Delolor Tribal Zu'aan

History

The origin of the Delolor tribal zu'aan dates back to a strong history of biological adaptation that was forced upon their group of people by the passing of time, which marks this tribe as one that didn't necessarily conquer the region they inhabit through fire or steel; they instead conquered it within a different style by themselves becoming as cold and silent as all of the snowy trees around them, as if the Delolor were themselves a member of the environment of their biome.

Their history begins around the years before 4E 381, when the ancestors of what is now the Delolor tribe were nothing but a splinter group of nomads. They was nomads that were mainly hunters and gatherers that went through many regions of the crumbling world of Taerel, especially those that encompassed the kingdom's northern tundras. However, their nomadic and exploring experiences came to a halt by what became known as the most marking event for this civilization, known as the "Black Blizzard,".

This was a combination of volcanic ash and snow that lasted for three consecutive winters and forced the tribe to be trapped within the edges of the bone-white Arnton Forest. The Arnton Forest wasn't exactly the most productive place on earth; it also didn't provide the zu'aan and animals within it any easy access to warmth or soft ground to sleep on, something that should be expected by the already tundra-hardened nomads; however, due to the critical situation they were in, the tribe was almost wiped initially.

seeing how their lifestyle slowly became a simple waste of precious calories within the thin and freezing air of the Arnton Forest, and slowly and slowly the tribe members began living within more silent methods, awaiting for possible prey and huddling together instead of searching for an exit. By the year of 4E 23, the Arnton Forest became known as the Arnton Snowy Dead Forest, and with a transition in the environment, there was also a new standard for the life that still inhabited the cold claws of the Arnton.

The Delolor slowly realized that the life that still chose noise within that biome quickly became nothing more than victims and prey of the harsh cold; we observed native predators sitting motionless for days, comparable to a petrified tree trunk, until they could simply catch an energetic prey that often walked directly into their claws, which gave the Delolor tribal zu'aan a new viewpoint on life within the forest, one that recognized noise and movement as nothing more than a death sentence, while stillness provided them with a proper shield.

By the year of 4E 400, the Delolor had not only fully acknowledged this lifestyle into their entire cultural outlook, but they had also been altered physically, often utilizing mixtures from the ash in the forest and animal waste and fat to create camouflage-inducing paste that they would pass over their own clothing and body, basically making them fit perfectly into the monochromatic landscape of the Arnton Snowy Dead Forest, truly transforming them from their traditional hunter-style tribe into shallow beings that were directly petrified into the biological logic of the ecosystem.

Psychology

The psychological landscape of the Delolor tribal zu'aan is defined around the behavioral option they chose when becoming and transforming themselves into a tribe fully revolved around notions of quietness and stillness, a tribe that describes itself as nothing more than another fair tree that's a part of the forest as a whole, which justifies how they practically mimic the behavior of a petrified tree trunk; this leads to a psyche to be engineered fundamentally to allow the matching of this slow glacial pace that is promoted by the Arnton Snowy Dead Forest.

Their mindset is something compared to that of a bear, since it mimics the hibernating state that is needed for that enlarged mammal to survive, which shapes their behavior to be filled to the brim by huge windows of lag for recovery, basically most well seen in how the members of the Delolor tribal zu'aan will often spend days in near-catatonic states simply to conserve their calories, waking up for nothing more than for food and water (in some cases even being fed by a family member).

Which allows their brains to breathe without the consumption of information in the rushed and overwhelming demand that Taerel offers; this has, in many cases, led to the Delolor being seen as a more slow zu'aan, often taking time to respond to another zu'aan's answers and even filling that blank space with small expressions of echolalia. Another trait that differs the psychological structure of the Delolor from other zu'aan is how they're extremely prone to seeking comfort in things that might terrify members of other tribes, such as isolation and silence.

Which the Delolor find not only far from scary, but also one of the best manners to reach actual peace. In contrast, the Delolor have also come to develop a full-on weakness to loud colors, rapid movements, and high-pitched sounds, which may often lead to the members of this tribe feeling extremely distressed, overwhelmed, and in some cases even triggering full-on burnouts; in a place that's noisier, such as properly set up cities far from the Arnton Snowy Dead Forest, the members of this tribe would suffer a complete mental breakdown birthed from sensory overload.

Really showing how their brains are tuned to find immense amusement in the monochromatic nature of the Arnton Snowy Dead Forest. The Delolor also differ from other zu'aan in the manner of how they often lack social empathy within a traditional sense or definition of the word, often making it so the members of this tribe don't really care about feelings or conversation, instead replacing all of this by the biorhythmic connection between all the tribe members, something seen clearly in how they huddle together during a blizzard for warmth instead of attempting to show they comprehend the pain of others.

Creating a system that might not be empathetic in its traditional sense, but still makes it so their hearts sync in extremely caring ways, prioritizing the tribe's health not through words but collective vibration.

Culture

The culture of the Delolor tribal zu'aan allows for a deep practical study of all the potential artistic expressions that can be given to the, oftentimes abstract, concept of absence; something seen as crucial to the Delolor since within the Arnton Snowy Dead Forest any expression of presence, any sound or movement, can be an alert to a predator, or just be a wasteful manner to treat one's calories; this justifies, for the Delolor, cultivating a cultural lifestyle that places their entire civilization into slow motion, leading to extremely unique displays of art and customs.

Since noise is seen as a vector for creating and allowing for threats and emergencies to emerge, verbal language is extremely limited within the Delolor tribal zu'aan; it's treated as though a luxury that the tribe members shouldn't risk being able to afford or not, which makes it so they replace such notions with an extremely sophisticated and well-made haptic language, which bases interactions and speech to be distributed with rhythmic taps that are designed to blend within the only soundtrack of the Arnton Snowy Dead Forest.

Which is the wind; though still being loud enough to be detectable by an able speaker by creating vibrations that travel through both structures and wind, it might seem confusing or sometimes even abstract, but those that can really master this language are able to convey complex warnings, tell ancestral histories, lecture a whole class, and sometimes even distribute extremely precise hunting coordinates simply via tapping. Another key trait of the Delolor tribal zu'aan is in the matter in which the tribe members go through organized manners of disguising themselves as not only a cultural aesthetic but also as a way to signify how a member of the tribe is never truly clean.

As though taking the role and encompassing the nature of the forest that was infected by volcanic ash, as if each member was an individual part of it. This is done in the way where every member participates in daily rituals of applying a mixture of volcanic ash with other regional resources into a paste that is then spread on their skin and clothing; more than just camouflage, it represents the members fading existentially into the forest, making the notion of a beautiful Delolor be focused around the member that is indistinguishable from the environment around them.

A key element of the culture for the Delolor tribal zu'aan is how they perceive fire or anything that can lead to burning in general; it is placed within a contrasting scope that relies on the confrontation between the necessity of warmth and deep religious dread; we observe this in how the tribe does in fact create their own campfires so they can warm themselves up in the harsh winters of the Arnton Snowy Dead Forest, but anything larger than this size that is done strictly to guarantee survival is looked upon with extreme taboo, declared as an assault on the very forest which houses the tribe members.

Government

The government style of the Delolor tribal zu'aan focuses on a governing body composed of the members that are deemed to be following the doctrine of the tribe the best, which, in theory, means the members that are able to remain the stillest and quietest within the Arnton Snowy Dead Forest; as though they themselves were a part of the biome and served to represent its very interests as a way to maintain the tribe and keep it in good hands, this allows for the focusing around shaping a society that equates movement with death and silence with wisdom/

Allowing for authority to be seized through a demonstration of absolute self-control. The highest authority that is placed as the core of the entire governmental system of the Delolor tribal zu'aan is seen poetically as an anchor that holds the tribe still within a singular safe location; it is a position given to an individual who has, logically enough, displayed his skills in remaining quiet and still and keeping his own mind extremely controlled so as to mimic their physical state.

Sometimes even being put through trials for the decision of the current leadership by spending weeks on end without a singular muscular twitch; this important role given to them as an anchor basically solidifies their significance as the root of the tribe, members who work in the shadows to keep the tribe running while rarely communicating with any other member of the Delolor society, which, in theory, leads to a leader who is more a cultural phenomenon that represents the tribe's endurance than a concrete figure of political protagonism.

Now, here comes the part that will describe the members that are actually designated with proper and concrete positions within the political functioning of the Delolor tribal zu'aan, which are the legislative members of the tribe's council; these members are responsible for the day-to-day management of the tribe, giving them not only extremely strong control (different from the anchor's cultural imagery), but also a deep responsibility in maintaining not only the matter of internal organization of the tribe but also the communication amongst tribe members.

Which leads to most of the legislative politicians being the eldest members or masters of the Delolor's haptic language; this often leads to interesting phenomena where discussions are done with politicians sitting in a circle and tapping petrified wood in a way the entire tribe can hear from their homes, almost as if they had their own radio system. The external policy of the tribe is done within an extremely isolationist way of treating foreign policy, shaping the diplomats of the tribe to be sentinels stationed at the very edges of the Arnton Snowy Dead Forest instead of debaters or prominent politicians.

Their main job is to alert the tribe of any outside groups that may approach the tribe's surroundings, so as to warn the rest of the Delolor that watching time has begun; this is not only done as a safety measure but also a defensive one, by sort of creating the illusion that the forest is watching the outsiders as they approach an area they weren't supposed to see.

Military

The military of the Delolor tribal zu'aan acts less so as a classical army that follows traditional senses of developing and preparing able zu'aan for warfare, more-so choosing the route that is a classic within tribes in harsher environments, relying mostly on their ecosystem as a matter of defense, as, what some would call, a natural shield; and this is also complemented by their general philosophy around violence, which makes it so this tribe doesn't really believe in the glory of battle, blood, death or kills; they simply see efficiency in erasing the enemies that are presented on their territory.

They are seen as nothing more than a simple, unwanted vibration in a silent forest and a tribe that forever wants to simply rest, making it so the army's objective is to quickly silence this threat to sensory heaven. The first line of defense of the Delolor tribal zu'aan is encompassed of units that have purposes of fulfilling roles that are rounded all around pure psychological studies; this is seen in how their main purpose during battle is to utilize acoustic mimicries to lead invaders astray.

Be those done by intense tapping in their own language as to express frustrations that also resonate within the forest, or be them by the instruments that the tribe has come to develop over the years; though. Furthermore, the second line of defense consists of members of divisions of geographers who are given the responsibility to study the snow and the whole landscape within the forest to determine spots with deeper snow or where the petrified trees can be used to topple over invading troops.

Not only that, but this unit of geographers also spends a lot of time setting up its own traps utilizing snow, basically preparing whole overground cave-ins by bringing snow by the mass up on trees in spots where they can fall over enemies or block their path; the snow is hand-chosen to be not only the coldest possible but also as ash-infected as possible, to make sure that if the enemy doesn't die from frostbite, they'll die from some infection in their lungs. The tribe has also come to set up a series of elite warriors who are designated the role to be fully ready and able to give their life for the tribe if need be.

In the situation of kin'toni fully breaking through exterior defenses and getting to the settlement; these elite fighters, known as the Still-Blades, are extreme masters of all of the heaviest iron-based weaponry that the tribe has; they fully camouflage themselves in ash and ice and stand perfectly still within already invaded areas for days on end if need be, making it so even if kin'toni do take over the Delolor tribe, those members will always be there to remind them that the Delolor spirit shall never be fully defeated.

Religion

The theological framework of the Delolor tribal zu'aan is something that acts as a cherry on top that seals up their entire societal logic and what has been built up until this section; it's something that should be expected, it's a religion and belief system that is cold and quiet; it represents and canonizes the philosophy of all of the infinite frost provided by the constant fight between masses of heat from the universe against their reflection and interpretation of the harsh reality of the Arnton Snowy Dead Forest.

This leads to the most religious members of the Delolor to seek to deny all of the heat provided by life, be it passions, noise, dreams, or ambitions, all being traded in favor and in search of a primordial sense of stillness. The central notion of the Delolor's faith is a contrast presented by the very proposition of the universe: a mass, a force of nature, and the main vector for existence, a thing that is philosophically seen as loud; it is a chaotic mistake that has always existed and will remain to exist.

Though, it is one that despite its infinite existence, is still constantly fighting a battle against the corrections presented by its polar opposite: the peace provided by the cold, by a contrary force of peace that exists not prior to the universe, but with the same amount of existential power as it; this new calmer force is what the Delolor seek to worship and what their belief is fully shaped upon. This semi-eternal spirit of coldness is given life to the Delolor by their environment, where they observe the very Arnton Snowy Dead Forest as a divine expression of peace and of proper resistance against a loud, overwhelming, and stressful world.

A world that would, if it had its way, force each zu'aan to have to deal with an overwhelming gamma of issues at all times with the need of immediate action as a means to simply allow them to survive and live a proper life—a reality in which the Delolor tribal zu'aan would hate to live in; it would force them out of their quietness and place them in a society with a predetermined role around serving an existence focused around rushing. This entity of eternal cold is finally given a name when it is observed as a means to reach the soul of each zu'aan individually.

Its name fits both its purpose and its aesthetic representation: the Pale-Breath, which is something that represents the need of a Delolor zu'aan to calm the inner fire they are born with, basically giving them a weapon to fight the unjust existence they were forced upon by simply being born into a universe that denies them peace.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

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