"The earth does not rush. It remembers." ā Etching found on Kashern slate
The Kasherniāalso called Earth Elvesāwalk the ancient paths of northern Tanal and remote Varethuun. They are grovebuilders, spirit-healers, and smith-priests, grounded in dream and stone. They do not wander to escape, but to remember.
Each Kasherni is born with a spiritform, known as their Rooted Shape, which manifests through dreams, bone-burns, and deepfasting. Unlike shapeshifting, this is not a transformationāit is a summoning of what already walks behind your eyes.
āA beastform is not who you becomeāit is what waited while you grew.ā The Kasherni do not see spiritforms as tools or weapons, but as patient kin who echo your soulās shape through all cycles of life, death, and root-return.
Kasherni faith fuses earth, fire, and spirit:
"The world turns, so we move with it."
The Kasherni do not build citiesāthey build moments. Each caravan is a self-sustained commune, blending herbal healers, smiths, spirit-binders and bone-archivists into a roving heart of culture. Homes are folding huts, wagon-lofts, canvas sanctuaries strung between evergreens.
Each Kasherni clan is a circleānever hierarchical, but aligned. All major decisions are made through full-circle council, where elders and children alike may speak. Every circle has a Keeper (the memory), a Rootcaller (spiritual heart), and a Lead Voice (external diplomat).
āClan is the echo of your first breath.ā To the Kasherni, family is chosen not just by blood, but by how you protect the fire, how you carry memory, and how you mourn. Every circle member carries the weight of every otherāwith silence, with song, with shared blade and bread.
The Kasherni do not speak loudlyābut the mountain remembers them. Their songs are in stone, their beasts in blood, their rites in silence. They carry root, fire, and dream. And when the world forgets, they set the bones to singing.
Kasherni live in nomadic circles, connected by ancestral routes and ritual purpose:
The Drumbeat of the Kasherni Year
Time is grown in the Kasherni tongueānot kept. You donāt āspendā a seasonāyou weave it into you. Spirits are not above nor belowābut waiting in the soil for the stories worth waking to. Forged iron may crack. Woven memory never does.
"A soul is not taken. It is offered, and carried together."
Marriage in Kasherni culture is not a singular act, but a two-part rite known as the Twice-Binding. The first binding joins two souls under the gaze of their totems and clan. The second is a private spiritual journey, where the couple seeks the blessing of Rhakzuhl and Kallan.
After the public rite, the bonded couple retreats into wildland for three nightsāno fire, no tools, only each other and the land. This journey is believed to reflect their ability to endure hardship, share instinct, and return reborn.
āAsh is not the end. It is the start of the next trail.ā
When a Kasherni dies, their caravan holds a Veil-Walk: a twilight procession where the body is carried through the woods or hills on a woven bier. Along the path, loved ones call their names three timesāonce for memory, once for story, and once for release.
Burials are rare. Most Kasherni prefer open-air cremation at clan flamepits, usually followed by scattering the ashes at a beastformās sacred site. In rare cases, the bones are stone-slept: placed within carved alcoves or fossilized under mountain trails, believed to guide future wanderers.
Held during the coldest full moon of the year, Firewake is the Kasherniās most sacred seasonal riteāa fusion of grief, rebirth, and ancestral honor. Every clan gathers to retell the names of those lost, burn spirit effigies, and share stories by great bonfires. It is a time of mourning and joyous survival.
If a loved one is believed lost, but no death confirmed, a Hollow Mask is worn during Firewake. If they return, they reclaim the mask and carve their return story upon it. If not, it becomes part of the clanās totem archiveāa placeholder soul-guide for future spiritwork.