Valsok Kin'toni Clan

History

Founded by Dedunova Eelmalera, who is also commonly referred to as the First Emperor of Itkal. This clan is the royal clan of the kingdom of Itkal, and said to be guided by the crook of the shepherd, the deity of the dominant religion within the kingdom. The clan has an interesting history, and supposedly draws from a separate bloodline than the kin'toni that evolved from the strain that the zu'aan had evolved. The holy book of the Itkali, called the shepherd’s lament details a tragic beginning of their people and traces not only the teachings of the shepherd.

But also the lineage of the Itkali people through the means of the Valsok clan. According to the book, when the shepherd and his clan were granted a boon to fight the changes the zu'aan had wrought on the world, all but three members remained, including the shepherd himself. These three kin'toni were the beginning of the kingdom of Itkal, the kin'toni besides the shepherd had the ability to convert other zu'aan to the kin'toni way but only the Shepherd had the capacity to alter the viewpoint of the converted kin'toni.

So in a way although the two clans that sprung from the kin'toni that had been converted by nature were not directly converted by the blood of the shepherd, they were all spiritually touched, and due to this touch, these clans claim the right of rule. However, the kin'toni from whose blood the Yuaa have been brought forth is claimed to be one that had been related to the shepherd by blood, as such the Yuaa claim to be a a direct bloodline of the shepherd himself.

The Valsok on the other hand are descended from the only kin'toni that the Shepherd’s closest friend could create, for although there were three kin'toni to survive the complete transformation, the transformation had left them all weak. The weakest of all was the shepherd’s closest friend in the world, they had been raised together in the dense forest where now stands the Cataract bog, had been wed on the same day, and had even seen the birth of their first child in the same year.

They were friends through the ages, and the shepherd’s lament mentions several times, how the shepherd himself thought of his friend as being the greater kin'toni and better individual. Alas, the shepherd continued to grow stronger after the transformation while his friends strength kept failing, and eventually as the kin'toni was close to passing onto the next world, the shepherd brought him a zu'aan to transform so that his blood line may live on in the new world of the kin'toni.

The passing of the shepherd’s closest friend is truly a heart wrenching account in the Shepherd’s way, for the kin'toni passed away quickly after completing the conversion. As the shepherd lay on the forest floor cradling the head of his closest friend, Dedunova Eelmalera was born. The moment of his birth has been rendered a thousand times by several artists, and depicts the shepherd in a halo of moonlight with streaks of bloody tears running down his face which is sculpted into the most loving expression.

Psychology

The Valsok are the descendants of the supposedly greatest kin'toni in the world, that further claim to have evolved into being from a different source and thus claim to be uncorrupted from the touch of the zu'aan like their other kin'toni counterparts. This association with the shepherd and being the royal clan has meant a great amount of haughtiness on their part, the kin'toni of the Valsok clan are very proud, and prone to taking offence at the lightest of provocation.

When the clan members come out of their royal accommodations, there are few kin'toni that would choose to be out and about, for even the slightest glance towards a member of the clan may be seen as offensive and could result in brutal punishments or beatings. It wasn’t always the case, the Valsok at one point were in much more alignment with the kin'toni of their nation, but after the Shattering, there seems to be a lot of fear in the Valsok about their position.

Historians that make it a profession to study and write about the royal clan claim that the frequent beatings and deaths that are ordered on the pretext of offending the honour of the clan are more about fear and insecurity than any true feelings of pride. This can perhaps be better understood with knowledge of the what transpired with the Valsok at the time of the Shattering. For the period of starvation that brought on the Shattering was particularly brutal on the common folk.

But that wasn’t the case with the Royal clan, who even during the Shattering could be found merry making on their terraces that saw the slaughter of numerous animals which were barely fed upon. For although the Valsok clan claims to care for all the people of Itkal, they seem to have become more concerned with the pleasures of the body than that of the soul in the recent centuries. This obsession with pleasure did not seem to have been affected by even the plight of thousands of starving kin'toni.

The kin'toni that observed the terrace parties of the Valsok always knew that once their nightly celebrations were finished, they would throw away the carcass of the barely fed upon animals, and thousands of kin'toni in the coniferous forest would congregate to grab but a fistful of the flesh. On one such the occasion, when the First Emperor heard of the lavish parties of the members of his clan, he forbade the treasury to issue any more funds for the import of animals for their parties.

So the clan members, decided to conserve their animals instead of throwing them away after each nightly feast, that was a disaster. The hungry kin'toni that had waited the whole night with the hope of a little bit of blood broke into a riot when they discovered that no animals would be thrown away. The furious crowd lynched 30 of the 100 kin'toni from the Valsok clan that had been present at that nights feast.

Biology

The Valsok like most of the other kin'toni clans of Itkal posses a snowy pallor, in comparison to the other kin'toni the Itkali are several shades paler, which can be surprising at first glance since the common kin'toni in itself is much paler than the zu'aan from whom they are converted. It is believed that the Itkali people evolved this shade of skin colour in order to blend better with the snow covered terrain, in the other hand the Itkali Priests of the Yuaa Kin'toni Clan claim the pallor to be a mark of distinction that demonstrates how different they are from the rest of the kin'toni.

Another aspect of the biology that sets apart the whole Itkali people from the other clans of kin'toni is their appetite, although there are several other clans that occupy the northern regions of the planet, no nation is so completely located in the north with barely more than a mile below the line that separates the planets dominant climate zones. This has meant adaptation to the cold temperature is far more ingrained in the kin'toni of Itkal than any other kin'toni clan found on the landmass of Erea at least if not the whole world.

One of the adaptations that the Itkali have which the other kin'toni of the cold is the presence of a translucent fur that grows all over their body. The fur that they grow could be categorised as hair due to how fine it is, but since it grows in particularly thick all over their bodies except their faces and palms, it is called the fur. It isn’t very noticeable either given the large and bulky clothing that is native to the Itkali kingdom covers most of it. At first glance, one may not even notice it, but if looked at in the right light it is difficult to miss.

The fur does a lot in terms of providing a meaningful barrier against the merciless cold of northern Erea, for when it becomes particularly windy, the hairs that make up the fur become erect and are able to trap massive amounts of air between them. There is perhaps no insulator better than air, this layer of trapped air prevents the heat produced by the kin'toni body from being lost to the cold atmosphere. The Valsok differ from the rest of the Itkali people in this regard, despite the centuries upon centuries of residing in the cold north.

The Valsok have not adapted thick translucent fur of the common citizenry. There has been some discussion about why this has come about, and although the Yuaa claim that this is because the blessing of the shepherd keeps them warm from within, and as such they do not require the ability to grow a fur, others disagree. The scholars of the Ashat nation believe this to be due to the Ayoa that the Itkali people eat an live off, while the royal clan does not ever consume any Ayoa. They have blue irises with black sclerae and a vertical slit pupils.

Culture

The Valsok are the most important clan of the Itkali people, besides the Yuaa, they are the only clan that is supremely intertwined with the history of the kingdom and the religion of the shepherd. They are viewed as the leaders of the Itkali people but have no responsibilities to speak of, in fact the noble families of the Itkali people which have increasingly become more arbitrary as the Yuaa assert a greater role in the administration of the kingdom, have more responsibilities than the royal clan.

The only seeming duty they fulfil is that of touring the kingdom and spending their days in the lazy luxury of the empire, theirs is an insulated world from the troubles of the kingdom, even as the kingdom continues to loose battles and soldier kin'toni, the Valsok continue to expand their merriment. In the end, the clan has become a separate entity from the king himself, no one actually associates the king from being a part of the Valsok clan, for them he is the king, while the Valsok are just the royal clan.

There are whispers even among the Yuaa about the wastefulness of the habits of the Valsok, and some may even confess to having seen the Yuaa directly disobey the commands of the Valsok clan members, a scenario that should not even have come to pass for the important place the Valsok are supposed to hold in not only the religion of the Shepherd but also in the ranks of the Kingdom. The stature of the Valsok has definitely waned significantly in the last century or so, in particular one could say that since the death of the Dedunova Eelmalera, the First Emperor, the Valsok have lost their way.

The present king is almost never seen in the company of the other members of the clan, and even during important ceremonies, it is the Yuaa that are ascribed a place of honour rather than Valsok. When the the First Emperor had been leading the clan, together with its members he had forged the whole Itkali kingdom, snatched the lands from under the noses of the Ashat Nation. At the of the forging of the Itkali kingdom, the Valsok appeared to be a completely different clan altogether.

They led from the head of the armies as day in and day out the kin'toni armies of the Itkali people fought both zu'aan cities and their neighbouring kin'toni nations. Many of the present noble clans that rule over the provincial governments were created from the Valsok themselves, and most of the generals in the army were of Valsok origin as well. The golden years that followed the forging of the kingdom were truly a resplendent time in Itkali history.

The fortune of both the Itkali people as well as that of the Valsok took a turn for the worse with the fall of the First Emperor and the coronation of the current king, who has taken most Valsok commanders out of the field and instead promoted generals trained by the Fa’aka military college.

Government

The First Emperor, Dedunova Eelmaera, was the first monarch of the Itkali kingdom, and during his rule the government was mostly feudal with the Valsok forming the core of the ruling class. At the time, the First Emperor gave all his nobles the freedom to rule under his suzerainty as they pleased, the only conditions that were expected to be followed by all the rulers of the provinces were pretty straightforward, the first and most important of these conditions was that the ruler had to patronise the religion of the shepherd.

They had to ensure that all those that denied the way of the shepherd were prosecuted and punished. The second condition was the levy of taxes, the nobles that were put in charge of a province were required to account and collect all the tax of both labour and land, the collected tax was to be sent to the First Emperor at the capital in time for the annual feast, which was the celebration of the day of the death of the shepherd, a centrally important festival for the whole kingdom but especially so for the soldier clans of the kingdom of Itkal.

The last duty of the the provincial heads was the training and supply of soldiers to the armies of the central power, every province was required to provide the soldiers that the First Emperor himself commanded in battle, in any one of his endless campaigns. The First Emperor was definitively the most capable and active military commander of the Itkali forces, functioning as capably as one of the Fa’aka commanders, the First Emperor had won his skill with the several campaigns that he conducted to not only forge the empire but also to defend it against its innumerable enemies and foes.

Itkal boasts perhaps the most seasoned army found in Erea, or at least used to be so until the coalition of the warrior clans formed the kingdom of Adon. This system of governance changed severely and dramatically with the death of the First Emperor, it was a truly horrifying time for all those associated with the central power, and not just because of the death of the ruler but also because of the Shattering that had nearly run its course by the time of the death.

The study of the events around the death of the First Emperor is a subject that is banned by the current monarch, and his priests have explained that the events that led to the death are far too painful for the monarch to relive. As such by banning the study of the subject, he is not only sparing himself the pain associated with the event but also the people, as they are bound to be just as painful to them as they are to him. None of the scholars in Itkal have risked the ire of the monarch on this subject since one of the erring scholars was punished with a kiss of the sun for failing to obey the orders of the king.

Military

The Valsok as explained earlier have a deep and rich history of leading battles, as together with the First Emperor they forged the disparate regions under the unifying love for the Shepherd. However, since the ascendancy of the current ruler, the Valsok have been asked to focus more on religious matters and raising the morale of the common folk rather than the leading of battles. The current clan that manages the affairs of the army are ones posted in the Blanket Bog, they now form the officer corp of the Itkal army.

They are distantly related to the Valsok by blood but have little love for the clan since the time of the Shattering. It is important to note here that although there have been several incidents that have occurred in the second era that have profoundly altered the future of the kin'toni people as a whole, for the Itkali there has been no more important event than the Shattering. For it has reshaped almost all aspects of the kingdom starting with their polity and extending to even their international alliances and the diet of its common folk.

The decreased role of the Valsok in the army is due to the manner in which the events of the Shattering transpired, according to the present clan in charge of the military affairs of Itkal, the First Emperor perished because the Valsok had failed at their assigned task of securing the kingdom. At one point the clan in question formed the squire class to the kin'toni warriors of Valsok, but with the death of the First Emperor many clans turned their eyes away from the Valsok, and although none have openly claimed that the Valsok were responsible for the death, there are many who whisper it.

The breaking of that alliance between the two clans meant that the ongoing martial campaigns were severely disadvantaged, as many of the kin'toni from the Ahe Clan appealed to the king to be dismissed from duty for they could not follow the general from the Valsok clan. The king, seemed rather happy at the turn of events, and refusing the appeal for dismissal by the Ahe Clan, he instead promoted them and sent a great number of their leaders to the Fa’aka warrior’s military college.

In this way he not only won the loyalty of the Ahe Clan and tied them very close to the throne, and at the same time used their rise as the reason for pulling back the Valsok from active military service. Claiming at the time that the Valsok at the time were only being brought out of martial service in order to fulfil a larger role within the kingdom and its administration. However, no political thinker of the time was fooled by the move, in fact many even admired the king for having the foresight of limiting the Valsok.

They had very clearly done a lot to damage the esteem of the whole Itkali people by losing several crucial battles and by failing to protect the life of the First Emperor.

Religion

The Valsok too follow the way of the Shepherd, and hold a special place in the accounts of the Shepherd’s lament, for they are descended from the blood of the First Emperor, who was the only kin'toni created by the Shepherd’s closest friend and ally to have survived the transformation wrought by nature. That is not all, the Valsok are said to have many elder members that lived and served with the shepherd during his final days, when the shepherd had finally trained the First Emperor and allowed him the process to convert other zu'aan to the kin'toni way using his blood.

The Valsok have fallen from grace in many circles, but their blood continues to considered divine, and its said that the blessing of the shepherd continues with the kin'toni even though they have lost their way and strayed from the path of the shepherd. This blessing is not a consequence of their service in the past or their role in the building of the kingdom, both of which are large reason for their continued existence despite the enmity most Itkali now bear for them, but rather a cause of the deep love that the shepherd had for his close friend

Although that friend has perished and so has the shepherd, the love the shepherd bore his friend continues to bear itself in the form of a blessing for his blood. This can in fact be said to be proven as well, many cite the numerous epidemics of disease that have passed through the empire but have had little to no effect on the clan of the Valsok. Many kin'toni physicians have come forward to claim that the Valsok are immune to most forms of disease that can afflict the kin'toni of Erea, while some claim this to be the love of the shepherd in the form of a blessing.

The Yuaa have begun to put forward a different theory. The Yuaa claim that the reason why the Valsok are unaffected by the many diseases that plague the kin'toni, is not due to a blessing of the shepherd, for the shepherd does not merely bless kin'toni on the basis of their lineage but on the basis of their deeds and their tenacity for living according to the laws stated by the Shepherd’s lament. Instead they claim that the kin'toni are able to resist such disease and sickness is because their blood like that of the Yuaa is closest to the blood of those kin'toni that were shaped by nature itself.

Unlike the other kin'toni whose blood has been corrupted by the foulness that the zu'aan had toyed with in order to create the kin'toni folk. However, it should be noted that contrary to the claims of the Yuaa, they do not seem to share an immunity similar to that of the kin'toni of the Valsok clan, it is known that in the pox plague that ran through the Itkal kingdom prior to the Shattering, had killed a significant number of the kin'toni of Yuaa clan.

Miscellany

The death of the First Emperor, is a tragic event that further diminished the ability of the Itkali kingdom which had already been suffering the worst effects of the Shattering. There are several conspiracy theories about the nature of the death of the First Emperor, and many claim that he was assassinated by the neighbouring kingdoms and nations as they were certain that if her were to remain on the throne he would eventually conquer their lands.

This claim has been disputed by the nations on the continent, in fact it may be noted that at the time of the death of the First Emperor, Itkali kingdom had already suffered some of the most resounding defeats in their whole history, and though it is true that the First Emperor was a important and powerful military commander, he was by no means the only such commander on the landmass. And so the conspiracy theory that involves the assassination of the First Emperor is mostly dismissed.

On the other hand the opposing powers of the Itkali kingdom raise a finger at the Yuaa, and indicate their rise of stature since the demise of the old monarch as proof that they were involved in the death. This is not a theory that is openly discussed but has some supporters within the kingdom itself, and predominantly these supporters are those belonging to the Valsok clan, who are clear in stating that they were sabotaged. The First Emperor died a quick and surprising death, and those that have witnessed it have claimed that the death was most unnatural.

For the emperor died as if he had been kissed by the sun, burning into ash in a matter of seconds in the middle of the night where there was not a hint of the light of the sun. The accounts of the death are numerous, for the old monarch died in the middle of a feast that had been setup to honour the victory of a small campaign against the Ashat kingdom in the south of the Itkali kingdom. One moment, the First Emperor had been praising the brave soldiers of the Ahe Clan that had been instrumental in the victory.

In the next moment, he was completely ablaze, burning away in a matter of heartbeats, the people closest to him at the time were the members of the Valsok clan that had commanded the armies in the engagement that was being discussed. Those who were present at the time also recall that it were only the members of the Valsok that rushed forward to try and drive away the flames. Oddly the burns that they sustained in trying to extinguish the flames of the First Emperor have not healed completely since that day.

The Yuaa on the other hand have claimed that it was the time of the First Emperor had elapsed, he had walked the path of the shepherd for too long, and had become too pure for the world itself, the shepherd had blessed his death by giving him the same death as he had experienced upon his own demise.

Nearby Groups

Unknown

Valsok Kin'toni Clan

Unknown