Engi Gheni

LIFE AS AN ENGI GHENI

WHO ARE THE ENGI?

Like all Gheni, the Engi were once elves who had been forcibly changed into what they are now. Since then, they have become their own people.
Gheni who live outside of the Gheni Kind Lands tend to live together in communities or in caravans. The differnt kinds of gheni blend into a single community with no attempt to divide themsleves by kind. They have blended families as well, resulting in a mix of features.
This has resulted in such a blending of the kinds that they become their own kind. They call themselves the Engi, which means other.
The proper kinds will welcome Engi into their lands. Only the Engi who have the proper features and prove themselves will be accepted as full members of that Kind.
This has led to Engi feeling they fit only among themselves, making their communities very close-knit.
Most Engi take to travelling as trade caravans where they have the freedom to move on should they wear out their welcome in a settlement.

by Dazzlinkat

ENGI AND MAGIC

by Dazzlinkat

At the time of the change, Gheni were of the elven caste who were only allowed to learn the Low Arts of Nature Magic.


This caste of elves were often called rangers or warders as they were the ones most often patrolling their forest homes.


Since then, most Engi have lost this knowledge.


Living as outsiders, most Engi have become Bards with a few learning the mystic arts of the Trickster Rogue.

ENGI AND TRAVEL

The End Of Instant brought an end to the ability to travel all over the world by stepping through a portal.
Finding a means of traveling the world without this instant travel has become a challenge for all peoples and realms.
The Engi now find their wagon trains more welcomed now than they ever had been in the past.

by hansbenn

In the colder regions of the world, their wagons are pulled by a single woollyruss.


This is a large powerfull beast covered with warm woolly hair and sporting a deadly horn on its snout.


In warmer regions, their wagons are pulled by a brace of whistledons. These are rough-skinned beasts noted for their speed.

by Momentmal

by sgtfury

ENGI AND FAITH

Having once been elves, the Gheni at first continued to respect the spirits of nature, but without the guidance of the High Art elves, their connections wained.
Seeing other peoples with their religions the Gheni began to find faith in the gods.
Within a few generations, the Gheni gravitated towards three gods: Byldur the god of music and poetry, Nufthesy the goddess of practical knowledge, and Kilo the god of conquest.
These gods together came to be called the Ghenzhee Pantheon.

by Dazzlinkat

Engi living in communities beyond the Kind Lands often find themselves following the faith of the land there in when other faith are not permited. Secretly, some carry on their Ghenzhee faith in hidden chapels.
When they can display their faith in other lands, the Engi build chapels devoted to the Ghenzhee.
Such places are deeply cherished and proteted.

ENGI AND TRADE

by Dazzlinkat

Risky business is worthy business to the Engi, and they can be very daring traders.



The Engi believe that only through trade all wants and needs can be fulfilled, if one haggles with sufficient skill.



Haggling is so important, that they have ten rules every Engi knows by the time they become an apprentice.

Rule One

Once you have their coins, never give them back.

Rule Two

You cannot cheat an honest customer no matter how hard you try.

Rule Three

Never spend more on trade goods than you have to.

Rule Four

Sex and coins never last long enough.

Rule Five

If you cannot break a contract, bend it.

Rule Six

Never let family, except your mother, stand in the way of chance.

Rule Seven

Always keep you ears up.

Rule Eight

Keep count of your coins.

Rule Nine

Skill and chance equals profit.

Rule Ten

A dead customer will not buy as much as a live customer.

ENGI NAMES

Gheni have been creating their own traditions since their abrupt change.

Since they did not have a language of their own other than Elven, they have taken to building one through names.

It is not a language with sentences but one of unique names with unique meanings and they embrace it as completely theirs.
All Gheni names are dashed together like this: Given Name-Birth Gender-Mother's Syllable.

Belle, or female, names all have a middle syllable of Bey. Rex, or male, names all have a middle syllable of Ra.
For example, the Gheni pirate called Bane has a proper Gheni name: Penge-Ra-Orr.
Penge means brave. Ra means born male. Orr is a syllable from his mother's given name, Orrahna.
His mother defines his name as meaning Brave-Son of- Orrahna.
Another Gheni might interpret his name to mean Orrahna's Brave Boy.

Engi Gheni Curious Facts

by Dazzlinkat

Relationships

Engi are very gregarious and promiscuous. An Engi will often seek nightly companionship with another gheni and not always with the same one. Commitment is only sought when a belle, a female gheni, is pregnant.
When a belle's pregnancy is showing, she will go to the elders of the community or caravan. There, she will name the rex, a male gheni, who she believes is the father. Once she has named the father, his name is announced to all the community. Upon hearing his name, a rex goes to the elders, and a wedding is planned.

by Mereen

There is a grand ceremony where the belle and the rex are wedded to each other until their children reach apprentice age, which is ten years old. To commemorate this, they wear matching wrist bands of beautifully tooled metal. Brass is most common though wealthier couples will have bands of silver or gold.

Engi Wedlock

While they are wed, the couple is expected to be committed to each other with no promiscuity. A belle usually has two babies and, rarely, three. Until the babies are born, the rex is expected to care for his belle, with the community supporting them. After the babies are born, the belle focuses the next year on caring for the babies while the rex must go out and earn enough to support the whole family.
Once the babiesare a year old, they are weaned and able to be left with the community grans to be watched over so the belle can return to her livelihood.

Tomcatting

Rex became a father ... run!! by Dazzlinkat on HeroForge

Many a rex finds the sudden burden of wedlock very daunting and terrifying. Instead of going before the elders, they run away when their name is bandied about. Those who run are charged with tomcatting. They will be hunted down by other community rexes and dragged back to be wed.