Pebbles of Renewal

While to Hell Sea Horde of the Carathon Islands are known for their seafaring plundering, xenophobic culture and almost worship of violence, it may surprise you to know that they have one of the more pleasant and wholesome renewal traditions across all of Galorn. The practice is known as “Pebbles of Renewal.”
The week before the summer solstice, individuals, clans, families and animals are encouraged to make their way to the nearest body of water so they can (quite literally) build their hope for the coming future. After selecting a plot of land (this must be adjacent to a body of water), the participants will spend the week gathering the materials necessary for their project. Common materials are listed below

• Coast locations - as the beaches are predominantly stony, stones are sorted into colours and sizes. Processed seaweed, offal and ground stone are used as dyes to accentuate the constructions.
• Inland locations - as the pebbles are not as readily available, residents break up larger rocks that will have sourced earlier in the year for just this purpose. Inland plants and flowers are more suitable for dyes than the coast locations and are used to make up for the lack of adequately sized stones in their constructions.

Participants spend the night before the solstice, at a time of low tide, using the gathered materials to build a picture of what has been and what they hope for in the coming future. As the tide rises and falls over the course of the day, the dyes are leeched from the pictures and drained away to the all consuming ocean. It is believed that the more colour leeched from you offering, the more likely it is that your desire will be heard and granted in the following year. If a picture has not only the colour leeched but the pebbles so disturbed by the tide that the picture is destroyed, you are said to have been “renewed but the sea” and can expect a bountiful year.
As with all cultures, difference in style can be noted as the population spreads over a larger area. In the Northern islands, the pictures are quite detailed and lifelike with careful attention to detail being prized as a great skill. In the southern islands, more abstract and esoteric pictures are found.
As mentioned above, the Hell Sea Horde are not known for their tolerance of other cultures. Any diplomat attempting to make headway in the islands politics would be wise to participate in this practice. Guards will to not be lowered, however new avenues of conversation will open.