IN-GAME TOPIC - THINGS THAT ANYONE LIVING IN VISARIA WOULD HAVE SEEN

- In this capital city, you can find most anything you want to look for.  Magic Shops sit among bakeries, blacksmiths along lacemakers, fishmongers among gem merchants, etc.  They aren't labeled as such, but you know where to find thieves tools, but you also know how 'not to look' like you know you are looking for thieves tools, as there will surely be city police watching anybody going in and out, so they might have ready suspects if something turns up missing, so shop carefully there.  There are always a lot of visitors.  Lots of dignitaries from other cities appear, but they usually stay in the palace area, or around the magicians guild. -  The Magician's Guild is a very odd place.  Nondescript to the extreme when seen from the outside, especially next to the Entertainers guild with the daily gaudy displays of drunken revelry.  One thing that is seen daily, at least when the weather is pleasant.  Acolytes can be seen leaving one of the side doors, as one watches from the iron fence that surrounds the Guilds courtyard.  The Acolytes carry small boxes.  Other carry extremely fine blankets, as one would see cover a monarch.  An acolyte will lay the fine blanket on the ground, in the sunshine.  The other acolyte will place the box on the blanket.  Then both acolytes will kneel on either side of the box, as soldiers emerge from the Guild and surround them.   When the sun begins to wane, the entire process repeats in reverse.  The guards move away, the acolytes rise, one picks up the box, the other the blanket, and all return to the Guild.  During this evolution, there are anywhere from 5 to 20 acolyte/box/blanket groups at a time.  Nobody (at least nobody who's talking) knows anything about what they are doing.    The Magician's Guild is also the starting place for an odd occasion that is seen not commonly, but constantly on schedule.  After every 3rd Moon has peaked in fullness, the morning finds a strange procession in the early hours, reaching our boundaries on moving toward the coastal plans by the time the sun has rose.  You've all, at some point, found a vantage point to watch, and you've all noticed the following things:     - Nobody is allowed to get close to the procession, but they certainly aren't hiding.  Soldiers flank either side, and they certainly don't look like they would like anybody distracting them from their duty.    - The entire procession emerges from the back of the Magician's Guild, so you don't know where they come from, but you CERTAINLY know they couldn't all fit in the Magicians' Guild quaint building.    - The sounds - rushing of wind, sounds of large elephants and other reptiles you aren't familiar with.. but no fighting. And the bleating of goats.  Hundreds, thousands of goats. Different mumblings in different languages, you all speak something that you recognize somebody in the procession speaking  - enough you can tell they are spells, but nothing you recognize..   - the smells -  you smell, more than anything, the overwhelming smell of goats.  Hairs on mammalian players' arms rise at times when a crackle of electric energy fills your senses. Nothing painful, but you recognize the smell resembles the immediate aftermath of a close lightning strike.. but above all, you smell goats.  - the sights.. Oh, the sights.  It would be hard to see the procession, what with the soldiers on either side, except for the fact that very few of the beings in the procession are grounded.  The reason folks gather, from a distance, to watch the procession, is the sights!           - All odd manners of air travelers - seeming to move 4-6 feet off the ground.  People simply walking in air, carrying bags.. some exotic looking people with turbans on their heads riding colorful flying carpets.  One mage-looking fellow that appears older than time looks to be riding a small cloud whilst lying on his back, looking up at the stars, while small clouds follow with acolytes carrying bag after bag.         - Towering over the guards are the large pack animals carrying supplies.  Elephants with riders guiding them, pull huge sleds that are covered, but seem to be holding extremely large, hollowed out tree trunks, maybe 15 feet in diameter. There are those with extremely keen vision who have spread rumors that they saw something moving in on of the tree husks, but you can choose to believe him or not..  Among the Elephants, you sometimes see large lizards such as you've only heard about before, nothing you've ever seen for sure.  Towering over the elephants, some have very long necks and carry huge crates, some are taller, walk more erect and have rows of razor sharp teeth in nighmarish heads that pull smaller sleds    - the great mystery, of course, is what is this and what is it for?  You aren't allowed close enough to ask.  Nobody tells you,  the Magicans Guild won't let you enter at your level, and those that have entered the guild will openly tell you (a) they won't discuss it, (b) it looks like a total dump inside, and if somebody had told you it was a magicians guild you'd never believe it, and (c) you can't try to discern anything because they don't allow anybody to use magic inside..  and the other thing you have noticed, of which nobody will tell you more.  During the time those people have left until they return during the next full moon's peak, many of the Leaders of the city, the most aged, among the highest ranked, those amongst the richest.  These people travel to the magicians guild, with entourages and wagons behind them.  All enter the Magician's guild.  Leading citizen, entourage, wagons.  All.  And withing a few days, you'll see the entouage leave with empty wagons.  No leading citizen.  Day after day you see the city's elder elite - the fabled warriors, the legendary mages, etc.   - After the next full moon waxes, the guards line up and the procession returns.  You smell no goats, the great beast and not so weighed down, as all the sleds and cars are now empty.  The people you see above the  guards, on cloud or carpet, sit straight, cradling small boxes, not bigger than a stack of copper coins it seems - guard it with seemingly their life.  The entire procession goes into the back of the Magicians guild.. and none of them ever come out into the city. - In the days following their return,  the magic users you recognize as the most powerful, or the richest, or the most loyal to the crown converge on the Guild.  The first out scurry quickly away.  The last out come out slowly, despondent.  None will talk to anybody.  Again, another rumor is well known.  At some point, somebody was said to have heard on the later wizards to emerge, being more angry than despondent, say 'Damn them all, I've been waiting years'...  again, believe what you will.  It's a well known rumor