The Prismatic Wings of the Jhati
JHATI, the Great Spirit Vultures
Description
Place the cleansed body upon the sacred chitin slab of an Ebony Herd Beetle. Fill their mouth with the fragrant herbs appropriate to their caste, deterring malevolent spirits from entering. Bind their wrists and their ankles so the body has no choice but to let go of the spirit. With a knife soaked in the summer's finest wines, cut from below the throat to three inches above the navel. With this we invite the beasts of sky to the great feast in honour of the Blue-faced God. In time the soul is taken to the Gods, but the birds taste the virtues and sins which linger in blood and flesh. Those of great heroism or villainy draw in the grandest of the reveling vultures, who may use their remains as a nest. The creature born of this sacred ritual emerge as JHATI with prismatic feathers and fragments of the the departed's intellect. They are greatly sought after by priests, adventurers, and leaders who seek to learn from the past. To capture or enslave a Jhati is a dark taboo and the domain only of the foolish or the accursed.
Adventure Seed
War above the Mountain Forts:
Three generations ago the Great Tyrant Dygotemes claimed the Three Peaked Mountain and its ring of ancient fortresses through a series of bold military campaigns. With his victory achieved, he flew into a rage when the ancient Silver Crown of the old mountain king was nowhere to be found.
The Priestess Adrighana in her temple on the highest peak was rumored to have hidden this object to prevent his coronation in the eyes of the Gods. The Tyrant in his fury searched and searched but found nothing. To force this secret from the priestess, every fortnight he would visit her temple and torture one of her acolytes to death. With each horrific death, the priestess silently performed the necessary rites on the martyr. Once the last acolyte was dead, the Tyrant gave up and decided to rid himself of the priestess. Noticing the importance she placed on preparing bodies for sky burial, he decided to deny this to her. He executed her with his largest cannon, destroying her body and soul with that profane weapon and scattering her shattered remains across the mountainside.
Over the proceeding dark years Jhati were born from the remains of the Priestess' acolytes. They endlessly comb the mountains attempting to gather the remains of the priestess in hopes that a Jhati could be born should they piece enough of their leader back together. Eventually the Tyrant would be assassinated by his bodyguards. Unfortunately the Tyrant's loyal thunder priest, with the assistance of malevolent spirits, escaped with corpse into the swamp and gave him the proper rites.
From this a violent Jhati was born and he thanked the priest by feasting upon him. Now the Sky Tyrant and his minions scours these peaks growing larger by devouring wanderers while hunting down the Seeking Flock in hopes that he can learn from them the location of the Silver Crown. A dark kingdom beneath the wings of death waits to be born as he once again hopes to claim the Mountains.