Sinkhole Superstitions
As a whole, lun'Aeldvari are not prone to superstition. Even those from Tondo Talestro, who have local and interactive gods for each moon of the year, trend more towards replicable results in their interactions with the unknown. Historians, scholars, and arcane scientists rarely let inconsistent "luck" influence their work.
The lead art historian studying the ruins in the sinkhole in the Shattered Isles, Ínamora Ivilthanal, is a cultural outlier. Ínamora is unarguably the most distinguished art historian in Tondo Talestro, having developed a deep and near-encyclopedic knowledge of the art forms of various cultures and peoples; their intelligence, keen eye, and ability to uncover patterns from the barest fragments of imagery mark them as foremost in their field. They are also, however, extremely superstitious and unusually religious, a trait not often found in Aeldvari.
Ínamora became the defacto leader of on-site research and excavation after the initial examinations of the ruins within the sinkhole were concluded, and they immediately implemented a handful of small, painstakingly detailed rituals as part of any work to be done. These rituals include offering the stone and soil a pinch of mana sugar in preparation to dig, probe, extract, or even dust; a paragraph's worth of prayer to the Navigator, the god of the new moon in Tondo Talestro, at the beginning of each new work session; a one-sided conversational script when working with a relic that is difficult to extract from the earth, including petitions for cooperation and promises of rewards in the form of mana; and a strict guideline of how to treat excavated items as honored family heirlooms, regardless of their objective worth or original use.
The few full-time attendants who work in the sinkhole dutifully follow Ínamora's rules to the letter and make no comment of their own beliefs (or lack thereof). When asked, one of the archaeologists expressed a benevolent indifference and an attitude of "it may not help, but it certainly doesn't hurt." Ínamora, when prompted, will provide a list of citations of their past successes when using such superstitious approaches, but they do not seem intent on convincing anyone else of such veracity, provided their instructions are followed on-site.
Ínamora's discovery and careful extraction of Artifact 39-A has quieted any would-be protest, as no identificable relics have been uncovered in the sinkhole without use of their unique methods, though that must be purely coincidence.
This mini-article written as part of...
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