N'vang Kin'toni Clan

History

The N'vang Kin'toni Clan started with one singular zu'aan. A man called Dresio Grumat. There is nothing much about his life history before the kin'toni outbreaks. As a zu'aan Dresio swore to clean the world out of kin'toni, saying that he lost his wife and young daughter. The man wandered around the world, killing lost kin'toni, taking one tooth for a kill and keeping them in a glass jar. As the story goes, his kill count alone went up to 37 kin'toni. With time the story of Dresio Grumat was heard all around the world, resulting in other zu'aan followers, ready to kill kin'toni and clean the world.

What these people did not know about Dresio, was the real reason why he wanted to kill the kin'toni. Dresio never had a wife nor a child, he was a madman, thirsty for blood, and by watching the kin'toni outbreaks, the man found a reason to kill, to draw blood. The lone warrior was a psychopath. But he never told anyone about his real motives. The people who followed him started to call themselves N'vang, meaning "loner" in their language. With time Dresio started to notice the groups forming, kin'toni clans and zu'aan tribes. The man realized the few kin'toni wanderers he was coming in contact with since everyone was forming these clans to protect themselves.

Finally, Dresio decided to form his zu'aan tribe, using the same name "N'vang", being the leader of a zu'aan tribe was hard, people would complain to him about wanting a place to stay, saying the days of hunting kin'toni were over. The pressure to settle and stop the killings made Dresio take the decision if he needed to worry about the safety of those people, he was better alone, but alone he would never be able to destroy clans and tribes. He needed manpower, but he needed people that would not complain, people that didn't need to eat, drink or sleep that much.

The man then executed his plan which would take one year to be fully done. Acting like a protector, he found a place for his tribe to settle, a place where no one could get in or out, even if they wanted it. A prison, where he would be the only one to carry the key. As everyone trusted him, that was not a hard task. After settling, every night, Dresio would wander around looking for a kin'toni. But not to kill, to transform him. For months his search leads him to nothing, but one night, never tiring himself, never giving up, he found a kin'toni. A wandered woman, lost in the forest, apparently recently transformed herself.

He stroke a deal with the woman, if she turned him, she could come back with him and be a part of his clan. The woman accepted. Back at the prison, while everyone was sleeping, Dresio and the woman, called Lathyir, attacked. The N'vang Kin'toni Clan lost many people, people who rather die than become kin'toni. But the ones who stayed, who heard Dresio's real history and believed in him, joined him, becoming the N'vang Kin'toni Clan. A clan that kills for the thrill of it, that kills to take land and never settles. Lathyir became Dresio's partner, founding in herself the same urges Dresio had in him. Together they rule the N'vang Kin'toni Clan.

Nowadays the clan has their major settlement in the Achusko Beach Meadow, but Dresio and Lathyir are almost never there, out in the world, looking for zu'aan to turn and bring to their clan or to simply kill.

Psychology

Following Dresio's will, the N'vang Kin'toni Clan doesn't try to live in peace with the other clans and tribes around the world, they strike kin'toni to kill and zu'aan to transform or abduct. They only see other kin'toni as the enemy and zu'aan as food or maybe a new member for their clan, to grow big enough to be able to take down other kin'toni clans. Their need for a settlement was to have an initial point, where they could expand their clan from. The beach meadow was chosen by Lathyir, Dresio's partner, as they give their backs to the ocean, and no one can attack them.

While Dresio is more hot-headed and ready for the kill, Lathyir is the one responsible for strategy, nowadays she is the real ruler of the clan, pulling Dresio's strings. Besides their idea to destroy and rule over every other kin'toni clan, there are some members of the N'vang Kin'toni Clan that rather travel and wander for months, only coming back with victims or trophies, as they call the teeth they pull out of their victims.

The influence of Lathyir in the clan is clear for anyone looking from the inside out, but, as the clan has this idea of being some sort of special and better kin'toni, the masses of the clan can't exactly grasp onto the idea that they are being manipulated by Lathyir and Dresio, for the couple's own reasons. Even Dresio can't understand exactly that everything Lathyir does is to follow her own wishes, not out of the pure love she feels for him. In following their religion, the clan has some ground rules, one of those being that there can't be any type of romantic relationship between clan members, but Lathyir and Dresio.

This specific detail gave the clan a more united sense of living, where their priority is to be tied as a family and organize as an army. Although this rule has its downsides. Many of the punishments created by Lathyir and Dresio for when their clan members break their rules are being expelled from the clan, which sometimes creates revolt, but it is quickly shut down by their councils. The clan satiates their thirsty for blood with their battles. They do not choose their fights at random, but they are also not picky about them, finding any type of offence in most of the relationships they have with other clans.

Biology

The looks of the N'vang Kin'toni Clan are very diverse, as many of them came from the same background, it is possible to find the most different variations of kin'toni appearance. Although, from their lifestyle of a wandering group, they acquired some similar traits. Many of the clan members are buff people, coming from their hard work, travels by foot and military training. Their diet, mostly made out of zu'aan blood, help their nutrition, making so the clan tends to be very healthy. As most of them were turned by the same man, Dresio, who was turned by Lathyir, they have one thing in common.

No one can prove if being turned by the same person was what gave them this trait, but the clan does believe in it, creating this idea that they are all the prole of Dresio and Lathyir. It is a huge pupil. One of the reasons as to why the whole clan would develop this is that they are nocturnal creatures. But this can be said about all of the kin'toni. Yet, nor many kin'toni have this trait, being something they mostly found amongst themselves, similar to Lathyir and Dresio. One of the reasons as to why they don't accept kin'toni transformed by other people outside their clan is because of this idea that they are all connected by the turning of Dresio by Lathyir.

Therefore, if they were to accept someone turned by someone else, it would break this concept. This makes the clan mistrust kin'toni from other clans.

Culture

If it wasn't for Lathyir, the N'vang Kin'toni Clan would simply be what they were before the transformation, a group of people with similar interests. But Lathyir made them a clan, she organized them, and created their culture and religion. She was able to gather their ideas and their following of Dresio in one singular group. For their culture, the first thing to be spoken about the clan was, in fact, started by Dresio, the collection of teeth. As the man used to collect one singular tooth from each of his victims, the clan started doing so as well.

It is a tradition to sit by the firepit and tell how many teeth someone has in their collection, tell stories about the kills and even show the teeth. Nowadays many members of the clan even carry the teeth around their necks or arms, as some sort of jewellery. Another one of their traditions is the making and sharing of a drink called moonshine, this drink is composed of a fermented root commonly found in the area. Created by Lathyir, the clan normally harvests the roots by the last week of the month and spends this time preparing the drink.

On the last day, under the moon, they share the drink, most of the time accompanied by stories of their kills and battles. Even with their culture of violence and the common travels and disbanding, the clan tends to act well as a society within themselves. Speaking of their ways of travelling and finding new members, commonly these travels are done solo or with small groups. The members normally have to as for the councils or their leaders approval before leaving, in case a valuable member of the clan wants to leave before an important upcoming battle.

While in these travels, they tend to walk with the banner of the clan or at least wearing its colours, being so, dark red and beige. The kin'toni take pride into claiming they are part of the clan, and tend to tell other clans about their travels and the battles they clan have won. When someone new is chosen to be a part of the clan, as a whole they gather with this new person to watch them go through a series of challenges, the first one is to kill a big animal with their bare hands and feed on it.

As for the choice of a new member, there are not many specifications for it, commonly, a member of the clan will find a zu'aan and just decide if they will simply feed on the person at the moment, abduct them to keep as prisoners and slowly drain their blood, or finally turn them into kin'toni. If the new kin'toni is not able to complete the challenges, the kin'toni who turned them have to do so. This offers the pair a chance to stay in the clan, in case they also fail, the pair is expelled from the clan. Most part of the time they are, in fact, killed.

Government

Their government was settled down by Lathyir. Before becoming the N'vang Kin'toni Clan, Dresio was the one to decide and judge every matter of the group. But with their need to expand and conquer, a new type of government was needed. As they settled in the beach meadow, a council was created. Chosen by Lathyir and Dresion, these four people are responsible for taking care of their settlement, worrying about battles nearby, attacks and the well being of the other members. They are what could be called the managers of their city. Dresio doesn't take part in this matter, as it never was something he cared about, but Lathyir, when not travelling with Dresio, is the most important key piece of the council.

The second council to be created by the pair is normally called War-Council, they are the four people responsible for taking care of their military forces, and planning new attacks and lands to conquer. The two groups work together when one can help the other, as when the clan plans an attack not to conquer only, but to steal and take the other's clan's property, being so zu'aan blood, structures, materials or prisoners. Given the violent aspect of the clan, from time to time there have been cases of people trying to step up upon Dresio, many claiming he is never around to rule them or to question his decisions and ways of ruling.

Most of these attempts have been cut off with a duel between both parts, Dresio always being the winner. For the councils, the chosen members were carefully appointed by Lathyir, certain that none of them would ever rebel against their ways. And she was correct, as any of the councils has any idea of who is their true ruler, they believe Dresio is a simple brute ruling by fear and power, therefore, they are the true rulers of their people. While, in reality, everyone in the government is dancing to the song Lathyir is playing, even if they have no idea.

Another important point of their government is the solo raids and travels. It is possible for any member of the clan to take part on these trips, as Lathyir and Dresio do, but they have to be sure to come back, and always with a sign of their work, mostly teeth. Everyone is welcome back, but they have to always prove their loyalty to Dresio with several different challenges the man chose.

Military

As one of the focuses of the N'vang Kin'toni Clan is the conquering of lands and other clans, they invest highly in their army. Normally, in a front to front battle, their army is composed of three lines of attack and two waves. Normally the first line helds up shields and spears while the second line, right behind them, hold up only spears, and the third line normally uses bows and arrows. The job of the first line is to serve as an upfront for the enemy army, holding them back while the third line can hurt them with arrows.

The second wave works in a similar way, but without the line of archers. They tend to be sent when the first line have lost their shields. The first wave then opens a pathway for the second wave, going right behind them, followed by the archers. When the N'vang Kin'toni Clan deals with other types of attacks, they have all sorts of strategies. For a sneaky attack they start with hidden archers and rogues, trying to take as many lives as they can, before sending in groups armed with spears and swords.

The clan tends to choose wisely their battle grounds and hours for action, trying to never lose a battle. They have lost some, having to retreat and rethink their strategies. Commonly, Lathyir is the one responsible for the strategy, while Dresio jumps right into the action. But their military actually has hanks, first being Dresio, followed by his council, and then each wave has a general, with each line having a sub-general. One very specific battle won by the clan, was the battle that gave them most of their zu'aan prisoners kept nowadays.

It was an upfront battle with another kin'toni clan, which was filled with zu'aan prisoners. The N'vang clan wanted these prisoners, but the other clan knew already about the N'vang costumes, their idea of studying a clan first, by pretending to be their friends. So this other clan never gave them a chance. What followed was months of failed sneaky attacks, until the other clan decided to march right into the N'vang area. This, of course, was what made the other clan lose their battle, as they left mostly weaker and unprotected people in their own region.

The N'vang was able to defend themselves, take an escape route to the region of the other clan, steal their prisoners and provisions, come back and destroy the other army by making an attack directly to all their flanks.

Religion

For their religion, which was also created by Lathyir, even if the clan has no idea it is one of her creations. They did not have this religion before, while zu'aan, it was something completely new they had to adapt and accept into while becoming kin'toni. As the religion goes, Lathyir tells them about a man and a woman, the creators of life, responsible for making who they are. It is easy to spot the similarities between the two gods and Lathyir and Dresio. The clan actually believe they are all siblings, but for Lathyir and Dresio, who are the only ones allowed to be a couple inside the clan.

Their religion, called Glumat, from Dresio's full name, requires some rituals and traditions. One of these rituals is the draining of the kin'toni blood. Commonly, every two months, Lathyir or her council will choose a member of their clan, or someone from an outside clan, to be the most important part of this ritual. Two days before the full moon, the clan will start to party, drinking moonshine and celebrating their religion. The chosen person will be the guest of honour of this party, no one can say no to this person, even if this includes something out of pocket that would be denied normally.

After the two days, when the full moon arrives, Lathyir will lay down with this person, getting them ready for the final ritual. The person is then tied down to the trunk of a tree in public, right in the middle of a circle. A bowl is placed under their neck, and Dresio is the one to cut their neck, allowing the blood to flow to the bowl. Normally, the blade used to cut their throat is actually made out of sharp wood, and it has to be planted right under the place the bowl was before. The blood is then diluted into jars of moonshine and shared with the members of the clan.

Following Lathyir's teachings, this ritual works for them to share their blood and honour their connections as kin'toni. They could never do something like this with a zu'aan, since the zu'aan blood is only honourable for drinking, not celebrating. Also following their religion, every member of the clan gets to pick a day and call it their birthday. As many of them tend to pick their real birthdays or change for another day, it is a celebration similar to the first ritual, where the person gets to ask whatever they want, and no one can say no, except for one difference, this can only happen for one wish, not for several.

No one can be sure as to why Lathyir created this rituals and celebrations, as far as Dresio's understanding goes, she is just like him, allowing herself to fall into her desire of ruling people as she pleases to.

Miscellany

Some interesting detail about the N'vang Kin'toni Clan is the relationship between Lathyir and the women of the clan. Their councils are mostly made by men, but Lathyir, sometimes called "queen Lathyir" by some people, has a group of women, where men are not allowed, and as murmurs goes, she teaches them how to fight and defend for themselves. It is believed this group answers only to Lathyir, completely ignoring Dresio. The man, of course, is completely unware of this, but some rumours to speak about Lathyir forming a squad of women she can trust, to finally take the place as ruler of the clan, giving up on being Dresio's puppet master.

[[Category:3rd-century Twilight Age Kin'toni clans]