2e<Men1.p049>第11章：特殊庆典Special Occasions
出版时间：1992/12
特殊庆典Special Occasions
魔索布莱人Menzoberranyr 的生活中充斥着聚会和宗教仪式，还有执政议会那些极其重要的会议——除了几个特殊庆典。在这里列出了这座城市每年庆祝的三个节日；这些节日在一年之中均匀地分布。
There are many parties and religious rituals in the life of Menzoberranyr, as well as grave and important meetings of the ruling Council—but precious few special occasions. Here we survey the three annual festivities enjoyed in the city; they are spaced evenly around the year.
毕业典礼The Ceremony of Graduation
当学生们在学院度过漫漫十年后，他们将迎来 毕业典礼Ceremony of Graduation——仪式由高年级的女祭学生领导，她们将从无底深渊中召唤一只 塔纳厘恶魔tanar’ri。值此淫乱放纵之时，学徒与高阶女祭（暂时）平等地分享着床帷之间的奇趣。而对 罗斯Lloth 信仰不坚者而言，仪式上带来的畏怯可能还多于欢愉。
Students in the Academy, at the end of ten long years, enjoy the Ceremony of Graduation—led by the topranking female student priestess, who summons a tanar'ri from the Abyss. It is a time of wanton abandon, enjoyed by students and high priestesses as (temporary) equals. This ritual can be more daunting than pleasant for those whose worship of Lloth is not strong; Drizzt Do'Urden was such a one.
根据传统，所有有成员将从学院毕业的家族——无谓家族的排名多低——都参与一场伴随着众多舞会和豪饮的盛筵以庆祝。毕业仪式当天以及前后一天都禁止任何家族互相攻击。通常来说，这些家族会给他们大多数的战士和仆人3天的假期，减少负责安保和烹饪的人员。同样，多数贵族通常会逗留在家里，而那些在 提尔·布里契之阶Tier Breche 下面的城市中有亲属的学院居民（如非应届毕业生、大师和女教师），将乘此时回家探望。
It is traditional for all Houses who have members graduating from the Academy—no matter how lowly in the ranks of the House—to celebrate with a light feast, accompanied by much dancing and drinking. It is forbidden for any House to attack any other House on the day preceding Graduation, the day of the Ceremony, and the day following, and it is usual for Houses to let most of their servants and warriors have three days of leisure, reducing the active staff to bodyguards and cooks. It is also usual for most nobles to stay at home, and the folk of the Academy (nongraduating students, masters, and mistresses) who have kin in the city below Tier Breche, to go down and visit their families at this time.
在节庆期间城市通常不欢迎外来访客，但那些以某种方式混进城的访客（通常是提前到达并躲起来，直到他们获得信任或者干脆被遗忘）会在此时发现那些或已醉醺醺或在找乐子、放松自在着的卓尔比一年中任何时候都更多，而警卫却很少，并且通常缺乏警惕。作为对贪欲的警告，聪明的家族法师照例会在娱乐活动开始前，在所有重要和薄弱的通道布置法术陷阱和警报——就像对付卓尔恶作剧者一样，对付那些盗贼和潜在的刺客。
Visitors are not generally welcome in the city at this time, but those who have somehow got in (usually by arriving days beforehand and lying low, so that they have become almost trusted, or almost forgotten) will find more drunken or funseeking and relaxed drow about than at any other time of the year, fewer guards, and in general, less vigilance. The acquisitive are warned that it is customary for wise House wizards to set magical traps and warnings on all valuables and vulnerable accesspoints, before the fun begins—as much against drow pranksters as against thieves or wouldbe assassins.
建城节The Festival of the Founding
每年，在 众眼之死death of Many Eyes 周年庆、即魔索布莱城正式建城庆上，城中的卓尔们会访问她他家族的住宅或在农地举办野炊，用与她们通常不会一起用餐的家族共进晚餐的方式来庆祝节日。在餐宴上，庄重地的祝酒辞先是向罗斯致敬，然后是向 魔索布莱城Menzoberra、再然后是向用餐者所属家族创始人、最后是向相关家族中最喜爱的祖先或阵亡英雄致敬。人们讲述着她们的丰功伟绩，而据说在这一天，罗斯将以任何性别、任何年龄、任何外貌的卓尔凡人形象在她的人民中漫步，聆听和评判她的子民。
Every year on the anniversary of the death of Many Eyes and the formal founding of the city by Menzoberra, the drow of the city celebrate their heritage by going to a strange house or an open picnic in the farm fields to take dinner with a family they do not customarily dine with. At this meal, dignified toasts are made to Lloth, then Menzoberra, and then to the founders of whatever Houses the diners belong to, and then to favorite ancestors or dead heroes of the families involved. Tales are told of their exploits, and it is said that on this day Lloth walks among her people in the form of a mortal drow, of either sex and any age and appearance, listening to and judging her people.
正因如此，没有路过的陌生人被拒绝招待用餐，而是会被邀请坐下来分享。据说，已知罗斯会用魔法力量、对方身上弱点或缺陷微小但永久的转变、或是魔法物品来奖励那些取悦了她的人——但已知她也会把食物和饮料转化为致命毒素，将刺激或触怒了她的整个宗族杀死。
For this reason, no passing stranger is refused hospitality at a meal, but is instead invited to sit down and partake. Lloth, it is said, has been known to reward those who please her with magical powers, minor but permanent transformations of their physical frailties or shortcomings, or gifts of magical items—but she has also been known to strike dead entire families who irritate or displease her by turning their food and drink to deadly poison.
若在某个她偏爱之人谈论时，而她正巧听见或经过，罗斯有时会以让人联想到死去英雄的真实形象出现，以无声的手饰与表情回应说话者，仿佛她们还活着、能听见他们在说什么。当然，她会利用这些幻术来怂恿卓尔去承担她希望对方承担的任务或是做她希望对方做的决定。
If the talk, as she listens or passes near, is of someone she favored, Lloth sometimes causes the real-seeming image of the dead hero spoken of to appear, responding to the speakers with silent gestures and expressions as if they live, and can hear what is being said. She uses such illusions, of course, to sway drow to undertake tasks or make decisions she desires them to.
若是有人明确地目睹了罗斯本尊，整个城市都将因此沸腾——而接待了她的家庭在节后约1周内都会被尊为贵宾，而在剩下的一整年内都将受到尊敬（因为她们是蒙罗斯恩宠的人，因此不应该被激怒或伤害）。节日庆祝的重点是后半日，整个节日围绕着持续到当天结束的主宴为核心；但根据传统这一整天都是休闲假期，商店将关门、贸易将停止。
The entire city takes heart if Lloth herself is definitely seen—and any family who hosted her is honored, as guests for a week or so following the festival, and accorded respect for the entire rest of the year (as folk who enjoy the favor of Lloth, and who should therefore not be crossed or harmed). The festival itself is celebrated in the second half of the day, centering as it does around the main meal that closes the day, but by tradition the entire day is one of leisure, when shops are closed and no trade is done.
城市的访客也将在晚宴上得到招待（谁知道罗斯脑海中的怪念头会让她以什么形态展现呢？），但除了因无法留在餐厅里大吃大喝而恼怒不已的卫兵外，访客可找不到在干活或者愿意做生意的卓尔。这种情况只会持续一天；庆典之前之后的几天与往常不会有什么不同。
Visitors to the city will be hosted at dinner (who knows what form Lloth's whims will cause her to take?), but they will be unable to find any drow—except guards, angered at having to leave their dining!— at their accustomed tasks, or willing to do any business. This state of affairs lasts for only one day; the preceding and following days are life as usual.
开放日The Open Days
访客们最感兴趣的特殊节日是每年一度、为期8天的魔索布莱城贸易展销会。
The special occasion of most interest to the visitor is an annual stretch of eight days that serve Menzoberranyr as a sort of trade fair.
来访者（甚至是 幽暗地域Underdark 中饥肠辘辘的掠食性怪物！）都被允许进入城市，自由漫步（甚至是进入贵族家族的建筑群）。这给市民和来访者提供了一样纷繁的景观，以及如岩蛇肉排或隧道虫炖肉这样只有极少数贵族家族能享用的珍馐——这是由饥肠辘辘的怪物的攻击与警惕的家族仆人或守卫的反应结合的产物。
Visitors (even hungry predatory monsters of the Underdark!) are allowed into the city, to wander freely (even into the compounds of noble Houses). This provides the citizens with as much of a spectacle as it does the visitors, and quite a few Houses dine on exotic fare, such as rocksnake steak, or tunnel worm stew, as a result of a hungry monster's attack coupled with the presence of alert House servants or guards.
然而，虽然这个活动的目的是鼓励贸易，但很少有卓尔能在这会睡好。警卫总是保持警惕，店主会一直开门营业，贵族家族代理人总是在试图与来访商人会面、达成交易。
The purpose of the event, however, is to encourage trade, and few drow get much sleep. Guards are always alert, shopkeepers keep their establishments always open for business, and House agents are always trying to meet with visiting merchants, to make deals.
为了给访客留下深刻印象，也为了让那些可能在秘密检查城市是否有什么弱点存在的家伙灰心丧气，卓尔贵族家族会举行特殊的魔法表演和军事演习，来震慑潜在的敌人与对手。常见的包括：贵族家族军队在全副武装的前提下执行精确的空中机动；高阶女祭司和法师一边喝着饮料、或玩着各种游戏与赌博消遣，一边庄严地空中飞翔；甚至是 术士学院Sorcere 庄严而高贵的大师们参加掷法竞赛，或是以壮观、令人印象深刻的序列进行 形体变化shape changes。
To impress such visitors, and to discourage those who might secretly be examining the city for any signs of weakness, drow Houses put on special demonstrations of magic and martial readiness, to awe potential foes and rivals. It is common for House armies to execute precision aerial maneuvers in full battle armor, for high priestesses and wizards to fly grandly through the air while sipping drinks or playing at various games and gambling diversions, and even for staid and dignified masters of Sorcere to engage in spellhurling competitions, or in spectacular sequences of meant-to-impress shape changes.
女祭司们轮流在城市上空编织庞大而精致的罗斯幻象，让她以一连串的形象出现、俯瞰城市——但时不时的，这些牧师在发现自己的工作是多么有趣（或者多么烦人！）时已经昏死了过去——至于真正的罗斯，似乎正在看热闹。
Priestesses take turns weaving large and elaborate illusions of Lloth in the air above the city, so that she appears in a succession of forms, looking down on the city—but from time to time, such clerics have fainted dead away upon discovering that their work was amusing—or annoying!— the real Lloth, who had appeared to watch the fun.
警告居心叵测的来访者：大部分贵族家族都安排了一位或多位法师或祭司来，她们的唯一任务就是监视怀着黑暗的目的、乔装打扮（甚至公开）进入家族的敌对家族卓尔或其它敌人。此时并非趁乱神不知鬼不觉地抓卓尔的时机——此时每个人都比平时更为警觉（而在 开放日Open Days 结束时，卓尔们会发现自己已经累坏了，要么关起商店、关闭宅门去睡觉，又或者[在贵族家族中]会有一支休息充分的警卫、法师和女祭司的分队，已经准备好在别人睡觉恢复体力时保持警惕）。
Visitors with sinister intent are warned that most Houses set one or more wizards and priests to the exclusive task of watching for drow of rival Houses, or other enemies, who enter House compounds disguised (or even openly), on dark purposes bent. This is not a time for catching drow unawares amid the apparent chaos—everyone is more alert than usual (and when the Open Days end, and drow know they'll be exhausted, they either close up their shops or houses to sleep things off, or [in the case of Houses] have a fullyrested contingent of guards, wizards, and priestesses ready to stand guard as everyone else sleeps, to recover).
突然的狂欢Unexpected Revels
对魔索布莱人来说，因为突然或意外原因而进行任何全市范围的庆典的情况相当罕见。当这发生时，他们喜欢疯狂的派对（有时包括斗殴和狂欢宴会），以庆祝城市的军队对外敌取得重大胜利、或是罗斯本尊（她的化身）神临于城市某处、或是没人表现出愤怒或不喜欢严厉法令或惩罚得到了发布或实施。
It is rare for Menzoberranyr to engage in any citywide celebration for an unexpected or sudden cause. When these do occur, they tend to be wild parties (extending, at times, to brawls and orgies), held because forces of the city have scored a major victory over foes outside the city, or because Lloth herself (her avatar) has appeared somewhere in the city, and not shown any anger or disfavor by issuing harsh decrees or meting out punishments.
_强显目录_