Kin
Menerem Natives
When the settlers arrived on Menerem, they originally thought it uninhabited. It wasn't until they made their first forrays into the treacherous Jikandi desert that they discovered the Kin.
The Kin are a semi-nomadic, highly regimented, and insular society. They do not involve themselves in trade with other cultures or establish any diplomatic ties. Notable for a disdain for writing in any form, this culture has not developed with the rest of Menerem, being more of a pastoral society. This culture consisted solely of humans and half-elves when the settlers first arrived but have since diversified as they accepted others into their society over the last nineteen-hundred years.
Insular Clans
They roam the Jikandi Desert with their herds of goats and cattle, stopping at small walled villages that harvest maize and wheat on a small scale. Entry at these villages is not permitted unless a person is joining the Kin. On rare cases, the Kin have allowed lost wanderers dying of thirst or hunger to rest in their cities before being escorted to the nearest foreign road.
The ten clans of the Kin often raid each other for livestock and more rarely for territory. Currently, the Wind Runners that claim the northern desert to the borders of Tefely and the Cave Diggers that inhabit the rocky hills at the base of the dragonspire mountains east of Munice are the two strongest clans. There are three clans that have dissolved, the Rock Jumpers, Sand Talkers and the Lake Swimmers, with the Sand Talkers disappearing in the last five years.
The Kin violently resisted any attempts to settle inside the desert untiul the Battle of Flame. Afterwards, it was them who made the initial suggestion to create Penrook above the portal created there. In exchange for ceding the land for Penrook, the Penrook Accords forbid any signee from settling in the Jikandi Desert, effectively establishing borders for the Kin even though they vehemently refused to sign the document itself. The Kin Deathmakers have enforced this ban though they permitted the building of roads through the desert to Penrook. They leave the caravans travelling roads alone but they ignore them and do not interact with them.
Treading the Path
The Kin live a harsh life and have adapted a strict culture to survive it. They have embraced specialization over general knowledge and every member of the clan is trained in only one area of expertise, which they call Treading the Path. Eschewing writing, these paths are indicated by color: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet and Black.
The most well-known to the rest of Menerem are the Deathmakers of the Black Path, warriors of a fearsome reputation for their bloodlust and skill. The Kin treading the Red Path are known as Musicmakers and seem to be the least respected of the Paths. The Wordmakers of the Blue Path were documented as being involved in discussions surrounding the Battle of Flame.
The most talented Kin are chosen to be Painted and given magical tattoos on their arms from their shoulders to the backs of their hands in a pattern like lightning strikes frozen in time in the color of their Path. These tattoos give the Kin magical powers on top of their already specialized training.
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