Description

I have a LOT to say about this guy - he's my chosen species for the raptorfolio project, so I'll be doing more art on this culture as well.

He is a Haruspex - a soothsayer, future-teller, fortune-teller, what have you. He serves as the village's religious figure. In this picture, he is making some meditative sand-art. Essentially he gets into his power stance, which is how he is pictured here, and drops colored sand onto a double-sided rake, while pulling the lower tines through more (usually naturally colored) sand. Each color he uses has a meaning, and the patterns he forms in this meditative state also have different meanings.

White: Ignorance. It can also be seen as Knowledge.
Yellow: Pride. It can also be seen as Humility.
Red - Attachment. It can also be seen as Separate.
Green - Jealousy. It can also be seen as Trust.
Blue - Anger. It can also be seen as Passive.
Black - Birth. It can also be seen as Death.

How the colors are interpreted depends on how they are placed in the pattern, how they are placed in conjunction to other colors, on what side of his body he has to draw them from, etc. These sand paintings can be huge and take days, sometimes weeks to finish if he is asking an important question of the Dragonfly god. After he finishes the painting, he takes a high vantage point to look down on and meditate on the meaning of the painting. I think it goes without saying that a Haruspex must have unending patience, and a good memory helps too. After the painting has served its purpose, it is wiped away.

He has another way to discern the future, and this is done through animal sacrifices. I'll go more into that later, but let's just say, if you look up the word Haruspex, you'll be able to figure it out for yourself. :>

I have sooo much more that I need to write on these guys...