Kostus Ways

General

The Kostus Ways is a set of practices, codes of honour, and rituals that give structure to the different ancestries and isolationist communities of the Kostus Tribes. These practices center around strength in combat, personal accountability, and severe concequences for dishonour.

Religious Tenets

• Seek worthy opponents. Prove yourself strong enough to earn respect.
• Submit when you are defeated. There is honour in recognising one's limits.
• Show no mercy to those that are weak.

Worship of Taranis

Taranis, Lord of the Hunt is worshipped as the god of violence and is consisered to be the ultimate top of the spiritual food chain. His folowers respect and fear him in equal measure. They pray to him for strength in battle. Taranis rewards those who hunt worthy opponents, and has no mercy for those that cower in fear.

Organisation

The religious needs of the Kostus Tribes are tended to by shamans dedicate rituals to the Great Spirits . Out of the Wylde gods, Taranis, Lord of the Hunt is the most widely worshiped by the Kostus. Shamans bear the symbol of multiple red eyes, and are often smeared with fresh blood. The religious language of the Ways is Go'Tor, and all rituals are performed in that language.

Practices

The Kostus Ways are as much a way of life as they are a belief system. This way of life centers around fighting ability and personal honour. Social status is directly linked with prowess, as the strongest wariors in the tribe are looked up to as leaders. This social pecking order is established via ritual combat, with tribesmembers competing with each other in duels. This ensures that leaders command the respect of the tribe.

Authority through Violence

There are different types of duels that Kostus engage in. Duels to determine social standing are often until one combatant surrenders. Duels to determine disputes are often until first blood. First blood is a sacred event in the Kostus Ways, and holds deep spiritual significance. The first drop of blood that hits the soil is an offering to Taranis, and signifies a person's defeat. Duels to the death are rare between Kostus, since the loser always has the option of ritualy submitting. Death only occurs when a fighter is to desperate or prideful to admit their defeat.

Pavaldus

Pavaldus is a social status within the Kostus Tribes. A Kostus who is on the loosing side of a fight has two choices. Fight to the death and they might survive, or choose to ritually submit to their opponent. Doing so causes them to become Pavaldus, a servant to the victor. Submitting is seen as hounourable, since recognising one's limits is an acceptance of their place in nature. As long as a fight is between two folowers of the Ways submission is always an option. Killing someone who has submitted to you is a gravely dishonourable act.
A Pavaldus becomes a servant to the victor of combat, and is required to serve them for a specified amount of time accoring to the circumstances of the fight. Duels have specified lenghts of service for the loser, and loosing an unofficial fight results in a year of service. A Pavaldus is not allowed to pick up their weapons, or fight in any meaningful way so long as they have Pavaldus status. Doing so would be the highest form of dishonour, and is grounds for immediate execution. Pavaldus relinquish their weapons to a shaman upon entering service.
Pavaldus cook, wash clothes, do housework, maintain homes and do other such tasks. They are expected to do these tasks quietly, stoicly, and without complaint. In return a Pavaldus is treated with respect, no matter what the previous relation with their master was. They could have been hated enemies, and the Pavaldus would serve their master faithfully, while the master would never mistreat them. Anything less from either would be seen as dishonourable, and the offender would be treated harshly by their community.
After their service is done, a Pavaldus retrieves their weapons from the shaman and returns to their tribe, where they pick their old life back up. Pavaldus service is seen as honourable, and the person does not loose status for their service, only for the defeat that caused it.

Codes of Honour

The ways are enforced not by centralized authority, but by personal codes of honour and the social pressure of the community. A Kostus would never lie about their victories, their Pavaldus status, or deny their defeat. Doing so would dishonour them, and mark them as inherrently untrustworthy. Such invividuals are sometimes banished, but often killed by their tribes.
Fighting honourably does not mean fighting "fair". The Kostus value only victory, and using tactics that other cultures might see as underhanded is not looked down upon by the followers of the Ways. One's wit and tactical mind is as much part of the strength as their physical prowess. Outsmarting your enemy makes you capable in the eyes of the Kostus. Only a coward would complain about being defeated 'unfairly', as the only proof of your strength are the results of your fights, not how those results came to be.

Outsiders

Those who not follow the Ways often regard Kostus as savage brutes. This is due to their ritual submission not being granted to outsiders. According to the Kostus, the honour of one who does not follow the Ways cannot be trusted. Outsiders are almost always killed when defeated, since they cannot ritually ask to be spared. This has given the Kostus a reputation of mercyless killers. The Kostus have no need for prisoners, since they do not barter with their foes. The Pavaldus tradition make it so that the Kostus do not trust non-Pavaldus servants, and they have no interest in enslaving outsiders.