Stellar Medallion

A medal item commonly worn by the culture of Irvoern, Tebburus. 

The Stellar Medallion is said to bring good luck from the stars to the people of Irvoern, to those who wear it. Though a number of surrounding cultures also adopt this practice, it is mostly an Irvoern practice. This culture resides under the surface of Tebburus, where suon adaptability and availability of life makes it possible to live in large caves deep underground. As such, the stars are not normally visible, so instead they created large numbers of these medals. These depict actual star constellations, as they have built rooms underground depicting all known constellations visible from Tebburus and what months they are visible from the surface. All of this intel had to be obtained form the surface initially, before they had advanced communications technology, and this information usually came down via sketches on paper but now actual astronomers can confidently and easily pinpoint the exact location of stars. As such, the accuracy of these rooms improved over time. 

The medals themselves were often small, smooth obsidian stones cut into a flat dome shape with white specs placed in them, representing stars. Sometimes, small white lines are drawn connecting stars and making constellations easily visible, but not always. 

Stellar Medallions are even used in the military to discipline soldiers. They are issued brand new medallions upon being recruited and must keep them clean and undamaged for as long as their military career lasts. Forgotten, damaged or lost medallions are punished, heavily. The military made use of this to also use them as dogtags for their personnel, and they can be identified easily by authorities. This is also a key way to distinguish an Irvoeric soldier from others, apart from their bioluminescence and skin colours. As other ethnicities can migrate to Irvoern, their skin and bioluminecence colours is not a perfect way to identify Irvoernians.

It was thought long ago that the stars were spirits of their ancestors. Almost all suon cultures believed this before the scientific method. After a person dies, their Medallions are cleaned and placed near wherever the body is left so that they could navigate to the skies more easily. Though modern science has largely disproven this, the tradition remains as a sign of good luck to those who know the person. A large ceremony is held as well, a funeral.

Modern ones are constructed to be very strong, as replicators allow one to materialise objects almost perfect down to the atom. As such, they can last much longer and retain an excellent look for many years at the cost of matter plasma. Some groups have placed technologies inside them, such as tracking devices, for added utility.