Rite of Dergahn

The Red Act or Dergahn is a rite of passage ritual among most elven clans to mark the transition to adulthood for their warrior society. Derived from the coming of age ritual in Fae'erie in which a young warrior would hunt a beast of the shadow realm armed with nothing more than a knife to demonstrate their prowess and lordship over the wilds, the elves exiled to Lorgaire have substituted local prey and symbolism.   When returning from a sucessful rite the young elves rejoin the tribe painted in the blood of the slain foe, and in the case of red blooded beasts of Lorgaire with a full stomach as well, contributing to the tales of elves consuming their enemies. To complete the passage to adulthood several other rites will be performed, before and after Dergahn, to demonstrate knowledge, skills and maturity.   To seek revenge upon the ogres who were blamed for causing their exile from their home in the outer realm of Fae'erie, for many generations the shadow beasts of their homeland were replaced with the reviled betrayers whose bargain trapped the elves in the first world. Small warbands of young elves performing Dergahn would be sent out to hunt and kill members of the high castes of the enemy, and in later generations when the control of the high ogres over the humani was broken and the caste of small rebels built societies of their own, they too became a substitute for their former masters.   To hide their own shame, as the spawn of their failed attempts to regain immortality spread upon the land, the Orcs, and in some cases Trolls were the target of this coming of age ritual hunt. This is the favored form of the ritual for many of the tribes of Rynabor where most of the the high ogres have been eliminated, and the settlements of humani are few. While the Vampires hold a similarly shameful role in the history of the elves, they are infrequently selected for Dergahn due to the risk of losing inexperienced youths to the infectious predators who would consider them ideal prey.   Among the wood elves, or low elves who have adopted the settled way of life of humans or dwarves, the Dergahn may substitute a gathering of a game animal in a return to the style of the ritual performed in the shadow realm, or ritualized slaughter of livestock as is custom among some of their neighbors. In areas where tensions are high between traditional nomadic elves and settled folk, the arrival of a young elf painted in red blood returning from the wilderness has resulted in harsh and violent reactions.