Rite of Harvest Awakening

"We give back to the land, in the hopes it may give us what we need."

— From the Traditional Rite

  Ancient traditions come from somewhere, and this ritual is seeded in old nature magic from the beginning of the world. The Rite of Harvest is done to ensure the fields are prepared to grow a new planting each year, and while magic is no longer necessarily a part of the ritual it is still performed. Scholars have collected countless versions of the rite from modern times, and fewer have used magic as part of it as generations passed. However, the symbolism remains even without the magic to power the rite.

Across the Rhyliss Empire, the ritual has changed very little from the original form. A prayer is said to the Green Mother as a means to ensure the crop will survive, and a powdered fertilizer is sprinkled over freshly-tilled earth. The powder is made by grinding the bones of livestock together with some ashes and leaves from local trees. Sometimes, a portion of the previous harvest is collected and allowed to rot before being reintroduced to the soil some weeks before it is tilled for planting. Alchemists have made "boosted fertilizer" which has been proven effective, but for the purposes of the rite it is not used. Rather, it may be used on the field while it lays fallow.

Dwarves have a different method, choosing instead to craft a bitter brew from various fermented crops and release it over the field as a spray before planting their crops. As this brew is more than slightly alcoholic, any excess is usually drunk afterwards by participants. The "harvest ale" is never really popular outside of the planting season, and scholars have theorized the rite has now become a reason to gather and drink as a community.

Elves are still willing to employ magic, and yet there is a ritualized component to each planting season. A portion of the previous harvest is placed into the soil "to remind the land of what it gave us". Magic is then used to help do the labor of preparing the soil before seeds are placed, and a traditional "blessing" is laid over the field. For the time the field is in use, the elves permit only those who work the fields are to walk among the crops. Intruding in this fashion is a good way to be exiled from an elven community, including the descendants of those accused.

Halflings have their own traditions, eschewing rituals in favor of coming together as a community. It usually includes a communal feast of whatever was left from winter stores while all members of the community help prepare the field for planting. Fence repairs and work doing irrigation are more common labors given to older children, while the younger ones are tasked to pull weeds and other plants which are trying to grow in the fields. Adults take on tasks which are considered too physically demanding (or dangerous) for children, while others are tasked with cooking the meal based on who has the reputation of being the best cook.

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