Zhaporian Hunting Speech
"Me against my brothers. My brothers and I against my cousins. My cousins and I against the world."
~Zhaporian saying.
The Zhaporians have always held certain things to the tribe alone. Outsiders are always welcome, but gain trust slowly. And hunting on the plains is a dangerous activity with many of the creatures of Zhaporia more than capable of turning the hunter in the prey. The Zhaporian Hunting Speech serves both of these needs.
Actually to call it "speech" is inaccurate, though the name seems to have become fixed in our modern vocabulary. Hunting Speech is a combination of hand gestures and body language to convey important information with surprising levels of detail to ones comrades. It seems likely the language originated for what it's name suggests, warning of danger or signaling ones companions without alerting your quarry to your presence. This would be true whether hunting game during a hunt, or enemies during a raid. However, the custom has extended into every day use to allow for communication in the presence of outsiders who might have learned the Zhaporian tongue. This can be disconcerting to the outsider, who may begin to imagine every gesture or lifted eyebrow is a secret message to the other members of the tribe. And the simple truth is that they probably are. This, however, is no cause for alarm as the Zhaporians are famously courteous to guests and no one need have any fear of them once they have been granted hospitality.
Learning the Hunting Speech is virtually impossible without aid. The main reason for this is that, while certain signals are universal, every tribe has their own 'dialect,' gestures and signals that mean something only within that tribe and might be an entirely different gesture to another Zhaporian.
~Zhaporian saying.
The Zhaporians have always held certain things to the tribe alone. Outsiders are always welcome, but gain trust slowly. And hunting on the plains is a dangerous activity with many of the creatures of Zhaporia more than capable of turning the hunter in the prey. The Zhaporian Hunting Speech serves both of these needs.
Actually to call it "speech" is inaccurate, though the name seems to have become fixed in our modern vocabulary. Hunting Speech is a combination of hand gestures and body language to convey important information with surprising levels of detail to ones comrades. It seems likely the language originated for what it's name suggests, warning of danger or signaling ones companions without alerting your quarry to your presence. This would be true whether hunting game during a hunt, or enemies during a raid. However, the custom has extended into every day use to allow for communication in the presence of outsiders who might have learned the Zhaporian tongue. This can be disconcerting to the outsider, who may begin to imagine every gesture or lifted eyebrow is a secret message to the other members of the tribe. And the simple truth is that they probably are. This, however, is no cause for alarm as the Zhaporians are famously courteous to guests and no one need have any fear of them once they have been granted hospitality.
Learning the Hunting Speech is virtually impossible without aid. The main reason for this is that, while certain signals are universal, every tribe has their own 'dialect,' gestures and signals that mean something only within that tribe and might be an entirely different gesture to another Zhaporian.
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