Stevie Lambert: (via JWB)

2026-05-10T12:41:03Z

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{{Infobox:TwilightAgeGroup
|Type = Kin'toni clan
|Name = I'ishtar Kin'toni Clan
|Parent Groups = Unknown
|Descended Groups = Unknown
|Areas Controlled = [[Shytia Flower Island]]
|Date Founded = 338
|Date Disbanded = Unknown
}}

==History==

The I’ishtar clan calls the [[Shytia Flower Island]] their home, they are a non aligned clan that has never participated in any inter kin'toni nation wars, they don’t really believe in the concept of nationality, and this has been a feature of their society since the times of the bifurcation. They are still very much participants in the zu'aan culture which they have continued to practice zealously since they were converted. These kin'toni are descended from a zu'aan tribe and were reborn into their kin'toni lives by the gift of conversion.

One which they accepted willingly and on their own without the use of force. This non resistance to the conversion to kin'toni from zu'aan was what truly made them a rarity, and their surrender without any violent overtures was an accomplishment by the kin'toni forces that did much to boost the morale of the common populace and the soldiers, for their wilful conversion seemed to indicate that the kin'toni were indeed on the right path and their course of action was justified and even some zu'aan were able to look beyond the identity of their own race to recognise what was correct for the world.

The I'ishtar were going to become an extremely important clan due to the nature of their conversion and they were to be ambassadors for the kin'toni to the zu'aan armies that were still resisting, in order to persuade them to put down their arms and recognise the error of their ways and the superiority of the kin'toni race. These plans could never really materialise as the kin'toni had really failed to understand who the I'ishtar were and why they chose to convert to the race of kin'toni, the I'ishtar clan is an ancient clan that has survived in the thickest of forests in the landmass of Erea.

They cut off contact with the zu'aan of the cities at the time of bifurcation, when zu'aan clans made the decision as to how they wished to develop, while the I'ishtar sided with those zu'aan clans that believed the preservation and harmony with nature to be the core tenet of development, the zu'aan that made up the Xerea Empire decided that nature was simply a resource that should be modified to fit the needs of the zu'aan race. The bifurcation was not truly violent but rather final, there are no records to indicate that the zu'aan clans ever contacted one another to reach some sort of concession.

At the time of bifurcation, the zu'aan that made up the group which wanted to live in harmony with nature, outnumbered the opposition group nearly ten to one, but that ratio changed very quickly. The zu'aan that built cities and nations witnessed exponential growth in their population while the zu'aan that had turned to live in the forests slowly began to die away, although their rate of reproduction was unchanged, the manipulation the other zu'aan had been doing had resulted in release of various toxins that became harmful for zu'aan clans like the I'ishtar.

==Psychology==

It is difficult to understand the behaviour and the practices of the I'ishtar, and this is partly because of the disconnect that exists between the kin'toni that descended from the zu'aan that lived in the forests and those that lived in the cities. It has been theorised by many scholars that the I'ishtar are genetically very different from the kin'toni that have been converted from the zu'aan of the cities. Another aspect of why the I'ishtar have been difficult to study also has to do with the fact that kin'toni of this clan are truly unique.

In that there are absolutely no other kin'toni that have been converted from the zu'aan clans of the Nakeg dense forest, but there are clans converted from other tribal zu'aan tribes. At present the Mora Ava clan is known to be engaged with a clan of such zu'aan in the depths of the [[Nakeg Dense Forest|Nakeg Dense Forest]] but as of yet they have had no success in converting a kin'toni from their number. The I'ishtar have been in contact with the nation of Ashat for a good long while now, for it was the kin'toni of the Ashat empire that converted them.

However, the relationship with the I'ishtar is complicated by the fact that the kin'toni of the I'ishtar clan have been banished from the lands of Ashat for disobeying the commands of the pioneer clans council. However due to the special permission recently secured by the kin'toni of the Tal Ranoth clan from the Neloren canyon ravines, a few kin'toni of the I'ishtar were brought to the Ashatan university in order to help the teachers at the university learn more about the kin'toni of this clan and to help record their history for the benefit of the Ashatan records.

From their interactions with the kin'toni, the Tal Ranoth members are clearly amazed by the zealousness of the beliefs of the kin'toni of the clan. It was always known that the kin'toni from the clan tend to be more on the side of emotion than reason, but upon greater prying, it has been found that the kin'toni of this clan have a completely different theory about the world, and the concept of reason and logic is completely alien to them. They believe that the emotions they experience are the communication signals of the universe to them.

And they thus only act on their emotions, rarely do they apply a filter that prevents them from acting on their emotions. The I'ishtar were banned from the Ashatan lands precisely because of that part of their thinking, for instance, when the pioneer councils assigned them the task of finding and converting the zu'aan emperor of the Old empire. The council only chose them for the task because of their hunting prowess and their impressive combat ability, but most of all the council believed that having he kin'toni that had chosen the conversion cover the emperor would have symbolic value that could help them change the tide of the war.

They were sorely mistaken for even to this day the skeleton of the emperor hangs from the towers of Shytia flower island.

==Biology==

The kin'toni of the I'ishtar clan do not differ much in appearance from other kin'toni in physical appearance, at least not when they are not in motion. However once they begin moving, a change can easily be seen in the difference of their body’s mechanics. The centuries that the zu'aan who finally converted to the I'ishtar clan had lived in the forests for several centuries before the conversion happened, and in those centuries their bodies had adapted to the living conditions of the merciless forest.

The kin'toni of I'ishtar clan move differently, their gait is one of a predator, a silent hunter that moves in lightning quick moves when attacking. The kin'toni of the I'ishtar clan are mostly bipedal, in that when they are going about normal activities, they use only their feet, but once in combat, or during hunting, the kin'toni prefer to use their arms as well as their feet. As such the length of their arms is much longer than the normal kin'toni, besides the length, the width of their arms is also significant.

They are some of the fastest kin'toni in existence, and in war it is truly a terrifying to face a horde of armoured kin'toni that run on all fours. It is theorised that the kin'toni began to use all fours in imitation of the Sapien monkeys, which are mostly placed creatures but have the potential to create truly gruesome violence, and in order to be able to better navigate the forests in which they lived. Being on all fours, allowed the zu'aan of the I'ishtar clan of old to move through the dense forests without being impeded by limbs of low growing trees and plants.

In further adaptation to this unique movement, the kin'toni have thick and severely hardened hands. Their hand fingers are much harder than the toes of their feet, while their palms are as touch as leather. This makes them a great weapon as well, according to the kin'toni that have brawled with I'ishtar, their hands have been compared to clubs of wood. The I'ishtar are very much capable of knocking out a fully grown kin'toni warrior with a well connected fist, a feat that had truly been unheard of until they were discovered.

Their senses of smell, sight and sound are also very well developed, although there are certain clans that have developed a stronger ability for all of these senses, but in comparison to the generic kin'toni soldier, the I'ishtar stand apart. Evidently, this too is a result of their time in the forests as zu'aan, for they were reliant on these senses not only for the purpose of hunting but also defines of their homes from wild creatures. These biological adaptations are ideal for a class of warriors that could do a lot of damage in the battlefield.

But none of the kin'toni nations have made an attempt to recruit the kin'toni of I'ishtar due to the famous failure of the Ashat nation in using them as soldiers. They have dark purple irises with white sclera and vertical slit pupils.

==Culture==

The kin'toni of I'ishtar clan have a very combative culture, their scocietal hierarchy is very strongly entrenched in the combat ability of the individual, however unlike the warrior clans, the kin'toni of the I'ishtar clan do not use any weapons, especially against members of their own clan. The primary combat skill that is used by the members of the kin'toni clan of I'ishtar is their wrestling ability, it is a very thoroughly controlled activity during which their general callousness and cruelty disappears and introduces a reverence and discipline for the fight.

They wrestle members of their clan multiple times a day, in most instances these wrestling bouts are relied upon for making important decisions in the clan and they also greatly influence their interactions with the other members of the clan. A simple disagreement can quickly devolve into a wrestling match for tasks as simple as collecting wood for the bonfire of a family group in the clan. There are several rules and rituals that are introduced in the conduction of these bouts.

A primary one being that the kin'toni who are fighting must only use the wrestling moves that are taught as part of the clans culture, and the use of offensive moves like punching, kicking and biting are severely off limits. kin'toni that do not follow the guidelines in regards to the wrestling, may very quickly find themselves drawn up in front of the elders of the clan, and punishments can vary from having an arm of a leg severed to simple execution.

The kin'toni from outside of the clan who have been given the privilege of fighting the kin'toni of the I'ishtar clan in a wrestling bout, have made comparisons to the feeling of drowning in concrete. It isn’t simply the size of the kin'toni or even the strength of their limbs for there are kin'toni that could out perform the I'ishtar in those two areas, but rather the difficulty in wrestling with the I'ishtar has more to do with the skill of their fighting.

Their wrestling consists of set of moves that are perhaps as complex as a language and as such can be considered to make up a vocabulary that can in fact be used to communicate. Most disputes in the clan are settled by means of wrestling, and the kin'toni that participate in the bouts traditionally come out of the dispute with a better understanding of each other as well. They wrestling in the I'ishtar is an age old tradition that has been used by the kin'toni in the worship of their deity as well for the purpose of organising their society.

The I'ishtar are in fact one of the few kin'toni clans in the world that continues to practice the ages old and barbaric process of keeping slaves, a practice that most of the kin'toni nations outlawed once the concerns of the problem had been raised by their citizens, but since the kin'toni of the I'ishtar are practically outside the purview of any government, they practice it freely.

==Government==

The I'ishtar share a very unique relationship with the rest of the kin'toni nations of the world, the most unique thing about their way of governance is that it is complexity isolated from the influence of the geopolitical movements that affect the other nations. In fact, the I'ishtar don’t really consider themselves to be a part of any nation, but neither do they consider themselves to be a part of any other nation. The kin'toni have a somewhat cordial relationship with the kin'toni of the Ashat nation due to the fact that the kin'toni that converted the I'ishtar kin'toni are part of the nation.

The Tal Ranoth of the Ashatan university do believe that the kin'toni of the I'ishtar are members of their nation and record them as such in their documents. The Ashatan government on the other hand has had no official contact with the kin'toni of the clan since the day of Banishment. The Banishment is not an oft discussed topic, because the kin'toni at the time had tried to keep the information about the killing of the zu'aan emperor away from zu'aan ears, and because it was felt that though the I'ishtar deserved punishment, their pleas were ones that would resonate with the common populace.

As such in order to ensure that the war effort was not interrupted and that the soldiers morale was not affected, the event of the Banishment was suppressed in the histories. The Banishment occurred exactly two weeks after the killing of the zu'aan emperor of the Xerea Empire, the clan founder of the I'ishtar travelled to the seat of the pioneer clans’ council which was at the time a newly established body. The founder travelled to the capital to delver the head of the prince of the Xerea Empire, that had been severely mangled and disfigured by the clan members of the I'ishtar.

None of the pioneer clans were naive to the ugliness off war, but rumour has it that many of the representatives from the council had to excuse themselves from the chamber after witnessing the horrible fate of the zu'aan prince. The I'ishtar had been charged with the capture of the zu'aan emperor and his royal household, their instructions by the council had been clear, they were required to track the emperor, and convert him to a kin'toni, either themselves or bring him tied up to the capital for one of the pioneer clans to do it.

The were expressly told that the importance of their mission was insurmountable and the successful fulfilment of the objectives could well mean the end of the war with the zu'aan, as the emperor could be used to have the zu'aan armies surrender. There are many legends about why the I'ishtar failed, and the most common narrative is one that talks about their mental capacity. It is commonly believed that the I'ishtar though brilliant at several things, are basically little more than savages who do not have the capacity to reason like other kin'toni.

==Military==

Those who question the mental capacity of the I'ishtar are sorely mistaken for they have never seen the kin'toni conduct war, the I'ishtar are certainly not warriors, and refuse to fight others with any other weapons besides their hands. The I'ishtar are a terrifying opponent, because they completely fail to follow any conventional tenets of war that are so thoroughly ingrained in the typical soldier that it is almost like common sense to them. The I'ishtar defy all of that logic, they attack when they should be retreating, the press their opponent in odd ways, leading to get in each others way.

The Llyth warriors, who are thought to consist of some of the most established warriors in the world, remark that the I'ishtar fight without an iota of honour, for the I'ishtar the war is won with death or slavery, they donot believe in bringing an enemy down with strength alone but rather use mental strategies as well. They are most effective at goading their enemies into attacking them in anger by making profane gestures or cruelly slaughtering their comrades.

The I'ishtar are effective at war, and certainly are a force to be reckoned with, however they are not used or relied upon by the kin'toni armies of the Ashat nation as they are practically impossible to control, and even following orders, they aren’t truly doing so. For instance, their mission for the capture of the emperor and his royal household was thought to be going really well, when the emperor was tracked to the Shytia flower Island by the kin'toni of the I'ishtar clan, the pioneer clans’ council sent them support troop.

This was in the form of kin'toni naval fleet to break through the armada of the emperor which was guarding the island. The naval battle was particularly challenging, and the kin'toni fleet couldn’t completely overpower the armada, and finally settled on creating an opening in the defence of the island rather than focusing on destroying the ship fleet altogether. The opening was created and only the I'ishtar were sent forward into the island to capture and convert the emperor.

The rest of the events that occurred on the island are unclear, the founder has made an explanation to the council that covered the basics of what occurred, but there are others that claim the founder only ever scratched the surface of what occurred on the island. These counter claims against the statement of the founder of the I'ishtar clan have been made by the sailors that manned the fleet of the kin'toni navy as the I'ishtar invaded the island.

The founder claims that the kin'toni of his clan were possessed by the force of nature, an entity that they worship and perceive differently to how other kin'toni view it. The founder further believes that it was the entity that was responsible for whatever occurred on the island as the torture of their god had been so tremendous at the spot, most of the kin'toni anger had combined with the nature’s intent.

==Religion==

The kin'toni of the world over believe in nature, which is a complex system that is believed to care and nurture the environment as well as all the organisms that live in it. kin'toni everywhere have their own understanding of what exactly nature encompasses, the common view is one that is all encompassing, wherein it is felt that nature consists of everything, beginning with the air in the atmosphere to the moon and stars in the sky. Others however believe that nature is only that which is found on the planet itself, and so discount things like the sun and the moon from being a part of nature.

The I'ishtar belong to none of these schools of thought, according to them, nature is a living and breathing entity that lives within the core of the planet, which is why all plants grow from below and not from above. The I'ishtar have complex rituals that they practice in order to pray to their god, and to secure her favour, these kin'toni also believe that nature is a difficult and cruel god, who punishes those who disobey her commands, furthermore, the I'ishtar believe that her punishments are severely harsh.

The god communicates with the kin'toni of the clan by means of their feelings, when they are forced to feel a certain way even though the situation within which they are demands a different emotion, they can assume that they are being touched by their goddess. So when the kin'toni invaded the Shytia flower island, they truly hadn’t planned any of the actions that they are accused of having committed, although they stand by the actions that occurred on the island for two reasons, the first being the demand of their goddess, and the second being the unrepentant nature of the zu'aan emperor.

The founder claimed that as soon as the kin'toni laid their feet on to the flower island, they were taken over by their goddess, who filled them all with a white hot burning rage. The small team of I'ishtar when they landed on the island had been severely outnumbered and were going to face an army of the guardsmen whose skill at fighting are renowned, until today the traditions of the guardsmen continue to influence kin'toni warriors of the Kauie clan. Those kin'toni who were sent to the Shytia flower island to examine the island for the evidence of the account that had been laid out by the I'ishtar founder.

They were completely shocked by the size of the force that the kin'toni hd fought and killed prior to reaching the emperor and his family. The reports of those that witnessed the battle site unequivocally claim, that the size and the skill of the foe was far too great. All reputed commanders would agree, that a victory for the I'ishtar against such a foe would be an impossible task, and in contrast to this assessment the I'ishtar claim that not only did they win, but they did so without any casualties.

==Miscellany==

The kin'toni of the I'ishtar clan believe that they were able to tide through that battle due to the help of their deity, who filled not only their hearts with anger and pain, but filled their arms and legs with the force of a hundred men. The account of the founder goes on to talk about how the zu'aan soldiers refused to be swayed from their task of protecting the emperor and his family, and although the kin'toni tried their best to save the lives of the guardsmen so that some of them may be able to preserved from death and instead given the gift of nature and converted to being kin'toni, they were unsuccessful.

Filled with the desire of their god, the kin'toni of the clan made quick work of the forces of the guardsmen after they had decided to kill them all. Once all of the guardsmen had been killed, they descended on the central palace that had been used by the emperor and his loved ones. The castle was filled to bursting with people that shared blood with the emperor, although the I'ishtar had wanted to spare their lives so that they maybe used to win the war against the zu'aan armies, but nature was clear that none of the zu'aan that shared blood with the emperor would be allowed her gift.

Therefore, the kin'toni of the I'ishtar killed all four hundred of the zu'aan that were found in the castle, including not only the royal family but also the servants and other non related zu'aan. The emperor and his eldest son were found in the basement where they had been hiding from the noise of the carnage that had been occurring in the main castle. Those that have seen the bodies of the emperor and the prince claim that their deaths were slow and painful things for it appears that the zu'aan prince was killed very slowly and in full view of the emperor.

The emperor’s skeleton still hangs from the parapet of the castle that he had once called his home, according to the founder, all the actions and tortures they inflicted on the prince and his emperor were done as part of their religious rituals that were aimed at assuaging the hurt and anger of Nature. The morbidly painful death of the emperor and his kin was said to be a consequence of the zu'aan emperor had destroyed nature throughout the land but most particularly on the flower island.

Where nature was meant to wild and untamed, the zu'aan emperor had not only shackled the force but enslaved it, and manipulated it without a care for how truly painful the actions were for the deity. At the time of the Banishment, the kin'toni and the zu'aan armies had finally begun a dialogue that was thought to be going well, the Ashatan armies had wanted to negotiate a complete surrender of all the zu'aan armies once thy had access to the zu'aan emperor but their plan failed miserably and the war continues even to this day because the I'ishtar failed to obey the commands they were given.

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

{{CrossSiteAttribution
| User = [https://www.freelancer.in/u/anmoldkaushal Anmold Kaushal]
| Holder = Anmold Kaushal
}}

[[Category:4th-century Twilight Age kin'toni clans]]
[[Category:Anmold Kaushal's contributions]]

I'ishtar Kin'toni Clan - Revision history

Stevie Lambert: (via JWB)