oath plate

The women use an oath plate as a physical representation of a promise made between two individuals. It is typically a hand-sized thin plate of bark, though any splittable material can be used. The plate is marked and split at the time the oath is made, each person keeping a portion of the plate until the oath is fulfilled, at which time both halves are destroyed.

Execution

In the most formal use of an oath plate, the two parties each dip their three longest fingers in blood and draw three lines from one corner of the plate to its diametric opposite, so that their marks cross. The maker of the oath speaks the vow aloud, or both do in the case of a mutual pact, and break the plate in half across its smaller dimension. Each party takes half the oath plate to keep as a reminder of the oath. When the oath is fulfilled, the plates are burned simultaneously.

An oath can be cancelled prior to fulfillment, if the owner of the oath determines it is no longer necessary. In such cases the owner burns her half of the oath plate with the ower as witness.

Participants

With the exception of mutual pacts, an oath involves three roles: maker, owner, and ower. The ower of the oath is the one who had the obligation to fulfill it, while the owner of the oath is the one who determines the oath's longevity. The maker is the one who speaks the words of the oath and breaks the plate, and can be either the ower or the owner. Disputes over the justness of an oath or its fulillment are taken to Woman Woman.

Most oaths are made privately, though they can be made before witnesses. A penalty oath is a specific oath made between Woman Woman and a person receiving a delayed or extended punishment, witnessed by any others involved in the dispute in question. Any oath made concerning a third party is also witnessed by said party. To cancel or complete a witnessed oath, the witnesses must agree that the oath has either been fulfilled or is no longer necessary, but they do not need to be present for the oath plate's destruction.

Related Ethnicities

• The Women

View from the future

Many vastland cultures use a kind of legal contract similar to the oath plate, in which each participant receives a small plaque bearing both parties' thumbprints. Another vestige of oath plates remains in the tiderider custom of reminder tokens, which can be thought of as a promise to oneself.