Taguel Lore
Oct 29, 2015 17:22:27 GMT -6
Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Oct 29, 2015 17:22:27 GMT -6
Tribes
Taguel are generally agreed to be a single species, in that they can interbreed with each other and create fertile offspring, but that single species is split into countless sub-species only loosely coalesced into five Great Tribes, further divided into seven families. Feline Taguel, collectively known as the Cat Tribe, range from lions to panthers. Canine Taguel are unique into being split into three Lesser Tribes within their Great Tribe - Hound, Wolf, and Fox; some introduce themselves by their Lesser Tribe, others by their Greater. Ursine Taguel run the range of bear-type Taguel, from grizzlies to polar bears. Leporine Taguel, much more commonly known as the Rabbit Tribe, are... well, rabbits. Finally, avian Taguel are collectively known as the Bird Tribe, and include everything with wings, from ravens to hawks.
Not all Taguel clearly identify as a particular subspecies within their Tribe - whether because they are a mix of breeds or simply because aesthetic traits are regressive, most Taguel are perfectly content to think of themselves as a "rabbit" or a "bird," and leave the unnecessary taxonomy to human with too much time on their hands. This is especially common among cats, perhaps ironic given their individuality, while dogs on the other hand more commonly take pride in which lesser tribe they most identify as.
While unions between tribes can provide viable offspring, the resultant child always strongly favors a single species - there is no "Bird/Dog" combination tribe nor are there any canine Taguel who happen to have wings. However, seemingly-lost genetic information may become unexpectedly dominant, even ten or fifty generations down the line; a Bear father and Bird mother may have a Dog child if a canine Taguel is somewhere in the ancestral family tree. This tends to make the difference between Tribes somewhat academic in practice, and the eternal fusion of individual Taguel helps fuel the constant evolution of the species as a whole.
Appearance
Fitting of the avatars of evolution and adaptation in Elibe, Taguel vary wildly in appearance, even within the same tribe or subspecies. Even within a single family there may be significant appearance differences, a phenomenon once theorized by human researchers to be due to their constant and rapid evolution. Still, there are common themes within each tribe that tend to identify a given Taguel as belonging to their parent tribe.
Cat Tribe Taguel often have long and furry tails, sometimes even prehensile, and cat ears or even whiskers - or at least whisker marks - are common traits as well. Birds often have some wings of some description even in human form, and some have hair with an odd luster and texture reminiscent of feathers. Canine Taguel vary more than most due to their multiple primary tribes, but much like Cat Taguel they tend to have ears and tails matching their tribe if nothing else. Bear Taguel are often the most understated in human form in terms of "inhuman" features, but tend to be larger than average and carry a presence that hints at their true nature. Rabbit Taguel often have rabbit tails, inconsistently have rabbit ears, and occasionally have a network of veins running across their faces or entire bodies.
In beast form, the only real constant is that they can clearly be identified as belonging to a given tribe; whether their beast form is entirely bestial or partially humanoid, large or small, black or red, there is no mistaking a transformed rabbit Taguel for a bird or a cat.
Age
Taguel vary wildly in maturation and aging, both between tribes and as a general rule of thumb. While bear Taguel usually have the longest natural lifespans, the extremely high mortality rate among all Taguel ensures that few get anywhere near that maximum limit - not even most Taguel really know how long they could potentially live. Most Taguel reach adolescence within 10 human years and adulthood within 15-20, but much like dragons they often appear to stop aging entirely or slow down dramatically from there. Natural lifespans tend to range from 100-200 years, though the average is much lower due to their lack of civilization and high-risk lifestyle, and a few very wise or very cautious Taguel have lived as long as 300-400 years. As a result, most Taguel hold little fear of death, at least not as humans do; they wrestle with its grim specter every day and have become inured to it.
Society
Within the wild lands that have been their home for a thousand years, the Taguel have a saying - "I against my brother, my brothers and I against my cousins, then my cousins and I against strangers." It is a crystallization of the hierarchy of loyalties that (almost) all Taguel share to varying degrees; they fight among themselves constantly, whether for self-betterment or pride, but in the end it is an unusual Taguel indeed who does not put aside personal grudges or even ancient tribal rivalries to advance their race when push comes to shove.
...At least in theory.
Practically speaking, there is little to no actual coalition among Taguel as a whole - that hierarchy of loyalties rarely extends further than family, and even then only by necessity, when a larger group or their species as a whole is threatened. Taguel society, such as it can call itself that, has always been fractured beyond even human or dragon society; very few decisions are made even by tribes, the last one almost two hundred years ago to stave off a possible war between two Great Tribes, and as a race not a single overarching decision has been made since the Scouring. There are smaller tribes of extended blood relations as well, sometimes with bonds as strong as a true family, but they rarely approach even the size of a small Sacaen tribe, much less a group of hundreds or thousands.
Still, there are exceptions to every rule, and among the thousands of Taguel that exist, some feel a bit differently. While there are no great cities or academies among their kind, there are a number of villages scattered across the island, though not quite in the human meaning of the term - it would perhaps be more accurate to call them fusions of villages, trading posts, and common grounds for all Taguel, where business- or civic-minded Taguel provide for each other and their more nomadic brethren alike. Farming, hunting, and blacksmithing are not common Taguel skills, but outliers who would rather be among their kind often congregate in these places, creating self-perpetuating hives of unity that in some cases approach or even rival Great Tribes in terms of inspiring loyalty to a group.
Many Taguel scoff at this mindset, though even among the proudest Taguel there are more than a few who appreciate the blacksmiths in particular, and there is a certain disconnect between the two groups that has slowly grown in the last century especially. The re-discovery of Elibe threatens to bring matters to a breaking point - or offer a chance to bring both sides together again as family once more. It is up to the leaders of our time to step up and try to unite the Taguel for the first time in a millennium.
Mindset
Taguel tend to have a very different concept of family (and indeed several different words entirely for variations of it) than the human version - 'family' is who you are closest to; your best friend is your brother. This can extend to human companions as well, and if there is one consistency among Taguel, it is that they are loyal beyond any other. Given their intensely individualistic and nomadic lifestyles and the omnipresent dangers of their home, it stands to reason that the greatest treasure of all is someone you can trust to watch your back; friends, family, ohana, nakama, all different representations of a bond stronger than blood.
As individuals, Taguel of every color tend to be intensely pragmatic and peerless survivalists; a lifetime of struggle shapes nearly all into individualistic and self-confident people, or breaks them long before they have a chance to propagate their weakness. Beyond that, personalities vary wildly, perhaps even more than among humans; the exaltation of the individual forces most Taguel to develop individual worldviews and outlooks, even among villages. Taguel who have not yet done so are generally in the process of doing so - the stereotype of curious and excitable young Taguel trying to find their place in the world and decide what they want out of it is born out of truth, and few Taguel would even dream of looking down on a youngling attempting to do so; each Tribe has a thousand variations of the concept of a 'vision quest,' often as a rite of passage within a group.
While there is no true analogue to a king in Taguel culture, leadership is universal, and the strongest and most famous Taguel within each Great Tribe wield more power than may be immediately obvious to outsiders - they may not collect taxes or send armies, but the words of heroes demand respect and the idolization of younger Taguel means they have a great deal of ability to shape the mindsets of their Tribe... or theoretically even their entire species, but is has been many years since the Taguel had a champion so great that she could affect her entire species.
Spirituality and Religion
Taguel are not religious. There are no exceptions - they left Elibe before Eliminism took root and even today would have nothing but disdain for a religion based on a mass murderer. Even aside from lofty philosophical questions of gods and deities, simple pragmatism demands more of a focus on the here and now; a Taguel is more likely to venerate the human (or beast) form than believe in any external god. As such, they do not have any concept of a 'cult' or even organized religion as a whole.
Taguel can be spiritual, however. To be specific, many Taguel refer to the 'Earthmother' in much the same way that Sacaens of Elibe refer to Father Sky and Mother Earth, and once the species clash, perceptive individuals may very well notice the eerie similarity. Unlike in Sacae, however, Taguel are occasionally reminded of the beliefs of their kin by massive stone structures scattered across the island, ancient temples that extend far further underground than they near the sky. What the original purposes of these shrines was is up in the air, though, and the current guardians take their jobs very seriously. Even Taguel generally avoid these structures, content to leave them as mute reminders of a past lost to the mists of time. The truth, whatever it is, is remembered only by those who call these hallowed halls home.
Taguel are generally agreed to be a single species, in that they can interbreed with each other and create fertile offspring, but that single species is split into countless sub-species only loosely coalesced into five Great Tribes, further divided into seven families. Feline Taguel, collectively known as the Cat Tribe, range from lions to panthers. Canine Taguel are unique into being split into three Lesser Tribes within their Great Tribe - Hound, Wolf, and Fox; some introduce themselves by their Lesser Tribe, others by their Greater. Ursine Taguel run the range of bear-type Taguel, from grizzlies to polar bears. Leporine Taguel, much more commonly known as the Rabbit Tribe, are... well, rabbits. Finally, avian Taguel are collectively known as the Bird Tribe, and include everything with wings, from ravens to hawks.
Not all Taguel clearly identify as a particular subspecies within their Tribe - whether because they are a mix of breeds or simply because aesthetic traits are regressive, most Taguel are perfectly content to think of themselves as a "rabbit" or a "bird," and leave the unnecessary taxonomy to human with too much time on their hands. This is especially common among cats, perhaps ironic given their individuality, while dogs on the other hand more commonly take pride in which lesser tribe they most identify as.
While unions between tribes can provide viable offspring, the resultant child always strongly favors a single species - there is no "Bird/Dog" combination tribe nor are there any canine Taguel who happen to have wings. However, seemingly-lost genetic information may become unexpectedly dominant, even ten or fifty generations down the line; a Bear father and Bird mother may have a Dog child if a canine Taguel is somewhere in the ancestral family tree. This tends to make the difference between Tribes somewhat academic in practice, and the eternal fusion of individual Taguel helps fuel the constant evolution of the species as a whole.
Appearance
Fitting of the avatars of evolution and adaptation in Elibe, Taguel vary wildly in appearance, even within the same tribe or subspecies. Even within a single family there may be significant appearance differences, a phenomenon once theorized by human researchers to be due to their constant and rapid evolution. Still, there are common themes within each tribe that tend to identify a given Taguel as belonging to their parent tribe.
Cat Tribe Taguel often have long and furry tails, sometimes even prehensile, and cat ears or even whiskers - or at least whisker marks - are common traits as well. Birds often have some wings of some description even in human form, and some have hair with an odd luster and texture reminiscent of feathers. Canine Taguel vary more than most due to their multiple primary tribes, but much like Cat Taguel they tend to have ears and tails matching their tribe if nothing else. Bear Taguel are often the most understated in human form in terms of "inhuman" features, but tend to be larger than average and carry a presence that hints at their true nature. Rabbit Taguel often have rabbit tails, inconsistently have rabbit ears, and occasionally have a network of veins running across their faces or entire bodies.
In beast form, the only real constant is that they can clearly be identified as belonging to a given tribe; whether their beast form is entirely bestial or partially humanoid, large or small, black or red, there is no mistaking a transformed rabbit Taguel for a bird or a cat.
Age
Taguel vary wildly in maturation and aging, both between tribes and as a general rule of thumb. While bear Taguel usually have the longest natural lifespans, the extremely high mortality rate among all Taguel ensures that few get anywhere near that maximum limit - not even most Taguel really know how long they could potentially live. Most Taguel reach adolescence within 10 human years and adulthood within 15-20, but much like dragons they often appear to stop aging entirely or slow down dramatically from there. Natural lifespans tend to range from 100-200 years, though the average is much lower due to their lack of civilization and high-risk lifestyle, and a few very wise or very cautious Taguel have lived as long as 300-400 years. As a result, most Taguel hold little fear of death, at least not as humans do; they wrestle with its grim specter every day and have become inured to it.
Society
Within the wild lands that have been their home for a thousand years, the Taguel have a saying - "I against my brother, my brothers and I against my cousins, then my cousins and I against strangers." It is a crystallization of the hierarchy of loyalties that (almost) all Taguel share to varying degrees; they fight among themselves constantly, whether for self-betterment or pride, but in the end it is an unusual Taguel indeed who does not put aside personal grudges or even ancient tribal rivalries to advance their race when push comes to shove.
...At least in theory.
Practically speaking, there is little to no actual coalition among Taguel as a whole - that hierarchy of loyalties rarely extends further than family, and even then only by necessity, when a larger group or their species as a whole is threatened. Taguel society, such as it can call itself that, has always been fractured beyond even human or dragon society; very few decisions are made even by tribes, the last one almost two hundred years ago to stave off a possible war between two Great Tribes, and as a race not a single overarching decision has been made since the Scouring. There are smaller tribes of extended blood relations as well, sometimes with bonds as strong as a true family, but they rarely approach even the size of a small Sacaen tribe, much less a group of hundreds or thousands.
Still, there are exceptions to every rule, and among the thousands of Taguel that exist, some feel a bit differently. While there are no great cities or academies among their kind, there are a number of villages scattered across the island, though not quite in the human meaning of the term - it would perhaps be more accurate to call them fusions of villages, trading posts, and common grounds for all Taguel, where business- or civic-minded Taguel provide for each other and their more nomadic brethren alike. Farming, hunting, and blacksmithing are not common Taguel skills, but outliers who would rather be among their kind often congregate in these places, creating self-perpetuating hives of unity that in some cases approach or even rival Great Tribes in terms of inspiring loyalty to a group.
Many Taguel scoff at this mindset, though even among the proudest Taguel there are more than a few who appreciate the blacksmiths in particular, and there is a certain disconnect between the two groups that has slowly grown in the last century especially. The re-discovery of Elibe threatens to bring matters to a breaking point - or offer a chance to bring both sides together again as family once more. It is up to the leaders of our time to step up and try to unite the Taguel for the first time in a millennium.
Mindset
Taguel tend to have a very different concept of family (and indeed several different words entirely for variations of it) than the human version - 'family' is who you are closest to; your best friend is your brother. This can extend to human companions as well, and if there is one consistency among Taguel, it is that they are loyal beyond any other. Given their intensely individualistic and nomadic lifestyles and the omnipresent dangers of their home, it stands to reason that the greatest treasure of all is someone you can trust to watch your back; friends, family, ohana, nakama, all different representations of a bond stronger than blood.
As individuals, Taguel of every color tend to be intensely pragmatic and peerless survivalists; a lifetime of struggle shapes nearly all into individualistic and self-confident people, or breaks them long before they have a chance to propagate their weakness. Beyond that, personalities vary wildly, perhaps even more than among humans; the exaltation of the individual forces most Taguel to develop individual worldviews and outlooks, even among villages. Taguel who have not yet done so are generally in the process of doing so - the stereotype of curious and excitable young Taguel trying to find their place in the world and decide what they want out of it is born out of truth, and few Taguel would even dream of looking down on a youngling attempting to do so; each Tribe has a thousand variations of the concept of a 'vision quest,' often as a rite of passage within a group.
While there is no true analogue to a king in Taguel culture, leadership is universal, and the strongest and most famous Taguel within each Great Tribe wield more power than may be immediately obvious to outsiders - they may not collect taxes or send armies, but the words of heroes demand respect and the idolization of younger Taguel means they have a great deal of ability to shape the mindsets of their Tribe... or theoretically even their entire species, but is has been many years since the Taguel had a champion so great that she could affect her entire species.
Spirituality and Religion
Taguel are not religious. There are no exceptions - they left Elibe before Eliminism took root and even today would have nothing but disdain for a religion based on a mass murderer. Even aside from lofty philosophical questions of gods and deities, simple pragmatism demands more of a focus on the here and now; a Taguel is more likely to venerate the human (or beast) form than believe in any external god. As such, they do not have any concept of a 'cult' or even organized religion as a whole.
Taguel can be spiritual, however. To be specific, many Taguel refer to the 'Earthmother' in much the same way that Sacaens of Elibe refer to Father Sky and Mother Earth, and once the species clash, perceptive individuals may very well notice the eerie similarity. Unlike in Sacae, however, Taguel are occasionally reminded of the beliefs of their kin by massive stone structures scattered across the island, ancient temples that extend far further underground than they near the sky. What the original purposes of these shrines was is up in the air, though, and the current guardians take their jobs very seriously. Even Taguel generally avoid these structures, content to leave them as mute reminders of a past lost to the mists of time. The truth, whatever it is, is remembered only by those who call these hallowed halls home.