6:00 a.m. is not my bed time, but it’s also not the best time of day. At six on weekdays, I have only been awake for half an hour, and groaning every minute of it. I am searching for caffeine and loathing the traffic that I am about to endure. Within 45 minutes, I have to drive across town to get to work, and there are a lot of people on the road who make me ask, “If you can’t handle a car at this hour, why are you on the road.” I am not a very nice dragon at that hour. I am much more congenial once I have been awake for a few hours.
On Lorata, those who are devout to the god of darkness have morning ritual that they go through. It is said that the deepest darkness comes just before dawn, and so these devotees rise while it is still dark and go outside to bare themselves to the darkness. A prayer to Métius is spoken, and it involves bowing and certain other postures. These same devotees tend to have ritualistic scarring, taken on as an exchange of blood for power. Although Zarrek has some of these scars, he does not bare himself to the darkness. His practices are actually very complex.