Garzcer Kin'toni Clan

History

Biology

The Garzcer Kin'toni Clan are adapted to the Endelmorm Seasonal Deciduous Forest. They are tall and thin, as to aid moving though the underbrush, with a slim but muscular build. Their skin is of note, as it is able to slowly remodel the skin layer, allowing slow color changes via adaption of pigment. Over the coarse of weeks, the color can change radically. This allows for a dense layer of pigmentation in the epidermal layer during the summer. The denser, melanin-rich skin layer in the summer, allows them to resist some level of sunlight, but not true immunity.

The skin varies in color by season, in summer, it is patterned in shades of dark green and brown, and in winter, it is shades of white and brown. The skin has textured parts that look like moss and bark. The lower legs and arms have the large areas of the bark like texture while the rest of the skin has a mix. Their skin is able to create a waxy "gel" that is able to shed away from their skin, allowing them to be unbothered by rain. Their hair is long, and changes color with the season like the skin.

It is white and brown in winter and dark greens and browns in the summer. It is kept braided close to the head to avoid it snagging in branches. Their eyes are bright, jewel-green in color, with black "whites" of the eyes. Their ears are long, and pointed backwards from the head. Their hearing is tuned for acute directional hearing to allow them to find the locations of clan members through dense foliage. Their sense of smell is altered to focus exclusively on detecting the specific hormonal and blood signatures of forest prey. Their long arms are muscular, with hands with strong grip from altered fingers.

Their joints have small, dense tufts of hair, for muffling the sounds of their movement on dry leaves and snapping twigs. Their legs are changed with extra muscle in such a way that it allows for long, precise, silent leaps across the unpredictable gaps in the trees. Their feet are altered to have tendons and bones for gripping on wet or bark covered branches. Their feet have four long, strong toes, with long curved claws for gripping the bark. Than clan's member struggle with movement on the ground, as their adaptions are for moving though the branches of the trees, not on the ground.

Their digestive tract is modified to include a collapsible hepatic filter. This allows them to quickly ingest and process large volumes of blood from large prey. Via large feedings, they produce a large amount of body fat to sustain between the rare feedings. The clan have an hibernation mechanism with specialized protein-like substances to induce torpor.This allows them to protect their exothermic bodies. This is done via slowing all non-essential cellular functions. The clan use the torpor to hibernate each winter, feeding a lot before hand to build up large fat reserves.

Their healing is prioritized to focus on healing superficial tissue damage, often by scraping on rough tree bark or being hit by twigs during arboreal movement. The clan's healing is not so good at healing deeper wounds, and so those that fall out of trees often have to be looked after until they heal.

Culture

The kin’toni rose from the ashes and ruins and wreckage to reach where they are today. They had nothing left behind. They had to start from the very beginning. Lost from their way, starved and their initial strength wearing off, 3 kin’toni stumbled across, certain they were not going to survive when one of them got the scent of blood. It overwhelmed him and he let his senses guide him. It led him to a flock of sheep, bound in a fenced and sheltered farm house. This area wasn’t as much developed, hardly had any infrastructure, the blue skies above and fresh air also suggested that this was some area outside of the city premises.

These kin’toni knew that they have to fend for themselves and decided to take along these animals. The journey was long, they had been travelling for days. As soon as they crossed the city premises, their animals would barely move, it didn't take much longer for them to grow ill and tired and eventually they died. When these kin’toni met the rest of the clan, only then did they find out about the radioactivity. From there all these kin’toni started to live together and rebuild this abandoned city for themselves. They adapted according to the radioactive climate and have been living here ever since.

The initial form of clothing was rough spun wool and animal skins. Ill-fitted and roughly sewn. With time they grew their own cotton produce and they now wear cotton clothing in a variety of colours. The women ankle length skirts topped with blouses and men wear knee length straight cut shirts with straight pants. The men usually prefer to wear dark colours as they have to work all day. They grow their own cotton and have to go hunt for cattle. The women usually cook and look after the clothing, their dying and printing. This was the first clan to discover cloth printing. Wooden block carved with various designs when dipped in cloth dyes can produce a variation of prints on fabric.

They did all this and their clothing brought colour to this otherwise colourless place. This clan celebrates the arrival of spring season by wearing colourful clothing with exquisite floral prints. On this day everyone has a day off. Leisure time to spend as one likes. On this day no one works, it is marked as a day of peace, prosperity and harmony. They feast under the light of the moon and dance to the music, their dresses and capes bringing colour to the ruined land. They have their own farmhouse which is at a distance from the ruined city, it isn’t much to escape the radiation but atleast, the radiation isn’t that strong here.

They breed and raise farm animals. Most of them are horses as they do quite a lot of riding. These animals are hardly used for food. Hunting is done for this purpose. The hunters are mainly male, but there are some female kin’toni too. They ride on their horses to other lands and since it is a long ride, they have to use their horses.

Government

The authority and leadership of this clan lies predominantly on 5 kin’toni who willingly accepted the responsibility of leadership. They were accepted by the rest of the clan wholeheartedly for these positions. For these kin’toni were the ones who had helped them all rise from the depths of despair, to make them all see that there were a few things worth living for again. They were the ones who took the front seat when things were getting out of hand and looked upon matters themselves. They were the ones who marked borders and allotted territories to the kin’toni to begin their new journey.

Unlike other leaders, these are not ones to sit behind and supervise while others do all the work, rather they are the main ones on the field. Always standing straight backed and in the front while doing their jobs with a determined face. One of these leaders was an expert zu’aan carver and goldsmith. His name was Anouk and he was the first one to present the idea that the clan should have their own armory and that they should be able to defend themselves and hunt for food. He proposed the initial idea for setting up nets and traps around the perimeter for animals and any zu’aan, which tries to invade the territory.

Many of them didn’t even try to do so because of the radiation in this area but still, they took precautions. He himself made the first collection of harpoons and slingshots. He also welded knives and swords, which proved immensely useful as during the very first week when a group of kin’toni went to hunt in the woods they were ambushed by zu’aan. Two of these leaders, Camilla and Caspian, were two clever kin’toni who had great knowledge of infrastructure and construction. They came with the designs to rebuild the broken structures and make some semblance of a shelter for the kin’toni from the daylight.

The buildings of this area were crumbling and were not fit to live in. These two worked with their kin’toni to build them from scratch and succeeded in building a small accommodation in a single night. They worked through with this and now, decades later, they have built their own mini kin’toni city in the middle of this ruined zu’aan one. The remaining two leaders are skilled hunters who spend most of their time in the wild beyond the perimeter ensuring no kin’toni sleeps with an empty stomach. They are called Brennon and Juliana. They use their weapons and horses to go into the wild to hunt.

If they are lucky, they find a few wandering zu’aan and it’s a feast day for every kin’toni in their clan. The three main sectors of their government are; agriculture and livestock farming, armory and weapons, and hunting. Architecture and clothing are secondary areas. The people working in that department are a result of negotiation and self-preference but every single person has to be involved in some sort of business. Useless kin’toni who prefer to sit back and eat, and depend on others have no place in this clan. Lawmakers are the commoners and they decide the price each has to pay for their ill deeds.

Military

This clan also has the usual divisions. A hunter delegation which leaves the territory, and the guard delegation which consists of both the kin’toni guarding the clan and the ones working for the clan. Two of the leaders are also hunters, they mostly remain beyond the perimeter. They find food for all kin’toni and make sure no one sleeps with an empty stomach. If there is an unavailability of food closer to their area, they venture to far away lands, just making sure they don’t return empty handed. There are patrol guards posted at borders. The zu’aan are rarely spotted in the vicinity but this clan is still prepared for any sort of attack.

They don’t trust zu’aan now and have prepared in the case if the zu’aan try to suit up and attack this place as it used to be the center and still has many valuable items. A group of 7 kin’toni lay plans and designs for weapons and traps, snares etc. There are welders who work with molten stone and iron; they usually help in the production of weapons and shields. Most of these weapons go to the hunter’s delegation and then to the defense one. Many kin’toni keep themselves armed with atleast one weapon, to fight back in case all their defenses are failed.

They also prepare other metal utensils and containers. Wooden weapons are made by wood carvers. They also make portable furniture, wooden spears, carvings, frame work, vases and other stuff, but usually wooden snares and traps used for animal hunting. The people of the construction department make baked brick shacks. They have prepared their own prison with proper cells. They have also made a boundary wall surrounding their city. The farmers and breeders, remain near the rural area. A group of 10 sentinels has been escorted to guard these farmers. This clan doesn’t have my populace and since zu’aan are hardly spotted, there is no way of turning more zu’aan.

Any zu’aan found lurking in their territory is captured by the hunters and they are mostly fed upon. These zu’aan are mostly those who have been turned out of their tribes or cities for insubordination or crimes against their leaders. Since this clan consists of originals, any turned kin’toni is detested for not being pure blood. They believe that these zu’aan first ran away and when the kin’toni turned them, they now turn to the originals to seek mercy. These are usually taken as slaves and are given the toughest demanding jobs. These include the jobs of working for building bricks, cleaning weapons and serving the leaders and other counsellors.

These slaves have built a watchtower at the two gates of the city to spot any danger from miles away. The defense delegation kin’toni are placed here. In addition, 10 archers are posted here for defense purposes. There is no crime punishable by death for this clan, these kin’toni value kin’toni blood too much. These are all originals and not many in number.

Religion

After the kin’toni made their breakout from the experiment center they were quarantined in, they were thoroughly disappointed in their fellow zu’aan. They couldn’t understand how some of their own family members, their own friends could just leave them like that. Didn’t the very definition of family and friends meant that they won’t abandon you no matter what? That they won’t let you be subjected to a life of misery and that they would end it for you? Their disappointment registered earlier than hate, earlier than rage. In the ruins and destruction where they mercilessly had been left in, there was just one monument that stood tall and glorious as ever.

The statue of ‘Saint Hermes’. For the better part of the decade, this statue was seen as a spectacle of honour. 100 feet tall 40 feet wide, this was the statue of a young woman holding a sword in her hands. This statue was carved with great care, including the tiniest details, the minute scars, every wrinkle. Made out of white clay, this was the only structure that remained free standing despite all the destruction this city had endured. This statue was located at the exact center of the city. When the kin’toni first came across this monument they couldn't get past their shock.

This statue did not bear one scratch it just stood tall as ever. It was the statue of a young woman who had died fighting for justice a long time ago. She was a brave warrior, who the zu’aan admired much. She used to be just a common, poor zu’aan but her rage for the injustice towards the poor made her fight for all of them. She was killed three years later, but the zu’aan recognized her spirit and made her this monument to remember her by. The kin’toni admired this statue, its endurance, that it was a respectable monument and they soon began to praise it and then worship it.

In it, they found courage, motivation, and determination to work hard. To build their name, to improve and accept their new lives, and to rise up from the ashes of who they had once been. One of the religious festivals they celebrate is on the day these kin’toni came across this statue. To mark this day of great discovery, the male kin’toni, the ones who are daring enough, climb this statue and bath it, the entire monument is thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned. Then it is freshly painted and renewed. Another festival which is celebrated is the festival of Adscitus, which is the day of acceptance.

It is the day marking their turn into kin’toni. After years of cursing themselves and self-hatred, these kin’toni have finally accepted themselves and embraced this new life. They celebrate it by dressing in their traditional dresses printed to show their breakout and turning, the major events in their lives. They set fire to the zu’aan homes, what is left of them, any possession they can find and burn it all to the ground. The let their anger get the best of them that day and have understood by now how unreliable both; the ones they call family and friends, and life, can actually be.

Miscellany

This clan is known mostly for its own produce. Even though they live in a radioactive area, they plant outside the city’s premises, in the farms. Over the years, many plants also adapted to its radiation and now help the kin’toni in making their own produce. This was the first clan to make use of flower nectar and flower bud oils to make scents. They vary from light sweet scents to heavy long-lasting ones. Many members of this clan use these colognes in daily life. These scents are sometimes used to attract wild animals for ease of hunt. For this purpose, the kin’toni replicate the scent of blood or raw meat, sometimes even fresh green leaves.

They can replicate almost any scent in nature using plant extracts and a bit of anything whose fragrance they intend to produce. The essences were first discovered in a barn house in one of the farms near the sea. The barn was converted into a lab full of beakers, tubes and various liquids. It was probably done by an ambitious farmer who might have gotten ahead with his experiments had the outbreak not occurred. The Garzcer use this now for their own purposes. These kin’toni were also able to extract colour out of their flowers and plants and were able to use it to dye their clothes and create elaborate prints using block printing.

The kin’toni whose expertise is clay work and pottery usually occupy themselves in the making of pots, bowls and other clay utensils. They usually make pots and containers to preserve food and drink. This is how water is kept cool at high temperatures and how meat can last longer. They also store blood in these containers. A few jugs of zu’aan blood are stored in the homes of the leaders. This blood is taken out on the days of their festivals. They believe that the older zu’aan blood is, the better it tastes. They have also discovered various ways to make food items last longer.

Plenty of times it has been that the hunters come back empty handed or very have little prey. Thus, the kin’toni make use of the older preserved food items, sometimes if need be, they slaughter a few of their own farm animals to make up for meals. They prepare their baked by mixing ground clay with water and then putting the mixture into a rectangle mold. It is then dried and fried and then used to build strong structures. They have their own canal system, which they use for irrigation of cotton fields; the waste residue is used for feeding animals and manure as fertilizer.

The main water reservoir is the central city tank, other than that rain is their source of water. The women have their expertise in clothing, they spin wool and cotton threads making fabrics. The dying and printing are also a part of their job as well as digital printing and block work. The beautiful traditional designs and patterns lined with perfection makes their outfits exquisite.

Nearby Groups

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Garzcer Kin'toni Clan

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