Shyae Kin'toni Clan

History

The Shyae Kin’toni clan is a small tribe composed of around fifty kin’tonis. They branched off the Et'woro Kin'toni Clan in year 4E 10. Led by an ancient kin’toni by the name of Sh’shik, the Shyae chose to leave the fallen Empire of zu’ann 240 years ago to find refuge in the dense forests around the zu’ann fallen Empire. The Shyae went deeper in the forests where sunlight never reached and found at the forests’ borders a river with clear water. Near the river, there were small tribes of zu’ann. They presented easy prey for the Shyae kin’tonis even if the zu’ann were not completely defenseless.

The zu’ann river tribes fish in the serpentine river near the forest during the day. But often, they go out at night to fetch some water, have a drink from the river or even bathe in its waters. The Shyae wait for such opportunities to fetch and catch prey silly enough to bathe in the river at night. But they do not rely only on zu’ann nightly baths to hunt. They climb on trees to spot any prey who would dare tread the forests’ paths at night. The Shyae kin’toni clan, which originally had dozens of members when it was created, dwindled due to the scarce amount of blood they could hunt from the zua’nn river tribes.

Some died while hunting or starved to death, unable to find or catch prey. Because of the scarcity of food, the Shyae kin’tonis do not infect zu’ann to join their clan, unless one of their members die. They prefer staying in a very small clan so they can keep feeding on unsuspecting and foolish zu’ann who are not scared of the dangers of the night. They are not well-known to the zu’ann river tribes and most of the zu’ann tribes tell dangers of monsters lurking at night near the river and who abduct people to scare children and prevent them from going near the river or forests’ borders at night.

The zu’ann near the river have rarely spotted any Shyae or lived to tell the tale of their encounter with the Shyae. The Shyae kin’tonis are very careful and hide most of the time in order not to scare off the zu’ann tribes. None of the river tribes zu’ann know that what hunts them are kin’tonis. The Shyae have thus been known as river monsters throughout history, but many zu’ann do not believe in their existence, saying that they are only superstitions. The Shyae do not have a recorded history. They neither read or write, only focusing on hunting prey near the river or in the forests.

They enjoy scaring unsuspecting zu’ann before killing them and feeding on their blood. They like the taste of fear in the blood of their victims and hearing their screams into the night. The Shyae have a bad history with the Et’woro clan because the latter sometimes hunt for prey in the zu’ann forests as well. They oftentimes lose their prey to Et’woro kin’tonis because they are stronger and better equipped than the Shyae.

Psychology

Biology

The Shyae kin’tonis have light yellow irises with black sclerae and a vertical slit pupils. They have night vision which allows them to see in the dark and also discern movement or shadows, even camouflaged targets who try to blend with their surroundings. They have vision akin to serpents and their eyes see the temperature a prey radiates. Their prey looks red in their eyes and any living hot-blooded animals and zu’ann are red in color when they see them regardless of their complexion. The Shyae have sharp curved nails which allow them to climb on trees very easily. They also use those to attack prey and defend themselves.

They have elongated arms much like monkeys which make them very agile climbers and they can jump from tree to tree with ease. They have slim and small builds and are light-footed, not making noise when they walk. The average Shyae kin’toni is 1m 50 cm tall and weighs only around 40 to 50 kilos. They are very light and a bit fragile if they are faced with strong male zu’ann. That is why they prefer to prey on females and children because they are more vulnerable. The Shyae have black skin. They originally had fair skin but its pigments evolved and darkened so it would be harder for zu’ann to see them at night.

To their prey, the Shyae look like small shadows. Their eyes glow yellow at night, similar to some nocturnal animals, and zu’ann often mistake them for owls or cats. While the Shyae can walk and run on their two feet, they also crouch on all fours and can run like any felines or quadrupeds. They look barely human and are often mistaken for wild animals. The Shyae are very good swimmers. They often stay in the river and wait for their prey near the riverbanks. When the thirsty zu’ann takes a drink at night or dips in the cool river water, the Shyae grab them and plunge them into the river.

The victim struggles but the Shyae drink their blood in the river itself, the clear waters turning crimson before the currents wash the blood and the body away. Many zu’ann believe their kin has either drowned or disappeared, killed or abducted by the river monsters or eaten by dangerous animals near the forests. The Shyae have dark skin, but are also very hairy, even the females. Their skin is covered by black hair and it almost looks like fur. Males have beards while females do not. The faces of female Shyae are relatively smooth even if their body is covered with short hair. They all have black hair.

The Shyae men and women leave their hair very long like a mane. They are often mistaken for the black forest felines because of their animalistic appearance. The ears of the Shyae are slightly pointy and covered with black hair, accentuating their resemblance to the black forest felines. They have naturally good hearing but their eyesight is so efficient that they rarely have to rely on hearing.

Culture

The culture of the Shyae Kin’toni clan is centered around a concept called Marking. Marking, as the name implies, involves ‘marking’ territories in the forests by clawing and carving symbols on the trees. The Shyae do this in order to know which trees are theirs. They will often mark the biggest forest trees atop which they sleep during the day, completely sheltered by the thick leaves of the millennial wood giants. The five remaining Shyae kin’tonis have made their homes on the millennial trees, sleeping directly on its branches and covering themselves with blankets made of leaves during daytime.

In Shyae culture it is a custom to hunt wild animals in the forest. From birds to felines, the Shyae hunt those animals for sport. They use the polished river rocks that they sharpen with hard black silica to create weapons. They use the sharp rocks they made to create pointy spears out of branches. They do not eat the animals they hunt but kill them to acquire their fur or feathers. They skin the felines or deers with a sharpened rock and use the hides and pelts as clothes. They use feathers to make comfier beds for them to sleep in. Sometimes, they adorn their hair with some colorful feathers.

There is one Shyae who created a fancy house made of wood atop the trees he sleeps on for even more shelter. Sh’shik, the clan leader, is the one who built his personal home with his own creative skills. The others live in the wild but look at the little wooden house with envy, wishing they could have one of their own to protect them from the wind, cold and rain. Sh’shik can sleep comfortably and soundly without having his fur blanket and feather bed drenched with rainwater. No one shares their tree in Shyae culture because it is believed they share a close bond with the tree the moment they carve their personal symbol on its bark.

While the Shyae do not know how to read or write, they know how to draw. They often draw with their sharp claws or carve the wooden barks with sharp rocks in order to personalize their tree and make it more unique. The drawings and carvings are quite beautiful and exotic, with unique hieroglyphic symbols. The symbols are often carved to represent a concept that makes sense only to the kin’toni who drew it. The Shyae also draw or carve faces on the tree barks. The most skilled even sculpt designs and portraits of themselves in the trees. It is as if the tree had a face of its own.

The language of the Shyae has completely deviated from the zu’ann mother tongue. The Shyae do not use words so much as sounds to communicate. They click their tongues, hum or grunt in order to make themselves understood. They communicate with sounds to signal if there are prey or enemies or animals around. They do not need further or more refined concepts than that.

Government

Sh’shik, the clan leader of the Shyae, is an ancient kin’toni. He may have been a cultured zu’ann in the distant past, but he discarded all the things he was taught when he lived among his isolated clan in the deep forests surrounding the zu’ann empire. The Shyae leader does not care about civilization and prefers to live in the wild forests. He forbids the rest of his clan members to create other clans or civilizations upon penalty of death. They do not have the right to turn another zu’ann into a new kin’toni member unless one of the Shyae dies.

Sh’shik is the leader of the clan because he is the strongest Shyae. Some of the clan members in the past had challenged him but they all died by his hand. The government of the tribe is under a small authoritarian leadership. Sh’shik chose to keep the current 5 clan members because they did not revolt against him or were smart enough to survive during all those years. Sh’shik makes sure that the clan members do not try to overturn him by challenging them in wrestling combat. He always wins because he is slightly bigger, and smarter, than the rest of the Shyae.

The other Shyae clan members are there only to serve Sh’shik. While Sh’shik can hunt prey very well on his own, he leaves the task of bringing back live prey to him to the other clan members. They are his servants and subjects. Two Shyae stay in the forest at night to watch over zu’ann travelers from the top of trees. They ambush the travelers by jumping on their backs. Two small Shyae can take down a bigger zu’ann target together. The other two stay in or near the river at night to find bathing or drinking prey. The government of the Shyae is extremely simple. The clan leader has set simple rules for the clan members to follow.

Signalling that there is prey with the clicks of the tongue, signalling that there are enemies with hums and signalling that there are animals with grunts. They do not need to know anything more than that. But secretly, Sh’shik keeps his intelligence and his past memories as a zu’ann and former Et’woro member. He pretends that he forgot his past but remembers some zu’ann words. To keep his servants faithful and docile, Sh’shik forbids them to communicate with words, instead using a sign language to communicate more complex ideas like the rules of the clan.

He does not want his servants to develop more intelligence than him because it could be dangerous if they communicated to overturn him. The other clan members are not allowed to stay together unless they go hunting. Sh’shik does not want them to plot something against him. The government created by Sh’shik is more akin to that of a dictator. Sh’shik the dictator is feared by the other clan members. They would not dare try something against him. But as long as they bring him food, they are free to do what they want.

Military

The military of the Shyae Kin’toni clan is fairly simple. At the head, there is the clan leader Sh’shik. Sh’shik is the one who invented weapons for the Shyae. He knew how to polish rocks into sharp stones and sharpen branches into spears. He has an arsenal of spears and sharp or blunt rocks in his wooden house on top of the giant millennial tree he calls home. He hands his servants with those weapons to hunt animals, making sure he is the one who wields the biggest and longest spear or sharpest rock. Each servant receives one spear and a bag of rocks on nights of hunt for protection.

The Shyae normally carry their spear on their back. The spears are fitted inside a cylinder crafted with light wood that is tied to the Shyae hunter’s back with strong, sturdy vines. The bag of rocks the Shyae carry over their shoulder is made of giant hare or wolf pelts. The Shyae avoid unnecessary or risky combat with zu’ann travellers who are armed with swords. But they often throw rocks on their prey’s head from the top of trees to try and knock them unconscious. The Shyae rarely miss their targets. Sometimes combat with armed zu’ann is inevitable but the Shyae use their spears to fight them.

The long reaching spears have an advantage over the swords’ shorter reach. This combat advantage coupled with the agility and speed of the Shyae is a good combination that allows the nimble and evasive Shyae kin’tonis to survive in melee combat. The spears are often as long as the Shyae themselves, but they wield them with ease. Sh’shik the leader is the best spearman. He carries several spears in his wooden bag when he is hunting for additional protection. Often when faced with a group of armed zu’ann he would throw the spears like javelin, impaling the dangerous adversaries from afar.

The military of Shyae is made up of only 5 spearmen or spearwomen. It is not necessary for them to have a big army due to the fact that zu’ann soldiers clad in armor cannot pass through the dense forest mostly due to the uneven terrain and thick and low branches. The Shyae are relatively safe from the threat that zu’ann soldiers pose to other clans who do not live in the wild. Away from most civilizations, there was no need to form a strong or powerful military. Nonetheless, the Shyae are great hunters and wield light but lethal weapons.

Those unlucky enough to cross the path of those tribal warriors are very scared by their dark appearance. They dart like shadows in the dense and dark forests and many zu’ann are surprised when attacked by the Shyae kin’tonis. Because they are so rare, the zu’ann do not know of their existence. Those who have survived an encounter with those fierce warriors tell tales that there are monsters in the forest, like a race of feline and human hybrids.

Religion

The Shyae Kin’toni clan do not believe in gods. Instead, they believe in spirits. The forest is filled with such spirits. Each tree contains one and has a soul according to their religion. Trees are viewed as sacred spirits because they provide shelter to the Shyae kin’tonis. The Shyae bond with a millennial tree by carving a symbol on its bark. The symbol represents the bond the tree and the Shyae kin’toni share and cannot be undone. For example, the Shyae do ot have the right to look for another tree. It is like a form of monogamous marriage to them, to which they marry to a single tree for their whole lives.

There are also animal spirits. Each animal, whether it be owls, wolves, deers or black bears, has a spirit. They are sacred too even if the Shyae hunt them for fun sometimes. They provide warmth and comfort with their feathers. hides or pelts. The Shyae leader wears the pelts of the most dangerous animals which he hunted himself. He believes that the ferocious animal’s spirit imbues him with their strength and power. He wears a black bear’s hide which is larger than him. The other kin’tonis of the Shyae clan wear weaker animal hides or pelts like deers and wolves. They are not allowed to kill a black bear.

Only their leader Sh’shik has the right to do so. Sh’shik taps his chest with his fist to indicate that he is the only one who can hunt black bears and wear their hide. He is the only one who can be imbued by the bear spirit’s power because he is the Chosen One and Legendary Leader of the tribe. He roars like a bear whenever he manages to kill a bear and also roars before and after his blood meals. The zu’ann victims are very scared by his majestic roar before they have their blood drunk. The roar is a religious way of saying ‘Thank you for the meal, spirits’ or ‘I have vanquished the most ferocious animal, I am strong!’

Each meal is sacred because they can be rare and it is often hard to find or hunt prey. But when the Shyae kin’tonis do find live prey and manage to bring them back to their leader, they perform a religious dance around the victim before killing it and drinking its blood. The dance involves jumping from one foot to another to represent the joy of having found food to feast upon. The Shyae who are not allowed to use words normally are allowed to sing or chant. It more often than not sounds like gibberish and none of the Shyae can understand one another while they sing in cacophony.

After the blood meal, the Shyae kin’tonis sit around the body of their victim in silent meditation except for the clan leader, who roars. The Shyae do not believe that the zu’ann have spirits. Ths clan leader, Sh’shik, makes a thumbs down sign to show that they are spiritless.

Miscellany

The Shyae Kin’toni clan members used to speak normally in the past. But after some of its members rioted against Sh’shik, they were killed by his hand. Ever since, Sh’’shik proclaimed that no one has the right to use words under penalty of death. In his mind he secretly recites some zu’ann words so he does not forget them. But the rest of his clan members have forgotten how to speak. They only communicate with sounds and sign language. Sign language is composed of several gestures, most of which are only used by Sh’shik. Sh’shik taps his chest to show that he is the one or that something belongs to him.

Rubbing hands together means that one is cold and needs a pelt. Sh’shik has a collection of pelts in his home. He is the only one who knows how to skin animals very well. He provides a pelt to the cold kin’tonis as a benevolent act. The kin’tonis nod their heads rapidly to show that they are grateful. The rules of the clan are simple. Whenever the kin’tonis break the rules by accident, the clan leader gives them one warning that is easy to understand. He makes a sign where he pretends to slice his throat with a gesture of his finger. The clan members have only one warning and it is enough. They do not repeat their mistake or it would mean certain death.

Only Sh’shik has the most beautiful tree. His tree has a face that resembles his own, carved and sculpted expertly by his own hands with a special tool made by him. It is actually a finely chiseled stone that he uses. No one knows how to make a fine chisel aside from him. He knows how to make a variety of different stone tools of all shapes and sizes which he keeps for his own usage. The other kin’tonis only watch him hone his craft without even trying to replicate what he does. When they try, he taps his chest to show that he is the only one who can make stone tools.

The Shyae clan members fear and respect their leader. They know how cruelly he had murdered those who rioted against him. They have vivid memories of the executions and the images still haunt them. They would not be able to survive without him, and they know it is true. He holds all the wisdom, strength, intelligence and knowledge. If he dies, they die. That is why they protect him and serve him fervently. Before performing the religious dance, the Shyae kin’tonis burst out laughing so that they can ready themselves for the choreography. Laughing means ‘The dance of joy starts now.’

The songs and chants they sing during the dance are made of nonsensical words. But what they really mean to say is unknown. Some secretly curse their leader by singing gibberish. Sh’shik would never understand. The Shyae silently meditate after their meal because they are not joyful anymore.

Nearby Groups

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Shyae Kin'toni Clan

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