Ustaughlye City Zu'aan

History

The history of Ustaughlye City is one of evolution. During the beginning of the Awakening Age, they were a tribe full of fearful zu’aan. The world had become a scary place where screams filled the air, the scent of blood tickled the nose, smoke clouded the skies, the heat of fire licked at the skin, and death piled up in the streets of fallen cities. They were scared to even leave one another’s sight. The kin’toni were the things of nightmares. They would run everytime they came in contact with one, losing several zu’aan in the process. That all changed with the actions of one zu’aan.

Nerine, a zu’aan with two children, was the first of her tribe to kill a kin’toni. One of her children had been caught by a lone kin’toni and were seconds away from being torn apart. She had no choice but to react. With a mighty cry, she jumped on the kin’toni. The battle was fierce, and it seemed like Nerine would die. Somehow, she found the strength and was able to kill the beast, saving both her child and the tribe. Seeing her bravery, it didn’t take long for the rest of the tribe to follow. Instead of running and hiding in fear, they started to hunt down the kin’toni with Nerine leading the charge.

On their hunting journey, taking out as many kin’toni that they could, they discovered the Isom Blossom Forest. They decided to build Ustaughlye City there with Nerine as their first Chief. While she knew nothing about running a city, they admired her strength too much to follow anyone else. The forest was dense and offered them the perfect camouflage. They also chose this place because of how beautiful it was. It was a forest full of blossoming, bright, fragrant, and colorful flowers. In a world filled with so much ugliness and death, they wanted to be able to look at something beautiful and full of life.

They built the city within the forest, working around the trees. They felt that the forest was far too beautiful to cut down. Those first few years were pretty tough. They had gotten used to wandering and moving every few months. For many of them, it had been years since they had last settled down in a permanent place. There was also the changing zu’aan to worry about. Their mentality was changing the more kin’toni they hunted. They were becoming aggressive and violent towards each other. The need to prove how strong they were was becoming ever paramount to the zu’aan.

Discord was running ramapant in the city, leaving Nerine to once again take charge. There were only so many kin’toni they could hunt down while trying to build their city at the same time. So, she suggested that the best way to determine who was stronger than who would be to have a proper and fair fight. This became their way to resolve everything and the beginning of their culture in Ustaughlye.

Psychology

The mentality of Ustaughlye City is the complete opposite of their bright and colorful environment. Violence excites and brings pleasure to them like nothing else. Their time in the outside world, being chased by kin’toni and attacked by other zu’aan tribes, drew out a primal and violent instinct from within them. At first, they feared everything around them, especially the kin’toni. They jumped at every sound, startled at every moving shadow, and ran away in terror at the very sight of the wicked beasts. The kin’toni was something to be feared. It’s a miracle that they survived at all during those first years of the outbreak.

As the Awakening Age passed and the Twilight Age began, something changed them. One of their tribe, a woman by the name of Nerine, bravely killed a kin’toni by herself. This was the spark that ignited them, that ignited their will to do whatever it took to survive and their need to prove their own strength. As time went on, the very thought of going against a kin’toni no longer frightened them… it excited them. They began to crave the fight and the violence that came with it. The thought of being the one to take down a kin’toni drove them rapidly forward. It wasn’t long before the hunted became the hunters.

The zu’aan here view strength above all else. There is almost a fanatic need to gain strength and show it off. Hunting down the kin’toni, these genetically engineered mutated creatures, is the ultimate way to prove how strong they are. It is quite an unnerving sight to see them hunting. Manic and excited smiles stretch across their faces, their hands tightly gripping their weapons to the point of being able to see their veins popping, and their eyes are wide with joy. The very air around them seems to vibrate with excitement. In Ustaughlye City, hunting kin’toni is considered one of the most sacred pleasures of life.

And they really enjoy the hunt. Sometimes, their need to prove their strength blinds them to everything else. Weakness is shunned and the zu’aan who show weakness are looked down upon. There is no place in Ustaughlye for any kind of weakness. Some zu’aan have been known to drag other zu’aan out and force them to fight or hunt. A zu’aan who continues to lose fights is considered weak. The more fights they lose, the more they are looked down upon. The other zu’aan feel that at that point, there is no way they will ever be able to beat someone else. They no longer receive challenges, though they still may issue their own.

It’s rare for a zu’aan to accept their challenges. They feel that there is nothing to gain from fighting someone weak. The zu’aan of Ustaughlye can be highly emotional, which leads to several fights a day. Simple arguments are known to quickly turn into challenges for a fight. Some are known to start arguments just so it can lead to a fight, that’s how much they crave it.

Culture

Despite the beautiful, bright, and fragrant plant life around them, the zu’aan of Ustaughlye City have a violent culture. From fighting tournaments to hunting the kin’toni, they are a highly aggressive and competitive city. As followers of the violent war goddess, Konaris, it’s in their nature to be violent. Fighting and blood spilling is a huge and important part of their culture. It is used to resolve and decide everything. Towards the back of the city is a large pit that had been hand dug in the ground. The zu’aan call it the Blossom Pit due to the red flowers, Crimson Blooms, that fill and surround it.

These flowers started appearing after the pit was created. For some reason, after much bloodshed from the fights, the flowers started to bloom. No one knows why zu’aan blood caused these flowers to bloom. The zu’aan love to gather at the Blossom Pit to fight or to watch the fights. Anyone can call for a challenge for any reason. To refuse a call is seen as cowardice and weakness in a city that respects strength more than anything. Winning in the pit is considered a great thing and something that everyone aims for. But winning several times, consecutively, is better.

It is considered one of the greatest accomplishments one can achieve. The more fights won in a row and the stronger your opponent is, the more recognition there is for your strength. Many zu’aan try to challenge past winners that have zero defeats in hopes of beating them. Another big part of their culture is something called The Hunt. It is a ritualistic event that happens once a year where the zu’aan leave the city in search of kin’toni to hunt. The Hunt can last for several days, with the longest one having lasted an entire month.There are two main purposes of The Hunt.

The first is to allow zu’aan to prove their strength. The more kin’toni they kill, the greater evidence they have of their strength and the greater the accomplishment will be. The kin’toni are dangerous and strong beings. The zu’aan see them as the ultimate opponent to face. They feel incredibly lucky to be able to face such strength. The zu’aan who are able to hunt down a signifgant number of kin’toni are celebrated and thrown a grand feast. There is lots of drinking, dancing, and fighting to celebrate a great hunt. They use this celebration to give thanks to their goddess for a successful hunt.

The second purpose of The Hunt is that it serves as a ceremony to help introduce and kind of initiate maturing zu’aan. When a zu’aan reaches maturity, they are allowed to join their first hunt. This is their first step into adulthood, and it allows them to get their first kill. The first kin’toni kill is probably one of the most important parts of Ustaughlye culture. It not only honors their goddess, it also honors Nerine and what she did for them. Nerine’s first kill is what has allowed them to be where they are now. They honor her as much as they do Konaris.

Government

Ustaughlye City is run by one person, the Chief. The Chief is chosen through a violent, blood filled, fighting tournament. They believe that only the one that can prove their strength is above everyone else should lead the city. This particular tournament happens every six years, but the Chief can be challenged at any time. If a zu’aan believes that the current Chief is not suitable, they can challenge the Chief for their position. The current Chief can also join the tournament to keep their position. During the early years, a Chief being chosen based purely on strength came with its issues.

Brawn doesn’t really help one efficiently run a city. To help combat this and help lessen the burden, a small council was chosen. This council helps the Chief run the city, from tackling issues of the city itself to issues and problems of the zu’aan. The council isn’t there to make decisions themselves, they are simply there to aid and regulate things so that the Chief doesn’t have to take on everything alone. The Chief mainly worries about the defenses of the city, making sure the zu’aan don’t kill each other, and the Hunt. Most new Chief’s keep the same council members, drawing on their expertise. Every once in a while, a council member will be changed.

The government in Ustaughlye City is pretty loose in terms of structured laws, but very strict in terms of punishments for crimes. Men found guilty of serious crimes, like sexual assault for example, are punished quite harshly. They are castrated, dragged through the city by their feet, beaten, and then beheaded. Women found guilty of the same crime skip the castration, but go through everything else. In this city, they believe that women are capable of the same crimes as men. Other crimes, ones not as serious, are left to the Wheel of Fate.

The Wheel of Fate is exactly what it sounds like. A list of punishments ranging from imprisonment, to losing a hand, to banishment, and even execution have been carved around a wheel. The accused spin the wheel to decide their fate. Some get lucky and land on a light punishment like temporary imprisonment. Some are even luckier and will land on no punishment. While others are not so lucky. Even those who have committed a minor crime are sometimes unlucky enough to land on a harsh punishment that makes them pay for their crime with their life.

The zu’aan here believe that punishments can only be truly fair if they are left to fate. To carry out punishments and keep order in the city, the Chief chooses a select group of highly trained warriors called the Ucrul. These warriors are chosen from the pit and have usually won several dozen challenges. They are considered the best of the best. There is no set number for the Ucrul, any zu’aan can join if they win the right amount of challenges. With that being said, the zu’aan in Ustaughlye are fierce and highly competitive, making it incredibly hard to join the Ucrul.

Military

While many would believe that the military of Ustaughlye City would be disorganized with the zu’aan constantly fighting each other to take charge, they would be wrong. While this is a city of strength and survival of the fittest, they are a pretty highly advanced and very organized force. The zu’aan here have great respect for those who prove their strength and they willingly follow them without complaint. With that being said, they are also quite violent and aggressive. They view a reluctance to fight—to kill— as a weakness unfit for Ustaughlye City.

One has to be ready to take charge and confront the enemy without fear. Once a zu’aan is considered to have reached maturity, they can and are expected to join the military. The military is divided into units with each being run by a chosen zu’aan. Like everything else, the Blossom Pit helps choose the unit leaders. Each unit is made up of several dozen zu’aan. Units any bigger could, and most likely would, lead to discord due to all the aggressiveness and huge ego’s. Since they view strength above all else, both genders are able to join the military if they can prove their strength.

As the kin’toni can fly over the wall, the units take up different positions in the city to allow greater coverage. They are far enough away from each other to cover the entire city, but close enough to be able to run to each other’s aid if necessary. Their weapons mostly consist of bows and spears, leaning heavier on the spears. Each zu’aan also carries a small knife with them at all times, along with a spear which the majority of the zu’aan use as their main weapon. The guns are a last resort for them, they’re mainly used if they ever get overwhelmed and outnumbered.

They prefer to use their knives or their spears and face the kin’toni head on. Over the decades, they have developed a style of fighting that revolves around their use of their spears called Kon-Beke. This particular style is great for facing kin’toni. It allows the zu’aan to give a fast barrage of strikes while keeping their distance. It gives them great mobility, use of speed, range, and even allows them to give themselves lift into the air. Kon-Beke is perfect for them, allowing them to be as crazy as they like without hindering their abilities.

It also allows them to really showcase the strength and control as it takes a great amount of both to accurately and efficiently use their spears. There is also another style of fighting that they call Kon-Bele. It is considered the starter style. It’s best to learn this style before moving on to Kon-Beke. Instead of spears, the zu’aan use their small knives. The movements are smaller and quicker with Kon-Bele as it’s more about speed than power. The zu’aan start training at a young age with Kon-Bele. It takes lots of work to become proficient in either style.

Religion

The Ustaughlye tribe did not have a religion at first. They were far too scared of everything around them to focus on worshipping any kind of god. After killing the kin’toni, Nerine claimed that she had heard the voice of a woman before she jumped on the kin’toni that told her to fight. As she fought the kin’toni the woman appeared before her and placed her hand on her shoulder. This gave her the strength she needed to deal the final blow. Now, the zu’aan of Ustaughlye City worship Konaris, the Goddess of War and Justice.

Konaris is considered a strong but violent goddess who revels in war and bloodshed, and strikes down punishment on those who deserve it. Based upon the vision Nerine claims she saw, Konaris is depicted as a tall, slender woman with long hair the color of blood. Her skin is as pale as snow, contrasting the streaks of blood always on her face. As true justice is blind, her eyes are covered with bandages. She wears thin chest armor over a long red dress and has two swords on her back and a spear in her hands. There are small knives in her boots and a curved knife on her hip.

To honor Konaris, the zu’aan fight and shed the blood of their enemies. Every death caused by their hands is done and offered in her name. They believe that by doing this, she will bless them with the strength and mental fortitude needed to take on their enemies. They also believe that she bestowed strength upon them for the sole purpose of killing the kin’toni. There is no traditional church in the city. The Blossom Pit is what they consider to be their church.The Blossom Pit is considered the most sacred place in Ustaughlye City. While they don't know why there are Crimson Blooms in the pit, many believe that Konaris blessed the pit.

They say that they feel a surge of power every time they fight in the pit and they feel closer to Konaris. While the pit is a sacred place, The Hunt is one of the bigger and more important rituals done in her name. While it is an event to showcase their strengths and initiate the young zu’aan into adulthood, it is also an event of worship and sacrifice in Konaris’ name. They don’t offer prayers to Konaris. Instead they offer sacrifices, kin’toni sacrifices. They don’t believe that she would respond to prayers. They believe that prayers are something that doesn’t work alone.

Offering something to their goddess will lead to actual results as it shows true dedication. They hope that with their offerings, Konaris will continue to bless them with strength. The only time a zu’aan is offered to her as a sacrifice is when they’ve committed a grave crime. They believe that it is their duty to punish those who do the unthinkable and offer them to her so that she may strike down true justice upon them.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

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Ustaughlye City Zu'aan

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