Uratik'k
The Uratik'k or Forest Walkers, are spiritual leaders for the varhani tribes. They are in communion with the telluric spirit of Kemesh, who they name Arrik'tukli. The Uratik'k live separately from the tribal communities. They have no home and make no shelters. They spend their days and nights walking through the forests, attending to Arrik’tukli and its life, laying down to sleep on the ground when the need takes them, paying no heed to parasites or predators.
Unlike other varhani, they take the life of no living thing for sustenance, plant or animal. They restrict themselves to fallen fruit and carrion. One of the first skills Uratik'k learn is the ability to render harmless the otherwise corrupted food as well as how to stomach it. They also develop the ability to submerge themselves in the ground and draw sustenance directly from the earth, though this is only possible while maintaining a state of hibernation. The ability to gain sustenance from degraded sources increases with experience and masters of the Uratik'k are able to live off rotten leaves and deadwood.
The Kalmasan colonies in the northeast and the more recent Kahala'i colonies in the northwest have caused great concern for the Uratik'k, who abhor the colonist's wanton destruction of the natural ecology and thus injuries to the being of Arrik’tukli. They encourage the tribes to resist this encroachment and the temptations of the outsiders, but the closer a tribe is to the foreigners, the less pull their words have. Only the most insulated tribes adhere completely to their warnings, driving off or killing the foreigners.
The role of an Uratik'k among the varhani tribes is primarily a way for the varhani to know the temperment and will of the land of Kemesh, interpreted by the Uratik'k. They are told when they have hunted too much in a given area and when it is time to move on, or where there are dangerous blights or spirits to be avoided. They will perform healing and other services to help a tribe, but only if it is to the benefit of Arrik'tukli. Finally, they are protectors of the varhani, since the varhani are also part of Arrik'tukli and will help in defending them against destructive interlopers.
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