Stevie Lambert: (via JWB)

2026-05-08T10:20:52Z

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{{Infobox:TwilightAgeGroup
|Type = Zu'aan tribe
|Name = Nez Tribal Zu'aan
|Parent Groups = N/A
|Descended Groups = Unknown
|Areas Controlled = [[Ough Temperate Plains]]
|Date Founded = 4E 407
|Date Disbanded = N/A
}}

==History==
The history of the Nez tribe stretches back to 4E 210, with the emergence of what would later become the Nezdehy and Mayaz clans. These clans situated themselves on the border of the Ough plains, near the River Zetrina and within the city of Krahinez, from which the name of the tribe is derived. According to the records held by these tribes, the ruler of the city of Krahinez alternated between these two clans, which eventually became the upper class of Krahinezan society as the city’s population & territory grew. Of this population, 3 of the commoner clans (the Mazdany, the Vatrizy, and the Hakhiz) claim descent, stating that their founders originated during this period. Overall, these 5 clans comprise the Krahinian clans, and hold higher status within the tribe compared to the remaining 11 clans.

In the middle of the Shattering, these clans were forced out of Krahinez after the city was destroyed when a kin’toni clan attacked it, resulting in massive casualties for the rest of the city’s population. However, before the city was destroyed, these clans decided to flee the city and leave their populace behind, an event which the Nez religion later refers to as “the tribe’s first sin”. From this point onward, the clans had to give up their prestigious and cushy roles as administrators of the city, and now had to survive on the Ough plains, which they were forced into by repeated kin’toni and zu’aan attacks. fter convening in the rough center of the Ough plains – where there was a large hill – the 5 clans agreed to look after each other and begin their conquest of other tribes in an attempt to restore the glory that they once had with the city of Krahinez.

Furthermore, the clans agreed to draft a “law of ''Deu''” – the god that they worshiped – so that future generations may also worship the same god that they had in the days of Krahinez. With this law in place, the clans elected the leader of the Mayaz clan, Sayvez, as overall leader of the 5 clans. Thus was the Nez tribe born. Over the years, the Nez continued to expand into the southeastern and eastern portions of the Ough plains, annexing 5 smaller tribes that the tribe later recognized as clans. These clans – the Sayzi, the Maykhire, the Crastyv, the Trazy and the Khalaz – are referred to as the “early Ough clans”, with there being 10 clans by the time that the Nez had consolidated their control over this vast territory.

Sometime after this period, the Nez began to adopt more fundamentalist religious views, arguing for the destruction of other religions that – even if somewhat related to theirs – were seen as heresies and blasphemies to the one true ''Deu''. This adoption of fundamentalism is stated to have begun due to the belief that the Nez were superior to other tribes (as they held the most power in the Ough plains), thus allowing them to exact their decisions upon the other tribes and forcing their absorption into the Nez tribe. The remaining 6 clans – referred to as the “late Ough clans” – reluctantly accepted the decision of the Nez, though came in time to accept the benefits that their membership in the tribe held, thus becoming some of the most vocal and loyal supporters of the tribe (besides the Krahinian clans).

==Psychology==

The Nez zu’aan remain isolated compared to other tribes as a result of the vast distances that their territory covers. Because of these distances, the average time to reach the nearest Nez clan can take days; thus, each Nez clan must be highly diverse in their abilities, which range from woodworking to swordsmanship and archery. These skills are vital in the survival of the Nez over the vast Ough plains, as they help them to defend against the kin’toni and the zu’aan that chance upon each of the clans. Thus, the Nez Code (an unwritten set of rules amongst the “commoner clans” that has remained mostly the same over the years) encourages each member of the Nez to remain ready for war & ready for peace, indicating their dual role as warriors and specialized workers. T

his practice of a “dual life” is further reinforced in the theology of the Nez religion, which makes this distinction a key feature of its religious texts. The Nez are also very religious in regards to the religion, as it is mandated to worship the god of the religion on occasion and blasphemy in regards to it is punishable by death. Thus, the Nez are more inclined to attack other tribes, charging their people as blasphemous and their religions & gods as heresies that must be extinguished at all cost, whether by conversion or mass execution. This illustrates the fundamentalist view of the average member of the Nez, who usually believes that only ''his'' religion and ''his'' god are correct, and the others that exist in the world must be overpowered & destroyed.

This is in contrast to the neighboring zu’aan tribes, who – while more or less worship the same god as the Nez – are seen as heretics for not properly abiding by the religious codes brought down by said god. The Nez are thus seen in a much more negative light by their neighbors – who have vast stories of Nez raids into their respective territories – and are variously condemned by the great tribes of the surrounding areas. Nonetheless, these condemnations of the great tribes have not stopped the Nez from obtaining a vast amount of resources and slaves, the latter of which are put into a lesser clan that is ranked below the commoner clans of the Nez, despite the insistence of the tribe & the Nez Code that slaves be treated fairly.

However, this depiction of the Nez only provides one half of the life that the Nez live on the Ough plains. On the other hand, the Nez are further expected to fulfill specialized roles within their tribe, so that the tribe as a whole may survive across the plains. While their skills may be various (as mentioned above), each clan overall has a singular job that each member above a certain age must fulfill. In this way, each clan acts as a separate industry, exporting the products of their work to the rest of the tribe (while allowing the producing clan to keep some of it for themselves if deemed important for the survival of the tribe).

==Culture==
===Marriage===
The practice of marriage is usually done within one’s clan, as nearby clans would be too isolated for a marriage to be easily approved, organized & held. In order to prevent cases of incest amongst closely-related individuals, each party must present to the local clan government several pieces of evidence – including evidence from the records of the tribe – that prove that both parties are at least 10th cousins. After these records are determined to be legitimate, the clan leader records this marriage as valid in the physical records of the tribe. The marriage ceremony itself is elaborately planned by the families of both parties to the marriage in the months leading up to it; it is usually held in the territory of the clan that the groom belongs to.

Usually, a circular tent (similar to the yurts of the Mongols) is set up for the marriage ceremony to occur in; once each of the families are in attendance, the tribe leader blesses the marriage and signifies that both parties to the marriage are “hereby conjoined by our God…and shall eternally remain so forever”. After this, the ceremony proper begins, which includes a feast of many foods prepared by both families as an offering to each other. This ceremony usually lasts for some hours, after which the parties are considered married.

===Craftsmanship===

Due to the isolation of each of the Nez clans, each clan is practically required to create their own tools and weaponry to defend themselves against the attacks of the kin’toni and to wage war on the other zu’aan tribes. In order to preserve these tools for long periods of time (since resources are scarce in the Ough plains), these tools are created with materials that ensure that these tools don’t have to be repaired for a while. Because of this, the tools and weapons of the Nez are highly sought after; a previous leader of the Mazdany clan noted reports of other zu’aan tribes seizing the weaponry of a Nez raiding group and turning the raiding group loose to return to their clan.

Aware of the status of their tools, the Nez take great care in protecting them from other zu’aan tribes, as there are known instances of these tribes entering and pillaging Nez clans in an attempt to find them. Because of this, they are seen by the Nez as divinely inspired, and thus something that should not fall into the hands of blasphemers and heretics. Thus, the Nez have increasingly begun to go on defensive operations against other tribes seeking to loot their clans, contrasting their usual behavior of raiding other tribes.

===''Rechos tribos''===
''Rechos tribos'' – or “records of the tribe” – refers to the physical records that each clan (& the overall tribe) has concerning their clan. This practice is done to ensure the legitimacy of each of the clans that comprise the Nez tribe. The practice was instituted sometime after the Nez settled the Ough plains to ensure that other tribes wouldn’t attempt to maliciously join the tribe and interfere with it internally, as these tribes were usually unable to produce any records linking them to the past. To continue to ensure the clans of the Nez are still legitimate, their ''rechos'' (“records”) are checked annually to ensure that they haven’t been altered by anyone except the clan leader.

==Government==
===Clan system===

The authority of the Nez tribe lies in the leader of the entire tribe, who holds life-and-death power and is revered as a god-like figurehead. Given the isolation of the tribe, however, his authority is rarely used in-person, and is instead delegated to the various clans that comprise the Nez tribe. These clan leaders – with the blessing of the tribe leader – are allowed to convene local governments themselves that dictate the policy of the clan, as long as it is in line with the overall law of the clan. Because of this delegation of authority, each of the clan heads themselves are seen as godlike, and thus their word cannot be questioned under pain of death.

Each of the clans claims descent from an ancestor during the early days of the 2nd era – to verify these records, physical records are kept by the clan and are inherited by each successive leader, who adds their name to the records to indicate each of the leaders of a clan and how long they ruled the clan for. If a new clan appears to form, it must provide such physical records, which must be verified to ensure that they are not forgeries or frauds of any sort. If they are verified to be legitimate, the clan is recognized and all those descended from the common ancestor are allowed to claim membership within the newly formed clan. To claim membership of a falsified clan is subject to various punishments (excluding death), while claiming the membership of one of the 4 prestigious clans of the Nez is punishable by death.

As of the present age, there are currently 20 such clans within the Nez tribe, with the Trazy clan being the largest (with some 3,000 members) and the Nezdehy clan – the ruling clan of the Nez – being the smallest (~100 members). Each of these clans – except the 4 prestigious clans (the Nezdehy, the Mayaz, the Zhaydi, and the Retri) – are each specialized to perform a specific task, though these 16 “commoner clans” may be called up for military service at any point in time. Underneath each of the clans is a “below clan”, which comprises every prisoner of war and slave that the Nez keeps; because of their low status, they are usually mistreated & abused by the Nez.

===Overall government===
The leader of the tribe – together with the other 19 clan heads – comprises the uppermost level of government within the Nez zu’aan. Each of the clan heads – excluding that of the Nezhedy – are allowed to form local governments with the consent of the tribe leader, which allows for the decentralization (but not devolution) of the overall tribe government. Each of these clan governments are given ''authar tribos'' – that is, the authority of the tribe – which allows them to act as if they were the overall tribe’s government in relation to their respective clans. Thus, they are each given life-and-death powers over their clans, but are usually encouraged by the tribe leader to exercise restraint and impartiality in using these powers.

Furthermore, each of the clans are allowed to establish local legislature that enact policy to be followed by the entire clan, though this policy must not contravene the policy of the entire tribe and can further be vetoed by the clan or tribe leader.

==Military==
Because of the war-like nature of the Nez, warfare (and, by extension, the military) are seen as important ways of life to each of the tribes. Due to this, any of the 16 commoner clans of the Nez can be called up at any point in time to serve as warriors for the entire tribe, with the 4 prestigious clans serving as their commanders. When a clan is called up into service, each of its members are individually tested to ensure that they are disciplined and are well-trained enough to serve in battle, after which they are formally commissioned into the military of the Nez for a period of time. Those that fail this test are temporarily assigned to a different clan until the clan’s commission in service is over/

Afterwhich the clan returns to its territory and the members that fail return back to their original clan, albeit in disgrace. Currently, 4 of the 16 commoner clans – comprising some 5,000 people – are commissioned within the Nez military. Once a clan is in commission, it is assigned a commander from one of the 4 prestigious clans (the Nezdehy, the Mayaz, the Zhaydi, or the Retri), who further forms a class of subordinates that will give the commander’s orders to each of the soldiers personally. These subordinates are chosen from among the highest-ranking members of the commissioned clan, and are usually on good terms with the commander, allowing them to be given his trust to send out his orders on his behalf.

Thus, the commander does not have to go to each of the clan’s members and give the order, and can instead focus on other tasks as his subordinates spread word of his order to his soldiers. These subordinates also lead small units that, altogether, comprise the membership of the clan, allowing for more flexible movement of the clan in battle. After the period of time that the clan is scheduled to serve, the clan is considered decommissioned. The decommissioning of a clan is done in a ceremony which occurs at whatever encampment that the clan has chosen to be at. Firstly, the subordinates appear before the commander and hand him their short swords, a gift from the commander that signifies their positions as his subordinates.

Next, each member of the clan goes before the commander and formally thanks him for serving as his commander, to which the commander replies by thanking him in return and honorably ending his commission. After this has been done for every member of the clan, the commander then appoints 3 people – each of which knowing where the clan’s territory is located at – and dismisses the clan, ordering those 3 people to lead the clan back to their territory, which for their period of commission was taken care of by a neighboring clan. The way back to their ancestral homes is usually done with much celebration and drinking, although the members of the clan must ensure that they do not get so drunk that they cannot ride their horses.

==Religion==

The religion of the Nez is part of an overarching “Nez–Traphy religious family”, which comprises a list of religions that more or less follow the same monotheistic god, although with different theologies. Scholars theorize that the split in these religions occurred sometime in the Awakening Age (early 4E), when the tribes of these religions became more isolated due to the rise in kin’toni attacks and the fall of civilization. Due to these differences, the Nez believe themselves to be the only true religion out of the group, and go out of their way to try and exterminate the other religions & impose their religion upon the other members of the religious family.

The theology of the Nez religion centers around a monotheistic god that first created the world & the skies at the same time, then proceeded to form the environment that the Nez now lived in. This god – who is unnamed and otherwise referred to as ''Deu'' (“God”) – lives a “dual life” of ''Deu-Warzy'' (“worker god”) and ''Deu-Whaiz'' (“warrior god”); while he can be one or the other at some point in time, at no point may he appear as both; the exceptions to this are at the beginning and end of the world, when ''Deu'' is stated to have appeared (and will appear) in all of his glory and splendor. The Nez look forward to the so-called end of the world, as it will be the time when ''Deu'' shall finally subjugate the tribes of the world (including those of the kin’toni) and shall smash their “false idols”, resulting in the entire world worshipping only him.

The Nez believe that, for the end of the world to come about, several conditions must first be met in regards to the people of the tribe. Firstly, the Nez people must be cleared of sin in a mass ceremony held by each of the clan leaders, wherein a sacrifice is offered by each clan leader in regards to the sins of their respective clan members. Second, this specific ceremony may only be done once certain signs are noted, the specifics of which are kept a secret by the clan leaders. Finally, all of the Nez must worship ''Deu'' and only
''Deu'' through their works and beliefs, given that there are small minorities of the tribe that opt to worship other gods.

The worship of ''Deu'' is led by the tribe leader, who is selected from one of the 4 prestigious leaders to rule over the rest of the tribe. Because of his position as high priest of Deu, he is seen as divinely guided – as are his subordinate clan leaders by way of ''authar tribos'' – and therefore has the responsibility of ensuring that he abides by the so-called “law of ''Deu''”, which was passed down from generation to generation beginning sometime in the mid-2nd era. By ensuring he follows this law, the tribe leader ensures his legitimacy with the clan leaders, as well as the populace, who are aware of the tenets that the law prescribes.

As of the latest checking of the ''rechos'', roughly 98% of the tribe worships ''Deu'', with the other 2% following other religions in the Nez-Traphy family. These 2% are usually condemned and shunned from events held by the Nez by way of being heretics, and are therefore outcasts in Nez society.

==Miscellany==

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

{{CrossSiteAttribution
|User = candyybb
|Holder = candyybb
}}

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

Nez Tribal Zu'aan - Revision history

Stevie Lambert: (via JWB)