"The birth of a child is a beautiful thing. It represents a union between man and woman, a union of love and commitment. It represents Varic persistence, our refusal to be drowned out or defeated by the machinations of The Black Sun. It represents our strength, as new sons and daughters mean more people to fight the temporal war, to ensure Shar is triumphant in the end. It represents hope, for so long as children are born and join the chorus of the Varic people, we cannot be silenced."

The shaman approached the smiling parents, who together held their child aloft at arm's length towards him. The shaman crouched to gather a handful of soil, which he began to sprinkle carefully over the child's forehead and hair as he spoke.

"With this Sacred Earth I tie you, Verhan, to your ancestors. I welcome you to the Trekhan family of Seklat, to the Urapi, to the Varic people. I welcome you to Earth, and to the light of Shar's blessing. Know that you are a gift to your family and to your people. Know that they will protect you and guide you. Know that they will bring you wisdom and succor. Know that they will love you."

The shaman stepped aside, so that he was no longer between the happy parents and the semi-circle of relatives that were gathered. He spoke again.

"Meet your family, little Verhan."

The parents withdrew their arms, clutching the baby Verhan to their chests and brushing what Sacred Earth remained from his forehead. One by one those that had come for the ceremony approached the child, welcoming him into the family and touching in their turn the child's forehead with the back of their hands, which clutched handfuls of soil each sprouting a single sapling.

"May this sapling represent my bond with you, little one," they each spoke. "May it find fast root in the Sacred Earth and grow strong. May it tie us firmly to our ancestors, and to each other."

They then followed the shaman a short distance, where holes had been prepared on the edge of a small copse in variable states of growth. Trees that had been planted when their parents had been born, when their cousins had been born, when they had been born. Trees that represented the Trekahn family past and present, which would grow as they did, which would give seed to the saplings that would be planted when their own children were born. Their family tree was the cypress, common for citizens of Seklat yet far from the only variety planted at such ceremonies.

When each member present at the blessing had planted their sapling, they again turned their attentions to the shaman who had in the interim procured a thurible filled with cypress, which now billowed pleasant smelling smoke. The shaman walked up and down the line of celebrants, bathing each in smoke in their turn.

"When touched with Shar's blessing, the Eternal Flame, the Varic spirit is strengthened and brought to the fore. It speaks in ways that it cannot, absent Flame. I bid you now, breathe of your ancestors, for this is how they speak to you, through the trees that grow in their Sacred Earth. Bask in them, and now that though they are departed, they are with you still."

The shaman returned his attentions to the parents, to the child Verhan.

"Know Shar, Verhan. Be strengthened by his blessing." He touched the bottom of the thurible to the child's forehead, leaving it there for a time until the child began to cry from the heat, from the burn of the hot metal.

"But know that the blessing is also a trial, a burden. For though Shar's blessing marks you as one of his chosen people, as a mighty son of the Varic people, so too does it oblige you to fight in the temporal war, to steward humanity away from the barbarism of The Black Sun and towards Shar's light."

"May you carry this burden wisely. May you carry this burden justly. May you carry this burden well."

The shaman bowed to the child. The celebrants followed in turn.