Oola Kin'toni Clan

History

The Oola clan is one of the oldest clans on the whole of Taerel, old enough to once have been the members of the pioneer clans’ council of the Ashat nation. The Oola, besides being one of the oldest are also considered to be the most blood thirsty and savage of all the clans, this wasn’t always the case, the current condition of the Oola was something that came about gradually and not all of a sudden. When they were a part of the Ashat nation, they were members of the pioneer clans’ council and stayed away from the battles that they had so loved.

After the initial years of war in raising the nation, the rest of the council demanded that all pioneer clans withdraw from the field and send their time managing the vast lands they had acquired. Being only one of many, the Oola were incapable of opposing the decision and gave in to the command of the others. They chose to settle their people into the lands of the Quedan field, which was at that time a border post that had been giving the Ashat nation a lot of trouble.

The region was fertile and had thought to be converted into an agricultural pasture that would rival the likes of the Steppes, and form the secondary producer of blood stock for the Ashat nation, refused the opportunity to enter warfare the Oola volunteered to being the region into the nation properly for the only thing that had held back the region from being integrated was the presence of the rean-laxkas, they were ferocious and gigantic to the point that even the mighty kin'toni had been unable to bring them under control.

In general Kintoni kind is extremely understanding of the needs of the animals and plants of the world, in fact even their farming practice although intensive are very sustainable, and although the production levels do not even begin to scratch the surface of what the zu'aan s were capable of producing, their crops were often corrupted by chemicals and did untold damage on the land and nature itself. This is not the case for the Kintoni’s practice, which incorporates the needs of nature itself and works in harmony with it to bring about the desired food stuffs and raise animals for blood.

This tactic did not work well with the rean-laxkas of quedan field, the herds of the animals were erratic and refused all attempts to be moulded into the behaviour that would allow the land to be properly used. Thus when all attempts had failed, the council made the difficult decision of finding a zu'aan solution to the problem of the rean-laxkas, by either culling their numbers to manageable levels or containing them within pockets of land using fences and other barriers.

The Oola opposed this, for the founder of the clan and visited the Quedan fields and fought one of the rean-laxkas during his stay, finding a kindred spirit in the animal, the founder put all resources into campaigning against the proposed action of the council and instead sought personal responsibility for stabilising the region.

Psychology

The characteristics that define the Oola are known by all, they are blood thirsty, itching to go into battle at the slightest provocation and down right greedy with the blood lust of war. Once an Oola has entered battle, the warrior undergoes a complete transformation, no longer are they tethered by any bodily needs and seem to be able to shrug off even the worst of their injuries. Their pain tolerance is remarkably high, and it is not uncommon to see an Oola warrior fighting even with weapons impaled in their bodies, or even severed limbs, and driven by the sole desire to kill and wound the enemy.

Out of battle however, the Oola are sluggish and dull kin'toni, doing little else besides sleeping, resting and feeding. Unlike the other Kintoni warrior clans the skill with which the Oola fight is not one derived through practice and education but rather something innate. And that isn’t the only difference the Oola have with the other Kintoni warrior clans, the Oola are also among the only kin'toni that add members to their clans by conversion and only conversion alone.

No interested kin'toni are allowed to take up the Oola name if they do not share blood with the other can members. This however was not always the case, and the reason behind the change is perhaps one of the greatest historical events that exemplifies the extent of the Oolas’ blood lust. Prior to the shattering, when the Oola had just begun to occupy the Quedan field, a portion of their clan was charged to remain at the Jau Jungle Hills in order to continue to liaise with the rest of the council and do their part in ruling the Ashat nation.

At this time, the Oola numbered several thousand individuals, and the members of the clan were from disparate bloodlines that had come together to form different factions within the clan, and although these factions were ultimately loyal to the founder for he had forged them together with threat, punishment and rewards. This loyalty to the founder ultimately became the downfall of the other factions in the time of the shattering, when the shattering came, the Oola founder was one of the several important kin'toni at the time that was killed.

The death of the Oola founder was fatal for the clan, as the world was dealing with the consequences of the shattering and the resulting warfare, all kin'toni were cutting of their ties and alliances and reverting back to sole loyalty to the clan. The Oola at this time even turned against one another and the clan broke into warring factions with each demanding their representative be chosen as the next leader of the clan, the resulting battles were held all across the Ashat nation, as the faction that now hold dominance found and killed all those kin'toni that lay claim to the Oola name.

They was killing the kin'toni they had once shed blood for and had children with, the tales of the Oola wars are a memory all Ashat kin'toni wish to forget.

Biology

It is unknown which of the clan factions that the founder was originally from, but the faction that eventually became dominant and now forms the sole bloodline to remain of the Oola factions now claims to be the original bloodline that also belonged to the founder. Those who have been around since the times of the founding of the Kintoni nations however differ from this claim, they say that the founder had many distinct features that kin'toni of the present Oola clan do not share, these dissenters however are few and far between.

The Oola have paintings of the founder found in their homeland and have destroyed all other likenesses of the founder found in the other regions of the nation, except for one that continues to hang in the council hall of the pioneer clans’ council. The painting in question is located in council hall, a place in the Ashat nation that barely a handful of the people have access to, and given the strong concentration of troops in the region, the Oola dare not try to claim that painting from them.

The Oola are much different from other kin'toni is both appearance as well as behaviour from the other warrior clans of the Taerel, however the most outward difference that exists in the Oola is that of their frame, where other kin'toni are thin and solidly built, the Oola are built of bulging stone, their frames are gigantic, and their girth is easily that of two other kin'toni put together. Where the other Kintoni warriors seem to move with liquid grace, seeming to flow through the battle, the Oola move like a rolling boulder.

Smashing through shield walls like a battering ram and sweeping aside weapons with their long and heavy axes, caring little for angle or finesse. This large and seemingly impenetrable fat that lays between their skin and innards is not simple fat but some sort of hybrid of collagen and fat, although it is not exactly hard to touch, it shields the kin'toni from blunt impact fairly easily, and can besides prevent the cut of even sharp weapons. The Oola have become only larger and firmer since they began to fight using the rean-laxkas.

These animals have a fierce loyalty to their riders and have thereby prevented the need of the Oola to ever fight on foot, a company of riders on the sides of the rean-laxkas can wield much death and damage to an enemy force, leaving little but trampled meat and death in their wake. The Oola have since the introduction of the rean-laxkas seen to become only larger and heavier, this increase in size has allowed their axe swings to stick harder and break through the most finely crafter armours that are made in the Taerel.

The resulting increase in size however has come at the cost of the ability to fight off the rean-laxka animals, wherein now they are absolutely incapable of dealing any significant damage off the rean-laxkas, as they are sluggish and slow on the ground. They had light orange irises with black sclerae and a vertical slit pupils

Culture

The culture of the Oola is completely linked to the conduction of war, they are pagans and do not believe in monotheism like most of the other kin'toni regions, they have always prayed to Ug'driuth, a god of fire and war, most of their rituals and traditions revolve around the battlefield and killing. They are the only followers of the religion of the Ug'driuth and many kin'toni publicly oppose the practice of their religion for it involves so much sacrifice of blood, blood which the Oola source from their near daily raids and attacks on neighbouring lands.

The Oola’s culture has gone through significant alternation since they came to the plains of the Quedan field, in the times prior to the shattering, their culture did indeed involve battle and warfare but payed equal homage to a sense of community. The Oola were said to be one of the most closely knit community clans, and this was perhaps the reason why the Oola wars were so zealously fought. For although the Oola had lived together as a clan, their primary bond had been one that they had shared with the members of their immediate surrounding.

And so it can be said that the clan was in fact always divided but only held together with their love or fear of the founder, with him gone, the Oola fell apart into the groups with whom they shared their primary allegiance. This sense of community continues to pervade through the culture of the kin'toni clan even today although, now that their differences are not so great the feeling is not as pervasive as it had been in the time before the shattering. Most of the kin'toni now choose to live with their company brothers or sisters, with whom they ride into battle.

The garb of the Oola has also changed since they moved to the Quedan fields, in the times past when they were living in the jungle hills, they wore long robes over sturdy leather jerkins, but since moving to their homeland, they have crafted their own attire, no longer do they were robes and and jerkins, but instead war a singular leather strap across their torso that they use to hold and carry their axe, besides the leather strap, they also wear the leather skirt, which is studded with shining silver steel.

Both the skirt and the strap that they wear is crafted from the leather of the rean-laxkas that they ride, the animals leather is one of the toughest in the world, but is extremely difficult to work. The resulting strap and skirt from the animal though is very durable, and the strap especially has helped the warriors in battle, a common tactic now seen among the kin'toni is the swinging of their axes by the use of the axe whereby it is swung from the side of the rean-laxkas into passing enemies, the toughness of the strap allows them to throw and pull the axe with enough strength to cause a lot of damage.

Government

As stated earlier, at one point the Oola were members of the Ashat nation’s pioneer council however all of that changed when the Kintoni clan was fragmented in the shattering. The different factions of the kin'toni were supported by different clans, and one of the factions of the Oola was even recognised by the pioneer clans’ council, this was a grave affront to not even the remains bloodline but all the other factions of the Oola as well, since the recognition of one of the factions by the council ultimately meant the intervention of the Kintoni body into the affairs of the clan.

This kind of intervention is not only seen as a grave affront to the other factions but the unspoken rules of Kintoni society as a whole. In the world that the kin'toni had crafted for themselves, the most important unit of society, even prior to the government is that of the Kintoni clan, the clan affairs are managed only by the members themselves, attempts to interfere in the clans affairs is seen as the violation of the rights of all kin'toni. Although many Kintoni nations do not actually adhere to this rule, but they are certain to ensure that the action taken is never within the full view of the Kintoni populace.

By publicly choosing to support a faction of the Oola the pioneer clans’ council completely alienated the clan from their nation, and in fact their action can be said to have caused a shift in the power of the Oola factions, where all other factions of the clan came together to hunt the faction that had been given support by the council, the bloodline that now rules chose to consolidate their position and trench themselves at the Quedan field. This action of theirs allowed them to gain access to a stable region.

This is from which they could launch attacks and sorties on the backs of the fearsome rean-laxkas that they had now gained and won over. The other clan factions had been warring with the faction that was being supported by Ashat, and just as they managed to defeat and kill all members of the said faction, they were set upon by the dominant bloodline. The other factions were thoroughly exhausted from waging war with the might of the Ashat armies and were poorly supplied, killing these weakened members of the Oola factions was easy and relatively quick.

Within a few short years of the recognition of a founder by the Ashat, all the kin'toni of other factions had been trampled into the earth and the remaining Oola of the Quedan field became the only kin'toni to lay claim to the Oola name. At this point they severed all their connections with the Ashat nation and began to live as masters of their own land and owed loyalty to none. Over the years of the Oola war, this faction had only grown stronger in warfare, while the other Kintoni nation armies were weakening from the war of the shattering, the Oola seemed to be strengthened by it.

Military

There are essentially two kinds of troops in the Oola clan, the first being the ones that rides of the sides of the rean-laxkas, they are held into place by straps that run across both sides of the animals, these straps are called as the rean-laxka harnesses, and allow for seating as well, along with the straps that run across the animal are also long ropes that extend from a central harness that runs along the spine of the animal. As the animal charges across the battle field, most of the kin'toni are found seated in their harnesses but when battle is begun, the kin'toni leave the seats to hang along the sides by tying the ropes across their waists. It is a truly amazing sight, watching a horde of the Rean-laxkas charge across a battle field with many kin'toni hanging from the sides swinging their fearsome axes in a loop as they call out their crass and spine chilling war cries.

When battle is fully extended, the kin'toni that is in charge of directing the rean-laxka is found seated between to the ears of the animal on top of its head. The animal is directed using ropes that run through its mouth, and nose. The arrangement of the ropes appears to be an extremely painful ordeal for the animal but the rean-laxkas are troubled by it in their adulthood. The experience can however be painful fro them in their youth, when the animals are still comparatively small and have to undergo the procedure. It is an arduous process that in the initial years saw many rean-laxkas die but now the Oola seem to have found the method in which least pain is exerted on the animal and in the present times almost animals suffer overly much in the operation.

The second kind of troops are perhaps the most well known troops of the Oola, they are the reason why they were named as the siege infantry troops. These troops are mostly responsible for attacking enemies that are well entrenched in a position or are making use of fortifications. These troops of the Oola ride on a much smaller rean-laxka, the female of the species, besides the size of the animal itself the other difference the rean-laxka has with its male counterpart is the presence of two sets of tusks that it grows out its mouth. These tusks are large, hard and jagged, however, the female rean-laxkas are not as violent as the male of the species and so are not used in the traditional form of fighting. They are liable to get scared more easily and more quickly, but besides their tusks the animals have a much tougher hide which makes them nearly completely invincible to swords and arrows. However due to their weak appetite for the battle, the troops are only used for quick assaults that do not require engagement, even the Oola that ride the female rean-laxkas are of smaller size and faster in speed, the female rean-laxkas are always being trained to learn to push their limits in terms of ability to bear violence but this does not seem to be making much improvement.

Religion

The Oola pray to temperamental god of fire and war, Ug'driuth is a truly terrifying god, and none know it better than the Oola themselves, their first encounter with the god is supposed to be a horrifying experience. When first an Oola member is created from a zu'aan , his meeting with the god is planned and intimated by means of a ritual. The ritual of the keening, has been described as horrific and even evil by some scholars of the kin'toni world. The Oola member who is to meat the god must first be prepared for the ritual, which is begun in the hour of the deepest darkness on a night of the new moon. In order to prepare for the ritual of the keening, a kin'toni must be starved for close to a month, and administered only but water, the process of starving without blood for a young kin'toni is tortuous, their body is still unable to absorb proper nutrition from blood and even a well fed kin'toni can be famished and ravenous in consuming more blood.

The starvation for some kin'toni becomes so painful that several of them are tempted to bite and tear at themselves in order to gain a drop of the blood. According to the tales of the god Ug'driuth, the more maddened by hunger a new kin'toni becomes the better it is for the fortunes of the Oola, and so sometimes if the overseer feels that a kin'toni can survive a period of longer starvation without killing himself, they lock the kin'toni up and hang him or her in a cellar where they are allowed all the freedom to bite and scratch themselves. In the more extreme circumstances, it has been seen that a kin'toni has been extracted from the cellar with a half chewed limb and bled nearly half to death.

This period of starvation is then followed by gluttonous eating, the starved kin'toni is taken to them temple of the Ug'driuth where one of the kin'toni’s arm is tied to the ceiling in the atrium of the temple. The arm is tied in such a way that prevents the kin'toni from sitting down, and then for the feeding of the kin'toni, a fully grown zu'aan is brought to the temple, for the same period that the kin'toni has been starved, the zu'aan is force fed everyday the unique tiraks-Ia that grows in the region. The kin'toni that is to join the Oola is unleashed upon the zu'aan as soon as the new moon descends and hides in the heavens. The horrifying aspect of this ritual is not the brutal feeding that the starved kin'toni is bound to unleash on the zu'aan but rather the condition that is imposed on the feeding. That condition is that the kin'toni must not only drink all the blood of the zu'aan but rather consume the whole zu'aan as well, bones and all. This feat may not be possible for a normal kin'toni, but given the size of the Oola it is possible but its excruciatingly painful.

Miscellany

The Keening ritual is completed only when the zu'aan has been completely consumed, if the kin'toni gives up through the feeding, the priest of the Ug'driuth continue the feeding by forcing the kin'toni to consume the zu'aan . The tiraks-ia that the zu'aan is fed upon prior to the process causes the zu'aan blood to develop a unique compound in the blood that is hallucinogenic for the kin'toni, and the effects of the compound only begin to come forth as the sun begins to rise.

The atrium of the temple of the Ug'driuth is built in such a way that makes the very first ray of the sun hit the tied up arm of the kin'toni undergoing the ritual, the burning of this flesh is the true tribute to the god of war and fire, although the process is supposed to be very painful, the kin'toni of the Oola by this time has reached a state where pain does not seem to press so heavily on the mind. The effect of the near endless period of starvation with gluttonous feeding leads to only a faint sense of warmth throughout the kin'toni’ body.

It is not unheard of to witness the kin'toni smiling even as one of their limbs catches fire. The arm is not allowed to burn off completely obviously, but it does remain in the sun for a good duration, and one of the priests pulls a lever that then shuts down the windows through which the sun rays came into the temple. The keening ritual is said to first introduce the Oola kin'toni to the feeling od being untethered that most of them seek in the midst of battle, although the tiraks-Ia that grows in the fields is said to be one of the few compounds found naturally that can produce the same effect.

The kin'toni do not have the ability to isolate it from the tiraks-Ia in their body which is why for that first feeding the zu'aan is fed on the tiraks-ia. In later periods of the life, the Oola can seek to hunt animals that live off the tiraks-ia, although a common way of achieving the prowess in battle, this method is not without its own hurdles and challenges. The most important one of the side effects of the use of the tiraks-ia for the sake of battle skill is in the fact that it affects the kin'toni ability to work in a team.

As with the blood of the animals that live on the tiraks-ia comes a deep inward observation. kin'toni who have had too much of the blood find it very difficult to pull their focus away from their own actions and onto the actions of their companions and communicate with them, such a handicap can severely affect the survival rate of the whole group and just of the kin'toni that uses the blood. In this light many of the squads have even begun to shun the kin'toni that have made a habit of using the blood to improve their combat ability.

Nearby Groups

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Oola Kin'toni Clan

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