Ritual of Soil

The Ritual of Soil is a Practice among the many members of House Blackvale. During the change of seasons before the annual harvests it is said that the reigning Lord or Lady must be be confined for no less than 24 hours and no more than 48 hours in a shallow grave beneath the Heartswood altar in the woods near the Stone Spire. During this period the Lord or Lady will pray to the Spirits of the Earth and upon receiving their wishes will begin to dig themselves free from the soil they were buried in. After their leader has been buried for 24 hours the whole of the Blackvale House and lands must gather at the altar and wait until their leader has risen. They will pray, chant, dance and cover themselves in mud, leaves and forest detritus and periodically hold small duels where the participants will fight without causing injury to one another.

As the 'Buried Woman' or 'Buried Man' rises the whole of the gathered will bow and prostrate themselves, waiting to hear the word of the Spirits. Often the Spirits call for a single body to serve as sacrifice, a single life for the thousands of stones or trees or wounds to the soul as they farm, it is then someone will volunteer themselves to be the sacrifice and upon an altar the Buried will carve out their heart and bleed them onto the soil. They will be buried rather than burned and after months, bones dug up to grind into powders for fertilizer and paint to mark sacred areas.

The first ritual was said to be conducted by the Lady Felira Blackvale, named for the Matriarch and known as Felira the Red Palm, and under her guidance the whole of House Blackvale saw tremendous haul of lumber and jewels and favor from the Spirits. The ritual has since been a necessity of harvest and is a time of the year when often, the other Houses of the Accord will limit travel to the Blackvale Lands lest they wish to participate in this ordeal.