Stevie Lambert: (via JWB)

2026-05-10T12:40:56Z

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{{Infobox:TwilightAgeGroup
|Type = Kin'toni clan
|Name = Tal Kin'toni Clan
|Parent Groups = [[Valsok Kin'toni Clan]]
|Descended Groups = Unknown
|Areas Controlled = [[Turenth Lush River]]
|Date Founded = 4E 204
|Date Disbanded = N/A
}}

==History==

The Tal kin'toni clan is one that has been splintered from the [[Valsok Kin'toni Clan|Valsok]], and is considered to be one of the purest Itkali bloodlines besides the Valsok Clan themselves but also including the Ahe, and the Yuaa. The Tal kin'toni clan has been very bold throughout their history, although their role in the governing of the [[Turenth Lush River|Turenth]] City state has been largely limited. They are considered to be the founders of the city state and are also the monarchs for the region, however it is a commonly agreed that their role is one that is purely superficial.

The Tal founders truly wrote their own history, and it is well acknowledged that without the intervention of the Tal founders, the city state which they rule would certainly not have existed. Prior to the Shattering, the Turenth lush river region was certainly one of the most important regions in the whole of the Itkali kingdom, and to many kin'toni it is difficult to conceive how the Valsok ruler, Dedunova Eelmalera, allowed the Tal founder, Idanuas Fenys, to split the region from the Itkali kingdom.

It is thought that the First Emperor had intended to betray the agreement after the Shattering had passed. Although others claim, that the ruler had been extremely fond of Idanuas Fenys, and most likely gave into the demands out of mixture of love, crisis and helplessness. The Tal have been responsible for the region for several centuries now, even prior to the split of the kin'toni clan from the Valsok and the Itkali kingdom. Idanuas Fenys is the blood kin of the line that has been the overlords of the region even when it was a province to the Itkali kingdom.

After the kin'toni successfully spilt from the Itkali kingdom and formed their own city state, many kin'toni thought the city state would soon be subsumed back into Itkal or be taken over by the neighbouring Ashat, but the city state has proven to be far more resilient and resourceful than the people had assumed. The Tal however cannot be completely credited for the city state’s success since the family has been little more than figure head since the very year of the founding.

The feudal system that the kin'toni had been utilising to govern the region had eventually lead to the creation of small kin'toni families that claimed their serfs loyalty far more closely than the Tal themselves. The people of the Turenth would never have been free from the force of the Itkali throne had it not been for the Tal but the common citizen of the city state cares very little for the legacy of the clan or even respects them in their current state.

Era few citizens agree with the government’s expenditure that involves the royal clan, and instead advocate the use of such funds for the betterment of the lives of the common citizens rather than a select group of kin'toni to whom they credit little achievement. This new time for the Tal is a trying time for the clan as the kin'toni society advances, the city state seems to require little more of them.

==Psychology==

The manner in which the Tal think has certainly been a topic of great interest for those that study the matters of the minds, and this is because of their roller coaster history in the kingdom. They have always been seen as a pure line that is said to carry all the positive traits that are associated with the Itkali royalty. The kin'toni are certainly fiercely intelligent like their blood kin, and their capacity to impose their authority on the common citizen is impressive for the sheer casualness with which it is employed.

An interaction with the Tal royal clan can never indicate the weak stature the clan holds in the modern city state, it is difficult to not assume that theirs isn’t an enviable position in the administration. Rather the sense of entitlement they seem to possess easily makes people that surround them to accord them greater respect and reverence than when they aren’t present. However their behaviour cannot be written off as disillusioned, for those that are close to the kin'toni have clearly indicated that the Tal are very much aware of their present condition and have found their own distinct version of dignity in the matter.

The Tal are also a very tenacious clan, they have yet to abandon the old customs of their house. The Tal are the keepers of the skill of black smithing that the lush river has garnered fame for throughout the kin'toni lands. The founder, Idanuas Fenys, is still considered to be one of the finest black smiths in the whole world, the swords that he crafted are considered to be artefacts of great skill and are traded throughout the kin'toni lands for considerable gold.

Although none of the other members of the Tal clan quite have the gift that the founder did, but their skills still exceed those of many merchant suits that work in the valley. The Tal clan members obviously do not work on their art for the purpose of producing common weapons, but instead craft their wares only for the use of the kin'toni royalty of other nations. The Ashat Pioneer Clans’ council representative all sport the armors that have been crafted by the royal clan themselves, although very intricate and difficult to craft, the armour itself is of little practical use.

Crafted with the weight of the skill of the Tal, the armour is covered with depictions of the important events in the history of the clan. The suits of armour that were so supplied formed an important part of the diplomatic process that occurred when the kin'toni of the Lush river were courting the council for the establishment of a trade mission in the Ashat lands. In this way, through the skill of their art, the Tal royal clan continues to play a role in politics although it isn’t quite visible and important as the titles they have seem to denote.

Their adaptation to the new role is certainly a great mark of their adaptability and flexibility.

==Biology==

The Tal share a lot of characteristics with the kin'toni of Itkal particularly from the Valsok Clan that is the royal clan of Itkal, and the clan from whom the Tal are descended. Like their blood kin, the Tal do not have the translucent fur that the Itkali kin'toni are known for. They are on the paler side of the kin'toni skin shades, but since they have been living in the Turenth lush river region for a long while their colour is much darker than the Valsok Clan. This is attributed to the fact that the heat in the region is much closer to the normal of the planet, than the mainland of Itkal which is completely located in the frigid zone of the planet. The home of the Tal on the other hand is much warmer and shares a weather with the Ravines of the Ashat empire.

The Tal have adapted to the requirement of their chose line of art, the Tal over the centuries have adapted to the needs of a black smith and functioning of the smithy. These adaptations although useful in the practice of their hand is not quite as useful in the real world, for instance the changes in the eye sight have been more challenging than one would suspect when first told about them. Their eye sight has adapted the bright fire light of the forge, as their eyes became less sensitive to light they are able to see their tools and the details of the tools they are crafting without having to stain their eyes.

This decreased sensitivity to light is beneficial in the practice of smithing however it also means that outside the workshop, the kin'toni with the adapted eye are practically blind in the poor light of the sun, making them severely vulnerable when out in the open where there are no fires to provide light. The newer generations of the clan have found a work around the adaptation and found ways of avoiding the formation of the material that thickens the lens in the eyes of the Tal clan.

These new kin'toni practice in the forge only when they wear dark shaded glass implements that are made by the finest lens shapers of the Ashat nation, these implements carry out the function that the eye adaptation is meant to carry out. So by wearing the glasses, as they are referred to by the makers, the Tal kin'toni are able to prevent the changes to their eyes that being directly exposed to the light of the forge induce. The older generation of Tal kin'toni however are extremely critical of this practice but do not impose a ban on the practice.

For even they believe that being blind out of the forge means exposition to a lo of danger. However, for themselves, they prefer to work without the use of the glasses and instead depend on the alteration of their vision to perform their work. The kin'toni that accompany Tal in the night to help light their way are flaunted by the kin'toni as a badge of honour than a matter of shame as other kin'toni seem to think they are. Their eyes have geen irises with black sclerae and a vertical slit pupils

==Culture==

The Tal have inspired a very unique culture in their homeland, they shed to a large degree the orthodox views the Itkali had about their god and the order of the society. For instance, the aversion that the Itkali have towards written records is not shared by the residents of the lush river region, instead there are state funded school and educational institutions. The Tal founder put forward this proposal on the very day that the independence of the lush river was declared, as they themselves had struggled with the ban on writing.

Instead the Tal founded several schools that began the long and arduous process of teaching their citizens the crucial skill of literacy. Although, initially the lush river continued to utilise the Itkali language, but they too ran into the problem the Yuaa had encountered when they were handed the reign of the villages in Itkal. The problem has to do with the nature of the Itkali language which does not generally allow for accurate written communication.

While the Yuaa went towards developing a new language altogether that is now called the imperial Itkali language, the Tal helped found the Turenthi language which isn’t truly a language on its own but rather a dialect of the Itkali language. The dialect did not change a lot of the language as it is but rather changed the method of transmission, they introduced a unique alphabet system that made writing much simpler. Among the most unique features of the language are helpful punctuation marks which help the reader identify the accurate tone of the written text.

While in the earlier form of the language each sentence had to be given context with a lot more additional information in order to convey the tone of thew writing. The Tal have also handed down the skill of smithing iron to the skilled artisans of the city which has allowed the city state gain a lot more popularity and trade across their international borders. They are seen as the pioneers of the prosperous trade of crafted iron which has become an important pillar upon which the Turenth region has become such a success.

They are involved in several bureaucratic processes and rituals of the city state, the most important role of the Tal leader is that he considered to be the head of the state, while the elected representative of the people’s chamber is considered to be the head of the government. However, the elected representative is considered to be seated below the monarch and runs the government as per the wishes of the head of the state, this is not practiced in actual practice.

The monarchs office in many instances has been called the office of the rubber stamp as its consent is only another formality of the city state but not something that requires the active consent of the monarch as such. The annual smithing festival is also presided by the monarch and in that festival the monarch is deeply revered but not quite because of the royal mantle but rather the significant smithing prowess and knowledge that he bears.

==Government==

The Tal government has been modelled after the Nara Kingdom found across the ocean from Erea on the landmass of Canlai, where the king of Nara presides over his kingdom from within the city of lakes. The Nara kingdom like the city state of Turenth is a constitutional monarchy, wherein the heads of the state are elected democratically by the people of the sovereign region and the monarchs belong to the kin'toni clan that is thought to be the founding group of the whole nation.

The Nara kingdom although much older and more established than the city state of Turenth is now dwarfed by the younger and smaller nation. The Nara have destabilised greatly since the shattering, and several learned kin'toni claim this to be due to the intervention of Zelan, while the Turenth city state was founded in the Shattering and since then has only prospered in not only culture but also commerce. The Nara and Turenth government do not share a particularly warm or close relationship despite their similarity but the Turenth government has a very unique relationship with Itkal.

Itkal is the biggest neighbour of the Turenth city state, and since the region was once a part of the Itkali territory, it would be natural to assume that theirs is a difficult relationship but nothing could be further from the truth. The Turenth and Itkali governments have a close relationship that is predominantly driven by trade and commerce. The Itkali have a very large contingent of diplomats stationed in the Turenth City state while they themselves similarly have a large mission in the capital of the Itkal.

They regularly send bureaucratic teams to each others territories in pursuit of one trade deal or another. The Itkali nation can be seen to be largely agrarian in this regard, as it mostly provides trade in terms of primary goods, the nation is rich in resources only but does not have a thriving crafts industry. The Turenth on the other hand, trade almost exclusively in finished goods, and in the recent times they have gone even further and have become a service provider as well.

Many citizens of Turenth are skilled not only at crafting irons but also the practice of design, a shine example of their prowess is their heavenly city. The government spent a large amount of both resources and time in crafting the beautiful city of Turenth with its shinning white marble facades, glittering roads and open terraced buildings. The city has been praised by many a kin'toni for its transcendent appearance and is often described to be a sliver of heaven on the planet.

Many kin'toni from all across the world visit the government of Turenth in order to win their help in the building and design of their cities and villages, which is now therefore becoming an area of foreign trade for the city state. The government of course charges a hefty amount but does not take on a large number of clients instead choosing to assist those projects that they find to be engaging and interesting.

==Military==

The Turenthi military is only an honorary body that is officered by the Tal clan, its a volunteer force that is manned by a singular company of soldiers that are assembled only during the summer months of the year and then disbanded again at the turn of winter. This complex arrangement for the military is a result of the agreement that the founder of the city state made with Dedunova Eelmalera, the first emperor, when the Turenth city state was split from the mainland of Itkal.

At the time, besides several other conditions the First Emperor had imposed on the founding of the city state, the two most talked about conditions are those of the subsidised rate of taxes that is offered to the citizens of the Itkali kingdom and the bars placed on the fielding of a Turenth army. There truly never was a Turenth army to disband, at the time the lush river had a provincial army that was fielded by the Tal clan in service to the First Emperor, and when the region was separated the provincial army ceased to exist.

While all the soldiers that belonged to other parts of Itkal were given the opportunity to remain in the city state as new citizens, many Turenth kin'toni who were posted in other parts of the kingdom also gave up their commissions to return to the lush river. The soldiers of the provincial army accepted the invitation of the city state in droves and still form the core majority of the population, and so even though the region is considered to be a strictly free of the military it still retains a distinctly martial air, with its speckless shinning home windows and bright clean white marble lined roads and lanes.

The Turenth army that exists today is one that has been granted as a concession to the city state by the Itkali authorities after a bout of rigorous trading that took place when the Itkali discovered a particularly rich seam of gold in their kingdom. The Turenth government was able to wrestle away the rights to the training of that gold along with the concession of a small volunteer force for the sake of tradition in return for the equipping the whole Ahe clan with the finest wares of war that the Turenth black smiths can prepare.

The volunteer force in question has indeed been awarded a ceremonial role that revolves around the democratically elected leaders of the state. The volunteer force has quickly become an honour guard at the important places of import in the kingdom, although it is disbanded every year, the Tal form the unchaining core of the officers body that oversees the whole army. The introduction of this army is a happy occasion for the Turenth citizenry since so many of them have served in the armies of Itkal in the past and allows them an opportunity to renew and relearn their old skills.

The annual parade of the army before the disbanding is as such an important occasion attended by many citizens in large numbers.

==Religion==

The Turenth kin'toni mostly believe in the teachings of the Shepherd and although the revere the written book, the Shepherd’s lament, they don’t really believe consider it to be the ultimate authority in the religion. The Turenth kin'toni have developed their own branch of the religion, and it is a sensitive issue with the Yuaa priest clan of Itkal. The priests have labelled the church of the Shepherd that has been founded in Turenth to be a heretical cult that does not follow the way of the shepherd.

Unlike the church found in Itkal, the religion of the Turenth Kin'toni does not quite involve the pomp and ceremony that is associated with the Itkali church. In Turenth there are no kin'toni priests rather the religion practiced is highly individualistic and the kin'toni are encouraged to inculcate their own personal relationship with the Shepherd, instead of having large churches built in the city, the kin'toni have made shrines. Each district builds a new shrine every century that each household within the district takes the responsibility for at least a whole year.

The offerings made to the Shepherd are collected by the families that are caring for the shrine and the offerings are then distributed to the poorer regions of the city. The building of the shrine is an important festival that is celebrated at the turn of the century and the Tal clan plays an important role in this festival as well for their connection with the Shepherd is just as real as that of the Valsok. The Yuaa have multiple times tried to intervene in the religious functions of the Turenth City state but the king of Itkal.

Who is a stout supporter of the Yuaa clan, has publicly prevented the intervention of the clan in the matters of Turenth Church. There is rife speculation that this refusal from the king is a result of the pressure from the representatives of the City state, who have certainly put forward a secret condition that allows their religion to remain insulated from the influence of the Yuaa. The religion of the Turenth church does not truly differ from the way of the shepherd in its core principles but rather than dominating their whole life as in the case of the Itkali religion,

The Turenth Church adopts a smaller role. The religion is meant to help the common kin'toni lead a good and just life that benefits not only the individual but nature as a whole as well. In the recent times, the Yuaa have been pushing for a greater role in the Turenth church, but instead of approaching the city state through the Itkali government, they are sending their own missions which are mostly disguised as pilgrimages. These missions have spent a great deal of time with the leading opposition factions of the democratically elected government.

When questioned about the renewed interest in the pilgrimage to the city state, the Yuaa have remarked that it is in preparation for the upcoming anniversary of the Shepherd’s passing, which will mark an additional century since the shepherd embraced nature.

==Miscellany==

The Turenth city state and the Tal have a special relationship with the religion of the shepherd, in that the city is an important religious site which is perhaps just as important as the Cataract Bog that the Yuaa call home. The Turenth city state is built on the very site where the Shepherd embraced the fiery kiss of the sun to free his essence from mortal bonds and instead take his place as the guiding hand of nature in heaven. The exact spot of the passing is not known, but the general region which the Yuaa Crook had pointed out has been left completely untamed of nature.

The gigantic copse of trees that the kin'toni of Turenth have left alone is the crowning jewel of the city state. Proposed and designed by the founder of the Tal clan, the forest of the shepherd as it is referred to is found in the middle of the city. All the districts of the city are built around the wild forest, and the royal palace along with the chambers of the elected representatives of the democratic government form the first circle of buildings that surround the forest and have the most remarkable view of the wild forest.

Entry into the forest is restricted, and is only allowed on certain days of the year in particular those in which the presence of the shepherd is though to be strongest. The festival that is celebrated with the most fervour is certainly the festival of the shepherds passing. It is a paradoxical occasion, for the devotees both mourn the passing of their spiritual leader from their world, and celebrate his ascendancy to a greater plain of existence. In the Itkali regions, the priests dictate the hours of mourning and the hours for celebration, in the Turenth church on the other hand, the kin'toni are more prone to celebration than mourning.

As mentioned earlier, at the turn of the century the kin'toni will be celebrating the completion of yet another century completed since the passing of the Shepherd. It is speculated that the festival will be one of incredible size and may even involve the Yuaa and the Church based in Itkal as indicated by the increased pilgrimages that the Yuaa have been undertaking. Initially, when the land was set to be split and the Turenth region was to gain independence, there was a lot of hue and cry by the Yuaa who had even proposed martial intervention to ensure that region remained within the kingdom.

The kingdom of Itkal was of course in no way prepared for a civil war, and instead gave into the demands of the Tal and split the region from the mainland. Speculators have remarked that the vehemence of the Yuaa in their opposition to the split of the region is certainly due to their own interest in the land, it is a known secret that the Yuaa crook hates the Cataract bog, and spends most of his time away from the dampness. They had planned to have their church headquarters shifted to the Lush river until the Tal intervened and won their independence.

{{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:3rd-century Twilight Age kin'toni clans]]
[[Category:Anmold Kaushal's contributions]]

Tal Kin'toni Clan - Revision history

Stevie Lambert: (via JWB)