Information on the Shadows of Sakaar

[parksandrex]

Siwa Oasis, Egypt. The 95% salt concentration increases the density of water and buoyancy, making it so you can't sink.

[hanfugallery]

苗疆miaojiang style fashion designed by hanfu stores

[love-too]

I can do polls??? Amazing

What did you identify as before settling on aro/ace?

Bisexual

Pansexual

Gay/Lesbian

Straight

Queer

A secret third thing (in the tags)

I just want to see the results

Voting ended onFeb 17, 2023

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Could you write a bit about shadow naming conventions? I am stumped on my oc's name.

Yes I can!

The only real rule that seems to exist in canon is that female Shadows have names that end in -era (Caiera, Maeera [from the newest stuff I haven't actually gotten to read yet. They're the only named female Shadows, so no telling if that's an actual rule of just a coincidence], and male Shadows often, but not always, have names starting with Hiro- (Hiroim, Hiro-Kala, Hiro-Amin) though there's also Koaam, which rounds out all of the named "traditional" Shadows. There's also Ol Sahm/(or Old Sam, as he's usually called), who is a Clear-Eyed Shadow, meaning he's from a group that chose to stay on Sakaar without giving up technology and basically was still of the same culture as Shadows were before coming to Sakaar. He seemed to be the only Clear-Eye left, as some sort of technological disaster occurred in their city, and the entire area is black and scorched. So I'm not going to go much into them because it's not likely you're making a Clear-Eye character (side note, they're called Clear-Eyed because they have white sclera) [also, I haven't put too much work into Clear-Eyes, but I can, if anyone is interested]

That's basically is for canon. There's like 6 names to work with, so your best bet would be a -era/Hiro- name. Also some names, all of which are Hiro- names, are compound names, but it's not every Hiro- name, and it's my opinion is that it's there so the readers have a better idea how to pronounce it, and probably isn't there in their actual names in their own language.

Now, if you want to get into *my* personal headcanons, which is what this blog is based on, I kind of threw that gender crap out the window and instead basically looked through lists of names for languages that my Saka was inspired by, found ones I liked that either already fit into Saka pronounciation or tweaked them to fit, and then found common chunks in the names and in my Saka and basically made roots lead to my list of names making some degree of sense. They didn't have to be actual roots, because essentially in my version, the original Sakaarian Shadows created Saka as basically a conlang to act as their new language as part of leaving their old lives, but they kept their names, so over time, names, which are based on Old Shadow instead of Modern Saka, diverged from their spoken language. This is a thing that actually happens (see all the "English" names that are fairly common, like Matthew, Elizabeth, ect, that were taken from the Bible and are quite different from the original Hebrew versions, and also most people, even people named Matthew or Elizabeth, could not tell you what those names mean off the top of their heads.)

If you want to check out my list of names, and my name roots, I'll include the links in the reblog, because Tumblr.

(If you're curious, and want to make your own that have a similar feel to mine but don't want to just stick roots together, I mostly used Japanese (which also has very strict consonant-vowel sets like my Saka, which is based on the very limited use of Saka in the comics, and thus didn't need a lot of tweaking), and a lot of Oceanic/African languages.)

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Roots and Names

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Also @mistyflame1 brought it up on Discord, and the reason I didn't mention Skaar is because he named himself, and he basically named himself by repeating the first word he heard (Sakaar) but since it was his first word, didn't repeat it perfectly.

Basically, I didn't include it because there *is* a Shadow named Skaar, but it's not a *Shadow name*.

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Yet another thought I had while talking to Misty is that, since children are born much more developed than human babies and are at the very least able to repeat words, I feel like the culturally "correct" thing for parents to do is to make a list of names that they like, and then suggest the names to the child (presumably offering the ones the parents like best first) until they find one the baby actually likes. It's also not unusual to rename yourself later.

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Could you write a bit about shadow naming conventions? I am stumped on my oc's name.

Yes I can!

The only real rule that seems to exist in canon is that female Shadows have names that end in -era (Caiera, Maeera [from the newest stuff I haven't actually gotten to read yet. They're the only named female Shadows, so no telling if that's an actual rule of just a coincidence], and male Shadows often, but not always, have names starting with Hiro- (Hiroim, Hiro-Kala, Hiro-Amin) though there's also Koaam, which rounds out all of the named "traditional" Shadows. There's also Ol Sahm/(or Old Sam, as he's usually called), who is a Clear-Eyed Shadow, meaning he's from a group that chose to stay on Sakaar without giving up technology and basically was still of the same culture as Shadows were before coming to Sakaar. He seemed to be the only Clear-Eye left, as some sort of technological disaster occurred in their city, and the entire area is black and scorched. So I'm not going to go much into them because it's not likely you're making a Clear-Eye character (side note, they're called Clear-Eyed because they have white sclera) [also, I haven't put too much work into Clear-Eyes, but I can, if anyone is interested]

That's basically is for canon. There's like 6 names to work with, so your best bet would be a -era/Hiro- name. Also some names, all of which are Hiro- names, are compound names, but it's not every Hiro- name, and it's my opinion is that it's there so the readers have a better idea how to pronounce it, and probably isn't there in their actual names in their own language.

Now, if you want to get into *my* personal headcanons, which is what this blog is based on, I kind of threw that gender crap out the window and instead basically looked through lists of names for languages that my Saka was inspired by, found ones I liked that either already fit into Saka pronounciation or tweaked them to fit, and then found common chunks in the names and in my Saka and basically made roots lead to my list of names making some degree of sense. They didn't have to be actual roots, because essentially in my version, the original Sakaarian Shadows created Saka as basically a conlang to act as their new language as part of leaving their old lives, but they kept their names, so over time, names, which are based on Old Shadow instead of Modern Saka, diverged from their spoken language. This is a thing that actually happens (see all the "English" names that are fairly common, like Matthew, Elizabeth, ect, that were taken from the Bible and are quite different from the original Hebrew versions, and also most people, even people named Matthew or Elizabeth, could not tell you what those names mean off the top of their heads.)

If you want to check out my list of names, and my name roots, I'll include the links in the reblog, because Tumblr.

(If you're curious, and want to make your own that have a similar feel to mine but don't want to just stick roots together, I mostly used Japanese (which also has very strict consonant-vowel sets like my Saka, which is based on the very limited use of Saka in the comics, and thus didn't need a lot of tweaking), and a lot of Oceanic/African languages.)

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Roots and Names

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Also @mistyflame1 brought it up on Discord, and the reason I didn't mention Skaar is because he named himself, and he basically named himself by repeating the first word he heard (Sakaar) but since it was his first word, didn't repeat it perfectly.

Basically, I didn't include it because there *is* a Shadow named Skaar, but it's not a *Shadow name*.

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Could you write a bit about shadow naming conventions? I am stumped on my oc's name.

Yes I can!

The only real rule that seems to exist in canon is that female Shadows have names that end in -era (Caiera, Maeera [from the newest stuff I haven't actually gotten to read yet. They're the only named female Shadows, so no telling if that's an actual rule of just a coincidence], and male Shadows often, but not always, have names starting with Hiro- (Hiroim, Hiro-Kala, Hiro-Amin) though there's also Koaam, which rounds out all of the named "traditional" Shadows. There's also Ol Sahm/(or Old Sam, as he's usually called), who is a Clear-Eyed Shadow, meaning he's from a group that chose to stay on Sakaar without giving up technology and basically was still of the same culture as Shadows were before coming to Sakaar. He seemed to be the only Clear-Eye left, as some sort of technological disaster occurred in their city, and the entire area is black and scorched. So I'm not going to go much into them because it's not likely you're making a Clear-Eye character (side note, they're called Clear-Eyed because they have white sclera) [also, I haven't put too much work into Clear-Eyes, but I can, if anyone is interested]

That's basically is for canon. There's like 6 names to work with, so your best bet would be a -era/Hiro- name. Also some names, all of which are Hiro- names, are compound names, but it's not every Hiro- name, and it's my opinion is that it's there so the readers have a better idea how to pronounce it, and probably isn't there in their actual names in their own language.

Now, if you want to get into *my* personal headcanons, which is what this blog is based on, I kind of threw that gender crap out the window and instead basically looked through lists of names for languages that my Saka was inspired by, found ones I liked that either already fit into Saka pronounciation or tweaked them to fit, and then found common chunks in the names and in my Saka and basically made roots lead to my list of names making some degree of sense. They didn't have to be actual roots, because essentially in my version, the original Sakaarian Shadows created Saka as basically a conlang to act as their new language as part of leaving their old lives, but they kept their names, so over time, names, which are based on Old Shadow instead of Modern Saka, diverged from their spoken language. This is a thing that actually happens (see all the "English" names that are fairly common, like Matthew, Elizabeth, ect, that were taken from the Bible and are quite different from the original Hebrew versions, and also most people, even people named Matthew or Elizabeth, could not tell you what those names mean off the top of their heads.)

If you want to check out my list of names, and my name roots, I'll include the links in the reblog, because Tumblr.

(If you're curious, and want to make your own that have a similar feel to mine but don't want to just stick roots together, I mostly used Japanese (which also has very strict consonant-vowel sets like my Saka, which is based on the very limited use of Saka in the comics, and thus didn't need a lot of tweaking), and a lot of Oceanic/African languages.)

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Roots and Names

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Could you write a bit about shadow naming conventions? I am stumped on my oc's name.

Yes I can!

The only real rule that seems to exist in canon is that female Shadows have names that end in -era (Caiera, Maeera [from the newest stuff I haven't actually gotten to read yet. They're the only named female Shadows, so no telling if that's an actual rule of just a coincidence], and male Shadows often, but not always, have names starting with Hiro- (Hiroim, Hiro-Kala, Hiro-Amin) though there's also Koaam, which rounds out all of the named "traditional" Shadows. There's also Ol Sahm/(or Old Sam, as he's usually called), who is a Clear-Eyed Shadow, meaning he's from a group that chose to stay on Sakaar without giving up technology and basically was still of the same culture as Shadows were before coming to Sakaar. He seemed to be the only Clear-Eye left, as some sort of technological disaster occurred in their city, and the entire area is black and scorched. So I'm not going to go much into them because it's not likely you're making a Clear-Eye character (side note, they're called Clear-Eyed because they have white sclera) [also, I haven't put too much work into Clear-Eyes, but I can, if anyone is interested]

That's basically is for canon. There's like 6 names to work with, so your best bet would be a -era/Hiro- name. Also some names, all of which are Hiro- names, are compound names, but it's not every Hiro- name, and it's my opinion is that it's there so the readers have a better idea how to pronounce it, and probably isn't there in their actual names in their own language.

Now, if you want to get into *my* personal headcanons, which is what this blog is based on, I kind of threw that gender crap out the window and instead basically looked through lists of names for languages that my Saka was inspired by, found ones I liked that either already fit into Saka pronounciation or tweaked them to fit, and then found common chunks in the names and in my Saka and basically made roots lead to my list of names making some degree of sense. They didn't have to be actual roots, because essentially in my version, the original Sakaarian Shadows created Saka as basically a conlang to act as their new language as part of leaving their old lives, but they kept their names, so over time, names, which are based on Old Shadow instead of Modern Saka, diverged from their spoken language. This is a thing that actually happens (see all the "English" names that are fairly common, like Matthew, Elizabeth, ect, that were taken from the Bible and are quite different from the original Hebrew versions, and also most people, even people named Matthew or Elizabeth, could not tell you what those names mean off the top of their heads.)

If you want to check out my list of names, and my name roots, I'll include the links in the reblog, because Tumblr.

(If you're curious, and want to make your own that have a similar feel to mine but don't want to just stick roots together, I mostly used Japanese (which also has very strict consonant-vowel sets like my Saka, which is based on the very limited use of Saka in the comics, and thus didn't need a lot of tweaking), and a lot of Oceanic/African languages.)

[ruskiizek-deactivated20180227]

Russian girl doing a traditional Cossack sword dance 

[persephinae]

She was studying the blade while you were doing whatever the fuck you were doing

[unrepentantwarriorpriest]

Warrior Woman

[cesup]

@atomicanechka

[atomicanechka]

yes.

[nerdia-a]

I love everything about this.

The chorus that’s literally:

“don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid of me.

I won’t touch you, so don’t you worry”

The women in typical “tiny corner store” aprons cheering her on and clapping at the end.

Her dress. How out of context this is.

I am so simultaneously in awe and proud of her.

You go girl!

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Earrings

Shadows are fond of jewelry, including earrings. However, since Shadow ears are flat against the skull, with the "back" of the ear fused to the side of the head, the methods used are different from most other races.

There are two common styles:

Vafa (Hook) Style:

Vafa-style is the most traditional form of ear piercing along the Shadows, pioneered by some of their most ancient ancestors.

A curved needle is used to create the tunnel for future earrings. The needle must be passed under the bone of a shell of the ear, sometimes multiple shells, and then back out of the skin. Normally, the needle will have wire on the end of it, and the wire is used as a guide for the post, which is then securely capped to keep it in place as the piercing heals. Once healed, jewellery can be attached to the permanent caps, either individual earrings or large cuffs that attach to both caps. Some choose to have temporary caps used instead, and change out the entire post/cap structure. This allows for more intricate jewellery, but requires the wearer to slip the wide end of a post between their own bones multiple times, which most find to be an unsettling and unpleasant feeling.

Xexi (Anchor) Style:

Xexi-style piercings are adapted from a form of piercing used by Natives. They are also not limited to the ear, and can be placed anywhere on the skull, but the ear is the most common location.

A needle or small blade is used time make a hole in the flesh down to the bone, and then a tiny drill is used to get through the outer layers of bone on the skull. An anchor is then dipped in a special medium and very, very carefully pushed into the drilled hole. The flesh is stitched shut around the anchor and bandaged until it heals. The medium, the formula for which Shadows are extremely protective of, allows the bone to regrow around the anchor, making it permanently part of the body. Generally, multiple anchors are installed at a time. Once healed, jewellery can be attached to the anchors in a similar way to permanent Vafa piercings. Xexi piercings are more likely to get infected, be rejected, or heal incorrectly, but they allow for much heavier earrings to be worn, as well as more creative jewellery pieces or arrangements.

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Shadows are purpose-built to survive and conquer worlds.

They have a weakness though. Due to their body density and more recent desert adaptations, they are terrible swimmers.

Tribal Shadows also don't generally consider fish to be food, and don't eat them unless they don't have any other options. They frankly have no idea how to cook fish properly, typically using the same methods as they do for cooking large grazing animals like trizelle, meaning the fish they do eat don't end up tasting very good. It's a bit of a vicious cycle.

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Random Trivia #1

It is customary among the Shadow Tribes to empty the sand out of your tāba (adjustable cuffs often found in traditional pants, or more rarely, shirts) before entering a building, temple, shrine, or tent.

Just because the wind brings sand in anyway, it's doesn't mean you shouldn't make the effort!

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

tell us about Shadow dietary needs and food customs. what are common sources of crops and livestock (if applicable)? are there any specific ways they prepare food? does this differ by geographic location and class? what are some common dishes that most people have had and/or know how to make?

(Note: 

© = comics canon/comic guidebook canon (by Greg Pak)

(B) = prose book canon (Written by Greg Pak; occasionally contradicts the comics)

(A) = animated movie canon

(M) = mixed canon (taken aspects from the above canons and my personal canon.

(H) or Unmarked lines = purely my own canon/canon to the blog;   )

Food

© Shadows are nomadic hunter-gatherers, meaning they have no crops or livestock. 

© They eat many different animals and plants, but the main staples are trizelle and tubers. [Making them quite literally a meat-and-potatoes culture]

(M) Saltgrass is a common seasoning throughout Sakaar, including with the tribes. Various nuts and berries are also used to add extra flavor, as is leftover grease from roasting meat. Roasted insects are also a common snack, although unlike Imperials, Shadows refuse to consume Native eggs, or any other Native flesh, because they consider this to be a form of cannibalism. (Natives, Shadows, and Imperials are in no way the same species, and do not even originate in the same solar systems, meaning it is not technically cannibalism, but Shadows view the consumption of any sentient species to be so.)

As nomads, Shadows don’t carry a lot of cookware around. Spit roasting, stone-frying, and earth ovens are common (meat and flatbreads), as are ash-baking (bread) and stone boiling (soups and stews). Certain areas of the Steppes that contain hot springs are also used to bake sweet, cake-like Fillian bread.

Fillian bread is made with tuber-flour, honey, and berries. It is baked in stone pots, which are stored in the area.

Leftover raw meat is often taken and buried in salt caves to dry into a jerky-like product. Alcohols are also aged in this manner. The few Imperials to have tasted Shadow liquors have complained of the salty taste.

Food Culture

Food is communal, both within individual tribes and the tribes as a whole. Shadows traditionally have no cultural concept of gender, or gender roles, so any and all members might hunt, cook, forge, or fight. Food is also not owned by individuals or families. Various people, often the best cooks or whoever enjoys cooking the most, will prepare the food brought in by hunters and gatherers, and everyone in the tribe eats. Food is also shared between tribes, such as jerky. It’s common for many tribes to use the same salt caves, and to eat whatever happens to be fully dried when the tribe arrives, meaning the food is constantly rotated.

Recipes that may eventually appear on the blog:

Fillian Bread

Roast Trizelle with tubers

Further reading 

Some Earth-equivelent cooking methods- https://guide.michelin.com/sg/en/article/features/4-ancient-cooking-methods-revisited#

Stone-Age human foods with recipes- http://www.ancientcraft.co.uk/Archaeology/stone-age/stoneage_food.html

Most similar Earth foods-

Trizelle - antelope; can be substituted with moose or venison, or beef if necessary.

Tubers - sweet potatoes/yams

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

A (mostly) comprehensive list of Oldstrong abilities

Abilities all Shadows have (compared to humans)

Accelerated healing

Extreme endurance/stamina

Enhanced strength

Super speed

Increased durability

**Expanded visual range (can perceive a wider spectrum of the electromagnetic spectrum)

Desert adaptation

Abilities Oldstrong have (compared to other Shadows)

Guardian Inheritance (how the majority of Oldstrong receive their powers. Rarely, a Shadow will spontaneously manifest the Power at birth)

Cosmo-Geokinesis (control of all earthly matter)  [All sub-powers are dependent on contact, or contact with a “conductive” material (such as the earth). Ascendants may be exempt from this] [Cannot create any of these materials, only manipulate existing material]

Conceptual Earth Manipulation

Planekinesis (control of the planet)

Geokinesis (control of earth/rock/stone) 

Seismokinesis (create earthquakes/mudslides/ect)

Tectokinesis (control of tectonic plates)

*Crystallokinesis (control of crystals and minerals) 

*Diamántikinesis (control of diamonds)

*Halokinesis  (control of salt) 

*Carbokinesis (control of carbon)

*Anthracokinesis (control of coal)

*Silicakinesis (Control of silicon)

*Hyalokinesis  (control of glass)

*Calciukinesis (control of calcium)

**Osteokinesis  (control of (human) bones)

Geo-Thermokinesis  (control of lava/magma)

Koniokinesis (control of dust; only dust of earth-related materials)

*Paleontokinesis (control of fossils)

Psammo/Sunakinesis  (control of sand)

Terrakinesis  (control of the land)

*Tephrakinesis (control of ash)

Edafoskinesis (control of soil)

Edaphokinesis (control of terrain)

*Spílaiokinese (control of caves)

*Koiladakinesis (control of valleys)

*Iofoskinesis (control of hills)

*Vounokinesis (control of mountains) 

*+Astroremkinesis (control of celestial/astronomical objects) 

*+Asteroeidískinesis (control of comets/meteors/asteroids; meteoric material can be )

*+Astronkinesis (control of remnants of dead stars)

*Betokinesis (control of concrete)

*Lutumkinesis  (control of clay)

*Laspikinesis  (control of mud)

Geoelectrokinesis (control of geoelectricity)

Terrakinetic Constructs

Golem Creation (in some form; creations are not sentient)

*Metallo/Ferrokinesis (control of metals) [more limited than geokinetic abilities]

*Ferrikinesis (control of iron)

*Hematokinesis (control of (human) blood)

*Leakinesis (control of lead)

*Aurumkinesis (control of gold)

*Argentokinesis (control of silver)

*Broúntzoskinesis (control of bronze)

*Cukinesis (control of copper)

*Hematokinesis (control of Shadow blood)

*Ermískinesis (control of mercury)

*Stannokinesis (control of tin)

*Titániokinesis (control of titanium)

*Synokinesis (control of zinc)

Alloy Manipulation (control of metal alloys)

Earth Detection (the ability to sense and locate people/objects through the earth) 

World Connection (to whatever planet they are on)

*Stone Scrying (ability to obtain information from a stone, such as origin, age, ect)

Limited Shapeshifting 

Stone Mimicry (can take on a stone form, will take on form of whatever stone the Oldstrong is in contact with)

Malleable anatomy (in stone form)

Dermal Armor

Ballistic Protection

High Resistance/ Enhanced Durability

Asepsis (contaminate immunity)

Disease Immunity

Thermal Resistance

Fire Immunity

*Pain Suppression (feels less pain)

Space Adaptation (can survive in the vacuum of space)

*Self-Sustenance 

*Oxygen Independence (is not required to breathe)

*Hunger Suppression

*Sleep Negation

Hyper Endurance

Enhanced Stamina

Potential Immortality

Body Recreation (Body can be re-formed from stone)  

+Terraportation (teleporting via the earth)

Incarnation (of the Old Power)

Transcendent Connection (to the Old Power)

Higher Consciousness (extreme extension of Earth Detection, can be aware of all things occurring on the planet)

Unity (very rarely, a deceased Oldstrong can choose to become with the Old Power instead of passing on their power, which creates a Oldstrong Ghost, known as an Ascendant)

+Cosmic awareness (Can be aware of all things in the universe that can be connected to the Old Power (which includes many planets)

+Planetary Restoration (ability to be able to heal a planet) [Non-Ascendant Oldstrong can do this, in exchange for their own life]

Energy Manipulation (Energy from movement of tectonic plates)

Energy Absoption

Kinetikenesis (manipulation of kinetic energy)

Energy Negation

Energy Blast

+Cosmo-geoelectrokinesis (control of cosmic geoelectrical energy)

*Ancestral Evocation (specifically, can evoke the current Ascendant)

Power terminology come from the Superpower Wiki

* = no evidence in canon, but a logical extension of stated abilities

** = headcanon/not demonstrated in source material

+=Ascendants/(Shadubate) only

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Various ritual scar patterns seen on Shadows in the original Planet Hulk series. Left to right.

Top: Caiera, Hiroim, Skaar, and Hiro-Kala.

Bottom: Elders, and a “typical” Shadow from a legend.

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

I guess I never added part 2.

Top: Caiera’s sister, unnamed Shadow, tong-tong player, unnamed Shadow 

Bottom: unnamed Shadow, Hiro-Amin, Hiro-Kala (variant), Princess Omaka 

(Omaka is an Imperial, with appropriative scars/tattoos, with cultural inaccuracies. For example, she has three dots on her forehead, which would indicate that she is over 200 years old, although they are placed horizontal instead of the correct vertical)

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Part 3

Top: Hiroim (variant), Hiroim (variant), unknown, unknown

Bottom: Cult members (1-3), priest

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Various ritual scar patterns seen on Shadows in the original Planet Hulk series. Left to right.

Top: Caiera, Hiroim, Skaar, and Hiro-Kala.

Bottom: Elders, and a “typical” Shadow from a legend.

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

I guess I never added part 2.

Top: Caiera’s sister, unnamed Shadow, tong-tong player, unnamed Shadow 

Bottom: unnamed Shadow, Hiro-Amin, Hiro-Kala (variant), Princess Omaka 

(Omaka is an Imperial, with appropriative scars/tattoos, with cultural inaccuracies. For example, she has three dots on her forehead, which would indicate that she is over 200 years old, although they are placed horizontal instead of the correct vertical)

[shadowpeopleofsakaar]

Shadow Funeral Traditions

Orange is considered the color of the dead, as it represents the sunset. (Side note: pink is the color of birth and sunrise)

Funerals take place as soon as possible after death.

Bodies are interred in stone.

The graves are carved out by friends and family members using ceremonial tools.

In order to enter the afterlife, Shadows must be Marked. If a child dies before their Marking, the parent or parents will Mark the corpse and set the pattern in blood.

Traditionally, loved ones may choose to amputate their own finger to be buried with the dead. It is especially common for the mother of a young child.

Conversely, if this occurs, a priest will amputate the same finger of the corpse and return it to the mother. The bones will be made into beads that become mourning jewelry, often braided into the hair.

The dead are usually buried with a small assortment of items, often including: 

a ravaidira or aă’on-shen (jewelry used in prayer)

a rídílăd (a root vegetable, which is a common food source in the tribes)

a dagger, often their engagement knife if the person was married

the rukíd (traditional/religious belt worn by Shadows)

carved figurines of gods

a spear

[alieasyhairstyles-blog]