Editing Other kingdoms (section)

===Shrine of the Sharp Mother===

In the north of the Loess Plains, on the edge of the tundra, lies this old shrine, which is said no human hand built. The shrine is a ramshackle affair, buildings built of bones of every kind. The structural bones are of [[megafauna]] – aurochs bones, mastodon bones, and older and stranger bones from now-unknown monsters. The walls and roofs are the bones of humans, hornbeasts, and other beasts. The smaller bones of dogs and birds fill in the gaps. There are always only two inhabitants of the shrine – the Sharp Mother, and her oracle child. The Sharp Mother is always a monstrously large [[Megafauna|Bear-Dog]], seemingly unintelligent and untamed, but who permits supplicants to come as long as they do not threaten her child. The oracle is always a human girl-child; when she grows to maturity, the gift of prophecy leaves her and so she leaves, while the Sharp Mother goes to find a new girl-child to bring back to the shrine. Petitioners come bearing gifts of raw meat for the Sharp Mother, and food for her child as well. If pleased, the Sharp Mother allows them to approach her oracle, who enters a seizure-like trance to answer their question. The oracle is never wrong, but her prophecies are also open to different interpretations – and few petitioners have guessed the correct meaning until too late.

--Kakita Kojiro