Nezumi Tribes
Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 6:16 am
Nezumi Tribes
The nezumi identify themselves by their tribes, which are usually their extended family. Loyalty is paramount, and betrayers are not granted the mercy shown to outcast nezumi. In fact, this is the one crime most tribes punish by death, and there are written accounts of such occurring. The nezumi take no satisfaction in execution, and ensure the end is swift and painless.
The Third Whisker
The Third Whisker is a small but important tribe of nezumi that largely makes its home underneath the Kaiu Wall. Small both in number and physical size, its members are quick to flee and hide if spotted. Though it is rare among their kind, they wear little or no decoration, and they often appear in clothes or armor their Crab neighbors have discarded or “lost” (once the nezumi have suitably altered them to fit their forms). The Kaiu tolerate their presence, as when the Wall comes under attack, the tribe protects its home with a ferocity the Crab samurai can only admire.
The leader of the Third Whisker is also its Dreamer, and several members of the tribe are both their off-spring and apprentices. The tribe also boasts two fully fledged Rememberers and has more in training. Unlike some groups of nezumi who look primarily to the future of their civilization, this group considers the continuation of its ancestors’ history and arts to be as import-ant as the survival of its species. Other tribes that find themselves without a Dreamer or Rememberer come to the Third Whisker to bargain for a replacement, often providing an accomplished warrior in exchange.
The Cracked Bone
The Cracked Bone are stronger and larger than most nezumi, some reaching upwards of five feet in height. They carry weapons retrieved from fallen bushi or fashioned from whatever materials they can get their paws on: daggers and spears made of wood, bone, or stone—even obsidian. They pierce their ears, nos-es, and tails, adorning themselves with carved decorations of the same materials. They also wear scavenged armor, and they consider any garment that doesn’t offer protection in battle pointless.
These nezumi are not actively hostile to the Rokugani scouts they encounter on neutral ground, but they fight to protect their territory. They expect intruders to heed the scents they leave marking boundaries, and so more than one scout has lost their life due to a cultural misunderstanding. The warriors of the Cracked Bone demonstrate none of the survival instinct common to most nezumi, but rather actively seek battle against Shadowlands creatures to prove themselves worthy. Their young must bloody their claws to achieve adulthood, in a ceremony not dissimilar to the Rokugani gempuku. Their leader holds their position by virtue of their martial skill, and when they grow too old to defeat all challengers, a victorious warrior kills them and takes their place
Cracked Bone Warrior
An accomplished warrior from a warrior tribe, this nezumi is not only large enough to look down on the average bushi, but they are also able to hold their own in a fight. Such warriors train hard from birth, so that an adult warrior can perform physical feats impossible for nezumi of more peaceful tribes. These include the abilities not only to strike with a tail but sometimes to use that tail to wield a weapon as well. Cracked Bone warriors typically sport many piercings, wounds, and scars. They are quick to fight and fearless when they do.
The Burnt Paws
According to the Rememberers of the Burnt Paws, their people come from a bellicose tribe known as the Ghost Paws. Fierce warriors who preferred stealing from the Crab rather than scavenging through Shadowlands filth, the Ghost Paws grew fond of the better things. This proved to be their downfall when the tribe traveled beyond the Wall to raid a town in which they hoped to find fine clothes, trinkets, and other unnecessary items. Unlike the usual peasant villages they preyed upon, though, this town contained veteran bushi. The Ghost Paws defeated as many as they could, but the samurai drove them into an empty storage building and shut them in. The samurai set fire to the building, and the only nezumi who escaped were those who fled over the burning wood as the walls collapsed, burning their paws.
Whether the story is true or not—and no Crab records verify it—the Burnt Paws are a cowardly tribe by their own admission. They avoid conflicts of all kinds, fleeing other tribes and scout patrols as readily as they do bands of wandering goblins. Remembering their past mistakes, they do not yearn for what they cannot have. They eat Shadowlands weeds and insects, sleep in deep burrows, and wear discarded scraps of cloth. Yet, their Rememberer is said to know where the armor and weapons of the Ghost Paws lie hidden, as the time may come when the tribe must become warriors again.
Burnt Paws Rememberer
While the Burnt Paws are, by large, extremely hesitant to engage in violence, their Rememberers tell tales of the warriors from whom they descend. Perhaps that is why these Rememberers conceal weapons in their robes. The senior Burnt Paws Rememberer wears a patchwork robe fashioned by the first Rememberer of the tribe. Each new Rememberer fixes and adds to the garment, and each piece is painstakingly embroidered with any new legendary deeds of the tribe. The Burnt Paws consider this garment sacred, perhaps even supernatural, though none dare speak about its sup-posed properties, or of what might befall the tribe if it were lost.
The Tattered Ear
Most nezumi tribes live in the Shadowlands, but tales are told of a tribe that managed to flee unseen through human lands and now lives hidden somewhere within the vast, enchanted Shinomen Forest. The nezumi consider the Shinomen a utopia, a home without threat of Shadowlands creatures or human intervention. Nezumi whisper about the Tattered Ear and the progress it must make without such considerations. Perhaps they even build cities among the trees, and one day will send troops of leaf-wearing warriors to lead their cousins out of the Shadowlands
The nezumi identify themselves by their tribes, which are usually their extended family. Loyalty is paramount, and betrayers are not granted the mercy shown to outcast nezumi. In fact, this is the one crime most tribes punish by death, and there are written accounts of such occurring. The nezumi take no satisfaction in execution, and ensure the end is swift and painless.
The Third Whisker
The Third Whisker is a small but important tribe of nezumi that largely makes its home underneath the Kaiu Wall. Small both in number and physical size, its members are quick to flee and hide if spotted. Though it is rare among their kind, they wear little or no decoration, and they often appear in clothes or armor their Crab neighbors have discarded or “lost” (once the nezumi have suitably altered them to fit their forms). The Kaiu tolerate their presence, as when the Wall comes under attack, the tribe protects its home with a ferocity the Crab samurai can only admire.
The leader of the Third Whisker is also its Dreamer, and several members of the tribe are both their off-spring and apprentices. The tribe also boasts two fully fledged Rememberers and has more in training. Unlike some groups of nezumi who look primarily to the future of their civilization, this group considers the continuation of its ancestors’ history and arts to be as import-ant as the survival of its species. Other tribes that find themselves without a Dreamer or Rememberer come to the Third Whisker to bargain for a replacement, often providing an accomplished warrior in exchange.
The Cracked Bone
The Cracked Bone are stronger and larger than most nezumi, some reaching upwards of five feet in height. They carry weapons retrieved from fallen bushi or fashioned from whatever materials they can get their paws on: daggers and spears made of wood, bone, or stone—even obsidian. They pierce their ears, nos-es, and tails, adorning themselves with carved decorations of the same materials. They also wear scavenged armor, and they consider any garment that doesn’t offer protection in battle pointless.
These nezumi are not actively hostile to the Rokugani scouts they encounter on neutral ground, but they fight to protect their territory. They expect intruders to heed the scents they leave marking boundaries, and so more than one scout has lost their life due to a cultural misunderstanding. The warriors of the Cracked Bone demonstrate none of the survival instinct common to most nezumi, but rather actively seek battle against Shadowlands creatures to prove themselves worthy. Their young must bloody their claws to achieve adulthood, in a ceremony not dissimilar to the Rokugani gempuku. Their leader holds their position by virtue of their martial skill, and when they grow too old to defeat all challengers, a victorious warrior kills them and takes their place
Cracked Bone Warrior
An accomplished warrior from a warrior tribe, this nezumi is not only large enough to look down on the average bushi, but they are also able to hold their own in a fight. Such warriors train hard from birth, so that an adult warrior can perform physical feats impossible for nezumi of more peaceful tribes. These include the abilities not only to strike with a tail but sometimes to use that tail to wield a weapon as well. Cracked Bone warriors typically sport many piercings, wounds, and scars. They are quick to fight and fearless when they do.
The Burnt Paws
According to the Rememberers of the Burnt Paws, their people come from a bellicose tribe known as the Ghost Paws. Fierce warriors who preferred stealing from the Crab rather than scavenging through Shadowlands filth, the Ghost Paws grew fond of the better things. This proved to be their downfall when the tribe traveled beyond the Wall to raid a town in which they hoped to find fine clothes, trinkets, and other unnecessary items. Unlike the usual peasant villages they preyed upon, though, this town contained veteran bushi. The Ghost Paws defeated as many as they could, but the samurai drove them into an empty storage building and shut them in. The samurai set fire to the building, and the only nezumi who escaped were those who fled over the burning wood as the walls collapsed, burning their paws.
Whether the story is true or not—and no Crab records verify it—the Burnt Paws are a cowardly tribe by their own admission. They avoid conflicts of all kinds, fleeing other tribes and scout patrols as readily as they do bands of wandering goblins. Remembering their past mistakes, they do not yearn for what they cannot have. They eat Shadowlands weeds and insects, sleep in deep burrows, and wear discarded scraps of cloth. Yet, their Rememberer is said to know where the armor and weapons of the Ghost Paws lie hidden, as the time may come when the tribe must become warriors again.
Burnt Paws Rememberer
While the Burnt Paws are, by large, extremely hesitant to engage in violence, their Rememberers tell tales of the warriors from whom they descend. Perhaps that is why these Rememberers conceal weapons in their robes. The senior Burnt Paws Rememberer wears a patchwork robe fashioned by the first Rememberer of the tribe. Each new Rememberer fixes and adds to the garment, and each piece is painstakingly embroidered with any new legendary deeds of the tribe. The Burnt Paws consider this garment sacred, perhaps even supernatural, though none dare speak about its sup-posed properties, or of what might befall the tribe if it were lost.
The Tattered Ear
Most nezumi tribes live in the Shadowlands, but tales are told of a tribe that managed to flee unseen through human lands and now lives hidden somewhere within the vast, enchanted Shinomen Forest. The nezumi consider the Shinomen a utopia, a home without threat of Shadowlands creatures or human intervention. Nezumi whisper about the Tattered Ear and the progress it must make without such considerations. Perhaps they even build cities among the trees, and one day will send troops of leaf-wearing warriors to lead their cousins out of the Shadowlands