Leifnadar City Zu'Aan

History

The Leifnadar city zu'aan were native settlers of the Skilfurr Upper Montane Forest region who had inhabited these foggy mountains for thousands of years. They were well adapted to the region's conditions and had learnt to live with some of its most terrifying features, such as the massive earthquakes and its difficult terrain. These conditions impeded communication and travel all along the region and was among the main reasons for the isolation of the clan. The clan lived in smaller settlements and had very limited potential for growth.

Until the reign of their leader named Xsuchikuex Leof, who revolutionized all aspects of the clan and oversaw one of their most glorious periods in history. She was a product of inbreeding among the top ranks of the tribe's leadership and suffered from many physical deficiencies as a result. This was a common arrangement during the era when society was heavily divided and people were desperate to maintain the purity of their lineage. She was raised on the then nascent settlement of Leifnadar which was yet to grow into a city, and had an upbringing that was typical of the aristocracy.

It involved the study of philosophies, government and law along with physical archery skills. This was customary among the higher classes who were not expected to participate in melee combat. She would earn the ire of the clan's leaders when she disregarded a marriage arrangement to a close cousin. She was tasked with becoming an emissary of the clan who would visit and establish relations with outsiders. Such an expedition had never been attempted before and their leaders had little expectations for success in the endeavor.

They intended it as a punishment that would send out a strong message to the younger generation and anyone who intended to follow her example. Despite the circumstances, Xsuchikuex was successful in establishing relations with many zu'aan clans who promised an overhaul of the closed diplomatic approach of her predecessors along with more contact and cooperation in terms of trade, military and other affairs. Her return to the clan was not greeted with enthusiasm by the clan's traditional leaders who began to perceive her as a threat against their monopoly of power.

She would conduct her own campaigns out on the streets- preaching about the large world outside of their own and the existence of zu'aan tribes like themselves who could all benefit from greater contact amongst themselves. Her message resonated among many of the newer generations and the lower classes who would become her main supporters in her bid to take over the reins of her clan's leadership. Her activities eventually led to an all-out civil war with herself and her lower-class allies on one side and the traditional leaders and high classes on the other.

The bitter conflict would drag on for many years resulting in the destruction of their habitat. It finally ended with her victory and led to her crowning as the sole empress of the tribe. She would begin the construction of the Leifnadar city in the year 4E 133, soon after she came to power and named the people the Leifnadar city zu'aan.

Psychology

The Leifnadar city zu'aan were historically known for their extremely reserved attitudes. This stemmed from the geographical isolation of their region and the difficult terrain which complicated transport and communication. The clan preferred to be left alone and never made any conscious attempts to contact other clans outside of their region until later on in their existence. They were very wary and suspicious of visitors in their region and would regularly turn hostile. This discouraged the growth of trade and communication in the region and left the zu'aan citizens of the clan with a psychological proclivity towards isolation.

The Leifnadar city zu'aan took matters of society and class very seriously. Their citizens were divided into many different classes based on their wealth and position in the society. This division ranged from the ruling aristocratic classes to the poorest- peasant and laborer classes. Each class had their own peculiar traits and beliefs such as the aristocratic class's strict belief in protecting their bloodline through inbreeding. There was no intermixing between these two social classes and there was a genuine disdain for the other on both sides.

The lower class came to be known for their desire for equality and fairness within the clan's systems and societies. They began to organize themselves in preparation for a revolution in the future. This divide would erupt into a full-blown civil war soon after the return of Xsuchikuex Leof after serving her term as the clan's emissary outside their region. Her return was greeted with suspicion by the ruling classes who were threatened by the number of allies she had acquired among the foreign zu'aan while the lower class welcomed her return and eagerly looked forward to meeting similar zu'aan from outside their lands.

The lower classes could sense the opportunity to ally with these new friends and overthrow their ruling classes. Xsuchikuex Leof would take advantage of these sentiments within the lower classes and begin her successful recruitment campaigns. They would emerge victorious from the civil war and the new Leifnadar city zu'aan came to be known for their hatred for division within society. They strived for equality on all fronts and were very successful in implementing these beliefs.

The post revolution Leifnadar zu'aan were known for their more accepting attitudes towards other zu'aan and cultures. They regularly welcomed all kinds of people into their lands and society. They actively encouraged trade and contact within the region which led to the growing prosperity of the region and an advancement in political systems as well as in the equality among its members. The clan also became more adventurous during this later phase. They were inspired by the pioneering explorations of their leader Xsuchikuex Leof who constructed one of the most accurate maps of their surrounding regions.

The clan regularly sent out many explorers and adventures who would wander far and wide and bring back valuable information of their surroundings and the opportunities for trade and alliances with other zu’aan clans.

Culture

The Leifnadar city zu'aan were known for their very isolated culture that valued their privacy. They avoided contact with all other zu'aan from outside the region and kept to themselves. They could appear very snobbish due to their very private nature. They had to been known to shun emissaries and visitors from other clans and even turned hostile on occasion. This culture was shaped by their surroundings which were among some of the most difficult terrain coupled with heavy fog that covered the ground all year long.

The low visibility could mask dangerous terrain features such as sheer cliffs and sharp rocks which could cause severe harm to anyone caught on the end of it. All these features combined to make travel very dangerous and led to the isolation of the region. The Leifnadar culture had evolved over many centuries and had many social customs and regulations. Chief among these was their division of the clan into many different classes. Their culture held a person's class in very high regard and strictly forbade intermixing among them.

They believed that certain jobs were better suited to each class and that each class should stick to their own specialty for the good of the clan. This led to the prevalence of inbreeding and discrimination within their culture. Marriage was usually planned out by elders who would try to maintain the purity of their race by only intermarrying between their own class or family. People were actively banned from taking up jobs if their class and birth was deemed unsuitable. The friction between these various classes was very apparent and led to a very toxic atmosphere that was teetering on the edge of a revolution.

The main classes within their culture were the topmost ruling aristocracy who were known for their practice of inbreeding and the high cases of physical defects that occurred as a result, the military and business classes and the lowest peasant and laborer classes. The two lowest classes would become Xsuchikuex's main allies when she staged her civil war upon her return to the city. Their culture would undergo a drastic change after Xsuchikuex's successful revolt. This would spell the end of the class divisions within the clan and heralded in a new age of equality and liberty.

Their culture would become more accepting of outsiders and would actively encourage trade and communication with other clans. This led to a sudden boom in their economy and led to a rise in their standards of living as well as their physical health as forced marriages within the same bloodlines became a thing of the past. Their culture acquired a reputation for exploration and adventure during this era as more and more of the Leifnadar headed out into unexplored sections of the map in search of prospective trading partners and allies.

Their culture which had been so closed off in the past would become known for pioneering transport and communication across the entire continent.

Government

In the past the Leigfnadar city zu'aan were ruled by a tribunal composed of the most influential and richest members among their clan. These members came from the ruling class of the clan and were known for their shrewdness and desire to keep the power concentrated to themselves. They regularly went to extreme lengths to fulfil these objectives, such as their practice of inbreeding to keep their bloodlines pure. They practiced arranged marriages to keep the leadership entirely within their own ranks and to prevent other classes from barging in.

These ruling classes were very unaccommodating and felt enitled to keep the position for themselves. They propagated the belief that each class was suited for a specific job and that leadership should be left in their hands. This general attitude of entitlement would alienate them from the other sections of society and eventually led to a revolution that would topple their systems of government. This old tribunal system was very undemocratic and allowed only the opinions of the top ranks to be reflected on the clan's policies.

Their laws conflicted with the desires and wishes of the lower classes who did not have any representation in the tribunal and were subjected to the whims of the upper class. Their systems would change for the better when a rebellious upper-class member named, Xsuchikuex Leof returned from her stint as the clan's emissary to the foreign clans of the region. She would begin to campaign for a new leadership style and the destruction of the old systems along with the class structure.

The lower class identified with her cause and enrolled into her campaign in large numbers. This movement would spark a civil war that pitted the aristocratic upper class who were desperate to hang on to their leadership positions against Xsuchikuex and the lower classes who wanted to tear them down. The revolution would succeed and led to the toppling of the old institutions. Under Xsuchikuex, the class system was abolished and every citizen of the clan was given equal rights and protection as well as the opportunity to serve the clan in any way they chose.

She remained as a single leader of the clan but had a tribunal beneath her that were fairly elected by all members of the clan. This allowed the people's opinions to be better represented in the government. These measures would lead to a growth in the happiness of the people and led to one of the most productive phases of the clan. People participated in the government's initiative to rebuild the city in large numbers. This was the golden age of the clan and was symbolized by the high rates of happiness, full employment rates and peace across the region.

These idyllic times would only end with the arrival of the kin'toni outbreak when the entire region was plunged into chaos yet again. The government became a little stricter during this phase as paranoia over the kin’toni outbreak began to spread over the lands. Some of their measures included the forced recruitment of a workforce to erect the city walls in time along with the mandatory military training of the population to prepare them for the dark days ahead.

Military

The Leifnadar city zu'aan were involved in military engagements throughout their entire existence. They historically had to fight off many aggressive zu'aan tribes of the Skillfurr region before they could stake their claim on the piece of land that would become the Leifnadar city. The combat was ferocious in these parts and the clan had to continuously evolve and develop newer methods and tactics to get the best of their opponents. The Leifnadar clan's army was divided into many different types of units based on their weapons and method of warfare along with their social class.

The effect of their class system was very apparent in the structure of their army. The richer, ruling classes could afford the more expensive bows that came with the added cost of the hundreds of arrows that every archer had to possess to effectively engage the enemy. Thus, it became a norm for the ruling classes to be more inclined towards archery while the soldier classes were inclined towards the heavy infantry units who used thick and heavy wooden shields along with layers of hardened leather and furs.

This class was responsible for fighting in the thick of combat and were valued for their high morale and their skill. They were the core of the army and usually decided the fate of battles in most wars. The lowest classes who were composed of the peasants and laborers were used as auxiliaries or pawns to distract or draw an action out of the enemy. This group had the most plentiful numbers but were also very poorly equipped and, in most cases, entered the battlefield with their normal civilian tools such as pitchforks and pickaxes.

They were deployed as cannon fodder when the adversary had many long-ranged warriors. They absorbed the brunt of the enemy attacks so that the clan's better units could be spared for the vital moments. This sacrificial role was a source of great discontentment for many of the clan's lower classes and was ultimately one of the reasons why they decided to join Xsuchikuex's revolt. The military would undergo a total reformation after the great revolution. During this post-civil-war phase, class systems were being demolished and the military was no longer constituted on the basis of class.

They would undergo a retraining where the individual’s unit was assigned based on their ability and preference. The military would minimize their numbers during this phase as the clan focused on more peaceful projects such as the reconstruction of their city. Many soldiers would convert to more profitable peacetime jobs until their services were called up once more during the chaos of the kin'toni outbreak. This war against the kin’toni would be unlike anything the clan had ever witnessed before.

These genetically engineered warriors were twice as fast as the best opponents they had ever faced, making it futile for the clan to try to face them in open warfare. This necessitated the construction of walls which would help their armies successfully repel the kin’toni advances.

Religion

The Leifnadar city zu'aan had three separate gods for each separate social classes. These classes varied in most aspects of their lifestyles as well as their religious conducts. There had separate places of worship and did not mix or worship together in any of these places. Religion played an important part of the life of the local zu'aan. Worship was a daily exercise and the clan would be collected in front of their respective places of worship each morning and night. They had many religious priests who led them in prayer and also provided psychological help to the members who were suffering from depression or similar mental issues.

They believed that religion was vital for the mental health as well as the motivation of a person. They encouraged their citizens to find their religion themselves and not to be led blindly by the practice of others. Some of the most prominent gods of the region included the higher-class god named Toxera, the warrior god named Yati and the slave god named Rakbur. Toxera was the most common god among the ruling aristocracy of the Leifnadar city zu'aan. He was seen as the god of order and was portrayed very similarly to one of the ruling classes of the clan.

He was commonly shown wearing a soft, wooly cloak that had was dyed in the most expensive color available to the zu'aan. They worshipped as the god of all the universe and the creator of all things. They prayed to him seeking wealth and fame or more power. The associated their misfortunes with the anger of their gods and were quick to admit that the revolution that led to the downfall was due to their failures to devote more worship and sacrifices to their god. He was also seen wielding a longbow as did most zu'aan of this class.

Thus, he fit into all the stereotypes of the aristocracy and was quickly adopted as their god. The second god, Yati, was a warrior god who was popular among the fighting and military classes of the clan. Yati was seen as a tall and muscular zu'aan entity who wielded the armor of a heavy infantry along with a long and sturdy wooded spear. He was seen as the god of war as well as other physical activities such as hunting and wrestling. The priest regularly preached about the heroic deeds of their god including his ability to wrestle down entire herds of wild animals using his strength to wrestle them down and his speed to avoid their bites.

The third god of the zu'aan was the slave god Rakbur. She was worshipped by most of the lower classes of the clan who prayed to for a savior to liberate them from their ordeal. The gods of the aristocracy such as Toxera would cease to be relevant once the revolution took place. The culture and religious practices of the fighting classes and the lower classes would take prominence during this latter stages.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

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Leifnadar City Zu'Aan

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