Kelack Kin'toni Clan

History

The Kelack kin’toni clan resides deep inside the Southern Ocean near the Ranlmor Overgrown Beach i.e. they live underwater. They hardly surface and might only do so when summoned. They are not very easy to find, but if one knew exactly where to look, they would be led right into the heart of their territory. That is precisely why they are called “The straits of the wandering isles”. As the name suggests, the pieces of land surrounding the strait on two sides sinks into the ocean at least three times every year as the sea level rises. And thus, that’s how the name originated.

About a hundred years ago, these kin’toni used to live on land, a few miles away from this water body. And as any other clan, they had their territory, their man-power, and a goal ahead. They assumed they would go on living like this until the revolution would occur, when kin’toni would no longer have to live hidden and in fear, that they would conquer the whole Taerel. It wasn't until a zu’aan ambush that they even began to think otherwise. In broad daylight when the kin’toni kept to their homes, a group of zu’aan attacked these kin’toni. They were trapped, and they couldn't move out in the sun and also couldn't fight from miles away.

The zu’aan were raining arrows on them, trying to draw them out. They shot a series of arrows at them which struck many kin’toni directly, and every single one of them was killed on spot. Afterwards, when these arrows were extracted from the bodies, they smelled of some foreign chemical and rust. The kin’toni did not know what it was, nor was there anything to be done now. In the burial ritual, this clan had a tradition of covering the dead with huge white sheets up to the neck and then bury them, any close associate would lift them up and then lower them into the graves.

During this process, one of the kin’toni accidentally brushed his hand against the arrow wound. Several hours later he observed an angry rash growing on his hand which was blackish in color. He referred to the medic of the clan who put an ointment on it and bandaged it. Come morning the medic has the same rash on his hands and as for the kin’toni who initially had it, his rash has spread further up on his arm. As time went on, this plague spread from kin’toni to kin’toni upon contact. It kept on growing further and none of the kin’toni suffering from it could survive.

The ones infected were told to leave the premises immediately, which was most people and even included the leader of the clan. But they would not risk the few healthy ones at any cost. These people wandered off to the strait, spent the night on the shore, by dawn they realized they had no shelter from the sunlight and running to some safe place wasn’t an option as the sun was already half out. Diving deep underwater was their only option otherwise, the sun would scorch them. The water was ice cold at that time and the kin’toni were weak from the infection.

One by one, as they lowered themselves into the ocean. Slowly, they felt their sores heal, their pain leave and a sudden ease of mobility which otherwise should have hurt them. Whatever chemical the zu’aan had used on their arrows, water was its cure, it healed them and they were well and healthy in no time. When they returned, they found out that the rest of their clan members were long dead, murdered by the zu’aan. They had a message nailed into their bodies commanding them to leave the zu’aan territory. There were only about 200 of them left now and they knew the zu’aan would return in the morning.

Thus, they decided to reside in the same waters that had healed them as they would not only offer them protection but also brought good luck.

Biology

The Kelack are adapted to the soft sands, strong tides and lush greenery of the Ranlmor Overgrown Beach. They have short, broad, slightly flattened builds. Their skin is pale, sandy-beige, with small diamond-shaped dermal scales, and a dense concentration of UV-scattering pigments in their dermal scales. This gives them protection from the abrasive sand and even some protection, but not true immunity from the harsh daylight. The scales are dense enough to make shedding heat during the day hard, and forces them to rely on submgering themselves in cold water to cool off.

They are hairless, as hair can get fouled in the sand that they dig into for shelter. Their deep-set sand-colored eyes are protected by a thick, transparent nictitating membrane. This moves horizontally as to clean the sand and salt from the surface, and not getting in the way of vision. Their ears are short, pointed, flat to the head and with fleshy ear-shields that can close when submerged in sand or water. The ears are altered as to be able to filter out the roar of the ocean and find the sounds of prey transmitted though the wet sand.

Their noses are flat to the face, wide and with intricate, fine bone structures that can condense and filter fresh water vapor from the humid air. This helps lower their need for water. Their lips and gums are thick and keratinized, as to protect their mouths from the cuts from sharp-shelled or bone heavy marine prey.Their teeth are specialized, the front teeth are short, needle like spikes to catch fish. The back teeth are flat and wide, for crushing shells and bones alike. The torso has heavily reinforced muscles, as to stabilize and twist against the powerful, sudden winds of the coastline.

They have tails, short, broad and flattened as rudders to aid with swimming and to act as a way to stabilize themselves in strong winds. Their arms and legs have a highly flexible skeletal structure, adapted to allow rapid contortion of their bodies to swim though strong tidal currents. The forearms and feet are thickened as to aid digging. Their hands and feet are extremely broad and shovel-shaped, for digging deep short-term burrows in the soft sand. This is an adaption to escape rival kin'toni, predator and sunlight alike. The thumbs are limited in movement.

Their hands, being adapted for digging, lack the grip strength for climbing and they struggle to use small tools. Their large feet also mean that any fast, sustained running on packed, hard ground is difficult. Their blood is able to regulate and filter large amounts of sodium. This allows them to drink both the high saline blood of coastal marine life, and salt water. Due to their low ability to retain water and specialized internal salinity regulation, inland they struggle with dehydration and a lack of salt.

They have hyper-developed adrenal glands, to allow for short, intense bursts of adrenaline-fueled energy when facing large threats. The digestive system has the adaptation of bacterial colonies and stronger acids that can break down chitin, small bones and cartilage, common parts of their specialized marine diet.

Culture

The Kelack kin’toni clan wear skin tight bodysuits made of fiber or polyester coated thread. This is a material that does not get wet, and they chose to wear this because the normal clothing wouldn't have lasted much longer underwater. They wear chains of marine plants and flowers and bangles made of seashells. They are just careful to not wear anything on their neck, as it might get tangled with their gills. Though they live underwater, they are still evolved species, and food and serving is done mainly on seaweed platters. Their forks and spoons are made of curled metal with intricate hoops.

These kin’toni live so deep into the sea that no sunlight reaches here, and the bottom its pitch black. And even if their vision has adjusted to it, they still like to liven it up using luminous rocks and pebbles that only glow in the dark. They also use illustris fishes to bring more light. These fishes have a luminous bulb protruding from its head, which lights up the dark. Their day begins with the sound of a conch horn, this conch is about 30cm long and is owned by the leader of the clan. It is of immense importance and a highly prized possession. The kin’toni live in a sort of colony, which consists of many caves of various sizes.

Each cave is connected to one another, these caves have a reddish hue. It is the region where no other species can be seen and the kin’toni have full control over this place. This clan prefers to eat a certain clean cut and only several organs of marine animals are consumed. A soup prepared from fish eyes and liver is their traditional dish. Both are eaten raw, as they cannot really light a fire. The leader hardly leaves his underwater solace, he hasn't set foot on land in decades. The leader has his collection of fish skeletons, these vary in sizes and are kept for show, almost as decoration.

From bigger kills such as sharks, the leader collects things like their teeth, their eyeballs, or the tailbones. He also had several zu’aan skulls in his collection too. Whenever someone dies in this clan, their body is fed to sharks or eels. Dead marine animals in the vicinity is a symbol of bad luck. This clan is particularly known to be superstitious and constantly keeps look out for what they consider as bad omens. Many kin’toni raise certain marine animals for personal use or amusements. Once in a month they bathe with blubber and celebrate their uniqueness by a feast later too.

Once in every three years, they swim to shallow waters and hunt small fishes. They then feed these fishes to larger animals. This is taken as a form of offering to these larger fishes, so that they might not trouble the kin’toni. These kin’toni have little problems with the zu’aan or other kin’toni as they live far deep underwater for any of them to come after them, but they are vulnerable against the attack of the large fishes who are unstoppable when in a hunting spree.

Government

This clan follows a very unusual form of government. Power allocation amongst kin’toni is according to age and experience. It is believed that wisdom, and knowledge increases only with age. And that younger kin’toni, no matter how much they have seen and suffered, can’t ever be wise. The kin’toni have to be a certain age that is a minimum of 60 years to be in the government. The leader is the oldest member of the clan; therefore, he has the most rights and power and also wisdom. It was his idea to settle underwater once the plague settled. The leader of this clan is not answerable to anyone but their god.

He just makes decisions and gives orders; the rest of the clan just follows. He has all sorts of kin’toni working under him. He follows a strict schedule and likes to abide by time. He is the one to blow the horn for the day to begin. The day begins on his signal. He is served 5 times a day, 5 different meals of his choice. He doesn't hunt or occupy in any task himself; he has kin’toni working under him every hour of the day. The leader does not work with an advisor and anyone proceeding to correct him or question him. The kin’toni who does speak up has to face strict consequences, one of them being that the kin’toni crossing limits has his tongue cut off.

The leader has his personal tailor who customizes all of his outfits. The intricate article of clothing that the leader specifically wears is his over-coat. It is said that this over-coat is made out of stardust and diamonds, it is very luminous and shimmery. This is a work of art, only one of a kind and the tailor who made this has a blood debt to the leader which ensures that he won’t ever cross him. The leader’s armory is lined with all kinds of weapons, he has architects working under him, his palace is a most unique work of art. It consists of several stories, it has no doors but has chimes made of seashells, it has carvings of corals and sea-weeds.

The clan has its troops belonging to the public, the leader does not have his own guards. He believes that he is safest in his own territory, despite his status. He values the lives and safety of his clan more than his own, his troops are instructed to protect the general public and not his life if they are ever under attack. The leader has had his will written, which will be handed on to the respective after his death. This leader does not prefer to stick to his immortality, it is his decision to give up on his life, and has ordered two medics to end his life when he wishes it to.

There are a set of rules and regulations that this clan abides by, the laws are unchangeable, only clan leaders are allowed to make amendments. Each new leader may change the laws as he wills but only to a certain extent.

Military

The clan has generalized troops allocated to the public. These include the fastest and the most talented ones in combat. They have several techniques for battle and they are great swimmers ones who possess great strength too. The weapon makers include 10 skilled men who are experts in this work and make the weapons for the whole clan themselves. Most weapons are made of rocks and stones, sharpened to a gleaming and razor-sharp point. The two most famous weapons include the trident and a hammer infested with poisonous spikes, the poison is only released when the spikes are inside the victim’s body.

The leader is particularly fond of tridents. He has his own collection of 52 tridents, most of them have never been used in combat, but are to be used just in case. The official troops are trained for battle with zu’aan and for any zu’aan attack. There aren’t many zu’aan who dive deep down in the ocean to fight a war they can never win, but if the kin’toni encounter any zu’aan on their land missions, they are to be properly able to fight them. The hunters on the other hand are mostly in action as this deep in the ocean, the clan faces many attacks from sea animals such as sharks and octopuses, who find the settlement of the kin’toni as a ready-to-be-plucked meal.

The octopuses mainly attack, and are also taken to be a bad omen. The kin’toni, though their membranes, protect their eyes, from any serious harm when octopuses squirt ink. It temporarily blinds the octopus who is unaware that these kin’toni aren’t ordinary zu’aan and won’t be affected by this liquid. The hunters and warriors use this technique to their advantage. One of the giant octopuses they captured was forcibly made to squirt ink, this ink was then collected and preserved in tanks. They now use this liquid for their own wars and battles. This technique helps greatly as it gives the attacker the advantage.

The hard rock hammers are lined with sea urchin spikes which are deadly as well as poisonous. They fight swiftly in water and use their weapons with lightning speed. When these kin’toni hunt on land, they take a team of 8 kin’toni guards that accompany them. They take great care to remain hidden as they know they aren’t as good at fighting as in the water. They wear hunting gears when on land, this is also a body suit like these kin’toni usually wear but this one is made out of animal skin and leather and several layers of it to protect the kin’toni’s fragile body.

The hunting gears are especially made for these hunters on the leader’s order by his personal tailor. These hunters are the only ones allowed to use weapons from the leader’s personal armory. The animal hunters usually use traps and snares for capturing animals. They preference is mostly smaller animals; greater animals are neither worth the effort nor are they easy to tackle. To hunt a zu’aan, they use deep ditches covered with leaves, and when the zu’aan step on it, they fall and later become a victim to these kin’toni.

Religion

This clan is known to worship water. As it was water that saved them from their deadly fate, it purified them and offered them comfort, the worship it believing that it was water that changed their fates and made them into who they are now. This clan currently does not reside in the same exact place where their bodies were cleansed of poison. First thing was that it was too out in the open and was vulnerable to attacks. Also, that the sunlight was stronger there than deep underwater, and due to their inability to cope with the sun they had to move directly below land and deep into the ocean.

One famous tradition of this clan is to commute to that particular region once every month, and there they perform ablution; it is known to refresh and cleanse their souls and ensure health. Water popularly represents life. It can be associated with peace and calm and provide refreshment. Thus, to the kin’toni of the Kelack water is considered holy and is known to ease distress. The act of ablution ensures that no ill fortune besets a kin’toni’s destiny. Water is known to unite all lands, and it makes up about 71% of the planet. All vital life revolves around water.

They believe that if the sea wills, only then will it let u pass, otherwise all else will be swallowed and shall never surface. It is an essential need for all life form, no body can survive without water and they who seek sanctuary in it are eternally blessed. Around a specific time of the year when the tides are high, the ocean is known to make loud noises. It is believed that on these days, the ocean is narrating its tales and secrets and only the ones who know how to listen, would be able to do so. At this time, the entire underwater world grows quiet and listens to the ocean.

No one goes about their duties on this day, they all sit and hear the ocean speak. At night time, these kin’toni light a hundred tiny wax candles, set them upon water lilies and watch them float away. Some of the devout kin’toni of this clan befriend friendly species. These animals are known to have great importance, they are assumed as children of the sea. They are fed on a daily basis and are taken care of. Some kin’toni have gone as far as trying to communicate with these as these creatures have lived here far longer, from the beginning of time, and they must know the language of the sea, the secrets it chants in steady rhythms.

They are all advised to listen to it all closely. The water worshippers believe that this planet was a huge mass of oceans and glaciers, there was no land, it was when the water dried out due to the scorching heat of the sun that the lands formed. It is their firm belief that this is how the world will end, this is both the beginning and the end of life. That water started it and water would be the end of it.

Miscellany

The kin’toni of the Kelack clan have been living underwater for decades and have adapted accordingly. They don't face much attacks from the zu’aan or the other kin’toni as they live far too deep in the ocean for them to reach and they can't hold their breaths for that long and also as it’s too dark torches can’t illuminate the way. Their lanterns can't obviously be lit in the dark. They have tried to use luminous rocks made of magnesium but the intensity of the light produced is nothing against the dark gloom of the ocean and it is too feeble, it isn't much help for that long a distance .

The Kelack’s have set up too many traps for intruders , most of them using vines etc. or snares, they have planted the venus fly trap which is a carnivorous plant, also this clan raises species such as electric eels and sea urchins which also guard their territory. The area where the kin’toni’s residential caves are located, is also bordered on all sides by sharp thorny vines. The area is also patrolled by some kin’toni who use tridents as weapons. They swim around the area and carry hollow shells with them at all times, to alert the other kin’toni if a threat approaches.

The threat is usually a shark or two, but it has happened once that a whole shiver of bloodthirsty sharks invaded their territory. The kin’toni had to conceal themselves and hide in their caves for 3 days before the threat was neutralized. They use coral reefs of different colours and various patterns for decoration in their caves. These brighten up their otherwise dark caves and add a little colour to them. They also use illustis fishes as lights and these fishes float around in their rooms, casting an eerie glow all over the place.

The palace of their leader is designed by the best architects of the clan. The stone walls are carved with a pattern of fishes and corals. The leader is highly valued and the kin’toni have made a huge structure of him which stands in front of the leaders palace such that his chamber directly provides a view of it. This is clan is known to be particularly fond of music. The leader has his collection of conches. Other members of the clan use hollow corals as blow-pipes and flutes. There are drummers who use thin rock surfaces as substitute. Once every week they have a musical night.

They have a particularly large dome-shaped passage which leads to another part of the ocean, this region is perfect for the event as it is unusually clam and quiet. This clan has another tradition of giving gifts to their leader on his birthday. Its almost like a competition, the one who finds the best gift wins. These gifts usually include delicate carvings, black and pink pearls, a customized trident as the leader is particularly fond of them etc. This clan leader is known to be strict and is not to be double crossed but otherwise he has very friendly relations with his clan, he is sort of their wise old mentor who they look up to.

Nearby Groups

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Kelack Kin'toni Clan

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