Cheard Kin'toni Clan

History

The Cheard kin'toni clan was founded in the year 4E 247, three years ago by Zatene. She was formerly a member of a wandering zu'aan tribe before she was turned to kin'toni. Her infection spread to the rest of her former tribe as she turned who she could around her, which quickly took over the once zu'aan tribe now kin'toni. As the first of the tribe to turn, Zatene chose to form a clan and fought for it. Some kin'toni from the neighbouring clan that had turned her joined the newly made clan and she named the clan Cheard.

For two years the clan had started small at roughly forty or so members but grew over time as they hunted out zu'aan to turn and add to their numbers. They kept to their territory which gradually grew in size along with their numbers. The small populous of the clan soon grew to the hundreds, today staying steadily around three hundred and twenty of them. If any were to grow ill or weak, they were left behind or killed off. If they could no longer contribute to the clan, they were seen as useless.

Zatene and her clan fought with other nearby clans over territory and any zu'aan who unfortunately came across them were never known to leave unharmed let alone remain as zu'aan. In 4E 248 the clan had formed its government and established its rules. The clan had a direct democracy, the clan taking majority vote on most actions when needed but still needing every member’s vote before deciding. The head of the democracy is of course the founder, Zatene, who initially hosts the time a vote is needed. the clan members each had roles of their own but came together on decisions such as setting rules.

The first was how many would leave the clan to search for zu'aan at a time, while the rest stayed back to defend their territory. Today, 4E 250, the clan Zatene founded has around three hundred and twenty members, still running by direct democracy and living strong. The clan has made groups within itself dedicated to each of their roles. There is a small group of ten members who go out to hunt for zu'aan to bring back to the rest of the clan. There are other groups of fifteen who each keep an eye out around their territory for the first line of defence.

They send one or two of those fifteen back as a messenger to the clan to deliver a report in case the group had spotted anything important such as the returning members of the ten hunters. another group would be the gatherers, a group of about sixteen members who search for materials that may be needed such as sharp rocks and stones for weapons. Typically the gatherers consist of women and any children the clan had turned but some men have been known to go out with the group to keep the group protected on their search.

Biology

The Cheard are adapted to the wet, muddy, dense, disease-ridden Umund Rich Fen. They are squat, low-slung, and dense of build, with an low center of gravity and high weight. This allows them to push though dense sticky mud and maintain traction, even in slippery places. Their skin is mottled in dark dull greens and browns for camouflage. The skin consistently makes an chemical oil for repelling swarming marsh insects. This oil lacks a smell. Due to the skin being adapted mostly for chemical defense, their skin has lower structural integrity.

This means the soft tissue is highly susceptible to tearing and lacerations from sharp objects. The thick, but fragile dermal layer, along with high humidity also limits their ability to vent excess heat. This makes them prone to overheating rapidly if forced into high-exertion activity on a hot day. Their hair is short, coarse and packed tightly, and when it is coated in fen mud, forms an insulating and protective anti-abrasion layer. Their eyes are an vibrant blue, with an nictitating membrane that moves horizontally to allow for underwater vision and protection against corrosive swamp acids.

Their sight in open spaces, such as judging distances and tacking objects in large open spaces is bad. This is due to adaptations to the short-range, dense, and foggy fen The nose is an vertical slit that can be tightly closed, with strong internal sphincters to prevent the intake of water, mud, or deadly gases while submerged. Their ears are small, flat and pointed, with very little in the way of an outer eyes. The inner ear bones, and by add-on the skin pores, are adapted to detect and locate low-frequency vibrations caused by prey moving through deep water and heavy mud.

The teeth are short, blunt and conical other than the long, sharp canines, that are adapted for crushing the hard, chitinous exoskeletons of large aquatic insects, alongside small, armored marsh prey. The claws are thick, wide, and paddle shaped, adapted for digging and swimming. Their hands and feet are large with long, strong, flexible fingers and toes. These are adapted for tearing a thick, fibrous swamp vines and roots that impede movement. Their blood is adapted to be able to bind and hold oxygen more efficiently.

This is an adaption for low ambient oxygen levels as often found in humid, dense fen environments. They also are adapted to be able to metabolize energy with extremely limited oxygen for long periods. This allows them to hide completely submerged in the anoxic mud. Their kidneys are adapted to be able to manage the water balance by aggressively filtering salts and chemical pollutants from ingested swamp water. This lowers the risk of internal poisoning. They also have muscles in dense layers to aid swimming though the dense water and sticky mud.

Due to their dense bones and muscles, adapted to be able to sink though mud, means they are slow and clumsy on dry land. They also struggle to move uphill and are unable to climb, as most branches and ruins snap or break under their weight. Due to the chemical oils, they have an masked natural sent.

Culture

The Cheard clan’s core values are strength and trust, relying on them to survive as long as they possibly can. They believe in strength in numbers and try not to send out too few members of their clan alone in groups but not too many that it shrinks the core number of the clan too much if any members in those groups are lost for whatever reason. The Women, and any children that may have been turned, work as gatherers, typically with any men joining them as protectors. The strongest amongst the clan members are oftentimes soldiers, guards around the perimeter or hunters and mostly those groups are made up of men but do have women from time to time.

The clothing is made from animal skins and furs that either gatherers or hunters bring back with them from their trips. The clan lives in a cave system as well as occupy land around it, using the cave as their shelter from the sunlight during the day and taking trips outside during the night. Though the clan is ruled by direct democracy, they do hold an amount of respect for their founder, Zatene, who sort of acts like their unsaid leader at times. Speaking of your past life as a zu'aan before joining the clan isn’t exactly a forbidden thing to do here, but it is frowned upon as looking at the past instead of planning for their future survival is seen as a waste of time.

In the caves, the Cheard clan work on creating warm clothing from animal hides, especially useful during cold seasons, and weapons all buy torchlight. They may be able to see in the dark but still need light just like anyone else would need when working by hand. The clothing makes is usually left for women and the weapon and tool making for the men. If one were to leave the clan to join another they would be seen as a traitor, breaking the clan’s trust in them. If one were to grow weak or ill they’d usually be tossed out of the clan and left to fend for themselves or die.

They are only being allowed to return once they were strong again or they’d be killed then and there to prevent anyone else from getting sick and weak. It all depended on the outcome of the clan’s voting on the choices. The clan chose to etch a symbol above the entrance of the cave they take shelter in, later placing that very same marking around other places in their territory as a way of marking it as their home. The symbol is a sort of a slanted half circle with a vertical line through it, similar to a crescent moon with a scratch over it.

The kin'toni of the Cheard clan have been known to be rather straightforward, impatient, very stubborn, unforgiving, apathetic, passive-aggressive, distrusting or sceptical and sometimes short-tempered or hot-headed. They are also loyal, respectful and bluntly honest.

Government

The Cheard clan are run by direct democracy, the three hundred and twenty members participating in the decision making held within the clan and taking majority vote over the choices presented to them. Though their founder is not exactly the official leader, Zatene does begin the votes by laying out the options they have at hand and counting up all three hundred and twenty of the clan member’s votes, taking the majority of votes on an option before making a choice. The voting does not end until all three hundred and twenty members have cast a vote that way all their voices are heard, and a choice can be made.

The clan uses democracy to decide what to do with zu'aan that are brought back from a hunting trip, more often than not choosing to turn them rather than kill them so they can grow in numbers. They also cast votes on their rules, such as whether to keep old ones or replace them with new ones, setting new ones for the safety and survival of the clan and more. Not too long ago a rule had been set that if a kin'toni had left the clan to join another they would not be let back in as they were then seen as a traitor to the clan, but they do welcome new members as long as they intend on playing their role in helping the clan survive as long as possible.

They had also set a rule that new clan members were to begin work inside the territory, unable to leave for at least two whole weeks before being allowed to work as a gatherer, hunter or as part of the fifteen members who guarded the exterior, that way they could grow some trust between the new member and they would officially be a part of the clan as well as had time to let any physical changes happen such as their eyes adjusting to living in the dark and to grow their strength.

If there were any members of the Cheard clan who refused to cast a vote for whatever reason they would be put with the current minority votes to prevent the decision making from being stalled too long and letting things move on from there. As a direct democracy, they do not choose to elect any representatives such as a leader of any group, instead, everything from punishments to deciding on taking the risk of guarding the outer parts of the territory during the day was all decided by the entire number of clan members discussing their options and placing a vote.

This of course does lead to the more than occasional argument leading to a physical fight over the choices, but those fights are settled as quickly as they started. Bickering is no help to anyone nor is it useful for their survival, so they try to keep from squabbling over the decisions and save their energy and strength for better and more productive things.

Military

The Cheard’s military is armed with weapons such as spears - sturdy sticks with a flat sharp stone on the end or an end of the stick sharpened by rock, slingshots-small rocks in a piece of cloth swung around before being let go in the direction of whoever they’re fighting - and hammer-like axes, which are shorter sticks with a medium sharp-edged, tear-shaped or pointed stone attached to one end of it and a semi-curved handle on the other end for grip. The majority of the members arm themselves with these weapons to defend their clan, territory and themselves.

They usually have the men in the front lines during battles between other clans, keeping the strongest ones in the front of the battle as they believe in fighting with as much strength as they can first to at least wear down their enemies or opponents at the beginning of the fight, just to end it as soon as they can. They train by sparing with one another, griping each other’s hands or forearms then pushing and shoving each other until one of them falls over. Other ways of training might include competitions like comparing how far they could throw their spears or stones in the slingshots.

Or lifting and moving large stones and rocks and even sometimes racing each other back and forth to improve their speed or just see which of them is faster than the other. Most weapons they have are made with sharpened and or flat stones, rounded or pointed rocks tied with twine to a stick of varying sizes. These weapons are rather easy to mend if they come apart or break due to how simple it is to put them together with so few yet very easily accessible materials in the first place.

They don’t come apart very often as when put together the weapons are very sturdy and strong, so it takes a lot of use to wear them out to the point they have required some mending. If any parts of the weapon may have broken beyond mending, they are just as easily replaced with better parts such as a new stick for better grip and extra twine to better hold it together. If they weren’t fighting, making weapons or preparing for fights in any way, they were either guarding the cave entrance.

Staying close to it but staying inside the cave during the day and staying right outside the entrance during the night to avoid being in the sunlight as much as they possibly can, guarding around the territory and taking turns with it, going out with hunters or even joining the gatherers to give them protection on their trips if needed. Sometimes they get materials for weapons while they’re out with the gatherers if their weapons need repairing, replacements or if they just need a new weapon in general.

Its not unlikely that they’ll go out to find materials on their own without accompanying any gatherers though.

Religion

The Cheards kin'toni are mostly either agnostic or spiritualists. Those falling in either of these two categories often find themselves in the majority along with roughly 90% of the clan's total population; suffice to say, they either believe that gods don't exist in their lore and instead follow a strict set of rules brought to them by their forebears... Or, in the case of those who are spiritualists, believe that they are the living incarnate of said forebears and have an alternative set of rules that are similar to that followed by the agnostic sect of the clan.

First, the agnostics: it is believed that the first people to be turned by the clan founder were also the most loyal, and it's often said that these forebears were instructed by the clan's founder to write a set of rules that will shape the clan for generations to come. These rules are often sentimental to the living and sacred to those who have died. Secondly, the spiritualists: according to this sect of the clan, the first within the clan to be turned by the clan founder actually helped the clan founder write the set of rules that would propel the clan forward into the future.

This set of rules differs only slightly from that followed by the agnostics, who in turn are often believed to misinterpret at least several of the rules within the set that the spiritualists bide by. As a result, the difference between the two rule sets is perhaps the catalyst to what may be a civil war within the Cheards, one that will destroy the clan from the inside. Those in the minority, the 'transcendentalists', per se, claim to be the part of this clan that is constantly preventing the civil war from taking place.

They aren't wrong. Time has shown that the transcendentalists have been the governing party of the clan, and also the party most ignored by the majority. While the agnostics and spiritualists believe politics is the reason for the forthcoming civil war, it is really the inability for the clan to coexist and agree on which set of rules were most faithful to the wishes of the clan's founder. That being said, the transcendentalists have been on the right side of history this whole time, but they are shunned for it when they should be praised.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

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Cheard Kin'toni Clan

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