Sīna Aqāye

Long before the end of the Silent Age, a group of nomadic hunter-gatherers traversed the diverse landscape after prey. One of them sighted a great herd of tuehma, a beast previously unknown to them. The herd led them to the Great Plains, where the tribes came to call home.

Throughout the Silent Age the Aqāye people followed tuehma herds across the vast, open fields. They slept, ate and drank wherever the horned beasts did. Later on they began to herd and tame the animals themselves as well, irrevocably changing their lifestyle away from the hunting and gathering lifestyle their ancestors relied on.

Clan and Family

Aqāye clans kept up the nomadic life, traversing after herds with close and extended family alike. The average Aqāye clan usually consisted of around 10-30 members and three-or-so families, all closely connected to each other. The oldest of the clan, usually grandparents of the youngest members, were the unquestionable leaders who made up a small council amongst themselves to decide on any matters concerning the entire group.

Age and experience were the absolute determiners of one's value in Aqāye clans, with the eldest having the most influence while the children were simply to obey and learn from their parents, though the extent and details varied greatly per each individual clan. Exact parentage of a child mattered little within the clan hierarchy: a child of one member was a child of all, and a parent or grandparent of one was that to all the younger members as well.

Every member of the clan was taught how to herd and hunt alike, as well as how to defend themselves from attacks of both animal and human origin, as not all of their cousin clans were content to simply live and let live.

Clothing

The Great Plains experienced major fluctuations in temperature between freezing winters and hot summers. Winter clothing was easily weaved from tuehma fur, whereas materials such as wool and linen were more often traded in exchange for meat from sedentary farmers beyond the dry plains.

Clothing made by the Aqāye was simple and practical, with mobility favored over beauty. Still, dyes of various origins were a common way of adding interest to an otherwise dull piece of clothing, and it was not unusual for every member to develop their own signature style of sorts when weaving and dyeing linen clothing for themselves or their family.

Rituals and Traditions

Every birth within a clan was celebrated with a feast, even in the midst of winter when all food left may have well been dried meats and cheese. The newborn would be introduced to the rest of the clan over the next days, and would usually receive their name during the first half a year of their life.

The dead were traditionally cremated in a great fire and their remains scattered in the plains to truly free the spirit, or soul, from its earthen chains. Sentimental items were either burned with the body, though they were sometimes kept by a close family member.

People of the Plains

Region: Great Plains of the East
Lifestyle: pastoral nomads
Religion: old faith
Era: Silent Age