Xingale Kin'toni Clan

History

The Xingale kin'toni Clan were tree-top dwelling kin'toni who lived within the dark interiors of the Yalrie Forest Thicket. They were a very reclusive clan and only appeared when they wanted to increase their numbers or when food sources within the forest were running low. The zu'aan villages that existed on the edge of the Valrie had learned to live with them since they rarely bothered them apart from the rare instances of kidnappings taking place. The zu'aan realized that it was not worth the effort to fight or pursue the Xingale into the forest because of their ability to move faster among the trees.

And their experience in setting up deadly ambushes and traps. They learned that the best solution to their problem was to avoid the Xingale at all cost and keep a healthy distance from them whenever they were spotted. Historically, the Xingale were natives of the Yalrie forest who had escaped from a remote research facility within the forest during the kin'toni outbreaks. They had been specially created to suit the heavily forested environment of the region. As such, they were capable of swinging from tree branches with their long, strong arms and covering ground much faster than conventional walking.

This gave the illusion that they could teleport within the forest- creating an air of mystery around them. The zu'aan and other kin'toni tribes who had witnessed this phenomenon chalked it down to the Xingale having supernatural powers.The clan had been involved in wars with many rival kin'toni forest clans during their early days. These wars were brutal in nature and characterized by the deadly ambushes that the clan would set for each other. The Xingale were able to survive these early wars because of the superiority of their tactics and the effectiveness of their own ambushes.

They would integrate many of the defeated forest kin'toni into their clan by "turning" them. This boosted their population by twice its size and made them a major clan within the Yalrie. They would involve themselves in many more wars as they began to explore the vast depths of the forest. Each of their victories would lead to an increase in their numbers and further cemented their position as the main power in the Yalrie. The clan soon discovered the edge of the forest after centuries of expansion and exploration. This was when they encountered zu'aan for the first time.

They were wary at first and began to carefully observe their behavior. They realized that the zu'aan were more advanced than them in many aspects but lacked any physical edge over them. They adopted many methods that they learnt from simply observing them. They kidnapped a few zu'aan and discovered that they could be "turned". Their blood was also more substantial and filling to them than the blood of other kin'toni. Thus they started taking more captives in the regular and even attacked a few villages. The zu'aan quickly began to fear them and started avoiding the edges of the woods.

They were scared to retaliate directly through war and instead, retreated to well-built and defended enclaves far away from the Yalrie.

Biology

The Xingale Kin'toni Clan had the physical gift of long, extended arms that were extremely strong and paired with large prehensile fingers. These physical tools allowed them to generate enough momentum and esentially swing from branch to branch. this was one of the fastest ways to traverse the heavily forested Yalrie forest and allowed them to bypass the overgrown thickets that crowded the forest floors. Their opposable thumbs and agile fingers would also help them adapt to using tools and weapons more quickly than other kin'toni. The nature of their movement style led to the development of a lot of strength in their arms and upper body.

This was required to propel themselves up into the air in their swings. The strongest among the clan could even propel themselves up to over two feet in the air. The Xingale had shorter legs as compared to the rest of their upper body and arms. This was because of their lack of use. Their legs were also equipped with opposable toes that allowed them to grip tree branches and even sleep on them while hanging upside down. They had tremendous grip in all their limbs which was useful for climbing as well as for grabbing and choking their enemies in fights.

A common distinction with other kin'toni was their lack of long fingernails or claws. Instead, they used their clenched fists as weapons when the time called for it. Their bones were very tough and healed at an abnormally fast rate, making their hands ideal tools for fighting and combat. The average Xingale kin'toni member reached a height of just over six feet which extended to more than eight when they had their arms raised. Their bodies were well muscled and had proper fat buildup in their upper bodies. This helped them stave off starvation and prepared them for the winter months and cold waves.

The Xingale's bodies were a brownish yellow in color and covered in a coat of light brown fur. This layer was waterproof and allowed them to stay out for extended periods in the rain without running any risk of hypothermia and other complications. The Xingale were not exclusively reliant on blood for their substinance. Blood was considered more of a luxury and at different periods, the clan would feed on anything from plants to animal meat. The Xingale were social creatures and had a well developed cranium and better reasoning and thinking powers as compared to other kin'toni.

This also helped with the coordination of their arms and legs. Something that was essential for their mode of travel. The Xingale Kin'toni had dark green irises with white sclerae and vertical beaded pupils. These eyes were especially powerful in the darkness when they could take advantage of their night vision. They were usable during the day but would fatigue easily after long periods of exposure to sunlight. They had a very developed sense of taste and smell and could track their prey over miles using just their noses.

Culture

The Xingale kin'toni culture prized loyalty above all qualities. Their culture expected them to make willing sacrifices for the good of the clan. In extreme cases this could even mean giving up their lives as part of a larger plan. This was a common occurence in the Xingale kin'toni clan's style of warfare where they would stage elaborate ruses and sacrifice bands of their warriors in fake ambushes while the real ambushes were prepared elsewhere. Sacrifices also meant sharing their food when they ran low on captives or animals to prey on.

This was quite a regular occurance in the forest and the clan members had to learn to prioritize their needs and see to it that they all received a little of whatever they had. The Xingale culture used the family as the building blocks of their society. Their members lived in large, collective family groups. They were encouraged to nurture each other and to create strong bonds that would not be broken. There were hundreds of such families which constituted a clan when they were taken as a collective. The family was a source of emotional support and also provided much needed motivation for the members to defend and protect the clan.

Once a new member was initiated into the clan, they were assigned a family. This family was responsible for nurturing him till he could become a contribution member of their society. During this phase, they were taught all the basic neccessities that would be required for them to survive in the wild. One of the clans most treasured skills was their ability to swing from tree branch to tree branch using their long arms and large prehensile fingers. This was a valuable skill that allowed them to stay away from the thickets and predators on the ground and navigate the forest at more than twice the speed of ground dwelling animals.

They trained this skill during their pastime and their culture were known for their regular races that were held to compete for the title of the fastest in their clan. This event was a celebration of clan life and family as well as a competition and the entire Xingale clan would be gathered to witness and celebrate the occassion. The competition was followed by days of merrymaking and revelry as the families reminisced about their past and talked over their drinking and feasting. The Xingale kin'toni clans culture would advance by leaps after their contact with the zu'aan living at the edges of the Yalrie forest.

The Xingale observed the zu'aan behaviors and noticed the craftsmanship with which they built their buildings, the detail that went into their carvings and idols and the practicality of their tools. The Xingale believed that they had a lot to learn from these zu'aan and began adopting many of their practices. The Xingale took many zu'aan captives from whom they learnt more about thier culture and habits. These captives would also be "turned" into one of them and provided an easy way to expand their numbers. This contact with the zu'aan would lead to the start of Xingale craftsmanship.

And the use of zu'aan weaponry within their clan.

Government

The Xingale kin'toni Clan were led by the eldest member of the Ad'ny family. This family was the first family that was formed within the Xingale and the single oldest family line within their clan. As a tradition, only the fittest or smartest among the new initiates were assigned to this family at the time of their initiation. This created a family line of the ablest and most charismatic personalities within the clan. There were never any debates as to why the Ad'ny should continue to play their role as the leaders of the clan. The members accepted this as part of their culture and have followed it since without fail.

When a leader died, the whole clan would be in mourning for an extended period of time. The Xingale did not bury the bodies of their dead but distributed it to the rest of the clan so that the spirit of dead would continue to live on through them. This bizarre practice was also applicable to their leaders. They would take turns speaking about his deeds and achievement and lament the loss through sad songs and hymns. At the end of this period of mourning the Xingale would gather once more for the announcement of their new leader.

This would usually be the next eldest member of the Ad'ny family. After the proclamation was made, the clan members would present themselves before the new leader and declare their loyalty to him. The Xingale's leader had a lot of power and responsibility within the clan. In civil life he was responsible for maintailing law and order by issuing laws and punishing any violators. The Xingale respected hard and strong leadership and viewed mercy and sympathy as qualities that were not befitting of their leaders. They expected their leaders to stick to their word and enforce the laws with all the power that they possessed.

The most common laws that remained unchanged throughout their existence were the ones that forbade murder of another clan member and hoarding of goods for ones own use. The first was a common theme since they could not afford to lose their own numbers from petty disputes among themselves. The second law was in line with their belief that every member had to sacrifice their own individual needs for the collective good of the clan. As a leader, the clan expected him to carry out the sentence and set an example for the rest of the clan to follow.

When violators of the law were caught, the clan would bring them to their leader who would then carry out the sentence with his own hands. In case of murder- the perpetrator was punishable by death. This would mean a public execution in which the public would cheer on their leader as he swung a mallet to the criminals head. The bodies of criminals were considered as contaminated with evil seed and the clan did not partake in eating them. Instead they were thrown to the predators that lived in the forest floors. The Xingale leader could have as many advisors or as little as he wished.

These advisors were people with special gifts and abilities or members with experience who had distinguished themselves in battle and had knowledge of wartime strategy and tactics.

Military

The Xingale kin'toni Clan were famous for their ruthless forest ambushes that they conducted on their unsuspecting enemies. They were masters of this art and had learned to conceal their motives and stage proper feints through experience. Their reputation for ambushes ws well known throughout the kin'toni world and the Xingale would exploit this by staging clever fake ambushes where some of their members would sacrifice their lives to convince their ememy of its authenticity. This was done in the spirit of sacrifice and placing the clan's need above their own.

The Xingale were taught these values from a very young age until it became natural for them to see themselves as part of the clan and not an individual being. Their enemies, believing that they had survived the Xingale's ambush, would be lulled into a false sense of security which was when the Xingale would strike with the full power of their main ambush. Every member of the Xingale kin'toni Clan was a warrior and was expected to pick up their arms and join the rest of the clan when a war broke out. There were no conditions for this service and the members were not promised anything in return.

It was just a part of the culture and anyone who refused to fight with them was denied the privilege of being a member of their clan. The motivation and resolve to fight for the clan also came from the close knit family structures that existed within their clan. The members were deeply attached to the people they called their family and would do anything in their power to ensure that they remained unharmed. An attack on one of them was considered an attack on all of them. In combat, the Xingale relied on their physical ability to scale the treetops and swing quickly from branch to branch, to their own advantage.

This ability allowed them to traverse quickly throught the forest and allowed them to scout for longer distances as well as set up their ambushes before their enemies. They could travel more than twice as fast as fast as any other creature in the dense forest and could easily escape attacks and disappear only to reappear in another location not long after. They had a reputation as ghosts or supernatural beings because of this unique abiltiy. The Xingale were led by individual commanders who commanded theri own families.

The army never operated as a large, single group since this would severely hinder their mobility. Warfare in the forests was also different and not conducted in the same way as in open plains where huge armies could mass up in a field and charge each other. Here, warfare was more methodical and conducted in a smaller scale. Operating in smaller groups allowed their commanders more freedoms and made it possible to execute complicated maneuvers and flanking moves. The Xingale military would undergo a reform both in terms of weapons and tactics once they encountered the zu'aan tribes who lived in the edges of the forests.

They adopted many of the zu'aan weapons which they realized were more effective and allowed them more efficiency and safety in combat. They also adopted the zu'aan communication skill which was vital for coordinating complicated tactics and strategy between their leaders.

Religion

The Xingale worshipped many Gods that were associated with the natural phenomena and inanimate items they witnessed and encountered inside their forest. They were in awe of the power of nature and worshipped the overwhelming power and ruthlessness of natural calamities such as earthquakes and flash floods. The clan believed in a land Spirit that looked after the forest and all those who dwelt in it. They credited him for the growth of new trees and the expansion of their forest. They believed that his displeasure was linked with the occurance of earthquakes in the region.

They thanked him for the trees that provided them with shelter and prayed that his influence would extend beyoud their borders until the world was covered in his greenery. The Xingale would regularly plant trees as a way to seek the favor of their God and show their reverence for his powers. The clan's priest believed that the Spirit lived in some sacred groves deep in the heart of the Yalrie forest. Popular legends from their clan described the magnificence of these Spirits and also warned that people who came across them would grow blind from the radiant light that covered the Spirits.

One of the popular tenets of the Xingale's religion was the protection of their forests. They warned their members against cutting down plants or trees unnecessarily. Such crimes were punished by having the violator seek the forgiveness of the forest Spirits. The clan was very superstitious. They attributed every calamity to a mistake that had been commited by one of them. The entire clan would then pray for forgiveness and seek the pleasure of their Gods through sacrifice. Other such Spirits that were popularly worshipped in Xingale culture included the Water Spirits and the Lightning God.

The Water spirit lived in the large rivers that flowed across the region. They believed that the spirit of the river was in harmony with the land Spirit but their occasional disputes would lead to the river overflowing its banks to show its displeasure. The clan would then offer sacrifices and pray to the river spirit in order to placate it and bring the waters back to their original levels. The Lightning God was seen as an unpredictable diety who struck when she wished to. There was no way to predict her anger or mood. They were in awe of her power and ferocity.

And channelled their prayers to her when they were about to head into wars or anything that required physical confrontation and power. Many trees in the Yalrie bore the charred marks of lightning strikes and the Xingale would mark out these trees and worship them as the work of their Lightning God. After the Xingale encountered the Zu'aan they began to learn about crafting and other artistic pursuits. They would attempt to replicate the images of their Gods throught these process which led to the widespread dissemination of small idols and scluptures within their clan.

These idols were seen as tiny reminders that contained the essense of their Gods.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

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Xingale Kin'toni Clan

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