Pargu (Par-goo)
Tengu native to the jungles of Ixuil, the pargu resemble parrots and other jungle birds, and are much more gregarious and forthright than other tengu. Through powerful dances and songs, they can cause their feathers to give off intense colorful lights capable of blinding and stunning enemies.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Most pargu prioritize learning Ignan, but like all tengu, love to learn new languages and can be found speaking many different ones.
Shared customary codes and values
Nearly all pargu are outgoing and extroverted, loving to share in the company of others. While their enthusiasm can be enlivening for a time, many other races, and other tengu especially, quickly find themselves unable to keep pace with the pargus energy and exasperated with the pargus antics.
Average technological level
The pargu have little need for technology, content to live as they have for generations, but many are avid painters and artists, and are always innovating for techniques to improve their artistic talents.
Common Dress code
Like most beastman of Ixuil, the pargus natural coverings and the jungle heat leaves them with little need for much clothing. They instead often wear elaborate headdresses, belts, and adornments made out of molted or ancient feathers of themselves or their deceased family members, so that they may channel the memory of those feathers into their stories and dances.
Art & Architecture
The pargu build treetop villages, away from a majority of the dangers of the jungle floor.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
The pargu believe heavily in the power of story, dance, and legend, and each family has their own stories passed down from generation to generation.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
Pargu chicks are born especially helpless, and the dangers of the jungle are always present. Thus, young chicks are heavily watched over and kept contained in pargu villages, which only kindles their desire for exploration and their need for stimulation even further.
Coming of Age Rites
A pargu at its age ceremony must perfectly perform one of its families dances and stories, honoring the memory and accomplishments of its ancestors.
Funerary and Memorial customs
Many pargu who die due so in the depths of the jungle, and often have their body reclaimed by the jungle long before it can be recovered and buried. Thus, the pargu instead focus on making lasting impressions while alive, so that those around it can continue to speak of them and guide their spirit to the afterlife.
Common Taboos
The pargu are joyous and kind, and thus dislike cruelty and unneeded violence. Those who cause undue suffering are cast out, and their stories forgotten, so that their spirit must wander the jungle, forever lost.
Common Myths and Legends
A majority of pargu worship Arunti, the tengu goddess of love and color.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Color is everything to a pargu, and thus are always on the lookout for more ways to make themselves more colorful, often dyeing parts of their feathers in exotic inks. When a rare pargu is born without color, such as with grey or white feathers, they are viewed as cursed and shunned.
Gender Ideals
Like most tengu, both genders are relatively equal in pargu society, although customs may differ from village to village.
Courtship Ideals
Pargus are deeply passionate creatures, and thus courtship is long, with many elaborate dances, songs, and gifts. Pairings between pargu are celebrated by the entire tribe, which throws a massive revel for the new couple. Many pargu tribes live in a constant state of these celebrations, only taking short breaks between each one to recoup their supplies for the next one.
Relationship Ideals
The pargu are extremely outgoing, easily forming friendships with others, both of their own race and outside it. Many feel that the tengu of other realms have lost themselves, getting caught up in deception, secrets, or hubris, and hope that they will rediscover the simpler joys of life. Pargu are quick to jump at the opportunities to aid their friends, but often expect those friends to similarly jump to their aid, regardless of the circumstance, and can get upset when their expeactations are not met.
Major organizations
While some pargu join the neighboring Tribe of the Eternal Way, many choose to travel the jungle in search of adventure and excitement, so that they can return to their homeland with many new stories to tell.
Random Pargu Homelands
| % Rolled | Homeland | Trait Gained |
|---|---|---|
| 01-40 | Jungle Village | Natural Artist |
| 41-70 | Tropical Mountain or Volcano | Gregarious |
| 71-90 | Non-tengu settlement | Stage Magic |
| 91-00 | Unusual Homeland | (Roll on Unusual Homeland table) |
A pargu replaces the standard tengu traits of Sneaky, as well as the tengus starting ability scores with the follwing traits:
Jungle Tengu: A pargu gains a +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, and a -2 Constitution instead of the normal tengu ability scores.
Colorful Dance: 1/day, a pargu can cast color spray as a spell-like ability, utilizing its total hit dice as its caster level. For every 4 hit dice beyond the first the pargu possesses, they increase the maximum amount of hit dice affected by each of color spray's effects by 1.
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