Special Attractions:

The southern Farmcrafthall is located near the western seacoast where the fertile region runs right down to the ocean.  The Seacrafthall has recently moved into a large cave complex two days fair sail east of the Cibola hold, near the end of the palisade cliffs.  The Smith Hall, located at Cibola's main hold, is one of the most technically advanced in the southern continent and is a regional center for the production and repair of flamethrowers and other complex equipment. 

One of the minor holds, Fishhook, is famous across the Southern Continent for the quality of its ales, which are considered some of the few real rivals to those of Drake Hold.  Another, Four Trails, is well recognized as a place where specialty oils and perfumes are developed.  Moira seahold is located near oyster beds, and produces fine pearls.  Crackbone Creek Cothold is famous for breeding some of the best racehorses in Kadanzer territory.

Annual Events:

Cibola Hold has three annual gathers, which are generally quite well-attended:

• A Harvest Gather when the minor holds come to bring in their annual tithes and good to sell.  Many runner races, boat races, and a bullfight are held.  This is also traditionally a time for minor holds to challenge each other to team competitions such as shinty, and Morgav gives rich prizes to the winners. 
• The "Spring Moon Gather" which is held during the third full moon (Timor, the larger and slower moon, not Belior) past winter solstice, or the next day if Threadfall interferes.  This is the beginning of the bullfighting season, and opens with a 'running of the bulls' event like the one in Pamplona in our world.  Runner races and a bullfight are held during the day but the festivities really get into high gear after dark.  People dress up in odd clothes and masks to symbolize the putting off of their normal sober identities, and the celebration can get quite raucous and uninhibited.  Morgav allows this as a way for his people to blow off steam, and many of the normal hold rules are suspended during this time.
• And finally, there is the Turn's End Fair, which starts on 13.28 and lasts three days.  This is the height of the bullfighting season, though runner races and other contests are held as well.  This event is a rendezvous for many of the holdess caravans in the region, as well, and they set up a carnival of sorts just outside the walls of the hold.

Smaller gathers are held occasionally throughout the Turn, generally whenever Morgav has something to celebrate, or thinks his people need something to distract them.  All these gathers feature bullfights, racing events and other sporting contests as well, and the betting is heavy.  During the bullfighting season, bullfights are held about every other restday at the main hold, even when there is no gather.

Bullfighting at Cibola:

Bullfighting is practiced in several holds across the Southern Continent, but Cibola is the acknowledged center of this blood sport.  Here it has become highly complicated and ritualized, though none the less deadly; a single bullfight event takes up most of an afternoon, and usually consists of three fights.

The event starts off with a ceremonial parade of all the participants except the three Swordsmen; after the paraders circle the bullring they come to attention before the local Holder (or Lord Morgav, if the fight is at the main hold), and then the Swordsmen make their entrance and take up positions in front of the Holder's box.  All participants salute the Holder and then retire, except for the stakemen for the first fight.

The position of stakeman is an entry point for bullfighters on the way up. Prior to this they usually will have served behind the scenes as grooms, bullhandlers, etc; but as stakemen, they get their first chance to play to the crowd.  Their job is to plant sharpened wooden stakes in the bull's neck, so it has to keep its head lowered.  There are three to five stakemen in each fight, picked by the Swordsman from a list prepared by the event organizer.  Each stakeman has streamers of a particular color on his stakes, and his costume always includes a sash or other ornamentation of the same color.  They spend some time teasing the bull and showing off for the crowd, and when they plant their stakes they try to do it in as acrobatic and showy a manner as possible. Injuries and deaths are common, especially among those who are ambitious and trying to impress the crowd.  Members of the audience often bet on how many stakes of various colors will be set, and also on how many stakemen will be injured.

After the stakemen have done their work, it is the turn of the spearmen.  They are mounted on agile rangerbred horses, and it is their job to further enrage the bull and, if the Swordsman is inexperienced or recovering from an injury, they also try to weaken the bull a bit to even the odds.  This is considered a bit unsporting, but it is tolerated if it is not done in an obvious way.  Spearmen are often older men (for the bullring, anyway) and this is generally not consdered a step on the way to becoming a Swordsman, but instead an honorable supporting role for those without the individual bravado and showmanship necessary to become a Swordsman.  Occasionally, a Spearman will become a Swordsman, though this is rare.  Even more occasionally, a retired Swordsman will become a Spearman if he still desires the bullfighter's life, despite the fact that this is seen as a definite step down in the world.

There are three to five spearmen as well, and they use much more cooperative tactics, with some distracting the bull while another comes in to make his blow.  This is still risky, though injuries are not as common as with stakemen. After the spearmen have done their work, they retire, and there is a dramatic pause before the Swordsman appears.

The Swordsman is the star of the show.  When he comes out of the gate in his gaudy costume, the crowd cheers.  If he is brave or wants to show off, he will stroll around and take a few bows while apparently not paying any attention to the bull.  His sword always starts out sheathed, and he carries a green cape (instead of red as in our world) with a two-foot rod sewn into one edge to make it easier to manipulate.  If the bull does not start to charge on its own, the Swordsman waves the cape to attract its attention, and he uses the cape to make the bull miss its aim and pass the swordsman by in its charge.  There are various maneuvers the Swordsman uses, and true aficionados in the audience can get lots of enjoyment out of critiquing how artistically they are performed.  Some Swordsmen play to the aficionados by trying to be elegant and artistic, while others play more to the crowd by making their moves look flashy and daring.  Most will be somewhere in the middle, though performances outside the main hold tend to reflect the relative lack of aficionados there.

After some number of passes, the Swordsman will turn and face the Lord Holder's Box and draw his sword.  Often he will announce "I dedicate this kill to..." someone.  Lord Morgav, a lover, a wife, a son, another swordsman who has been recently killed or injured, or whoever.  The timing is critical here; if the bull is still agressive and full of fight, the Swordsman's dedication may be interrupted by another charge, which is generally seen as a greatly embarrassing mistake.  On the other hand, the real aficionados like to see the Swordsman confuse the bull and daze it so that it pauses long enough for the dedication but still has plenty of fight left in it.  Waiting until the bull is tired out is seen as less exciting, though most of the commoners don't trouble themselves with such niceties.

Once the sword is drawn, the crowd goes into a hush.  The Swordsman will attract the bull into another charge, and try to kill it.  Some Swordsmen purposely heighten the tension by purposely not making the kill the first time, though it is considered very bad form to purposely skip more than once.  The most elegant killing stroke is from the front, behind the bull's collarbone, down inside its ribcage, and into the heart.  A less elegant way to do it is sideways between two ribs.  Many inexperienced Swordsmen miss their first killing stroke.  This can be a moment of great danger, and if the Swordsman loses his grip on the sword in the process, it spells almost certain death unless he can recover it.  If the sword is stuck in the bull, the swordsman can keep making the bull charge until it is weakened enough by blood loss that the Swordsman can retrieve his sword.

If the crowd feels that the Swordsman is taking too long after his dedication to make the kill, they will begin rhythmically stomping and clapping and chanting with a low moan, all of which is guaranteed to madden the bull and force the issue, one way or another.  If the Swordsman is injured and cannot continue, it is the job of the stakemen to rush out and distract the bull while the Spearmen carry the Swordsman to safety.  It is not considered dishonorable to leave the ring if disabled by injury; after all, it is supposed to be an even contest and there is no shame in being defeated if one fought bravely and showed spirit up to the end.  Likewise, dead Swordsman are honored unless they died through obvious incompetence.  However, a Swordsman who flees the ring under his own power while the bull is still alive suffers great humiliation and can never again appear in a bullfight.

If the bull survives, having either killed the Swordsman or forced him from the ring, it is coralled and put out to stud, to improve the breed.  If the bull is killed, its head is generally cut off and ceremonially presented to the swordsman, who is expected to salute it as an honorable fallen combatant.  While this is being done, the ring is readied for the next fight.

As mentioned earlier, there are generally three fights in an afternoon.  The first slot is usually given to a young swordsman on the way up.  He gets first pick of the stakemen and spearmen, so he can be sure of a competent team.  The second is reserved for a solid Swordsman of middle rank, or, if such cannot be found, possibly an older, over-the-hill Swordsman.  Occasionally the second fight is not held at all, and instead there is some sort of exhibition, such as a slasher versus a bull, or the flogging and branding of a criminal, or whatever.  Even more occasionally, and only at the main hold, something like this is held between the second and third fights.  The third fight is always the headliner, with the most famous and popular Swordsman the hold can obtain.  Often this Swordsman will have his own team of stakemen and spearmen, or at least one of each to act as chief to those that the Swordsman picks from the day's lists.

The hold will award prize money to a Swordsman after every fight he wins, and a lesser amount if he survives injured (if he is killed, this amount goes to his family.) Out of this, he is expected to grant rewards to stakemen or spearmen on his team who performed especially well.  Each stakeman and spearman is also given a nominal payment by the local hold just for participating.  The swordsman must also pay for his own costume and cape, though his sword is considered to be on loan from the local holder and thus need not be paid for unless it is damaged.  Since this is Cibola, all participants also must pay a percentage to their home Holder as compensation for the work they would have been able to do had they not been training for the bullring.

There are no full-time bullfighters in Cibola; the season only runs for about half the Turn, generally from the Spring Moon gather through the Harvest Gather.  However, those who have permission from their Holders to perform in the ring are given time off from their normal jobs to train; the Holder is compensated if his men win any prizes, as mentioned above.  He may also, of course, be compensated by the prestige that accrues to the birth hold of a famous bullfighter.

At Cibola Hold itself, bullfights are held almost every other restday during the season.  Minor holds have bullfights on a less regular schedule, often agreeing among themselves to stagger their schedules so that some particularly famous Swordsman can perform at them all without conflict.  Bullrings at minor holds range from strong wooden corrals with wooden stands set up around them, to actual arena buildings along the lines of the one at the main hold.  Generally, bullfighters of whatever role must 'pay their dues' at minor holds before being invited to Cibola proper, though many who have fought at Cibola still continue to make the rounds of the minor holds as well.

Gambling is a large part of the audience's experience of a bullfight; the official wagermen are not allowed to take bets on whether the Swordsman will live or die, but there are many other factors to bet on.   A few of them are: how many passes the Swordsman will let the bull make to tire out the bull, how many stakes of which colors will be set, whether anyone will be injured, or even to whom the Swordsman will dedicate the kill.  A few wagermen cater to the aficionados, who often make bets on esoteric technical and artistic points of the contest.

Many sons of past Lord Holders have fought in the bullring, though when a Lord's son fights, the conditions are a bit different.  He will always be started as the Swordsman, and can never serve in a lesser position.  This is because it is seen as an undermining of the Lord's authority to have any of his children under the command of a lesser person during such a public and ceremonial occasion.  To make up for this lack of experience, he will be given many hours of training and practice, well out of the public eye.  He also always fights in the third fight of the afternoon, as the headlining Swordsman.

Technically, there is no special dishonor if a Lord's son never chooses to fight.  In fact, if he is the official heir, he will not be allowed to fight even if he wants to.  But in the last few generations, there has been a certain expectation that a Lord's son must face death in the bullring in order to prove himself truly worthy to inherit the Lord Holdership.  Every Lord in the last five generations has made at least one appearance in the bullring before being named the heir; even Morgav himself faced a bull in his youth.  Certain uncharitable whispers hint that Morgav only won through some sort of trickery, but the aficionados of the time all agreed that the young not-yet-heir fought a straight and competent fight, though not an especially memorable one.

Of the current crop of potential heirs, most have already fought or are preparing to do so.  Morthen, the eldest, fought several times in his late teens and and made workmanlike kills each time.  Esthevan, the next son, has been in the bullring twice; he was wounded the first time and could not continue, but the next Turn he returned and made a very flashy, crowd-pleasing kill.  The third son, Nessar, has never been in the bullring, and the fourth, Varen, is currently in training and plans to enter the ring at the Harvest Gather of 2858.