Meirian Tribal Zu'Aan

History

This group was founded by Jahdidihan Cerysarn and lives in the Finneius Plateau Bog.

Jahdidihan Cerysarn was a lift driver in the supply market, his work was to load the trailer boxes with fruits and vegetables. Since he lived in a poor zone of the city he noticed from child there was a high crime and there were not enough cops but the ones who take bribes, he did not agree and wanted to change that. One day he found mixed martial art grappling school, he became a student and leveled up fast. When Jahdidihan Cerysarn was not working in the lift he was patrolling the streets, dressed with a jacket with a wovoc painted on it. He decided to stop crime by his own hands, and his martial art talent gave good results. Soon he was recruiting new members, all of them wearing animal jackets as uniform, like a manhunt pack of mixed animals against crime.

Jahdidihan Cerysarn was fired, he could not work again in any place in the supply market because the merchants didn´t want trouble, he opened his own martial arts school, where he became to train his followers. The crew of Jahdidihan Cerysarn was formed by market workers, street sellers, and former thieves, in a point it was necessary to take the guns of the beaten felons to fight against the big gangs in a street guerrilla. He succeeds on wipe away the criminal masterminds, however, his own crew became full of thugs that used to take advantage of their positions when he was not watching. The only law in the street was the first of the ones with animal jackets.

The relative peace was disturbed by the kin'toni outbreak, Jahdidihan Cerysarn decided to defend his turf, it was useless and many of his followers fell, then he realized it was no other choice than leave the city before the next wave of kin'toni arrives at the area. He took the remaining crew with him, then the group headed to the Finneius Plateau Bog region. The supply market area was on the edge of the city, it gave them time to prepare supplies and equipment. The caravan was formed by merchants, workers, and the goons of Jahdidihan Cerysarn, who was considered by all as the leader. Once they settle in the bog region, after some occasional attacks they realized the kin'toni threat was still there and they would need the protection of those who could fight.

The ones with animal jackets turned from street watchmen to warriors. After many years the Jahdidihan Cerysarn died, his progeny was not strong like him to take the leadership, so the band of animal jackets dissolved on several leaders of a small groups who obey no one. With the time the gangs became on families, the enyik jackets turned to enyik family, the nalukai jacket to nalukai family, the same to the rest of gangs, the naxa family had not the same leadership than once had the naxa jacket.

Psychology

Meirian is descendants of market workers, merchants, street sellers, goons and felons, who lived in a poor area of the city and followed the founder Jahdidihan Cerysarn. As their ancestors had not specialized knowledge, neither they have specialists as medics, engineers, architects, or scientists. As result, their technology level is a bit lower than Iron Age tribes. They have not intentions to become a higher civilization, their lifestyle can be resumed to defend their family turf and fight, no matter if it´s another family or another zu'aan tribe. Jahdidihan Cerysarn was a good leader, not a good politician, he was able to establish patriarchy, not enough successful to set an efficient government that could improve the life quality and solves the problems of the people.

As result, the government is chaotic same as their society, where the chiefs are overthrown constantly and the decisions are the responsibility of a council formed for representatives of families that hates each other. In the mind of a Meirian warrior the only idea is to become stronger than the others, get the best weapons, with that strength take whatever he wants and if it comes to a fight against more than one rival family member then ask for reinforcements to his own family. The workers prefer to avoid any fight, however, they don´t care to improve their production methods or new technologies, they only want to keep the family´s turf and wealth. The craftsmen are effective enough to make decent tools and weapons, they got their skills from their ancestors and listened to their stories about life in the city.

For them, that is just fantasy. All the children want to become warriors, inspired by their families they focus on continuing the family feud and the desire to fight erase from their minds the curiosity to know what is beyond the family turf. The closer to a medic the Meirian have are people who look for different types of herbs and use them to cure wounds and diseases, not skilled enough to further medical procedures. Many tribe members die due to infected wounds and other illnesses that could not be treated. They believe it is normal to have short lives, there are few old people compared with the rest of the population. If it was not for the animal shape family brands, Meirian would not have any trace of art.

They use the family brand to mark their clothes and some objects of their turf where they carve or paint the shape of an animal. Another reason why animals are important for them is the religion they believe in, however, they don´t make representations to adore, they don´t even pray to the animals, they just believe in they are messengers of a spiritual connection with them and meditate trying to make contact. The Meirian knows there is a city, they don´t want to go there, a few stories about that place survived between them, however, they don´t care to know if it´s true or try to reach such civilization level.

Culture

Tribal society can be broadly divided into two social classes, high and low class, generally decided by wealth and prestige. The strength is the factor that can make a family level up or downgrade, the more members who can fight the higher class the family can be. Low-class families usually are made by more farmers, craftsmen, and merchants than warriors. Families live on many tents set together, distant from other families’ bunch of tents. There are neutral areas where everybody can go, these areas are marked with stakes set by order of the council, and the public areas are roads, markets, ritual, or social places. Any other area is the turf of a family and trespass without permission or a good reason for that can start a fight.

A family may go from high to low class and back several times as its fortunes rise and fall. The fortunes of many families are tied to the resources the tribe needs to survive, such as iron, gathered from the bogs, farming, and fishing the many rivers and lakes scattered across The Tribe's territory. Given the scarcity of precious metals, the economy runs largely on trade and barter, though coinage and jewelry from the outside world do make their way to Tribal lands from time to time. The life expectancy is short, besides kin'toni and raiders from other zu'aan tribes, there is a high rate of death by internal conflicts between factions who claim turf in the same area or fight for resources.

Many times the fights are due to ancient family feud that the descendants don´t consider it´s concluded. Every family has numerous offspring, the force of each faction on the tribe is in the numbers, all women want to have many children, due to the lack of medic specialists deaths from childbirth are common. The Cerysafaryn family, a long-standing dynasty of sword makers have remained in the upper class since the tribe's founding, their patriarch made Jahdidihan Cerysarn' sword and though it has long since been lost to time a replica of the blade, forged from memory has been entrusted to the Tribal Chief, to be surrendered back to them upon his death.

Marriage practices

A man typically begins looking for a wife on his thirteenth birthday, the day he is seen as a man, beginning a seven-year courtship ritual with several women his own age, proposing to the one he feels is best for him and his family marrying a few days after his twentieth birthday. The man wakes his intended with a traditional meal and a gift of flowers that the tribe views as a symbol of fertility, and their parents bind their hands together in the presence of several witnesses. The couple makes whatever vows and promises of faithfulness they wish to make to each other and their hands remain bound for the rest of the day, they are considered married when the cloth ties are removed at sunset. They enter the home he has built for them over the last seven years where gifts of food are waiting for them to have their own private feast to celebrate.

Government

The Meirian are led by a Tribal Chief and a ruling council composed of the heads of the most prominent families. These tribal elders make decisions that affect the tribe as a whole. They are not always a unified people, various factions within the council rise from time to time, trying to manipulate any chieftain they perceive as weak or jostle for power when the time comes for him to choose his successor. The position of chieftain is not hereditary, and it usually goes to the man who proves himself the most worthy of leadership, whether through military or civil service. The tribe has come close to Civil War several times, chieftains have died without leaving behind a clear line of succession, and each family has taken up arms to enforce what they believe is a rightful claim.

During their period of government, the current Tribal Chief can approve any kind of rules and laws, the conformity of other families with these rules is the reason why the factions tend to bring down the chieftain. Laws like extra taxes, the right to pick women from each family for the chief, changes in the turf limits, reduce the limit number of warriors, take public areas to increase his own family turf, and attempts of big building projects had cost the life of several chieftains. While there is not a Tribe leader as once was Jahdidihan Cerysarn the council runs the government and takes decisions by agreements. It´s forbidden to fight into the precinct, it can turn all families against the family of the disrespectful who does it.

Violence is forbidden in any other public area too, just it has lower penalties. Anybody can go to the council and do a demand about something that affects them. Most of the cases the council solves are about set stakes to public areas, however, also they can take the word on bigger matters like assign a group of explorers or choose a provisional commander for an upcoming battle. The law is made by the strength, a warrior can assault somebody in the street, but the victim can get back with his family warriors and take payback against the family of the robber. Crime is not common since they know it can bring bigger fights. Many family feuds began with people who died during an assault and they were not sure who was the killer but blamed someone from another family.

Warriors care for their families, their tents, and their business, they use to watch and patrol their turf; they take turns for the watch during day and night. Even if it´s not for robbery, fights are very common and the council can´t make anything to change it. Two members of different families can decide to have a deathmatch, in that case when both warriors decided it the council forbids any other fight to take payback for the result. The winner usually doesn´t take the loot from the body of the dead because that could bring a retaliation to recover a family heirloom, that reason can nullify the council´s prohibition.

Military

All the Meirian are skilled in mixed martial arts, they were trained by their ancestors, who were disciples of Jahdidihan Cerysarn. Each family trains their children on speed, agility, and reflexes more than improving their strength. When children are bigger enough they start to practice with the shield, the club, the ax, and the spear, at first it´s hard for them to wield a weapon of almost their own size, they keep training in martial arts to disarm the enemy. The most skilled continue their training until teenagehood, the ones less skilled than the standard focus their training on other disciplines as farming and crafting. Only rich families can give swords to their young warriors, most of the ones who wield a sword are veterans who could earn it by themselves.

Their fight style gives more importance to the agility and counterattack than straight attacks, it changes when they are using weapons. Swords and armor are rare, seen as status symbols among higher class Meirian. The average Tribal warrior makes their armor with a hardened leather jerkin and hide-covered wooden shield for defense. An important part of their equipment is the animal brand of the family, as their ancestors used to with the animals painted in their jackets. He also carries a variety of other offensive tools, commonly spears, knives, and axes, and their tribe's signature weapon, a war club made of hardwood and covered with metal studs.

Despite their "savage" nature, they are still highly organized warriors, fighting in tight shield walls, made up of multiple ranks of spearmen with Meirian nobles serving in command roles. When the council chooses a provisional commander all the rivalries are left aside, every family follows the orders during the battle. A successful provisional commander can become on general permanently and even Tribal Chief, according to the number of victories. The Meirian have an advantage in the plain, their combat style makes them a hard challenge to any rival zu'aan tribe with the same level or more primitive arsenal. Their spears let them repel mounted warriors and the shields bring them protection enough against archers.

Due to the lightweight of their armor, they are relatively fast to run and reach distant enemies. Their armor is a disadvantage against iron weapons, however, their biggest power is in the number of them. Take loot from the defeated enemies is a decisive practice, a regular warrior can get a sword, and armor, and other valuable accessories that can give him a higher class. They are able to loot any object from dead enemies, however, raid the body of another family member can start a fight. Family feuds are disabled only during a battle against another tribe. Every able-bodied man is required to own and maintain some form of weapon, largely to defend himself and his home and serve in the Tribal Militia, the Tribe's primary means of self-defense.

Many children receive their first weapons made of wood or bone by their father, they can practice with bigger, heavier ones when they grow enough.

Religion

The Meirian follow no god or gods, instead of worshipping the spirits of various plants and animals around them. Each family has its own spiritual places to honor its spirits. There are public ritual places too, available for everyone to stay and meditate, most of them have stone stools around large stones. There is nothing carved on the stones, since all of the praise to different spirits it would be disrespectful to carve or paint in a public ritual place. The founder Jahdidihan Cerysarn didn´t like the priests because he thought they only were taking advantage of people´s hope, he preferred animals instead. He used to say animals are the true form of the soul, that belief gave him the inspiration to paint a wovoc on his jacket.

Their disciples learned from him and painted on their jackets the shape of their animal spirits, a year later their descendants adopted those animal shapes as family brands. Each individual plant or animal is believed to have a portion of that being's 'Great Spirit' within them and it is believed to return to them on death. It is much the same for tribal members, who are seen as extensions of the "Great Tribal Spirit." It is believed that when a tribe's member dies he or she returns to them and is reborn into the next generation. As such, there is no formal priesthood and each tribe member chooses which spirits to follow and how. Somebody can belong to the enyik family and his animal spirit can be a nulai, everybody agrees with that.

There are cases when tribe members change of family due to the animal spirits, a narung family member whose the animal spirit is the quaco can try to become a member of quaco family. The family brands are not representations of the family members, there are brands with the shape of quaco, narung, nulai, nalukai, even plants; when the true behavior of them is the same as ruanoes, tallabak, and wovoc. Most of them don´t paint or carve animal shapes for religious purposes. For them is more spiritual to meditate resting in the grass, sit under a tree, or lying on a big rock to make contact with the Great Spirit. It is believed the spirit animals can visit them on dreams to bring them advice and suggestions, if the animal doesn´t talk it means it is watching, if the animal is dead, or something kill it or eat it is a bad omen.

Each Meirian family has its own graveyard, usually, bogs where they deposit the body of the perished relative, they covered it with ground, branches, and grass. The dead has only the gear that was wearing, their possessions are distributed between their close relatives. Family graveyards are far enough of their tents and close enough of their turf. A graveyard is a sacred place, even so, they don´t use to visit it due they believe the spirits of their relatives are not there, but they went back to the Great Spirit.

Miscellany

Most of the ancestors were trained by the founder Jahdidihan Cerysarn on mixed martial arts grappling, with the years each family got a different style of fight. The reason why Jahdidihan Cerysarn respected animals so much are there was a pet shop near his apartment, he could see the animals every day. The founder family brand is the shape of a wovoc, as the wovoc he painted in his jacket. The wovoc family is his descendants, even so, they could not keep the power and they are mostly farmers instead. Many family brands have the shape of animals and plants that the Meirian have never seen in their lives, those living beings are from other places of the world. They took those shapes from the jackets of their ancestors.

There is a balance of power between each family, the slightly more powerful families are the quaco, the nalukai, the narung, and the nulai. There were families that disappeared for different reasons. Some of them died all in a battle, other were reduced and disease killed the rest, in the best cases they were absorbed by another family that accepted them. The older men have 53 years, just a few live more than 50 years, most of the population die before 32 years old. The members of the council used to be chosen to be the most patient of each family, that way they will not start a fight in the percent. There was once a Tribal Chief who had a successful government and made the Meirian happier.

He said a god sent him to save them and pretended to build a church, then he was overthrown by his beliefs. The Meirian medicine is based on the use of different roots and herbs to heal wounds. Each family has a member who practices it, the families refuse to share their knowledge with others. The favorite weapon of the tribe is a spiked club, it is very effective to break shields, hard to dodge, and can break the skull with a single hit. Parents give to their children knives made of wood or bone that can cut, it is a weapon and a toy same time. Meirian likes music, that is how they call to hit stones with hollow branches, it has not a determined sequence and the sounds of the hits are random.

If a woman dies during the birth of her child the other women of the family take care of the baby, they all love and care for the children together. Although animals are respected for religious reasons, Meirian hunt and kill animals to get materials and food from them, they believe it is right because other animals would do it if not them. For the Meirian the only way to preserve knowledge is memory, they learn from the words of their parents and tell them to their descendants. They don´t write or read and their numeric system is based on lines. After a battle, they bury the bodies of the dead enemies just where they have fallen, with the shovel they dig small but deep holes.

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