Hivecleansing

Every settlement in Orochtha tends to kiepheloi, creatures resembling bees with bodies made out of marble and wings that resemble gold filigree, whether in artificial hives, or hives carved by the creatures themselves in stone formations in the local landscape. These creatures consume gold-rich rock to produce a wax-like substance which they use to create storage for their brood, alternate food sources, and the honey-like substance that they produce from high-purity gold ores, as well as scaffolding for their nests.   Hivecleansing began as a matter of necessity since modern kiepheloi have a tendency to overproduce their wax. Left without intervention, the creatures are liable to suffocate their own hives in wax. In wild kiepheloi, which actively expand their hives to accommodate their colonies or swarm when a colony overgrows their hive, this is less of an issue. In domesticated kiepheloi, which have been selectively bred to reduce destructive behaviors and maximize yields, the phenomenon is considerably deadlier.   As the care and maintenance of such hives falls under the supervision of a community's moradeikon or priest, hivecleansings gradually took on increasingly religious trappings until they became a routine part of the yearly ritual obligations of the moradeikon. In contemporary history, hivecleansings have taken on significance on par with harvest rituals, fertility rituals, and the celebration of cardinal days such as the spring and autumn equinoxes.

Hivecleansings, despite being routine, are delicate procedures that require the utmost of care to conduct correctly. In many regions, the process begins days or weeks before the hives are ever touched. Once spring arrives and the frost of winter thaws, moradeikon all over Orochtha begin to monitor their host communities' hives for signs that the kiepheloi are ready for a hivecleansing. When the signs are found, and the omens agree, a date for the rite is divined.
  On the day of, for those who participate, work begins early. Well before the first light of dawn. Ritual cleansings and sacrifices are conducted to seek the favor of the gods, all conducted under the watchful guidance of the community's moradiekon. As the first light of dawn shows above the horizon, the most delicate part of the process starts: moving the colonies. To do so, the moradiekon must find, capture, and safely transfer the colony's queen to a temporary hive—one that is typically constructed of marble and adorned in gold—a task that is complicated by the fact that unlike regular honey bees, kiepheloi are unaffected by smoke.
  Fortunately, kiepheloi can be pacified in a different manner: through a mixture of sacramental oil, kiepheloi wax, and gold dust applied in a thin layer across the body. The solution triggers a feeding instinct in the kiepheloi, who consume the substance, which pacifies them, but does not harm them. It is for this reason that moradeikon conducting a hivecleansing often do so fully nude, as the mixture can be rather difficult to get out of clothes.
  Once a colony's queen has bee retrieved and placed in the temporary hive, it can take a few hours for the colony to completely transfer. During this time, the process is repeated with any other hives in the settlement. Once all the colonies have been relocated, the bulk of the work begins. Trained volunteers harvest most of the wax in a hive, leaving behind only one or two sections of comb to feed the colony until their stocks are restored. After an inspection to ensure that there is sufficient space and food left behind for each colony, the moradeikon return the queens to their respective permanent hives, cleanse themselves, and, together with all who worked throughout the day, conduct a final sacrifice for the gods and partake of libations to celebrate the end of the ritual.