[Yar Culture] Shrunken Heads

[Catarrh 720]

 

Spoiler

 

 

   All throughout the Orcish lands, one finds them skewered on spikes, hung from doorposts, piled up in heaps, and adorning macabre altars; the heads of those slain by the sons of Krug. So common a sight are these ghoulish decorations that one almost becomes accustomed to seeing them within gois, forts, and trogs, until such a one finds his way to the bone-strewn halls of the Yars. Among hollowed-out tortoise shells and black and white banners, they hang with darkened, leathery skin, their eyes and lips sewn shut.

 

     Once they were ordinary heads, perched proudly atop confident --or perhaps simply foolish-- travelers. Maybe they were searching for treasure; maybe they were marching to war; or maybe they simply hadn’t realized where they’d ended up. To the followers of the Old Skhelll, however, it mattered little. There were intruders to be slain; sacrifices to be made. So they were, and now they swing from door posts and bone trees as shrunken parodies of themselves.

 

 

     The orcs of the Yar Clan create these shrunken heads through a lengthy procedure the exact details of which are kept within the clan. The purpose of this gruesome custom is largely symbolic; an added insult to fatal injury representing the lack of wisdom on the part of those who would oppose the Yars or their brothers. The scorn is extended not only towards the individual slain to provide the head, however, but also towards their ancestors in a ritual which follows the shrinking process.

 

     Once shrunken, the head is taken to an elevated area (ideally public) and held aloft, while the Yar performing the ritual shouts ridicule at the deceased ancestors of the victim, regardless of whether the orc actually knows of any specific relatives of said victim. The object is to show any departed family the sad fate of their descendant and his or her remains. For this reason, a Yar will never shrink a fellow orc’s head, even during times of clan war. Afterwards, the head is left on display as a warning to any who would offend the Yar Clan or enter their territory unwanted.

 

 

 

((To avoid meta, I didn’t actually include the shrinking process on here. It is to be learned and taught IC. Before someone complains though, it’s not magic.))

[osumanduas 1442]

Moved to The Great Library. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.

 

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