Tribe Culture

Each tribe numbers differently, but most contains several hundred thousands tribespeople. Each of these tribes is divided into different families, or Taks, the Soleri word for root, as each tribe is a tree made of roots.

CULTURE IN ALL TRIBES

The Soleri people have many differences between tribes, but also many similarities. For example, they all view The Burn as evil. A hell for souls where they are endlessly tormented. They fear the Burn and want to stay grounded. The land is nature itself and what truly matters. Everything good comes from the ground.
There are a few tribal myths that predate the separate tribes and all trust as true. They fear mythical creatures named Kellopers (Skinwalkers translated into Iron), which to them are Lost beasts that consume so many Human souls that they begin to become like them. The animals are corrupted by the evil of a Human soul and try to infiltrate their tribes, posing as a Human, like an animal wearing the skin of a Human. They are identified by the strange ways they walk and talk, mostly human but not quite. There is a myth of a single Witch of Evil who goes after anyone who dares eat Human flesh. She will eat your soul and turn you into a diseased husk of what you once were. Her name is Gathera, or the Harvester. Once you eat human flesh you will end up craving it forever and it changes you into a gaunt, pale monster.
Another mainstay belief among the Soleri tribes is that of Voodoo. This is the cultural belief in Spirits instead of Souls. Everything is spirit. Nature has spirit, animals have spirits, and Humans have spirit. They believe that the Human spirit is tainted with evil, many now calling them Souls now as an evil alternative to Spirit. It is the goal of the Soleri to do good despite the evil in their Spirits, to give back to the Trickster Gods that help them. There is a limit to the number of shamans per tribe, but this changes tribe to tribe depending on their own customs.
When someone who transcends their tribe dies, everyone gathers and dresses all in white, and dances to celebrate the dead’s life. They believe that the Burn is a terrible place where souls are absorbed and suffer for all eternity. It is better to die on the Spirit Tree, and this means that the holder and dead as well all get absorbed back into nature, to join their ancestors and the land itself.
Soleri is the country that makes up the large abundance of land mass in the middle of Vaskeer. Soleri covers the land from the base of the Virnach Mountains (bordering Iron), all the way to the Southern Coast, and to the sands in the West. The land in Soleri is large and open is most areas, with hot weather and patches of rainforest. Wildlife dominate and thrive here. There are only two seasons in the Savannahs of Soleri, dry season and wet season. The dry season spans half the year and coincides with winter elsewhere. The wet season overs the other half and coincides with summer. The wet season is the hottest and most humid time. The dry season is sunny and cool. During dry season, water can get very sparce.

POPULATION

The population of Soleri is made up of by various tribes that usually roam the land. Each one has their own history and culture, but there is some overlap. The people of Soleri are not a conquering people. They live harmoniously with nature and view it as the ultimate power that must be respected. They are very proud of their own cultures, for it has survived alongside them for the 500 years since the Ivory Wall was raised. There is much overlap between the tribes, conflict between them all but gone over the years where they have learned to rely on one another to survive. Each tribe represents themselves with their own unique coloration in their clothing, body markings, and ornaments. They will also accent this with other colors also related to intertwining ancestry with other tribes. The Soleri people adorn themselves with braids, body paint, beads, necklaces, robes, headdresses, and bracelets. If you wear the color of black, that means you do not have a tribe and have been outlawed. On special occasions, Soleri eat meat. But mainly eat leafy greens, root vegetables, plant crops, mashed tubers and beans, yams, legumes, some rice and corn, mash and porridge. Steamed foods in leaf wraps, baked in ashes (such as corn husks and banana inside a leaf wrap smoked)
The Soleri hold trees and wood as holy among all tribes. They only cut down trees when it is absolutely necessary to make traditional weapons, housing, or for the Southern tribes, a boat. Because of this, they do not use paper, and instead rely on other forms of storytelling. The Soleri people are very dark-skinned, tall and lean. They do not have much hair, and have dark skin, hair and eyes. Traditionally they have some sort of body marking. They also tend to have flat, wide features. Rings and jewellery are the currency for most Soleri. They carry X-shaped rings that can be put onto their traditional staffs, or regular jewellery they can wear. This currency is called Saacha.

SURVIVAL

For fighting, and to avoid absorbing unnecessary souls, the people of Soleri traditionally wield spears. They are good at using them to kill when needed but can also use it as a blunt weapon to knock out or daze. They also don’t use wood for arrows, instead using slings of various kinds as ranged weapons. People of Newtribe have started getting access to Iron weapons, and most prefer the long weapons like halberds that allow them to use their prior skill with a spear even more efficiently. Soleri also have stone daggers. Cruel weapons like those that disembowel are not used. Shamans manipulate the spirits of the evil dead (those who died not against M’BOukho) for the good of the land as a thank you to the animal tricksters.
Animals found in Soleri are animals found in the Savannahs of the real world. These include, Lions, Elephants, Hippos, Spotted Hyenas, Rhinos, Giraffes, Zebras, Wildebeasts, Leopards, Meerkats, Buffalo, Antelope, Baboons in the rainforest, Crocodiles in the marshes/rivers. Their cattle are the menacing Ankole.
Traditional foods: Sorghum, Okra and Kola nuts. Ankole, wildebeest, zebra, and antelope meat. Crocodile strips of meat. Fruit when traveling through forested regions.
Agriculture is mainly based off rain-fed farming. tribes tend towards the basins and rivers that dot the savannah, following the animals that know how to find them.
Stone houses and huts left abandoned in random places across the savannah when climates changed and tribes migrated. Many buildings hewn out of rock.
Architecture is very diverse between tribes and locations. Each tribe migrates through their own land to go back and forth from M'Boukho. Their own land is very unique to them. In the story, the travelers go through Zulere land where they see the stone altars, and Nqosinh land, where they see traditional african tribes.