The Unity Festival — Player Overview

A moving city blooms on the plains: rings of yurts and horse-lines, cooksmoke braiding with sage on the wind, pennants snapping under a blue bowl of sky. Hooves drum like distant rain. Laughter, song, and the soft clink of tack fill the air. For seven days the Riddari gather to honor the covenant that keeps the horse-folk one people.

What it is

A weeklong reunion of northern and southern Riddari clans. It’s about kinship first, skill second, trade third. Horses are at the center of everything—blessing, sport, craft, and story.

Where you’ll be

A mobile city that sets up on level grass, shifts with weather, and sleeps aligned to the wind. Streets are rope lanes and trampled paths; lanterns mark hearth-rings; herds graze beyond the outer circle like a living tide.

How it feels

• Sights: Bright saddlecloths, braided manes, stall banners painted with clan signs, a sea of yurts (felt white, canvas tan, leather brown).
• Sounds: Whistles for herd work, hand-drums at dusk, throat-song over the wind, tack creaking in rhythm, foals nickering.
• Smells: Warm hay, leather soap, smoke and fat from stone-pans, crushed clover, sudden rain on dust.
• Touch: Sun-heated wool, coarse rope, the steady weight of a friendly muzzle against your shoulder.

Etiquette (short and vital)

• Greeting: No bowing. Fist to chest. Easy tap for equals; a sharper strike for elders and leaders.
• Horses first: Water and rub-down before you eat. Never touch another’s mount without letting it smell the back of your hand.
• Fire courtesy: Approach a camp with “Salt and shade?” Wait for “Salt and shade.” Step in only then.
• At table: Eat what’s offered; when finished, say “Well ridden.”
• Listening word: If someone says “Spur quiet,” hush—something needs attention.
• Tracks & braids: A grass braid on a stake = good graze ahead. Braid with a knot = predators near.

Daily rhythm (typical)

• Dawn: Herd checks, tea and bread, quiet song. Blessings whispered at withers.
• Midday: Markets, horse-craft demos, clinics for young riders, trials of speed and control.
• Dusk: Clan feasts, story circles, ring dances, courting songs, friendly contests under lanterns.
• Night: Watchfires on the perimeter; the city’s murmur falls to wind and horses breathing.

Contests & displays (spectator-friendly)

• Precision riding: Figure-eights on slack reins, bridle-less cues.
• Mounted games: Ring-lancing, relay sprints, rope-work.
• Endurance runs: Long arcs between way-banners; riders finish wind-gritted and grinning.
• Craft showings: Saddles, bits, braids, beadwork; makers explain joinery before artistry—it’s the Riddari way.

Food & drink to find

Stone-pan flatbread slicked with fat and salt, charred onion and mushroom skewers with prairie pepper, smoked bison shaved into honey-oat mash, fermented turnip pickles (sharp enough to wake the dead), and kumis-tea (mare’s milk tempered with strong tea). Sweet stalls sell braided sugar-nuts and smoked apple slices.

Words you’ll hear (and can use)

• “Wind at the withers.” — a blessing before a ride.
• “Hoof-kin.” — bonded riders; also close ride-friends.
• “Jilgoo.” — the itch to run for the joy of it.
• “Step light, speak true.” — a favored maxim.

About the queens

Two towering figures preside—respected, formidable, and closely watched by all. Audiences are formal but warm: salute properly, keep words plain, and thank the attending stewards. Expect presence that stills a crowd.

If you’re riding a bonded horse

Your mount reads your breath and seat. Two short exhales means “ready”; a low nose-rumble means “I don’t like that bank.” Keep cues consistent and they’ll carry you through the noise and color.

Safety & sense

The city is friendly, not careless. Keep lanes clear, fires banked, blades racked at feast rings, and reins looped—never dropped—around posts. If a foal wanders, be a fence, don’t chase.

In short: arrive honest, treat horses as kin, accept hospitality simply, and let the plains teach you their pace. Wind at the withers.