Planting Seeds
These are the primordial materials of belief.
The Seeds are words, rituals, symbols, objects, and sayings that arise in the earliest days of your culture. They are born of need, fear, love, longing, survival and they will change.
They will be misused. They will be outlawed and rediscovered. But they will echo throughout every Age of play.
You are not inventing a whole belief system. You are planting the first scraps, and they will mutate, drift, calcify in strange ways. Think of this like scattering stones before watching a river flood the valley.
Choose 3 to 5 Sacred Seeds to begin. Pick at least one Word, one Ritual, and one Symbol or Object. You may add more as the spirit moves you.
SEED 1: SYMBOL OR OBJECT
Something seen. Something carved. Something passed down or painted up.
A symbol may be visual or material. It may represent a concept, a power, or a memory. Symbols often outlast words, reappearing on walls, tattoos, garments, digital signage.
02. Broken Ring : Incomplete unity. A vow left open. Sacred interruption.
03.Twice-folded cloth : Used in death rites and births. Said to “remember your skin.”
04. Bone triangle : Ancestor protection. Appears on homes and war masks.
05. Coil of red string : Time wound tight. Used in binding, rituals of memory.
06. Split tooth : Symbol of choice or betrayal. Carried in pairs. One always missing.
07. Glass shard pendant : Clarity with risk. Believed to “cut lies” or invite vision.
08. Driftwood hand : A carved hand placed in shrines; fingers worn smooth by weather.
09. Mud mask with no eyes : Worn in silence ceremonies. Said to hear truth through soil.
10. Ash-circle drawn with finger : Symbol of impermanence and mourning. Vanishes in wind.
11. Hollow gourd bell : Hung above thresholds. Rattles when oaths are broken.
12. Three-pronged spiral : Echoes of origin, loss, and return. Drawn during transition rites.
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SEED 2: RITUAL OR GESTURE
The body makes belief. Movement stores memory.
Rituals are embodied meaning. Even when words are lost, gestures often survive. These may be sacred acts, daily habits, or one-time rites.
02. Drawing a spiral with the thumb on one’s chest : Used before speaking important words; believed to “untangle the breath.”
03. Tapping the ground three times with the heel : Done before entering a space; awakens the floor, invites permission.
04. Biting the knuckle of the left hand in silence : Sign of grief, respect, or apology. Never explained aloud.
05. Raising a bowl of water to the sky, then drinking : Used to “invite reflection into the body.” Often performed at dawn.
06. Touching two fingers to the throat : Symbolic of truth-sharing
07. Carving a shallow notch into wood or bone during decisions : Decision-making rite. Each notch holds weight; some carry hundreds.
08. Holding breath until a name is spoken : Used to show reverence, fear, or protest. Dangerous in long ceremonies.
09. Burning a strand of hair at seasonal crossings : Gesture of renewal. Some believe the smoke carries omens.
10. Humming through closed lips before entering sleep : Said to guard dreams from intrusion. Taught to children.
11. Casting a handful of dust or salt in four directions : Invokes protection, particularly in places of uncertain spirits.
12. Turning in a full circle, eyes closed, after sharing a secret : Ritual meant to “confuse the echo.” Practiced only once per secret.
SEED 3: WORD OR PHRASE
A sound spoken in the dark. A name that comforts or commands.
This word may describe a core concept, a common gesture, a sacred space, or something untranslatable. It may be misheard or shortened over time. It is part of the cultural bloodstream.
02. Charr (invented) : To kneel or submit; a gesture of survival in wind and storm
03. Godquiet (compound) : The sacred hush after catastrophe; invoked before speaking hard truths
04. Velm (invented) : A wordless agreement; the moment eyes meet and something is understood
05. Skyfold (compound) : A term for the impossible; used when the world seems to end and continue
06. Ashline (compound) : A symbolic boundary made of burned things; the edge of safety or memory
07. Ossik (invented) : A name for dreams that return with bruises; remembered in scars
08. Motherbone (compound) : A name spoken in pain, prayer, or prophecy; both body and foundation
09. Silt (existing) : Used to mean confusion, memory-glut, or the sediment of forgotten ancestors
10. Lirra (invented) : Water that listens but never responds; rivers used for oath-breaking
11. Hearthgone (compound) : A word for exile or grief: when someone is alive but no longer spoken of
12. Thoss (invented) : The sacred pause before a name is spoken; used in rituals of transformation
SEED TYPE 4: PROVERB OR SAYING
Spoken again and again until no one remembers who first said it.
These brief phrases carry worldview in miniature. They are often shortened, inverted, commercialized, or outlawed over time.
02. “To forget the root is to drink dust.” : Used when someone acts without reverence or gratitude.
03. “The wind remembers, even if you don’t.” : A warning—nothing is truly lost. Often carved into stones.
04. “Never speak with a clean mouth.” : Belief that truth must carry residue—of food, of blood, of story.
05. “Only liars need a loud voice.” : Spoken quietly in council; used to shame boastful leaders.
06. “When the circle breaks, the river speaks.” : A phrase of warning and transition. Meaning shifts by context.
07. “Salt sees.” : Shortened from a longer chant. Used to explain paranoia or caution.
08. “Die twice to speak truly.” : Refers to those who have endured trauma or transformation.
09. “He who sleeps with light forgets how to dream.” : Common among those who live underground or in night cycles.
10. “What grows backward cannot be uprooted.” : Applied to stubborn people, bad ideas, and underground truths.
11. “Ask the ash, not the fire.” : Folk wisdom: the aftermath holds more truth than the moment.
12. “One name is not enough.” : Refers to identity, transformation, or initiatory knowledge. Often used in riddles.
These elements echo throughout the Ages: as chant, as law, as brand, as memory, as mistake.
HOW TO BEGIN
Optional Ritual:
To begin, each player should whisper one of the Seeds aloud. Say it as if it is known. Say it like it is yours. Like you learned it as a child and forgot it until now.
In the Dust Cycle:
- Word: Charr (to kneel, to align, to become less)
- Ritual: Draw a single dust-circle before speaking
- Symbol: Broken ring, open at the base
- Proverb: “The wind carves a path for those who kneel”