Kúxes

The Kúxes¹ inhabit a few valleys in eastern Darlaa, a region in the western Múlíat Mountains in southern Dragonía, where they live in homes carved into cliffs and tend to their farms below them.

Appearance and abilities

Kúxes are humanoids with avian features, such as beaks, talons and feathers covering most of their bodies, but have hands instead of wings. Their plumage is mostly white, with the throat, chest, wrists, ankles, tail and top of the head of varying shades of blue, all of which has a metallic sheen to it on healthy individuals. Young children are covered in grey down, while older ones have white and blue-grey feathers. The men have much larger tail feathers than the women.
The hands and feet are covered in grey scales, each limb has four digits (including an opposable thumb), though the fourth toe is vestigial and located above the heel.

History

Kúxes first appeared in the northern mountains at the end of the last ice age, where they lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle, hunting animals up in the mountains during summer and fished or gathered plants down in the valleys during winter. However, due to pressure from the fearsome Zúattans, who often used the same valleys to graze their flocks of sheep and antelopes during winter, the Kúxes gradually settled down in caves -natural and artificial alike- up in the mountains for much of the year to keep their eggs and children warm during the colder months.
After the Zúattans perished a few thousand years later, the Kúxes expanded eastwards and -through contact with other cultures such as Hyrríans- adopted both agriculture and metallurgy.
Much of their territory has since been overrun by Gobíls from the northernmost Múlíat Mountains, and today Kúxes only inhabit a few valleys in easternmost Darlaa, north of the Znagrúk Empire.

Society

Kúxes are divided into several tribes, each centered around its own village. Although each members of each tribe have their own language and customs, they are able to communicate with each other by using a common trade language.
Kúx society is largely centered on farming, fishing and metalworking, with men being responsible for tending the fields and defending their village, while the women mine ore and make leather.

Culture

Apparel

Clothing is minimal among Kúxes, consisting mostly of belts or aprons meant to protect them when mining, tanning hides or working with metal. Jewelry, mostly in the form of necklaces, is quite popular, often made with gold or copper chains, sometimes adorned with precious stones, clay- or wooden beads, or tufts of dried grass dyed with verdigris.

Cuisine

Kúxes mostly subsist on melons, beans and nuts cultivated along rivers, along with fish, wild plants and vermin found in or near the fields. Most food is either roasted or stewed, sometimes with added spices or dried fruit bought from Hyrríans.

Religion

Kúx mythology is centered around Júalón, the Tree of Life, which connects the earthly realm with those above and beneath it, all of which are inhabited by animal spirits that control the weather, the day and night cycle, health and other things. These spirits are mischievous but can be persuaded via offerings of food, but more malicious spirits can sometimes be 'captured' into clay bowls painted with their symbol to avoid disasters, and later released by puncturing a hole into the vessel.
Kúxes practice excarnation, that is, their dead are laid out above the cliff dwellings until only the bones remain. The skulls are then retrieved, painted with ochre and verdigris and placed in small alcoves within the family's home.

Warfare

Warfare among the Kúxes is almost entirely focused on defending their territory against raids lead by Kóhans, the Gobíls of Darlaa. Their warriors are lightly armed, at most wearing loincloths reinforced with copper plates and a larger plate protecting one shoulder, while carrying lozenge-shaped shields and spear-throwers.

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¹Original icelandic: Kúxar, singular: Kúxi.

by Lappalingur

Origin/Ancestry

Northern Múlíat Mountains.

Related Locations
Darlaa