Ryxucaw Kin'toni Clan

History

Founded by Ulri the Crow, the Ryxucaw clan took over the largest watering hole in the savanna and used that control to begin to shove other clans out by preventing them from getting to the useful resource. Ulri began sending his people out to roam the savanna looking for suitable prey and to continue pushing against their rivals. At the watering hole, they began building a village that could accommodate their growing population and provide protection from the elements of the rainy season. Soon they had a large village and a constantly expanding border within the territory.

However not all the clans they came across were willing to give up their claim on the region. Those who wanted to resist banded together and marched on the Ryxucaw. But they were no match for the cunning Crow who led the newly established clan. Ulri revealed his most hidden secret to his fledgeling clan members. Crouching down, he began popping his arms and legs out of their sockets and repositioning them into a better configuration for quadrupedal movement. He taught every member of the clan how to do the exact same. And when everyone was in this form, Ulri led his people into battle.

The new form was perfect for sprinting across the savanna and breaking through the enemy lines. The alliance of other clans were overwhelmed by their speed and viciousness. The Ryxucaw ripped through the other clans and finally gained control of the entire savanna. Once the fighting was over Ulri taught the rest of his clan how to shift their joints back into place for a bipedal form. They continued to expand and explore every inch of the region in the hunt for more zu'aan to turn. They raided settlements and turned them into outposts to use on long treks.

Over time Ulri discovered the side effect of using the shift too often. It became the tell of how old a clan member was, as over the years Ulri began to lose the ability to shift back until he became permanently quadrupedal. Once that happened he stopped going out on hunts with his clan. Instead, he focused on sending others out to scout the area, hunt for zu'aan, repel any kin'toni invaders, and bringing back supplies for the village. The clan thrived under Ulri’s rule and soon the village enveloped the entirety of the watering hole and had outposts all over the outskirts of their territory.

Those stationed on the outposts grew to be more battle-hardened as they faced wave after wave of warriors from other clans trying to get a foothold in the savanna. So they constantly trade-off those stationed at the outposts for younger clan members freshly out of their training so they can get more experience fighting against those who the clan deemed to be actual threats. They do let zu'aan slip past the borders so the rest of the clan can hunt them in peace. Those they catch are brought before the aged Ulri to be turned after they are fed upon.

Biology

The Ryxucaw clan’s eyes have dark yellow irises with white sclerae and horizontal rectangular pupils, gives them a heightened sense of sight, especially night vision. They can keep track of their prey from five hundred paces in the dead of night, and twice that in the day. Their hearing is extraordinarily good. To the extent where they can hear a zu'aan whispering from a frighteningly far distance. However, loud noises from very close can daze them and leave them vulnerable. Also in trade-off, they have no sense of smell and their ability to actually taste is muted.

This makes them have to be careful with their food to avoid eating something rotten or poisonous. Their sense of touch is slightly heightened and aids in their control of both spear and the whip, but so too is their sense of pain from blunt impacts without taking extra damage. This means that when a Ryxucaw changes they do so in extreme agony. They are average height and very lean with both a developed muscular and skeletal structure that allows them to be able to shift between bipedal and extremely fast quadrupedal movement. However, the shift takes a moment so they are vulnerable when they are adjusting in or out of their bestial form.

Their skin is a dark sandy brown to combat the natural heat and sun of the area. However this means that they are vulnerable to cold temperatures. They are also vulnerable to slashing attacks if they are not able to dodge past the attacks. They have to be careful not to get dehydrated from periods of extreme heat during the dry season. Their amber or honey golden hair is usually kept tied to keep the majority of it off of the neck. They let their hair be free when in the rainy season. Their arms and legs are built for both strength and speed.

And when they are in their quadrupedal for they can cross the savanna very quickly and utilise their arms and legs to rip through any target they come across. To aid in this their fingers and toes have short claws at the end that are serrated to make them perfect for slicing through flesh. When in their bipedal form their movements aren’t as quick but they still are able to use their strength in their attacks. They are also very agile and use gymnastics to add momentum to their spear attacks. Their feet are extremely arched and allow them to be natural sprinters and graceful in their movements.

While in quadrupedal form they are also able to be stealthier and hide in the tall brush while stalking unsuspecting zu'aan. Their teeth are slightly pointed and they have a pronounced jaw that allows them to grip their prey and carry them while in quadrupedal form. During the rainy season they will use their claws to prevent them from slipping on the softened ground as they race across their territory to find their next meal or battle.

Culture

In order to survive during the sweltering dry seasons, the Ryxucaw clan members built a large village of wooden and thatch cylindrical huts near the largest watering hole in their savanna. Each day they all go down to the shoreline and fill hide pouches with as much water as they can carry for use throughout the day. Once every water-skin has been filled the clan spends a good while washing away the dust from the day before and swimming to make sure their bodies are fully acclimated to the water temperature and their clothes are soaked to keep them cool during the warm day.

They use loosely woven fabrics to make light breathable clothing so they don’t overheat or dehydrate as they go about their day. Each clan member carries at least two water skins slung over their shoulders so they don’t go thirsty. The long dry seasons they face have taught them to cherish and value any and all liquid they can get their hands on. While in the rainy season they leave large hide bags out to catch all the rain they can. They also will wear less during that time because it allows them to keep their body temperature regulated through the constant rainfall.

At the northern edge of the watering hole there is a but that sits nearly flush with the ground and who's door opens right toward the cool waters. This hut is the home of Ulri, the clan founder and elder. As he can no longer return to his bipedal form, he stays in the village and guides everything with the help of his aids and scouts. The clan uses the vast stretch of open savanna as both hunting and training grounds for both their bipedal and quadrupedal forms. After bathing each day the warriors will leave the village and spend the day practising their techniques and honing their skills with their weapons as they search for any zu'aan the border outposts let through.

Their goal is to always bring enough food and supplies back to sustain the entire clan for as long as possible. At the edges of their territory are the villages they converted into outposts. These outposts are well manned and serve as the first line agaist the rest of the clans. These warriors spend several months patrolling and guarding their territorial borders from those who seek to claim the land for themselves. The guards are in a constant rotation so that the fresher warriors can gain experience while the more grizzled gain the chance to relax and enjoy some much needed peace.

At a second watering hole in the region the clan built a floating structure on the water big enough to hold five of the clan sitting comfortablely. This is for the rite of passage every clan member goes through. Once they have learn all the basics for fighting in their bipedal form, a new Ryxucaw will make their way to this place, strip naked, bath thoroughly, and the sit on the floating structure as they are then guided through the process to perform their first shift.

Government

The clan is led by its founder, Ulri the Crow, whose cunning and strategies have led to the Ryxucaw becoming the predominant clan within the region. Even though he no longer goes with the warriors to hunt and battle, Ulri continues to plot and plan and use his cunning to keep his people in power. It was his idea to take the watering hole, and to claim the villages on the outskirts. It was his plan to have those outposts be the bulk of the actual military part within the clan and to rotate out the battle worn clan members for those who needed the experience.

Since he became unable to shift back into his bipedal form, Ulri has relied on the help of his aids. These are a group of tacticians and strategists that have devoted themselves to learning how Ulri plans and operates so they might be able to follow in his footsteps. They were responsible for the use of large water skins to store excess water from the rainy seasons for use during the dry seasons and for the rule that no person may wash or swim until every clan members personal set of water skins are filled. They deliver Ulri’s orders and help him plan what they should do next when strife at their borders escalate. They are complicit in all of Ulri’s plots and schemes to keep the larger clans from taking control of the region.

Under them are the seasoned warriors and border veterans whose knowledge of how the outside clans operate have vastly improved the lives of the warriors still guarding the outskirts. These ragged warriors help train the newer members how to hunt and how to fights and most importantly how to kill another kin'toni when they attack the outposts. In an effort to prevent the next batch of warriors from going through the same situations as them, the seasoned warriors hold nothing back from them. Under them are the grunt captains, who are still fighting at the peak of their abilities while also teaching the new batch of recruits.

The captains are also the ones who help the newest members to learn how to shift between bipedal and quadrupedal forms. They lead the hunts and get first taste of any zu'aan they find as well as turn Ulri’s orders into reality no matter how insane the plan they receive might seem. Lastly the rest of the clan holds perhaps the most power, because it is up to them to bring their concerns to Ulri as he makes his daily rounds to see how he might improve the lives of those within his clan. They ask for the supplies and they say where they think the hunting parties should look for zu'aan.

They put their trust in Ulri and his schemes to see them through the hardships they face. The whole clan has chosen to follow Ulri, and that is a choice he plans to honour until the day he finally dies.

Military

In the Ryxucaw clan the warrior sect holds two key jobs within the clan as a whole. They monitor the outskirts and fight invaders as well as hunt zu'aan to feed on and turned. They follow the orders and strategies sent to them by their elder. While he may not be out in the thick of it with them anymore, they still trust Ulri’s schemes implicitly. In doing so they have seen nothing but hard won victories so far. When he showed them how to use a spear along with their strength and agility to make their attacks unpredictable, they took to it quickly and eagerly.

Then he showed them how to shift into the quadrupedal form, they used it to decimate unsuspecting enemies. But it was an off handed comment by Ulri that led to their greatest tool for almost every situation. After a few battles in the shifted form, Ulri joked that he half expected to have grown a tail from the shift. One of his aids got caught up in an idea of how to achieve the benefits of a tail without having to grow one. His inspiration bore fruit in the form of a whip. Proud of his accomplishment, the aid presented his work to Ulri.

The warriors who were with them at that time realised the combat applications, as they watched Ulri test the whip out. Soon every warrior used the whip to extend their reach and to grab the zu'aan they track down. When combined with their spear craft, they are a just as much of a nightmare on the battlefield in their bipedal form as they are in their quadrupedal form. With that their arsenal became complete. Combining everything together their victories became less hard fought and more a matter of patience. Once they took control of the region they shifted their tactics .

This is from all out assaults to maintaining their control through the outposts along the border. Ulri, now fully bound to his quadrupedal form and staying in the village, focused on plotting the perfect strategies to keep the other clans out. The majority of their warriors were stationed at the numerous outposts to stave off the attacks from the clans who wanted to take control of the territory and kill all of the Ryxucaw. Those staying at the furthest outskirts saw the most attacks at the highest volume of attackers and utterly viscous.

Many began to crack under the pressure and constant fighting. To spare them more agony and death, Ulri started replacing the most seasoned warriors with the most promising of the newest soldiers to give the experienced fighters a necessary rest and the recruits some much needed experience. Doing this gave them a way to keep strong defences on a much needed side. Ulri implemented this amongst all the outposts, and asked those who were returning for aid in instructing those who would replace them. Soon the savanna was relatively peaceful in the Ryxucaw territory and they began hunting without fear of an ambush.

Religion

Due to the nature of their environment, the Ryxucaw worship the water that helps them survive. They call it Niavain and give offerings of fruits and prayers to the life-giving substance. To them, Niavain is their gentle goddess who cares for all living things. As the years passed the clan began spreading stories of her kindness and power as a way of teaching and entertaining themselves during everyday chores. They believe that every Ryxucaw should treat their clan members as kindly as Niavain is said to treat them with her many gifts.

She is so engrained in their culture that they have their dead be buried with their water skins to have her watching over them forever. The story and lesson the Ryxucaw most commonly share goes like this: “long ago, when the world was young and the zu'aan ran free over the lands, the water spirit Niavain happened upon an old fox in the middle of a vast and barren desert. Niavain sat with this lost creature and asked why it had come so far from the safety of its forest. The old fox looked at the water spirit and told her that he had once been a powerful prince amongst his people.

But because he did not trust the zu'aan his people took everything he had and exiled him from his homeland. That for years he had wandered, looking for a place to call home. And now he couldn’t go another step as he was dying of fatigue because of thirst. Hearing this Niavain picked up the old fox and placed a single hand to the dry and cracking ground. Within moments a large lake sat in front of the pair. And wherever the lake touched the land became fertile. Niavain told the fox that this would be the home one day but first, he must reclaim the power that was stolen by the vile zu'aan and take their power for himself.

She then bent over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. The old fox felt her power course through him and opened his eyes to see that she had transformed him into a shape similar to the zu'aan he had spurned. Niavain gave him a single word of warning that he must take the blood of the zu'aan to live. And thus the roots of the Ryxucaw were born as the old fox passed on his quest to his son, a mischievous crow. And it was that crow that led the Ryxucaw to this very spot. So always remember to seek Niavain when you are in need, never trust a zu'aan, trust in the power of Niavain’s gifts.” there is not a story of Niavain with out bringing it to be a set up to create a backstory for how they came to be.

They believe that when they die they become part of the water that keeps everything alive. And so they are at peace knowing that they would join with Niavain and protect their people from hallowed ground.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

Unknown

Ryxucaw Kin'toni Clan

Unknown