Not much is known about winter, because summer is the time of travel. Even late fall and early spring are omitted from the weather table, which tells us something about how harsh winter itself must be. But there are little pieces of information here and there in the official materials that give an impression of what winter might be like in the Land of Cicadas. Here are some snippets that I came along. Did I miss any?

Rulebook

Farmerlings live in cycles, hunkering down in the winter with new friends and partners, dispersing in the summer to become smaller targets for emerging Imago, matching ceremony and practicality in equal measure.

Each year there is a rush to collect [chalk] before the weather turns wet and cold, and the chalk turns foul in the fall rains.

[The Lordlings’] kindness diminishes with their winter food stores, and [sellswords have] been sent off into the snow one too many times. A full stomach and a warm place to lay down is enough for most Sellswords.

Imago rise in the summer and sleep in the winter, consuming vast quantities of bone and tree sap.

Even lifelong experts throw up their hands when asked where the cicadas go in the winter,

For all its dangers, the summer is also warm and free. The summer is a time of great migration in the Lowland Wastes. Folk collectively yawn, stretch their legs, and get to traveling after a hard winter in tight quarters.

Land of Cicadas

All prepare for fields to burn, folks to die, and Imago to head into winter fat on the bones of humanity.

[Tack Town:] In the market, travelers buy handfuls of seeds with their winter savings, preparing to make their way back to ancient farmlands. There is no singular day of departure, just a growing feeling that it is time to move on. Folks trickle out, four or five at a time, and only the old and unwell stay behind preparing Tack Town for its next winter.

[Tack Town:] Spring, Summer, and Fall Heads of Council are picked by lottery while Winter Heads are elected for their frugality and sound judgment.

Newsletter Downloads

Dance of the Dead: Even in Tack Town and the Living Land’s protected towers Winter’s cold fingers inflict cruel punishment on the vulnerable. Unable to bury their dead, costumed Farmerlings mournfully waltz the dead’s funeral urns to final resting places in Feeding Grounds after the morning frost ends, but before the Imago appear.

This is a super useful post! Thanks for putting it together!

I was doing some prep reading and came across another... not direct reference to winter, but in Land of Cicadas page 30, it references that "The Anti-Saint fed the hungry during the spring blizzards."  There are also TONS f places where it specifically references something happening in, or being characteristic of summer. So I've been thinking about what the opposite of that would be.

Under Sellswords we get the snippet 

"Their kindness diminishes with their winter food stores, and you’ve been sent off into the snow one too many times."

Part of the adventure could be the party trying to find a place to host them for the winter. Being turned away or turned out mid-winter might be an inciting incident. I could also see a minigame around problems happening during the winter that might force the players out. And of course there it the Winter that never ends idea (shameless plug ;))