Iros Tribal Zu'aan

History

The Iros Tribal zu'aan follow a history which dates back to the year of 4E 104, moments late and deep within the Shattering Age, where the ancestors of the tribe derive as a direct product of the destruction and chaos marked during that time, coming specifically from a series of tribes that failed to survive amongst the conditions placed by the Shattering Age, which were burnt to the ground by volcanic activation in the Mosaryn Volcanic Island, forcing them to flee in a series of makeshift boats until arriving at the Ek'va Beach.

Though, they didn't come alone, as a pack of kin'toni chased after them for hours on end on the bay, ensuring that the fleeing zu'aan could not know peace while they were in that open air sentence of being chased around those sandy dunes, forcing them deep into a forest nearby, which at first was taken as a sort of temporary refuge due to its natural shield capabilities, providing fruits and shelter, though quickly became a room for ever-so increasing zu'aan casualties, be it by making members split from the main group or the very vegetation of the place causing deadly phenomena.

This made it so the remaining members of the group would seek a way out of it after finally gaining remarkable distance from the kin'toni. As the pursuit continued even outside the forest for a good while, the fleeing zu'aan would stumble and scramble into a dense canyon filled with iron-thorn bushes, which was seen as a clear opportunity. The zu'aan had amongst them a couple of more intelligent and some more agile members, which organized with themselves to use those bushes and a series of distractions to bait kin'toni into the bushes.

To entangle them, which would allow the zu'aan to be able to kill them more safely from a proper distance with spears and ranged improvised projectiles. These refugees would notice their terrain as a sort of natural trap, once more utilizing their landscape as a shield, making it so they finally stop running once arriving in what was geographically denominated the Ek'va Chaparral, where those zu'aan would begin settling for the following years to come. They found a couple of natural springs that allowed for their tribe's maintenance.

And during those following years, learned to farm despite the drought cycles and to adapt mountain goats for herding, all from realizing how safe one can be behind thorns. Though, peace never became a ruling factor of these lands, their standards, which were ideologically settled by those individuals responsible for coming up with the plans to beating the previously mentioned kin'toni were ones that worked in quite an exclusionary logic; a logic which developed into the ruling structure now present amongst the Iros Tribal zu'aan.

The existence and formation of an oligarchy would heavily affect much of their psychology, of their cultural existence and expression, and of course, of their government and its extended expression in arms.

Psychology

The psychological outline which shapes the Iros' tribe members' psyche is one which follows a core fixation around the notion of being entrenched within their own logic of identity, creating a deep sense of a need to express their permanence while being impenetrable within their society. The priority that is often observed within the Iros isn't one of keeping movement but to conserve it, to remain in one place as to hold the ground they're finally able to own after such treacherous and painful trials.

Which makes it so their safety is tied directly within the nature around them and the natural shield provided by the Ek'va Chaparral, actually making it so the members of the tribe feel a deep sense of paranoia whenever in open aired spaces, feeling way calmer when enclosed by walls, be those raised by zu'aan, or by the earth itself. Due to also their geographical position, they tend to develop quite an unique perception about the material conditions around them and their bonds tied to emotionality.

One which encompasses hoarding as a core dynamic within their functioning. This hoarding mentality is one which is actually born not from wealth, but from scarcity, where they live at the constant fear of things running out due to the conditions put forward by the region's seasonal droughts, making it so every last drop of water and small scrap of food is calculated bit by bit to prevent any sort of malnourishment or plain death, this sort of natural psychological law turns wastefulness into one of their biggest guilts.

Which makes it so they often adopt recyclatory measures instead, which translates into seeing waste as a moral failure, and also prevents them from enjoying of abundance in the rare times they have it. Within their interpersonal relations, it's possible to observe the presence of deep links that are shaped by conditionality, turning many of the relationships between members of the Iros tribe into ones with a clearly transactional nature. This is one of the most marked points when it comes to analysing their social hierarchy and authority structure.

Often following the logic of a contract between the governors and the governing, where those that live through more common lives tend to give some of their freedom in trade for safety within servitude, creating a logic where a commoner finds a certain level of psychological comfort in simply obeying one of the hoarding lords due to their power and control over things such as water. This follows quite a feudal style of patronage, that normalizes links of dependency as survival strategies.

Their treatment of outsiders follows the sort of expected logic from tribes deeply marked by historical pursuits, which is one of paranoia. This translates into an overall view of those outside the structure and livelihood of the tribe as dangerous, making it so the members of the tribe often fear not only their very lives but also theft due to the scarcity which shapes their geographical location, which normalizes the idea that any individual which reaches their walls are, to some degree, wanting to steal their water or land.

This kills any possible curiosity towards foreign cultures, instead simply placing those different from the Iros lifestyle as hostile, even the act of being kind towards an outsider is seen as naive, or even as a security risk.

Culture

The cultural framework of the Iros Tribal zu'aan follows a series of mixes between both their dynamics around scarcity and around their defensive senses of self. This is best illustrated by their architecture. The physical structure of their settlements is one shaped thoroughly with the terrain provided by the Ek'va Chaparral, making it so it's often built around the terrain's common subterranean ravines due to the surface's often scorching heat and dangerous open-airness, which makes it so their architectural philosophy revolves around digging dow.

Creating cooled clay-lined burrows along the cliffside, tucking them safe within the deep ravines which extend all through the chaparral. Another crucial detail within their culture is their behaviour around water, something seen as way too valuable, even seen as the purest expression of nature that shouldn't even have to exist in such a challenging world such as the one we see in Taerel; this praising of water makes it so it's seen as too high of a substance to even wash their dirtiness with.

Which makes it so the Iros developed a practice known as dust-bathing, where groups of zu'aan utilize scented clays and oils as a means to clean themselves in rituals, since utilizing water would either symbolize immense wealth, or plain insanity; really showing the perspectives most of the tribe's members give to the resource that is water, something extremely important to life that is taken almost to a holy level despite its inherently natural properties, which influences many dynamics within the tribe's functioning.

Their cuisine also acts as a live expression of the scarcity which shapes their land, where the food preparation is defined entirely around how dry the whole place is, making it so, per example, their meat sector is entirely dominated by dried meats that are combined with a series of spices and aroma-inducing substances before being put into the sun, as well as things such as dried tubers and moldy cheese that can last for years on end, anything that is fresh or hydrating is often seen as no more than a luxury or a mere dream.

All of these notions which permeate the culture of the Iros Tribal zu'aan are also repeated when justifying their sense of fashion, where clothing is able to mark an individual's status, once again following the idea that the dryer the more miserable and the wetter or moister the more wealthy, where we see individuals that are seen as commoners wearing brown colored, tight-fitting, wax threaded clothing that are designed to keep any liquid in, as to stop sweat from going to waste, that are also made it so they have some protection against the thorns which remain at the poorest regions of the tribe.

This exists in contrast to the more wealthy sectors tend to wear loose items that are made with flowing linens of the flowers which grow deep within the ravines, requiring water for maintaining, symbolizing their lack of concern around the droughts and its consequences.

Government

The government system which is responsible for overseeing the political functioning of the Iros Tribal zu'aan is one which follows a structure also shaped mostly around the importance of water not only as a resource but as a tool to achieve a high level of accumulation of political power, this is observed in deep detail in the way authority is distributed amongst the members with ownership of one of the most critical resources that is rare to the Ek'va Chaparral, that being water.

Oligarchies were formed around the geological luck of what are denominated the Spring-Lords, members which were able to strike metaphorical gold by possessing either a very well developed producing well or owning the territory which contains a natural spring. One of these two possessions would guarantee an individual a seat at the governing tables around the tribe, where the size of one's aquifer has a directly proportional relation in dictating the weight of one's vote, which makes it so many of these oligarchs hire soldiers to defend their water sources.

Since if one is dried up, the owner is stripped of their titles and political power. All of this allows for the creation of an unstable and ever so shifting governing body, that works almost such as the flow of a river in its forever motioned state, creating what is known as the Flowing Council, a legislative body responsible for the central structure of command; this body is formed by high-ranking families that would meet up to settle series of disputes that may come up due to their territorial and exploitative behaviour towards the land and the water resources of the Ek'va Chaparral.

And to also decide things such as the exchange rates in between products from the land to the water they could sell; these meetings were notoriously tense and paranoid, since they often feared that the other families would eventually try to get a better slice of the pie in the detriment of their own negotiations. Another detail about these meetings was that the least discussed thing was the welfare of the people, which allows for the maintaining of the state that fails at the purpose of taking care of its citizens.

The system responsible for the dynamic in between the governors and the tribe's workforce is one which follows a transactional system that is very nearly feudal, functioning off a knock-off version of blood oaths, that simply replace the red liquid by water, allowing for the relation observed in between the lords and the populace, one where notions of liberty seem to be nullified and replaced with binding contracts which guarantee one's livelihood once they pledge their life and labor to a lord, guaranteeing to the commoner water, shelter and food in return, all within already determined rations.

And this pledged life and labor extended to even military service under the lord's name, forcefully creating a caste system where freedom is forced to be given away to guarantee survival, something which impedes many examples of rebellions.

Military

The military structure of the Iros Tribal zu'aan focuses on decentralized and private small army cells divided between the lords within the tribe, each oligarchic family being able to develop and buy the materials to shape their own little armies, which aren't only activated as a means to guarantee the tribe's defense, but it's also a tool thoroughly used to maintain an oligarch's order in the occasion of a dispute over any sort of hydric body. This warrior caste is known as the Spring-Guard, they are divided into regiments that are distributed amongst each lord.

The size is directly and strictly determined by the amount of water a lord is able to spread effectively amongst troops, though, even with such a centralized structure of command, there exists a lack of cohesive chain of command since most lords tend to not be the brightest or most skilled when it comes to military knowledge, which leads to various examples of failures in coordination if one's lord's interests aren't exactly at risk. Furthermore, the tactics often utilized by these cells are some that follow a sort of porcupine series of formations.

Creating a combat philosophy shaped thoroughly with ideals of defensive attrition, which combos well with the tribe's characteristics, where they will rarely be seen leading charges, regardless of the landscape, if it's within an open-field. They also specialize in techniques which utilize the narrowness of their biome for their advantage, utilizing things such as ravines and canyons to bring their enemies into tight and constricting spaces that only the Iros can maneuver around, which either leads to their advantage, or allows them to drag kin'toni towards traps.

Basically throwing them in kill-boxes that are made deadly by the Ek'va Chaparral's vegetation. The choice of weapons utilized within the tribe's arsenal follow a series of adaptations that can be drawn from the environment's already dangerous nature, while we do see a lack of any heavy metallic weapons that could pack a real punch or utilize the world's most advanced technology that's left during the Shattering Age, they much prefer utilizing alternatives to steel from the iron-thorn bushes of the chaparral, things that are lashed directly into spear shafts.

That can be utilized as arrowheads, or even just tied around as simple as clubs, which really pack a punch in face-to-face combat, these thorns are also placed all around the armor of the fighting troops as to combat the kin'toni's direct strength, which often prevents the kin'toni from grabbing and biting via the usage of defensive impaling. They also have special troops trained only with pyromancy, those known as the Fire-Starters are given the role of, well, starting fires.

Though not as simply, due to the clear destructive effect that fire may have in such a dry region, these troops are trained in doing controlled burns, be it for scorched earth protocols or to burn whole forests of kin'toni before they invade, this division is often comboed with heavy, heat-resistant clay bases for armor.

Religion

The theology developed by the Iros Tribal zu'aan is one which bases itself entirely around the necessary resources which make part of their land and their direct relation with scarcity when it comes to survivability, which makes a set of religious beliefs that are placed away from abstract morality, instead shaped entirely and solely around the base physical necessities any being must have. Their holy pantheon is occupied by a very strict force, that isn't considered good at all, that deity being Jadja, known as the Scorched One.

A fearful and paranoid god of judgement, heat, and drought, whose sole objective is to be appeased as to both keep the kin'toni away by his bright light, and to not direct such light to the poor zu'aan which suffered due to the reality in the Ek'va Chaparral. The very act of praying and of the rituals realized by the tribe are some not begging for forgiveness, or for things such as fruitful harvests, but instead of equilibrium, the rituals and prayers are to beg for Jadja to provide enough light to prevent kin'toni invasions, while also not giving too much as to dry up water sources.

Some of these rituals are focused entirely around the premise of preserving any sort of fluids the body might be able to produce or reproduce, known as rituals made for the purpose of keeping moist as a worship practice, this comes from the fact that, for the Iros Tribal zu'aan, any sort of liquid that comes from a creature contains a divine spark. This divine spark is seen in many of a being's expressions, things such as crying, per example, is considered a fully sacred act, which makes it so tears are rarely wiped away, often times either allowed to be absorbed back into the skin.

Or even kept in small ceramic vases to either praise or to drink; These vases are also, often times, placed in altars for Jadja. In contrast, things such as dry practices of praying become the norm of daily life as to not be wasteful with any of the fluids one may find, individuals are forced to per example, before entering a holy site, undergo a whole process of dusting by coloring their skins with ash or red clay, allowing them to coat themselves with a texture that absorbs sweat as to symbolize their return to the earth.

Something that even creates a notion where spitting in the ground is the biggest sign of blasphemy that can possibly be expressed by zu'aan. Speaking of blasphemy, as has been briefly mentioned, the biggest sin that followers of Jadjaism are taught to be the fundamental of what to avoid is that of being wasteful, especially to anything like water, but not only water, about anything, be it food, still usable clothing, a well-prepared housing unit, placing anything to waste in a scarce reality is simply seen as not only morally condemnable to a very high degree, but also a clear sign of cognitive failure.

Miscellany

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