Hello, I’m Branwyn Two-Moon of Clan Lightridge, and these are the Ersatz Echoes of Eastfjord Harbor for Year’s Turning, 2019 to 2020.

As the second moon than gave me my name on the night of my birth comes into view once more, the peoples of Evrian recognize the turning of the years.  While science has grown enough to tell us that the second moon is likely something else, we do not yet know what it is and continue to work to learn and understand it.

In much the same fashion, we have worked and grown in the past year.  We have survived a short war, established new towns, and Pinecrest itself now has two Champions that call it home, and I am honored to be one of them.

The lessons we’ve learned in the past year showed their benefits today, as peoples from all over the region, and from across the sea joined together not only to celebrate, to learn each other’s celebrations.  The people of Pinecrest have drawn strength from the best of invading and neighboring cultures for centuries, and their tradition of doing so continued today.

Somewhere in the middle of the festivities, all three houndling tribes have reached trade agreements with Pinecrest and both Feralix tribes.  Possibly more important, the two houndling tribes least-familiar to us also reached agreements that secured them territory beneath the Black and White Mountains. These agreements will make more food available to residents of the valley throughout the winter, and provide traders a great number of opportunities to ply their wares.

Speaking of festivities, congratulations to Charleston Pinecrest, a lepta homemaker and hobby alchemist whose hot chocolate recipe was the unanimous winner of the competition.  His dark chocolate recipe with earthy aroma and a mildly spicy taste will be available through Gneech’s House of Tea and Rico’s Roastery beginning about the middle of Gnome, as some of the ingredients are simply not things either usually keeps in stock in appropriate quantities.

Joy and light are not something anyone who saw the octolith star in Petrosk are finding themselves in short supply of.

Revna and I contributed to the obvious points of the grand star of the celebration, though I ultimately gave a basic design to the Shrinewatchers’ League based in the Shrine of Magic and let them run with it so that I could work with a lot of Wisp spirits to provide a very unique kind of light.

Here and now, I correct the reports that spirits from every Guardian of Mana were present at the lighting of the octolith star.  Through Revna’s efforts, spirits of Undine were indeed present. Through my own, both those of Shade and Wisp also appeared. Those three, and no others.  But Wisp is Guardian of Magic, and its spirits embody magic in all forms. Once they understood what I wanted and why, it was easy for them to take on the forms of the spirits of the other five Guardians to illuminate the star.

As their light fades around the star and the day ends, so too does the light of the second moon.  But their fading only signals the point of transition. 2019 has ended, Year’s Turning has come to pass, and 2020 is upon us. There are many opportunities for change and growth ahead, and I know that one of the first changes will be coming with this aethercast soon.  You’ll know it when you hear it.

The Ersatz Echoes of Eastfjord Harbor are brought to you by Red Wombat Tea Company, purveyors of fine and otherworldly tea. Red Wombat: We Dig Tea.

Also brought to you by the citizens of Ocean’s Watch, who invite Petrosk to become their sister town.

These have been the Ersatz Echoes of Eastfjord Harbor for Year’s Turning, 2019 to 2020.  May Gnome keep you steady, Dryad grant you life, Undine quench your thirst, Aura light your way, Salamando keep you warm, Wisp inspire your dreams, Sylph carry you home, and Shade guard your soul.