Ran'yer Kin'toni Clan

History

The Ran'yer Kin'toni Clan was created after the so called “Plague of the Dark Moon” devastated the countryside of the Dylamos Kingdoms. This disease was one of the first signs of the appearance of the kin'toni in this region. The peasants were terrorized by this to them, unknown threat. Eventually the creatures coalesced tinto the Ran’yer Kin’toni clan, in a rather leaderless, disorganized and somewhat hazardous manner.

However, the Ran’yer was founded without a centralized strong leadership and thus was exempted from the bloody battles for control that other more “imperial” clans had on their beginnings. The zu’aan weren’t precisely happy with this development, however. The Ran’yer were banding into several leaderless raiding parties numbering in the tens of thousands, raiding the trade routes and small settlements around the Dylamos Kingdoms, but never assaulting the walled cities themselves.

And why would them? After all, they had all the “food” they wanted already. Furthermore, the Ran'yer didn’t consume only zu’aan blood, but they also devoured the farm animals of the region. Peasants demanded their destruction, but the king’s knights were ordered to stand guard only for the high nobility and the royal families of the land, “cowering” in their bastions and fortresses. The Ran’yer had free reign to do as they would with the general population, and they utilized this advantage to the fullest.

Feeling abandoned by the nobility, the rural peasantry had to defend themselves. They organized lynch mobs with torches and pitchforks to combat the “blood-sucking menace”. However, during the first months, even years, they mostly persecuted their own, falsely accusing them of being “kin’toni” – a newly coined word. The frenzy didn’t last long, and sooner or later the peasants realized that venting their frustrations this way was counterproductive when their survival was at stake.

So, they actually stood something to gain by setting night guards, vigilance shifts and traps that only a blood-sucking threat had good chances to trigger. While these measures did have some success at deterring small groups of Ran’yer stragglers, they were still powerless against the larger accumulations of enemies. Thus, the peasants evolved, and amongst them hero-hunters raised; those that would adopt the night in order to attack their enemies when they were alone and weak, much like they themselves had been attacked.

Many of the hunters were orphans and widowers, or those who had lost their kin. They had nothing else to risk but their own lives, and their sole reason for existing was revenge. Against these more formidable foes, the disorganized nature of the Ran’yer was vulnerable. They needed to change their ways too, since the peasants were not soft and panicked as before. Now they were determined, and forged in the fires of predation.

The predators, too, had to become better in order to eat a stronger prey. Ran’yer started to plan their attacks, to convene in pre-battle meetings to setup their strategy, and not just act on instinct “like in the good old days”. They started to specialize in different areas, like distraction tactics, sieging, torching and ransacking. Every foul act became an art into itself, no longer just being a fun pastime, but actually requiring skill, concentration and practice to master. This was the true genesis of the clan as a distinct culture and not just spontaneous gatherings of raiders. They were now truly the Ran’yer Kin’toni.

Biology

For a Kin’toni clan, the biology of the Ran´yer may appear quite unremarkable. They have deep blue irises, though this is only apparent at moonlight. Their sclera is gray and their pupils are slightly doubled, appearing somewhat like a Venn diagram. The Ran’yer have good night vision, and they can even see a part of the infrared spectrum, which allows them to prowl at night and detect heat sources – mainly straying zu’aan - without being seen themselves. The double pupils allow them to have not only better light perception in night environments, but also to have a greater field of vision at any given time. The flip side is that they easily get blinded in daylight or by great concentrated lights, such as fires. Incendiary Ran’yer need to use special clothes or pieces of glass in front of their eyes in order to not become temporarily blinded by the fire. Even if blinding is indeed not permanent, it can cause intense pain and psychological distress, so these Kin’toni tend to avoid it at all costs.

Though naturally quite noisy at first, the Ran’yer in truth can tap into their primal instincts to move undetected through tall grass and plains vegetation, much like a stalking tiger. They can step without noise and have feet adapted to this purpose. They can move between the grass blades without disturbing them. This caused much distress for the zu’aan farmers, who could be attacked and snatched at a moment’s notice.

As one of the more ancestral breeds of kin’toni, the Ran’yer indeed require regular feeding. They were not adapted to spending long periods without food or drink. On the other hand, the blood of a cow or sow may suffice to satiate a Ran’yer for quite some time – though they do crave for zu’aan blood first and foremost, as the most exquisite delicacy for them. They don’t cook any kind of meat, preferring to consume it raw if at all.

Culture

The Ran’yer don’t consider themselves undead, but rather they believe they have begun a “true life” where the pleasure of killing has been unlocked. They don’t believe being turned is a curse, but rather a cause to celebrate. The day of their turning becomes their “true birth” and they make parties in honor of the occasion every year, with feasting and singing and dances.

The Ran’yer tattoo their bodies, but not with any motif. They tattoo specifically in order to remember notable episodes from their “New life” as a kin’toni. Any other thing is heavily frowned upon. The body of a Ran’yer kin’toniis considered to be their self-biography. Upon death, their tattoos are used as a reference for the clan’s holy men and women in order to reconstruct the story of the deceased for their party-funeral, and to tell orally their tales to others, thus ensuring “their fun will never die”. People that were turned the same day sometimes search for each other, believing this makes them “bound” in a way. This day-bond is considered the beginning of the most intimate and fructiferous friendships and partnerships. Day-bound groups are believed to be better at hunting and raiding than non-day-bound groups. Despite these superstitions, perhaps the most notable feature of a day-bound group is the Carnivals. Since they all share the same “birthday”, they celebrate it together by inviting all of their acquaintances and other nearby Ran’yer kin’toni to a huge celebration. In the celebration there are blood games, fun, alcohol, and a remembrance based on the tattoos of the hosts. These celebrations are usually outdoors in grassy fields and, unlike Ran’yer hunts, can be quite noisy. However, due to the sheer amount of kin’toni that gather and how exalted they are, few zu’aan would attempt to mess with one of these parties, even if they happen to know where it is located.

Not any zu’aan is selected to receive the “Blessing of rebirth” by being turned. Only those identified as being potentially appreciating of their new way of life are chosen. Murderers and thieves are considered some of the prime candidates to becoming a Ran’yer kin’toni. Scholars and scribes are normally excluded from the get-go from consideration. They are believed to be prone to overthinking and don’t “get” it. Generally, any “Killjoy” will automatically be discarded. If some Ran’yer looks depressed and the fun of combat and sacking cannot cheer them up, they are normally killed by their contemporaries, since they themselves are said to be “killing the mood”. Thus, depression is expunged and not tolerated amongst the Ran’yer kin’toni ranks.

When a new “partner” is turned and thus “reborn”, they are introduced into the ways of the Clan by one or more day-mates that was turned the same day but in another year. It is considered a boon to have a new day-bound roving mate, so usually the older members are delighted to find their “match” and to train them in the ways of combat and ransacking. In turn and if they understand the “Joy of being a kin’toni”, they will join their mate’s band. If they don’t like their partners, they may join others or start their own, though this is considered ungrateful. And if they don’t like being a Ran’yer at all, they will be eaten by the rest, with their day-mates having the time-honored ancient right of dibs on their remaining blood.

Government

Though they have advanced somewhat from their more primitive stage, the Ran’yer are still very far from having a vertically organized, bureaucratically functioning government.

The closest the Ran’yer have to political parties are the ideological fractions about how exactly to pillage, ransack and plunder. There are four main approaches to this:

The “Racer” fraction believes in the power of speed and surprise. They think that groups moving fast into a territory and striking all available targets in the least time possible is most efficient, and also, most safe. Then they retreat into the shadows and strike again in yet another region. There are two disadvantages to this: The first is lack of advance scouting, which means attacks are unaware of any defenses or traps. The second is that it is a very hurried nomadic lifestyle with barely any time to rest unless booty is resigned. Despite this, the Racer fraction is popular as it requires little forethought or preparation.

The “Breaker” fraction is focused on the destruction of the enemy’s material ability to fight. They will enact assassination and sabotage with reckless abandon. They assault furnaces, blacksmiths and other strategic assets, as well as farms, crops and livestock. The problem is this sometimes can destroy zu’aan communities completely, disabling the Ran’yer from taking further bounty from them once they are exhausted, extinct, or migrate away. Due to this reason, Breakers are somewhat despised by some of the other fractions, though they are still fairly numerous.

The “Stalker” fraction believes it is better to move only at night. They observe their victims from the shadows for extended periods of time and watch and memorize their habits. We are not talking hours, but weeks. After they have a minute information, they strike. Stalkers aren’t very numerous since their method requires patience, which is something not all Ran’yer posses in grat abundance.
The “Reaver” fraction is most feared. Indeed this is no coincidence, as their strategy is to strike fear into the heart of their enemies, fighting long, asphyxiating battles and draining enemy will to resist. They will leave bodies out in the open and attack seemingly randomly, but always once and again against the same community until they psychologically break it. The disadvantage of this is that some strong-willed communities may be galvanized rather than intimidated, but this occurrence has been historically uncommon.

Fractional struggles are common, but rarely lethal. The Ren’yer have plenty of “free” space to try their tactics in different zu’aan hamlets, generally. The continent is quite big, and the Dylamos Kingdoms are plenty. However, occasionally two fractions will crash for the right to exploit a particularly rich village. In this case, each of them needs to choose a Champion. The two champions will fight in single combat at midnight, and the fraction of the winner will get exploit rights to that particular town – while the defeated one has to leave and find another settlement. Mostly, this arrangement works, and leaving is better for the defeated clan than picking a fight in most cases, as internal battles would severely weaken even the fraction that would become victorious.

Military

Even though they don’t have any kind of formal organization, the Ran’yer have developed diverse systems of military organization for both raiding and pillaging.

The most common system used by raiding parties is the “order of combat”, which consists of three main roles in the groups: The Foremost, the Hindmost, and the Middle-One. The Foremost is the pro tempore leader of the raiding group. They will give loose order to everyone, and scout ahead. The hindmost is the one that covers the retreat, and goes to the back of the group. They also are tasked with preventing any backstabbing or foul play, so they need to be even more trusted then the Foremost. The Middle One is the person which is chosen as a reference to regroup in the case anything goes wrong with the operation. They are a point of reference and will go, as their name indicates, in the middle of the group. This whole type of organization is generally favored by small parties, specially the day-bound ones.

For larger parties which cannot always go by personal name and identification by sight or smell, there are other types of combat organization. One of them is called the Leaderling Effect. The Leaderling Effect means a natural leader will emerge, around which people will rally. The leader with the most followers in turn will lead all leaders. This is a charisma-based system, in which having lots of admirers is considered a power move in and on itself. Some have deridedly called the Leaderling-based system a “contest of popularity”, since actual military ability can often not be gauged, so the most sympathetic, attractive, or otherwise magnetic personalities will always be chosen as leaders, independently of how well they may perform in combat later. Of course, this is not 100% the case, as reputation of being a good Leaderling will follow certain personalities from battle to battle, allowing them to cultivate a more or less permanent group of followers. On the same tune, a defeat will be sorely remembered by any survivors, meaning that if the Leaderling retreated or escaped, they will be booed, ostracized and possibly dishonored. This means leaderlings are pressed to either triumph in victory, or die in defeat; while, for other members, there are no ill consequences to be part of a failed raid (at least, not meted by their comrades; being captured and executed by the zu’aan is its own punishment, if it comes to that).

Loot is seen as relatively worthless in trade value. The real reason the Ran’yer love loot is because it gives social and military status on the clan. Being able to loot is considered the sign of past military successes, thus giving a position to lead and more access to the spoils. Looting is thus both principle and reward of the combat-social system. It is not uncommon to see Ran’yer leaderlings stuffed with jewels and expensive garments, so much that it makes it harder for them to walk (they will leave their jewels back at camp when they need to attack, as they expect to be able to carry new ones). For outsiders, such sight may seem ridiculous, but for Ran’yer, an appearance of jewel and fur overload commands and implies both admiration and envy.

Religion

The afterlife for the Ran’yer, as described by their storytellers, is pretty similar to their current life (or unlife, as some would call it, but not themselves). The few differences are that in the next life the zu’aan farmers are always plentiful, every day is your turning birthday, and that the cattle tastes as delicious as people, amongst other such details.

The storytellers will tell the people gathered on a full moon about the boons of the afterlife, especially if you are “a good Ran’yer”. The mandates of a good Ran’yer aren’t as clear cut as in some other clans, but they include things such as to never abandon your day-mates in combat, to protect your raiding parties, and to take joy in zu’aan suffering, but only if they are free. Indeed, something that has baffled some studious of the kin’toni is how the Ran’yer value freedom, even in their victims. It is a social and religious taboo to enslave a zu’aan for any significant period of time. If victims are abducted, the kin’toni only has three days to play and feed on them while they are alive. After that, they have to either kill them or give them the option to be turned. A Ran’yer that breaks this vow is seen as an outlaw to their own people and able to be hunted by those in their same clan. Even their day-mates have a higher obligation to kill them, since he is “dishonoring” their birthday by breaking the Ran’yer rules.

Other than this, zu’aan villages are never conquered; they are attacked and any “food” is consumed or taken away, but the place itself is not governed. The religious precepts of the Ran’yer include nomadism as a way of life. Ran’yer kin’toni don’t settle, nor do they build fortifications or palisades. This would anger their main deity, Karman.

Karman is depicted as a huge anthropoid god with a green-tinted skin and a head with two carnous horns. Karman is both a battle god and a laughing god, and he is invoked both in attacks and in celebrations. He does not “Love” the kin’toni, but rather he laughs and plays with them, much as they play with him. His games can be cruel and bloody, but he never ceases to smile through it all, even in pain. Some scholar believe that the emotion that better describes Karman is “resilience”. Others think he and his followers are just insane. Whatever the case, huge effigies of Karman are erected in the biggest festivals, bloodied with both kin’toni and victim’s, and then destroyed when the festival is done.

As the culture of the Ran’yer progressed, so did their need for survival in the face of attacks and hardened enemies. This is why they developed a second deity. Grissa is a female idol and Karman’s lover (not wife). She is the deity of turning, and of protection for the Ran’yer. While Karman is invoked to attack, Grissa is invoked for hiding and when defense or help is needed. She is depicted as a blue-skinned ogress, and her eyes are black as night, since it is night that normally shields the Ran’yer kin’toni from persecution.

Miscellany

Ran’yer festivals are famous amongst even other kin’toni clans. The Ran’yer have several festive days besides the “birthday” of each of them. These are the anniversaries of notable happenings and battles. The anniversaries are remembered for a number of years, then forgotten when nobody remains tattooed with them; new ones take their place in the collective history, even then. The Saby Yabo festival is about the battle of Saby Yabo, where 50 Ran’yer raiders defeated a garrison of 200 zu’aan town defenders. That the garrison was mainly of women, the frail and inform, old people and children is of little regard to the epicness of the story, since an abnormal number of them were turned and “victory is the friends we made along the way”.

The Nunc Sumar festival is about the Raid of Tomachas, where a large quantity of gold and jewels were found and distributed almost evenly amongst a day-bound party. These are folk heroes and celebrated by dressing up as them and doing impromptu plays about their character dynamics.

The Tabolas Nochi festival is about the collection of a great amount of goats in the reaches of the Gybare Mountains. Tabolas Nochi literally means “fortuitous goat” in the Ran’yer dialect. This festival is celebrated by sequestering goats from hillsides and eating them with friends.

The Plin Daladdas festival lasts three whole days and is celebrated in remembrance of Leaderling Voski, a very sympathetic figure that would not drink blood until all of the rest of the horde would have had their share. He always took all the gems for himself, though. In the festival itself, people exchange gems and distribute food evenly.

The Baneri Silphae festival is done in honor of the Legend of the Faepires, a fictitious race of faerie-vampiric people that would have been the predecessors to the kin’toni. While most Ran’yer know the story isn’t literally true, the festival is a good opportunity to play pranks and to get drunk.

The Planch Lerd festival is celebrated amongst the Racer fraction and is exclusive to them. It is a whole week of socializing and discussion dedicated to the sharing of information, especially geographic information that would be useful for where to mount the next raid. At the end of the week, the most important persons of the tribe will decide where to strike next. The festival is not done statically, but each daily gathering has a different location.

Finally, the Letyn Gulus festival is only celebrated by the Stalker fraction and is indeed, pretty secret. This festival is silent, and dedicated to the confection of camouflaged clothes and stealth weaponry. At the end of the festival one of the kin’toni is chosen randomly to be sacrificed, a grim reminder that death strikes at the least expected. This festival is not publicized due to fear that other fractions would condemn the sacrifice tradition, due to “Not understanding” the social moral involved in this harsh but fair “lesson”.

Nearby Groups

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Ran'yer Kin'toni Clan

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