by Chester Seaton, News

21/7-Thousands of people from around the Triumvirate have flocked to the southern reaches of Monteddor for the Festival of Ancestry, which occurs only every one hundred years.

The festival is a longstanding tradition in Monteddor, with origins in the region’s most ancient pagan beliefs. Many feel, however, that the festival has been stripped of its spiritual meaning.

“It is less about the remembrance of one’s ancestors, and more about selling crap to tourists and the royals marking their territory and reasserting their position in Monteddorian society,” said one citizen.

Sometimes this reassertion involves blood shed. Two hundred years ago, one of the five royal families was completely wiped out in a massacre that took place during the fifth day parade. Officials warn of similar violence this year, due to the recent developments involving Marco De Santana and his daughter Yolanda.

The week long event begins with the Gathering of Families, during which the highest echelons of the Monteddorian royal houses, which pre-date the formation of the Imperial Triumvirate, come together for the recitation of Lineage. The recitation begins with the names of those Royal leaders who have come and gone in the past century, and is performed by the current family Patriarch.

The rest of the week consists of a wealth of festivities, including feasts, dances, and parades. The events come to a climax on the sixth day, during which the children of the Royal families use brightly colored paints to decorate their ancestral trees, five ancient Blackwoods that stand mysteriously separate from the rest of the grove, farther south.

This year marks the first time the fifth tree will be painted in two hundred years, as Alejandro Julianos officially cements his name amongst the five royal families. Since Julianos has no children, it is expected that he paint the tree himself.

The royals aren’t the only ones who partake in these traditions, of course. Smaller festivals will take place throughout Monteddor and in Monteddorian communities across the Triumvirate. Most wealthy families own their own trees, while the ordinary citizen will take part in the painting of a community tree.

Analysts predict a 200 percent boom in Monteddor’s economy during the week.