Stevie Lambert: (via JWB)

2026-05-10T12:40:41Z

(via JWB)

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{{Infobox:TwilightAgeGroup
|Type = Kin'toni clan
|Name = Ryndban Kin'toni Clan
|Parent Groups = Unknown
|Descended Groups = Unknown
|Areas Controlled = [[Tor'rila Red Sand Dune]]
|Date Founded = 4E 123
|Date Disbanded = N/A
}}

==History==

The Ryndban clan of kin’toni lived in the [[Tor'rila Red Sand Dune]]. They were forced into the harsh Tor’rila deserts not long after the beginning of the first age, when they clashed with another kin’toni clan and were defeated, and were forced to flee, finding themselves settling in the harsh wasteland of the desert. They were not the only denizens of the dunes, as it became a common place for the wandering zu’aan tribes to travel. As they were relying on it’s unrelenting sunlight to protect them from kin’toni. For a time, this worked, and the numbers of the Ryndban clan began to dwindle as they struggled to hide from the light of the day.

After a time, their bodies began to adapt, and they learnt to burrow under the sand and sleep while the sun was out, and emerge to the cool air of the night. During the night they stalk and hunt down zu’aan tribes and creatures of the desert. They where feeding and eating in a primal frenzy. After the initial loss of numbers, the clan remained small, barely over a hundred in the clan at most times. The harsh lifestyle kept the population low, as the environment could not support very many kin’toni. Because of this, fighting within the clan was common.

As if a member believed another kin’toni to be in any way holding the clan back or weak, they would attack mercilessly and destroy them, this was to ensure the clan’s survival. The weak died, and only the strong could live in the Tor’rila dunes. They did not often come into contact with other kin’toni clans, as no other kin’toni ever voluntarily entered the desert, fearing the lack of cover and protection from the sun, and lacking the adaptations the Ryndban had to burrow under the sand and escape from the light. However, periodically a small group of kin’toni, around ten, were sent to attack and raid other clans.

In order to test their strength and test if the clan could overcome them and claim territory outside of the desert. Twice they have attempted this, with the first instance being a failure, with the entire clan being defeated soundly and sent back to the desert. The second attempt was successful, if only partially. At first they won, and claimed the rich and fertile hills outside the deserts. But it was not even a month before they were challenged once more and the survivors retreated to the desert once more.

Since that defeat, the clan has been more hesitant to attack. They continue to send raids periodically, but have not launched a full clan attack at any point since then, instead eking out a poor and tough living in the desert. Though for the most part, the Ryndban clan has a much tougher life than other clans, they also have advantages. The desert attracts many of the nomadic zu’aan tribes, providing them with more zu’aan blood than most clans ever have, and the decreased size of their clan means that whatever blood and kills are claimed, are split fewer ways.

==Biology==

The Ryndban clan have a unique appearance among the kin’toni. Years spent sleeping under the red sands of the Tor’rila sand dunes has led to their skin taking on an orange-red hue, similar to that of the sands they reside in. The older members of the clan also have wavy black markings across the torso and head. All Ryndban kin’toni are completely hairless, with their heads completely bald and no body hair visible. Their bodies are tall and spindly, with long arms and legs, with a very thin chest and shoulders. The hands are wide and partially webbed, designed to make it easy for the kin’toni to push their way through sand and dig under the dunes to where the sand does not penetrate.

Despite their emaciated appearance, they are surprisingly strong, with a lot of power concealed in their thin bodies. When sleeping underground their bodies curl up into very compact balls, taking up very little space and barely disturbing the sand above them, masking their location. Each hand has only four fingers, with fleshy webbing between them. Each finger is tipped with a hard, sharp talon, perfect for slashing and killing prey in quick, powerful strikes. The feet have three toes, with the same webbing and talons present in the hands. They are very fast and can run great distances with ease in short time.

The eyes have orange irises, with black sclera, and vertically beaded pupils. The eyes are strangely large, and they have excellent vision in the dark, but bright light blinds and incapacitates them. Anything brighter than a torch or campfire will cause them to shut their eyes in pain, or attempt to shield the face. The face is long and thin, and very bony in appearance, similar to the rest of the body. The nose is flat, but with long thin nostrils, and they have an excellent scent of smell, which they use to track down prey, and find zu’aan tribes. The ears lie flat on the side of the head, and are quite sensitive.

Though the kin’toni must turn their ears to face the source of a sound to properly use their auditory talents, as their positioning flattened against the head is not ideal for catching sound waves. The neck is long and thin, and is easily breakable with a solid blow by a strong fighter or opponent. They lack true voice boxes or speech, communicating through basic retching and grunts, using body language to get their point across. They are also not very intelligent, with small craniums and skulls, and not much by way of learning or tactics. Their blood is very watery and thin, and can be either green or yellow.

The veins stand out against their skin, and when a kin’toni is particularly malnourished, the green or yellow of their blood will stand out quite starkly against the orange of the skin. The teeth are pointed and serrated, made for biting through meat, or for biting and gripping onto prey so that it cannot escape.

==Culture==

The Ryndban clan are not civilized or cultured in any way. Incapable of speech or complex, higher though processes, they act on instinct and aggression, similar to beasts in the wild. In the Ryndban clan, they work firmly on the clan of “survival of the fittest”. Food and water are limited, and only the strong and useful survive. If any kin’toni show weakness or do not contribute enough to the group. The clan will not hesitate to rip them apart and feed on them, if not enough food is available. At most times, there are only around a hundred members of the clan, as any more than that cannot be supported by the environment.

The clan recognize this, and therefore very rarely turn zu’aan, except by accident. Most members of the clan are very old, as it is a rare occurrence for any of the powerful, elder kin’toni to succumb to weakness and be killed. Most often, it is the weaker, younger kin’toni that are killed and replaced to keep the clan strong. These kin’toni do not wear clothes of any type, but rather travel round naked, sometimes on all fours like an animal, at times they may paint markings on their bodies using blood from enemies or prey, but there is no discernible pattern or meaning behind the markings. Instead they seem to be done on a whim, completely randomly.

It is customary in the clan that they eat in order of strength. After a hunt has been completed, the strongest kin’toni has first pick of the meat, followed in order by the next strongest kin’toni. Because of this, the newest (and therefore seen as weakest) kin’toni often do not receive enough to eat, leading to displays of weakness, and their destruction. This is the reason why the strongest kin’toni in the Ryndban clan are always the eldest. Although it is not known of this was intentional, or just a facet of their bestial nature. Gender does not matter to this clan.

Females and males are equal, and gender is not seen. All that matters is your strength. The clan is quite evenly split between genders, but it has been noted that most of the eldest kin’toni appear to be female, while newer kin’toni more often tend to be male. Though they are not capable of reproduction, sex and sexual acts are still part of the lives of the Ryndban clan. At times, the clan appear to go into some form of heat, and begin to wildly and senselessly copulate with one other, regardless of gender or strength relationship. This is a very uncommon trait for kin’toni.

And it is suspected they have fallen so far into a bestial form that they have completely lost sense and logic to the degree they do what they believe animals are expected to do. Despite the futility and impossibility of what they attempt.

==Government==

The Ryndban clan have no formal government or laws, instead just following the strongest member of the pack. Whichever kin’toni is currently the most powerful will take the lead, taking the clan to attack or stay wherever they choose. This leadership changes from time to time, but the usual leader of the clan is an ancient female kin’toni with black rings around her eyes. She has been seen to be particularly fond of oases. Often leading the Ryndban to them and remaining there for weeks at a time before moving. She has also been seen to be particularly vicious, not hesitating for a moment to attack and kill anything in her path.

And frequently seen cannibalizing weak members of the clan who disappoint her. She has constantly been the strongest and most powerful member of the clan, and as such, she always has first choice of any meat and food the clan has hunted. Another common leader of the clan is a younger male, who has only been in the clan for around seventy years, and he most often leads the raids into other territories. He seems to be unusually strong and fast, which has earned him respect and power in the clan. Every few weeks he gathers a group of around ten kin’toni from the clan and leads them out of the desert to scout.

And to raid various kin’toni clans and zu’aan cities in the areas surrounding the desert. Though he often loses clan members in these raids, he always escapes unscathed himself, another fact that earns him respect within the clan, and allows him to keep his position. He seems to have less interest in the zu’aan than the rest of the Ryndban clan, and appears to particularly enjoy attacking other kin’toni clans. He also appears to be more intelligent than the rest of the clan, making intelligent observations when attacking. Coupled with his strength and speed, these observations make him a force to be reckoned with in battle.

This clan lives in a hierarchy defined by strength. The more powerful the clan knows you to be, the more authority you have in the clan. Kin’toni who are successful hunters, or are particularly savage in battle, are viewed as the most powerful of the clan. Any newly turned kin’toni have a very tough time attempting to survive. They must be truly strong to rise in the ranks of the Ryndban clan. Almost all of the most powerful members of the clan are old, having learned and grown in power at the start of the clan’s residence in the dunes, and retained that strength for decades to ensure they keep their position.

Though there are a few young kin’toni that have risen to positions of power, they are not common, and are typically unusually fast and strong in order to achieve this position.

==Military==

The Ryndban kin’toni do not have any form of organized military or army, as the entire clan is focused on combat and fighting. There are no kin’toni in the clan who do anything but fight, and their low intelligence and bestial nature prevents them from truly organizing or forming into sophisticated forms. Instead, they rely on their strength, speed, and brutal savagery to overwhelm and obliterate their foes. They attack as a mass of bodies of slashing claws and biting teeth. They make no use of weaponry or tools, simply attacking directly with their bodies. Their enhanced speed allows them to strike without any chance of warning or defence.

And their sharp talons cause deep, cutting wounds that are often deadly. Their great strength allows them to leap powerfully at enemies, crossing great distances in seconds to strike without warning. In combat, as in everything else, the clan follows the strongest kin’toni present, attacking upon their whims and choices. In battle they become bestial, growling and roaring manically as they wildly strike and cut anything in their path, often even injuring other kin’toni of their own clan. This makes them a difficult foe to face, as anything short of a deadly injury will not stop them, their berserker rage blocking out all pain as they fight on.

Tirelessly slashing at all foes till nothing moves, and all that is left is blood. Even a small group of Ryndban kin’toni are fearsome in battle. The small groups of raiding groups that strike into other kin’toni clans territory can often attack, slay many enemies, and leave. The weakness they have is their lack of intelligence. If they can get close and overwhelm an enemy, they can easily claim victory. But it is very simple and easy to use tactics against them, as these kin’toni have no concept of planning or preparing to face a foe, and blindly attack an enemy.

A larger force armed with ranged weapons, and led by a competent leader, can quite easily defeat Ryndban kin’toni in battle if they plan correctly. At times, after defeating other, more advanced clans. Ryndban members have picked up and inspected weaponry. As if curious, but have never seemed to make the connection between it’s appearance and its use, simply dropping it carelessly after a time. They understand that weapons can be used against them, and at times will strike precisely to disarm an opponent, and yet they still cannot seem to learn the use of weaponry themselves, beyond the most basic of attempts, such as throwing a rock at an opponent, or using a rock to cave in the skull of a felled enemy.

The only use of any type of intelligent attack that they have displayed is the use of stealth. They will often sneak up unseen to an enemy before attacking, roaring and howling, from the shadows, striking a devastating blow before they can be countered. This is their favoured method of attacking zu’aan clans, as they appear to understand in a basic sense that zu’aan can only fight back from a distance with ranged weapons. Even if they do not seem capable of understanding the concept of these ranged weapons or their use.

==Religion==

The Ryndban clan do not have a formal, organized religion, and do not follow or believe in any god or spirit. They do seem to have certain rituals and traditions they follow, though it is not clear why they have these or where they originated. As previously explained, after a hunt, food portions are chosen in order of strength and importance to the clan. Before this process begins, the clan have a strange ritual. All the meat that has been gathered for the night’s feeding are placed in one large pile, and the clan form a wide ring about it, and stand motionless for a number of minutes.

After some time has passed, the first, most powerful member of the clan will approach and claim their meal. As they do this, the rest of the clan begin to sway from side to side, watching as the kin’toni claims its meal. They will then retreat to their spot; meat carried with them, and begin swaying as well. This swaying continues as kin’toni after kin’toni approach and claim their meal. This continues until the final member of the clan claims their meal from the remains, and they all halt, before dispersing to all eat their claimed meat alone where they will not be disturbed.

A different ritual is conducted when the clan goes to drink water from an oasis. Most of the water they consume comes from the blood they drink and the meat they eat, But once a month at minimum, they seek out one of the oases of the desert to drink from. Most of these are just simple pools of water in the desert with some simple plants or grass growing around it. When the clan comes to one of these oases they begin their strange ritual. Each kin’toni fetches some form of plant from the surrounding area, whether it is a leaf, or a blade of grass, or an entire plant, ripped from the ground.

The weakest member of the clan approaches the water and takes a short drink, before returning to the clan. Then, the leader, who is the strongest, approaches the water, and drinks their fill, before dropping the plant they took into the water. They are followed by the next strongest kin’toni, which follows the same process, and this continues till every kin’toni in the clan has drunk their fill, and deposited some type of plant into the water.
As soon as this is done, the clan leave. It is unknown why they never linger at these oases, despite their obvious benefits and assistance, but it has never been seen to be any different.

As soon as the last, weakest member of the clan has drunk and dropped a plant in the water, the entire clan leaves without delay. It is also known that they never return to the same oasis twice in a row, and always leave a good amount of time before returning to an oasis they have visited before.

==Miscellany==

The Ryndban clan are incapable of speech. They communicate only through various grunts and howls, making very animalistic, bestial noises which many zu’aan find disturbing to hear. They do not appear to have a defined language, but rather seem to rely on body language and tone to communicate ideas. They do not wear clothes, and don’t seem to care about nudity. They are completely hairless, and make no effort to conceal their genitals or body. At times it may even seem they try to do the opposite. At seemingly random times the clan will go into a state very similar to an animal’s period of heat in nature, and attempt to mat.

And at these times the kin’toni appear to go to extra effort to display their bodies and inspect the bodies of others. They spend the sunlight hours sleeping under the red sand dunes, curled into very compact, small balls to conserve space and to try limit the disturbance of the sand above them. While they sleep, their bodies absorb heat from the sand around them, and when the sun sets they rise from the desert and begin to roam the freezing cold night, with their absorbed heat keeping them warm in the freezing temperatures of the nocturnal desert. They have no concept of tools or how to use them.

And make no attempt to learn of them. Any tools they find at zu’aan tribes or at kin’toni clans are immediately discarded or ignored. Weapons are treated in a similar way, though some kin’toni at least seem to recognize them from use in battle and may temporarily hold or look at weapons till they lose interest and drop them. They have very low intelligence, and appear to be slaves to their emotions, randomly falling into fits of rage and slashing at nearby clan mates randomly, for no apparent reason. The smallest of details can anger a Ryndban kin’toni and send them into a fit of rage, and cause brawls between the entire clan.

These brawls are partially what help to determine a kin’toni’s standing in the clan. As proving your strength and skill in a clan wide brawl will cause others to defer to you. The only part of their appearance that this clan of kin’toni appear to care about are their talons. Every night after hunting and feeding is completed, virtually every member of the clan can be seen spending time washing and sharpening their claws, keeping them pristine and razor sharp at all times. Even if the rest of their body is completely covered in blood, the first thing they attend to are their talons.

An interesting fear of this clan is the rain. In the desert they have virtually never experienced rain, and when on very rare occasions rain does fall, it terrifies them, and they spend days under the sand dunes hiding from it in fear.

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

{{CrossSiteAttribution
| User = [https://www.fiverr.com/andrewjdavies52 Andrew Davies]
| Holder = Andrew Davies
}}

[[Category:2nd-century Twilight Age kin'toni clans]]
[[Category:Andrew Davies's contributions]]

Ryndban Kin'toni Clan - Revision history

Stevie Lambert: (via JWB)