Muelm Kin'toni Clan

History

Around the year 4E 428, there was a well-known clan that roamed the lands of Taerel in the search for zu'aan or kin'toni, this clan did not, however, have the best intentions. It could seem as though they were friendly, they walked around with caravans and did not possess any war banners or anything else of the sort that could indicate a willingness or a desire to attack another tribe or clan. Quite the contrary actually, it almost looked as though that some of the members of the tribe were worse than expected, they seemed either very skinny or very frail.

This clan was, however, not the Muelm clan, but it did come in contact with them. The Muelm walked all over Taerel after their leader’s death, they had no distinct purpose and most of the tribes and clans that encountered them, simply went on their way because they saw no purpose in attacking such a goalless group of kin'toni. Despite of this, the well-known clan did not stray away from the Muelm when they encountered them. From the outside, they seemed like two weak clans that were just talking to one another, however, this well-known clan soon made a move and set um camp right where they were.

The Muelm found this strange, why set up camp in the middle of nowhere and near a tribe whose intentions they did not know? The night came and both tribes seemed to go to sleep, however, a few hours later the Muelm woke up and half their tribe was gone. Along with this half, the other clan had also disappeared, the kin'toni, the caravans, they were all gone. This moment was marked a massive change for the Muelm, they were suddenly shocked that something like this had happened and this shock pulled them out of the dream like state they were experiencing after the death of their leader.

A state in which they had no purpose. The Muelm soon packed everything and used the tracks on the ground to follow this other clan, they walked for miles without stopping for days, in the hopes of figuring out this mystery and being reunited with their former clan. It took a few years, but they finally found the other clan, war ensued and, despite taking many losses, the Muelm fought with a fire in their hearts that few armies have ever fought with, this made them able to defeat this other clan a couple of days after the war started. They took no prisoners and decided to murder the entire clan.

This was after capturing a few just to ask them questions. They ended up saying nothing about what had happened all those years ago. Finally, after searching the area, the Muelm found a prison with many large prison cells, in it were many different kin'toni and one particular cell held the Muelm that had been captured, it seems, all those years ago. They were all alive, but some things had changed.

Biology

Terak was once the leader of the Muelm clan and, strangely as it may seem, his life meant that the members of the rest of the clan were doing well in what came to their health. He was so loved by everyone that his death marked a turning point in the existence of the clan, before his death, the members of the Muelm clan were considerably impressive in a biological sense, the last time one kin’toni of this clan had been sick was so long ago that no one could remember. They regularly exercised, in fact, it was an important part of their lives and many lived to bee one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty years old.

All in all, whilst Terak was alive, the Muelm were an example to other clans in what came to health. However, this all changed after the tragic death of their beloved leader. After Terak passed away, the clan mourned for months, they stayed in their homes, barely went outside, exercise became a task too painful to perform and eating and drinking blood were almost ignored for those months, such was the strength of the ruler’s death. Due to this period where the Muelm failed to take care of themselves, their health deteriorated, many became weak, bones would break just from moving.

And the many kin'toni died way earlier than it was normal. This might seem as a drastic change in biological characteristics because this period only lasted a few months, until that dreaded day in which half the clan disappeared, however, as they later went on to find out, the Muelm have a deep connection with the emotional aspect of their brains. Any mental state has such an impact on the members of this caln, that it can severely influence the health of the Muelm. Some kin'toni that were even more disturbed by this situation, have since developed severe illnesses that are slowly, or quicky, killing them.

A common illness that many have developed is a form of leprosy, where parts of the body start to rot and, consequently, fall off. Most of the kin'toni that have this disease choose to commit suicide within weeks. However, this susceptibility to the emotions is not always terrible, as one can see by looking at the time before the leader died. Due to the peaceful time they lived through and the happiness that all of the members of the clan felt, their biological traits had evolved and had made them far superior, physically, to many of the clans.

This means that, as most things, the connection to emotions is a coin with two sides. Finaly, the Muelm's eyes have light pink irises with white sclerae and a horizontal slit pupil. After killing the entire clan that they had been searching for, for years, the Muelm found the rest of their tribe and, after partying for days, they started to figure out that the Muelm that had been captured, were experimented on. These Muelm had started to develop some different biological traits, their need for sustenance or sleep was close to zero, they spent most nights awake while the rest of the clan slept.

And still new things were being discovered about them each passing day, no one knows what happened during the period of time that they were apart

Culture

There was a period in the lives of the members of the Muelm clan, where culture was celebrated. When Terak was alive, a great deal of attention was given to the identity of the clan, it was important for the Muelm to celebrate their achievements and meditate on their failures. One of the traits that set the Muelm apart from other kin'toni and zu'aan, was the importance that they gave to the concept of health. Health, for them, consisted of two things, preventing diseases and curing diseases. In order to prevent these, there was an enormous focus on eating and drinking things that would have a positive impact on their health.

There were several members of this clan that dedicated their lives to the study of different plants and animals in order to figure out what the best possible nourishment would be for them. These researchers were respected by every other member of the tribe because they were essentially raising the life-expectancy and improving the biological traits of every member of the tribe. And although it was rare, there were times in which the researchers died from experimenting with peculiar ingredients. The tradition of taking good care of oneself that was so integral to the culture of the Muelm clan ended.

The tradition died alongside their beloved leader, Terak. From that point on, there was a complete shift in perspective in what they considered positive, they thought that health was a curse, prologuing one’s life should be seen almost as a crime, because everything that was bad in life itself would be prolonged as well. And even if everything good in life would suffer the same fate, according to the Muelm, it did not compensate for it. It was only, curiously enough, when half of their tribe suddenly disappeared that they regain the thirst for life that they once had in the “Terak Era”.

This drastic change happened because the Muelm finally realized that the only path forward was to honor the wishes of their former ruler and survive, if not for the sake of the clan itself, for his sake. When they were reunited with the members of the clan that had been taken away and hid in large metal prisons, they celebrated as if they were back home, in the Usti tropical desert, all those years ago. At the end of the feast, the Muelm did something they had not done in many years, they sung their hymn. The Muelm were together once again.

However, due to the fact that almost half of the clan had been imprisoned for a long period of time, there were many difficulties in what came to overcoming and trying to understand the traumatic experience that these kin'toni went through. Although they knew everything that had happened, the prisoners never explained to the other half of the clan what they had been through, and no one really know for sure why. Due to this, since that point in time, there has always been a rift between the two sides of the clan.

Government

The Muelm were led by Terak for almost four decades, he came into power almost as a young boy and was advised until he was of age. This was due to the fact that a child, in the Muelm clan, is considered to have the greatest capacity for learning out of any other age-gap. The theory is that someone younger that was accompanied by advisors, would then be able to become the best possible ruler, due to the fact that they would be able to amass the greatest amount of experience possible. Even if this belief that the Muelm hold is wrong and Terak was only a product of fate favoring this clan.

He ended up becoming loved by every member of the clan, without exceptions. Even at an early age, he led the Muelm in battles against several groups of enemies, zu'aan and kin'toni alike. In every battle that he was present, the Muelm ended up crushing their enemies with little effort, even if they were outnumbered. The faith that they had in him surpassed everything that was logical, when they saw their leader riding his black horse on the battlefield, the soldiers were filled with an incomparable feeling of power. This was, as they later found out, due to their special biological trait.

Terak was also incredibly gifted in all other aspects of being a leader, he achieved alliances with other clans and even some zu'aan tribes that allowed the Muelm to live in peace and focus on developing their own clan. This was all achieved partly due to his charisma and his ability to enchant all that he came across with, with his words. For the entire period in which Terak ruled, there was not one single foreign tribe that tried to attack the Muelm, the ones that came close were dissuaded of this idea after conversing with Terak. There is one story in particular that is still told by many of the members of this clan.

That were already alive at the time, there was one day, the last day of summer, in which a kin'toni army of an unknown clan showed up at the doorstep of the Muelm. Their intentions were to attack the clan led by Terak and as they approached the wooden gates of the Muelm settlement, they saw that only one kin'toni in front of them. This kin'toni was Terak and they asked him if he was going to fight for them alone. After hearing him say yes and realizing he was the clan’s ruler, the leader of the other clan told their men that they were not going to be attacking this settlement that night.

The members of both clans ended up drinking together until dawn. Since the Terak Era, the Muelm have not had a specific ruler, nor do they think that there is a possibility of someone replacing him. They have been deciding everything as a clan and, for now, it seems that it is going to stay that way.

Military

The military of this clan was once reasonably strong but could never be considered one of the great militaries of Taerel, the Muelm clan was never seen or known as a military clan per se, despite them being more than capable of defending themselves. The pacifistic philosophy of the Muelm, seemed to make other clans think that they relied on wooden sticks an undertrained soldiers to fight for them. This, surprisingly, was what allowed this clan to win many of its battles. Due to the fact that they did not go searching for war, most of the conflicts that they went through were reasonably small.

Before Terak was elected ruler and in their territory. Enemy armies would show up, out of the blue, and attack the Muelm that had already devised a plan for this particular scenario. They would let themselves be attacked and, when the enemy though they were winning, the rest of the Muelm army would come out from its hiding place and the enemy army would be surrounded. The surprise factor is something they relied on, given that there were armies far better equipped and trained. So that this secret did not get out, that they were in fact a worthy opponent, the Muelm were always forced to execute their enemies.

Not one single enemy soldier left the Usti tropical desert with his or her life. During the Terak Era, almost no fighting took place in this region and instead of wasting valuable resources on weapons and armor that would serve little to no purpose, they were used to further develop the settlement that they had created. However, the alliances that they had cultivated were very useful in this particular aspect, because they counted as valuable trade partners and some of them were clans that focused on war and power, which means that they could provide the Muelm with quality weapons and armor.

After Terak’s demise, the weapons that they had gathered over the years from their allies, were incredibly useful. Without them, the members of this clan would never have been able to leave their settlement and roam the dangerous forests, deserts and roads of Taerel. Although they had these weapons, after Terak’s death, most of the Muelm were quite weak and many of them died in every struggle due to their weak physique and the lack of motivation to defend themselves. Several members of this clan would even accept death as they saw enemies approaching.

They would lay their swords, spears or bows down and wait until the enemies caught up to them. However, for those that did want to survive, this was the period in which the Muelm really had to develop their military skills. Every day, as often as they could, small groups of warriors trained to be able to fight off the threats that they encountered. It was only because of this training and the increased motivation that led them to find the other half of the clan that they were able to slaughter all of the kin'toni that had held the Muelm captive.

Religion

The Muelm are a religious group of kin'toni, religion has always played a big part in the lives of the members of this clan. Although it is not mandatory for them to be religious, most of them end up being influenced by their peers and, shortly after the clan was founded, they all ended up becoming religious. Their whole religion has changed a lot over the years, but it started as being deeply rooted in pacifism. The Muelm were very seriously against killing anyone that they came in contact with, which is unlike a kin'toni clan. This ideology was not only something that the encompassed other kin'toni clans.

The zu'aan tribes were also left alone and, due to that, the Muelm had to steal blood from the reserves of other clans in order to survive. When Terak started to rule, this idea of taking a pacifistic approach to life became even more popular, however, in a move that many, at the time, considered contradictory, Terak created the first established armed force that the Muelm had ever had. They were not particularly strong, but could hold their own in a field of battle. It was only later that Terak explained to the tribe that they needed to defend themselves if trouble came their way.

Taerel was getting more dangerous by the day and even if they did not want to kill anyone, killing or injuring for survival was justifiable. It was at this time that they also associated a God with their religion for the first time, before this it all revolved around an idea, but that idea became personified with this God. She received the name “Lua”, and it was said that once someone accepted her into their heart, the need for violence and death would disappear. After the members of this clan started to worship Lua, they started to feel even better about themselves.

Ddue to their special biological trait, the Muelm hit their peak physical condition during this period. They were stronger, faster, more agile and were in better health than they had been until now. This religion took a drastic turn once again after the death of Terak, as it often happens with tragedies, the importance of religion was undermined, they though that it had failed them and, although the purpose of their religion was not to achieve eternal life, it was very rare for a Muelm to die due to a condition, this was even more unusual due to Terak’s age.

He ended up dying quite a few years before he hit the average life expectancy. From this point on, the faith that they had has never returned.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

Unknown

Muelm Kin'toni Clan

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