Ashes shower
In Bruma, long travels are usually avoided because of the unpredictably storms and dangerous creatures, but not everyone can use magic to go from one human settlement to the other. To make things worse, there aren't any modern roads other than the old way to the desert. There are plenty of paths twisting between trees, with proper signs, always in good conditions and almost completely clear of aggressive plants or nests of territorial creatures. This doesn't mean that there are no risks.
Those who walk those paths usually travel in groups, and every local knows exactly what to do to protect themselves from the cold and the animals that are lost or hunting in the area. They even know, from a very early age, how to try and trick the storm. It's not always enough, but they do what they can.
There is one creature that lurks in the forest that most had never seen. They have been told about the smell, or found their tracks on the snow right after a storm, but ¿how would they know about the habits and weaknesses of a monster so mysterious that some think to be a myth?
The legend used to say that they recognize each other by their temperature, but in their infinite pragmatic sense, the inhabitants of Bruma decided that it was a bad idea to freeze to avoid an hypothetical attack. Instead, they considered other options, like appealing to the smell.
When they are about to go into the forest, they expend hours in a reduced space with burning rags. Naturally they are careful that the fire won's spread and use some kind of mechanism that allows them to breath clean air and protect their eyes. The details are for each person or family, and only two towns have specialized cabins for this specific purpose.
Some people would use rags in their torches instead of, or in addition to, the traditional measures.
Burn containers
During Sky's Fire and White Winter seasons, is the turn of the forest to come into the human settlements. As magic and technoly are more and more used to continue to live and work outside despite the frequent storms, the sightings of the monster on the street and even in people's gardens increase. In the past five decades, people started to burn rags on their doorsteps, setting special containers to keep the fire going and capture the smell in the area. The practice has become trend in some villages, but in some others it has required the mediation of a law enforcers when a neighbor claims that the smell is disturbing or "enough to attract the White Snake, but not to appease it".History
Originally, people would shower in the ashes of burning clothes that carried the smell of the burning process. To achieve that effect, the fire was a very complicated process involving several spells, some of them shady or unsafe.
Not many would follow the practice back then, because the secondary effects were unclear and not many knew how to acquire the ashes. Without even being sure if it was effective, only foreigners and those who had faced terrible experiences related to the White Snake would go through all the trouble.
As the existence of the creature became more likely but no knew data to deal with it was find, it didn't take long before the pragmatics came up with an option accessible to everyone; they didn't see any reason to give the new technique a name, keeping the one of the replaced one instead.
Related Ethnicities
Burn containers
breathing aids
Small sealed spaces
We all know it's almost superstitious thinking. Based on nothing but rumors and theories. It feels... unnatural. For what we know, the creature could have no sense of smell. It it exists, that is. But we have to try. That's how progress works... It's just taking too long to figure out if it works or not.
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