Ritual of offering memories or biological imprints? Failure means death

[Kingswithdragons]

I trying to craft a ritual in a culture ruled by powerful shapeshifters that assimilate animal DNA or bio-imprints. The shapeshifter makes an offering to the dormant, semi-sleeping Earth Dwellers. Should the offering be accepted, the supplicant receives some sort of biological upgrade. Should the offering be rejected, the subconscious rejection from the Earth Dweller somehow shatters the mind of the supplicant. The Earth Dwellers use this offering to evolve the lifeforms, climate, and terrain of Kolm to ensure that the biological vitality of the planet does not stagnate.

I’m having a hard time of describing exactly what the supplicant offers. Is it from the mind or a magically stored substance from the organism? Is it just a magical form of DNA? How should they be judged? And should death be the natural result of the Dweller’s instinctive rejection?

Further details:

The Earth Dwellers sleep underground on the Planet Kolm for hundreds of years at a time, absorbing massive amounts of data about the ecosystem and planet life through Aeon (the magic of the universe) currents that seeps through the earth. They are able to alter their physical form and even reinvent their bodies from a cellular level. In fact, they are so powerful that they can alter the DNA of entire populations and transform ecosystems in the semi-stasis of their slumbers.

The Talkarya clan Carthynox is a family of powerful shapeshifters and the ruling clan of planet Kolm. They venerate the Earth Dwellers as vessels of divine will. The Carthynoxes offer the Earth Dwellers valuable off-world biological data through a ritual called the Kerynai.

A more visual explanation:

 

[pmmg]

Perhaps what they offer is a sharing of their memories and experiences to the earth dweller. Maybe---through some weird DNA memory, an offering is all of the memories of all of those who have lived in their line. So, the earth dweller would gain a lot of information about one or many lives, with which to incorporate into their own selves, and it become part of future offerings.

Rejection is soul crushing, not just on a personal level, but as it is a rejection of an entire line, its can magnified

 

[Kingswithdragons]

Perhaps what they offer is a sharing of their memories and experiences to the earth dweller. Maybe---through some weird DNA memory, an offering is all of the memories of all of those who have lived in their line. So, the earth dweller would gain a lot of information about one or many lives, with which to incorporate into their own selves, and it become part of future offerings.

Rejection is soul crushing, not just on a personal level, but as it is a rejection of an entire line, its can magnified

Cool, that sounds like an interesting possibility to explore, with extreme consequences.

PS "Words on page beats thinking about words on page"--something I need to learn from!