Sacrifices 2

Last post talked about sacrifices in general and hopefully helped to lay the ground work.  But there is so much more that can be discussed.  Our original point was that evil folks don’t do things for no reason, and their reasons are typically greedy.  So what’s in it for them?

Well, side tracking a bit first, we said that the best sacrifice is “life”.  Other than sacrificing live people and creatures, what can be done?  Well, the universal symbol for life (mainly in alchemy but in most all magic) is an egg.  So one of the best sacrifices is an egg.  Not all eggs are considered equal here, and in many cases, “fake” eggs can be far better.

The best “fake” egg is a pearl.  The value and rarity of round (or oval) pearls make them highly prized sacrifices.  The sayrmin of the Detheb culture are experts at sacrificing pearls to their divine spirits.  Basically the sayrmin perform a short ritual, then symbolically smashes the pearl.  The pearl is then gone (there are no pearl pieces; it’s just gone).  It has been received by the divine being who will use it as an egg to hatch some divine creature.  (Pearls resemble fish eggs.)

Chicken eggs can be used as sacrifices too.  But let’s think this through.  (Some of you may recognize the parable here.  It is true in Fletnern as well as real life.)  A family of farmers gathers on average six eggs every morning.  Every morning, they sacrifice one of their eggs to their god.  The single egg is of very little value to the god, but the fact that this family is giving one-sixth of their breakfast away makes the adoration received from this tiny gift far more substantial.

A rich guy goes to the farmers’ market and buys a dozen eggs every morning.  He goes and sacrifices these eggs to his major god.  Not only are 12 eggs of little value to a major god, but they are a drop in the bucket on the money this guy is going to throw away today.  He didn’t care about his sacrifice, so neither does his god.

Could he legitimately get something from his god for these sacrifices?  Yes!  The trick is importance.  Adoration means nothing if it “costs” nothing.  The best way we can think of to get acknowledged by your god for a dozen eggs is this:  Find a small monastery with four monks.  A monk’s job is to pray.  Arrange to have a farmer deliver a dozen eggs to the monastery every morning.  That way every morning at the same time, four monks will offer thanks to their god and to you - they will pray on your behalf.  Your god will get used to having these prayers and “hearing” your name.  Still costs the rich man next to nothing and he isn’t even thinking about it as he goes about his day, but he is now getting recognition for his minimal sacrifice.

But, eggs?  Really?  Yes!  They are one of the main / universal symbols for life.  The gods and spirits can use them to create servants or just to create.  The eggs are symbols and as such do not need to be real - like the pearls.  Many cultures carve the eggs from something, often marble or ivory.  Like the pearls, these eggs are made from rare materials and the process of carving them makes them more valuable.  Now when the egg is sacrificed, all the time and effort the craftsman used sort of factors into the adoration formula.  (As mortals we can never fully understand the adoration formula.)

Different gods will want different sacrifices, including eggs.  A god of strength who uses earth and stone as his tools would probably prefer a marble egg.  The sun god might want a golden egg, while more generic fire god might want an obsidian egg since it was “crafted” in a volcano.  Sea gods would probably want eggs more reminiscent of fish eggs, while reptilian gods might want eggs made of leather and not stone.

We promise - The next post will actually talk about what you can get for these sacrifices!