Joining the Joyal

The Joyal is a mental connection shared between all members of a Huxoth community. It allows the members to communicate mentally to one another, even across long distances, and to pool magical resources for major workings, such as creating a birdhead to make a Shagibbing Thop fly.
Every Huxoth joins at least 2 Joyal in their lifetime, though most join more. The first Joyal is in the village or town where the person is raised. There is not a specific age at which this happens, and it differs based on factors such as if a child displays a natural magical gift and if they struggle to communicate orally. But they always join before their 12th birthday. This is because the second joining happens during a child'd coming of age ceremony, in the village they visit as part of the rite. They may join future Joyal as adults, after visiting other villages and befriending people there. Regardless of age, the ceremony is always the same.
First, the person gathers with several members of the community. Traditionally, in small villages, this would be the entire villages. Today, especially in larger villages and towns, it is only a representative group. Though this can be friends and family of the person or a group selected by a religious leader, it is more common to hold the ceremony in an open area and have it open to anyone who wishes to come. In any case, those who cannot attend in person can still attend within the Joyal.
The religious leader takes a lizard and cuts off its tail, which the newcomer eats raw. The eating of the lizard's tail symbolizes the connection the person has with the rest of the community. Though the tail is severed, it continues to move because the lizard and its tail are bound, just the as the newcomer will now be bound with the rest of the community. Furthermore, the lizard will regrow its tail, just as the community knows this person will always return, even should they wander away. The newcomer is typically tasked with caring for the lizard until it regrows its tail and can once again survive on its own.
After the lizard tail ceremony, the newcomer and other community reach out to one another, mind to mind and magic to magic until they can communicate. It is common during a person's first Joyal, especially if the child is young, that they are unsuccessful at joining the first night. This is not considered a failure. The newcomer might be directed to focus on a particular person in the community whom they are close to, and if they still struggle, the ceremony will continue on subsequent nights, though they only need eat the lizard tail once. If the person struggle past a couple of days, it is usually considered to be the cause of fear, as opening to the Joyal can make one vulnerable to the community, and they are encouraged to speak openly about their fears and secrets to break this barrier. Once a person has successfully joined a Joyal, they can usually tune in and out of this community conversation at will, unless they are later outcast from the community, which will also break their connection to the Joyal.

CW: harm to animals