Post by Lavita on Oct 22, 2004 15:53:25 GMT -1
The Stellata
The Race of the Stars--the annual event when every inch of Remora's divided streets is decked out in the colours of the corresponding twelfth and all hopes and rivalries are fought and resolved in one race around the campo (the heats existing solely to add further hype).
The tradition itself is said to arise from the time of the Rassenans when the race was run in a straight line. It is also said that the riders dismounted for the last part and sprinted to the finish line. The first horse and rider to cross the finish line became the victor.
Every year, approaching the Stellata, one Remoran born jockey is selected from each of the twelfths...
The Ram
The Archer
The Lady
The Fishes
The Twins
The Water-bearer
The Scales
The Scorpion
The Lioness
The Goat
The Crab
The Bull
..and becomes the focus of their rivals' eyes as well as their Twelfth's praises.
In accordance with a darker tradition, the Stellata is usually fixed to grant victory to either the Lady (Di Chimici's Twelfth) or the Fishes, the Lady's ally.
But this was all shook up in the most recent Stellata when the unknown jockey Giorgio O'Gredi rode to victory amidst a sea of red and gold. And of course, the Ram being Bellezza's Twelfth, the thorn was all the more sore in the Di Chimici's feet.
Also, within a month of the annual race came another, a Stellata Straordinaria, a race used to commerate a public occasion. The last time this had occured had been twenty years previously, when Fernando Di Chimici had become Pope.
This time however, the Straordinaria was held in memory of Duke Niccolo's youngest son Falco, who had died from an apparrant suicide. So it was known as the Stellata di Falco and it seemed to many that Falco was there, riding on a winged black filly wearing all the colours of the Twelfth in honour of all of Remora.
The Race of the Stars--the annual event when every inch of Remora's divided streets is decked out in the colours of the corresponding twelfth and all hopes and rivalries are fought and resolved in one race around the campo (the heats existing solely to add further hype).
The tradition itself is said to arise from the time of the Rassenans when the race was run in a straight line. It is also said that the riders dismounted for the last part and sprinted to the finish line. The first horse and rider to cross the finish line became the victor.
Every year, approaching the Stellata, one Remoran born jockey is selected from each of the twelfths...
The Ram
The Archer
The Lady
The Fishes
The Twins
The Water-bearer
The Scales
The Scorpion
The Lioness
The Goat
The Crab
The Bull
..and becomes the focus of their rivals' eyes as well as their Twelfth's praises.
In accordance with a darker tradition, the Stellata is usually fixed to grant victory to either the Lady (Di Chimici's Twelfth) or the Fishes, the Lady's ally.
But this was all shook up in the most recent Stellata when the unknown jockey Giorgio O'Gredi rode to victory amidst a sea of red and gold. And of course, the Ram being Bellezza's Twelfth, the thorn was all the more sore in the Di Chimici's feet.
Also, within a month of the annual race came another, a Stellata Straordinaria, a race used to commerate a public occasion. The last time this had occured had been twenty years previously, when Fernando Di Chimici had become Pope.
This time however, the Straordinaria was held in memory of Duke Niccolo's youngest son Falco, who had died from an apparrant suicide. So it was known as the Stellata di Falco and it seemed to many that Falco was there, riding on a winged black filly wearing all the colours of the Twelfth in honour of all of Remora.
"They've simply vanished!" "Yes... like an old oak table..." "Vanished, Lord Percy. Not varnished." 
