Phyraxgian Ossuary Regalia
Phyraxgian culture is well renowned for it’s macabre and ghoulish practices, none more so than their peculiar use of remains as personal decoration known as ossuary regalia. Most Phyraxgians commonly boasting elaborate jewellery made from bone or pieces of clothing and accessories with skeletal remains woven into it. Highborns nobility and mages are noted to appear with very little to no skeletal remains at all adorning their attire. This is not the case, most of their ornate gold jewellery, details and intricacies on their outfits are in fact made using high quality osseous matter. What pseudo-bones they do wear are ornate jewellery pieces forged using the same process. It is a symbol of not only status, but power. This morbid and peculiar aesthetic of Phyraxgian culture, reflects their societies fascination and grim obsession with death, and the afterlife.
The practice of dressing ones self in bone adornments finds its origins in a number of ancient Veilnakarii mortuary and mourning traditions and rituals of the old Kingdom before the dark days of the sundering and their fall into the underworld. The custom would involve one taking to wearing the skeletal remains of a recently departed loved one or family member, the purpose it which is so that the family members can still feel physically connected to them after death, eventually returning the remains to the family tomb or ossuary. It’s original intent was to comfort the loved ones of the deceased and aid with the grieving process. Deeper still was so that not only could one come to terms with their passing, but it was believed this physically connection would keep in contact with the soul of the deceased and reassure them so that they could transcend the veil into the afterlife without fear or regret.
For the Phyraxgian however, this tradition became warped and changed it’s meaning over their centuries trapped in the underworld. Instead becoming a sign of prestige and ancestral power. There is a strong emphasis on the spiritual strength of one’s ancestors, wearing the bones of a powerful and influential ancestor bestows upon the wearer their strength, response and above all else magical potential. It is above all else, the Phyraxgian Magic class who see such bones of powerful magic latent ancestors as being potent tools one can utilise to bestow upon hidden knowledge and greater reserves of mana of the deceased upon themselves. This also extends to the remains of creatures with great magic potential, dusk drakes and creatures of the morblithe in particular are favoured.
Bones and magical residue.
It is the bones that typically become the most tained part of a living creature when exposed to dark magic (Both Necrotic and Abyssal), and are the most enduring long after it has become deceased. This is part of Phyraxgian mages and sorceresses obsession with them. Strong dark magic users and ancestors bones are taken by relatives to draw power from this magical residue left upon them. Those Phyraxgians that do not have ancestors with a long lineage of dark magic, or those affinity is not as potent. Resort to cohorts of slaves instead of ancestral remains. These slaves are exposed to dark magic and uses as a source to draw it from. Usually choosing mortal races that are not naturally proficient in magic, such as humans, so the slaves cannot siphon this energy off for their own purposes.
Related Ethnicities
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