Normally when I talk about Osmosians and their culture I focus on Imperial Osmosians, because that's where the likes of Devin and Aggregor come from is the Empire. Due to this when I talk about religious stuff it's generally Savar, the state-made religion that is followed by the vast vast majority of Imperial Osmosians, including Devin, Kevin, and Aggregor.
So let's talk some about non-Savar religious stuff, huh? More specifically, because it's been on my mind, let's talk about ancestor veneration in Osmosian religions.
Because something to keep in mind is that Savar is made from combining all of the Osmosian religions that were still extant at the time into it's own new thing- in some parts on purpose and in others just because cultural norms survived and were dispersed. Folks may remember that part of Savaran funerary practices is the keeping of the skulls of the dead by their kin, and that and the great care and respect shown for them is a trait descended from various religions that involved/focused on ancestor veneration. Though the care they show is still honestly kind of mild compared to what the older religions do. Those folks will often dress up the skulls of their ancestors for holidays, and also tend to be more organized and careful with their ancestor's skulls.
A few clans and packs within the Empire still practice full-on ancestor veneration outside of Savaran influence. All the groups that do so, within and outside the Empire, preserve the skull, but there's a cluster that also refuses to break the bones of ancestors as part of the species' funerary cannibalism. The belief there being that it harms, hinders, and just straight insults the dead. This cluster is actually one of the few Osmosian cultural groups to practice funerary burials, laying the depleted bones of their ancestors to rest under floors. Whether they're interred under public areas, private apartments, or under nesting dens varies from pack to pack and clan to clan.
Unfortunately ancestor veneration has declined in most non-Imperial populations around the galaxy due to the whole *gestures at 3000 years of being farmed like crops* thing. You still see fragments of it in some communities being more prone to calling on dead relatives when they need help, familial tombs, there's a few places where classic teenager divination attempts require being in the vicinity of the dead. But for the most part, outright veneration of ancestors isn't as common as it may have been under better circumstances.
Historically the veneration of ancestors in Osmosian cultures came with two beliefs.
1) That a properly venerated ancestor could be asked favors, generally to provide information. Among these cultures, it was and often still is common to have charms and sigils that are supposed to prevent your enemies' ancestors from spying on you for them. This is one of the signs of a population group descended from an ancestor venerating culture, they'll still have similar charms and sigils of protection, those in at least one case these have been repurposed to be associated with a desire for privacy. Even extending to non-Osmosians in that area. Calling on ancestors for these favors often involves some sort of small sacrifice of food or goods, often burned or buried.
2) A properly venerated ancestor is going to look out for their descendants. A 'bad feeling' about something that turns out to have been dangerous? Ancestors looking out for you. Premonitions? Ancestors looking out for you. A stroke of amazing luck? Ancestors looking out for you. And of course the opposite, if you didn't properly venerate your ancestors they'd leave you to whatever fate had in store, often for ill. Again you see hints of this one in diaspora descended from ancestor venerating groups, often in the form various superstitions involved disrespecting the dead causing bad luck.
Fuck, there's a horror short story for children written by a member of a small Ossy community on a distant planet that's become a mainstay of children's media across the species. In it a chick refuses to participate in a relative's funerary meal. After all the meat and bone has been eaten away, the remaining skull creaks to life and curses them to eaten by beasts for the insult. The story ends with the chick being isolated by the reanimated remains of various livestock and prey animals, who all look very hungry.
Kevin probably could recite it for you by heart.
Now on the other hand, setting all that above to the side, we have the Appoplexian Osmosians. The largest non-Imperial Osmosian population lives in what is Appoplexian territory, has for like 5000 years, and these fucker's came from a solid core of 'fuckers who had been kidnapped for the slave trade but not made it to their point of sale yet before they escaped'. This has resulted in their retaining the practice, though the way they do things has differences from how they're done by other groups.
For instance, influence from Appoplexian cultures has lead to them preserving the hides of their ancestors alongside their skulls. They also are more prone to ask their ancestors for physical aid rather than for knowledge, such as granting extra strength before a battle or keener senses before a hunt, and will wear the preserved hide of whatever ancestor they want to talk to while contacting them. Still do the sacrificing though (at some point I need to do something up about sacrifices in an Osmosian religious context, Devin got fuckers to bisect a horse for him when Kevin hatched).
More interesting though is that they've influenced Appoplexian culture in turn. The dominant cultures when Osmosians showed up had no real aspects of ancestor veneration or worship. But after so long with Osmosians among the population these things have become far more common. Especially in areas with lots of Osmosians or lots of trade with the major Osmosian population centers, a lot of cultures have incorporated ancestor veneration and worship into what they had before. This includes dedicated shrines to ancestors and in some locations even the keeping of body parts (though Appoplexians are more prone to keeping claws than skulls). In a few places the Appoplexians have even reintegrated funerary cannibalism, a cultural behavior that had been lost over most of the population before Osmosians showed up.
Meanwhile, off in Erinaen space, the Osmosian residents are pretty much 99% Savaran and therefor are chiller than the seriously ancestor venerating cultures. Still though, folks are seeing a lean towards keeping more of the dead than is normal for Osmosians. Due to the prevalence of necromancy among Erinaens and the heavy use of body parts of the dead in Erinaen healthcare, Osmosian populations within Erinaen territory are slowly beginning to show a preference for having their medical care involve the bodily remains of their ancestors. Not only is this leading to more body parts being preserved (though typically in forms that can be used for medicine), but combined with the influence of Erinaen views on souls and respect for the dead as for the living, plus how close Savar is to having full on ancestor veneration already... They're working their way towards reinventing the wheel there. Some fuckers are even starting to make sacrifices when they take medicine made from an ancestor as thanks.
~~~
Standard Savar: Each clan has a mausoleum for all the dead to be stored, if you can't send the dead to their clan there's a room for that don't worry we keep it nice, and sometimes if you're keeping a relative in your private space you give them a nice box with holes so they can see out Most Older Osmosian Ancestor Veneration Cultures: Each clan in a pack will have their own shrine where dead relatives are kept, they are all kept in special and personalized nooks or boxes with holes so they can see out, they're brought out often for special events and communions, we might do them up for holidays, because just because they're dead doesn't mean they can't look nice for a special occasion- no not that one great-great-great-great-great cousin X doesn't like ruby chains- we sacrifice to them regularly
