Ghenid

As seen in

Ghenid Clans of Incaras

Viveridae like bipedal digitigrade furred species. Large rounded ears. Leathery black nose with sideways apostrophe mark with the wide part to the outside. The eye color is red bright to dark rust with flecks in iris giving green, orange, yellow or black. Very rarely violet or purple. They have a black or dark brown sclera and don't show whites. Ghenid have a short stout triangular tail and dark claws on hands and feet. They tend to crepuscular to nocturnal activity mostly.

The tribe moves that we may surprise our prey and confound our enemies. The Bare Skins make fine weapons and armor, but they are weak. The Four Legs fight well, but many of them also stay in walled towns and huts. The Cats - Bahku move like us. And our tribes war with eachother. Only the strongest and best can rule. This The Grandmother decrees. Each in service to clan, mothers and Grandmothers back to the S’au, the first mothers and The Grandmother.
This is our way. We take what we want or make lessers give it to us. And what is ours is ours forever, bound with chains. The pretty slave. The good weapon.
Daughters birth more cubs who grow and make the clan stronger. Sons are fodder to the Clan - they only bring themselves and slaves, the khaengsua, scum. There are the waste of skin - Whaerso, the wretched. These are not even worth death. Too weak and useless, broken and damaged, and so worth nothing in the afterlands and The Grandmother’s war bands of the dead, her great camps where Ghenid have the reward of eternal Yahn: eating, drinking, screwing and fighting and served by slaves and surrounded by the wealth and favor according to what their Angrhu - their hunger - has brought them. Great fighters. Cunning warqueens ( The Cra-Oang). Great pyres of wealth and treasures. And the Clan’s strength in numbers and slaves (scum).

Sons are bata, foolish- only place holders. A curse is “May The Grandmother only give you sons!”, but that is a curse on all your clan. Daughters bring cubs, and they bind them with the Chain from their first day, until their last. And Mothers hold the Chains on their Daughters. And Grandmothers hold the Chains on the Mothers. To pull the Chain, forces obedience and truth and word always reaches a mother’s ear of failed Apa (cunning, wits) a thing also called bata ( Stupid). We are all bound together and the wealth and might of each generation builds the Clan and the Grandmothers and the S’au (The first mothers, first ghosts).
Of course there are also the shadows, they may help you but they also serve Mothers and Grandmothers- because they are the dead brothers and sisters. The Grandmothers of the Dead rule, and under them the grandmothers of the living. Unless one of the Dead is returned. Those have much Esueh (power) to pull their ghost from the Deadlands and into a new body, called Hnanue (hnah-nueh- the Returned). B’ata thought he could trick one hnanue and gave her a whaerso body, but she called the bones from the earth to pull him apart. Hnanue have much Esueh. Some seek to slip away. To escape the Chains on you is a great goal of many. The sneaky sons of Apa, called Sorcerers (ǂPkoah) claim their own clan ruled by males! They have personal Esueh (Es-su-eh) Power and some have put their chains on others and no Grandmother except The Grandmother may command them. They show Angrhu and Apa and should be respected, though they are males.

Naming Traditions

Family names

An individual has a name of self, and perhaps reference as child of maternal line or referring back to a living grandmother, tribe and clan. (The Fourth daughter of the G'Yeb of the Whadoteera tribe). The most powerful living in a lineage may claim the title of the matriarch's name.

Culture

Culture and cultural heritage

Individual status is tied to the Maternal line and maternal status. Cunning and Chains may increase status - say, by Chaining higher status females to you instead of having their chains on you. Family status is trumped by position in tribal status and above that Clan status. A family matriarch is still dominated and ruled by a Tribal Oang

Shared customary codes and values

The only values are “Angrhu” The Hunger to have and take, and “Yahn” Joy of combat. Of theft, or conquest. Strength, toughness and cunning are principle cultural values and they take pride in stoic resilience. Deeds, possessions, conquest and pleasures are all that count and it doesn’t matter how you get them or how you keep them, but it is smart to set the best in your eternal tomb. The eternal is what really matters. One’s place with the Grandmother is based on what you bring her. Kill and destroy what you don’t need now so that it is yours in the afterlife. What in life is carried into the afterlife, is eternal. The Afterlife is a glorious Valhalla of feasts and orgy, surrounded by clan and bound allies, served by slaves that serve every need, fueled by the treasures, conquests and plunder gathered and bound to a warrior’s tomb in life. The dead who return as Shadows gain added tribute and influence with new chains on the living.  The dead combat against other clans, rivals and the other powers of the Underworld, until Grandmother’s Final war on the world. The history is meaningless, as is imagined future. The past is repeated in the present, Ghenids and everything else have always been this way and always will be this way. All other gods are lies - they are just other demons who eat the souls of followers, or of ghenids they capture. Clan is all important & bound together. A Ghenu, her daughters and granddaughters and nieces, males who may earn favor and bound slaves (or cripples, the wretched). Cubs. You are only as important as your power and what you bring to Mother, and Her Mother and Her Mother and on and on back to the Grandmother. The clans are in constant battles, feuds and conflict of theft, murder and revenge. They drop it and band together against outside forces.

Average technological level

Ghenid transport camp supply by pack and travois/ sledge.  They understand the wheel and will use raided carts and wagons but don't repair them when broken. They herd goats mostly -moving pens every few days or daily herding with slaves and cubs.

Common Etiquette rules

Ghenid behavior is assertive and demanding. It shows will. Asking is submissive and appropriate for slaves.

Common Dress code

While they can make things they much prefer to take and modify. Wild tribal Ghenid will wear leather vests, skirts or breeches. Other clothes from raids and attacks. Decoration in carved bone or wood or raided jewelry.  Armor may be an amalgamation of prior conquests with pieces as trophies.

Art & Architecture

Music is limited. There are songs and drumming.  Some paint/ staining of tents is done.  Hair paint or dying.

Birth & Baptismal Rites

The individual has their name. Siblings are brothers and sisters. Mother and aunts count, as do sister cousins. Brother cousins if exceptional may be counted as Blood Cousins. Grandmothers and grandaunties. Fathers are just Seeders. Father's sisters are not counted as any special status aside from their grandmother's status. Seeders or planters is a low demarcation akin to "farmer' or "planter" designating prey and weakness. An exceptional male might have a status as a Blood Seeder

Coming of Age Rites

At age 10 the Ghenid young comes of Age and are given The Shadow Bond. Grandmothers, possibly great aunts, and rarely mothers or aunts summon a Chained relative. Someone that they have control over and who would be advantageous to give added status in the Underworld. Preference may be given to a female relative with control over the one Summoning the Shadow for the Bond, or more frequently male ghosts aligned to the elder females specifically and so more likely to be obedient. The bond gives each Ghenid their Shadow - the ghost ancestor or clan member that is a familiar, a spy upon them and for them and carries ghostly powers. The use of the powers for the living is a point of negotiation requiring T’Oahkhua ritual - payment to ghosts into the ritual flame.  See Ghenid adulthood rites

Funerary and Memorial customs

Ghehenid live in death, constantly focused on building their tomb and legacy. Things that are second rate may be kept and used but the best will be bound and burned as tomb treasures for eternal use and display in the Underworld. Tomb treasures are sent in the condition they are in at the time of the offering ritual - so slaves, captives or animals are preferred in health and good condition. Near dead or wounded will be weak and wounded in the afterlife and so almost useless - something reserved as a grave insult to the dying or if offered as a token to a ghost Ghenua. The dead body is counted as meat, but a meat of quality by the life status of the deceased. See. Ghenid Funeral *Disturbing content* .   Bones and teeth may be kept, but what counts are the Chains binding and carried by the soul. The high status will be eaten by family, the low or slaves if needed or used to feed other slaves. The dead themselves travel to the Underworld joining the warbands of the ones who hold their chains ( mothers, aunts, grandmothers) where they spend eternity in battle, feasts and orgy with status by what they bring to the Clan and Nghenu the Demon Cra-Oang (war/ Blood matriarch/ Queen) in their Chained and tomb treasures.

Common Taboos

Ghenid generally dislike weakness, such as seeking help. They may command others to come or to do a thing, but never ask for help. The sick and wounded must show their value, resolve and strength in surviving and healing. The "Waste of skin" or Whaerso is an addicted drunk, enfeebled individual young or old or the cripple unable to fend for themselves. Ghenid have no charity - only value as tool with your Chain, or Status mark in the service of, and Chained by the powerful.

Common Myths and Legends

Ghenids believe themselves to be the creations and children of a Demon Death Goddess- Neghenu - The Grandmother. Each is a hair she shed and may call back. The afterlife is a known thing, though the details are kept hidden. Between the Soul Chains and each being bound to a ghost familiar, the afterlife is certain and known in Ghenid's bones. The offerings of the living fill up their cups and tombs, but the wealth and treasure is stored mostly in life in the individual tomb. Each Ghenid has a a medallion representing their crypt or tomb and it is bound to them. Grave goods are burnt or buried with a ritual. The tomb or crypt may be upgraded by using the material of the original medallion or putting the old inside the new. Favored items or beings may be sacrificed to the tomb where they will await their owner’s arrival. Wealth, weapons, slaves and chained servants and offspring or Warband increase the status and worth of the individual within the Dead Clan and under Neghenu. The more you bring, the higher your place in your clan and your clan with the Demon Goddess. Females will always have more and stronger chains on their offspring, and so outrank all but the most active and ambitious males. The lower ranks serve.

Historical figures

B'ata is a male of myth. Bata is the Ghenid word for stupid or foolish. B'ata is the title version, basically "IDIOT". He makes complex and grand plans which always go wrong. He is tricked by his clever sister Dherrit  who always succeeds. B'ata finds a spring of tasty water and thinks to save it to his tomb, so he pees in it to mark it and performs the rites. His Shadow reports the tomb flooded once and went dry - he had just bound and sent the water. Dherrit marks the area around the spring and slows it with rocks, also marked. She succeeds in capturing the spring in her tomb.

A classic is the story of Fire. In the ancient days the world was cold and the Four Legs had fire. The Ghenid Grandmothers wanted it and set Dherrit and B'ata to get fire and learn it's secret. Dherrit makes up a plan and loudly talks to her Shadow about knocking off a piece of the Sun when it rises in the morning at the edge of the world. B'ata is spying and listening and thinks he will get there first and bring back fire and take all the glory. He travels to the edge of the world and tries to net the Sun as it rises and launches into the sky. It burns out of his net. He tries throwing rocks but it moves too fast and is too high up. The next day he tries to grab the Sun himself and burnt up and hurled across the sky. Dherrit meanwhile has gone and captured a Centaur and used the Soul Chains to force it to teach her the secret of making and keeping fire.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

Wealth in possessions and weapons/ armor. Strength. Wits and cunning. Health and a glossy uniform coat. They also have a sense of weight of Soul Chains (Aedoteerua) owned by self and others, and a greater weight owned is attractive. Weakness of body, or will are hated and scorned.

Gender Ideals

Sons are B’ata, foolish- only place holders. A curse is “May THE Grandmother only give you sons!”, but that is a curse on all your clan.

Courtship Ideals

Courtship is not much of a thing aside from a statement of desire and a test or challenge fight. Sometimes it is just agreed in cases of mutual desire. The Ghenid say "The Grandmother sets the meat before you. You must figure out if you can take it, hold it, or if it is a trap or poison."
Ghenid do not have a "love" concept. They like or enjoy. They have Yahn and Anghru.  A Ghenid term of endearment would be "i will possess you forever."  With the weight of the Soul Chain they fully mean it as well.

Relationship Ideals

Longer term relations depend on usefulness of one or the other in status and skills. Sometimes opportunity or even much scorned sentiment may play a role. Chains owned are status and power to pull others to your side. Ghenid society obeys a simple set of rules: Do what you will and what you can get away with. Ghenid will also show little concern about genders or species if they are curious, lustful or of a mood or mind. They don't have specific breeding or reproductive seasons.

Major organizations

Founding Clans of Grandmother’s first daughters (The Firsts or S’au) . Tribes are made of members of several clans.

1. Wide banded stripes clans: Ael - Aeghu (Priestess are frequently this clan) - ǂFu 
2. The Bloodhide: (red tinged coats) Whalacra: G’Yeb - Fnue -Ghid ( Priestess, the Ghid are very conservative. solid, narrow stripes
3. The Nighthides: Dark brown to nearly black- Rhu’onwha: V’Laf - Mngi’pah
4. Nghael - Vǂyev : spotted
5. HiǂKhur - Mokree (tints of green and chartruse in the coats) spotted
6. The Ghosthskins: (Light blonde gold/ silver or even white) Whalua: - Pawhusa - Uacra’s (First Ghost warriors) spotted, spotted ring or blonde
7. Adkhee - Eǂyelfua Rosette spots - N’Falue
8. Dolra - Eelyevoah
9. R’Ngau - brown with narrow crescent stripes , Veyah-oon eye spots
10. Gha’z
11. D’Yenee Wheo-ahvu,
12. (sorcerers) ǂPkoah - more of a tribe in Ghenid culture. No formal leaders. pkoah is also the word for phallus

by Mutterwolf

Ghenid warrior

Stories with Ghenid in them :

Dracna comes to the city in Dracna Stories

Dracna and the Patriarch in Dracna Stories
Dracna 

M'he. S'Oang of Eǂyelfua Clan of Incaras 

Related Organizations

• Clans of the Ghenid

Languages spoken

• Ghenid Language

Also see M'he. Oang of Eǂyelfua Clan of Incaras  and Dracna