Shojorin

The Shojorin were the first humanoid species living in Esterya. Lycilia, goddess of life and light, always adored the human world for its livelyness, taking inspiration from its species when creating her own. In one of them she took special interest: Humans. Their minds, their motivations and their relationships with each other and the world around them fascinated her. She too wanted something like this for Esterya and thus gave one of her species, the deer which roamed the woods, an advanced mind and human-like bodies. This was the birth of a species that's now known as the Shojorin, the Children of Light.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Human body, with a deers ears and tail

Biological Traits

Females have especially wide hips and a generally more curvy body-type, their males on the other hand have in comparison to other humanoid species less masculine bodies (No particularly wide shoulders, etc.) and look generaly more androgynous. Around puberty (45-65 years of age) they develop rudiments of antlers that only grow to their full size on kings, when they gain Lycilias blessing.

Ecology and Habitats

They populate the depths of the eternal forest, building their homes within the trees, forming them to their needs.

Dietary Needs and Habits

They mostly eat greens, fruits and vegetables. Only on special occasions (like celebrations) they eat meat from free living animals they hunt in the forest. The southern tribe rather fishes in the brooks and rivers, than hunting in the forest.
In the days before their deal with the dryads who now protect the tribes lands against the cold winters, storaging Food for the winter was essential for the tribes survival. Now their lands never experience winters, creating a constant circle of spring, summer and fall, through which there have not been any food shortages in centuries.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

Freckels are very common, as almost everyone has them.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

They populate the eternal forest, where they were originally spread over its whole size but now one part of them only lives in a small part of the woods, that has been encapsulated by the dryads in a magic, protective dome.
The other part of their tribe lives way further in the south, closer to the sea near the southern swamps where the woods are traversed by small ponds and brooks. In the old days the two parts of their tribe lived in close connection but with time seperated more and more.

Civilization and Culture

Major Organizations

Almost every member of their species believes in Lycilia, because of which the "Children of the Sun" form their major religious group.

Beauty Ideals

Long, wavy, black hair and dark, defined freckles are seen as especially beautifull. For females wide hips and symetrical breasts are seen as a sign of health and fertility.

Gender Ideals

Males work mostly as hunters or guards, however females are not excluded from these occupations, though it is more unlikely. Females usually take on tasks that are related to raising the tribes children, harvesting or making things like clothing and other utensils and the tribes healers are exclusively female.

Courtship Ideals

Females choose their mating partners, while both parties can have multiple mates during their lifetime.

Relationship Ideals

They don't have enduring, monogamous relationships and their children are rather raised by the whole tribe than by their biological parents. Due to their polygamy it is often not possible or very hard to tell who the childs father is, anyway.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Nowadays they speak the language thats also commonly used by humans and the other tribes, while in the ancient days they spoke a language that has now been almost completly forgotten, only still existing in ancient writings.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Music

Their major kind of culture revolves around music. They use it to tell stories and legends and even use it as a way to perserve their tribes history, since most of them are unable to read. Sung around campfires or at celebrations their songs are used as the most common way of entertainment and as parts of their religious rituals. Accompanied by drums, flutes and fiddles they often sing in the tongue of the ancients during their rituals, while songs that are meant to tell stories are sung in their everyday language, since the only ones that understand the ancient language are their kings.

Common Taboos

Killing any living being for a reason other than hunting is considered a felony against Lycilia, as all live is considered to be given by the godess herself (This however was not the case for the humans that got killed during the great war, as the Shojorin do not consider the humans as creatures created by Lycilia, as they came from the Otherworld). Any contact or connection to the shadows of Nocturnis is forbidden and punishable by death, which is part of the reason why the Shojorin tend to avoid the Shadowkeepers.
The worst crimes are punished with the culprit loosing their eyesight, as they are considered unworthy to witness the light of Lycilia.
Children that are born blind are considered to have been left by Lycilia and are often abandoned by their parents or other caretakes, having to pretty much live as outcasts and rarely having any close relationships.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

They always looked down at the other species as they consider themselves as superior, being Lycilias direct children. Their relationships with the other tribes were never really close, but generally peacefull. This is certainly not the case for their relationship with the humans that live in the duskvalley. There had always been tensions as they started living in the same areas, that escalated as the humans started mining Solyrium from Yanwe, which for the Shojorin had always been a sacred place. This then led to the great war between humans and the other tribes.

Scientific Name

Shojorin

Origin/Ancestry

Deer given human minds and bodies

Lifespan

360 years

Average Height

1,5 - 1,7m

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

They have light to medium brown skin, except for their kings, whos skin turnes pale white. Their young have white spots on their backs and hips until they reach puberty.