Nezumi Life

[Vutall]

Nezumi Life
Many nezumi villages consist of a combination of temporary dwellings and permanent burrows. Out of necessity, villages do not stay in any one place for long; nezumi pack up and move on when sources of food grow scarce, at the first sign of danger, or due to a Dreamer’s warning. However, most tribes regularly return to the same locations, where they already burrowed out escape tunnels and storage spaces and know the terrain. Scouts check for unwanted squatters before the tribe arrives, and they seek out new locations to replace old sites they no longer deem safe.

A Gathering Of Nomads
A tribe and its village are essentially the same thing. If a tribe becomes too small to function as a village, members find another depleted tribe to join and create a new tribe. Conversely, when a tribe grows too large, it splits into two or three new ones. It is impossible to know how many tribes exist at any one time, as there are many scattered across the Shadowlands.

All tribes have a leader, but in some this is the greatest warrior, while in others, it is a gifted Dreamer or wizened Rememberer. Most tribes require lookouts, scouts, and scavengers, as well as warriors for defense when they cannot flee, but these roles shift and change depending on the tribe’s needs. Most nezumi can scout and scavenge, and even the youngest fight to protect the tribe when necessary.

A Temporary Home
The territories of some tribes include ruins, which the nezumi invariably consider to be the remains of their lost civilization. Such locations are popular places for tribes to set up camp, even if a ruin has a doorway built for creatures three times their size or it features headless statues with serpentine features. Among the stone, a tribe erects its tents, clever constructs of bone and leather. These protect the tribe’s fires from the unpredictable winds and serve as shelter for scouts and lookouts, who maintain their vigilance aboveground while other nezumi sleep in burrows in the earth beneath them

Every such location has escape tunnels, which are cleared as necessary when a tribe returns. Otherwise villages vary among tribes; some tribes favor large burrows where they can raise their families in safety underground, while others feel safer working and training on the ground above so they cannot be trapped. Some tribes build their leader, Rememberer, or Dreamer a grander burrow away from the rest of the tribe, while some tribes sleep all together in a single room.

Nezumi Pup
Nezumi pups begin life helpless, blind, and hairless. They develop quickly, emerging after two weeks to join older pups in training, foraging, and listening to stories. They are inquisitive and playful but know from scent markers where they can safely explore. Pups only wander away in extreme circumstances. Fear usually drives a pup back to a parent or other adult, but if its home suffers a disaster or is attacked, a pup obeys the instinct to flee. Unless found by its own or a friendly tribe, such pups either perish or become outcast nezumi.

Outcast Nezui
These nezumi survive by instinct, running on four paws and eating anything they find, including rotting carcasses. Their solitary life in the Shadowlands leaves them unable to communicate even with other nezumi. They recognize scent signals to keep away, so they rarely bother the tribes, but consider any Rokugani either as an enemy or potential food. Without the advantages of civilized nezumi, they are usually a threat only to a lone scout or group of wounded samurai. Occasionally, they band together to hunt, but once the prey runs out they inevitably turn on each other.