Hunter

In the Nagataru culture, hunters hold a special place. They are not only those who hunt animals, but also keepers of the forests. They help animals who got themselves into precarious situations and hunt dangerous predators, or even the less dangerous herbivores who managed to overpopulate.

Becoming a hunter:

Because of the special place hunters hold, not everyone can become one. Once a year, young Nagataru men and women who proved to be strong warriors who care and are knowledgeable about nature gather in one place to face a challenge.

Exactly from sunrise, they have 3 days to hunt as many animals as possible and bring them back. They have to work alone, completely naked, with only a bow, 10 arrows, hatchet and a knife. The challenge is meant to tests their resilience, resourcefulness, survival and hunting skills, which often proves to be a tough challenge.

Once they return with their game, the oldest hunters judge their game, state of being and anything they made with resources they had, to determine whenever or not they are viable hunters. In is a hard challenge, only few manage to pass, some giving up on the first day, most commonly because of dehydration and injuries.

Job of a hunter:

Hunters wake up early in the morning and scout their assigned wilderness territory, looking for anything new, or for animals in distress. Once their scouting job is done, they work on their hut, traps, repair equipment, sell meat and furs, etc.

When they deem there is enough animals, they hunt, which usually take at least a few hours, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Being a hunter is quite profitable, as meat and furs can go for a lot.

Hunter culture:

There is a deep sense of community in the hunter culture. Hunters all around often gather to celebrate or hunt a big game together. Their celebrations tend to be wild, involving dancing, games, or even drugs in rare cases.

Hunters tend to reflect their closeness to nature in their lifestyles. They tend to wear little clothing, which mostly covers their private parts, decorate themselves with bones of all kind and paint their bodies with colors such as green, white, brown an black. They live in simple wooden or mud huts and mostly use tools they made themselves.
Because they are self sustaining, hunters rarely visit settlements to talk with people, or buy some tools and clothes.

Ritual of ascension:

Hunters have a ranking system of sort. Once a hunter achieves a certain feat, becomes old enough or does his job to a certain level of quality, they get blessed by the nature.
The ritual of ascension begins by the ascending hunter catching a large animal, such as a tapir. The animal is cut open and it's blood is poured onto the hunter, who has a large scar cut into his dominant arm, which dictates his position among hunters, by the number of them he has.

If the hunter has someone he wants to marry, during the ascension, both need to drink blood of the animal at once, which sets their marriage in stone. This is the only opportunity hunters have at asking someone's hand in marriage.

The animal is the eaten raw by all of the participants. Rest of the night is celebrated, until everyone falls to the ground, exhausted.

Souls of nature:

Once a year, each hunter must make a small grave, usually made using a rock, encircled by pebbles, for each animal they killed that year. Each grave is then sprinkled with the hunter's blood, as a sacrifice. The hunter then must rest for the day to regain his strength.

Corrupted by religion:

Slowly, the hunter traditions and they in general are being destroyed by the Servants of the blood gods religion, which dictates by law, that only officials of the religion can become hunters, who often ignore or even disrespect the hunter's traditions.
Only a few places hold the tradition to it's full extend, which, according to predictions, might also change within a generation, if something is not done about it.

Type

Agricultural / Fishing / Forestry