GriffinClanRitualsAt the Sea Season? gathering the clan council announces the direction the clan will take for the coming year. Each member of the clan will be marked with a rune. If this is the Harmony rune?, the clan will be peaceful and fertile. If this is the Death rune?, there are hard times coming for the clan and the way of war will be taken. Many will die in the clan and few will be born, but the clan will be better able to fight its enemies. Raiding other clans is not common, due to the vast size of Balazar, but will happen if a clan is desperate. Since the Votanki? have no herds, the only thing that is normally captured is women, who are the true wealth of a clan. War is very rare between clans and is fought over hunting grounds or sacred hearths or fishing rights for rivers. When hunters die, especially if it is far from Firepoint?, it is often impractical to return with the body. Thus the tradition is to leave the body to be picked over by scavengers, so that the circle of death and life can be completed. On the next hunting expedition to pass the spot, the bones will be collected and returned to Firepoint? for interment in the hall of hunters. For children, women and elders, who tend to die at a hearth, they will be entombed in the barrow of their family - each hearth has a barrow of some kind, and there are many barrows at Firepoint?. Enemies killed in battle (as opposed to raids) are left for the ravens but their heads are taken to decorate the Griffin shrine at Firepoint?. A hole is bored in the back of the skull to let the spirit of the enemy escape. |