To Swear Upon the Mushrooms
This is a short entry for my premiere post in the Blog Carnival
. This month's theme is that of oaths, and this is how shrines exist in my setting inspired by Nausicaä and Rocannon's World.
All people of the Valleys can commune with one another, with the verdant forests, and the beasts both big and small of these wild places. This trait unifies all life on this planet and marks the difference between them and invaders in their Steel Castles from the stars. But one fungus exceeds all others in their importance to these cultures. The small, thin and silver Saint's Cap.
These valley folk breathe myth and revere great deeds of valor or cunning. To become divine, is to become narrative and this narrative to return you to life for the generations that follow. Places to commerate heroes, whether they be cairns, shrines, or statues are a place in which the flames of legend ignite the passions of those who wish to become part of it. In all of these places, the Saint's Cap is endemic. As pilgrims visit these spaces to commerate great victories, horrific losses, or to connect with their ancestors - the mushrooms spread. If one listens closely enough, a connection can be made across time and space. To destroy a Saint's Cap is taboo amongst all but the most depraved criminals and outsiders, and no known animal can survive ingesting them. The outsiders attempt to degrade these practices as that of collective delusion and hysteria, but they have not seen the power that comes with an oath sworn upon a Saint's Cap.
For one to commune with those that the Saint's Cap commemorate, they must bring with them an offering either of knowledge or a gift. These must be informed by the sagas of this hero, and some have been ignored for begging for favour without offering even the slimmest of evidence that they respect those they seek help from. Then, should the ancestor accept this offering, an oath can be sworn. These places can act as records of marriages, of alliances, and of personal vows. All who commune with it will be able to understand the pleas and promises made by prior pilgrims. Those who boast or promise great deeds, may be granted gifts of power or knowledge. Failing to uphold this promise will be recorded for all future generations. Those who intentionally or maliciously take advantage of their gifts whilst rejecting their oaths have been known to suffer grizzly fates at the whims of fate.
Some claim that to promise a greater deed than that which the Saint's Caps comemorate may change the very nature of the place, rededicating it to a greater and more noble hero. To succeed in such a deed would be the greatest wish of all brave inhabitants of the Valleys.
Serenata of the Clean Waters
An example of one patch in which these fungi sprout is upon the banks of the Black Spire Lake. Here, Serenata of the Clean Waters, called home. A small hovel where once colorful fabrics shrouded her work there are now colourful vines of mosses and flowers. The dirt floor of the hovel has sprouted hundreds of Saints Caps, covering the entirety except for a curving path towards a table in the center. This table still holds vials of colorful liquids and volumes of research, initially just that of Serenata's research and now accompanied by tomes of wisefolk from the generations since. She is credited with saving countless people by cleansing the water of this lake and the rivers which bring life to the Valleys. She also plays a role in some sagas as the Lady of the Flaming Waters, who kissed the blade of the First Valley King, igniting his blade and allowing him to cast down the demons of underworld. Both Lordlings and Mystics thus visit this place, promising great discoveries or great martial deeds in exchange for insights into the natural world and blessings upon their blades. The Lady of the Clean Waters also holds the memories of all mothers who seek to wash their grief for children that will be remembered only in shamed whispers of childless parents.