Moving On to Meat

The first "grown-up" meal. Becoming an adult in the Gremnan tribes.

The isle of Gremna is divided in half by a heavily tunnelled and mined mountain range. Goblinfolk eking out a tribal existance on the eastern side are subjugated by the micronation of humans who reside on the western half and give the island its name. They still cling to their traditions, attempting to preserve their culture while regularly being pillaged and enslaved.

One such tradition is nicknamed "moving on to meat" but is more formally known as "The Last Fish". Children, particularly orcish and hobgoblin children, grow up eating seafood due to the traditional preconceived notions that it is easier to catch fish than to hunt beasts. Once a child is old enough to be trusted with proper hunting, the day of their first meat approaches. On Gremna, the scarcity of wild animals has limited these traditions and instead the child coming of age is expected to slaughter livestock as part of their first meat meal.

After becoming an adult, is is considered a point of shame to have to return to eating fish.

Execution

To echo the historic traditions of nomadic goblinfolk, the child undergoing the rite will perform a mock hunt of the livestock, usually involving a bow. The animal is kept in a small paddock and the child enters, choosing their own method to slay the beast. In times of particular hardship, multiple children may take part in the "hunt" of a single creature.

The children are expected to at least take part in the butchery of the animal and will usually select a single bone to be dried and carved into a memento of this passage into adulthood. Finally, a feast is held - the first time these new adults will have eaten meat.