Roqpin

Roqpin refers to the two summer months in the Elw calendar, Araroqpin (IX, "old roqpin") and Elroqpin (X, "new roqpin"). The summer months are, especially in the Congressional Counties, Utasia, and the Northern Commonwealth, a period where society more or less closes down. Factories go on low, agriculture (while generally automated) is in growth awaiting the harvest after the end of Roqpin, schools are closed, many workplaces close. The Roqpin months are characterized by rest, pleasure, and going out in nature. Different social mores apply to the Roqpin months than the rest of the year. This is exemplified by sexual promiscuity, recreational drug use, extraversion (Elw people are generally introverted in their culture for the rest of the year), and the abandonment of cares. Many people go to the countryside to special camps where there is no modernity. Although this tradition is originally Elw in origin, predating the Shirerithian and Treesian days, it is observed by many non-Elw Elwynnese, particularly the Tapferites, the various Norse groups (the Froyalaners, when part of society, being a noticeable exception). It is observed, in a less intense form, by Amokolians in Elwynnese Amokolia. It is generally not observed by the Babkhi community. The Babkhi community, however, takes part of it by a flood of summer workers to hospitals, farms, factories, infrastructure placements, etc, giving a boost to the Babkhi economy.

An Elw of Pleasure

Can there be any sight more profoundly unmoving than that of an Elirian sales executive or accounts manager in the fullest flood of patriotic verve and humbug?

You must know the type – for eleven months of the year he remains dutifully bound to his job in middle management and to that status symbol family, fruit of his virile loins now calcified into a loveless marriage; the morning chaste peck on the cheek from the wife of twenty years being the very height of intimacy baring any accidental contact during the course of setting out the dinner table. His abode is a comfortable and well appointed one up one down semi-detached house in one of the Senate Mandated New Estates with its fine connecting routes to the capital, the ring road, the river, the aerodrome and the transoceanic blimp hangers linking Eliria to Natopia, Ocia, Alexandria and sweet merciful heaven forbid that you actually ever have to go there, Babkha.

Our man however doesn't travel much beyond the daily commute into his offices 'in town' wherever they may be. The software developed by Elwynn High Technology (EHT) and sold to 'you know you mustn't mention who' for their Panopticon Suites revolutionised video conferencing and data streaming within the confines of existing hardware, wherever you are in the world and whoever you are talking to it is just like you are able to peer over their shoulders. And there were those who said Virtual Reality was a fad and a busted flush but what nonsense that is when we see our man from his very cubicle discussing with the denizens of some far of sanct the practicalities of vacuuming up gold dust from the sea bed floor. It's just as good as being there, better in fact as it comes without the perils of sea sickness.

For cultural pursuits, the Elw of leisure, being a liberal and sophisticated gentleman has a wide range of choices, Ashkenatzim literature, foreign language films from Batavia (subtitled naturally), Natopian sculptures of goodness knows what for the mantelpiece, and perhaps even a little lick of Qainaktara to relax once the children have done to sleep. Nor is fine dining neglected restaurants specialising in rich Alexandrian fare and spicy challenging Babkhi dishes proliferate. Native cuisine, being more homely fare, tends to get less of a look in for modern sophisticates looking to experience a night on the town.

Then once a year for a period of thirty days, the Elw of Leisure, a delicate and sensitive soul, concerned for his family and his career and very much of a mild disposition, takes leave of his sensibilities in favour of his senses which have suddenly become oh so very visceral.

The Elwynnese summer, being short, is almost religiously intensive. When the tundra in Cape Farewell and northern Iserdia melts, the swampy existence bring so much life to flowers, mammals, birds and many others including, for many the only negative with the summer, mosquitoes. But compared to the frozen darkness much of the rest of year, the summer, full of light and no darkness at all, brings out the Elw youth to the wilderness. Living in tents, getting to know each other and themselves, they hunt fish in the streams, catch another hungover owl, unique to Elwynn and very tasty for an owl, and have the endless barbecues, laughs and songs.

Singing folk songs, which for many Elw is considered unnecessary geeky for the working year, is a mandatory part of the summer existence. Songs such as Ken Li, which no one really understands, makes all hearts beat in communion. They bring out the love, the hugs and sometimes the kisses and the sharing of sleeping bags.

This life, without electricity and running water, is for what so many a young Elw lives for in the dull, liberal multiculti existence in town. He or she starts making plans for the next summer just as the first powder of snow reaches his town. In the north, earlier than in Eliria or Araxion. Further south than these cities, there are no "true Elw" in the young Elw society, they are all Babkhanized, Shirerithianized or -ized in other ways. They are a lost cause. But the north is the freedom, it is the hope of the year and the reason why the young Elw, north and brave, puts up with the mundane squeeky clean existence of the rest of year.

Because it is as they say, what happens in Roqpin stays in Roqpin (unless of course the sharing of sleeping bags goes to sharing the condo in town). Nine months later, by Fasmas, when the Babkhi and Hyperborean new years are celebrated, the maternity wards in all hospitals in Elwynn are full. Children just seem pop out from nowhere. But at Fasmas, few ask "who is the father?" compared to all other months. What happens in Roqpin stays there. In fact, even if she did know the father of her new child, how could she be certain? It's not as if she subscribes to the patriarchal notion of belonging to one man. No, she is free, her body is hers and her enjoyment is her enjoyment and her prerogative. And then she returns, maybe to a boyfriend or a husband (or indeed a girlfriend or a wife), back in her condo. They all know that Roqpin sex is just that, going back to the roots, being part of nature, becoming one with nature and with all other Elw. For the rest of the year, monogamy, not so much for reasons of conforms as for practical reasons, becomes the norm and deviance from it is hardly something encouraged.

Roqpin. Mention that month to the ears of an Elw and he or she will start smiling, maybe even blush, and a great longing for the summers of the north, where all is still and young and wild, primeval yet so intense, comes upon him or her. After the conversation is ended, he or she will put on the interactive glasses and check, just to be sure, when the hike begins.

Getting leave from work during Roqpin is not difficult at all. Though many still remain in their rowns, the holidays are just free and still. In Eliria, for example, the great capital of the union, everything seems to go at a much slower pace. The libraries have Roqpin times (11-16 seems to be standard) and hospitals are suddenly staffed with southerners and with doctors surnamed Khan. The shops, stores and supermarkets are suddenly filled with youngsters from Amokolia and Alalehzamin working their holidays in the big city. You see, the hourly rate for work during Roqpin seems almost to be three times the rate for work the other months.

This is also exploited by some Elw of the North. Having their annual month-long outing to the wilderness in the midnight sun is just another experience.