Path of Clear Above
It's a harsh ceremony but it reflects how serious the Qitanni respect their unforgiving homeland.
All cultures have a rite of passage. A ceremony that marks the transition from child to adult. The details for the ritual differ based on the culture and the land those people call home. The Qitanni are no different. Only, ceremony may be more dangerous than most.
History
The Qitanni found my questions about their traditions amusing. To them, it just makes sense and has always made sense. None of them wonder how it started.
An exact origin of the tradition is hard to pin down among the Qitanni. Each clan-pack has their own variation on how the tradition started. This is no surprise given the diverse origins of their tight-knit community.
The common thread in this tradition is the belief that a young boy or girl could only become an adult until they have "walked a clear path above". Meaning they have displayed the skills needed to navigate the unforgiving icy wilderness off the Glacialis Continent. Displaying those skills means they may take part in casting lots that affect the clan-pack's survival.
It's a widely held belief that this tradition grew out of traditions Qitanni ancestors brought with them, either as surviving Ancients driven out of the Natoce Ruins, shipwreck survivors, or explorers from the sandsea to the north.
This is because of the teaching methods used by all clan-packs that favor a craft guild method with a master teaching several apprentices until they become a journeyman. With the Qitanni, this teaching method most closely parallels how a young sailor is mentored by a more experienced master sailor.
This method just makes me even more convinced their ancestors are survivors from a series of shipwrecks, not just a single event.
Execution
The tradition starts with the training at an early age. When the boy or girl reached the "age of awareness", or roughly nine winters, their family arranges for a mentor from among the huntmasters of the clan-pack. A huntmaster would be a hunter of venerable age that has survived at least five successful U'chon'ta, or hunting in the Season of the Ice Wyrm.
From there, the young hunter in training learns the lore and songs that teach necessary survival skills. Practical lessons on how to recognize and track native animals over snow, how to leave no tracks in fresh snow, fishing, and more accompany the song teachings. A hunter in training is not considered ready for the actual ceremony of "Path of Clear Above" until they have tracked and returned with the sprig of frost fern that their mentor has hidden in the wide expanse of snow outside the Hascona Cliffs.
When the actual ceremony is performed, apprentices are gathered outside their prospective clan-pack's cliff dwellings. Huntmasters provide each group with the direction to follow away from the Hascona Cliffs and a bundle of flow kelp. The kelp is for the apprentices to fashion snow shoes or a canoe, depending if their assigned direction takes them out over the ice flows or inland. The young hunters in training are expected to bring their own long knives, nets, bows and other tools they have fashioned during their training.
Then the young apprentices set out to spend five days and five nights on of the ice flows or the shoreline of Glacialis itself. Each apprentice is to fend for themselves and return at the end of that time with a Frost Elk pelt, salted fish, or other product of a successful hunt. Despite this not being a contest, it is common for each of these groups to compete against each other.
There is no actual prize other than bragging rights of which group brought back the best catch of the hunt. They do not discourage individual hunters in training from working together. Secretly, the huntmasters from all clan-packs gather beforehand to plan the routes they will assign to apprentices, just to see who is willing to work together and who is not.
Those that return with a catch are given a feast using what they caught. Hunters in training who fail are allowed to try again the following year. If they fail two years in a row, they become part of the clan-pack that care and tends for the hunters and elderly. While they are biologically an adult, they will not have earned the right to cast lots on decisions involving the entire clan-pack.
The feast after the Path of Clear Above also lasts five days. As with anything involving the Qitanni, it's a means to an end. It's to teach the young adults the need to balance rest against hard work.
Isolated But Not Alone
They are sent out on their own but the hunters in training are not entirely alone. Experienced Qitanni hunter packs trail out after the young people once the ceremony starts. These veteran hunters will not interfere unless the younger Qitanni find themselves unexpectedly up against a challenge beyond their ability, such as stumbling across the lair of a hungry Snow Blue-gill squid or irate Frost Bear. In those situations, the veteran hunters rush in to assist the apprentice or apprentices in danger.
If a hunter in training, or even a group, has to be rescued, they are not shunned for it. Neither is it considered a failure. To the Qitanni, such a rare event has mystical significance as they feel that the elements of Glacialis saw fit to provide special teaching to that hunter or hunters for some future event.
There is a lot to be said for this method of teaching. I can't deny the results. It produces silent hunters that are nearly impossible to detect and leave almost no trace behind. I'll be recommending this type of teaching be incorporated as a part of Windtracer Company training.
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Related Ethnicities
Later that day, a letter arrives...