-They have two patron deities: Lathander and Akadi
-Due to cultural/language differences, they pronounce/spell their deities' names as Lathandar (Lah-THAWN-dar) and Akadia (Aw-KAY-dee-yah).
-The pronounciation of their tribe name was meant to be a very short "year" sound followed by a stressed KIGH. The voice actress was off a bit but I didn't have the heart to make her redo all the lines just to fix the pronounciation. A "Yur" sound probably would have been closer, like rhyming with "fur". Truthfully in my head the sound is halfway between "Yur" and "Year" and that probably only makes sense to me because of how many languages I was exposed to as I grew up. <.<
-Yr'kai legend holds that the founder of the Yr'kai was either a child of Lathandar and Akadia, or the child of their demigod offspring. More likely, they were originally two culturally similar tribes that merged and adopted each other's patron deities. What is true is that Chloe is not the first demigod offspring of one of their patron deities, but there have been a number of them throughout the history of the tribe. All Yr'kai are likely to have some amount of divine blood, ranging from a distant trickle to Chloe's half/a bit more than half ancestry.
-For quite some time the Yr'kai were a nomadic raider tribe. They raided neighboring lands for food and goods rather than growing their own food or manufacturing their own goods. They were forced to settle down after the neighboring tribes formed an alliance to defend themselves against the Yr'kai aggression.
-The Yr'kai still do not practice largescale farming or herding, relying mostly on small gardens shared livestock and purchasing anything else they need.
-Property in Yr'kai society is communal. The only thing a Yr'kai considers their own is their sword(s). Everything else is shared.
-From the moment a Yr'kai is old enough to hold a sword, until the day they die, a Yr'kai trains daily in developing their martial skills. They strive for personal perfection, not as a goal, but an aspiration that they can never achieve, only work towards.
-Yr'kai are trained to fight without armor or impediment of any kind. They have a reputation (somewhat earned) of fighting naked, with only swords and body paint. In reality only a few Yr'kai follow that practice, for various often personal reasons. The reputation largely stems from the fact that Yr'kai are ready to rush into combat at a moment's notice, no matter what they might have been doing when the call of battle was received. A Yr'kai is never more than a moment away from their sword and only truly feel naked when they set their swords down.
-Yr'kai all receive the same basic training in matters beyond martial skills. Basic medicine, gardening, reading and writing, religious duties and rites, and other such basic skills. Every Yr'kai is essentially a warrior, a scholar, a priest and a field medic.
-When a Yr'kai reaches young adulthood, they are expected to go out into the world and fight as mercenaries. They send a portion of their earnings back to support their village and the village uses that money to buy the food, medicine, and livestock they require to live.
-A Yr'kai's "wandering" phase of life can be short or last a lifetime. A Yr'kai returning to settle down often takes a role best suited to their natural talents and interests. This is usually when they start having children as well.
-Yr'kai society is egalitarian, though they often rely on the elders for their earned wisdom. All important decisions are made by vote though, and no one is considered to be the leader of their village, or their tribe, save their patron deities.
-Yr'kai trace their ancestry through their maternal line. The father is typically not listed, and is sometimes not even known.
-Yr'kai do not typically practice long-term monogamy, though it is not unheard of for it to happen naturally. Revelries involving lots of food, alcohol and random sex acts happen pretty much any time the Yr'kai think of an excuse to have one.
-Wandering Yr'kai are mindful that other cultures are often less tolerant of property sharing and "free love", so they do not practice these outside of their communities... though a wandering lifestyle does lend itself to roaming affections, but they are typically respectful enough of other cultures to not pursue "attached" partners, or pursue others if currently attached to a partner themselves... unless given permission, of course.
-Conflict resolution between the Yr'kai typically involve some or all of the "Three F's". Fighting (dueling, tests of skill, or hunting together), Feeding (Cooking for each other while talking their differences out, or feasting on their hunted down prey) or... ah... Frenzied Affections. :-D Any conflicts they are unable to work out between themselves are brought to the tribe for a vote. Typically no matter what the decision they are expected to "hug it out" afterwards and put aside any hard feelings.
-Yr'kai aren't forced to only have children with other Yr'kai, though it is encouraged. Any child born to a Yr'kai mother is considered Yr'kai no matter what their father's race or ancestry might be.
-The way of the Kensai is said to be descended from Yr'kai teachings, with a removal of the cultural and religious aspects of Yr'kai life of course. Whether that is true or the Yr'kai simply founded their fighting style on their own variation of the Kensai way is up to historians to debate.
-Yr'kai consider anything besides face to face combat to be dishonorable and repugnant in their deities' eyes, but they do not begrudge others from their "failings".
-Yr'kai wish for no greater honor than to die in battle with their swords stained in the blood of their foes. Deaths by illness, poison, or other means of foul play are abominable in Yr'kai's eyes and there is debate amongst them on whether their souls are damned or not if they should perish by such means. Even more uncertain and debated is death by old age, with some feeling to survive all one's battles and die of natural causes is the greatest form of victory, while others see it as just another means of dying to illness. The general preference will always be to die in battle though, but only if they fought as hard as they could. Not fighting to one's full potential is tantamount to suicide in Yr'kai's eyes, which they feel most certainly damns one's soul.
-A Yr'kai's method of identifying themselves follows a "Name" "out of Mother's Name" "of the Yr'kai" format. Thus "Chloe out of Akadia of the Yr'kai".
-A Yr'kai village is named in a Tribe-Founder's Name-Do fashion, "-do" being the ancient Yr'kai word for "Home". Chloe's village is thus named: Yr'kai-Razin-Do.
-The Yr'kai's temples of Akadia and Lathandar were built close to one another and the largest Yr'kai village sprang up around them. This village is named simply as "Yr'kai-Do".
-Yr'kai tradition dictates that the honored dead of the Yr'kai go to Lathandar's "Halls of Dawn". However, Akadia gets first pick of the honored dead and it is said she chooses roughly one out of ten Yr'kai to join her Honor Guard.
-The funeral practices of the Yr'kai typically involve a funeral pyre and a revelry. The deceased's swords are placed either in their home village's Great Hall, or if they were truly great heroes, in the temples of Akadia and Lathandar in Yr'kai-Do.
-All Yr'kai have at least two swords. One is dedicated to Lathandar, the other to Akadia. Most Yr'kai focus on using one at a time and typically either use them equally or let the weather dictate which deity's favor is present that day to decide which to use. The most skilled Yr'kai utilize both swords at once, as Chloe does.
-A Yr'kai's bond with their swords is so great that it is said they imbue parts of their own souls into the weapons. As a Yr'kai's skill grows, the powers of their swords grow as well. There is no greater tragedy to a Yr'kai than losing their weapon, though the bond is great enough that they always have a sense of where their weapon is so that they can recover them.
-Yr'kai train at least twice a day for an extended period of time. The first is at dawn and it is dedicated to Lathandar. The second is after night fall and it is dedicated to Akadia. A day without skill improvement, however minor, is considered a day wasted and an insult to their deities. So Yr'kai train until their muscles ache and their sweat drips. This can at times be annoying to their traveling companions who might prefer the Yr'kai help with setting up camp rather than train every day.
(Anyone currently working on expanding Chloe is free to use as little or as much of this as they please for any dialogues concerning Chloe's heritage.)
Edited by Lucythebeast, 07 April 2017 - 01:54 AM.
