Day of Mountain Songs

The 5th installment in the Week of Days festival in Bedlam. This particular celebration honors the Githzerai inhabitants of the city and their Okisun tribal heritage. The Okisun are the primary miners and smiths among the Sandsage peoples. The psionic powers innate among their species are cultivated in multiple ways and applied to resource gathering and craft in ways no other tribe knows. The pursuit and growth of psionic power plays a large part in their spirituality and social mores. This day showcases the traditional crafted metalworks that the Okisun produce and trade to other tribes, as well as displays of other psionic power and tests of strength common among their nomadic kinsfolk.
Throughout the day the city rings with the sound of striking metal, as do the Iron Hills where the nomadic Okisun roam and smith. This sound is the mountain song for which the Okisun's day is named.

Execution

Tribal culture within the Okisun is very rigid and structured. Their descendants in Bedlam embrace their distinction from the tribe by consciously electing to make nearly all of their displays and demonstrations available throughout the day so that guests have no pressure to be anywhere by a certain time. This is one of the most relaxing days of the festival since there are no large shows or fancy meals to be had save one, which is held after dinnertime. The Okisun are a stoic and reserved people, and their part of the week-long celebrations reflects this plainly.

Some of the unique features of the Day of Mountain Songs include:

Rock Breaking: the Okisun nomads use their immense psyionic prowess to mine and smith weapons or tools used by all Sandsage peoples. Though most of Bedlam's Githzerai are much lower in overall power than their tribal counterparts, there are plenty who can display the ancient techniques. Cracking, chipping, or outright breaking stone to reveal ore and gems with nothing but psychic power is easily seen throughout the city. These demonstrations also serve as tests for the local Okisun descendants, most of whom train as often as they can throughout the year to improve with each successive celebration as an ongoing testament to their ancestors' skills and lifestyle.

Smithing Demonstrations & Sales: Converting metal ore to craftable metal is hardly different from other cultures and isn't emphasized, but shaping heated ingots or weaving fine wire using only psionics are a highlight of the festival for many guests. Children especially are captivated by observing the forging process as metal floats and twists in the air, all the way from ingot to finished product. The crafted products are then put up for sale throughout the city and commissions are accepted in small numbers for custom and expensive projects.

Cultural Lessons: while all Days of the Week have people who teach about the culture of their tribal heritage, these are typically informal and done by descendants of a tribe anywhere they find themselves in the city. During the Day of Mountain Songs, there are full lectures given in the Halls of Acuity which discuss the finer points of Okisun social structure and values. One can learn about title sequences and how to use them, the sacredness of birth and sorrow stones, and the role of mound metal in the tribe's spirituality. Particularly sacred beliefs are not shared and remain a mystery to the world, but much is learned during these lectures for anyone interested enough to sit through them. They're not particularly entertaining, but the knowledge is deep and unique for those who seek to learn for learning's sake. The role of Okisun burial mounds in the violent history between Einborg and the Sandsage Nomads wraps up the lectures as a warning to respect and value cultures other than one's own.

General Psionic Demonstrations: virtually all settled descendants of the Okisun develop their psychic skills enough to perform basic telekinesis. This is enough to perform feats which are, to them, basic everyday functions that are absolutely captivating to onlookers. Githzerai in the streets of Bedlam are often asked to display their prowess, even outside the Week of Days. They rarely refuse, taking pride in this legacy. Mages from throughout the world come to try and understand anything about psionics that might help them further their own strength in magic despite the fact that psionics and magic have been definitively proven to be unrelated powers. Many of the more formal presentations are some sort of contest between psions, Okisun or not, to entertain the crowds.

The only structured event during the Day of Mountain Songs comes after dinner, when the Halls of Acuity are filled with people gathered to watch the mesmerizing performances of sparring psionic monks trained at that monastery. Combat, acrobatics, and tests of concentration are the culmination of the day's events.

Components and tools

The primary components required for this day are simple, though large in quantities. Stone chunks of various sorts and sizes, especially those that are known or suspected to contain ore veins or gemstones, are the most specific and special materials needed. These are used to display how the Okisun Tribe traditionally mines ore for their smithing work. The regular components used to craft weapons and tools are readily available in town already from psionic or mundane smiths of various medias.