Khaluet Tribe
From SCross
The Khaluet tribe (ka' - loo - et), found mainly along the Northern Continent's south-eastern region, is a fearsome native tribe--rumors of their penchant for cannibalism, savagery, and brutality can be heard from almost every neighboring tribe.
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History and Lore
The Age of the Curse
The origins of the Khaluet tribe are lost in the mists of Holy and the troubles that followed it, and further obscured by a general lack of written records. The earliest folk-lore of the tribe--the story of the seven warrior sons of Great Chief Khaluetan (outside of this legend, there is no existing knowledge of who exactly Khaluetan was)--is generally considered to date to around 300 AH. Thus, it is generally accepted that the tribe broke into its original seven clans about seven hundred years ago.
Wars against neighboring tribes dominate the early folk-lore, as well as tales of internecine strife as the individual clans of each of Khaluetan's sons--the Gray Wolf, White Bear, Red Raven, Black Wolverine, Blue Walrus, Brown Eagle, and Green Whale clans--fought each other. The centerpiece of early Khaluet lore is the Feral Curse. After several generations of conflict, in which starving clans would hunt down other tribes, or even other Khaluet clans, and eat their victims, it is said that Gaia struck a blow upon the whole of the Khaluet clan, inflicting upon them the form of their namesake animal.
If indeed the Feral Curse were intended as punishment, it was a failure. The Green Whale clan disappeared into the depths of the northern ocean, blending amongst their animal counterparts, and has never been heard from since--in fact, it is generally believed the clan no longer exists properly, its descendants no longer distinguishable from ordinary animals. The other six clans learned to control the curse and developed the means to switch between a human-like form and the 'cursed' animal body at will. The Khaluets became even fiercer hunters and killers.
The Age of the Skywar
Within a few short generations of the Feral Curse, it became clear that the two flying clans--the Red Raven and the Brown Eagle--were bound to go to war with each other. While the six clans managed to come to a relative truce regarding holdings on the land, both the Red Raven and Brown Eagle clans considered the sky above to be their territory, and clashes between the two clans were frequent.
Sometime during the 7th century AH, these clashes erupted into what lore refers to as the Skywar. Khaluet legend throughout the clans tells of days when the sun was blotted from the sky, shrouded by massive flocks of hunting birds, as well as rains of blood as Brown Eagle and Red Raven clashed hundreds of feet above, leaving each other broken and bleeding. Not content to keep their battle in the clouds, men and women of both clans marched upon enemy settlements, bone knives and stone clubs accompanying the razor-like talons they kept even in their human shapes.
With no records of the events, it is unclear how long the Skywar lasted; tribal lore places it as taking anywhere from a couple of years to several decades. The Skywar finally turned when Tahalak, a Black Wolverine hunter, was slain in a Brown Eagle raid. Tahalak was visiting his mate, a Red Raven woman, and the raiders struck him down even as he showed his wolverine heritage. Incensed, several of his blood relatives within the Black Wolverine clan chose to fight alongside the Red Ravens on the ground, and before long the Brown Eagles were left with few nesting places from which to launch their side of the Skywar. Driven from the sky and harried on the ground, they were eventually crushed. According to legend, the last Brown Eagle settlement fell during the harvest, and the Red Ravens and Black Wolverines celebrated their conquest with a massive feast, the crops of the harvest accompanied by the flesh of the fallen Brown Eagle clan. To this day, these two clans hold such feasts during the harvest season, serving vast quantities of birds, although today the birds are rarely members of native tribes.
The Age of Enlightenment
Imperial records indicate that explorers first met representatives of the Khaluet tribe in 717 AH. These records specify the presence of five distinct shapechanging clans, with no mention of a sixth clan, defunct or otherwise. This is generally taken to mean that Imperial contact occurred at least a couple of generations after the conclusion of the Skywar.
Unsurprisingly, very few members of the more civilized lands were willing to come so far north to deal with such savages. Aside from a few rugged explorers, the only Imperials to bother visiting the Khaluet settlements tended to be Church missionaries, trying to spread the word of the All-Father and the Holy Church to all the native tribes. With the Khaluet's general lack of existing spirituality, it was believed by these missionaries that the tribe would be easily brought to the Church's ideology.
Definitionally, the Church's efforts with the Khaluets were a qualified success, although the Church generally refuses to acknowledge, much less discuss, the results of their missionaries' work with the savage tribe. Any traveler amongst the Khaluets today, however, will be quick to notice the abundance of ecclesiastical images, as well as numerous shrines dedicated to the Holy All-Father throughout Khaluet lands.
Such travelers who stay to hear the sermons of Khaluet priests of the Church have learned that the tribe has seen fit to adapt the religion which Imperial missionaries brought to fit within their own world view. This practice is not unusual, especially amongst Northern tribes, but amongst the Khaluets creates a very bloody and macabre “Church” branch indeed. Compassion and forgiveness do not feature in the Khaluets' Church of the All-Father, but subjugation--and, perhaps unsurprisingly, consumption--of one's foes do. While the Khaluets name themselves a branch of the Church of the All-Father, that Church refuses to recognize their adaptation, and generally seems to be thankful that the Khaluet priests have no desire to travel to New Junonsburg for priestly study--or to demand recognition of their perverted take on the Church.
Modern Times
Recent years have seen an upswing in the belligerent nature of the Khaluet tribe as they've taken to raiding other native tribes with greater frequency. On the other hand, fighting amongst the five clans has gone down considerably as people of those clans mate more frequently with each other, creating a Khaluet tribe more united than it has been since the earliest of stories. Current events, however, threaten to drive wedges between the clans.
Within the last few months, game in the Khaluet's ancestral lands has become extremely sparse. Some say that it is Gaia's curse being revisited upon the Khaluets, but regardless of the source, the fact remains that hunger is beginning to stalk the clans. Worse than hunger, perhaps, is restiveness; with so little game, only the best and most experienced hunters can be allowed to bring game in, since no clan can afford for a novice to scare off a meal with food so scarce. With so little to do, many younger hunters are growing tense, lashing out at each other, while older hunters often clash trying to seek out the same game. Some Khaluets speak of leaving to find food elsewhere, while others refuse to give up their homelands. With several conflicts brewing within the tribe, many feel it's only a matter of time before war and violence harrow the clans again.
Society
The Khaluet tribe is matrilineal; children live with their mothers after birth, and are generally raised by the mother and her male relatives. Fathers, who almost always are members of a different clan, mate with women for anywhere from a few months to a few years, but even in long-term relationships will usually live amongst their own clan, visiting their mate and children infrequently. Marriage is known only as it pertains to other cultures; the Khaluets do not practice the institution.
As with any other people, Khaluet children adopt the species of their mothers. As a result, any member of a given clan will bear the animal form of that clan, as well, without exception. In the unusual cases when a Khaluet man gives a child to a non-Khaluet woman, the child is invariably considered not a member of the tribe or of any clan at all--such children do not carry an alternate form, and as such cannot generally be distinguished from any other members of their mother's species. Similarly unusual cases involving a Khaluet woman and a non-Khaluet man are not treated the same way--these children as as much a member of their clan as any other, and carry the feral curse of their clan fully.
Although generally considered a belligerent tribe, there are numerous Khaluets who neither engage in the hunt nor the art of war. As with any native tribe, there exists a large contingent of Khaluets who engage in weaving, herbalism, butchery, or any of a host of mundane tasks a clan or tribe needs to thrive. Although rare, there are also a few Khaluet mages--most particularly Feralis, who often hold very high stations amongst their clan, as well as occasional Gaimen and Shaman. Khaluet mages are noted for particular ferocity, with their Feralis subjugating monsters as directly as possible, their Gaimen preferring to force Gaia's will to bend rather than accede to it, and their Shaman dominating and forcing spirits to their bidding. Most Khaluet priests tend to follow disciplines of hunting or magecraft, with Feralis priests being something of the majority, rather than the practices of a traditional Imperial acolyte.
Despite their reputation, the Khaluets do enjoy occasional trade. Most modern trade with the Khaluet tribe comes either from the Empire or Wutai, or, more often, from native tribes which do not border the Khaluet homelands. Generally they will trade furs, meat, and silver in exchange for any number of other items--however, no native tribes will ever trade for Khaluet meat, given the tribe's rumored penchant for cannibalism, and as such meat is usually only traded to Imperial and Wutaiin traders unfamiliar with the tribe's society.
Cannibalism and Death
The rumors of Khaluet cannibalism are exaggerated, but by no means entirely false. It is well established that Khaluets will eat the members of a captured settlement or enemy soldiers. Despite some of the wilder rumors, children of a settlement taken by the Khaluets are spared, but never adopted into the clan--orphans of a Khaluet raid are typically either ransomed to their tribe, if the children's tribe has other settlements to send them to, or else given to another tribe to adopt.
Rumors that the Khaluet will eat the weak and infirm are somewhat true--the practice is by no means universal, and the definition of weakness and infirmity will vary between houses. Khaluets do, however, consume their dead almost without exceptions, and do go so far as to eat Khaluet children who succumb to death--in the Khaluet view, the child's spirit has departed, and it would be wasteful--indeed, sinful, given their interpretation of the All-Father--to bury or cremate edible meat. As a result, there are no Khaluet graveyards, mausolea, or other places where the remains of a Khaluet can be found. Only when a fallen Khaluet is tainted--most often due to contact with the lifestream--is a dead housemate not eaten. In such cases the bodies are cremated and their ashes scattered to the winds, which may be summoned by a Gaiman or Shaman if there is no wind since nobody wishes to stay near even a possible taint.
Khaluet reputation is especially tarnished by the occasional person who not only actively engages in cannibalism but will go so far as to hunt people to eat, often even other Khaluets. While such people are typically exiled if they go too far, they are often tolerated--though often ostracized--unless they step far beyond their society's norms.
Organization
For at least three hundred years, the Khaluet tribe has been divided into five distinct clans. Each clan is comprised of a number of houses, which are groups of people loosely related by blood. Such houses typically hold anywhere from three to fifteen families, although there are a few influential houses with even more families.
Houses have a single chief which oversees the house's possessions, organizes its hunts, and otherwise handles its affairs. There is also a chief for each clan, who may or may not be the chief of a house as well. The chief of a clan is usually only called upon for ceremonial purposes, such as calling potlatches or overseeing births and deaths. There is no verbal distinction between the chief of a house and that of a clan, and there is no single chief for the Khaluet tribe. The lack of a central figure with real importance and influence within the tribe, coupled with the ambiguity of the title of 'chief', tends to make arranging deals a difficult chore.
Khaluet Clans
The five clans of the Khaluet tribe are very distinct from each other, and thus it is important to understand the tribes and the differences between them.
- The Gray Wolf Clan, known for their swiftness, cunning, and hunting prowess, are among the most traveled of the clans. Their members typically exhibit lupine signs: ears, fangs, and claw-tipped fingers. Otherwise, they appear human in body and in facial features. They are the most frequently encountered Khaluet raiders, both because of their numbers--they are easily the most numerous of the Khaluet clans--and their wide-ranging travels.
- The White Bear Clan, known for their large members, mauling techniques, and their warrior ability, usually keep to the northernmost regions of the Khaluet lands, finding it too warm elsewhere. These large individuals are slightly taller than six feet in height and tend to weigh up to three hundred pounds, although some are much larger. Their members typically exhibit polar bear traits: shocking white hair, fangs, claw-tipped fingers, and unusually large feet.
- The Red Raven Clan, known for their thinness and awkwardness on land, are the least numerous of the five clans, due to the depopulation of the Skywar. These individuals are often thin and reedy in stature, and usually have red-tinged feathers growing at regular intervals on their bodies, as well as rather large noses. A few members may even have functional wings in their human form, although this is rare and the few winged Red Raven clansmen frequently hold high places in the clan. These clansmen are impressive scouts, and excel at the task during inter-tribal wars.
- The Black Wolverine Clan, known for their tenacity and short tempers, are short and stocky individuals. They usually have claw-tipped fingers, fangs, and patches of coarse fur when in a bipedal, human form. These clansmen often are easy to anger and hold great rage for such relatively small people. The Black Wolverine Clan tends to be at the center of most long-term Khaluet conflicts, both internecine and externally directed, given their tendency to feel slighted over issues other Khaluets would dismiss as trivial.
- The Blue Walrus Clan, known for large, robust members, are highly territorial, sticking to their coastal fishing grounds. Slow to move on land and appearing quite ponderous, their bodies appear portly with many rolls of blubber. Such people are usually as tall or taller than their White Bear counterparts, and almost always heavier. They often sport a pair of rather large teeth akin to the tusks found on normal walrus. Many of them have faint bluish skin, given their time spent in the cold water, and some have even been known to have bluish hair. Their territorial nature often leads them to attack water-borne ships that cross their fishing waters.
OOC Information
People wishing to play a Khaluet character should be advised that, due to the tribe's history and physiology, any PC member of the tribe must have certain merits and flaws. Due to their savage reputation, the rumors of cannibalism, and the fact that Northern tribes tend to view Khaluets as one of the reasons Gaia directs her anger at the Northern Continent, any Khaluet PC must take the Scape Goat flaw. To represent the effects of the Feral Curse, PCs must also take the Alternate Form merit, and the Feral Ties merit is recommended as well--the Alternate Form is always an animal of the character's clan's namesake, non-morphic, and generally of a size typical to the animal's species, while Feral Ties generally are applied either to the Feral Hunting special, or else a special appropriate for the character's animal form. It bears mentioning that the special from Feral Ties must manifest physically in the character's human form as well as their animal form.
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