bining RELIGION AND BELIEF — A religious rite. Bining is a type of spiritual joining in which two parties merge to become one in the → elhwith. Bining is believed to be the work of the dead and requires conjuring the dead in order to gain passage into the elhwith as a collective (one joined spirit being rather than two or more separate beings). A complicated and dangerous rite, bining requires a → joiner of blood and can easily splinter a → folken’s → ehwain, leaving them mentally incapacitated (their intangible parts believed to be lost in the elhwith) or comatose, severely scarred (including burn marks, disfigurement, broken bones, etc.), or even dead. Some reports suggest bined folken may have had vital organs disappear during the rite, or that the organs of one participant were physically transported into the body of the other. Other reports suggest a similar swapping of limbs, or even of parts on a participant’s body being removed and replaced in a new location (i.e. organs moved outside the body, or extremities, like fingers or hands, moved inside the body). Though most such rumors are unsubstantiated, bining is known to induce a high susceptibility to influence and even possession by → shades, including the dead. Given the severity of the act, it is rarely attempted and almost never successfully achieved. The purpose of bining is equally mysterious and open to interpretation. Because it is believed no one fully understands what takes place during a bining ceremony, the justification for the risks is elusive. However, when it is performed, it is most effective when the participants are physically bound together.