The Zoog society is based on a system of 2 castes in society the chosen, and the off-pouch. When a Zoog litter is born the mother chooses who she believes are the best looking and the strongest among her offspring and places them into her pouch that is on her dominant side. These Zooglings are called Chosen and make up the upper class of Zoog society. The other Zooglings are placed into the pouch on the mothers non dominant side and are termed Off-Pouch these Zoog are the lower class of the Zoog but are still considered full members of Zoog society which are not mistreated or enslaved. In fact the number of Off-pouch Zoog and chosen Zoog for the most part is kept realtivly equal as the Zoog wish to make sure that there are never more off-pouch than chosen and vice versa.
When 2 chosen Zoog mate with one another the chosen Zoog of that pairing become known as second generation, when 2 second generation Zoog mate the chosen Zoog of that union are considered 3rd generation, and so on. These generational titles are sources of great pride in the Zoog and are the basis for Zoog nobility and hierarchy, however when a higher generation mates with a lower generation Zoog the offspring are considered in the generation that the lower generation Zoog would have produced if it had mated with a Zoog of the same generation. Off-pouch Zoog are always considered off-pouch Zoog no matter the generation of the parents, same as a chosen Zoog being a chosen Zoog even if the parents were both off-pouch Zoog.
Immigrants in Zoog society are rare and are often barely let into the Zooglands. Those that are let in are usually enslaved or treated as lesser than Zoog. When a foreigner wishes to visit the Zooglands it is best to be invited by a Zoog who will be able to vouch for the traveler. Those that travel in without proper markings that designate it part of a group with who they have signed a treaty with will be treated as an intruder and be ambushed/enslaved unless the musk of a Zoog is present on the traveler that marks them for safe passage.
On the topic of treaties nothing is as sacred in the Zoog society as a treaty. Despite the xenophobia that they feel towards outsiders, when the Zoog sign a treaty with another nation or entity that treaty is held as a universal truth that can not be broken under any circumstances. However this sacredness of the treaty does not stop it from being abused to the extreme by the Zoog. In their mind if the express wording of the treaty has not forbid what they intend to do then the treaty remains unbroken.
A point of contention from other nations is the fact that the Zoog do not write down their treaties rather they commit the treaty to memory as in their minds it better keeps the treaty from being broken. A downside of this is that treaties can fade from view, and word forgotten as Zooglings may not be taught the treaty and the older Zoog who memorize the treaty die off. This can cause agreements to be forgotten in as quickly as a decade due to the short lifespan of the Zoog. In order to combat this the nations that have a treaty with the Zoog often have it renewed every 7 years to avoid this from happening.
Protect the forest, grow numbers, become strong.
The Zoog have been around for ages in their thick forests acting as bandits and thieves causing the forest that they resided in to be known as the Forest of Ambushes. In the forest the Zoog lived in a number of separate tribes that had constant squabble over territory, resources, mating rights, and grudges. Though never leading to outright bloodshed and war, these conflicts always stood in the way of zoog unity.
As time went on the Zoog started to worry less about each other and more about the burgeoning Elysian empire to the East. Seeing the Empire claim the holy Mirror River and the mountains that contained the Ancient Zoog Tunnel they became more and more enraged until in 1800 AA a Zoog scout saw an imperial soldier throwing waste in the Mirror River. Reporting back to his scouting party back at the Savage River they lied in wait until they saw that same soldier traveling with some colonists who where planning on setting up a town by the Forest of ambushes. Overcome with rage the Zoog scout went against the Zoog taboo of not allowing outsiders to lay eyes upon you and yelled obscenities at the soldier. Hearing this strange sound coming for the thought uninhabited Forest of Ambushes the soldier turned to see the strange creature known as a Zoog, but was greeted with an arrow through the eye. Upon seeing the lifeless body of the soldier and the spotting of a new species the colonists and soldiers ran back to the close town of Autumn wind and reported what they saw to the Empire.
Knowing that their peaceful life of isolation was at an end the Zoog started to gear for war. They would send out raiding parties both from Jahles and Caxgate where they would travel down the rivers and would then raid Imperial towns, bringing back prisoners and valuables to be used by their artisans and butchers. The Empire not being one to take the raids started to better guard their towns, but this did little to discourage the raids. With the mounting raids on the western towns, the empire in response started to march into the Forest of Ambushes where they attempted to starve out the Zoog by killing any animal they saw, and any fruit bearing tree was burned. This also included murdering any Zoog they came across. These raids came to be known by the Zoog as the Raids of the East, and are regarded with a great amount of anger by the Zoog.
With the increased aggression of the empire and the loss of Zoog lives the divided tribes were doomed that was until chief Akhokles Aivruko of the Cold Heaven Tribe in the western Zoog Lands forcibly united the other Zoog tribes into one nation in 1820. Using this new found union the Zoog were able to start raiding the Empire even more often and even turn back the imperial raiding parties. Despite these successes the Zoog knew that they could not keep up this level of aggression as the warriors were becoming fatigued and the Zoog losses were piling up. However the empire did not know this so Chief Akhokles Aivruko decided to keep up the raids until the empire surrendered lands to them. After years of back and forth raids and no signs of either side relenting the chosen daughter of Akhokles named Dagri took matters into her own hands and struck down her power hungry father in 1829. She then sent word to the empire about a potential treaty.
The nations decided upon a set border and set up a written treaty that decided that the Zoog would not ambush or raid the empire and in exchange the imperial soldiers would not pollute or settle near the Mirror River. Soon other nations came to know of the Zoog and one by one they also set up their own treaties and deals with the Zoog. With the passing of High Cheiftess Dagr Aivrukoi in 1860 her chosen daughter Zallux took over as High chieftess. Little is known about her as a leader and only time will tell if she pursues peace like her mother.
Almost completely Zoog very few permanent residents of the Zoog lands are non-Zoog.
99% Zoog
<1% Other
The Land of the species known as the Zoog.
The Zoog have little to no standing army rather they rely on guerrilla tactics during war rather than training. This along with traps have allowed the Zoog to repel invaders quite well.
The main aggressive strategy the Zoog employ is repeated raids on close towns until the area is abandoned. Once abandoned the Zoog druids move in to grow a forest there almost overnight. This causes the borders of the Zooglands to grow naturally and allows non-military Zoog to never have to leave the forest to settle the newly claimed town and restricts access of the enemy armies to take back the claimed town.
The technology of the Zoog is primitive with little use of metal and smithing. Most scholars characterize their tool use as tribal/primitive.
Most all residents of the Zoog lands are worshipers of Hoar. However there are a few residents that are followers of other religions but they are more tolerated than accepted.
99% Hoar
<1% Other
The Zoog have a mostly agrarian society with few manufactured products. There are a few Zoog craftszoog that work with leather or bones that send their wares out via trade however the best crafts and tools made by the Zoog are kept for themselves so Zoog tools have a reputation of being unreliable and low quality.
The Zoog do not send out caravans to the outside nations instead they allow the caravans to come to them and they will trade out their good in exchange for what ever catches their eye that the caravans brought in.
Education is left to the Zoog parents. Specialized knowledge is left to masters who wish to take on apprentices.
The infrastructure of the Zoog has been called lacking with little care given to structural integridy of the roads and walls. With no sewage, or dedicated healing homes sanitary minded individuals may consider the Zooglands closer to a hell than a civilization.
Spawned from the forest, grown by the clan
Founding Date
The 12th of the Month of Beasts 1810 AA
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Government System
Tribalism
Power Structure
Autonomous area
Economic System
Traditional
Major Exports
The Zoog mainly export food and meats to the outside world, along with lumber and some stone. The Zoog also may trade crafts and tools as well.
Major Imports
Whatever catches the Zoog Merchant's eye.
Legislative Body
Th Council of Chiefs
Judicial Body
The Council of Cheifs
