Some notes for an art piece, that I thought folk might enjoy. And of course, you drink your clearwine out of a wide-bowled drinking cup you pass around. These drinking bowls are often ornately decorated and very valued. And the Orlanthi don’t water down their wine. And drink plenty at their festivals. Priests offer praise to the gods, then the bowl is handed around and everyone takes a swig. Repeat again and again. Attendants make sure the bowl is always full. Music is played, there are dancers, while the rest of the folk get drunk. You make sure everyone is entertained, because you have drunk armed Orlanthi who take insults seriously and are notorious for their violent outbursts.
So if you want to have a scene or an opportunity for your players to do something stupid, have it take place at the king’s drinking hall. Or even better, at the Prince’s drinking hall. Get the adventurers drunk and then have someone insult them. Then step back and watch the fun.
In the Lunar Heartlands, it is the Lodrilli peasantry and workers that drink heavily. And often. The Yelmites put too much importance on self-control and purity, and drunkenness is seen as a “lower class” thing. Popular beverages include maize beer, barley beer, and fermented rice drinks.Of course the upper classes drink too, but public drunkenness is considered shameful or embarrassing. And Moonson’s notorious indulgences are transgressive and expensive – there is more likely to be hazia and vats of wine at his court than pots of cheap maize beer! Which also ties into the Lunar ruling class view that the barbarians are basically Lodrilli peasants.
But more than cup breaking controversies, I suspect the most common disturbance at Orlanthi drinking halls are fights. Folk get drunk, someone says something, and next thing you know you have a bunch of armed drunks brawling.
At one of Argrath’s feasts that was exactly what had been prepared. For when high-strung and drunken Praxian khans or Wind Lords needed to fight it out in front of the White Bull (who in truth had likely left his body and was traveling the Spirit World).
Then again, Argrath’s feasts are notoriously drunken, hedonistic, and dangerous.
As an aside, Clearwine is a white grape. The best Clearwine is prepared as an ice wine, with the grapes collected after the first freeze in Darkness Season. But most Clearwine grapes are made into a rather dry white wine, nearly clear in color (hence the name).The fermented freshly pressed grape juice is also made into a refreshing beverage (Federweisser) that is drunk around harvest time.
Some glasses made for the Prince of Sartar in the workshops in the Holy Country:
