Kenku
The kenku culture of tengu are located in central Jiiral, just south of the equator. Their society conserves the natural world and kenku are equally at home surviving in the wilderness as they are in their cities.
Kenku are extremely social, banding together in extended communities with many families living in adjacent houses and sharing the work of the household. In cities, a community may also contain members of other ancestries. Kenku children raised in the same unit consider each other siblings, usually forgetting which of them share a biological connection.
Kenku practice a syncretic faith that blends a polytheistic worship of the deities responsible for creating the natural world. As kenku folklore posits that tengu long ago descended from an ancient roc that ceased traveling to rest upon the highest peak, animist rites were practiced on mountains and other great natural features.
The ancestral deity of tengu is the storm god Hei Feng and is depicted as a large tengu made of storm clouds. Hei Feng is celebrated with loud and colourful celebrations before the local storm season. The festivals are intended to rival the noise of the strongest storms, showing Hei Feng that there's no need to send more weather to the area. A special alcohol is brewed for these parties, fermented berries from bushes that long ago were struck by lightning but survived. Cuttings from these thunder-struck berries are propagated to grow clones of the original bush. The thunderbrew is a powerful intoxicant that empowers the drinker's confidence.
Kenku are often conservative and reclusive, reluctant to trust outsiders who can take advantage of their frail bodies. Despite this, many kenku are called to travel to find better work, sharing their expertise at crafting and sailing, or just experiencing the diverse cultures beyond their homeland. Kenku and tengu in general are known for their martial prowess, merging their talon and beak strikes with steel blades.
The kenku culture dominates the nations of Zagbia, Kakala and Imafer. Once a united empire, when the three children of the last emperor passed each claimed the throne they split the lands in three. Imafer and Kakala get on reasonably well and trade along the Krajunek river. Zagbia is expanding into the ghoran lands to the south.
Kenku are extremely social, banding together in extended communities with many families living in adjacent houses and sharing the work of the household. In cities, a community may also contain members of other ancestries. Kenku children raised in the same unit consider each other siblings, usually forgetting which of them share a biological connection.
Kenku practice a syncretic faith that blends a polytheistic worship of the deities responsible for creating the natural world. As kenku folklore posits that tengu long ago descended from an ancient roc that ceased traveling to rest upon the highest peak, animist rites were practiced on mountains and other great natural features.
The ancestral deity of tengu is the storm god Hei Feng and is depicted as a large tengu made of storm clouds. Hei Feng is celebrated with loud and colourful celebrations before the local storm season. The festivals are intended to rival the noise of the strongest storms, showing Hei Feng that there's no need to send more weather to the area. A special alcohol is brewed for these parties, fermented berries from bushes that long ago were struck by lightning but survived. Cuttings from these thunder-struck berries are propagated to grow clones of the original bush. The thunderbrew is a powerful intoxicant that empowers the drinker's confidence.
Kenku are often conservative and reclusive, reluctant to trust outsiders who can take advantage of their frail bodies. Despite this, many kenku are called to travel to find better work, sharing their expertise at crafting and sailing, or just experiencing the diverse cultures beyond their homeland. Kenku and tengu in general are known for their martial prowess, merging their talon and beak strikes with steel blades.
The kenku culture dominates the nations of Zagbia, Kakala and Imafer. Once a united empire, when the three children of the last emperor passed each claimed the throne they split the lands in three. Imafer and Kakala get on reasonably well and trade along the Krajunek river. Zagbia is expanding into the ghoran lands to the south.
Comments