Urn'rayo City Zu'aan

History

The Cryzat Coast has always been something to avoid as a traveler because this is where the city of Urn’rayo sits. By sea or by land, no one has ever been safe from this city. Not only will they go and hunt people to bring them back and sacrifice them in the most creative ways but after the war, the Urn’rayo people would go raid other cities. They would take women, children and men with them in huge caged caravans back to the coast where the prisoners would be tortured to death. The city does this because their god demands blood sacrifices in order to keep him happy.

With the new race, the kin’toni coming to the empire, they have even more reason to go travel around in search of the creatures. The citizens have discovered that kin’toni can withstand so much more than an ordinary zu’aan can. No one really knows how the city came to be but there are theories that that underworld opened up and released many demons who made their home in the city of Urn’rayo. The rest of the empire believes that the people of Urn’rayo are demons out to slaughter all who are unlucky enough to fall across their part.

Because the Urn’rayo are more often travellers than they are homebodies, they will often visit a number of different cities in order to find victims to murder. The cities close to the coast line have all but been deserted. It is not safe being close to the city of demons. Those that stay only do so at great personal risk. They are in constant danger of attack and these citizens are eager and willing to spill blood. They often have blood painted in patterns across their faces and their bodies. They have trophies from kills around their necks like ears and teeth.

They are unmistakable in their appearance and they are feared for that reason alone. Armies are often gathered together when they are seen on the horizon. There have been many generations that have passed through the city over the centuries. Each generation has been more brutal than the last. They are determined to keep their way of life intact. The leaders of the past or those that attempted to take control of the city were cut down quickly. The city has no government and limited control over its citizens. In the days before the war, the feel in the city was a lot calmer.

Now that they know that there is chaos in the empire, they become more adventurous. They have become the true demons that they are fabled to be. Before when cities were strong enough to stand against the Urn’rayo, the sadists would avoid going hunting. They wouldn’t attack and they wouldn’t take prisoners for no reason. Now chaos has bred chaos. The beast is freed. The bloodlust for the art of bloodletting has taken over the hearts and minds of all the citizens. It is very unlikely to end.

Psychology

This city is very dark. There is not a single mile in the city that has not been touched by blood. Because the people believe that blood spilt pleases their god, they will often choose to make many sacrifices to their god. They are fearless and rather cruel when it comes to pleasing their god and they will go on blood fueled rampages inland to find as many victims as possible to offer to their god. During these collections of souls, they will often indulge in the torture and bloodletting of their victims. Unlike other cities, their goal is to find as many kin’toni as possible to bloodlet for their god.

Kin’toni seem stronger and can last longer during torture. They don’t hunt animals. They hunt people and their war cries can be heard from far away, striking fear into the hearts of all those in their path. They are vicious brutes. No one is safe from the Urn’rayo citizens. Children in the city are born into this city knowing that they have to be hard and fierce if they want to succeed in the city. They are taught to fight with a staff from the age of seven and by the time they are 13 they have their own knife and they know how to use it.

Parents encourage fighting between children and the mortality rate of children is very high. They die quickly in their younger years from infected injury. Though the city has a number of healers, most of them are not well equipped to treat different wounds. The city is full of people who often fight for survival most of the time, fighting against illnesses from harsh conditions as well as wounds. There’s often a lot of fighting breaking out and that is to the detriment of the city. There is also no such thing as monogamy. The people of the city are free to take anyone they want to their beds and enjoy them fully.

That is why, despite the mortality rate there are always a number of replacements born in the city. The city will trick outsiders into their midst only to torture and murder them. The years of the war were dangerous for the city and the citizens died in droves. Many of them also made a huge dent in the kin’toni population. They target kin’toni for the simple fact that these creatures provide not only blood but entertainment value. If given the option to take a kin’toni which is more difficult to capture or a zu’aan, the people of the hunt will always choose the monsters.

They believe their god will give them greater rewards for the head of the kin’toni than for the head of a fellow zu’aan. The psychology of the city is very much a do or die culture. The constant fight to be better than others at spilling blood is often draining for the citizens but they also know that any display of weakness is a death sentence.

Culture

The culture is a simple one. You only become an adult once you have your first kill and you only begin training once you have spilled your first lick of blood. Children will often aim to spill their first blood by the age of 10 so that they may go on to training. Every child is eager to be seen as an adult and they will do whatever they have to to get that recognition. Children soon learn that if you look weak, you will be bullied and picked on. Fights that break out between children are often viewed as a sport and entertainment for the adults. They don’t care about lives lost or injuries caught.

Children are often left to their own devices until they are deemed eligible for training. Then they are taken into the training camps and taught how to actually kill. This culture stems from the religion based around the god, Rika, a god who demands blood every day. The blood is dripped into the earth of the city and they believe that this will make the city prosperous and strong. They hold celebrations where prisoners are tortured to death and no one is sheilded from these events. Those that feel weak to experiencing this often keep their mouths shut and keep watching.

It is dangerous to keep showing your weakness in this city. It is more important to show your strength. Those that are seen as weak are weeded out and killed. The threat of your life ending is a constant in the city and they are terribly afraid of this occurring to them. Their culture doesn’t permit weakness and encourages bullying and torturing. Everyone in the city turns into a sadist eventually. The individuals in the city see many horrible things that are part of their culture and this has the ability to twist their minds toward that of a sadist. In this city, blood is seen as a commodity, as a payment to be used for favors from the god.

Men and women are often seen as equals and either has the right to carry a weapon as well as use it. For a long time there was a female that had the most trophies and everyone listened to her guidance and suggestions. She practically ran the city for a long time. She was one of the fiercest of both men and women citizens. She organized many hunts and brought back many kin’toni and even zu’aan for entertainment and as payment to their god. They held a big feast when she passed from a horrible wound sustained by a kin’toni she had attempted to capture.

Ever since her death the entire city has celebrated that day. It is a day that everyone comes together for the fierce and brave warrior they have lost. Most of the citizens are buried with their trophies so that no one else can claim the glory that belongs only to the deceased.

Government

This is one of the rare cities that has no governing body. They never had a government or a king or a council. They never considered that they would need one. Even now it is not a real desire or thought in their minds at all. They govern themselves and they do what they want most of the time. They see themselves as all equal but they do have more respect for the individuals who have more trophies to show off hanging around their necks. It is a way to show off for the men and women of the city to show their trophies hanging from a leather string around their neck.

They will often use ears and teeth from their victims to string together. This is the closest to a leader they can get. Those that have many trophies are more respected and have more opportunity to make decisions. They have more of a voice in their community. The thought of a governing body to rule over the city is one that no one approves of. They are quite happy with how they have their city now. Someone has to earn respect and the only way to earn that respect is to give many blood payments and nights of entertainment to the god and the city.

The city is a hub for chaos and they have never once looked at making decisions for the city. Even during the war, they avoided anything that would force them to have to make a decision. They are independent from the empire and they prefer it that way. With the equality between men and women there is no gender that is stronger than the other. They are all on equal terms. Where almost all cities in the empire have some kind of structure, Urn’rayo has none. If upkeep is needed they work together to complete that upkeep. The only good thing about the city is the fact that there is freedom of choice within the city as far as rules go.

Anything that requires an outcome to be made is decided in a fist fight. They believe strongly that a fist fighter is one of the healthiest ways to resolve a problem. It releases tension built up between two fighters. It proves the worth of the two fighters and it resolves the issue. There is also the fact that blood could be spilled and that is payment to the god so good fortune will be sure to follow both parties. That being said, fist fights have also been known to severely injure various different individuals and as such can bring down the population, should a fight get out of hand.

It is a dangerous pastime but the people of the city know no different. This is where a government is most needed and incredibly inaccessible in the chaos the city has created. They control their region and so also control their land. Anyone would be wary to try and take power in the midst of the immense chaos.

Military

Just like the government, the city of Urn’rayo does not have a military. Every single individual is trained in sadistic practices in accordance with their religion. They will go on excursions and find prisoners to take in as well as cities to raid. Once they have what they came for, they will go back home to torture their victims to death and feast afterwards. They believe that blood spilt on the ground of their city is pleasing to their god. There has never been a military in the city in all its years of existence and the city is perfectly fine without a military.

They are all trained in hand to hand combat which they all learn from an early age. They are also very adept at killing and spilling blood. Children are taught how to fight and use various weapons. They are even encouraged to fix their problems and disagreements with fists and fighting. Most militaries are created for the sole purpose of serving the city, keeping it safe and defending it from the enemy. Because Urn'rayo and its people have such a terribly fierce reputation, the city has very few enemies who would truly wish to engage them in combat or start a war with them.

In this way, one could claim that their reputation is their military. Their reputation is protecting them from dangerous enemies. As it goes, their reputation has exceeded them and it has also caused many cities in the empire to fear them. When Urn'rayo needs food or supplies they will form a band and pack up a few supplies to go get those supplies from other cities. They will come armed and ready to take, not only supplies but also prisoners that they will then enjoy during a torture session. Very few cities have been able to stand against Urn'rayo and emerge unscathed.

When the Urn'rayo raiders descend upon a city, they will often attempt to close off their city because there is very little else that can deter the raiders. Other cities know that a war between them and the Urn'rayo will leave the Urn'rayo victorious. There has been enough casualties over the decades for the warriors of the city to understand that they have to fight smarter, be swifter and handle fights better. A lot of them will engage in fighting for the simple reason of becoming better at taking blood. Urn'rayo might not have a dedicated military but they do have grit and sadistic fighting tactics to keep them alive and without needing a military or a government at all.

During the younger years of every child born in the city, they are taught that the only way to honor their god and make their parents proud is to learn how to fight. They are taught by their parents to fight and they see a lot of spilt blood and torture in the city. They learn that it is okay to kill. That killing is honorable so they become as sadistic as their parents.

Religion

The religion is based around a god called Rika who is the god of blood. It is said that one day the ground on the Cryzat coast opened up and released a demon horde. That’s how the city came to be. The rumor has made it so that this part of the empire is avoided and even feared. The strength and command of fear that the city has is unbelievable and all because of a god that needs blood spilt in sacrifice to him almost daily. The people believe that if they don’t pay their god in blood every day, even just a drop, that he will reign down terror upon them and that is something they don’t wish to see.

Their god enjoys watching torture and even more so when the one that is being tortured can last a little longer. That being said, they have a new prey in mind. They now prefer to hunt kin’toni, a much more studier race than the zu’aan are. The kin’toni are capable of taking more punishment and this allows those torturing these creatures to become far more creative in the way they deliver their punishment and torture. It is not unheard of for the one being tortured to simply stop living because of the immense punishment they endure on a daily basis.

To show their worth an ear or tooth is taken from the deceased and threaded onto a leather strip to be worn around the killer’s neck. This is a tribute to their god since he had also taken to doing the same thing. He would carry around his neck, trophies from all his victories. The people of the city are often hunting by day and feasting and drinking by night. They will often consume whatever they managed to steal from other cities that they raided so their reliance on other cities is great. They need to raid in order to get the resources to keep the city alive.

It is said that Rika came to be when a goddess was raped by a demon. Once Rika came out, the goddess was so horrified with her son that she abandoned him by the river of blood. A demon found him and raised him using blood to feed him. Now Rika has an insatiable hunger for blood and will often come when he gets the scent of it. He needs blood to survive. It is also said that Rika is hunting his mother. He wants to find her and exact his revenge on her for abandoning him as an infant. Rika is ready to torture his own mother to death. She is constantly evading him and so the eternal hunt came to be.

To satisfy the god, the citizens of his city will torture victims allowing Rika to bathe in their blood and listen to their screams which is like music to his ears. The citizens believe that if Rika isn't happy he will come and take one of them as a victim.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

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