[Off Topic] Festival of Mariel-Taun

   

I've decided to add a special entry on February 14th due to an interesting event in game today. I checked my email today and got a newsletter from Trion detailing a unique event, called the Festival of Mariel-Taun. Mariel-Taun is one of the gods of the Vigil, which makes me wonder how the Defiant would pull off the festival, but oh well, let's not pick apart the semantics of that eh? From what I've read about the event in the newsletter, it's going to be only a few days in length, if not only for today. I'm not sure on that yet but I'll check later. The point of the Festival is to celebrate Valentine's Day of course in the game. It's also for in game married couples. A few rewards I received in my mailbox in game were 4 Mariel-Taun flower stands, which look very pretty, and 2 Mariel-Taun pillars, which also look very pretty. I can see that being a spring themed design as well!

     The exact nature of the Festival is unclear to me at the moment, but it seems that select Ascended will receive a letter in their mail from Mariel-Taun herself celebrating the Festival named after her. Mariel-Taun is long thought of as the "heart" of the world. The goddess blesses all those who's love is true and selfless. She is the center of community, the one who keeps all together. She shows us love and compassion and care. Mariel-Taun is also the patron of the arts and healers. Every year at around this time, all Telarans celebrate a festival in her honor.

     Those who receive a letter from Mariel-Taun are infected with a harmless and loving virus. The "love bug". Infected Telarans are then able to spread the infection to other Telarans. The point is to infect as many as possible, to bring light and love to this war torn time. The Festival is also a popular time for weddings and romance.

     There are unique achievements and titles we Ascended can earn by participating in the Festival. Infect others with the love of Mariel-Taun and be ready to receive it yourself. A couple of the achievements I've seen so far are "Quantity over Quality" "Quick on the Draw" and "Try Not to Look Too Desperate". Those are achievements I've seen around me while in Meridian. It appears that most of the achievements center around the two capital cities, Sanctum and Meridian. That's probably because when they did it last year, those were the only two major cities available, as Tempest Bay was added just last November in the expansion.

    So, rewards include dimension items, titles, achievements, and perhaps more that I'm not aware of yet. I've only just found out about this so haven't had time to investigate yet. I'll update this entry when I have time to play more.