Runeko

On the day of the Great Amberleaf Banquet, when the entire clearing was celebrating the harvest, Runeko committed their unforgivable heresy. They served the fish uncooked. The gasp was so profound it silenced the cicadas. The locals, whose culture revolved around meticulously stewed, baked, and roasted dishes, saw this raw offering not as cuisine, but as an insult to the sacred cooking fire. They were promptly exiled, bundled out of the village with the mystic Itan-sha, who was being banished for actual theological crimes and didn't seem to mind the extra company. The faint scar on Runeko’s face is from a hurled mushroom during the commotion. The sushi they now wear atop their head, however, is pure defiance. It is a crown for a prophet of a misunderstood faith.