Queust Kin'toni Clan

History

The Queust kin’toni clan is considered an extremely dangerous clan in their region as it holds a great amount of economic trading power. Around 75% of the immediate and closer areas to be exact. To be cut from accessing their stock is nearly equivalent to being in a complete blockade and forced to be self-reliant. They’ve held this wealth and power since before they were turned and only continued to amass it once they were turned. The majority of the living clan members were born in the Valda Snowy Dead Forest when they were zu’aan and were changed midway through the Awakening age. They were of a few zu’aan settlements in close proximity to where the outbreak began that were able to hold off the kin’toni for an extended period of time.

Inevitably though they were turned in the end, but recognized the opportunity to continue being a ‘powerhouse’ group in Taerel and stayed as a clan. They are a very literate region, demanding that each of their members be able to read for trading purposes; this often led to them being able to speak the majority of languages that were largely known across Taerel. Education is important to them as well, again for trading purposes, so they will send their top students to other clans to expand their education as well as to start them getting used to meeting other clans. One of these places was the Quequea’s clan as they were the closest and best known around them. Being that they have lots of trade partners they are constantly getting an influx of new information with they willingly trade with the Quequea for their education.

The clan has very high expectations of their members which has caused them to have a host of issues due to the stress. They manage to keep this under wraps from the other clans they interact with, as to prevent them from gaining any kind of possible upper hand against them. Due to their power, they often are able to force other groups into doing business with them, in an almost cartel or mafia way. Those who don’t quickly accept still end up forced to do business with them, though they are given lesser and lesser profitable deals with each denial. In the past, they grew as powerful as they did because they were an extremely honest people.

They would give fair deals, paying more for objects they knew they could get high profits for, as they wanted to encourage those groups to continue business with them. Many of the older groups, zu’aan turned kin’toni, or zu’aan still, believe this to still be the case with the clan. The members work extremely hard to keep their predatory and dishonest nature they currently have unheard of to these groups as they make up the largest part of their trade. If they were to find out and cease dealing with them it could cripple the clan, not that any of those groups or the other clans now being forced into trade deals have realized the power those few have.

Psychology

The majority of the Queust clan members are unhappy with the clan and their way of living. They initially were content with their way of life, as while considered strong when they were zu’aan they weren’t obsessed with staying the strongest. Because of their shorter life, they acted more lax in their business dealings and while still working hard, were of the mentality that it wasn’t worth whatever money they had if they were too burned out or stressed to enjoy it. As zu’aan they were very happy and content with their way of life, often taking time off for vacation and relaxation to come back refreshed. Over the years since they turned though that changed and did a 180 flip.

Due to the clan’s high economic power it became expected of every member to figure out ways of staying if not boosting their current standing. This came from the higherups in the clan believing that their long lives would lead them to become complacent and that they would lose the standing that they worked for for many years before they were kin’toni. To prevent this complacency they forced extreme and sometimes unrealistic expectations on the clan members. This places lots of stress on each of the members as economics is the only path in the clan. Many of the clan members have gotten burned out because of this, which resulted in near exile for them as they were considered useless for the progression of the clan and its economy.

They previously were extremely family oriented, wanting to do what would end up being the best for them. With the change though, if one was exiled the family would essentially write them off, leading to the family units becoming extremely detached and unsupportive. Many members have various mental illnesses due to the extreme pressure and daily stress that is placed on them. The most common being various degrees of anxiety, depression and ptsd. The majority of the clan ignores these issues though, as they feel if its acknowledged widely that others will find out and would use it against them in any kind of negotiation. To deal with this, many of the younger and less resilient members go into an almost dissociative state to ignore the problems.

For some it lasts until they get to their homes at the end of the day. Others it lasts for weeks; a rare few have been in such a state for years, completely unable to cope with the pressure and expectations placed on them. Those members are by that point often already ostracized and ignored, so its not uncommon for them to be removed from the clan. Contradictory to their attempts, the ostracization often leads to their issues amplifying, making it impossible for them to do what’s required of them to be welcomed back into the clan. Their disfunction is so extreme though that members, while completely distressed and unhappy refuse to leave as the clan is the only thing they know and consider their home.

Biology

The Queust, while not unable to be in the sun have a high sensitivity to light and prefer doing business at night. This is usually not an issue for their home region, except during the snowy season when it becomes near impossible for them to function due to the amount of light reflecting off the snow. They are exclusively active at night during that season as the snow offers enough of a reflection of the moonlight that they don’t have to keep torches to see. They will have torches on the outside of buildings for any outsiders that are visiting so they have landmarks but won’t do much more than that. They insist that if they keep to the paved road they won’t have an issue. Their eyes have second eyelids that are thin but not fully transparent.

More often this is a darker color more in line with their eye color than skin. They use this to filter light when they have no choice but to leave and work in extremely bright situations. Most of the time those outside of their clan cannot tell when they have their second eyelids closed as it’s a vertical closing lid that look like their slitted pupils. They along with more sensitive eyes are susceptible to the weather, pertaining to their skin. They go through a shedding season as soon as it starts to warm up again after the winter has past. This is mainly a reaction to the cold- the cold dries out their skin as there’s lower moisture levels in the air. To prevent problems they will have almost daily clay or mud baths.

They will soak for at least an hour, during which they take the time to try and come up with more ideas. Similar to a reptile their skin sheds in large pieces, usually one single piece unless it tears mid process. Instead of forming a normal callous, their smooth skin will form granular scale like clusters in the areas. They are not sensitive at all though once formed they will stay until either filed down past the first layer of healthy skin or until the area isn’t used as much and two shedding seasons pass. Usually, its in places like the elbows and knees so the Queust rarely care to deal with it in terms of removal. There have been times though where it forms on the hands and interferes with their grip so they’ll remove it then.

The Queust have a unique ability that is rarely used or known. They can regrow body parts. Usually for something as large as a limb, it’ll take years. It its from the shoulder or hip, a limb may take about 5 years to grow back. Something smaller like a digit or toe could take anywhere from about a month to three. Back when they first learned of the ability, they attempted to reattach the severed limb but it didn’t take and died off. The member’s wound was fine though and continued to grow the replacement with no problem.

Culture

In the past the Queust used to be EXTREMELY honest. They lived content lives, working hard when they worked but not overtaxing themselves. They were focused on making money, but being healthy enough to enjoy what money they made. If someone needed more time, it was a group effort to cover their portion of the work while they worked their way to a better mindset. Because of this, each member was more driven to help one another, as they often repaid the favor in kind. They had a tight nit community and family life. They as zu’aan and the earliest of kin’toni were also very philanthropic with their aid. They would go to other regions and help if they needed it, in turn securing their favor for trade.

Many groups saw the way they lived and aimed for a similar success of work life balance they’d managed. Their region’s culture was a major draw that gave them many of their longest lasting trade deals. The Queust clan’s entire world currently revolves around their trading and economy. It was a quick shift after a few short years of being kin’toni. Everything is about ways of figuring out how to boost them further and higher in economic power. This led to a very work focused culture. Everything has to be profitable else it’s a waste and to be ignored. If something was risky, they would usually ignore it in favor of surefire successes- this included time off to relax and recoup.

This also caused them to, while miserable, become very competitive out of necessity and survival in the clan. If you weren’t contributing enough, you were out. Some underhanded tactics became common, though if they were discovered, those using them would be ostracized as they would be believed to not be capable enough to aid the clan in advancing further. If they had to resort to using such tactics against their own, they weren’t worthy of remaining in the clan as it showed they couldn’t pull their weight. While not kicked out immediately, only largely ignored, if one was considered useless for too long they would kicked from the clan in a permanent banishment.

During their ostracized period, the various clan members would not associate with the member as a way of forcing them into a full ‘24/7’ thinking mode of ideas for advancements. That way if they still could not come up with anything, distractions could not be blamed. If they continued to fail then they would officially be banished and essentially erased from the history of the clan. Those banished if accepted by another clan were treated as they would treat the other clan, essentially as though they were a stranger. There are a small group of whom that secretly defy this, keeping records of those clan members should things ever change back to their old ways. They’ll when they can offer aid to those banished, securing them places in other clans or safe places to stay while they figure out a plan for the future.

Government

Initially the Queust were set up as a group of leaders. As zu’aan they would cycle through the members of the city, each getting a chance to lead for a year or so if they so desired. Around half often declined, so the same alternate half of the city would often cycle through leading. They all had similar ideas to one another about what was best and needed to be done to keep the clan safe and happy. This worked extremely well for them and allowed anyone who got too overwhelmed help or abdication for that term. When they were turned though, those who had been in control at the time flipped. They didn’t think that the previous way of the clan was good enough for their long term- both lives and as a civilization.

The group decided that they knew best and shut out the rest of the clan. There were a few members at the beginning that tried to oppose this but they were banished from the clan in their show of power. The group will often swap who’s in the lead between them, but will keep with the small handful of leaders. While one is in charge, they will consult the rest of the group before making large decisions that will span past their time as leader. Those who weren’t in main power at the time of the shift were the ones in charge of shifting the culture to one that would better suit the way they believed would lead to better clan success. Each of the leaders has a clan member they’re training to take over their position once they’re too old to maintain control.

A few of these members are unwillingly picked and forced into the position, but like with the rest of the clan, threat of banishment for disobedience keeps them mostly in line. Those picked are forced to shadow the leaders and are essentially removed from general interaction with the rest of the clan so they cannot have their training ‘interfered’ with. Those picked are often younger newly turned members who do not know or remember the old way they used to do things. In their discontent, there are a number of the Queust clan that oppose the current government. They stay largely silent, meeting in secret as any questioning of the government is considered them being distracted and put on a ‘probation’ similar to being ostracized.

Those who are more daring have gotten together to aid the banished members of the clan best they can. This is often finding them a safe place to stay or group to join. They also keep copies of their original history with the lists of those who have been banished and removed from the clan’s history safe so that they aren’t forgotten. If the group had their way they would go back to the way they lived their lives as zu’aan, as they were much happier and more fulfilled living that way. They believe that the money and power is useless now and that the clan has lost it’s way.

Military

Back when they were zu’aan the Queust were trained enough to fight if needed, but they often traveled in large numbers to protect their trade items. They were very basic fighters and could easily be overwhelmed by a smaller group of better trained fighters. The surrounding regions willingly offered to aid or act as protection for them if anyone attempted to invade due to the good standing that they were on with them. It was very much a ‘you’re honest so we want to support that’ kind of relationship with the other regions. The Queust as kin’toni have a decently strong military; not extremely powerful, but strong enough to deal with incoming attacks. This is because they hired mercenaries to make up its entirety.

With their entire focus being on how to make money they feel it’s a waste of their member’s time to continue to learn or train in how to fight and would rather pay for ‘hired muscle’ than waste the time that could have been spent thinking of new ideas on training. The hired muscle are all well trained, usually kin’toni who have been kicked from their clan for one reason or another. They haven’t had an issue of anyone turning on them because when hired, they informed them that if anyone attempted to hire them to betray them, take the money from them and they’d pay them double whatever they brought as ‘evidence’ of the attempted sabotage. This has led to a time or two of fake contracts to get more money, but the Queust decided that the few false times were worth the money to keep the rest of the mercenaries loyal, as they could outbid nearly every region combined in their area of Taerel.

The other clans being small as they were in comparison allowed them to keep the hired numbers lower than other regions as those forces were much smaller and even teamed together would only make a fraction of the amount of mercenaries kept on stand by. The Queust have never had an issue with their goods attempting to be robbed, but just incase they send a group of about 10 or more to protect the wagons as they’re moving through the regions. Inside the region they have a small force that acts as their police, should anyone try and cause issue which has happened only a number of times. They are largely hands off with the military, only intervening to appoint someone the main general that the others had to take the everyday orders from.

The mercenaries usually didn’t have an issue with the Queust’s choice as they were often the most experienced fighter of those hired and knew the best tactics should there be a battle. The majority of the mercenaries just hang around the main city on a reserves kind of basis, which they have no issue with. Many consider the position a ‘cushy job’ as they are rarely required to leave the area, let alone fight, and the Queust handle all their housing and food needs so their pay is ‘fun money’ for them.

Religion

The Queust kin’toni aren’t particularly religious when it comes to actually believing in a deity. Many believe that if there was some kind of god that they were abandoned, being that they are forced to live miserable lives where the only thing they were allowed to think of was money and how to make more of it. Even the organized religion that the government backed was money focused. The god that they were directed to worship or seek guidance from was that of fortune and wealth. Most only worship because they were told so and must keep up appearances that they actually believe for those outside the clan. They used it as another avenue for wealth, convincing other clans and zu’aan that they were only so fortunate because of their deity.

There would be an ‘offering’ box that was presented at each sermon, which would supposedly grant that individual favor with the deity. The more given would grant one higher favor with the deity and they would return that favor in kind with more wealth. For appearances, the Queust clan members would be given a set amount of money each month to ‘donate’ as a way of convincing other clans to participate. This was often done in private at each of the clan members’ homes so that the other clans wouldn’t find out that the inner clan donations were faked and a scam. The Queust feigned that the money was being sent to the deity’s temple after collection, which was different from the church they offered the sermons in.

In reality the Queust ‘priest’ used the money to fund traveling to ‘spread the word’ of their religion so that ‘others may be as fortunate as they are’. Very few clans have actually caught onto the scam, as the Queust fake monetary miracles where they set up scenarios of the clan seemingly receiving or getting extremely fortunate trade deals when in reality the precious items are fake or not worth what was exchanged. But as the Queust control most of the trade most regions are forced to accept their word. Before they were turned they weren’t particularly religious either. They prescribed to the vague notion of karma in the barest sense. More similar to a “what you put out into the universe you get back” kind of sense than any kind of tally of good and bad actions.

While following this belief they would attempt to be as fair and equivalent as possible; if a group didn’t know the value of an item they would offer higher than what was asked while still allowing room for them to make profits. They would spread the thought, similar to how people spread ‘acts of kindness’, without describing it as a religion. That philosophy gained them many trade partners as many believed they were trustworthy and would give them fair deals- they wouldn’t scam them or rip them off because they believed if they did that that it would come around and bite them, so they wouldn’t risk it.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

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Queust Kin'toni Clan

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