Sacrifice
I guess I'll start off. Something interesting and largely missing from Forgotten Realms as I've found, for the purpose of magic at least, was animal/ritual sacrifice. The killing of animals(or human(noid)s) to gain some higher power's favor or some esoteric potential is found in basically every early human culture. Now of course our world differs in the respect that FR gods can go "yo, dude, kill more goats plz," but I believe the general idea is that FR gods are more empowered by the actual act of worship, whatever form it takes, rather than specifically ending lives in their name; it depends on the god how much they enjoy such things, but across the board, there is no "soul energy" that the god is siphoning off, from the newly-dead at least. But what other traditions in FR might dabble in the dastardly deed of sacrifice, and why?
My first thought goes to the Ffolk of the Moonshaes and the Rashemi. Both cultures are really into maintaining good relationships with local spirits and divine intermediaries(a relationship between the two I hope to revisit more in depth) and generally have strong ties to the earth via Chauntea. Chauntea herself seems like she would fit well with the idea of idea of sowing and, as necessity dictates, reaping of life. Her favored weapon is a scythe--a long-time symbol of the natural cycle--and one of her traditional specialty spells requires an animal as a material component, although it actually isn't killed, but "released" of all things. IIRC, we had an example of townsfolk in Caraigh smearing lamb's blood over their doorposts, perhaps in homage to Judaic korban or Passover sacrifice, so they may well indeed have some magical practices developed concerning the sacrifice of life. The Ffolk are inspired by the Britons and Celts who were all 'bout that them animal guts and haruspicy with their druids, so it wouldn't strike me as odd at all if the practice was so wide-spread that it found its way into other, more secular uses. The sacrifice of an animal at a wedding for "luck," or perhaps a blood offering is made to appease the natural world before one begins his own magical work, lest the restless spirits of the land grow jealous and mettle with one's arcane affairs.
I'm not familiar with Rashemen as I'd like to be; most of what I know is general and from NWN2's campaign. In the blind faith that Bioware can't be wrong 100% of the time, there were item offerings made to spirits in the game world. And the Rashemi never seemed as hippy-dippy as the Ffolk so I don't think they would find animal sacrifice too unseemly. You never know though, and if anyone knows more specifics about their practices, I'd love to hear it (for instance, why specifically is item-craft delegated to the male arcanists? Is it just seen as grunt-work that none of the matriarchal rulers care to dirty their hands with?).
In terms of specifically Arcane, non-divine work, ritual sacrifice might still be present in FR. I'm sure many of us are familiar with Fullmetal Alchemist's Law of Equivalent Exchange. Perhaps in some practices the creation and/or modification of life requires another life to be equally un-created or modified. I cannot think of a spell at the moment(Necromancy, at least) that allows one to outright create a true lifeform, other than an epic spell. Other spells just have you touching something already existing and it animates or "comes to life," but you don't just poof life out of nothing. A shame, really. Maybe such things are a secret lost with the Creator Races of old, or doggedly guarded by the gods of knowledge? Possibly, but I doubt it and would chalk it up to difficulty or game-balance. A possible middle ground is the creation of homunculi, wherein an arcanist sacrifices, among other things, a pint of their own blood to create a sentient being. I'm still not sure if that counts as alive, though, as it is a construct mechanically. There are plenty of things that are animate and sentient in D&D that most probably wouldn't consider a living being like most humanoids or animals. But I've digressed enough on that.
Anyone else have any thoughts about sacrifice in FR in terms of magical practices? Anybody out there using goats and swans as material components? Maybe this all ties into a greater theme of ritualism, where it's not so much that a lifeform is being killed or blood is being shed, as much as what those things mean within the concept and paradigm of the magical gesture itself.
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