Matari Shamanism

References to Shamans

Year_YC110#March

Interest in the so-called 'Bright Star' continued, with Sanyen Grulliver, a Vherokior shaman, mounting an expedition to investigate the anomaly, believing it to be a gateway to a spirit land inhabited by the ancestors of Minmatar. Much mocked, the expedition faltered when the anomaly abruptly disappeared around the middle of the month. Interest in the Bright Star diminished after the incident.

Tattoos (Chronicle)

The Voluval is the sacred coming-of-age ceremony for the Minmatar. It is here that the individual transforms from a child into a fully recognized member of their tribe. At the height of the ceremony the presiding shaman will finalize the ritual by invoking the Voluval mark, where the soul and destiny of a person are said to be revealed through the emergence of a tattoo on the recipient, the secrets of which are closely guarded by the Vherokior mystics who kept it alive during the long centuries of subjugation.

Voluval#Preparation

This job is usually handled by a local shaman and consists mostly of relating legends, providing instruction in clearing the mind, and giving advice and guidance. This is never more important than the day of the Voluval itself, where it is common for the Essence Instructor to be sequestered for up to six hours with those about to experience the ritual.

Dadrwym#Shamanic Initiation

The boundary between shaman/witch and lay person is not always clearly demarcated. Non-shamans can also experience hallucinations and almost every AnnWn can report memories of ghosts, animals in human form, or little people living in remote places. Experiences such as hearing voices from trees or stones are discussed as readily as everyday hunting adventures. Neither are ecstatic experiences the monopoly of shamans (reverie, daydreaming, even trance are not unknown by non-shamans, and laypeople (non-shamans) experiencing such are welcome as well to report their experiences and interpretations. The ability to have and command helping asbri is characteristic of shamans, but laypeople can also profit from multiple asbri. In one extreme instance an AnnWn child had 80 asbri. Some laypeople had a greater capacity than others for close relationships with asbri; these people are often apprentice shamans who failed to complete their learning process.

Unlike many Matari traditions, in which spirits force individuals to become Shamans or Witches, most AnnWn shamans choose this path. Even when someone receives a "calling", that individual may refuse it. The process of becoming an AnnWn Shaman or Witch usually involves difficult learning and initian rites, sometimes including a vision quest. Like the shamans of other cultures, some Annwn shamans are believed to have special qualifications: they may have been an animal during a previous period, and thus be able to use their valuable experience for the benefit of the community.

Vitoxin Cure#Shamanic Cures

Vherokior Tribe, in partnership with Native Fresh Food and the Brutor Tribe, have led the search to find a cure that might already exist somewhere in nature. Multiple teams of explorers began the mammoth task of cataloguing and analyzing plants, fungi, viruses and bacteria in search of a natural interferon, virophage or other form of Vitoxin resistance that could be transplanted safely and successfully into a human being.

With the project disguised as an ecological study aimed at restoring the ecosystems of planets that were industrially ravaged during the Amarr occupation, ecologists, universities and even private individuals with no scientific training were able to contribute to the project by taking samples from their local environment to travelling analyzers provided by Vherokior Tribe.

Much of the data gathered was sent to a central repository at the Tribal Breathing Library on Skarkon II. During the Angel Cartel occupation of the planet in YC 110, the library was pillaged and much of the data held there was sold on the black market or destroyed. The Vherokior Tribe's custom of sharing and diffusing information, however, meant that all the data remained in storage across the Tribe and was recollected at a convocation of the tribe later that year.

One potentially fruitful discovery yielded from this effort is the Uppenhaller Tree Sticker, a forest-dwelling amphibian commonly kept as a child's pet in the northern regions of Ennur II. The Tree Sticker is toxic to most predators in the area, but appears naturally harmless to humans in any but the strongest doses, raising the possibility of using the toxin as a form of chemotherapy to poison infected cells and leave the healthy ones alone.

A secondary aspect of the project sent shamans and storytellers out across the Republic, collecting tales from wide-spread clans and colonies, especially in areas that had been occupied by the Amarr. Students from the University of Caille became involved in the aspect of the project, seeking lore and legends from Minmatar groups that had emigrated into Federation space. It was hoped that somewhere, a tale would be found of a cure, or a myth or metaphor might lead to a substance or area linked to an antidote.

Analysis of all this data continues, both for its potential to locate a cure for Vitoxin infection and to aid planets struck by ecological disaster or returned tribes seeking to know more about their history and legends. Among many dead ends examined so far, or which led to aspects already under research, one lead is still under investigation and is considered hopeful by the shamans involved.

An oft-repeated legend from Ani constellation tells of General Hraldar, one of the three leaders of the local rebellion against the Nefantar Collaboration. The story claims that Hraldar "climbed to the peak of the highest mountain and spent three days in prayer and communion with a mighty spirit, which taught him to make the Rite of the Cleansing Breath. And Hraldar returned to the valleys below and granted the Breath to his sister and freed her from her chains." Shamans hypothesise that this might refer to some herbal aerosol used to cure Vitoxin, but the location of the "highest mountain" has not yet been determined - some shamans believe that it may refer to a "holiest mountain" rather than a literal degree of altitude. The search focuses on planets and moons in the Hjoramold system, where the Three Generals built their great fortress and where Hraldar and his family were known to originate.