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| Action Id: 3194 | Crisis: | Participants: Mirk, Drea, Danvir and Enid | |
| Status: Resolved | Submitted: March 15, 2019, 8:05 p.m. | Public: True | GM: Puffin |
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Action by Mirk
Mirk will gather his witnesses in the Rebirth Grove. There, he will instruct each of them in the Rite of Cleansing: How the ritual must be unique to the individual, how it relies on their vision of the Dream, their perspective on the world.
He sets out thirteen candles, the second lit from the flame of the first, and so on, as to share one flame. Thirteen sacrifices are laid out beside them, each one a symbol for a relationship he has with that person or organization, and for the idea that relationship represents. His sacrifices are from the natural world: an herb, a flower, a tuft of fur.
Once prepared, he speaks a prayer:
"To cleanse the primum, to strengthen the Dream,
I offer a story in thirteen parts,
A story of my world, my soul, my gods,
A story of my path, and the road mapped in my heart.
Then he begins. He feeds thirteen sacrifices into the flames one by one, and with each sacrifice he offers another prayer. Together, it tells his story.
1) Halfshav
Sacrifice: An elder leaf. As the elder offers protection to those in its shade, so too is House Halfshav a shield to the Northlands and the Compact.
Prayer: "From the storm-shrouded peaks above my home,"
2) Redrain
Sacrifice: The fur of a bear. Chosen for the strength and independence of the Northlands, where the untamed wilds shaped the man he would become.
Prayer: "To the hidden vales of the North,"
3) The Compact
Sacrifice: A willow flower. As a willow bends in the wind, so the Compact bends with each crisis - but never breaks.
Prayer: "To the grand city of Arx, where untold thousands hear the rumble of thunder in the distance,"
4) Kaldur
Sacrifice: A mint leaf. An herb that grows on the roadside, to him it signifies the Great Road and Kaldur's ambition.
Prayer: "All are under the same sky and walk the same roads, disparate pieces of a greater whole."
5) Khanne
Sacrifice: The fur of a deer. Chosen for the way the deer moves effortlessly through nature, it represents the deep connection to the land and the spirits that defines a shaman.
Prayer: "My family, who protected me even after it became clear that I would never be able to protect myself,"
6) Lucita
Sacrifice: The feather of a songbird. Chosen for its beauty and its music, it signifies her true calling as a singer.
Prayer: "My friends, who bring joy to my life,"
7) Sasha
Sacrifice: The feather of an owl. Like the owl, Sasha is always questioning, always eager to learn more - whatever the topic.
Prayer: "My allies, who come from varied walks of life to find common ground,"
8) Spirit Walkers
Sacrifice: An oak leaf. Chosen for the strength of an ancient tree, and its interconnection with the forest, and thus for the wisdom and the fellowship of shamans in the Spirit Walkers.
Prayer: "All are connected, a community that spans from sea to peak covered in snow."
9) Alarion
Sacrifice: A winged seed. Chosen for its potential, and for his hopes that those winds may one day return him to his home in the North.
Prayer: "For a younger generation, who need our strength and our protection,"
10) Bashira
Sacrifice: A cypress needle. Chosen for its life immersed in the current, it serves as a symbol of Bashira's life, and as a symbol of mourning.
Prayer: "For those who have sacrificed all, whose spirits now rest while the living tend to their legacy,"
11) Arik
Sacrifice: The fur of a wolf. Chosen for the kinship and loyalty and strength and ruthlessness, it signifies the howl a wolf - which calls to its own even as it warns away outsiders.
Prayer: "We are called to rally our communities and gather our collective strength for the challenges ahead."
12) The Spirits
Sacrifice: The feather of a swift. Chosen for its home in the skies and its restless wanderings, it signifies his path to become a shaman: the years spent on the road, the long stretches of wilderness between human settlement, the lessons learned from those he met along the way.
Prayer: "To every spirit of lightning and thunder and storm, I plead: Hear my words and see my heart."
13) Himself
Sacrifice: A river reed. Chosen for its dualities, half mystical and half practical, for it grows half-immersed in the currents, listening to the music of the wind, connected to all of nature; but when harvested, it has endless uses to build or to create.
Prayer: "My vision is the preservation and cultivation of my world, in all its glories; not through strength of arms, nor skill at war, but the strength of spirit to stand tall and unafraid of the storms to come."
Action by Enid
Enid on invitation plays the part of the silent observer. She is quiet and watches on attentively out of both sincere interest and opening herself to better learning and understanding the ritual being performed.
Action by Drea
Drea attends as a witness and observer. She ensures that she will be able to perform it herself later, as well as to act as guide and witness in subsequent rituals.
Action by Danvir
I will attend the ceremony to view the ritual and learn how it is done. I will stay quiet and out of the way observing and taking mental notes to ensure that I understand it all to be able to perform it myself later
Result
On the thirteenth day, in the thirteenth hour, Mirk gathers some friends together in the Grove of Rebirth to perform his rite of cleansing. He sets out thirteen candles, lighting each one from the candle before, and prepares his sacrifices - all parts of nature, representative of the ideas he cherishes in the Dream. And then he speaks a prayer.
"To cleanse the primum, to strengthen the Dream,
I offer a story in thirteen parts,
A story of my world, my soul, my gods,
A story of my path, and the road mapped in my heart."
The Grove around them quiets as his prayer ends, as though listening for what comes next.
He speaks his prayer in poem form - Halfshav and Redrain, The Compact, Kaldur, Khanne, Lucita, Sasha, the Spirit Walkers... each group or person he includes has a special meaning, expressed in his prayer.
"From the storm-shrouded peaks above my home, to the hidden vales of the North, to the grand city of Arx, where untold thousands hear the rumble of thunder in the distance, all are under the same sky and walk the same roads, disparate pieces of a greater whole. My family, who protected me even after it became clear that I would never be able to protect myself, my friends, who bring joy to my life, my allies, who come from varied walks of life to find common ground, all are connected, a community that spans from sea to peak covered in snow. For a younger generation, who need our strength and our protection, for those who have sacrificed all, whose spirits now rest while the living tend to their legacy, we are called to rally our communities and gather our collective strength for the challenges ahead. To every spirit of lightning and thunder and storm, I plead: Hear my words and see my heart. My vision is the preservation and cultivation of my world, in all its glories; not through strength of arms, nor skill at war, but the strength of spirit to stand tall and unafraid of the storms to come."
It's when he speaks of the sacrifice of Bashira, and those who come before that something strange starts happening in the Grove of Rebirth - yet he does not falter. And when his prayer concludes, the tree that once was Bashira and Cybele entwined starts to shoot forth leaves.
Here, in the middle of winter, the Grove of Rebirth has a solitary tree living as though it is spring, and the cold does not touch it. And somehow they all know in their hearts that the tree will stay green evermore, a symbol of life even in the perpetual cycle of rebirth, life, death, and rebirth that is the foundation of this Grove. Here in the heart is the reminder that the cycle continues as long as there is life to be continued.
It is a moment of peace and joy shared among them, even as the rite quietly concludes.