the future to refine our understanding of how to make plot work at that site and interwoven with that feasting schedule.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XI - A New Pride
January 2009
In 2008 Seth Flagg, who played Lord Da'oud of Rhiassa, was getting very close to finishing medical school. He had gone though his education as a part of a ROTC program and would be entering the Navy after he graduated. The future of Rhiassa was, for a moment, an uncertain one, but it was a problem that was quickly solved. By this point in time most of my friends for Vinehaeven had stopped playing, their attentions spent on their jobs and other things, with the exception of Jen. It was her suggestion that we join Rhiassa and help it endure for another generation and so that's exactly what we did. While I was not in Rhiassa while I was a member of Chimeron years ago, Steve Johnson (Sir Duncan) had always been one of my mentors and I did squire to him a few years prior.
We were faced with one conundrum, however; Rhiassa already had a yearly feast, aptly named Feast of Rhiassa. Leviathan was certainly going to be a Rhiassan event going forward but it would not have the immediate prestige as the national feast nor was I in a position to add a second annual feat to my duties. Seth suggested we start using the "Rhiassa Presents" language, however, to signal that Leviathan would be the prominent Rhiassan feast. Problem solved. You'll notice those words, "Rhiassa Presents" appears in the title starting at Feast of the Leviathan #11 and every year since. The patch and event subtitle pretty accurately reflect our change over to a Rhiassan feast.
Side note: There was also questing this year - the ninjas of the Dragon Assassination Clan attacked led by Great Pike Samurai and Scorpion Star.
Hosting Nation Count: 4. Hall Count: 3.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XII - Another Hero Lost
January 2010
By the twelfth Leviathan we had really gotten the hang of using the Indian Orchard site for questing. This year we did that questing in cooperation with the Southen Wastes. Our outside-the-box idea was to create a sense of danger and dire loss with a little bit of plot trickeration.
There had been a very large influx of newbies in the past few years from several practices, including UCONN, that had been brining people into the game at a rapid pace. Back in those days the community wasn't nearly as good as it is now about welcoming and getting to know newer players so a lot of those newbies started out by flying under the radar for a good long while. The questing team thought it would take advantage of that trend and create a "fake" new player/character who would blend in with the crowd. The idea would be to "kill off" that character in such a way that it would create a memorable scene about permanent loss... thus the name of the event and the image of a grave that is on the patch.
It did not work. At all. I'm not sure exactly what transpired since I was working in the kitchen, but it was some combination of no one really meeting this new character or clocking their existence, no one seeing or really caring about their death scene, and maybe some amount of no one really knowing what the heck was going on. Oh well, you can't win 'em all. Failure is a part of learning, as they say.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XIII - A Brilliant Dawn
January 2011
The inspiration for this year's Leviathan, and the theme of A Brilliant Dawn, was the continued success of UCONN practice and the other practices around the community, and my personal perception that the Realms had entered a new golden age; with recruitment, community engagement, event quality, and mentoring all at a zenith that I had never seen since I started playing. I thought that it was something worth calling out. The sun cresting over the horizon on the patch was in honor of that belief.
Many years ago, before Queen Meg retired from Realms, she did something inspirational within a career of inspirational acts. At a time when I was just beginning the game I was hearing from a disturbingly large number of older players that the Realms wasn't as great as it used to be; that the golden era was over and the game would eventually fade way to nothingness. In defiance of that assertion, Queen Meg took the stage at a Feast of Rhiassa and recited a poem of her own creation,
Ubi Sunt. This moment made such an overwhelming impression upon the younger me I think it permanently affected how I understood and interacted with Realms. I never stopped believing that our greatest moments still were ahead of us. I still believe that even to this day.
I'm at best a pale imitation of the type of leader Kathy, Queen Meg, was. But nonetheless I felt that I wanted to pass that same sentiment ahead to the people of the current era. The theme of this year's Leviathan was in deference to that wish.
The questing this year was related to the well-loved Rhiassan What Lurks Beneath storyline and was one of our more successful attempts to do so. This would be our last Feast of the Leviathan at the Indian Orchard KoC hall. Besides having slowly outgrown it over the years as our attendance increased, sadly the site had continued to fall into disrepair over the years including the kitchen itself. It was a good site that had served us well for the years that we used it but it was time to move on.
Feast of the Leviathan, and our plans for how to take it into the future, were still growing. Our greatest moments were still ahead.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XIV - The Tipping of the Scale
January 2012
As I just mentioned, I was faced this year with the unfortunate reality of finding a new site. I did eventually locate a hall that was adequate size, challenge enough on its own, though we would soon learn that even this site was wholly inadequate for our needs due to a barely functional kitchen.
Regardless of the troubles with the hall, I believe this was one of the more successful Leviathans based on the questing alone. Matt Brenner, the chief architect of Bedlam plot, Mike Amend, the plot marshal for Justari, and I teamed up to write a very compelling story that would create a historic chapter in both those plot lines. We had planned for months and had used several events proceeding Leviathan to release important props and information; specifically it was for this event that I wrote the entire volumes of the Scriptures of the Just God and created the artifacts of the Seven Saints.
The subtitle, the Tipping of the Scale, was a clever homage to the scales of Leviathan, the scales that symbolize Justari, and the fact that the events of this day would be the first major blow struck against Bedlam as that plot started to enter its final chapter.
Hosting Nation Count: 4. Hall Count: 4.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XV - The Marriage of Aeston and Areni
January 2013
This was a very special Leviathan for a number of reasons and will always stand out as one of the most historically important over the many years we held the event. First and foremost, because of the theme of the event so clearly denoted in its subtitle.
Jen and I had gotten married in real life in May of 2012. We wanted to bring that same celebration into the Realms so our whole community of friends could be a part of those festivities. Throwing an in-character wedding, therefore, was an easy decision. Besides that milestone we also had to find a new hall. Friends of mine that were a part of the Boy Scouts of America suggested I look at what the Connecticut BSA camps had to offer. When we took a tour of J.N. Webster we knew we had found our new home. Last but certainly not least, this was the first Leviathan kitchen that Lani was in charge of. She had become my squire in 2012 and I knew that throwing this event together would be the shape of our partnership going forward.
Now that we had a theme and a hall, our focus became throwing the most formal and elaborate in-character wedding the Realms had seen up to that point in it's history. New table cloths, centerpieces, tableware; a pretty much most of the decor and setup you all associate with recent Leviathans began this year. We did everything we could think of to make it an occasion worthy of what we knew we were capable of. I think the results spoke for themselves. You can decide for yourself if you want to take a look at our wedding album here:
https://mgnorris.zenfolio.com/p403960544
Hosting Nation Count: 4. Hall Count: 5.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XVI - Five and Twenty
January 2014
The previous year, as I mentioned, was Lani's first as the Feastocrat of the event. As such, a lot of the menu planning and cooking was done as a partnership as I tried to pass along my knowledge about how we had thrown the event for years; how Realms feasts in general had been held for years. This year, however, Lani decided that she wanted to make her own mark on the event by absolutely shattering the way it had ever been done.
Lani wanted to do a plated feast; I understand that these days that doesn't seem that impressive or odd and I'm not going to claim that Leviathan 16 was the first ever to attempt it; I'm sure it couldn't have been. But it was still relatively novel and had certainly never been attempted on this large of a scale. What is more, she decided that each course, of which there were seven, should each in-fact be three courses all served together on the same plate. Frankly, it was insane. But it's where we got the subtitle, Five and Twenty. 25 plated courses were passed out to the hall that day with cookies for dessert. The patch shows you what utensil was used for each.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XVII - A Taste of Home
January 2015
Another Leviathan theme that was based around food, Lani and I had decided that we should dip into our own personal histories and create a menu composed of the home-cooked meals we ate while growing up. Again this was a plated feast, since that had become the new norm, at least for the next few years. This event was special to Lani for a few reasons. First of all, it was the first event that had a listed "Feastocrat". Ian had kindly acquiesced to my request to add the title as an "official" event position on RealmsNET and as such Lani became the first RealmsNET-official person to hold that title.
Much more significant than that, however, was the fact that she was knighted. Twice. She had completed her squireship to me with aplomb over the past couple years, truly elevating Feast of the Leviathan to a form we continue to benefit from today and so she received her Knight of Rhaiassa belt for that any many other services to our nation. As that ceremony ended, however, the Knights of the Eternal Flame immediately took the stage and asked her to join that order as well. The first double-knighting in the history of either of those orders, if not the entire Realms.
The patch for this year featured a simple village hamlet, evoking the spirit of nostalgia and home-cooking we tried to convey with the menu for that year.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XVIII - To Snare a Hawk
January 2016
Our second Feast of the Leviathan with a Rhiassan wedding happened at the 18th incarnation of the series. Lani had married Jeremy Grayson, who played Nighthawk, a couple years beforehand and they had decided they wanted the relationship to be something that existed in-game as well. We decided to make the theme of the event somewhat playful; Gwen would spend the day cooking Nighthawk all of his favorite meals one after the other until he was finally convinced that he should marry her. It was another plated feast with each of the seven courses being a food that Jeremy picked. At court in the evening a rather humble wedding ceremony was held as a culmination of the festivities.
The patch for this year features the obvious silhouette of a hawk. A little built-in inside joke was the way that the "8" is positioned around the hawk's head; the institute of marriage being somewhat flippantly referred to as a snare.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XIX - The Blessings of Family
January 2017
In July of 2016 Jen and I had our first child, Justin. There was never a doubt in my mind that I wanted all my kids to benefit from being raised as Realmsies and so picking a character name for him was essential. Of course I also decided that there should be some more pomp and circumstance for the entire thing so I invented the "tradition" that Rhiassan children would be publicly named during court. The patch for this year's feast featured a simplified sketch of Areni holding our newborn son, and although Justin was the star of this event, Jen had the distinction of being honored with her Knight of the Eternal Flame belt that year as well.
Deep in the history of the Realms, going back to the 90's, Rhiassa had a neighboring land called Periden. In fact, Periden's real-world location was a farm owned by a Realmsie, Richard Trombly, in Belchertown, MA. That farm was the location of the first ever Queen of Hearts. So Rhiassa and Periden held a close partnership in the early years of our community. When I concocted this whole scheme of naming Justin's character in a ceremony I reached out to Richard, introduced myself, and explained to him my plans.
I asked his permission to annex the land that was once Periden as part of Rhiassa and name it as a vassal state. During court, the lands would be presented to Justin's character as a gift, making him a lord. Richard was happy to agree and appreciated the fact that something he started would have some new life breathed into it. Therefore at court at Feast of the Leviathan 19, we presented Justin as Lord Aeryk Stromgate and conferred to him the title to the land of Periden along with revealing its vassal-state heraldry.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XX - Gwen Unleashed
January 2018
At the time, it was a pretty amazing thing that the feast had survived, thrived, for as long as two decades. When I started playing Realms so many years ago even the most venerable of event series were only ten or so years old, many less than that. Leviathan had since joined a very short list of some of the oldest events in the Realms. I remember asking Lani if she was up to the task of paying tribute, with her menu, to the enormity of a twenty-year history. She asked only to be unleashed upon the task, and so that became the subtitle of the event, the breaking of the chain symbolic of being let go to design whatever she wanted in order to rise to the challenge.
In the aftermath there's no doubt that she accomplished her goal. The culinary theme for the event was to bring back, reimagine, and elevate all of Leviathan's most popular dishes in its storied history. Going back to the very origins of the event, Gwen picked out and refined some of the dishes Leviathan and Feast of Rhiassa were known for over the years; meat on a stick, phoenix rolls, lasagna, and lots more. Overall it was a worthy tribute to an event to which I had invested fully half of my life up to that point in time.
As another incredibly important historical note for this event, Lani was elevated to be a lord of Rhiassa, creating the "Triumvirate" of Rhiassan leadership. Interested parties can read more about that moment on the Rhiassan history page:
http://rhiassa.com/history/index.html#1018.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XXI - The Old and the New
January 2019
Lots to say about this one. This year's Leviathan was another incredibly significant one for a number of reasons. Of course as you can tell by the feast patch, one of those things was the birth of our daughter, Julianna, in July of 2018, and her naming at court that year. She is depicted with wings because she is my little angel. But I'll get back to her in a moment.
When I started in the Realms in 1997, the institution of Realms feasting was still very much in its infancy. Led by Lady Cassia and other historic figures of the era, the format of the feast was set, loosely, as a series of full courses and breaks (which we incorrectly used to call repastes) that lasted through the entirety of the day. It was established that a "formal" feast should have seven of these courses.
After a long tough look at how we continued to abide by those traditions, we began to realize that they no longer were the best choice for Leviathan. The size of the event coupled with the extremely wide array of entertainment options we tried to offer made sitting everyone down to eat every hour just unrealistic, and it resulted in a lot of wasted food as well.
So we came up with an idea that would continue to be a mainstay of Feast of Leviathan even to this day; apps. We designed a day where there would be one main course at the conclusion and hours of apps that circulate around the hall all throughout the day. At the same time we created the concept of the drink bar where people could go to order mocktales. In short, almost every current format staple of the event was established this year.
Okay so back to Julianna. Like when Justin was born, our aim was to name her during court. I also wanted to grant her land and create a vassal state; the issue being that Periden was the last remaining "unused" land that bordered Rhiassa proper. I went to Tucker and asked him if there was some way I could 'purchase' from him a little corner of Ashenmark in order to accomplish this goal. Whatever that means when you're talking about pretend land on a digital map.
Tucker was very receptive to the idea and assured me that we would be able to work it out. As the feast approached at the chaos of event-prep took over our lives, I had more-or-less forgotten to follow up on that conversation. When I checked in with Tucker a couple days before the event he assured me that he had it handled and to leave it to him. So I did.
Flash forward to the day of the event. Tucker said that I should call him up during court before I announced the official naming ceremony, so I complied, and he presented me and Rhiassa with a gift, a parcel of land in Ashenmark that he named Lionsmark so that I could gift it to Julianna's character; Lady Aelise. This moment marked the beginning of an enduring alliance between our two groups.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XXII - Hearth and Home
January 2020
COVID struck in the early spring of 2020. As such, Leviathan was one of the very few in-person events that year. I feel fortunate that we were able to have one, and that we were all able to see one another in our normal, large, rowdy group before we were all grounded for a long time.
When I first came up with the in-character background idea for Leviathan back before the first event in 1999, I decided that the yearly festival for Leviathan, in Aeston's homeland, was one that took place before the deepest part of winter; a way to say goodbye to family and friends that you would not see again until the spring thaw, or perhaps never again. Looking back, its almost impossible to ignore how much that symbolism was reflected in the real life circumstances at the time. Like usual, so much of our community came out to spend the day together, and then many of us did not see one another in person for a very long time.
The patch was representative of the large fireplace in the center of the event hall. The theme of the event, Hearth and Home, was a simple one. We didn't set out with any grand purpose this time; just the hope that people would be able to relax, eat good food, and keep warm in a hall full of friends. This was the first year we ever put out the giant charcuterie board at the beginning of the event, which would quickly become one of our most well-known traditions.
A historical note of importance to Rhiassa was that Lani received her Knight of the Realms belt at court at this event.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XXIII - Gathering and Parting
January 2022
This historical account is now becoming close enough to recent that most of our active population of Realmsies will remember attending most of these feasts, but there is still some context to add for the last few years.
January of 2021 did not have a Feast of the Leviathan. It was still the height of the pandemic and the only events happening were virtual ones. Even when we decided we could have a Leviathan in 2022, months after people started getting vaccinated, it was still something we did very cautiously; everyone masked and only those who were vaccinated in attendance.
Of course the undeniably most significant event that would shape this Leviathan was that Dave Hayden passed away in the proceeding year. Many of the younger readers here didn't know Dave very well, though I'm sure you've heard innumerable stories about him. I could write about him for paragraphs but I'll leave it at this well established fact; in and out of character, he was a paladin down to his very core. When he left us the Realms community showed its mourning by posting a unicorn-rook all over social media; this became the symbol on this year's patch.
An unforgettable part of Leviathan 23 was the community funeral we held for Dave. Leviathan was one of the first times in a long time a significant number of us could gather together and we used it as an opportunity to say goodbye to our friend. With the tremendous help of the senior members of Blackwood, who constructed a true longboat, the lake outside the Leviathan hall was used to hold a viking funeral complete with pyre and funeral dirge (accompanied by Andy Adams on the drums). It was a bitter cold day, so much so that we went out and bought several fire pits to set up on the beach to help keep people from freezing. But the weather could not stop us from gathering together to sing our friend into Valhalla.
At Leviathan 23, and every one since, a memorial banner, lovingly made by Casey Lemay has been hung in the hall to help us remember Dave.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XXIV - Here's To You, Ashenmark!
January 2023
There was a bit of a fun trick built into this year's Leviathan. The title and patch are clearly a nod to our friends in Ashenmark, but up to the very day of the event, that fact was completely hidden. When the event announcement went up on RealmsNET, the subtitle of the event was simply "Here's to You" with a general description that the theme of the event was an overall appreciation of everything that people in the community do to make the game better.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, preparations were being made to make the entire thing Ashen-centric. Centerpieces that were wooden depictions of their heraldry. Yellow table cloths and table runners. Banners. A custom drink at the bar named for them (The Ashenmark Bee-Breeze; the first year we would have a yearly custom drink, in fact). A charcuterie board that was taco themed (Ashenfriends *love* tacos). All Ashenmark, all the time. We wanted to show our appreciation for everything Ashenmark did to make the community a better place and I'm confident we succeeded.
The faces of the members of Ashenmark when they walked in the hall will forever remain one of my favorite Leviathan memories. As it dawned on them that they were at a prominently placed high table, as they saw that the room was festooned in their colors, As they beheld the giant banner that read "Here's To You, Ashenmark" that was placed in the center of the room for everyone to sign and express their appreciation. Their looks of both gratitude and abject terror filled me with joy.
Ian was very kind and let me change the subtitle and alter the description of the event in RealmsNET after the event was over; so the official event record reflects its true name.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XXV - Homecoming
January 2024
I was incredibly proud of Feast of the Leviathan 25 and fact that we were truly able to honor the thirty-year history of Rhiassa in this celebration. Preparations for the event began a full year beforehand as I reached out to every historic member of the nation I could find, reaching all the way back to it's origins, to invite as many Rhiassans of the past that could come. I sent out incredibly elaborate paper invitations through the mail; complete with wax seals and embossed inserts. And though those efforts I'm proud to have brought in a group about twenty-strong of Rhiassans that were a part of our shared history.
If you scroll back though all of the patches up to this point you'll notice that every year the event number is the same dark blue color as the depiction of Leviathan. This year, however, it seemed appropriate to break that tradition to highlight the momentous occasion we were celebrating with a red "25". The graphic on the patch is clearly a Rhiassan banner with a "30" to celebrate the age of the nation.
Jason Gray helped me make elaborate new Rhiassan centerpieces and of course we brought as much pageantry to the occasion as we could. At court I was able to call up each member of Rhiassa and thank them for their years of service to our nation with plaques I engraved myself. Each of them was customized with their name and featured the following poem: “You shared your might with a world in awe / And answered back with gentle roar, / Then raised your cubs on the barrow land / Where human sits and lion stands.”
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XXVI - The Retirement Roast of Alexander Cecil
January 2025
Matt Brenner has been one of my best friends going all the way back to the very beginning of my time in the Realms. Over our many years of playing this game we planned events together, started different initiatives to try and help the community, coordinated on major plots, spoke with a unified perspective through tough times. We were both made Knights of the Realms within a couple months of each other. I think the work we did together was valuable and the legacy that he personally created will endure for many generations.
So when Matt confided in me that he thought it was time for him to retire, to pass on the leadership of Chimeron, I decided that Leviathan 26 should be about honoring the years he invested to make the Realms a better place. And of course what better way to do that than with a roast. I asked people from around the community to speak during court and share their stories as Matt sat on a specially prepared lounge chair to receive their humorous accolades. The symbol on the patch, a crown on fire, seemed appropriate to help us remember that we gave Matt the most appropriate sendoff we could.
Rhiassa Presents: The Feast of the Leviathan XXVII - The Starfrost Wedding
January 2026
I don't know how much historical perspective we can really have for an event that happened only a couple weeks ago but clearly it needs to be included in our history. The third Rhiassan wedding at a Leviathan and, notably, one that took place at a new location since J.N. Webster is undergoing renovations this winter. Thankfully camp Joslin is a wonderful site with a large enough hall for our needs and it worked out pretty well since in-character we were able to establish that the celebration was taking place in a different hall in Lionsmark. As much as I love our normal hall, and we'll certainly be back there next year, I can't deny that the overall vibe and splendor of the building at Camp Joslin was much more appropriate for a formal wedding.
And that's what we really tried to create this year - a formal wedding. The decor, the garb, the chef stations, the ceremony, the wedding cake. Much as Jen and I set out to do over a decade prior, Brooke and Paul wanted to celebrate their wedding with our entire community of family and friends. I'm proud that they trusted me with communicating that to everyone through the event itself, and I honestly believe it was one of the best Leviathans we ever threw. Alyssa did an amazing job with her first time as Feastocrat and we should all look forward to what will be coming through her kitchen in future years.
Of course the patch this year featured the elements of the Starfrost heraldry which could be seen throughout the hall on the day of the event.
Hosting Nation Count: 4. Hall Count: 6.
And that brings us up to current. Over a quarter-century of events, spanning several completely different eras of Realms community history. Four different hosting nations, six different event sites. Something I began when I was 21 years old, spanning now into my late 40. Hundreds upon hundreds of people who have been served the food I've made with my nation members and friends. I think its fair to call Feast of the Leviathan a crucially important element of my life's work.
Reflecting back on 27 years of event history is a challenge in a couple of different ways. One of those challenges is of course summoning up the synaptic connections to actually describe things that happened dating back to the last century. But more so than just recounting memories, I think a greater task is looking back at the chain of history and trying to take from it some kind of meaning, some theme that unites all of the effort, all of the late nights, all of the mistakes and growth that came from them, all of the passions of so many dozens of different Realmsies over so many years. Surely there is something that can be said about it all, some pearl of wisdom that can, at the very least, justify the existence of an endeavor thats endured for so long.
But right now I'm not going to bother. Someday I might attempt a grand conclusion but I think that's best left for when my time throwing Feast of the Leviathan is over. Looking back can be a fun journey, but I like to spend most of my time looking forward. The next Feast of the Leviathan is already in its planning stages, after all, and certainly many more will follow it. Our greatest moments are still ahead of us.
The history of the Feast of the Leviathan, and the patches that will adorn its banner, still have many chapters waiting to be written.
Thanks for reading.
