The Kelwafu Ritual

The kelwafu ritual is typicaly done over a period of time of about 1 month, between two Veosian full moon. The first part consists of bringing mages to sacred sites throughout the kingdom. There, they are placed onto stone slabs aranged in a circle around a statue depicting their Ikshai species.   Exposed to the blue moon's light, they begin to shifts. That is when they are lightly stabbed with silver needles, which unfortunatly causes them great physical and spiritual pain. The later signifies that their etherial link is being damaged by the silver. Eventualy, it snaps, trapping their Ishai inside their bodies. thus begins what is called a Permanent Ikshai Possession.   They are isolated over the next month as their bodies continue to shift inder the influence of the Ikshai spirit locked inside of them, and by the the next full moon, have become fully hybridized. It is then that they are ready to perform part 2 of the ritual, and reconnect their etherial link. To do so, they travel towards the mountains, and eventualy reach a small temple, perched onto a cliffside, which the locals say is older than Asderaan itself. Notably, despite not being born from the same religion, this temple greatly resembles a small Suriat Temple, which are common in Arros.   It is in this temple that mages can connect back their etherial link, which will finaly stop the changes from progressing too far by reconnecting the Etherial link and releasing the Ikshai. However, the effects of the possession cannot be repaired, and so their bodies remain locked in an anthropomorphic form of their Ikshai's species.

Cause and effects

However, the effects and damage of the ikshai possession on their human soul cannot be removed. The human soul became tained with the features of the Ikshai spirit, and so, because of that, their bodies, who's shape depends of the appearance of the soul, cannot revert fully back into a human form. After a month of possession, the core of the human apperance is still intact, but extermities and surface level things, like hands, feet, head and skin, is changed. This also afects the legs particulary as they are further from the Core, a physical organ in a mage's chest that is connected to their soul. In the end, their bodies have drasticaly changed, both in fuction and especialy in appearance as they become an anthropomorphic form of their Ikshai's animal species.

Perceptions

While shapeshifters individuals and others from foreign cultures may see this fate the ritual bring upon its participants as suboptimal, or downright blasphemous, Asderaani Soulbound Mages, including their massive shapeshifter population, see this new form as their true form, superior to both their old human and animal forms, and one that will makes the gods they worship acceot them in heaven as one of their own in the afterlife.

This ritual used to only be imposed on Asderaan's shapeshifter population, who make up the vast majority of the country's citizens, but nowadays, all other types of soulbound mages can participate as well. All participants must be 14 years of age. That is due to a few reasons, such as the fact that the ritual could be fatal to younger teens and children, and is less efficient at an older age. Other reasons revolves around the country's culture and religion, such as the fact that 14 is a sacred number, as it is the number of gods in the asderaani patheon and that it is also the age of majority in the country, allowing them to join the millitary, for instance, although it is unclear if that age came about because of the ritual, or not.

This ritual is observed once every 31 days in the kingdom, following the lunar cycles of Veos. Both the breaking and mending of the Etherial link are done during Veos's full moon phase, while the progression happens in the 4 weeks of time in between.