Rite of Sheltering

Lupians are the most superstitious people of Tacillia. They have many rituals that protect, cultivate, or generally help their lives. One of these rituals is the rite of sheltering.

It is a ceremony within a family. Usually, it is performed by the eldest living individual in the family. It is the highest honor among the lupians if the ritual is performed by the chieftain or the shaman of the tribe. This happens mainly if the family is in high standings within the tribe.

It is a generic ritual whose purpose is to protect a newborn pup from the world. What the ceremony protects from varies among tribes and families. If the tribe lives close to the sea, the most frequent protection is from drowning. If the family moves often, the protection can be from being lost. Nowadays, with the emergence of the Cursed Conclave, more and more parents want to protect their pup from becoming a cursed.

The rite has two parts. The first part is when a female lupian becomes pregnant, they write the noro rune on her belly, which loosely translates to the common language as protect, cover. Depending on the customs of a given tribe, the rune is rewritten from time to time if the ink starts to fade or they are not concerned about it because the Forefathers are aware of the mark. The second phase comes when the pup is born. Usually, the occasion is celebrated with a feast, but nobody forgets to apply the second set of runes. This time the myyr rune – its meaning is secret, hide – is written on the forehead of the pup along with a sign that resembles the object to protect from. This rune is reapplied on every birthday until the come-of-age ceremony.

The ink used during the ritual is nothing fancy. But the lupian believe that adding something to the ink from the object they want to protect the pup from improves the chances of fending off tragedy. Like adding water to avoid drowning or adding the blood of a cursed if becoming a cursed is the parent's greatest fear.

Selling calamor ink mixed with calamor seawater never fails at the shores

— Riszri, lizardfolk merchant