Lignetallë

Di'Lignetâllë, or, more properly, De'Lîgnë Tâllë, feature prominently as one of the most important traditions of the tretâllë. Bone Trees, as they are known in the common tongue, are one of the two most culturally meaningful ways that the tretâllë memorialize their dead.
Lignetâllë themselves are a cultivar of lignebârgë, a tall ivory-white tree with drooping branches, white sap with a slight blue tint, and silvery-white branches that somehow manages to be one of the few species able to survive in the hostile environment of The Desolation.

Memories of the Dead

Lignetâllë are not usually on the minds of the family members of a deceased individual immediately after their death. This is because the family must wait for the flesh to be stripped away from the bones of the deceased before the ritual to memorialize them in the lignetâllë can proceed.
At an appointed time after the death of an individual, a priest or a fane of Di'Averrë Nenn, supervises the exhumation of the corpse. Should it be the case that the corpse has not been sufficiently stripped of soft tissue, it is carefully placed in a beetle pit and retrieved after a few days once the beetles have had a chance to pick it clean.
Once this is done, a few words are spoken over the bones of the dead. Typically, this involves a prayer to The Crone, supplicating her to use her lantern to guide the soul of the departed into the arms of Rhe Stranger. Once the bones are consecrated, the bones of the left pinky finger are removed and broken into fragments using a ritual hammer.
These fragments are then taken to the ancestral residence of the individual's House, where a small incision, typically one or two inches long and half an inch deep is made in the bark of the House's lignetallë. Usually, this is enough to cause some sap to seep through, but if not, the incision is made deeper. One or two of the bone fragments are placed in the incision. Once allowed to harden, the sap will keep the fragments in place and over the years, the tree will grow over the bones, incorporating them into its biology. It is believed that the tree provides nourishment for the memory of the deceased and that should the House collapse, its memory will be preserved so long as the tree lives.
The remaining bone fragments are placed into deerskin pouches. These pouches are meant to be given to the individual's immediate family, if they have a lignetallë and wish to perform the ritual, and to close friends and organizations who wish to memorialize an individual in the same way. In addition, a number of these pouches are kept in order to preserve the bone fragments for the future, in the event that a lignetallë will need to be replaced.

Memories of a House

The lignetallë of a particular House is important far beyond simply being a memorial for all the individuals interred therein. As all people who belong to the House are memorialized in that House's lignetallë, it becomes inextricably linked to the memory and history of that particular House as well. It carries all the triumph and shame of that House, as well as all its achievements and failures. It serves as a reminder to the members of a House of what to aspire to, and what lessons they must learn. As such, someone who turns their back on their House, on their lignetallë, is known as khatifë, "without roots," for they have literally abandoned the roots of the tree that nourishes the memory of their House.

Vandalism

Vandalism of lignetâllë is one of the most heinous crimes that can be committed within the Dominion. This can range from pissing on the roots of a tree to carving obscenities on its bark, to outright setting it on fire and watching it burn to ashes (unless it is the House that owns the tree that is setting fire to it). Any act of the sort is construed as a declaration of war on the group of people to whom the tree belonged to, and is grounds for a blood feud should the perpetrator ever be discovered.
Because lignetâllë memorialize the dead, vandalism of the trees is considered on par with the defilement of a corpse. One need only consider the fact that the tretâllë worship the Stranger, the god who mediates the veil between life and death, to know why this is a capital offense. The defilement of a corpse is considered an affront to the Stranger, and to common decency. Thus, so too is the vandalism of a lignetâllë.
Lignetâllë are believed to symbolize a House on a deeper, more personal, more intimate level for all the members of that particular House, so vandalizing them in any way is a grievous offense to the House and to the individuals belonging to that House. It signifies a desire to do harm by the House and its members, or a desire to sully the name and history of that House. In the extreme case of actually burning down a tree, it is a declaration of a desire to wipe a House out of existence.
Due to the grievous nature of the vandalism of a lignetallë, it is enshrined in Dominion law that the punishment for such an act is execution.

Death of a Tree

As lignetallë are living things, they are prone to the same things that plague mortal creatures: old age, disease, natural disasters. As such, the death of a lignetallë due to natural causes is not unheard of.
A tree dying of old age is considered cause for celebration, as it is testament to the House's longevity and strength. When a tree becomes old enough that there is no doubt that it will eventually die, all members of the House who are available are called in for a ritual burning of the tree. A priest or a fane of Di'Averrë Nenn is present to supervise to ensure that the souls of the deceased are not disturbed or affronted by the ritual. Afterwards, the tree is replaced with a fresh new sapling.
When a tree is killed by disease, natural disaster, or unintended fire, it is considered a bad omen. Due to the fact that the lignetâllë are inextricable from the memory and history of the House with which they are associated, it is believed that when they are struck down, that unimaginable tragedy will befall the House. Although there is a large amount of historical evidence to the contrary, the few instances that corroborate the superstition are taken rather seriously, especially in the regions where these instances occurred.

Replacing a Tree

When a lignetallë dies for any reason, its immediate replacement becomes of paramount concern to its owners. In the case when there are remains, such remains must be burned ritualistically and exorcised of any ill will from the souls of the deceased.
The replacement of a tree involves buying a new sapling from one of the handful of plantations that grow lignetâllë. Once the remains are completely burned, the ashes are mixed into the earth. In the case of a tree that was burned down as an act of vandalism, before this is done, a priest or fane must bless the ashes and exorcise any ill will. Afterwards, the mixed earth is watered, and a minor blood sacrifice is performed. Typically, the matriarch, or the interim leader of the House in her absence, consecrates the site with three droplets of blood.
Afterwards, the sapling is planted on top of the remains of the old tree and allowed to grow undisturbed for at least a decade. When it is deemed robust enough to be used as a lignetallë, a minor ceremony involving another minor blood sacrifice is performed to properly consecrate the tree, and any family members that died in between the planting of the sapling and its second consecration are interred following.

Origin

Lignetâllë are believed to have their origin in a custom developed by the workers who unearthed the Ifatallë Cilthë, the Ivory Throne, many years before the birth of the Dominion. The legendary throne to which most people attribute the Dominion's stability and authority was discovered deep in the heart of a forest whose original name is lost to the ages but is known in the modern day as De'Naborra Tâllë, the Forest of Bones.
The eponymous bones were the bones of the workers who died during the long and arduous process of excavating the enormous throne. Originally, tretâllë buried their dead deep beneath the earth, in tombs made of stone, as their ancestors did during their enslavement to the [elledŷnnë](elledynn-article). Deep in the woods, though, there was no space to do so properly, and so the workers decided to inter the bones of their fellows in the nearby trees.
After Di'Ifatallë Cilthë was fully unearthed and transported to the capital of the kingdom that had commissioned the work, the practice of memorializing the dead spread like wildfire, becoming popular within weeks, and common practice within months. It wasn't until the formation of the Dominion, however, that the practice became properly codified, and a particularly resilient type of tree was chosen to officially serve as lignetâllë.