400 Days in Quel'thalas # 11
Over the course of the next few months, we continued our schooling, from non-stop Thalassian language lessons to the history and 'culture' of blood elf society. We were taken to hundreds of cities and towns accross the country. Of course this was not the typical cultural road trip. Each step of the way we were forced to engage in activities with the blood elves and Tavi's at each school and work place we went to. A camera crew followed us, documenting the 'journey of the reformed humans through the splendor of Quel'thalas,' and videotaping us practically every minute. Even when we were asleep, a blood elf with a camera would come in and film us or take pictures.
High Sun Festival - Christmas time in Quel'thalas!
Every July, the Blood Elves have their national holiday that goes on for nearly a whole month. It's called the High Sun Festival or in Thalassian, 'Quel'Sola', and is held on the section of the year that they believe the Sun came into existance, and has shined high and bright on Quel'thalas every July ever since. For the Blood Elves, this is their major holiday, and it's bigger than Christmas. There's music, there's parties, song, and dance, and monster shitloads of food everywhere. There's fireworks and concerts every night. Our last day in Tranquillen, the air force that uses arcane powered fighter aircraft and even dragonhawks held big ass Arirang-style air show above the city. They formed words and pictures in the sky, and when you see 100,000 aircraft flying around spewing out rainbows of light, it is one hell of a spectacular light show. Two planes shoot out missiles into the sky, but these rockets are programmed not to hit any targets, instead they shot around the sky, and even through the streets, blazing out bright jets of red, blue, and green and pretty much dancing with eachother in the air. Another jet shot out like 50 missiles, and they acted like a school of fish forming shapes of animals, then blowing up into a major fireworks burst.
If there's one good thing about Quel'thalas its that these Blood Blves know how to throw a damn good party. For a few weeks out of a year of hard labor, nearly everyone can take a break, take a load off, go out, and enjoy the festivities, and pretty much have fun, just be sure you don't walk into the wrong party or cross paths with the inquisitors.
But for slaves, live and undead, High Sun means more excrutiating hard labor. The lower classes do all the work setting the whole thing up as directed by the local officials. And if anyone fails, they are killed and chopped up, and other blood elves are snatched and put to work to prove their loyalty. For them, this is the annual hell, and they dread High Sun, but they will never dare admit that.
During High Sun, we were also put to work, but because we were the 'reformed hero humans,' we just had to make cookies, or plant a garden in front of a press crew and cheering audience. I knew for everyone else who was a human or low class blood elf, it was way worse. I didn't need to be reminded and I remembered how bad shit labor can get.
Ni'medo Fifalr! It's Snowing!
[Propaganda Translation]: "Thanks to the ingenious work of the Sin'dorei as directed by Grand Magister Tel'kar Sin'scothar, rain and snow can be delivered where it is needed or necessary. The formation of rain clouds is under direct control of the Weather Brigade. The important precipitation of water is no longer an unnecessary inconvenience to the Sin'dorei as is outside Quel'thalas.
Controlled rain clouds are produced and directed over agricultural fields on mainland and our floating islands above to deliver enough water to keep our crops plentiful and healthy. In special times during the year, it is a pleasure to see our land bathed in snow, but not the freezing snow from outside. Snow is produced using a mix of harmless sublimating mixtures of nutrients. These nutrients form small flakes and can be carried and released without the use of clouds. The special ingredient is light from the great Sun that will turn these droplets into flakes and let them fall to the ground. Young Sin'dorei children can play in the snow without ever becoming wet and cold. The annual rain breaks this snow down into nutrients consumed by plants or can be collected and stored as a spicy food after the festival ends. Praise be to the Sin'scothars!"
Nowhere else in Azeroth, is there snow during summer. And it's not just frozen water snow. Blood Elf alchemists have mixed together this weird sugary substance into dried micro-flakes by Sunlight- the magic ingredient being photons. They call this stuff fifalr. Fifalr is pretty much a flakey white powder that falls as snow to the ground. During High Sun Festival, the Blood Elves play in it, or make sculptures out of it. They go skiing, snowboarding, they do all kinds of weird winter sports, but this stuff isn't cold. The typical temperature here in Quel'thalas is 22* Celsius, and fifalr is room temperature.
And after the festival ends, blood elf workers come in and scoop all this artificial snow into bags and sell it as food. Yes, it's food for blood elves. It's almost like a spice. A huge valuable commodity. And, seeing the land covered in this edible snow, it really is a spectacular sight that really makes Quel'thalas look as beautiful as it seems cracked up to be. Even the people laboring to run the festivities nationwide seem to be more upbeat from looking outside and gazing in wonder at the splendor of this artificial snow.
*Bo tastes a cookie covered in fifalr
"Mmm, this is good. Tastes like vanilla. These are cookies made from red wheat, and dragonhawk milk butter, coated in fifalr. Really good snack."
During High Sun, our SDFC minders received a call from the higher-ups in Silvermoon saying that if we were to be ambassadors or representatives of the Blood Elves, we were going to have to advertise for them, and the first thing I advertised was the snow cookie. Amy and I were tasked with speaking and talking about the wonders we were told to advertise, and our first segment of the new propaganda video was on the High Sun festival. On top of that, I, myself, was instructed to even speak English, as the video would be sold at the SDFC's office in Dalaran. Gal was also there, armed with a loaded gun, ready to shoot me in the face if I said a single bad thing about Quel'thalas. but on the flip side, I was permitted to speak naturally, as the Blood Elves in charge of the 'Human Relations' board figured I'd make things sound better.
"And here it is, the land covered in fifalr; enchanted with beauty during High Sun Festival"
"Every July 15 is Hugh Sun Day, where all Sin'dorei sit down to feast on a juicy hawkstrider roast..."
Amy was also in many ads and commercials, but she was restricted to speak Thalassian; she was not allowed to speak English. By that point the whole language was drilled into our brains, and we were speaking it fluently- at the expense of our other memories, mainly of our past lives. Our food and drink was spiked with a supplement that would slowly chip away at our memory so we could learn new stuff. If we stayed there long enough, we would have completely forgotten our past lives before coming to the blood elf kingdom.
One perk of High Sun is that during the holidays, even the live slave class are allowed to eat basic alternative foods and are even barred from eating black blood tofu.
Osaatheb Osa'dash: Doral lo'wyrefe - How to Avoid Forced Marriage
[Propaganda Translation]: "To ensure the success and harmony and preserve Sin'dorei happiness and the future, our brilliant match makers and family maintenance enforcement agents marry blood elves together and have them carry out a plan to assemble their family for a long lasting future."
Marriage is a big thing in Quel'thalas, and it is a state regulated thing. Usually, blood elves within their own class can marry, but they must apply to be married and approved by the state. On top of that, 'free marriage' as it is called accounts to only 20-30% of all marriages in a given area.
In Tranquillen, 90% of marriages are forced. Single blood elves are paired up with others and forced to marry each other or face death. Most marriages are controlled by the upper class elves, who may arrange with others in their status for marriages of their children to picking blood elves from the lower tiers of society.
Marriage arrangements where blood elves are handpicked by the higher ups override a marriage between two willing blood elves. So pretty much, marriage is another terrifying means of control. They don't look it, but blood elves, typically those without the say in an arranged marriage, are shit scared.
During the holidays, we stayed at Orillien's apartment. He's the officer of the SDFC put in charge of watching Amy and I while we were here. One evening we were hanging out watching TV, and there was a loud sharp repeated banging on the door. Orillien had us hide then the Red Guards burst in. With hardly so much as a word, they grabbed him and took him away. All they said was, "hey! You are needed, come with us!" and he was gone.
In the dead of night, Orillien was taken to the family maintenance branch of the population control department. He was chosen by the government at the request of an elite family to be married to an official's daughter. Obviously Orillien didn't refuse as he valued his life and knew what would happen if he did. Orillien was ordered to quit the SDFC and he was relocated to Asa'qais, the city where his future wife lived.
Later that night, the Red Guards and another SDFC official came for us and we were taken to the local Wymeus hotel. I had to fast talk the Red Guards and just barely convinced them that we were on cultural learning so we wouldn't be fried for being in a blood elf's apartment.
[Propaganda radio translation]: "Her Majesty, Grand Magistrix Qocain Sin'scothar decreed that humans be allowed to marry as sanctioned by the Sun. The practice of marriage by humans shows their effort in their loyalty and faith to the Sun and the kingdom. If properly controlled and supervised by the Sin'dorei, all will go well.
The Grand Magistrix also decreed that humans who have come from outside Quel'thalas and have reformed themselves and submit to the faith of the Sun, must be married quickly but never to another foreign human as humans are likely to corrupt each other. Instead, an extra-national must be lawfully married to a Tavi to secure their bond and place in our fair kingdom."
The next morning the SDFC took us on a fieldtrip to a chapel on the edge of town, and the M-word came up. I always thought humans were forbidden to marry in Quel'thalas, but now its not only ok to marry, but humans are forced to marry- and be legally cut off from any possible chance of leaving the country. Extra-national humans are still forbidden to marry eachother, say; I couldn't marry Amy because we were both foreigners, so instead what they do is they have you married to a Tavi. And once you're locked in, you'll never be allowed to go home.
The Blood Elves reward good Tavi's by having them married. Usually it's two Tavi's paired up as chosen by a match maker or their owners, or if they're lucky, they are rewarded by being allowed to choose each other on rare occasions. But when outsiders like me and Amy are concerned, the Tavi's are allowed to pick us for marriage, and we have no say in the matter, unless we want to invoke their wrath.
Sunwing Chapel
«So, uh we're going into this chapel place, as you can see, we're of a big group of foreign humans from around Tranquillen, being brought in to be married off to Tavi's. This is not only to reward them for their…excellence in servitude for the Sin'dorei, but to prevent us from leaving Quel'thalas, as laws forbid married humans from leaving. Belore help us…»
Marriage for humans here is a completely different institution; in fact, it is way more controlled and regulated than marriage in countries like North Korea or Saudi Arabia. In NK for example, if Kim Jong Il so much as suggests you marry someone there, you damn well married them. In SA, women are subservient to men and must wear head-to-toe robes and are forbidden from driving when they go out. Display of affection in either of these countries is forbidden.
Here in Quel'thalas, its way more restricted. When two married humans are together, they must be chaperoned by a Blood Elf, or at least in a group of five or more. This is to deny any privacy and prevent humans from being romantic or intimate with eachother. Keep in mind that the blood elves view us as pests; even their own Tavi's. There is even a strict written code on physical contact alone. Each hour, the couple is forbidden to hold hands for longer than five minutes. Other than that, spouses may hi-five, shake hands twice, or pat eachother on the back to assert to others that they are married. Kissing and touching of any other means is strictly forbidden; all to prevent couples from entering intimate levels, and ultimately sex and possible reproduction, for which they would be crucified. And if you even touch your Tavi spouse, they'll freak out like you just raped them.
They are allowed to kiss only once, and that is the ceremonial kiss in the vows and 'you-may-kiss-the-bride' bit, and that is a quick peck, not a long make-out kind of kiss.
Tavi's have been genetically engineered not to be able to produce, in fact they have either defunct or no reproduction systems that have all the hormones, etc. So pretty much they are just like children, mentally too.
And it's not like you get married and put up in a place to live together. After the 'wedding'. The two humans are taken back to their owners, and the only thing representing their marriage is either rings or bracelets made by the SFDC. And they may not see each other for a week or a month, or even longer.
So we were brought in and sat down and preachers preached, and the zealots came and we sang and got all hyped up. We spent the day pretty much being kids- the Tavi's having the time of their lives, and us extra-nationals doing our best to pretend we're having fun but really running around in panic mode with no way out of this jam.
Towards the end of the day, the Blood Elves sat us down and began carrying out the ceremonies. They had already taken notes from Tavi's who wanted to choose their 'spouses,' and now the Blood Elves were calling out people's names and having them matched up.
This group of singing Blood Elves from the temple or church were chanting and preaching so I executed a very risky and extremely dangerous escape plan. I tapped Amy on the shoulder and whispered to her, "Do as I do,"
And I began to pray and pretend like I was going into a trance as if I was being possessed by God- excuse me, the Sun.
Then I heard the match maker guy up front calling my name and I stood up, just running off scripture verses and, 'praise the Sun,' non stop and pretended I didn't hear him. The Tavi's looked at us with the disturbed look on their faces and the Blood Elves in the room started getting really pissed at us, then the priestess in the room shouts out, "Don't touch them! Belore's communing with them! We must let them receive their revelations undisturbed!"
And I just kept it going again and again, and rocked in my seat, stood up, sat down, while the match maker guy kept marrying off humans. Towards the end, it was getting late, and the Blood Elves were pretty looked at me and Amy and were like 'screw this!"
They didn't want to deal with us, so Gal came in and snatched us both and took us outside, then she got grilled by a preacher and warned not to do anything to us, She looked pissed, even though she's talented with hiding it.
The inquisitionist and priests actually believed Amy and I were being touched by Belore and seemed kind of envious it was us and not them, after all they were heavy in their faith their whole lives, and I faked my way out of a forced marriage!
I said that the Sun was reaching out to me and that I could not hear or see anyone. They asked what the revelation was, and I plainly said, 'I want to serve the Sun,' and they believed it! I didn't even expect that to work, and looking back on how I tricked the Blood Elves into, either forgetting to marry us to Tavi partners, or putting it off, I still laugh my ass off about it.