Anurehsaaq

An anurehsaaq (plural: shanurehsaaq) is a caste-based position in Marrowmen society akin to a griot or oral historian. They are charged with being a repository of their tribe's oral tradition, cultural history, and communal myths and legends. Due to their highly spiritual nature and wealth of knowledge, they often act as advisors to a brood's iqi or a redehntu's sis and are frequently looked to as leaders and sources of great wisdom.
Shanurehsaaq make up a specific caste in Marrowmen society with the role of anurehsaaq passed from parent to child. The caste has some privileges and taboos unique to it. Apprentice shanurehsaaq must memorize each piece in its entirety and in Traditional Zejaach. Additionally, when performing the piece for an audience, an anurehsaaq must recite the piece in full without any interruptions. The Marrowmen believe that to tell their history in another language or to record it in writing is to cheapen the past itself and make it more vulnerable to exploitation. To interrupt or question a story also runs the risk of "speaking the past in error," a chiisoth or "mortal sin" according to the alta qiida. Breaching this taboo can result in being charged as assahiila, a legal status which invites death or exile at the discretion of all Marrowmen.
Should a master anurehsaaq fail to impart all of the Marrowmen's oral tradition to their apprentice, it is believed that the brood is at risk of spiritual exile. Under those circumstances, the brood must suspend their usual migration and collectively travel across the Marrow Desert to the Gypsum Forest. The Marrowmen believe that the Forest is inhabited by lost spirits whom are unable to reach the afterlife due to unfinished business or improper burial rites. Upon reaching the Forest, the brood must meditate beneath the limestone pillars until one of them receives a vision entailing the missing pieces of their tribe's oral history. During this mediation, all members of the brood are forbidden from eating, drinking, or sleeping and many often die of exposure as a result. It is said that if the entire brood perishes as a result of the ordeal, then the spirits of the land deemed the brood unworthy of keeping the tribal history and continuing the ancestral line of succession.

Legends like those of the first thri-kreen are memorized and recited by the shanurehsaaq

Alternative Names

Storyteller

Type

Education

Related Locations

• Gypsum Forest
• Marrow Desert
• Nioa
• Quicksand Seas