Zawyr Kin'toni Clan

History

The Zawyr kin'toni Clan were a clan of kin'toni merchants and traders who served as the middle men between the zu'aan and kin'toni of Taerel. They brokered many deals between the two incompatible races that led to a better understanding and perspective of the other for both sides. The Zawyr were created in the zu'aan research facilities dozens of years ago but for a different purpose than war. They were to serve as helpers and assistants to the research work and slowly replace the zu'aan in the workforce. Unfortunately, these plans would never be fully implemented.

This is because of the sudden events of the kin'toni outbreak that saw hundred and thousands of kin'toni escape their facilities and wreak havoc on Taerel. The Zawyr found themselves free and independent in this chaotic environment for the first time, like most other kin'toni. They were faced with threats from all sides and had to adapt quickly to ensure their own survival. Being created with bigger craniums and having the gift of logical thinking, the clan were able to successfully see out these early days through pure guile and intelligence.

They used their trademark negotiating and communication skills to placate various warrior clans and convinced them of their harmlessness as well as the benefits of keeping them alive. Their methods were very successful and they would end up playing all sides for their own survival. They interacted with a lot of clans and were friendly with a lot of them but trusted no one. In their heart-of hearts, the clan was only after their own survival and would sacrifice anything that stood in their way. The clan were known for thier adventurous spirits and would not stick around in a single place for very long.

They preferred to move around- individually or as a clan and discover new places and people. The clan would eventually come up with an idea to make their travel addiction work in their favour. They would begin by peddling small goods and exotic items from one place to another in the hopes of making profits, payable in the form of supplies, tools and other raw materials. They would adopt a completely nomadic lifestyle and track across thousands of miles with their entire clan in these adventures. The Zawyr were responsible for discovering many new routes through Taerel.

Along with the erection of many stone pillars that marked out important locations and maps of the regions. Their clans treadmarks would leave behind clearly visible prints on the land where other travellers could follow after them. Thus, the clan was responsible for inadvertently creating the first road systems of Taerel made by kin'toni hands. The Zawyr would embrace their reputation as merchants and begin to actively rely on their trading activities for their food supplies and needs. As kin'toni they still had the same need for blood.

They would attack smaller groups that they encountered during their travels. They were careful to do this in secret and made sure that no one outside the clan knew about their activities. This was among the clan's best guarded secrets since the revelation could threaten their relations and trade prospects with a lot of the clans in their world.

Biology

The Zawyr kin'toni Clan were the result of a zu'aan project that created super soldiers to replace them in the battlefield and in other physically damanding roles. Unlike the usual warrior kin'toni who were designed with combat and fighting in mind, the Zawyr's purpose was of a more civil nature. They were to replace the zu'aan workforce in the research facilities and to this end, their bodies were tailormade to accomplish more advanced tasks. They had bigger brains and large craniums to accommodate them. This gave their heads a disproportionate and extended look.

It gave them an advantage over other kin'toni in their reasoning abilities and their powers of deduction as well as memory. Their hands were smaller and more agile with dextrous fingers that were capable of complicated movements and precise handling of tools. They were not the tallest or biggest and averaged just a little under six feet in height. They had healthy bodies with muscles and a proper layer of fat around their midsections. Their strength was adequate to accomplish day to day tasks but was lacking in terms of brute battlefield strength.

They could not be expected to rip apart limbs or smash through armor and bones. Their metabolisms were very strong and adaptable, it allowed them to live in all kinds of habitats. It was ideal for their explorer lifestyle where they were constantly on the move and had to deal with a lot of conditions from all over Taerel. The Zawyr had dark graying skin that was naturally resistant to weather elements. It protected them from rain, sleet or snowy conditions. Their skin would underga a moulting process at regular intervals or when it was damaged and worn out.

During this process, the Zawyr would shed their old skin which was replaced by a fresh, new one. They lacked any noticable hair on their bodies. Their skin had pores for sweat but was otherwise a smooth rubbery layer that had other practical uses after it was shed. The Zawyr kin'toni clan members were all bald and couldn't grow hair naturally. They had dark blue irises with white sclerae and vertical beaded pupils. Their eyes were round and bulbous, almost protruding from their faces. They had very strong vision and could see clearly under all conditions, including light and total darkness.

This ability was vital to them as travellers who had to be able to travel and function at all times. Their bodies were very rugged and they had very little vulnerabilities or allergies to the environment. Their nostrils were small and well shielded from dust and other materials. Their sense of smell was not remarkable but they were capable of doing some light tracking on their own. Their mouths were remarkable for a set of twin, retractable fangs that could pop out of the corner of their mouths. The discreetly placed fangs allowed them to masquerade as harmless beings.

They hid their intentions from their victims, until it was too late

Culture

The Zawyr kin'toni Clan were very curious beings whose love of adventure and mystery often led to more problems than they could handle. It was accepted that they were much more capable of thought and logical reasoning than other conventional kin'toni who had been specially bred for wars and fighting. This increased capacity over their fellow kin'toni meant that the Zawyr were more capable of creating proper societies and institutions that were more advanced than their peers. The Zawyr's society was very independent and valued the spirit of freedom and adventure.

Their young recruits were taught to pick up their ways at a very young age through exposure to their stories and culture as well as practical experience out in the world. The Zawyr's favorite pastime was retelling stories of their experience in faraway lands. The entire clan would be gathered in a large circle and listen intently as the seasoned explorers among them narrated their tales. The Zawyr took pride in thier discoveries and achievements. There were plenty of rivalries and competitions among its members competing to make a name for themselves.

These rivalries could lead to very dangerous expeditions and adventures that had never been attempted before. Success in these ventures could lead to great discoveries and fame but the pioneers also faced lots of risks and obstacles. Their expeditions could end prematurely with death from a wide variety of causes such as starvation, encounters with wild beasts, hostilr kin'toni clans or from simply getting lost. These expeditions were the main causes of deaths within the passive Zawyr clan. The Zawyr kin'toni Clan were a fully nomadic clan.

They were very adaptable and could survive in most conditions. They travelled in large caravans broken up into groups for security. Their culture was known for its mapping of many parts of Taerel and for the erection of many landmarks that would help future generations navigate the region safely. Due to their nomadic way of life, the Zawyr borrowed many elements from other cultures that they came across. They had interactions with zu'aan enclaves and learnt to use many of their tools and equipment. They were in a unique position in Taerel as they were in friendly terms with a lot of zu'aan enclaves.

This was as well as the many of the fiercest kin'toni tribes. The Zawyr clan taught their members tact and diplomacy. They had adopted the profession of traders to make their constant travelling and exploration worthwhile. They ferried goods and people across the vast land in exchange for healthy profits in the form of supplies, captives, meat and food. They had to learn to restrain all their kin'toni insticts to be successful in this profession. They were taught not to love or hate their clients, but simply to see them as a means to make a living.

They were very tactful and rarely displayed their motives in public. They acted friendly with everyone in the open while committing their dirty deeds in secret. Their scheming minds were capable of complicated plans that would become their hallmark in the future.

Government

The Zawyr kin'toni Clan were not managed by a single leadership as was common in most kin'toni clans of Taerel. Instead, their clan was a collection of many trading houses with their own heads. Commonly referred to by the equivalent of 'father' in their own language, these leaders led and dictated all activities of their respective trading houses. As a nomadic clan. this system was very efficient in allowing them to move and function with a degree of independence as many different groups. This allowed them to travel in different groups under different leaderships.

And spread the reach of their influence and trading activities more efficiently. It also prevented them from concentrating all their forces in a single location, thus eliminating the threat of having their entire clan ambushed at once. These different trading houses were held together by a singular document that was framed when the Zawyr adopted trading as their main profession. It bound the first leaders as a family unit that were responsible for each other. Like any family they were allowed the freedom to engage in rivalries and petty disagreements.

But at the end of the day, a threat to any single one of them was a threat to all. Since the Zawyr didn't actively engage in military actions, they had to warn each other and try to preemtively avoid threats and incoming dangers. This made coordination and understanding between their different wings an important aspect of survival. To foster this relationship and respect between the trading houses, the Zawyr would regularly meet up in clan wide feast and festivals where their leaders met and updated their knowledge of the world while their clanmembers got to know each other and learn to work together.

Given the very independent nature of the Zawyr, their laws were quite relaxed and their members were allowed many freedoms including the right to go out in search of their own adventures. These deadly undertakings were a vital part of the clan's dna, and helped them make many important discoveries around Taerel. Criminals were tried by a jury composed of all members and all criminals were allowed the opportunity to appeal and give their side of the stories. If the clan deemed them guilty, they were punishable by death. The clan forbidded two things within their clan.

This was namely- killing another Zawyr clan member and stealing and robbery. Stealing was considered as one of the most serious crimes within their society since they were mostly merchants who relied on their goods and supplies. If anyone was found guilty of stealing, they were forced to reimburse twice the value of the goods that had been stolen or be banished until they could find and bring back goods of equal value from outside the clan. The Zawyr indulged in many crimes against other tribes outside of their own. These were acceptable in their society and did not carry any consequences.

These crimes included secret murders of many of the people they came across in their travels for blood and food. Howeve, they were careful to commit these acts in secret so they would not provoke an all out war.

Military

The Zawyr kin'toni Clan were one of the weakest kin'toni clans in terms of military powers. They were never able to raise a reliable military force throughout their entire existence and instead, relied more on diplomacy and negotiations to avoid precarious situations when they could. However, this did not mean that the Zawyr were able to evade fighting the other tribes and clans of Taerel. These lands were full of bloodthirsty tribes who would only settle for blood and fighting. As explorers and traders, the Zawyr would run into their fair share of such tribes.

They learned very early on that discretion was the better part of valor. They took every step to be as discreet as possible. This was visible in their tactics and in the way they travelled during their explorations. They were painstaking in their preparation for these journeys. The groups were taught to stay separate from each other to minimize the risk of the entire clan being caught in ambushes. They preferrred to travel fast in smaller groups using a wide variety of pack animals to haul their valuable cargo. The Zawyr initiates were taught and prepared for all the rigours that would be involved in their journeys.

They were sent out in small groups as part of their training where they had to figure out their bearings and navigate their way back to the clan. These exercises taught them to navigate on their own while also teaching them familiar routes and developing their instincts. By the time they became experienced members of the clan, they were able to sense the presense of kin'toni or any dangers by instinct. Althought they recieved no military training, many members of the clan collected rare weapons and were not afraid to use them for self-defense.

There were many tales of heroic Zawyr caravans that fought to the last person to defend their possessions from looters and hostile kin'toni tribes. They would regularly hire mercenary bands to compensate for their military weaknesses. They used these services only when their cargo was too valuable to lose. Otherwise, they preferred to risk travelling without the added burden of security, instead, using their instincts to navigate around hostile clans. Their aversion to the military did not mean that the clan did not use violence.

In fact they committed a lot of atrocities and some of the most grisly and cruel acts- but these were done away from the battlefield and in secret. They murdered and fed on the blood of many unsuspecting small-clans and tribes that they came across throughout their travels. These murders were done solely out of hunger and for the purpose of feeding. There was no malice or any diplomatic reasons behind these actions. A common tactic was to invite their victims while acting as friendly hosts. They would then poison the food and paralyze the victims before they went in for the kill.

They were adept at the art of using poison and deception due to their well developed brains.

Religion

The Zawyr kin'toni Clan were a polytheistic society who followed many different Gods. These Gods each played their own different roles that were significant and related to the clan's daily activities. The earliest origins of the clan's religions came from their interactions with other tribes of Taerel. They adopted many aspects that they felt were advantageous for their society and discarded the parts they were cumbersome. Their eagerness to adopt religion into their society came from their understanding that a sense of morality based on religious sentiment was the easiest way to ensure order and compliance within their society.

It replaced the need for overbearing goverments as the people essentially policed themselves according to the laws of their religions. The Zawyr always had a logical reasoning for their actions. They adopted religion for this matter and became even more liberal with their practices once they fully adopted trading as their profession. They saw the advantage in sharing beliefs and morals with their client-tribes. It made them appear more trustworthy and certain clans were more likely to do business with them. When the Zawyr discovered a new location or people.

It was almost the standard practice for them to adopt some aspect of the new religion and try to ingratiate themselves to the new clan. Their practice was not viewed favoirably by all; some clans were tired of their gimmick and considered them frauds. The Zawyr were not spiritual; their brains were to analytical to believe in the existance of unseen Gods around them. For them, religion was a way to develop diplomatic relations, social order and to fit in with the other clans of Taerel. As with all polytheistic religions, the Zawyr had certain God's that were more popular than the rest of the roster.

Some of these were: Wecita- or the thunder and lightning God. This was a favorite that was borrowed from other kin'toni cultures. The worship of lightning was a common phenomenon throughout Taerel. The kin'toni were in awe of its power as well as the deafening thunders that accompanied it. They worshipped it and prayed for its blessing so that they would not fall victim to random strikes. This was a reasonable thought given the amount of charred ligtning struck trees all over Taerel. The Zawyr's other Gods included a Nature God who was responsible for the world around them.

Including their livestock and other inanimate objects. They followed the kin'toni practice of praying to her for favourable conditions as well as the health of their livestock and pack animals who towed most of their trade goods. The Zawyr's prayer ceremonies took the form of very mechanical gatherings with a set routine and speech that had been rehearsed for ages. It was mostly ceremonial and had no underlying emotional connection or spiritual significance to them. Their priest were responsible for teaching their new initiates the principles of their religion and what was deemed acceptable in society.

There was a lack of spiritual guidance and religious ideology behind it.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

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Zawyr Kin'toni Clan

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