Wargs
by hughpierre
Culture
Culture and cultural heritage
Rune Stone
It is a raised monument of stone or bedrock, brightly coloured and positioned in the center of communal life. They typically bare inscriptions of religious iconography and traces of the landscape, flora and fauna of the homeland they fled. The main purpose of a rune stone was to mark territory, to explain inheritance, to boast about constructions, to tell of important events and to bring glory to warg gods who are purported to possess them to be with their people. A new rune stone is elevated every three generations to ensure the central piece does not always appear too worn and to enforce the continued hardness and stability of the community. If, during wars or raids, the rune stone is captured or destroyed; it is acknowledged as a sign of automatic defeat and/or capitulation of the tribe that owned it.Shared customary codes and values
Honor Fights
These are duels between two aggrieved parties to settle serious disputes. It starts when a representative combatant publicly chastises another, thereafter a battle space is chosen. No one has to die during these fights, but the defeated fighter is mandated to lose a part of their body or otherwise mutilated for the stated offense by the other side. Honor fights hold special legal status within warg law as when issued, the chief or other leaders have no purview to stop it.Common Dress code
As a general rule the less clothes one has to wear, the more influential they are in the culture.
Upper Hierarchy
Many men went shirtless throughout much of the year, only wearing cloaks when it got very cold. Warg chiefs are known for their elaborately decorated war shirts of feathers, fur from ermines or rabbits, porcupine quills, and glass beads gotten through trade.Lower Hierarchy
Long Sleeve
Women generally wore skirts and leggings, shirts or tunics and longer buckskin dresses. Most men wore a breech cloth which composed of a piece of material tucked into a belt that would cover the front and back. When it was warm, this was all the men wore. In cooler times, men would wear leggings to keep their legs warm.Quick Dry
Imported ayate fibers are the preferred material to weave cloths, but are difficult to acquire due to the hard-to-cross hunting tracks. Locally; vines, otter furs, jaguar pelts, cock of the rock and harpy feathers are widely used to naturally repel the regular rains and ever-present fog of the shadow plain.Muted Colours
Earth tones are best for carrying out the functions and responsibilities in hunting, trapping and patrolling clan land.Moccasin
Footwear made of soft leather without a separate heel, the sole turned up on all sides and sewn to the upper side in a simple gathered seam.Art & Architecture
In their original homeland, warg homes were built on buttes of carved rock and timber. In their hidden plain, material such as these were absent or of a poorer quality. So they remade the land to suit them.
Tree Graft Lodge
Vine trees, being plentiful as they are, served as the primary construction material for their buildings, but not as others would. While at first, the refugee wargs tried to cut them down and pile them as normal, they discovered that it is possible and better to manipulate the vine trees' growth into wide, narrow, converging and splitting parts by putting obstructions in the plants' growth path. Through these means, the warg who carved a living in the shadow plain live in living homes,Common Customs, traditions and rituals
Warg culture originates far across the strait; in a land they barely remember. Upon settling in the shadow plain, the warg encounter their most defining challenge in their new home: the Touch. Whereas before, warg culture greatly appreciated individual prowess, it was forced to redefined its priorities to be more collectivism.
Karass
Parents of different families sort their children into groups of 5-7 into a cohort called a Karass, where those children forge bonds that last for the reminder of their lives. The children's parents work together to provide for their children's needs to limit environmental exposure and ensure a minimum chance infection. However, should one child show sign of mutation, then it is a given that the whole cohort was exposed; after which the parents are excused and it is left to non-relatives to remove the entire karass.Adventuring
It is common for newly initiated [shadow] warriors to adventure out with his male karass brothers looking for honor, glory and spoils to bring back their village. Often times, depending on the destination, their karass sisters would accompany them in serving logistic if they participate in lengthy campaigns.Coming of Age Rites
Warg Bestiary
Perhaps the most important rite of passage for a young warg warrior is their first transformation.- First, he must choose and hunt down an appropriate animal of mighty strength.
- Shadow Cats
- Bearded Bears
- Water Monitors
- Jaguars
- Stags
- (Tatanka)
- Pumas
- Wolves
- Best Hawk
- Second, he must carry the carcass back to the village on his own.
- Third, he must carefully skin its pelt; preserving the skull and spine to the skin.
- Finally, he must wear his completed shadow skin and focus on fusing his head and back to the pelt; and all the rest will follow.
Ideals
Courtship Ideals
Most of a child's future marriage prospects is determined by the choice of which karass the parents' choose for their child. With them being isolated from other karasses, the children form intimate bonds on their own. By 16, they leave the karass system and interact with other young adults that they have never seen or interacted with. Though they are free to many whomever they like, it is far more common to marry within one's former child group from comfortable familiarity.
Related Items
Related Myths
Related Locations
| STR | (Choose the lowest roll as modifier) |
|---|---|
| CON | |
| DEX | |
| INT | |
| WIS | |
| CHA | |
| Armour | 2d6 |
| HP | 3d6+6 ([min+max]/2) |
| Speed | 2d10+10 ft |
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