The Bloodflight Ritual

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[◘]- The Bloodflight Ritual was created during the crystal plaque.
[◘]- It was a measue taken to replace ones body, which was sick, with a new morph.
[♠]- Other folks know about these rituals, most are hostile towards the covens for practising it.
[♠]- Some individuals on the other hand bring their ill children and give them to the coven, as only hope of survival.

The Ritual

The Bloodflight Ritual is a ceremony in which the participants will "rise" to a higher self, by bidding their humanoid body farewell. During this process, the person will encounter death, or worse things, such as permanent fear paralysis. The outcome of the ceremony is also not known beforehand, as you might turn into a queen/king, a soldier hybrid or a doomed harpy. Rarely, very rarely, the participant will take the spot as the next Godwoken, giving the current one the chance to die, by taking their space. The current Godwoken must choose their heir, as there is no possibility of a violent takeover.

History

The Bloodflight ritual was created during the Crystal Plaque, which tormented the civilians of Madoshi for decades due to their close settlement near the crystal scar in the north of Saigon. It was when continuous late eruptions of the crystal scar intoxicated the air over and over again, that the two sisters, who ruled the land of Madoshi at that time, made a pact. One sister, Queen Jirelina, took her best knights and left the castle of Rae'Kon to visit the great crystal scare, trying to find a solution as to why the scar was not healing, as almost all other regions did. The other sister, Queen Atmatara, a legendary weaver, stayed behind at the castle, investigating and trying to find a cure for the crystal plaque. As the time passed, news arrived at the castle, stating that Jirelina found a cult of corrupted weavers, who fell ill to the Ghora illness. The crystal's energetic sound waves had shattered their minds and turned them into abulic puppets, dragging them closer and closer into the crystaline fields inside the land scar. Their unbearable hunger for the AOs energy, caused them to use everything they had, to re-open the surface time and time again, trying to reach the luqid part of it. Some used all of their energy to do so, leaving them behind, crawling and clawing at the surface of a crystal node in pure despair for more. Queen Jirelina was aware, that entering the scar was a death sentence for her and her knights, but all of them had vowed to protect the people of Madoshi, and so she wrote the last letter to her sister and bid her farewell, before she entered the area. It was eons later, when the scar had finally returned to a slumber, that they had found the battlefield and corpses. Queen Jirelina had fought her way into the middle of the madness, killed the last surviving - and with this also the most powerful of the weavers - while her knights had suffered a gruesome death long before, or turned against her, as though some of them had also possessed an AO potential. She had made sure that no mage had escaped, but so hadn't she. Meanwhile, Queen Atmatara had proceeded to try to save and cure the people of her land in different ways. The crystal plaque had attacked the connection between the human morph and the beast morph. This caused people to disconnect from their other forms, leaving many behind traumatized, suicidal or even mad. The beast morph of most people in this land was a harpy, with giant wings, bird like legs and claws, and human arms. Their faces were humanoid, but their morph fully consisted of beast energy. By the time that she got a note about Jirelinas success, and the first improvements in the air and the land could be seen and felt, most people had also developed very sick humanoid bodies with symptoms of the crystal plaque. Taking the last straw she saw, Atmatara proceeded to create a ritual. For this, she sacrificed her most powerful court weavers, while only her two best ones stayed beside her. With the power she harnessed - knowing that her own body would only be able to hold this energy level for a certain amount of time - she attempted to swap the two morphs of every single person in her folk at once. Her people were gathered in the giant area in front of the castle, as they had been prepared for this event over the course of several days. Most people of Madoshi came, even though many were already there, because she had cared for their illnesses. They spent the days celebrating, dancing. But also mourning and giving closure to each other. Nobody knew what would happen. As a result of this ritual, Queen Atmatara turned into a Godwoken. A gigantic harpy, with no mouth to speak, but eyes all over her wings. Each eye represents the life of one of her people. Each time an eye blinks, a person evaded death closely. Each time an eye closed, the person perished. And opening an eye, for each born baby that held her energy. Atmatara not only managed to swap their morphs, but also wove her energy into the energy of the Ao, becoming part of each person affected. Even though the ritual was a success, many died that night. But when the sun arose again, her people lived. The next generations started as harpies, slowly re-integrating the humanoid morph again, as though the energetic bond between both forms, was affected due to the land still healing, for quite some time. This was the moment when the society of the folks living in the castle, also decided to take on the definition of a coven, as they accepted that their pure existence was only possible due to a massive sacrifice and AO potential. The coven of the rising sun was born. Today, harpy covens can host both forms, but with the planet becoming sicker and sicker, they can barely transform on their own - which is why many coven leaders decided to use the ritual of the Bloodflight again, to reveal who the young adults are - and to give them their rightful place in the society. Aside from the Godwoken, the one with the highest potential, there also were queens and kings - those who wield more clean humanoid energy; hybrids who are entirely 50/50 between humanoid and harpy energy; and doomed ones. Those who are wielding more beast energy. The Godwoken holds the most enormous amount of pure AO energy. In the belief of the harpies, the form you show after the ritual, is bound to your character and power. They are unaware of their forms or the reason they have them, until that day. Nowadays it is an honour to be allowed to take place in the ritual and something many covens do to honour and worship both Queens. The Bloodflight is not entirely bound to the harpies, as other covens have similar rituals, but for other reasons. Some people, mostly parents, bring their sick children to the covens in the hope of saving them in some way.

Execution

To execute the ritual, one must step into a bath filled with a blood-coloured, thick substance, that bubbles. When the bubbles burst, participants often describe hearing voices. The person must be lying down, relaxed, and wait for their guardian to step in. Each bath has one guardian, which is also called their 'wings', as their task is to proceed with the ritual at any given cost. Once it is started, it must be finished. The participants then will get pushed under the surface, while the mumbling singing of the covens weavers, hailing to their current Godwoken, fill the air. Not being able to see through the thick red substance, the participants will face a drowning death - at least this is what people see from outside. The near-death experience will unleash their beast morph, by forcing it to take over to save the person. The moment the two morphs swap places in the dimension, the ritual is over. Especially with people who turn into doomed ones, the guardians are often protected by soldiers as well, giving them a backup in case the person is not happy with their result, or loses their mind during the process. The chance of getting into a ritual and dying from drowning is very low, as the weavers can sense whether you have a morph or not. If you don't have a beast morph that can take over and'safe you' you will not get permission to enter the ritual. Unless, someone wants to get rid of you.

Components and tools

Nobody knows for sure what is in this bath, but people with a high affinity for magical energy - especially one connected to Atmas and the Kahoré dimension, oftentimes freak out the moment they stand in front of the liquid. The coven weavers are dead silent about it, and if you become such a person, it is similar to other structures that held secrets. You don't take the secrets with you into a life outside the coven.

Legend:
◘ - deep lore, known to nobody
♦ - core lore, GMs know about it
♠ - open lore, players know about it