Omgar Tortles

I caught a big fish./Now I search for a good friend/To share my lunch with - Tortle Haiku

The Omgar Tortles are inspired by Wizards of the Coast's The Tortle Package

Nomads at heart, the Omgar Tortles are based out of the semi-tropical town of Ahoyhoy. Deeply connected to their families and shared knowledge, the Omgar Tortles often venture out to surroudning lands and seas to learn and wander, returning home to share what they've learned and raise their children.

Naming Traditions

Unisex names

All Omgar Tortle names are unisex, and tend to be one to two syllables. Tortles are given names at birth, but can easily change them for any reason in their life. Some Tortles change their name many times, due to personal growth, a change of role in life, or merely a shift in mood. According to The Tortle Package, Tortle names include:

Baka, Damu, Gar, Gura, Ini, Jappa, Kinlek, Krull, Lim, Lop, Nortle, Nulka, Olo, Ploqwat, Quee, Queg, Quott, Sunny, Tibor, Ubo, Uhok, Wabu, Xelbuk Xopa, Yog.

Other tortle names include Bym, Luna, Oog, Zim, and Zurtle.

Family names

The Omgar Tortles consider themselves one large family, and as such lack distinguishing family names. When required to give a family name, such as to imperial authorities, they typically denote themselves as "of Omgar" or any other such location they relate to.

Culture

Average technological level

Tortles prefer to make everything themselves, learning how technology is produced rather than trading for it. This makes the tortles very self-sufficent, but their aversion to being underground prevents them from any large-scale mining efforts. As such, while the Omgar Tortles have the knowledge to industrialize like the Empire of Keoland has, they largely stay within stone-to-bronze-age technology due to material constraints.

Foods & Cuisine

The Omgar Tortles eat a wide variety of foods while traveling, but when home subsist largely off of leafy vegetables and fish caught offshore.

Birth & Baptismal Rites

When a Tortle hatches, they crawl on all fours and stay with their parents, who attempt to teach them everything they know. Due to Tortles' limited lifespan - about fifty years - baby Tortles have little time left, and after quickly learning to walk and talk (as well as any and all knowlegde the parents can impart before they pass), the infantile Tortles are orphaned by the march of time, left to be raised by the wider community until they leave the nest.

Coming of Age Rites

A Tortle is not truly considered an adult until they wander away from the settlement and co-mingle with strange and foreign cultures and peoples. When a Tortle is anywhere from 5 to 15, they typically decide to swim out to sea, meeting with underwater cultures and traveling until they reach a strange shore. From there, they simply wander.

We wear our homes upon our backs

-Zim Zim Zurtle, the Wandering Tortle.

Omgar Tortles will loose themselves in cities, make many friends of different races, and learn as many skills as they can until they reach an old age, upon which they return home to share what they have learned and rear offspring.

Common Myths and Legends

The Omgar Tortles do not have their own strong religious tradition, and often take up the worship of the Gods most venorated in the regions they find themselves in during their wanderings. That said, they have a particular reverence for the sun and moon, viewing them as eyes that watch over them in the day and night. The changing of the moon's phase can cause particular auspicion, and the Omgar Tortles feel particularly uncomfortable underground, north during ringshadow, on cloudy days, at night during a New Moon, or during any other circumstance where neither the Sun nor Moon is visible in the sky.

On days when both are visible, the Omgar Tortles believe themselves to be lucky and blessed. These are days meant for beginning new ventures, trying new things, and taking greater risks.

Historical figures

While likely too old to be originally from the Omgar Tortles, Zim Zim Zurtle, the Wandering Tortle, has vistited the Omgar Tortles before and sired at least one child with an Omgar woman; the legendary warrior Bym Bym Byrtle.

Bym Bym Byrtle - or Bym for short - was known to dual weild spiked shields and fight with the ghosts of his ancestors. Furthermore, he was rumored to have been hatched under the watch of both the Sun and Moon, giving him extra magical powers. Bym defeated many threats to the island community, but went missin in the depths of Dangwaru.

Notable Omgar Tortles

Currently, there are a handful of Omgar Tortles of note in Ahoyhoy and the surrounding regions of the world.

Eeyal

Sporting handcrafted goggles, Eeyal is a well-traveled tortle who can guide travelers up Mount Lumbrendi and much of the surrounding area. She's only seventeen, but carries herself with so much wisdom and experince that people unfamiliar with Tortles often mistake her for someone twice or thrice her age.

Kwilgok

Booking passage on a ship that passed Ahoyhoy, Kwilgok has now found himself within the southern colonies of the Empire. A skilled rider, Kwilgok has a pet ankylosaurus - Deadly Treausre - who is Kwilgok's pride and joy. Being twenty-six, the nearly six-foot tall Tortle is well-versed in the jungles and river systems of the southern colonies.

Mudgraw

Boisterous and loud, Mudgraw still lives within the compounds of Ahoyhoy. He prefers to adventure in shorter bursts, learning from foreigners who also love to adventure, and happily leads expeditions into unfamiliar territory - even if he has no idea where he's guiding his clients! At the ripe age of fourty-four, Mudgraw eagerly guides people on new expeditions, and is fond of referring to life as a maze whenever he is vexed or perplexed.