Jarjinjirla

Easy-going people in their daily lives, who can become fierce warriors when their land demands it

Origins

These culture formed gradually as the Terse desert became an established part of the region and the elves from the eastern and western lower north Oceasile areas could communicate.
Although the actual center of the Terse desert was never claimed by any elven clan (due to how dangerous the area is), traversing it as a group is doable, and clans will cross the area if necessary.

Characteristics

Although relatively unknown to outsiders, those that know them, tend to characterize these people as resourceful and knowledgeable, but above all, joyful and easy-going.
They take joy in their environment, and even things that to others may seem like challenges, they usually take them with joy. For in their eyes, the desert is where they were made to be. Just like a sand skink wouldn't dream to live in the rainforest, neither does a W dream of living anywhere but the desert.

Our bodies are the colour of the wet earth, with freckles the colour of the sand that blows during the long days of summer. Our eyes are the colour of the blooms that come after the rains. Our hair provides us shade and our feet keep us nimble.
We are made to be here. We belong.

— A Jarjinjirla explaining why the desert does not feel "hostile" to them

Inter-species relationships

Unlike most other elven clans in Oceasile, W people don't have frequent communication or interaction with the gripplis of the area. Candle River is seen as inaccessible, given the dangerous Mushroom Forest and the asfixiating walk down the Weeping Gates.
To the elves, their frequency of visit, perhaps every 50 years or so, is never seen as extraordinarily infrequent. However, to the gripplis, it means that they will only ever meet the elves once in their lives. This furthers the divide between elves and gripplis, who, in this area, have never formed tight relationships.

Marital customs & taboos

Within their own clan, they cannot marry people who were born in the same year as them or their siblings. Within other clans, it is the opposite, one may only marry to another clan if they were born in the same year as them or their siblings.
It is considered auspicious to marry someone whose parents (or one of them) are named the same to one's parents.
Both the rules and general auspicious signs of marriage are not considered when the person marries away into a different culture. They consider that one marrying into another culture must abandon all preconceptions of their culture first. Similarly, when someone marries into this culture, they are expected to abide by the rules and general auspicious signs of marriage. Given the long life span of elves compared to most other races (not to mention the isolation of living in the desert), marriages into the culture from races from other continents is almost unheard of. Almost.

Luck would have it that Trastor mentioned his age as he was telling a fire-side story to the Jarjinjirla clan that had been hosting him for a few moons. They say the looks and glances across the clan members were so obvious, that even their guest noticed, so he joked:
"I may not have the colours of my youth, but come on, your looks are making me worried! Am I whiter than the clouds?"
Everyone laughed his joke and assured him he was still looking youthful and had a lovely orange tint. But everyone's mind was set: he and Jinji had been getting along so well. And he was born in the same year as Marlu, Jinji's youngest brother! Had they finally found someone for her?

Young elves pair up for a while, and if they find themselves comfortable with each other, they will eventually marry. For elves who do not settle once they reach their middle age, their families will start looking for someone suitable for their loved one. This can take many years, but an elven life is long, and as such, there is no hurry to pair them up with someone.
Marriage is sought after, however, and people who do not marry are not usually trusted into leadership positions in their old age. Remarrying after a spouse's death is very, very uncommon. For an elf who has shared so much with someone else, the task of adapting to someone else (someone who has lived centuries on a different path) is usually seen as undesirable. With a spouse's death begins a "second life", a time of quiet self-reflection or wild awakenings. However an elf decides to do it, it is usually seen as a time to one-self. However, remarrying has no cultural negative connotations.

Other Taboos

It is forbidden to wake people up from their sleep. This is the time when the gods commune with their souls, and interrupting this connection is seen as sacrilege. The person who was woken up needs to cleanse themselves, leave their clan, and return after they have obtained a dream that signals they have reconnected with The Triumvirate. The person who woke them up is forced to stay awake for three days and three nights, depriving them of the connection they forcefully broke for someone else. A repeat offender will be thrown out of the clan if they ever do this three times.
Babies are of course exempt from this taboo. Parenthood is seen as a time when the gods test the parents' capacity to do whatever must be done for their children, even if that means forgoing time with their gods.
Insomniacs are extremely rare in this culture, and their disease is seen as the worst curse imaginable. A clan will go to great lengths to help cure someone with insomnia.

Lifestyle

Nomads

Gender norms

Patriarchal society

Language

Spoken & sign

Etymology

Jarjinjirla means the Desert Bloom people.
Their stories say that when the eastern and western elven groups finally met in the desert, the desert bloomed, even though it had long been since it rained. And so their people merged and blossomed, stronger than ever before.

Land Protectors

As all other elves in Oceasile, the W see it as their task in life to protect their environment.
Usually, the harm comes from outsiders: both those who live in the rainforest, against their gods, and those who come by boats from the outside.
Tengus, the rainforest vermin, receive the harshest side of these otherwise relaxed people. If a tengu group is suspected of living throughout the area, the elves will try and seek them out. In the desert, they have the upper hand. In the rainforest, however, the tengus often escape them. This has resulted in a centuries long game of hide-and-seek.
Outsiders from beyond the ocean have usually gone through grippli areas before arriving to their territory. The gripplis, who act as "border defence" for Oceasile, do not permit people who have clear ill intentions against Oceasile or who are purposefully going against their rules meant to safeguard Oceasile's environment.

A lifetime of training

Living in a dangerous environment, although they would not usually categorize it as such themselves, keeps the Jarjinjirla in their toes.
Although they do not purposefully hunt creatures that share the desert with them, even the dangerous ones like the purple worms, basilisk, or sand krakens, they do hunt them to defend themselves or for food, like they would do with any other animal.
As such, everyone in the clan is usually well versed in fighting and using at least a few choice weapons. A few in the clan, those that are gifted with magic, will protect the tribe with their magic instead of weapons.

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