Skelir Kin'toni Clan

History

The history of the Skelir kin'toni clan dates back to the year 4E 80. It was created in 4E 80 by the kin'toni Skelir Ta’rin. Skelir was formerly a gravedigger when he was a zu'aan. He was made into a kin'toni in the year 4E 70. After spending 10 years as a kin'toni, he found a good location to hide from the sunlight. He decided to stay in the catacombs of a zu'aan city and made it his home. He currently has a following of 100 clan members. The catacombs the clan lives in are filled with the corpses and skeletons of dead zu'aan from centuries ago. Many fear to tread in the underground tunnels which often present a shortcut to other zu'aan lands or territories.

But those who do will more often than not be found by the Skelir clan, never to resurface from the depths of the catacombs again. The Skelir clan lives underground and has mapped out the giant catacombs’ location and tunnel system. The Skelir kin'tonis know the underground tombs by heart. After 170 years of mapping and exploring the catacombs, they know every nook and cranny like the palm of their hands. The Skelir clan are not very well known in history but they have forged a reputation among the zu'aan who managed to escape the catacombs.

They are reputed as the Undeads and are believed to be zu'aan who have been cursed with dark magics, reanimated from death by a terrible and terrifying spell. This of course is not true and is a belief that zu'aan survivors made up to rationalize their fears and the terror they faced beneath the earth. The Skelir kin'tonis are known as a scary cult by other kin'tonis. They are infamous among the other kin'toni clans who live above the earth because they are believed to dabble in dark magics or sorcery. They are shrouded in mystery and are known only by name. They have claimed the catacombs as their precious landmark and do not allow access to it even to other kin'toni clans.

Even the kin'tonis above the earth fear them. They fear that they are undead kin'tonis with death-defying abilities, which is of course just a belief. The Skelir kin'tonis are as alive as any other kin'tonis. The Skelir clan members do not always stay in their catacombs to wait for prey. They also go out towards the surface and often tread in graveyards to find praying and mourning victims in the dead of night. The Skelir often disguise themselves as gravediggers and priests to find grief-ridden prey at night who are mourning over the death of a loved one. They then reveal themselves and drink the blood of their victim so it joins their departed loved one in death.

They are believed to be the Grim Reapers by many or the incarnation of Death itself, who send grieving souls to the afterlife to rejoin their dead family or lover. No zu'aan knows that they are, in truth, kin'tonis.

Biology

The Skelir kin'tonis have a gaunt and ghastly appearance. Their skin is grey and looks very pale and sickly. Their eyes have orange irises with white sclerae and horizontal slit pupils and even if they can see in pitch-black surroundings, their eyes do not glow in the dark. Their eyes simply adjust to the darkness faster than zu'aan and they are not blinded by flames or torches. The structure of their face is recognizable by their high and skinny cheekbones. They do not have rounded cheeks and their face looks skeletal, only skin on bones. Their small blue veins are quite visible underneath their pales skins.

The Skelir kin'tonis have long and bony fingers perfect for holding long sticks or spades. Their whole body is skinny and they are quite tall, further giving off the impression that they are like the Grim Reapers. Their lack of muscle mass often makes them look weaker than they really are, but they have a very firm and strong grip. However, they are no match to warrior kin'tonis or zu'aan in terms of strength. They are not very good fighters in general and rely on scare tactics or emotional turmoil in their victims to feed.

The bodies of the Skelir kin'tonis are so thin and skeletal that one can see their ribs.They look malnourished and anorexic, however it is their natural appearance. They do not grow fatter or stronger even if they are well-fed. They can weigh around 50 to 60 kilos for an average height of 1 m 80 cm. The female Skelir kin'tonis weigh in general 30 to 40 kilos for an average height of 1 m 70 cm. They have very long and skinny legs and arms. They move quite slowly and gracefully but they can be fast when they want to. The Skelir kin'tonis have ultra-distant hearing. They can hear echoes in the tunnels of the catacombs and find their source.

The echoes of footsteps or voices can be traced back to the ones who make noises in the otherwise silent catacombs. The Skelir can even hear the scuttering of rats in the tunnels. They often close their eyes and listen carefully to find the origin of an echo. The Skelir gauge and measure the distance between them and the origin of the sound by visualizing it in their minds after careful listening. The Skelir kin'tonis have relatively good olfactory senses. They may be used to smell putrefaction or rotting corpses, but they can discern those putrid smells from fresh, good smelling and live zu'aan.

They are attracted to the sweet scent of live zu'aan. The Skelir kin'tonis can drink cold blood from corpses without getting sick. But fresh blood from live victims always tastes better. They can smell and differentiate fresh from stale blood and are attracted to the scent of living zu'aan. This attraction to flesh blood arouses their appetite and makes them extremely bloodthirsty. Their senses are heightened when they are in their state of bloodlust. Their eyes, ears and nose function way better when they detect fresh zu'aan.

Culture

The culture of the Skelir kin'toni clan is one based around the concept of death and demise. Skelir Ta’rin, the clan leader of the Skelir, used to be a gravedigger when he was a zu'aan. He knew and was exposed to the concept of death from a young age. Ever since his adolescence to adulthood, he had been digging graves for the dead. Now, around 170 years later in present day Taerel, he still remembers and keeps funerary customs. He created a culture around funerals and death. After living in the catacombs for more than a century, Skelir Ta’rin has accommodated the catacombs to make it his home.

He has a large room for himself, the tomb of a great warrior king from antiquity, found at the center of the catacombs. It is filled with riches and treasures of the dead king. He made his bed in the sepulchre of the dead king and sleeps in a gigantic stone coffin. Skelir also wears the crown of the ancient king to represent his status as the king and leader of the Skelir clan. The Skelir kin'tonis can see in complete darkness but they also enjoy lighting up candles in their accommodated rooms in the catacombs. This is a fancy custom that they kept from their years as zu'aan.

Lighting up a candle in the dark is a sign of mourning for the departed ones. The Skelir kin'tonis may feed on zu'aan but they keep their memories as zu'aan and remember their families from centuries or decades ago. They sometimes shed a bloody tear in their memory while they look at the candlelight. The Skelir clan use skulls as decoration and adorn the walls with skeletons or bone fragments. They often put a candle inside a skull and use the skull as a lamp. Light emanates from the orbits and cavities of the skull to make an interesting effect. The Skelir also recite some dark and beautiful poetry while holding a skull in their hand, lifting it up gracefully as if it were a spectator or listener, and conversing with the skull.

The language the Skelir kin'tonis speak is ancient zu'aan. They have kept the language intact and speak it very fluently. They also know how to write in ancient zu'aan. Most of the Skelir kin'tonis who chose to follow Skelir Ta’nir were scholars or poets. They were melancholic beings who saw beauty in death and unlife and they wrote many dark poems about their curse as kin'tonis, often writing and reciting the beauty and melancholy of Death. The Skelir kin'tonis appreciate music as much as silence. Sometimes, a ghastly music can be heard from the depths of the catacombs. The musical instruments used are flutes and harps made of bones and metals tinkered from the weapons or armor of dead soldiers.

The melodies that resonate within the tombs are beautiful and melancholic but spooky as well. The melodious echoes fill the subterranean tombs with sadness and beauty while poets recite their proses.

Government

The government of the Skelir kin'toni clan is almost ecclesiastical. It is one which involves finding prey during funerary ceremonies. The Skelir clan are always hooded, pretending to be gravediggers or priests. They have ancient zu'aan religious texts at their disposal which they read for the departed, and the gravediggers also bury the dead for their future victims. But this is just an act. Skelir Ta’rin and his most trusted right-hand man and counselor Shivra, an ancient and renowned zu'aan poet during his life as a zu'aan, worked together to create this pseudo-ecclesiastical government.

They claimed a small chapel as their own above the surface of the catacombs and pretend to be priests and gravediggers who work there. They only accept small funerary ceremonies at night. Shivra, the false priest, uses the pseudonym Ver’shil and recites dirges for the dead in the small chapel while the weeping zu'aan listens. The Skelir kin'tonis even prepare a coffin for the dead husband or wife. After the dirge is recited, the hooded kin'tonis carry the dead to the graveyard where he or she is to be buried. Meanwhile, it is too late for the weeping zu'aan.

The crying victim screams and sobs in the night while Ver’shil and the gravediggers feed upon it. The victim is then buried alongside their departed one. The Skelir government has a large sum of zu'aan currency that they amassed during their time as priests and gravediggers. They keep those to buy candles or matches and upkeep the small chapel, creating a business around funerals. They also purchase beautiful black ceremonial cloaks for the false priests and dark cloaks for the gravediggers. However, the Skelir do not only use zu'aan currency to keep up appearances.

The Skelir use money to attract needy zu'aan to them. They bribed one zu'aan to spread rumors that Ver’shil’s chapel provided for poor indebted zu'aan. Ever since, indebted zu'aan flock to them to demand money. Only to be greeted by certain death as the Skelir drink their blood. The ecclesiatical polity is led mostly by Shivra, aka Ver’shil. Shivra’s knowledge ot ancient religious zu'aan texts and customs and constant dealings with zu'aan make him more powerful than Skelir Ta’rin. Shivra has, contrary to Skelir, complete control over the polity, having devised it himself.

Without Shivra, Skelir Ta’rin would not be able to find blood so easily. Skelir knows this and even asked Shivra to take his place as the clan leader. But Shivra humbly refused, saying that the Skelir clan is what it is thanks to Skelir Ta’rin, the gravedigger. Skelir Ta’rin now spends most of his time in his tombal room, waiting for Shivra and the other gravediggers to deliver him some fresh blood or waiting in the catacombs for new prey. Some of the gravediggers also pretend to be guides who know the catacombs by heart. Often, they lure zu'aan in the catacombs from which they never return. The Skelir government is thus sustained by those little businesses.

Military

The Skelir kin'toni clan does not have a strong military. They rely solely on taking prey by surprise by disguising themselves as hooded priests or gravediggers. In the dead of night, they prey upon grieving zu'aan in the graveyards, normally after a funerary rite recited by the clan’s right-hand man Shivra or any other false Skelir priests. The Skelir kin'tonis cannot wield heavy swords due to their thin and weaker frames. However, each Skelir has a ceremonial dagger meant to sacrifice sheep to zu'aan gods which they use to defend themselves when faced with armed zu'aan.

The armed zu'aan are most of the time warriors who want to use the labyrinthine tunnels of the catacombs the Skelir call home as a shortcut. The strategy of the Skelir kin'tonis is to patiently wait for the armed zu'aan to enter the catacombs. Once the zu'aan are midway in the subterranean tomb, they are then ambushed by the Skelir. They often have to backstab their targets first and with their cold bony fingers and firm grip, they grab their victims without letting go as they drink their blood. Most zu'aan warriors who have infiltrated the catacombs are scared as they hear the screams of their comrades and run in disarray, getting lost in the process.

They sometimes catch glimpses of the kin'tonis who are always hooded and mistake them for Death or the Grim Reaper. The sight is absolutely frightening and zu'aan more often than not run for their lives. Their fear prevents them from thinking rationally and they are all ambushed and picked one by one by the Skelir kin'tonis. Only one brave zu'aan who fought those Grim Reapers with his sword can retell the tale of the danger he faced in the catacombs. He had managed to wound one of them and seen its grey and gaunt face. In his fear, he thought it was an Undead and ran for the end of the tunnel, reaching the light where the Skelir could not follow.

The Skelir kin'tonis have, since the escape of the zu'aan warrior, purchased stronger weapons such as scythes. They wield those when they have to face armed warriors in the catacombs. The long reaching weapons are more effective than the ceremonial daggers,which they keep to backstab unarmed but strong targets now. Strong zu'aan are difficult to deal with because the Skelir kin'tonis are a bit weaker physically. The Skelir kin'tonis rely on fear, sadness and any irrational emotions that zu'aan may have to successfully catch their prey.

The Skelir know that zu'aan who cannot think in a rational manner are easy prey, and they capitalize on their fear or grief by scaring them even more. The Skelir use their musical instruments to perform a ghastly symphony when the zu'aan are midway deep in the catacombs to scare them even more. The scary music coupled with the grim tunnels lined up with skeletons will spook even the most intrepid warrior. Those scare tactics are very efficient and have always worked.

Religion

The Skelir kin'toni clan’s religion is based on the zu'aan god of death. The God of Death is feared by all zu'aan as the one who reaps their souls away when their time is up, regardless of their age. They often sacrifice lambs or sheep to the God of Death, believing that those sacrificial rituals will help prolong their own lives. In the Skelir kin'toni religion however, the God of Death is revered as the One who keeps them alive, watching over them as His own children. The Skelir kin'tonis formed a cult around the God of Death. They firmly believe that He has gifted them with the blessing of immortality.

They can live forever thanks to His blessing. The religion was not created by Skelir Ta’rin but by Shivra, also known as Ver’shil. Shivra was once a popular zu'aan poet who revered the God of Death, writing beautiful prose about Him and the melancholy of death. He even composed some dirges in the memory of the departed. Shivra can sing in a solemn voice the songs of the dead. He remembers his loved ones as a former zu'aan and often sings in their memory. Songs of sadness. They could not join him as immortals and have passed on to the afterlife.

The Skelir call the God of Death their Father. During prayers, they all refer to him as Father, the One who does not allow them to die. They know that all kin'tonis share the same blessing and have tried converting some of the kin'toni clans on the surface to follow their religion. Some have converted, others not. To many kin'tonis, the Skelir clan’s religion is too occult. Shivra, the priest of the God of Death, dabbles in palmistry and card reading to read the fates of the other kin'tonis, a practice he kept from his former life as a zu'aan.

Religious practices involve using musical instruments made of bone and metal to play sad and eerie melodies. Shivra will sing solemn dirges as he plays his harp while the other clan members play their bone flutes in a harmonious but melancholic symphony. Music is, to Shivra, one of the most beautiful expressions of the soul. He believes that the soul is immortal and that the God of Death blessed them with an immortal body to harbor their soul. He sings dark and sad praises to the God of Death to thank Him for His blessings.

During prayers, the 11 members of the Skelir clan will form a circle and hold hands in the deepest chambers of the catacombs. It is a way of calling upon the God of Death according to them. They will all start muttering His name and pray to Him for eternal bliss. Some even enter a trance where they start hallucinating and see His skeletal face. They exclaim their praises with joy when that happens. To them, seeing the Father is a good sign that signifies immortality for the years to come.

Miscellany

The Skelir kin'toni clan dig tunnels with their spades to further expand their territory. The catacombs they live in have become a huge labyrinth as a result. They seek to turn more zu'aan into kin'tonis of their clan after they finish digging tunnels that lead to other zu'aan cities. They wish to hold their small businesses as priests, gravediggers and catacomb guides in other small zu'aan cities or villages. Of course, this is just a pretense to acquire blood to drink. The Skelir like using scented candles for their prayers or ceremonies.

The perfumed or flowery scent of the candles allows them to reach a spiritual trance far more easily. The sweet smells of the candles flow in the candlelit rooms and fill the damp atmosphere with an intoxicatingly pleasant scent. But the hallucinations and visions are triggered because the perfumed candles are made of a rare flower that helps people hallucinate and see visions of their gods, angels or spirits. Sometimes, the Skelir buy those flowers and crush their petals into fine powder that they smell to see glimpses of their God of Death and the afterlife.

The rare hallucinogenic flowers are called Vrir and the Skelir kin'tonis use those during dirges on their victims to make them feel dizzy. The victim has to light up a Vrir candle and hold it during the whole funerary ceremony and their senses are dimmed. It is as if they have been drugged and they feel very drowsy and sleepy. The zu'aan victims often see the faces of their dead lovers or family and spend most of their time crying as their faces appear in their minds. The Skelir kin'tonis named the Vrir the flower of death because of how much it is used by them.

Its black petals and black leaves are very precious and rare and fetch a high price. The Skelir have tried cultivating it but it does not grow in the damp and humid undergrounds. It grows only in dry places and often blooms in the sun. The Skelir depend on zu'aan Vrir cultivators to sell them this precious flower. The symbol of the Skelir clan is the drawing of a white skull with a Vrir flower in the right and hollow orbit of its eye. The Skelir use skulls as flower pots and decorations. They often put a Vriri candle in a skull and use it as a lamp on the stone desk they use to write.

Shivra, the priest of the God of Death, often finds inspiration when he smells the sweet and intoxicating scent of the Vrir candles. It gives him vivid imagery and he can write with unbound imagination. He wrote several books over the span of a century that are known only to the Skelir. He has plans to translate them in the current zu'aan language and sell them under his pen name Ver’shil. The Vrir candles are black in color due to the Vrir petals. They look like candles of death and are only used for funerary ceremonies.

Nearby Groups

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Skelir Kin'toni Clan

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