H'regonath - Race of the First Ring

Civilization and Culture

Beauty Ideals

In general the H'regonath are strong people who favor practicality over ostentatious displays of strength. Their skin is in hues of green and blue, they have strong jawlines and a set of fangs protrude from the lower jaw. They are approximately five feet in height, and tend to stoop when they walk. Having originated from a wide array of racial backgrounds, beauty ideals vary widely and favor diversity.

Gender Ideals

Their society views gender as a fluid concept, changing depending on the emotional and physical needs of each family unit within the tribe. Male and Females of the species grow up with the same expectations - to do their utmost to ensure the continuation of the tribe ... and to bring home as much loot as they can carry! For this reason, males and females of the H'regonath look very similar with hair kept cut close to the skull and clothing appropriate to their jobs.

Courtship Ideals

H'regonath begin courtship at the age of twelve with the help of a matchmaker or tribal leader; however marriage does not occur between two individuals until they come of age (approximately 20 years old).

Relationship Ideals

Relationships are considered a practical partnership more than a romantic interest. Couples are chosen based both on the orientation of the individuals, their ability to cooperate as a team to achieve the goal of their familial unit, and their ability to contribute to the Tribe.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Tribes live in collective units, using the derelict airships that crash landed them on the island as centers for each main tribe, with offspring tribes spreading out and linking the ancient ships together. Over time they have built rope bridges to connect the main island to their closest neighboring islands, expanding their foraging grounds. Their small group of islands has limited resources; most of what they do have has fallen to their ring from the rings above. Water, ores, and the material needed to raise crops and plant life all fell on the island (or was carefully captured in transit), they are constantly seeking to expand their reach for foraging and scavenging. While scavenging and foraging is key to survival, the skills required to manufacture tools, artwork, and grow food are held in the highest regard - even over warlike aggression and ambition. Despite the importance of taking whatever they can from off-island, the concept of property is very strong among individuals, families, and tribes. But so too is the concept of generosity. It is considered the highest disgrace to allow your neighbors to starve or suffer if you or your family is in a position to help.
Their portion of the ring is primarily in the light, although each island does have a dark side which never comes in contact with the life giving sun. The dark sides face the planet directly, and the most dangerous creatures seem to materialize there. Adventurous youth prove their passage into adulthood by traveling to the dark side of the island, and either coming back with a monster trophy, or not coming back at all.

History

The race of the H'regonath are descended from the survivors of an armada of ships which crashed on the first ring during the mad dash to escape the dying planet. Looking forward, this is a race of people who will evolve into a loose collective of piratical tribes that will seek to survive by scavenging off of the resources that float to their ring from the others, or on whatever they can "liberate" on their own. As time goes on, they constantly seek new ways to extend their reach into new areas for fresh plunder.
The wrecked armada was populated by working class people who performed laborious tasks in the old civilization - building, transporting, farming, cleaning, and maintaining equipment; all manner of mundane tasks left to the dregs of society.
After their ships were caught in an electrical storm mid-escape, they crashed on a ring island which made up an inner section of the lowest ring, bordering on the shadow of the planet which causes perpetual darkness. As time passed and the survivors devolved to Stone-Age era technology, intermarriage erased all of the ancient racial lines from their origins on the planet.
The physical location of the islands on the lowest ring of the system (closest to the planet) means that the destructive forces of Cora Magicalis are most prominent on the dark side of the island and the islands in the darkness of the shadow, causing horrific monsters to spawn there - warped and twisted creatures that may have at one time been something whole and pure but have been disordered through proximity to Core Magic. Some members of the Tribe who do not return from their adulthood quests into the dark side of the island are said not to have died, but to have embraced the temptations of the dark Cora Magicalis, and taken up residence there to learn the ways of destruction and disorder.
The island is suspended far enough away from the planet for the light side to carry a precarious balance - and between the balance is Kaos which manifests its self in dangerous lightening storms and causes some H'regonath to become imbued with the abilities and knowledge needed to harness and use the ancient tech for the benefit of the Tribes. And even though the ability to make new things with the ancient tech has been lost, new ways to use the old techs are sometimes found which have the potential of changing the Tribe's way of life. In the stone age, the best example would be the discovery of fire, produced from the blue-lightening bolts of magic arcing from the finders of practitioners.
Finally - on the light side of the island the Circe Magicalis is most active - though much more weak than it would be on the farther rings, those H'regonath do emerge who can harness the power of light. These are the leaders, the healers, the storytellers, and the lovers of the land who's passion it is to teach and nurture.

Common Myths and Legends

The primitive tribes of the H'regonath worship their ancient God Die Cross, who marshalled their people to leave the dying planet. They tell their children stories of the ancient cities that once existed on the hellish planet surface below them, and that one day they may return to bring life back to the Planet and make a new home over the ruins of the old.
The tribes also tell stories of the great ships that brought them to their island, of the cataclysmic crash that brought them there; and bitter stories of the ships that kept travelling on without them in their hour of need. This is the reason why to not help a neighbor in distress is the most heinous disgrace in the culture of the H'regonath.