Yin’feri (YEN free)
Uluru Elves
The Yin'feri are tribes of Woyd'are dwelling on the remote minor continent of Uluru. It is unknown when these Elf arrived on the island, but their druidic arts and practice of Woyd’lonn suggest a connection to the Woyd'are of Jerain. As many of the Cota Ocean islands were settled by migrating elf during the Black Collapse, this is the believed timeframe of their arrival.
As stated, the Yin'feri are practitioners of Woyd'lonn, though their practice in distorted, giving them the belief that flora is the divine essence of Aldern herself. The Yin'feri protect plant life fanatically. They allow their lands to be overrun by nature and are disgusted by the mainland elven way of sculpting the forests around them. The only exceptions their religion allows is the laying of flower seeds around to create beautiful barriers of protection. The Yin'feri know their rival tribes will never cross the flower beds and damage the beauty of nature.
Flesh, meat, and bone are all that is used for clothing, food, and tools. The tribes do annual hunts, traveling to nearby Island of Uluru. These hunts are meant to gather enough meat to sustain A tribe through the year. These great hunts are also used to cull the Nistaba Bullywug native to the island, so their numbers do not grow to a threat for the elves. Though the Yin'feri do not do it to each other, they do practice a form of cannibalism, slaying and consuming any travelers that arrive on their island. To the Uluru elves none natives are just meat after all, and meat is to be consumed by elf and plant.
Yin'feri tribes dwell in the Sereghel mountains. Their rock hewn villages carved into the stone near the peak. These villages are set with terraces for natural gardens to grow around the cental settlement, with a cental garden at the top for the villages Kelos Tree. The Kelos tree is the heart of the Yin'feri community and religion. Its fruit is the only vegetation that will be consumed by the Yin'feri. This is done once a year during rituals after survivors returning from their annual hunts.
Yin'feri wear only leather clothing. During summer, little more than strips covering the loins are worn. In winter, furs and thick clothing are worn. Cultural body painting and tattoos have developed across the tribes with women styling themselves were various colors. The muds used in this are usually grey, brown, or tan in color. Rare red and orange muds can be found on the Island of Uluru. Hard to get, these are exclusive to higher ranking members of society, usually painted on strong hunters and warriors, able to travel to the source of the muds. Men tattoos their bodies with purple dyes extracted from the Musrunkan snails of the seas around their islands. The tattoos often depict symbols of nature, such as vines growing across the body, or flowers.
Bone, sinew, hardened leather, and stone are used to create spears and bows. Swords and daggers are made from the teeth of giant predators. These weapons are created through Yin'feri treatment technics and Magic, making them on par with steel weapons. Yin'feri boats are small, made from the skins of the Uluru beast, the frames made from the largest beast ribs. Not seaworthy, but perfect for travel between the Islands.
An average Yin'feri skin is dark, spending their day in the sun, though this accounts for only part of it, and many elves are as dark at a native Dagmon. Many scholars believe there is Dagmon blood in the Yin'feri, bringing them closer in relation to their neighbors on Dergonhad than their original families on Ethae. It is unknown if there was more of a connection between the two continents in the ancient past, or if shipwrecked Dagmon were accepted by some tribes as equals rather than as food in ancient times. Skin tones seem to be divided along tribal lines, with northern tribes showing darker traits than their southern counterparts. Shades of brown are the most common hair colors on Sereghel, though rare, black is seen in the north and red is common along the southern coastal tribes. Brown or black eyes are the only colors seen in Uluru. Captured enemies from the outside with eye colors like blue or green are seen as having corrupted blood and burned alive, their ashes scattered into the 'lifeless' sands of the beaches.
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