Definitions and Use
The Rite Tiles are sets of small, coloured squares of ceramic or glass, most often four, fixed into walls, gates, or thresholds. They are found throughout Evergild lands, but are most famously seen in Asmerel, the jewel-town on the turquoise loch at Valmorren‘s threshold.
Once marks of gratitude, the Rite Tiles have become ornamental and rhetorical, their origins half-forgotten. They mirror the Evergild themselves: born in reverence, grown in prestige.
Early Practice
The Rite Tiles began as Gift-Marks — humble signs of thanks for the four great forces:
- Stone (silver, grey, black)
- Water (turquoise, dark green)
- Sky (flecked deep blue, pale blue, white, clear)
- Life (greens, yellows, oranges, reds)
Each mark was a reminder; each tile a token of gratitude. The earliest examples were set above doors and cairns as devotional gestures, and sometimes served as a vessel for enchantment — not powerful in themselves, but a point of contact with the force honoured.
“…And let it be that all who raise a dwelling set before it the four Gifts, that they remember the strength beneath, the flow about, the breath above, and the spark within. For by these is all life held.”
— Fragment of the Charter of Lethane, c. first century of the Evergild
Patterns and Variations
In time the Rite Tiles shifted from devotion to display. Where they began as the four together, later Evergild began altering the pattern: repeating tiles, omitting some, or substituting new. Houses and guilds began to use the tiles as heraldry, each arrangement a badge of identity. Eventually a fifth tile — Magic — was added by some, in lilac, violet or iridescent shades. This was never universal and remains controversial. Vythans, in particular, scoff at the notion that magic could be made its own force apart from the four.
“The Hall of High Accord shows upon its gate two Stones, one Sky, and a Life. Such a setting bespeaks endurance and clarity, and has been the pride of the Erivane line since its founding.”
— From the Chronicle of House-Marks, Astravayne, 3rd century
“In his lodge at Camorren, Lord Theroun placed four Life-Tiles alone, in colours of flame. The choice was much remarked upon, and is said to have hastened his decline.”
— Extract from ‘Whisperings of the Northern Marches,’ anonymous pamphlet
Presence in Asmerel
While most towns have long abandoned the practice, in Asmerel the Rite Tiles are uniquitous. Every building outside of the rustic pilgrim quarter bears them: some show the traditional four Gifts, others variations. The architects of Asmerel made deliberate use of the old palette, to assert that their jewel-town stands in continuity with the past.
To pilgrims, the tiles glimmer like relics. To Evergild nobles, they are badges of right:
“These forces are our forces. The Gifts are ours to channel.”
Cultural Significance
The Rite Tiles may no longer hold enchantment, yet they remain potent symbols. To some they whisper of gratitude; to others they shout entitlement. In their small squares of colour lies the Evergild story itself: reverence turned badge, prayer turned boast.