"And so, Child, you have chosen your time to join us. Take up your weapon of choice and head into the hills. None of us may help you from the moment you set foot outside the village. Should you return with a kill worthy of repute, we shall welcome you as one of our own. If you return empty-handed, you shall not be disowned. If you return not at all, you will be mourned."
— Excerpt taken from "Traditional Northern Rites", by Cadelli Silvers
Across the northern lands, there is a tradition which took root in ancient times. When a person is ready to take on the responsibility of being an adult in their community, they take a single weapon with them into the wild and hunt the most impressive target they can bring down alone. This kill is brought back to their home and used as the centerpiece of a feast celebrating the return of the person who is now an adult. If the meal from the "honored one" is not enough to go around, the whole community often puts more things into the feast to make it capable of feeding everyone.
What makes the Feast of Homecoming different from other cultures' similar celebrations is the timing. While other cultures might perform these rites at a particular time of year, or stage in life, anyone who wishes to undertake the Feast of Homecoming is permitted to attempt it at any time. The season of the year, the phase of the moon, the exact creature slain, nor the age of the individual matter. What matters is whether an individual can leave and return with a kill done by themselves, and be prepared to conduct themselves as a responsible member of the community. Sometimes, cultures may use this ceremony as a means of adopting outsiders into their group.
Known Variations
There are numerous variations on how the Feast is handled, depending on the exact culture being looked at. Here are a few samples which have been recorded by scholars to exist across the northern lands:
The people of Durrsk make a specific type of honey mead for such occasions, and the first cup is always given to the "honored one". The roots of this particular tradition are said to be connected to gifts given by the Gods to humans attempting to stay alive in the inhospitable north. Traditionally the kill is either a moose or arctic wurm, but many other things have been accepted as valid targets. Some of those things are, in fact, poisonous or otherwise not suitable game for a meal. In these cases, the honored one will retrieve a number of stones equal to their age in years to add to the cauldron while the community scrounges things to add to the pot. Craftsfolk will often turn the kill into something functional to keep, such as a chair or article of clothing, instead of a useless trophy object.
Gnolls tend to dictate what weapon will be used for the hunt, preferring to limit it to melee combat. Due to many quirks of physiology, gnoll tribes in the north tend to not be picky about what their "kill" is, nor do they necessarily wait for it to be dead before starting the meal. Similarly, they might not even "kill" something which was biologically alive in the first place; there are stories passed down about tribe members hunting undead which were a problem and dragging back a disarmed (literally) body back for the ceremonial feast. Notably, some tribes allow non-gnolls to undertake a functionally similar ceremony to be given full adult privileges. This is unheard of among tribes dwelling in other locales, as they're either outright hostile to outsiders or much more exclusive even concerning who are treated as 'friends'.
Dwarves as a whole possess their own cultural procedures, but the clans who live in the region have adapted the Feast of Homecoming to their own views. They have forked the ceremony into two distinct types: the 'First Hunt', and the 'Warrior's Trial'. The First Hunt specifically is for a creature which is known to be edible to dwarves, and is always specified to the aspirant. Otherwise it remains similar in execution, down to the communal meal. The Warrior's Trial is for those pursuing that particular life path, and the hunt is instead an order to slay a specific enemy of the clan. The meal for the Trial is more somber, ceremonial, and seen as "stereotypically dwarvish" when explained to outsiders.
While elves are a rare sight in the northern reaches of the world, they share a similar version of 'the Warrior's Trial' to dwarves. Those who seek to be treated as adults are given a particular task to perform, which is determined based on the skills of the individual. Hunts for either food or foes are less common, and most times the task assigned is just outside the comfort zone of the "aspirant". These trials are often finalized with a gathering of the community and only considered successful when the aspirant successfully makes their own talisman.
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