26 Vortnights 26: Religion

And, the final image of the challenge! Did anyone ever doubt that the religion pic would feature something from the Dívčí Národ-verse? A couple days late, but this image depicts the before and after of Vlasta leading the hunt of justice, a festival performed on the winter solstice, sacred to both Tama Chiyava and Avchatis. In the hunt of justice, a group of seven men that have wronged the local Dívčí Národ community throughout the previous year (and who were deemed strong enough to be saved for the festival rather than being eaten immediately) are released into a predefined area, either a stretch of wilderness, or, in more urban areas, a park that's been closed off to the public by means of members of the Dívčí Národ involved in local outsider government and/or bribing outsider officials.

At sunset on the solstice, the men to be hunted are presented to the community during a religious service before being given a short head start. This head start does not provide any opportunity for the men to actually escape, with that being prevented by various guards and barriers around the edges of the hunting region, but is rather intended to increase the challenge. After the service is complete, all adult women and androgynes who wish to do so may attempt to hunt down one of the men, with allowed weapons including whips, lariats, and bows (blunted arrows only). A woman or androgyne who manages to catch one of the men is allowed to swallow that man on the spot, and the seven members of the community who succeed are thought to have good luck for the following year. So, good job to Vlasta, here!

As a side note, the dress and crown she is wearing here are an updated version of the ceremonial garb she had on in my old Fertility Festival comic (Page 1, Page 2). While some of the changes are due to differing types of assets available in Daz Studio as opposed to Kisekae, in some ways, this version of the outfit is actually closer to my original concept. From a more artistic perspective, I am a bit unhappy with the sharp change in shading around the upper portion of the dress in both images. I tried messing around with the lighting, but this was the best I could do. I'm pretty sure the culprit is the fact that the dress as seen here is actually kitbashed out of two different clothing items, and that's more-or-less where they overlap.