The Skull Staves of Vistaghast
"It has been a long journey through the rugged lands of the north, trolls, giants and hags infest the wilds of this rough merciless land and it is of no wonder that the people who call this place home pride themselves on courage and battle. What you do wonder is how and why their villages and homes remain standing and with little to no harm from the terrible beasts that stalk the wilderness.
As your adventuring band pass into a small town with a wooden wall you notice what may be the answer to your question. Locals are raising a long stave adorned with runes and capped with fire blackened skull of a troll that has been carefully painted with symbols by a village witch or wizard. A part of you suspects this is superstitious claptrap or misplaced faith in some local heathen custom. Yet even with that doubt the monsters who call the wild wood home seem to have no little interest in villages and farmsteads protected by these strange displays"
History
The Skull Staves of Vistaghast are rooted in an tradition that has been practiced by the humans (and later other people) who call the rugged and harsh islands of Vistaghast home. The First were supposedly crafted by Shamans to keep the wild beasts, man eating monsters and horrific giants at bay and in the eons that have followed the custom of villages and people raising Skull Staves have become so common place that none doubt their power to keep evil and dangerous monsters at bay. In many places when a hero slays a great beast it is custom to use its skull to make a new Skull Stave and raise it up to honor the deed as well as send a message to other monsters that people will not be made prey and will fight tooth and nail to prove it.
Execution
In a perfect situation a local hunter or hero slays a dangerous or worthy foe and beheads it. Then he or either seeks a magic user or if one themselves seeks out a tree, log or stick that suits them and starts to affix the skull to the end of the wood and then carve cursed bind runes to terrify and ward against evil spirits and the creature the skull came from. This ritual is often expanded to include several spellcasters to assist the main crafter but this is not a requirement. Once complete the Stave is raised while the runes carved upon the shaft are intoned with power via ritual poetry and song.
Components and tools
The most authentic (and working) magical Skull Staves are hand crafted from the skull of a creature slain by cunning or might that is carefully lashed and glued to the end of a length of bark stripped timber (White Birch, Yew or Oak). Over a number of days runes and bind runes are carefully cut into the wood to project a curse of fear and disquiet that effects the monsters whose skull adorns the pole.
The runes according to experts must be stained with a special paint that is mixed with rare herbs and freshly taken blood.
Participants
A authentic skull stave is ideally raised by a community with their most respected spell casters of any kind leading in the singing of the curse runes that adorn the stave. If the slayer of the beast whose skull adorns the staff is present he or she is expected to offer a drop of blood to the finalize the ritual.
Observance
When a powerful beast is slain by a person its head is removed and flesh removed (often made into a soup or stew) and carefully affixed to a length of timber in preparation for being crafted into a Skull Stave. It should be noted that there is no minimum size per say with fish heads adorning small sticks and used to shake at evil spirits being the smallest incarnation of this tradition with progressively larger lengths of wood being used with larger and more impressive skulls. With quarter staff sized versions being carried and adorned with Stag or Wolf Skulls and massive skull Staves baring the skulls of Trolls, Giants, Mammoths, Dire Beasts and Linnorm being so large as to adorn city walls, centers and the great halls of Jarls and Kings.
Present in nearly all levels of Vistaghasts culture even some mages take to adorning wands, rods and other tools with skulls or carved skulls of magical and mundane beasts to impart power to the object and this is to say nothing of the Linnorm heads carved onto warships, iron ram skulls worked into maces or the beast skulled battering rams the Vistaghast bring to war. In a sense Skull Staves have permeated the peoples of this region and have inspired much of cultures crafting and art.
Thus do the people of the region often regard such devices with a sense of respect or awe and many even feeling that a weapon, armor or ship adorned with even the carved likeness of a beasts head or skull grants some of that creatures power to the object.
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