Stone Decoration

Although the practice is obscure and thought of as somewhat curious or backwards, certain religious experts and their trainees among the Greater Pass Stenza still maintain a habit of supplementing or outright replacing the bone trophies common to facial decoration with stones from the Greater Pass. Several patterns of stones have symbolic meaning, the most recognizable of which is framing each eye, one with four stones and one with six, to show that someone has had a meaningful encounter with the Snow Warrior.

History

Stone decoration used to be much more common, and was often found in the Pass regions dating back to ancient times. It was almost always the purview of religious experts, who used it as a system to mark people in their communities who'd had transformative spiritual encounters. For much of its history the practice coexisted with trophy hunting, as the two were not usually mutually exclusive, but with time, in most regions, stone decoration fell out of favor.

Execution

A number of patterns either have existed historically or continue to exist in the present day:

1. Six pebbles around one eye and four around the other show that one has encountered the Snow Warrior; the pebbles are meant to represent each of the Snow Warrior's pupils (and some would argue that seeing the pupils is a key qualifier for the mark itself)
2. A trail down the center of the forehead and bridge of the nose (either small pebbles or crushed sand) marked one who had encountered Migration (this one is seeing a resurgence in the childlore practices of the Low Pass Stenza, to honor 'Elokh and Migration in Mourning)
3. Sand or dust under the eyes and across the nose indicated an encounter with Hunter (Ta'zhen is considered potentially eligible, but her skin texture is incompatible with traditional stone or bone marking practices)