Olera Kin'toni Clan

History

The Olera kin’toni clan is a group that initially came around during the Twilight Age. They were part of a low educated region of zu’aan who had to often figure things out with little resources. When the kin’toni reached the area, those living there that were turned split into two main groups. The ones who would become the Olera and the ones who decided to stay behind in the region to continue their lives as they were. The Olera saw the opportunity that their changing into kin’toni gave them to finally get away from their homes. They spent a few years during the Awakening age wondering Taerel looking for a new home. During this time, there had been a shift among them and they started becoming more self focused; moreso than they had ever been as zu’aan.

They eventually arrived at the Smyth Meadows and decided to make the region their home. They carried skills they learned when they were zu’aan which helped them get set up in the region and stake their claim very quickly. Having never had proper education they were kinesthetic learners. They would often create mock scenarios in their city to practice battle tactics and other defenses. During this time, their strategic intelligence skyrocketed, but mixed with their increased selfishness they would often betray one another. That was how the clan’s current leader, and the ones before him, came into power. Sometimes the betrayal was as basic as sharing a secret they knew would damage their image, or malicious as planting evidence and seeds of doubt to get them kicked from the clan.

Being the quick learners that they were, they made moves to set up diplomatic ties with other stronger and more military based clans. They also would follow the same tactics, of betraying other clans to make them look more favorable to the other nations. By the end of the Awakening age, the clan had managed to cement alliances with some of the strongest clans in their part of the region. Their favorable positions with the larger and stronger clans allowed them to take on an almost ‘R&D’ type role, where they’d figure out how to use, learn how to make, or figure out how to improve various inventions that the clans who were defeated had. The Olera did this so long as the larger clans promised military backing and to make sure their basic needs were met- being that they spent nearly all their time working on the projects.

Keeping in their nature though, they feign that they were stuck when it came to improvements on certain inventions while keeping the actual successes to themselves. This was especially true when it came to items they believed would jump a clan ahead of others. They would keep it hidden and use it themselves first before deciding how long to withhold it from their sponsors. Thus far, the clan has never been caught in a lie, though some of those who are unhappy with the current leader have been sending subtle hints to their allied clans about the deceit, while feigning ignorance and uninvolvement.

Psychology

Initially the Olera, back when they were zu’aan, were more communally oriented. While not considering everyone a family, they did consider them all close friends. They wouldn’t hesitate to share, even if they were low on resources themselves because they knew that if they were low they could trust the others to help out. Those who refused were often ostracized for being selfish and were written off if they ever needed aid in the future. It was viewed as one of the worst things that a member of their community could do, as it was viewed as disrespectful, selfish, and for some vindictive. This ‘me first’ tendency started to become more prevalent though, after they had been traveling for a while once they were first turned.

Resources were extremely scarce, often some of the members going days, nearly a week without eating. It became less and less of an outlier in the clan to the point that it became the dominant mindset. This mindset came with the uprise in betraying and backstabbing one another. They wouldn’t do so just because to cause drama, but they would do so if they believed that it would better their position. It could be for whatever thing they wanted; be it power or something as simple as a better house. Often it’s for placement on better projects, which continues an upward trend for better and better projects. Over time as well, their initial need to learn things by doing them turned into a fixation where they would feel the need to do a task or learn about an invention for hours on end without break.

For some it was a conscious focus that they ignored the need for breaks while for others it was a hyper focus that they simply forgot about any needs. This aided them in trade and diplomacy, but would lead to bad hygiene, fatigue from lack of eating and for a rare few creative burn out. Those who were burned out or of cleaner hygiene were deemed less than, as they didn’t have the drive or mental fortitude of the rest of the clan. It became similar to not sharing resources in the past, though it expanded outside the clan as well to anyone they interacted with. Only those who were younger or newly turned were viewed as an exception to his unspoken rule. This was due to the fact that they hadn’t had as much time to train their abilities and were thought to be weaker until the clan could tough them up to their standard.

The younger members often would tax themselves to burnout in hopes of making the clan proud, though it was usually dismissed as they couldn’t continue the workload. Unlike what many may think, the clan praises a member who is steady in their workload, even if it’s only a small amount, over those who take on a large amount and proceed to burnout after the fact. They believed that as long as you continued to produce ideas and results that you were useful, though they did disdain those who in their eyes took too frequent of breaks; they’d prefer working longer but less mentally strenuous over harder and in a shorter time but with more breaks.

Biology

The Olera as zu’aan were initially a mix of creative and analytical types of people. After their change though, their brains rewired themselves to be more dominantly left-brained. This allowed them as a whole clan to be better wired to complete puzzles and analytically based tasks; which is how they viewed figuring out how various inventions and tools from other clans worked. They worked them similar to how people work on progressively more difficult puzzles to improve their memory and mental speed. While zu’aan they had the beginnings of hyperthymesia, though it came around full force once they changed into kin’toni. Their hyperthymesia allowed them to have a ‘perfect’ memory recall, so they could recall how to use an invention or tool if they’d only seen it being used once.

Their brains while rewiring themselves also ended up dropping their emotional connected sections of the brain while reinforcing the part responsible for handling and dealing with stress. This gave them a higher resistance to physical and emotional stresses while also dampening any emotions they might have, which allows for more analytical approaches to what would have been emotionally disastrous situations. A scan of their brain would show them only fractionally more emotionally stimulated than socio and psychopaths. With their brain rewiring, their nervous system also received a boost. Their nerve endings increased in their firings, allowing the Olera to have quicker reaction times from those who live around them.

Their minimum reaction speeds are double that of a zu’aan’s quickest, which for many makes it seem like they’re moving at super speed. This would make them an extremely intimidating enemy if they can catch their enemies off guard in a sneak attack, but their strength is very low so they could easily be defeated with a lucky strong strike anywhere on their body. Because of this they don’t directly go into direct physically demanding battle often. Initially those were the only changes that the clan went through the received when going through the change. They developed another change though after the first handful of years to their eyesight. Their eyes became more bug like, similar to flies where they can perceive light flickering 4 times faster than zu’aan or other kin’toni can.

This allows them to react quicker, exceedingly fast in combination with their increased nerve firings, to movements and perceived threats. With the eye change, their eyes lost their pupils and their eyes became compound in nature where the surface is faceted. They’ve kept their zu’aan eyelids, though so at a distance their eyes look a single solid color. Other zu’aan who’ve seen them as well as other non-allied kin’toni have said they find it exceedingly creepy since they cannot see whom or where they’re looking at. The original few that didn’t receive the eye change have died out by the time that the Shattering age came around, mostly from battle as they were slower when it came to reaction speed with only their nerves receiving the speed increase.

Culture

As zu’aan the Olera would constantly give their children puzzles to solve to aid them in finding the best problem-solving skills. They had beginning of hyperthymesia so they would quickly progress through various levels of difficulties as children; reaching extremely difficult puzzles by their teen and adult years. If someone was lower than what was considered difficult puzzles it was viewed as a failure on those raising them for not providing them the proper guidance to them when they were young to be as advanced as they should be. They would work to aid the member in progressing for a number of years before deciding if the member was capable of meeting the clan’s expectations.

The clan over the years developed a kind of hyper fixation when given a task. It could be self-directed or from someone else, but they could spend hours on even the most trivial task if it meant seeing it through to the end. Because of this, it became almost culturally ingrained in them that their hygiene would drop significantly in favor of seeing more tasks finished or inventions figured out. For a portion of the Olera, being consistently hygienically clean meant that that person wasn’t as devoted to the future and success of the clan as the others. Sometimes they would be ostracized, other times they would be given ‘unimportant’ tasks as a kind of punishment until those others believed they’d shifted into the proper mindset.

This isn’t limited to only those of their clan. They’ll also become judgmental of anyone sent for diplomatic reasons they deem to be ‘too clean’. This usually doesn’t apply to any general or military personnel as they deem any wounds or scars equivalent dedication to their task and responsibility. They won’t speak their thoughts though, as they all know that doing so could jeopardize any alliance they have. The Olera though, considering their past haven’t learned to read. It’s viewed as unnecessary for them to learn to be successful in their tasks as they can use their problem solving to get around any language barrier. It’s thought that anything other than spoken language for them would impede their creative and learning skills by forcing them to think a specific way.

Anyone who attempted to push the idea would be ostracized as they believed their process didn’t need any unnecessary changes when there were not problems that they were running into. Their daily culture was made up of repetitive daily routines. They would wake up, study or practice various puzzles to increase their solving speed before going to work on their project for the majority of the rest of the day. They would only take one break on average when they started to become too fatigued from lack of food before going back and continuing to work until the day was up. If they were still weak, they’d eat again before going to sleep and repeating. Their morning puzzle solving has become such a habit and tradition that it’s become almost religious.

Government

The Olera initially did not have any kind of official government. They were merely a group of people who stayed together out normalcy when their entire world was changing. As they gathered more kin’toni in their group, by those who ended up getting changed by them on accident while traveling they started to form the beginnings of a government out of necessity. The group’s government was loosely an elected leader, mainly the one who had what appeared to be the most solid plan for where to go as that was the only relevant need at the time. It more often became who was the best speaker that could argue against the other’s plans better than any actual plan over the years. Over the years it became more and more of a communist set up as they did not have any set up to prevent a leader from claiming more and more power.

It was ingrained in them to listen to the leader they chose, so when the first one decided to not leave or allow another to be placed the clan just listened. They lack a ‘military state’ kind of layout, so the sitting leader works at keeping the position by making sure the populace is distracted by their various projects. Over time, the various sitting leaders would push more and more for hyperfixation on their work so that they would be too busy to think of revolt. More often they were celebrated for constantly bringing in more work for the clan and keeping them happy that way. Close to the leader is a small group of secondary leader types that are responsible for work assignments.

The sitting leader keeps them in check by also encouraging them to report one another for any issues or possible treasonous action for better positions in the group. This has largely worked, with only one or two at a time ever thinking of overthrowing the leader, let alone taking the required action. At the moment the highest member of the group is actively working against the leader after spending years working their way up the clan into the relevant position. A number of the members are not happy with the set up and are attempting a coup currently. The top secondary leader is one of the top ranked heads of the group. They’re doing so by being subtle, leaking bits of information to the allied groups they’re a part of about their government’s lies pertaining to progress on various projects thought to be impossible.

The information trickle is purposeful, but done in a way that they could claim ignorance if they were ever caught or questioned on their actions. They of course wish to be in power, so they’re setting themselves up as much as possible to be the ones that the allies place in power after the others are removed. The information trickle is extremely slow though, as they’re playing the long game, waiting the years it takes to build the necessary trust for their plans to come to fruition.

Military

The Olera had a small modest fighting force. It was enough to offer the bare minimum when it came to protecting themselves, but was ill-suited for any significant defense or offense. Their main fighting force is based on stealth assassin, almost ninja like movements. Those in the fighting force are trained to move quickly and almost silently during all hours of the day and night. They are better suited for daylight fighting, but their eyes are sensitive enough to pick up movement with only minimal light- either by moonlight or a single torch. Their quick reaction times allow them to deal aimed deadly strikes to enemies, often before they realize that they’re standing there. Once their goal is complete though, they quickly retreat as they are unsuited for any strength based combat.

If caught, they can even the odd with a weapon in quick close hand to hand combat, though if they are struck by any opponent it almost always means certain doom for that Oleran. Unless in the clan’s best interest, any member too wounded to retreat, or is caught, is often left for dead. There have been rare cases where the clan member has vital information and is necessary either for the victory of the battle or for one of their projects. When it comes to rescue, or general warfare, they rely heavily on other clans and their brute physical strength to act as their defenders. They know that they’re not going to get far in that kind of battle on their own; so they stick with their strengths.

Their military strength lies in their planning and battle strategy. Their problem solving skills makes them specially suited for planning attack strategies, so many of the larger clans will have them consult or lead their army when in battle. They are capable of mentally running a number of scenarios to find the most successful based on the various abilities they’ve witnessed from the opposing side. For the most part, they have been nearly unchallenged and victorious, but there have been a handful of times where their initial strategy was unsuccessful. In situations like that, the Olera get uncharacteristically giddy. They view it as a new puzzle that has no answer they can ask or check against; as well as having come across a ‘worthy’ opponent.

They respect various delegates, and military members who have scars to show their dedication, but they have a special level for those who can cause them to faulter in them at their various puzzles. They get especially giddy if their opponent is capable of out planning and maneuvering them, putting their abilities to the ultimate test. There have been a rarer few times where the Olerans are so impressed by an individual that they’ll request that those who were involved with the strategizing be kept alive for them so they can partly interrogate, partly admire, and partly attempt to recruit them to the clan. They have only been successful once, when they promised that in exchange the rest of the member’s clan would be absorbed into the other clans and be kept safe.

Religion

The Olera as a whole are not religious in the sense of an organized religion with any kind of named deity. They are illiterate so having any textual based religion was out of the question, even if they were religiously inclined. Any kind of religion that they would entertain would be of the verbal in nature. There is a small sect in the Olera that organized into the beginnings of a religion, though they do not have any official type of priest or priestess that hosts the meetings. When they do meet, they take turns verbally reciting various ideas and topics that had been discussed last time as well as any new input they’d come up with in the time away. The ‘religion’ started initially with two Oleran kin’toni that were speaking while working on a project.

They were throwing ideas at one another on what the object’s purpose was, as the object they were working on was mainly thought to be of religious significance to that original kin’toni group as opposed to any functioning item to be used for general purposes. It had been taken from the region’s temple with no further explanation on the state or where it had been taken from. The discussion shifted with each idea to eventually the idea of deities and higher power. The two came to the consensus that there had to be SOME kind of higher power, be it all knowing like a God or cause and effect like they see in their everyday life. They were there, living, so SOMETHING had to guide the world to that point.

The two discussed their conclusions with some other Olera and a few agreed, others arguing with them. The meetings became more organized where it became philosophical debates over a traditional type of religion. For most in the region though, religion in its common notion is not something that the majority of the Olera consigned to. The closest thing that they all had to a religion was their daily repetitive behaviors that could almost fall into the meditation slot of religion. They would wake up in the morning and spend some time going over previously passed puzzles, attempting to get even faster in their completion time as well as their processing speed. Those who called it religious though was received with much contention as the Olera refused to accept that they were participating in such behavior.

To those outside the region, they believed that the Olera worshiped puzzles and the idea of strategy on the same level that other would believe in their religion or science. Those who knew they would interact would purposefully research strategy and speak highly of it around them in a similar respectful manner one would if they were attempting to make a good impression with someone from a different culture. A handful of those who were deeply religious and visited the region noted that the Olera exhibited many key spiritual beliefs and traditions like they had with their own religion.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

Unknown

Olera Kin'toni Clan

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