Pluritine Customs

03 Nov, 2026

I'm putting money where my mouth is and trying to make the Pluritine faith feel more like a lived religion. Warren's excellent breakdown of medieval law and how to use it for Dolmenwood also got me thinking about historical customs and how to use them in the game. Though, to be fair, I reverse googled quite a few of mine after writing them. Turns out whatever weird shit you come up with, someone in history has probably done something like it.

So here are some customs that faithful folk in Dolmenwood might follow, or at least know about. There's one for each saint who has both a shrine and a spell in the setting, though the connections are often loose. I prefer that to customs neatly mirroring their miracles or patronages. People are just doing shit, not making it a science.

These customs aren't followed everywhere. People may know about them without practising them. They're also just Pluritine customs. Settlements may have their own, along with practices devoted to the old gods, Drune rituals, fairy habits, and so on. If you're inspired, make up some of your own and add them to your game.

Players might find ways to use these customs to their advantage. Referees can use them to inspire random encounters or just have more to draw on when improvising.

The Silent Road¹ The dead are prepared at home and carried in silence to their graves. Neighbours leave their work to bear the coffin. The family follows behind.

The Three Refusals² Before a marriage, the priest asks each betrothed three times whether they consent. Each must answer for themselves. A refusal ends the ceremony. The refuser may take three nights' shelter in the church kitchen or any house with an apron hung over the door. None may take them away against their will.

The Borrowed Hearth³ When a house burns, its inhabitants stay with neighbours until another is raised. Their hosts feed and clothe them without payment. The new hearth is lit with embers from neighbouring homes. The first loaf baked there is divided among those who gave shelter.

The Sickroom Candle⁴ When someone lies sick or wounded, a candle is set in the window at dusk. Neighbours take turns keeping watch at the bedside until dawn.

The Spare Shroud⁵ Each household keeps a shroud for the dead without kin. When a body goes unclaimed, the nearest household provides theirs and sews another. Even thieves cut down from the gallows are buried this way.

The Saint's Beast⁶ Each parish keeps a beast spared from slaughter, a bell about its neck. It wanders where it pleases, fed even by those whose crops it spoils. None may harm it. When it dies, another takes its place.

The Open Well⁷ By old custom, goatherds may draw water from any well, even those in private yards. No payment is asked. In the High Wold, breggle families often turn them away.

The Sick Tenant⁸ A tenant laid up by sickness owes no labour to their lord. The missed days are struck from the reckoning.

The Passing Bowl⁹ When neighbours consider a fine unjust, they pass a bowl from house to house to pay it. No one asks who gave how much.

The Split Tally¹⁰ When money or livestock is lent, the debt is recorded in notches on a hazel stick. The stick is split lengthwise, and each party keeps half. When the debt is settled, the halves are fitted together and burned.

The Friar's Return¹¹ Thieves may return stolen goods through a wandering friar. The friar demands penance and keeps their names secret. The owner is expected to make no complaint. Bailiffs sometimes pursue the matter regardless.

The Last Possession¹² The dead's finest possession is laid upon the coffin. Kin who wish to keep it must bury something of equal worth in its place.

The Condemned's Bread¹³ At the burial of someone condemned or accused, their kin lay bread upon the corpse. They pay a coin to whoever eats it. The eater is said to take the dead person's sins.

The Three Swords¹⁴ Three crossed swords are painted on the doors of those suspected of sorcery. Neighbours refuse to enter or trade with them until a seeker of St Faxis has come. Washed away, the marks soon return.

The Speaking Mouth¹⁵ A grinning stone head juts from the wall of some churches. Those who suspect another of plotting harm leave a written accusation in its mouth. The priest reads them aloud at the next sermon.

The Cursing Stones¹⁶ In some churchyards, rounded stones rest in hollows cut into a slab. Those seeking vengeance turn one nine times anticlockwise, naming the offender and calling upon St Abthius to punish the offender. A curse against the innocent is said to fall upon its maker. Some priests bury the stones. Parishioners dig them up.

The Prisoner's Word¹⁷ A captive may leave to raise ransom, swearing to pay or return by a set day. Another stands surety, paying if the captive does neither.

The Returned Knife¹⁸ Before battle, soldiers exchange knives. The survivors return them. The knives of the dead are carried home to their families.

The Wounded Wage¹⁹ A bargeman hurt aboard is lodged ashore with food and a candle at the master's expense. Their full wage is paid when the barge returns. If they die, it goes to their kin.

The Roadside Call²⁰ At dusk, farmers call from their roadside gates to passing travellers. Those who answer are given a place by the hearth until morning.

The Homeward Basket²¹ Returning travellers leave spare dried provisions in baskets by inn doors throughout the Wood. Those setting out may take what they lack.

The Guest's Watch²² At roadside inns, armed travellers who share the keeper's supper stand watch in turn. The keeper goes first.

The Boast Nail²³ Along the pilgrim roads, travellers drive a nail into an inn's doorpost for each deed they swear to do. They may pull it free when they return with proof. Many doorposts are thick with rusted nails.

The Market Arm²⁴ On Frisk, a wooden arm bearing an axe is raised above Prigwort's market. Those who leave their weapons with the Alegard may not be struck until the arm comes down.

The Hanging Shields²⁵ At tourneys, knights hang their shields beside the fighting ground. Anyone may touch a shield and challenge its bearer to wrestle. Those who refuse have their shields turned to the wall.

Elsa's Folly²⁶ At Dreg, a barge is kept for floods. It stands on skids above the Hameth. The old boatmen still pay for its upkeep. The young usually give nothing. No one alive has seen it afloat.

The Way Trees²⁷ Along the old paths near the Woodcutters' Encampment, trees are furnged so their branches point towards the village. Woodcutters leave them standing when they fell the surrounding timber. Some point down paths swallowed by the bog.

The Serpent Door²⁸ Some chapels have a second door concealed in their walls. It opens only from within. A small serpent carved near the floor marks its place.

The Seventeen Names²⁹ In isolated homes, the seventeen archangels are named before opening the door after dark. Children learn the names by heart. Even those calling for help must wait.

The Unmade Men³⁰ At summer's end, farmers strip the straw from their scarecrows and burn it. Reapers refuse to enter fields where one still stands. Some fields are left with only the bare posts.

The Beasts' Rest³¹ On St Gripe's feast, no beast is worked or slaughtered. Their owners tie flowers about their necks and lead them to a churchyard to be blessed.

The Beasts' Portion³² On St Hamfast's feast, people hang sheaves of grain in trees beside the paths through the Wood. Nuts and fruit are laid at their roots. Nothing is taken back.

The Yew's Cloak³³ On St Wort's feast, people hang spare winter cloaks from yew trees. Anyone in need may take one.

The Unlit Night³⁴ On St Eggort's Eve, households extinguish their lamps and candles at dusk. They keep silent until dawn. Chandlers then bring each household a candle lit from the church altar. None are sold that day.

Inspirations