1D4: Supersitions

1d4	Practice	Belief
1	Villagers cultivate seemingly useless white vines to encircle trees that grow near their homes. This is especially common with useful trees, such as those that bear fruit shade or lumber. The vines occur naturally and may be found growing wildly or spreading out from where villagers grew them.	Villagers believe these pure white vines ward the tree from disease.In actuality the vines leech off the trees energy to survive without need for sunlight (something villagers may attribute to magic powers possessed by the plant). Even if this is mere superstition the vines may catch diseases before the trees thus serving as an early warning.
2	Privileged and wealthy people have an unrelated child sleep in the same room as them. This may be a servant's child or the child of a less fortunate family who are paid for the service.	Having a child nearby supposedly keeps one from having nightmares. The idea is that nightmares are more attracted to the innocence of a child and will choose to harass them over the adult. Ironically the stress caused by performing such a cruel act may cause more nightmares, or more callous practitioners may actually benefit from a placebo effect.
3	People, most commonly warriors, attempt to pull weapons out of those fallen in recent battles, and indeed any bodies they find that contain them. They become extremely distraught if even so much as part of an arrowhead or spear point is left within a body. Observant characters may notice that this only applies to metal weapons and not those constructed of wood stone or bone.	There is a belief among these people that metal within the body pins the spirit down, keeping it from ascending to the afterlife. It is thought that if someone’s spirit is anchored within their body for too long it may be driven mad from imprisonment and animate it’s lifeless body to rage uncontrollably. The creature cannot be slain unless it’s spirit is freed, either by pulling the metal from it’s body or by the use of powerful magic. In larger wars it is common for an army to employ groups to pull metal from corpses. Some people refuse to use metal spears or arrows, or even forgo metal weapons altogether. Others may refuse to wear metal jewelry or even armor. If someone is riddled with metal beyond the point where it can be simply pulled out they are to be burned.
4	Those who regularly pay for things in coins tend to spend older coins before new coins. People worry when they hold on to coins for too long and regularly spend or even give away money that they have held onto for an extended length of time. Those who wish to hold on to wealth often buy expensive objects like jewelry or works of art as a proxy for currency.	This behavior stems from the idea that each coin has a spirit and said spirit desires to fulfill it’s purpose as currency and be spent. Long unspent coins will grow angry and visit financial misfortune upon their holders. Regardless of the spiritual truth of the practice merchants who believe in it are inclined to treat those they view as miserly poorly and be friendly to those who treat their coins well. Those who believe in coin spirits commonly look favorably on adventurers who “rescue” coins from the hoards of dragons, long forgotten tombs, and the like.