(08-23-2017, 12:00 AM)Valic Wrote: A tribe which sees all beastkin as equals with man, therefore refuses to eat or use them as beasts of burden. As a result, the diet of the Sagahl mainly consists of steppe shrubs and vilekin.
This could take a few forms from my perspective, it could mean their tribe is peaceful in general or even worship beasts to some degree. It also just may mean exactly as it says, they won't use or eat them but if they'd have to defend themselves from a beast then they may at the very least kill it. The line that sticks out the most to me is just that they "see all beastkin as equals with man" to mean you could see varieties of this tribe on different levels.Â
Yeah, one significant part of his story was that the tribe itself was split into two schools of thought: killing in self-defense is okay vs. no killing no matter what. Something happens that eventually makes it impossible for both sides to stay as one and they break apart from each other, one side creating a new tribe entirely so as not to be associated with the other. One of my issues is that I'm not sure how scattered the tribes are? Do they usually stay in and move as one big unit, or are there usually camps scattered about with each camp having its own leader and variations on customs and beliefs? Are the camps usually small or do they vary in size?Â
This is what I was going to go with: he comes from a relatively large camp of Sagahl that already has a rift in it on whether or not it's okay to kill in self-defense, and he's part of the family of leadership in that particular camp, which draws attention to him in positive and negative ways as he grows up. They are not isolationists, they trade with outsiders and allow outsiders in (though the people are torn on this issue too), make camp in areas with few aggressive beasts in order to avoid conflict, have their own beliefs and superstitions (for instance, a yellow moon is a bad omen, blue eyes are a blessing of Azim but not considered conventionally attractive or favorable), and the only herd they keep is sheep for their wool and milk. Fruits and vegetables are a delicacy, they're skilled weavers and metalsmiths, expert botanists, only use spears when they need to use weapons at all (on large vilekin, for instance; spears are best for piercing carapaces). Leadership is usually established by birth but can be challenged and taken through combat, but since they're largely more peaceful this only happens if they feel their leader is truly incapable of leading. The elderly are revered and give counsel but all final decisions are the leader's. Learning to read and write is treated with indifference, but if one has a particular passion for it they're considered odd. They don't believe magic should be used by mortal men, that doing so is inviting disaster because it's impossible to fully understand something that comes from the realm of the gods; it's dangerous and also extremely disrespectful. They're generally a quiet people who are more likely to side-eye the things they don't like/trust/believe in rather than outright say something about it. They can be passive-aggressive to a fault.
