Ascension Day

Time: Annual, 23rd Day of Resplendent Fire.

Location: [Realm-wide].

Host: Immaculate Order

Invitations: Immaculate faithful.

Theme and Activity: This festival celebrates the service of the Lesser Elemental Dragons to Heaven, and the embrace of the Perfected Hierarchy by the gods. Traditionally the Immaculate faithful engage in a day of prayer led by their local monks, including numerous parades, Dragon Dances, and sacrifices, based on the devotion of the gods to their duties. Often, the Scarlet Empress and the Great Houses sponsor rites and celebrations on Ascension Day, provisioning ribbons and lanterns and foodstuffs for those conducting the prayers.

Those deities who adhere to Immaculate Faith look forward to Ascension Day, for the wave of prayer will bolster their efforts in Heavenly politics, while those who embrace the Hundred Gods Heresy decry it as corrupt and demand the censors investigate such a gross violation. They are not alone, for even within the Immaculate Order voices are raised that this festival offers worship to gods for their choices, rather than by what they are due. The Palace Sublime has long countered that it is the duty of all gods to follow the Perfected Hierarchy and this festival is dedicated not to any specific spirits for specific actions but to all gods who do that duty... this argument, and perhaps more importantly the Scarlet Empress' open support of the festival from Her Realm's early days, has kept it firm on the calendars of the Blessed Isle, but in Her absence some conservative voices now call for it to be abolished.

History: Though not recounted within the festival, this day has origin and takes name from the decision of Anisha-Shoshan, then Shogun of Celestial Concerns, to acknowledge the Lesser Elemental Dragons as having the same rights and privileges as the gods in the Celestial Bureaucracy. That event, and celebration of it by mortals and the Dragonblooded, can be traced to the First Age and throughout the Shogunate Era.