Ancestor Customs

All races have many unique customs, peculiarities of their culture, history, and way of life that are specific to them and their sense of racial identity. This article lists some that are unique to the Ancestor race, in no particular order.

For more basic information about this race, see Ancestors.

Coming of Age

Coming of age is an important time in Ancestor society; it's intended to show their resourcefulness, survival skills, and most importantly that they're capable enough to be worthy of inheriting the souls that will mark them as a full adult. Regardless of age, Ancestors who haven't undergone their coming of age aren't able to undergo many important aspects of society. They can't be considered for a Devouring ritual, they can't tattoo their skin, and they aren't considered sexually mature or able to voice their opinion in communal decisions.
The coming of age ritual itself is relatively straightforward and typically occurs at the start of the year that an Ancestor would turn thirty years of age. Youth ready to make their attempt are taken, often as a group, to the Edge of the Sky and climb to the isolated plateau on the far side of the rift. They're left there with only a knife and a day's rations each, and are expected to survive without any outside assistance and without leaving the plateau for a period of one month; they can do this either individually or as a group, with either approach having its benefits. The ritual is something that can be undertaken only a single time, and those who fail either die or leave to live in isolation in the wilds. Those who survive only via reliance on the group without carrying their own weight are judged harshly, and may never be considered anything but a fallback for Devouring.
Upon successful completion of their coming of age, Ancestors are considered in a transitional phase of their lives; no longer children, but not yet full adults until they're needed to serve as a host.

Devouring

The central act of Ancestor society, Devouring is highly ritualized and involves many steps that have to happen relatively quickly following an individual's death. The sheer urgency involved means that Ancestors try to make sure that death happens in as controlled an environment as possible, with as many preparations taken as the situation allows for.
Once death's approach is imminent, other members of the community hold a vigil over the individual in question. There's an immediate ritual performed following death itself, petitioning Siarus to allow the soul to remain with its people rather than travelling on to the afterlife; from the moment of this ritual, there appears to be about 72 hours before the body begins the process of decomposition to the point where it can no longer be safely consumed and its inheritance of souls is lost. As soon as the designated future host is present, the body is butchered for consumption. The flesh is cooked, and the host ritually consumes as much as they can eat while undergoing an intense cycle of prayer, invocation, and recitation of the lineage they are taking into themselves. After this meal they fall into a deep sleep, where the souls of the Devoured bond themselves with their new body and become part of a new whole.
During the process of butchering the body, a portion of the deceased's intricately tattooed skin is taken and tanned into leather. It's then shaped into a mask in a deeply reverential process that invites the soul of the recently dead to remember the body they once possessed; this mask can then be worn by the new host when they wish to invoke that particular individual to come forward in a possession-like process. Masks are only kept for a handful of inheritances, beyond which point distinct souls begin to lose a measure of their individuality and become a more passive part of the collective.
As previously mentioned, once fully bonded with their inheritance of souls a new host will have their lineage tattooed on their own skin as an elaborate, intricate record of whose souls they contain. This marks their final transition to full adulthood, and prepares their own skin for maskmaking after their own demise.