Stevie Lambert: (via JWB)

2026-05-08T10:20:15Z

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{{Infobox:TwilightAgeGroup
|Type = Zu'aan tribe
|Name = Garr Tribal Zu'aan
|Parent Groups = N/A
|Descended Groups = Unknown
|Areas Controlled = [[Taiga Upland]]
|Date Founded = 4E 486
|Date Disbanded = N/A
}}

==History==

The first formal registries regarding the Garr tribe date back to the year of 4E 486, during the height of the volcanic winter which encompassed the Shattering Age. During that time, a starving tribe of kin'toni found themselves chasing a column of about three hundred zu'aan refugees which fled into the blinding cloud of burning ash which was created by the burning of the lowlands they were fleeing from, hoping for any chance to distract, outmaneuver, or plainly escape from the kin'toni group, which kept pursuing after them regardless of heat, landscape, or vision.

The zu'aan group began thinking of other strategies as they realized they had arrived at what could be considered a dead end. They tried digging, but the now icy grounds of the Taiga Uplands didn't seem to falter to their efforts. They attempted various projectiles, be it from arrows or snowballs, but the vast majority did a minimal amount of damage to any of the kin'toni which chased them, simply acting as stalling tools until an individual in the group named Ethraron Fararan came up with a different plan to combat the situation.

He ordered, first, for the zu'aan to go quiet, as an attempt to call even less attention. Then, as he realized they had no time to build any structures or flee effectively, he ordered the strongest men and women to stand in a circumference around the weaker members of the group, for each of them to dig their heels or knees into the ice and for each of them to hold sharpened trunks and spears angled outwards, making it so the members of that tribe became the wall instead of actually building one.

For three long days and three long nights they remained there, holding out in what now was fog, making no louder noises than their coughs; each of the zu'aan in the wall knew if they made as much as a sound or were for some instance to falter, the kin'toni could have a window to invade the members inside the circle, many of them being children, as well as a few pregnant zu'aan; if any of them were to panic, the formation would crumble, and after that period of time, the ones which survived were found in a trancelike state of endurance.

The kin'toni were able to still kill about one hundred of the zu'aan. The surviving members of what became known as the Garr tribe fled on the fourth night as they noticed the lowering of kin'toni activity in the area. Instead of going back into the lowlands they once lived in, those zu'aan felt coldly shaped by the weapons they once held, advancing further into the Taiga Uplands while remaining always observant.

This traumatic event shaped their tribe to become the way it is observed today, rewiring their manners of architecture, the weapons they used (pikes and spears), as well as their defense methods and cultural outlooks, which was believed by the now established Garr tribe to be the few sets of historical facts which held not only to be true to them, but to allow them to remain and live the way the now mostly dead caste of Garr warriors would have imagined a society during that period when they themselves became the wall defending zu'aan from kin'toni.

==Psychology==

The base view of Garr's psyche shows that they have very strong emotional borders; in their eyes, distance from others is a primary source of safety, thus they are mentally structured around trying to ensure distance most of the time. As a matter of fact, this brings about psychological comfort to be in some way defined spatially, where various kinds of closeness, whether physical or emotional, can be partially perceived as threats. However, this conduct is not fear, driven, rather they see it as self, protection arising from their alertness being used as a way to gauge anticipation, thus distancing themselves from anxiety.

Things such as speech are seen as something to be conserved and saved up; it's not only cognitively expensive and emotionally risky, but grew from that baseline of distance into a notion where the average member of the Garr tribe just sees it as a chore. This actually makes it so their conversations are way more thoughtful than what is usually observed, since they often put more time into thinking about their responses instead of actually spewing them out. It becomes an active part of their psychological posture which complements how they see over-communication as something shallow, panic-like, and just overall as a loss of discipline.

Their psychology also observes a quite interesting phenomenon that follows the training and reuse of dissociation as a means to meditation, which the members of the Garr tribe see as a strong manner to improve their inner sense of self and discipline, but also a way to enter that trance-state their ancestors held while standing against the horde of kin'toni for three days. It goes through, funnily enough, three days of ignoring pain, be it by stepping in coals then into sharp icicles, suppressing bodily signals (by not sleeping or eating through the three days), and ignoring a series of sensorial overwhelming signals that are forced onto the trainees.

Be it via smog or extremely sound-directed noises. This whole thing actually makes it so the Garr can withstand an extreme level of deprivation. When it comes to identity and self-perception, the members of the tribe define themselves via the pursuit of steadiness and the need to remain reliable under pressure, which is the trait they value the absolute most. Self-worth seems to overall be achieved by being able to hold positions regardless of whatever attacks them, something situational and actually functional instead of following narratives.

Although it is very inspired by their foundational myth, it evolved as a normalized matter needed to develop as an individual zu'aan within the tribe. They also observe things such as catastrophe as inevitable, making it so they’re rarely shocked by any sort of kin'toni invasions, which makes it so in practice the Garr tribe members tend to carry very little amounts of interactional energy. They experience and display low surprise and optimism, and seek to simply continue highly ready for any result that emerges from combat.

It actually does allow for the creation of a fatalist contradiction: of always seeking to be ready, but at the same time holding the pessimism of always expecting the worst end possible.

==Culture==

The cultural framework of the Garr tribe follows much of the characteristics that make that group unique, giving an unexpected starter; let's discuss their architecture. Settlements are deliberately placed far away from each other, being extremely sparse and oftentimes segmented. We see a very small amount of clustering in terms of houses or buildings in any degree. They see space as a sort of armor they're able to wear, which justifies this distancing for the Garr's tribal distribution.

It's possible to see a vast array of well-measured gaps between buildings, so very well calculated that voices could barely be heard from a housing unit to another, which is also a contributing factor to preventing eavesdropping and other sorts of breaching of privacy. Speaking of houses, they're often called dwellings due to their narrow and long shapes, pointy edges, and lines that often try to point to the horizon. There are thin windows that look more like vertical slits instead of wide rectangular openings.

Which serve a better purpose when it comes to scanning around the area for a group of kin'toni. This style might sound uncomfortable to live in, but it offers for a higher amount of vigilance that each member of the tribe can partake in on their own. Going back to that point on their distance in between different members of the tribe, this is actually put forward by a common ritual just about every member of the tribe has to go through when they reach their teenagehood, where pairs are forced into a procedure where they have to traverse large distances during a blizzard while maintaining a very set distance in between the two.

The pair never had the right to help the other during the path or to even talk to the other; otherwise, both fail, which was quite common for pairs that still weren't sure they were ready for the ritual (it was rare for others to risk going past the challenge without calling for help in a critical situation due to the obvious risk of death that might happen at a critical moment with a lack of help). Their choice of clothing was something that was unique for most of the tribes, but not particularly for a tribe living in a cold biome.

The vast majority of fashion followed layered and weighty brown clothing that was often made from combinations of animal leather, resin, and sometimes even wood and iron, really trying to give life to the dull sensation of strength and resistance instead of one of comfort enhancement. For other members that might be offered clothing from the Garr tribe, they often remark it as quite uncomfortable to wear, be it due to weight or to how prickly it might sometimes be.

Another thing they do to their bodies quite often is the practice of marking down (often with the ink that they find from some aquatical species) important things that occurred in their lifetimes on themselves. This procedure was somewhat painful due to the combination of that ink with some sharp fins that let the paint really penetrate the skin, but it was seen as necessary to always carry around important memories with them, be it of a family member, a historical figure, or perhaps a pet.

==Government==

The basis for the government style of the Garr tribe establishes political authority that follows the one metric that increases and derives from survival exclusively, that metric being age, which is respected not only on an emotional level, but especially in a functional manner, since to the Garr tribe it is undeniable that anyone who has been able to live long enough within the harsh reality of the Taiga upland has already proved an entire life of restraint and high endurance without ever coming to collapse.

This makes it so governmental power actually isn't something selected or born from one's dedication to politics; it is something accumulated within the challenges that an individual faces through their life, the peak being reached once they're as old as it gets, simply because they were able to outlast the conditions that were naturally made to kill them, making political power a byproduct of a lifetime of endurance. The structure of rule is actually exercised in quite a non-dictatorial way.

The elders of Garr (which are the members with the highest amount of political power) do not rule as absolute leaders or monarchs; they exist within a council-like system that has the sole role of regulating and deciding the matters that are able to create threats to the long-term existence of the Garr tribe, nothing else other than that really. Those sorts of potentially threatening matters are things such as their defensive postures towards invaders and actions when invaders do come.

And things such as food and water rationing, responses to potential kin'toni movement, and things such as the timing for migration or the escorting of explorer and collecting missions. In terms of succession and the rituals that are done around the cycling of political leadership, it often follows the simple pattern of appointing the individuals with the highest age of the tribe. In classic Garr fashion, it is done very simply: one of the elders dies, the next oldest one in line assumes their position, rinse and repeat.

There is no election or room for nepotism; political continuity is simply ensured by the inevitability of Lady Death herself, which, oddly enough, complements how the Garr believe in the inevitability of catastrophe. Now, this accumulation of political power around elders might give the impression that they are looked at lowly by the rest of the tribe, since those "old hags" (as some political opponents call them) simply "sit pretty and hold all the decision-making power in the tribe" (as is said by the same political opponents).

But most of the tribe has quite the interesting relationship to them, which isn't one of love, but still holds high regard for their image. They are deliberately seen as a group that is wise, and overall knows how to live through the harsh realities of the ages to come, which diverts a lot from other examples of gerontocracies, where their government is justified by moral guidance, parental figures, or an overall sentiment of "love".

==Military==

The military philosophy responsible for shaping the functioning of the Garr tribe is one that sees war and conflict as an opportunity to develop some of the most crucial traits needed to be a successful and virtuous member of the Garr tribe, some of those traits being, for example, steadiness and a strong sense of endurance, all while still trying to negate the superfluous expression of things such as unnecessary emotional explosions and overall aggressiveness, all still trying to chase that historical idea of the zu'aan wall; being able to remain standing up mattering way more than being able to kill necessarily.

Their outlook towards war is generalized around an idea of it being a sort of recurring pressure placed naturally upon zu'aan tribes. It is a political moment only to the extent of how the branches of government must focus centralized unity as a means to handle any possible threats; this sort of view towards conflict makes it so confrontations with kin'toni are more like seasonal events that can be compared to things such as blizzards, complementing their sort of pessimistic view of life, since even destruction created by the kin'toni are expected scenarios instead of any that could provide shock value.

While it does sound sort of fatalist and all, this worldview does remove a lot of risks of defeats that may be birthed from panic responses. Their standing armies follow non-permanent castes so they can avoid any sort of both defensive potential stagnation and any examples of power accumulation that have the potential of translating into political protagonism; thus, military organization becomes something that is only forced when thoroughly needed. This style of non-permanence actually follows quite a simple logic which is tied deeply to regional defense lines.

Leadership being formed on an immediate skill-based response instead of titles and whatnot, leading to command which is born during conflict and dissolved right after. The Garr have a very important skill of being able to quickly raise rows of effective fighting groups from nearly nothing, since not only is their psychological outlook onto life one which sees desertion and an overall lack of attempt to fight the inevitable as plainly unforgivable cowardice, many of the members go through independent and autonomous training so as to be able to rise for fights whenever such a thing becomes necessary.

This, in turn, mirrors their dissociation practices quite perfectly, seeing how they can put away nearly everything they are doing, pick up a pike, and act in defensive manners, also drawing from their origin myth of the three-day period of the impenetrable zu'aan-made wall. Another little detail they employ, other than pikes for combat and for architectural defenses (long wooden fences with pikes pointed outwards), is fire, which is utilized as a heavily strategic tool that is always seen at the ready for critical moments.

In the one moment they had to use it, many argued in favor of burning the whole settlement down, but the current leadership decided on creating a wall of smoke, similar to their historical example, which did hinder the kin'toni attack enough, so it turned effective once more.

==Religion==

The religion of the Garr tribe serves, in terms of practicality, as a sort of social glue utilized as a means to justify the sufferings that might arise from the tribe's promoted discipline that tries to seek a certain level of emotional inhibition so as to achieve heightened levels of endurance that most of the members of the tribe have to get to while under a heavy amount of pressure. And thus their religious outlook doesn't see existence or survival as any sort of blessing, it is simply an extension of proof that shows the results of pursuing proper restraint and posture as is promoted by any sort of religious scriptures.

The deity that is promoted by the Garr's main religion is named Hedarole, a being pure by nature, that was birthed within the sacred realm from a wide tribe of warriors, Hedarole was different due to the fact that instead of killing like its ancestors, it chose to forgive, leading to a crucial moment in their religious fiction where Hedarole stood still for three years, receiving various attacking blows from three million foes, ranging from being burnt alive, to the deepest of sword slashes.

And by the end of that time period, Hedarole came out unscathed, showing the beauty of holding a steady stance of indifference in the face of undeniable pain. Sounds familiar? That's because this founding myth does directly base itself around that repeatedly mentioned wall of zu'aan moment that guaranteed the survival of the tribe, that sacred moment, for the Garr, marked the day, or well the days, when the eyes of Hedarole eyed only the Garr as its sacred people, their very absorption into undeniable stillness and silence without breaking formation shows the tribe's unique aspect.

And legitimizes for the tribe, how that moment of endurance is to be a crucial phenomenon in shaping the disciplinary virtues that are so defended in the tribe's social norms. When it comes to the rituals, they often come in manners that try to enhance the average Garr tribal zu'aan to align themselves with the potential ideals that were left behind by their brave ancestors and by the steps of Hedarole, which include measures that are comparable to torture, but serve as a sort of attunement instead of plain punishment.

These may include extreme exposures to cold, intense week-long fasting rituals, the classic kneeling over hot coals, or spiritual practices that require the ignoring of bodily needs for days on end, all tying back directly to their dissociation training. The religion's objective as a "social glue" is to help it so the social objectives of the majority of the tribe align itself with the goal of replicating the wall's behavior, which extends itself to even death and aging rituals.

Where the prestige given to celebrate an individual and their respective individual ritual comes from how spiritually fulfilled they are, when alive, for birthdays, and during their life, for things such as burials and the respect placed on their grave.

==Miscellany==

{{NearbyGroups
| Centre = Unknown
| North = Unknown
| Northeast = Unknown
| East = Unknown
| Southeast = Unknown
| South = Unknown
| Southwest = Unknown
| West = Unknown
| Northwest = Unknown
}}

{{CrossSiteAttribution
|User = kalilbao (Discord)
|Holder = kalilbao
}}

[[Category:kalilbao's contributions]]
[[Category:5th-century Twilight Age zu'aan tribes]]

Garr Tribal Zu'aan - Revision history

Stevie Lambert: (via JWB)