The Dust Fall Offering

The Dust Fall Offering is an annual practice/ritual completed by most, if not all, farmers on the Outer Sector Freeholds (O.Sec F) planet of Hack-5, a once-thriving farming community planet now fallen on hard times after the planet's environment has become more arid over time. This particular ritual takes the collected sand, or dust, from a singular ancient site and scatters it over the seeded crops of a farm at the beginning of spring.   The ritual sees the farmer take a roughly kilo-sized bag of dust, larger or smaller depending on the size of their farm, and slowly, during the dawning hours of the day, sprinkle liberally the dust over all of their seedling crops. Once the bag is depleted and the dust has been spread, it is important to water the crops thoroughly, which can be difficult for Hack-5 farmers as water is not always in abundance. But this first watering is so imperative according to this ritual that most farmers risk splurging on the deep watering so that the ritual can be properly performed. Lastly, once the crops have been watered, in a symbolic gesture, the farmer must walk the rows of crops, find the deepest puddle of unabsorbed water and drink at least a handful of said water. This represents that the farmer is also imbuing the growth and luck properties of the ancient dust.   At the end of the harvesting season, it is common for farmers to take a now dry and arid patch of dirt, preferably one that still has the remains of some dust and the roots and/or plant material of the recently harvested crops and crush it into a fine dust or paste depending on its moisture levels and save it it for next year. When the following year's dust is retrieved or purchased, this dirt from the previous seasons is mixed into the new bag of dust. The hope is that the previous year's luck will carry through into the new year's batch of dust. However, the only caveat to this is if the prior year's crop was poor, then the dirt is not carried over to the new bag of dust in the hope that the bad luck isn't carried over.  

---

The ancient site, in which the dust is collected, is located in a remote area, a week's travel from its nearest city of Desperate's End. Storms plague the area, so flying into the ancient site is incredibly dangerous and not commonly done. The ancient site sits atop a steep hill, burgeoning on a small mountain, where a quickly dwindling pit of dust is located. Farmers are intended to take a small bag of sand from the site each year, return to their farm, and spread the dust on their crops. However, nowadays, farmers don't travel to the site nearly as frequently themselves, instead buying the dust from vendors who visit the site on their behalf.   The dust, unbeknownst to the common farmer, is the ancient remains of an enormous tree and its surrounding plant material that have decayed over eons, contributing to the creation of the dust. Over an incredible amount of time, and as the atmosphere of Hack-5 slowly turned from temperate to arid, this decaying material boiled away almost all of its moisture, and slowly became the dust it is now. This material holds various properties that actually do help crops grow, though they do not hold any sort of supernatural luck abilities. The dust's actual properties allow for the additional collection and dispersal of moisture from the atmosphere and the deep ground. It also holds a nutrient-dense blend of nitrates that allow crops to grow hardier and longer. The dust is not technically sand or dust, but fine, nitrate-heavy beads of wood and plant material that merely resemble sand and/or dust.