Lo'fen Tirbal Zu'Aan

History

This group was founded by Dyana Kauai and lives in the Zxai Desert Hills region. Dyana Kauai was born in a city of the Xerea Empire. She belonged to a high-class family, along with it she was very smart and had interest to exploration and extreme sports, Dyana traveled a lot during her youth and met different kinds of biomes. Looking for more exciting experiences she started to do lonely exploration trips and test her own survival skills. After finishing her University studies she got a position working in programming offices near the research facility labs, however, Dyana was no directly related to the supersoldier creation project. One day, while Dyana was working extra hours in programming trouble, she noticed unusual activity in the research facility labs.

She didn´t know completely what was happening however she could not ignore her danger sense. She left her office immediately, in that moment before her appeared a kin'toni creature that attacked her. Due to her athletic condition, Dyana could dodge and escape from the programming facilities without a scratch. At that moment she realized the creature which he found was not the only one. Dyana joined a group of people who were fleeing from the kin'toni, armed with improvised weapons. Every time they confronted them, even being only one creature, that ended losing survivors, she realized there was no point in facing them and the wisest would be only to flee, escape to a distant place where the kin'toni could not reach them.

Dyana didn´t notice the moment she became the leader of the group, she guided the group of survivors to the outside of the city, and from there she only wanted to go to the Zxai Desert Hills, a place she met during her survival trips and that she managed to endure many days by her own. Some of the survivors followed her, they still considered her the leader. The Zxai Desert Hills are a tough biome, there is no water on the surface, the sun hits directly and it is hard to grow any vegetable. It´s possible to find food only in the native plants and the few animals that live there. Although there are deserts, it´s not completely sand, there are parts of ground where the yellow grass grows, there are some trees with few leaves, other parts are hard rocks where it´s possible to mine resources.

It´s possible to find underground water deposits big enough to survive during days. Dyana knew the best way to live in those lands was as nomadic people. She was admired by all her followers, who became in the Lo´fen tribe and slowly started to leave the idea of coming back to the city one day. The distance, the tough ground, and the merciless sun were protection enough against the kin'toni. When Dyana passed away the Lo´fen tribe society was developed enough to receive a tribal chief without a problem. There were also people who took the title of nobles, nobody argued about that. Dyana didn´t fade from the memory of her followers, who at first honored as a heroine and in a moment they started to praise her as a goddess, the main figure of the pantheon of the religion that they adopted.

Lo´fen became a semi-nomadic tribe with iron-age technology and a feudal society.

Psychology

The Lo´fen tribe is a feudal society where they are used to class differences between nobles and common people at their service. Since they are semi-nomadic people they don´t have much attachment to material objects, only for some religious ritual heirlooms as swords. They consider the sword is the symbol of the family and their gods. They are a polytheistic society, the families pray for many gods, some families share the same gods and also there are people who had unique gods that other persons don´t pray to. Their religion promises to join them to the gods they pray when they pass away and keep caring for their descendants. Lo´fen is very attached to their homeland, they are not interested on leave the Zxai Desert Hills to see what´s far away.

They believe out of the desert there are only the kin'toni. They neither are interested in meeting another tribe, if they find a traveler they will persuade them to keep traveling and don´t come back to the desert hills because there´s nothing there. They are not hostile unless they feel the intentions of estrangers to settle on their lands. It´s not of their interest, but they will trade with traveler merchants who have something they like or they need, wood, sweet food, and colorful objects are very precious for them. As an Iron Age technology tribe, they are skilled in mining, smith, and forge. They are not interested in technological progress.

In their ancestor's memories remains the belief of the ambition for technological improvement unleashed the creatures known as kin'toni like a punishment of the gods for daring to create by themselves. Lo´fen value highly their blood, even the ones who are not nobles, they prefer to die before being converted because they consider it as a dishonor to the family´s gods. Science is not practiced as that, they call it craft, they are not interested in studies that are not related to their lifestyles, like astronomy or biology. Instantly they will refuse anything that makes them doubt their gods and everything they think could make them upset. For every applied knowledge they call it craft, as bread craft, sewing craft, cook craft.

Their lack of paper makes them communicate every knowledge by the word. Their writing is symbols that mean only concrete words, a single symbol can mean “mining camp”, “sword”, “chief”. The symbols of the gods are the same for every family that shares those gods, the writing used to be made with chalk stones or by carving. There exists a few documents that are carved in leather rectangles, mostly used by priests and nobles. The name of every person use to be a single symbol, noble names can be two symbols. They have a numeric system, just numbers are symbols different from the names symbols. Lo´fen interest in research is oriented on how to preserve food more time, how to preserve more time the sharpness of the blades, how to make light color paint; any other thing as how to find more resources they leave it to the god´s will.

They pray to the gods to grant them the luck to find any deposit of resources and the guide to find them.

Culture

The Lo'fen are semi-nomadic people, traveling between iron mining camps scattered throughout their homeland. When food and water grow scarce they simply move to the next one and continue their work while wild plants regrow and they wait for the rains. While they move to sleep in tents, the mining camps have stone facilities and wooden cabins that they seal each time they change of location, however many of them prefer to sleep in tents, the buildings are for furnace, smith, food preparation, clothes sewing, and more activities. There is a cleaning brigade that inspects every inch of the buildings every time they come back to a different mining camp, sometimes cleaning an area means burning an entire cabin, other times they find nothing at all if they find footprints or other traces of recent activity the night watch is double during 13 days.

The cleaning brigades only wield spears, tridents, and long shields. Lo´fen have their spot locations well defined, when there is a need to find more resources or possible sites for mining camps, that´s the task for a small group of volunteer explorers. When the explorers don´t return the direction they took is forbidden, a volunteer explorer knows it´s possible don´t come back so they leave to their family every object with ritual value. It is more important for an explorer's speed and agility than armor, so they travel with light equipment, few rations, no iron defenses small knives, and bows. Just a few groups of explorers come back successfully, they can´t flee if they are being tracked because that would dishonor their family so they stay to fight until the death.

If they come back successfully it´s the decision of the volunteers to explore again, in all Lo´fen history only a few explorers have taken many expeditions and come back alive, they are considered heroes, and is common for future volunteers to have a small image of that explores as a lucky charm. Lo´fen uses to mine resources like coal, salt, iron, and jewels, they use only pickaxes, chisels, and hammers for that. Their skill with ironworking and its easy availability have caused their lives and the lives of the tribe to revolve around it, from clothing held together with steel buttons, to iron knives that every man of fighting age carries, arrowheads and armor. Lo´fen learns to handle the sword at an early age, they work in mines the most time of their life.

Even so, they need to know how to fight and be ready for combat at any moment, and everyone who can handle a sword must practice each day after a day without practice. They can choose to wield another kind of weapon only when they handle the sword with mastery, however only the sword has a spiritual purpose. Those who are too old to fight, pass their sword, if they own one to their closest male relative if they have no sons. They use iron for much more mundane purposes in everyday life, in tools, cooking pots and utensils, jewelry, and in the red, iron oxide-based paint married women wear on their faces.

It is an unwritten, but strictly enforced tribal law that a man has only one wife, but the sole exception to this is the chief, who marries twice upon his ascension to power, once to a noble family (generally wealthy merchants and herdsmen) and once to common family, tying him to both halves of the people he is meant to rule. The use of iron lets them produce scalpels and needles for medicine, even so, the number of medic doctors is limited since they consider it a religious practice, everybody can use the herb to simple remedies; only the doctors can make medicines and surgeries. Many times the surgeries end in the amputation of limbs, some doctors can make wooden prosthetic limbs, anybody who is not a doctor needs a doctor´s written permission to make a prosthetic limb.

Lo´fen gives the light colors a special value, they use jewels to decorate special tools or clothes, they can´t produce certain colors of paint so colorful objects are considered a luxury, color has also religious purposes.

Lo'fen Marriage rituals

A man who comes at adult age and pretends to marry a woman must have an interview with the father of the woman if he is still alive. Fathers use to accept any man that pretends her daughter if she agrees and when the family´s gods of the man are the same or alike. When the father refuses he can deny the marriage. The man must complete tasks to be awarded the priest´s grant, these tasks can be whatever the priest says, that are always dangerous activities if the man doesn´t complete the task can´t receive the priest´s grant either ask for another chance, only it´s possible to change of task before start. After complete the task the man must report his success to the priest with proves, the priest will award him with the grant if he is pleased.

A man who has the priest´s grant can challenge the woman´s father to a duel, if he defeats the father his permission is not needed for the marriage. The priest is the judge of the duel, there can be witnesses while they stay behind the priest and keep silent. A duel interrupted by a witness or any other person is immediately canceled and the priest can set a date for another duel. The duel must be with swords only, to surrender one of the duelists must drop his sword to the ground, or another way the winner is the one who kills the other. A duelist who kills the other who surrender will receive a penalty from the priest and must complete tasks to appease the dead family´s gods. There cannot be married without the priest's permission, a man who made something to offend the priest can´t marry any woman.

A marriage accepted for the priest is dated. The day of the marriage the mother of the woman dresses her in ceremonial clothes for the ritual, frequently she decorates her with a brooch or other piece of jewelry that she is inheriting to her daughter. A man draws his sword or knife, places it on the ground, and kneels, symbolically offering his protection to his future wife. He formalizes it by saying "In the name of my family's gods I take you into my home, I offer you all I am and bestow upon you my protection. I call upon my people and the spirits of this land to witness and hold me to the truth." The man rises, the woman kneels and places the sword back into his hands, saying "In the name of my family's gods I enter into your home, I offer you all I am and accept your protection. I call upon my people and the spirits of this land to witness and hold me to the truth."

The woman rises and the priest comes forward with a jar of red face paint, the man takes one finger and draws a pattern on his wife's face. Both place their right hands inside the jar and let the red paint cover their hands, they press them together, symbolizing that they are "one blood and one family." They pull apart and the priest declares that they are married. The newly married couple returns to the husband's tent, consummates their marriage, and fasts until evening, saying prayers for the gods' blessings.

Government

A noted above the Lo'fen are lead by a tribal chief, whose eldest son, via the noble family he marries into follows him upon his death. His word is a law among the Tribe, but it is not absolute- he is held in check by the priests and nobles and long-standing traditions dating back to the tribes' founding. Among these traditions is the law the royalty is not to shed royal blood, and as such if a son leads a rebellion against his father he is exiled to the desert to die or survive by his own wits. The tribe is currently led by zu'aan Rezku Agabey and his wives zu'aan'a Taanat Beketa, his senior wife, and zu'aan'a Aheni Bezuni his second wife. Though all three are young, only in their early thirties, the wisest among the tribe already see the signs of an impending power struggle when he dies.

As both women come from ambitious families and each is known to be very jealous of the other, each wishing to be chief Rezku's only wife. The chief gives orders to lead the tribe, he appoints different noblemen as foremen to manage the different labors. There is a foreman for the mining camp, another one for hunting, other more for the smith and furnace room, there is one for every important activity in the tribe. The noblemen use to meet the chief on different days to report everything runs alright or when there was a problem. Foreman must solve problems by themselves, they can´t disturb the chief with their own business. The chief can change a foreman for another because he was not appropriate for the labor or because he needs to appoint him for another task.

Lo´fen have no prisons, they punish anyone who was surprised stealing, disobeying the foreman, or spoiling resources. The punishment is set by a foreman or a priest. In cases of recidivist conduct, murder, or violence against another member of the Tribe, the punishment is exile. When the nobles are not all agree about exiling somebody the chief must decide if the accused stay or must be exiled, it happens on many rare occasions. The relationship between government and religion is very close, the chief use to consult the priests in order to ask them how to please, or appease, the gods. He assigns resources to practice ritual ceremonies, each one of these has different requirements and is practiced on different days along a season.

Also, the chief use to consult to priests about dreams he had, which he consider can be messages from the gods. The chief takes decisions that can affect all the tribe, before saying his will, he must consider the options and consult the nobles and priest. When he decides to change a nomadic route because he considers there is danger ahead he must send explorers to find another way. When somebody has a remarkable achievement the chief order to make a public event to reward that tribe member, he personally gives the reward according to the achievement. However the chief can´t make anyone become a noble, that´s only by inherited blood.

Military

Every man of The Tribe is trained to battle, no matter which activities they going to do in The Tribe. Combat training is part of life, the noble trainers check the skill of the young and decide which role they may take in the battle and which other weapons they must handle after mastering the sword. The Lo'fen use weapons and armor made of iron drawn from open-pit mines scattered across their homeland. As such, they favor heavy cavalry covered in iron plates and chainmail armors. Various tribal leaders command their own retinues of heavily armored cavalry armed with swords and lances with lighter cavalry armed with bows and javelins in support. While they pride themselves on their skill with mounted warfare they are no strangers to fighting on foot when needed.

Most noblemen wear helmets, shields, and armors with carved ornaments on them, made by the most skilled smiths, also they wield jeweled swords with decorative figures in the handle, the garrison, and pommels with the shape of family´s god's emblems or horsehead shape. The less affluent tribesmen will go into battle with wicker shields, and clothing with metal links sewn into it as to reinforce vital areas. Among these poorer families, weapons such as swords are often heirlooms passed from father to son, despite the relative availability of iron in tribal lands. Before the battle, every man prays to their family´s gods to grant them strength, courage, and protection from the attack against them.

The position in battle is determined by the class and type of soldiers, while the cavalry can go from a place to another the men with a lower level in the tribe must go in front, the nobles can choose any position they want, the archers always go behind. Depending on the course of the battle archers are used to take the sword. After a battle the less affluent tribesmen can take shields and armors from the fallen if there is not an emblem or crest carved on them, also they can keep javelins and bows, the swords of the fallen ones can´t be taken, they are honor objects that must be retrieved to the families. Medical tents are installed to treat the injuries of the survivors, there are priests and doctors inside.

Some soldiers live to fight another day, the others tell their final words and last will to the priest. The cases of infection of attended wounds are rare, the doctors have the skill and curved needles to make fast sutures. The Lo´fen tribal chief is also the army general, he manages the tribal leaders in battle according to the weapons they wield. When a noble dies in battle the chief must assign another one as leader. If the chief order to retreat there is no point to question it, a tribal leader can´t order retreat if the tribe chief does not agree.

Religion

In the many generations since the tribe's founding its people have come to view Dyana Kauai as something akin to a deity and his descendants have become a sort of priesthood overseeing the spiritual needs of the tribe and acting as advisors to the chief. Dyana Kauai is only the primary deity in the tribal pantheon, they are also known to revere various spirits bound to the hills and sands of the Zxai Desert Hills, while each family also maintains its own gods. Most of the family´s gods are ancestors who had long lives and which achievements became legendary through the history of the tribe. There are gods to each activity, from mining and collect food to smith and travel. Many families share the same gods, some families pray to more gods than others.

A few gods are not based on human shape, they are based on elements, as fire, water, iron, wind. The rarest are the gods with animal shape, there are few families that pray to animal gods. Lo´fen carves small effigies of their gods in stone, bone, wooden, or iron. The religious effigies must be portable then they can bring with them in their nomadic journeys. It is common for them to draw their gods in workplaces, like mines, furnace rooms, travel routes, and food preparation sites. They don´t draw their gods in the tents because they consider it is disrespectful due the tent uses to bend and be rubbed. It is rare they have paintings of their gods, paintings are mostly a luxury for the nobles.

The blacksmiths use to carve images of the gods in armors, helmets, swords, and shields, they do it at the request of the nobles. The medical procedures are considered as the will of the gods, the medic doctors use to be priests or be under the instruction of priests, they believe the gods must give them permission to save a life of a sick member of the tribe. Anybody who makes medicine or practice surgery without being a doctor is considered offensive to the gods, not matter if had good reasons, the accused can be penalized by the priest to make absolution tasks or even can be exiled. To honor their gods there are two types of rituals, one type is the domestic rituals, the other type is the ritual ceremonies, directed by a priest.

To make a domestic ritual the prayer must burn flowers, fruits, cloth, or any other colorful objects in front of the family´s god effigy. The ritual ceremonies are big events celebrated at specific times of each season, all The Tribe participate and the priest directs the ritual; there are moments to speech, moments to pray, moments to make an offering of resources, and moments to party until the resources offered are fully consumed by the fire. The rituals are practiced to receive the blessing of the gods, to appease their wrath, to ask them for forgiveness, and to thank them for good luck and abundance of resources.

Miscellany

The Lo´fen believe somebody who disappears during a nomadic journey was claimed for the gods unless they find the body. They don´t build temples, the most alike a church they have is the priest's tents, where they consult them for a spiritual guidance. Most of the priest´s ceremonies are outdoors, the priest practices only specific ceremonies in the tents of the nobles of the tribe chief. During funeral ceremonies, they incinerate the body and bury the ashes. They don´t make graves because they consider the deceased joined to their family´s gods. A tribe member who was famous and achieved many merits can be honored by their family and friends as a god. The children have permission to handle knives, if they cut themselves it is considered a lesson, if a child cuts others as punishment has to make oneself two cuts for each cut in the other child.

If the child refuses to cut himself the father will do it and will add one cut more. The young ones can handle iron knives but can´t wield iron swords, during the training they practice with wooden swords, the trainer decides when they are ready to wield iron swords. Children can´t touch iron swords without their father's permission, it is considered disrespect to the family´s gods. Children use to carve their own figure toys, due they can handle knives each one can carve figures of soldiers, animals, and fantasy creatures. The women can have family gods that the men don´t have, most of those gods are oriented to labors like cooking, sewing, care for the babies, beauty, and cleaning.

Sweet taste food is considered a luxury, only the nobles can consume many kinds of sweet food. The only sweet food that the common people can eat is fruits that they found during the nomadic journeys. The Lo´fen praise stories, listen a good story is one of their biggest amusements. Many times the best storytellers are tribe members who were volunteer explorers, they talk about estrange buildings and fantastic animals they saw during their expeditions. When they settle a mining camp they build facilities to work with stone and wood, however, they keep sleeping in tents. When they move to another spot the tents move with them, they seal the buildings to keep them safe the next time they back.

A foreman who was assigned by the chief and later replaced by his incompetence has not to discredit, neither is rejected by others, after all, he is still a noble and the chief can assign him as a foreman for another labor. A tribe member who was exiled can never come back, it´s unknown if there was an exiled who can live successfully by their own means. All of the exiled ones who are seen again are corpses. The blacksmiths forge the equipment the request of the noble for the battle, they give specific instructions about the decorations and emblems of their family´s gods. However occasionally the chief order to them forge armors and weapons without any ornament, this cheaper equipment is for soldiers who are not nobles.

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