Plays and Stageworks

The stage plays an important role in the Estian society. It is the most popular form of evening entertainment for most upper-class citizens, and many plays have political undertones. It is an old tradition to not give names to roles and places in the plays, instead letting each production put its own spin on the same story.

The largest and most respected theater is the Buckliss Theater in Covenant. Several of these plays were first performed there, but are now performed throughout the islands, albeit with varying acting skills and production quality.

Another theater company is the Touchstone Troupe, a traveling band of performers who put on plays all around the islands.

Stories of the Gods

Some of the most performed plays are the stories of the gods. Crowd favorites include Loki's Flyting, in which Loki takes turns insulting all the gods in Asgard, and The Tale of Thrym, where Thor has to dress up like Freya in order to retrieve his hammer from a giant.

The Lady of Cheese

A comedy about a woman who runs a cheese shop, and five very strange customers that come to her shop. Each customer has a strange request, each odder than the last. As the play goes on, the cheesemonger becomes more and more suspicious.

In the second act, it is slowly revealed that all the strange requests are connected to each other, and that each customer's request can be solved by one of the other customers. The final request comes from the cheesemonger herself, and requires everyone to pitch in their talents to solve.

The humor in the play is crude and quite bawdy, and the play does not have a particularily good reputation, although it rarely fails to draw crowds.

The Shipwright's Daughter

A romantic tale that entirely takes place aboard a ship. The ship is caught in a storm and it must seek shelter in a small fishing village. The captain falls in love with the village shipwright's daughter, and he successfully woos her, unwittingly aided by his talking parrot.

In the finale, the captain must choose between duty - to his ship and crew - and love. After much back-and-forth he chooses love, promotes his first mate to captain, and goes off to live like a simple fisherman along with his new wife.

The Dread Gift

This tragedy tells the story of two lovers, a human girl and a vampire boy. The boy is being chased by vampire hunters, and is narrowly one step ahead of them throughout the play. When they meet, the girl falls in love with the boy, but he rejects her despite feeling the same for her, because he cannot bear the thought of harm coming to her due to his affliction.

In the second act, he relents and the girl becomes pregnant as a result. He grants her wish of sharing eternity with him, and shares his gift with her. As soon as her transformation into a vampire is complete, the vampire hunters catch up to them and they are both killed in a bloody finale.

An Equinox Dream

A satirical play that pokes fun at the nobility, penned by Tybalt Touchstone. It takes place at the Spring Equinox, when rank is ignored for a single day. A farmer and a noble manages to switch places after drinking too much, and both fail miserably at the tasks they are given the day after.

In the end, both realize they like their new position better, for vastly different reasons. The moral of the story is that poor and rich are not so different, and that rank isn't what should be valued most in life.

Not seldom, the name of the noble in the play is replaced with that of the local lords. Some families think this funny, and Count Lucian Blaise actually starred in the role of the nobleman once, when the play was performed on the Spring Equinox in Heimdall's Anvil.

The Fall of the Teccan Empire

This tragedy is set during the final days of the Teccan Empire in 1189 AUC. It tells the story of Aemica, a wizard, and Forentor, a paladin. They are both loyal to the Emperor, and try to prevent the unravelling of the Empire.

The first act sees Emperor Thimonos V receive news of rebels taking up arms in the Northern Islands. News spreads throughout the city and he tasks Aemica and Forentor with keeping order in the city of Tec.

In the second act, the protagonists quickly learn that other provinces are following suit, and the cowardly Emperor flees Tec as his Empire crumbles. In a bombastic finale, both protagonists die at the steps of the Imperial Palace at the hand of an angry mob, after professing their love for the Emperor, their country, and each other.