Flowergirls

A flowergirl is a young person, usually a girl but not always, who has been chosen by their community to take part in a series of spring festivals: the Equinox Festival, the Dance of the Flowers, and Beltane. The beginning, middle, and end of spring. They may not be over the age of 16 or cultural equivalent (the closer to the age of majority, the less likely it is one may be a flowergirl). Flowergirls will be part of these festivals every year until they are sixteen, starting when they are old enough to understand the ceremonies.

Festivals and Ceremonies

• Equinox Festival: The equinox festival marks the first day of spring. It is when flowergirls go into the nearby wilderness and gather flowers to craft garlands, which they wear for the rest of the season. At midday, they return to the community to gather and vote on who will be this year's Spring Maiden. At sunset while they perform a ceremony honoring the newest Spring Maiden. The honoring ceremony requires each girl to bow to the Spring Maiden, dance around her nine times, then kiss the earth before her. Once she is chosen and honored, she will give each flowergirl a special flower called a corsage, which they will wear for the rest of the year.
• Dance of the Flowers: This festival marks the midpoint of spring. It is when flowergirls and the Spring Maiden gather outside of the community in a secret place filled with flowers that they have planted throughout the year(s). Here, they wear special dresses, their garlands, their corsages, and flower-crowns. They make the flower-crowns the night before. They dance from sunrise to sunset, not stopping all day. If their power is true, their dance will bring birds and beasts and bugs to serve them. Bees will bring honey, birds will bring water and/or nectar, squirrels or other small rodents will bring seeds, and so on. The butterflies will dance with them the whole day. At the end of the day, they will each have a unique power that will carry on through the rest of the year, waning away by midwinter.
• Beltane: This marks the end of spring and the start of summer. The Spring Maiden and flowergirls construct and raise a maypole, which they dance around for nine hours. At the end of this dance, they call the community around, asking each to dance with them. The people of community join them for food, laughter, and, for those of age, sex. At the end of the night, shortly before midnight, the flowergirls take the Spring Maiden and tie her to the maypole. In places where the hasken fure is powerful enough, she will be burnt to death, so that she may arise in two years' time (or so) as a Flower-Mother. In most places, however, it is only symbolic, and the Spring Maiden is simply teased with fire. After this part of the ceremony, the Spring Maiden calls upon the flowers and the Goddess of Spring, making every flower within miles bloom, and refreshing every member of the community.

Garlands

Garlands are strings of flowers that are worn as necklaces by flowergirls (and their elder counterparts). If their hasken fure powers are strong enough, the garlands are imbued with aetherial energy that makes them esoteric talismans. A garland will protect the wearer until the flowers in it fade (and they can be kept fresh and alive for an entire year with the right water and care). They will also give the wearer energy, health, and insights into the hearts of people around them. The flowers that compose a garland might give them other powers as well.

Corsage

The corsage is a flower given to the flowergirls by the Spring Maiden. Like the garland, it is an aetherial talisman whose power is determined by the festival. The corsage will only last the season, but it allows the wearer to speak to flowers, sense flowers, and heal and nourish flowers. It also has other powers based on the flower used.

Flower-Crown

The flower-crowns are made during the Dance of Flowers and last for up to three-years, if kept fresh with water and care. The crowns give the wearer the ability to vanish once per month, bonuses to perception and willpower, a soothing presence, and the ability to speak to insects and birds. It also has other powers based on which flowers are used.

Butterflies

The moment a person is chosen as a flowergirl, a flock of butterflies will attend them. These butterflies will protect them until they have forsaken the powers of hasken fure, they relinquish their role as flowergirl (etc.), they reach the "winter of their life" (usually around 70, on a human scale). The butterflies will have the ability to strike others with their wings as if they were sharp blades, spread pollen and dust that will confuse, ennervate, or sicken the target, and create a blinding flash. They also have the power to carry their flowergirl short distances if need be. Different kinds of butterflies will have other powers as well. Moths and other lepidopterans are not wielded by flowergirls, but other similar magic users, such as gamines, who use autumnal energies.

Dances

Dances used in festivals are forbidden to be used during the rest of the year, but there are other dances flowergirls know that can be used at any time except winter. These different dances will make the flowers near them connect to them and give them insights and special powers very briefly.

Mother Maiden Crone

These are the stages of a flowergirl:

Spring Maidens

A Spring Maiden is elected by the flowergirls every year. She serves until the end of spring, when she is either figuratively or literally burnt to death in a ceremony. If she is literally burnt to death, she will return on the day she reaches the age of majority for her community. If she is figuratively burnt to death, she will keep her Spring Maiden flowers until she reaches age of majority, then they will fade. Most Spring Maidens (and flowergirls) only retain a fraction of their hasken fure powers after age of majority.

Spring Maidens have other powers beyond flowergirls' powers. They can turn any flower into a corsage token for anyone. They can revive dead flowers once per week. They can entrance others who are attracted to them, and they can stun those who wish them harm simply with a smile. A Spring Maiden can turn water into healing water, nectar into revitalizing nectar, and honey into nourishing honey. She can summon birds, insects, and small mammals. She can speak to them as well. And she can draw hasken fure from any flower near her and wield it like a flame, a light, or a spark. She can also make flowers grow. Vined flowers she can command to entangle others. Tree flowers can be her way into commanding trees.

Flower-Mothers

If a Spring Maiden dies and is reborn, she comes back as a Flower-Mother (if a person is not a woman does this, they will have a gender-appropriate title such as Flower-Father, Flower-Parent, or so on). Flower-Mothers can make seeds turn to flowers, flowers blossom brightly, and fill the air with sweet pollen that makes everyone awake, alive, and energetic. They have tremendous powers that last until "the winter of their life" (usually around the age of 70 in human terms). They have innate hasken fure around them at all times, and they can learn other ways to wield it through small rituals, traditions, and secret words.

Vernal Crones

If someone who has been a flowergirl, Spring Maiden, and/or Flower-Mother reaches the age of eldership (varies by community, but usually 65+, sometimes 50+, never later than 70 in human terms), she will usually lose all her powers as this is the "winter of her life." Some rare people, however, are so potent of aetherial power at this time that they instead become stronger, closer to the Goddess of Spring, and wielders of raw vernal energy. These people are called vernal crones regardless of gender, and they are always leaders of their communities when they appear.

Vernalists

Vernalists are those who wield hasken fure after having been flowergirls but not been spring maidens or flower-mothers. In other words, most flowgirls become vernalists, with minor powers. However, all vernalists may invoke certain rites that give them temporarily back their full powers, and they always keep their butterflies til late in life. The rites they must invoke happen at the Beltane festival.

Persecution

As with most occupations that are primarily female, the flowergirls are heavily persecuted in much of the world due to the danger presented to patriarchal societies. Most smaller communities ignore this, but are sometimes subject to pogroms or other attacks if they continue the practice. The immolation of the Spring Maiden is often misunderstood by outsiders, which leads to many horrible accusations, intentionally misconstrued or not.

Skills

Common skills include

• Dancing
• Flower weaving
• Horticulture
• Gardening
• Entomology
• Herbalism
• Witchcraft

Stats

The typical flowergirl will have the following variations from the base stats of their nation/species. Spring Maidens are +1/-1 to each +/-, Flower-Mothers are +2/-2, Vernal Crones are +3/-3, and Vernalists are -1/+1.

PRO -3
ATH +1
STR -3
AWA +5
WIL +3
STH -1
PRS +2