Native humans

It's struck me that we know very little about indigenous, forest-dwelling human Felaryans. (Or indeed humans living anywhere other than in relatively safe human settlements.)

The following story is a small attempt at remedying that to some extent. If you have any thoughts to flesh them out further, please don't hesitate to share ideas!

http://frenchsnack.deviantart.com/art/Knowledge-and-the-Crisis-346934007

If I may add an addendum, you could extend that topic to virtually all species that live in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, hybrid creatures included. The best we have are elf tribes, but in a way, being highlighted in the wiki means that they are among major tribes, thus not exactly threatened as much as a village whose sole protection is to remain hidden. There's also the old neko tribes in the entry for nekos, but it's incredibly insubstantial compared to the elves. If I could suggest something, this would be as good as any to develop the culture or custom page, or simply to add more information to the species' page, such as giving a general overview of how species living in the wild survives. We know for a fact that humans are going to rely on tools, nekos on a combination of strength and agility, and dridders possibly traps with their web, so why not do the same for other species.

Though this also raises a problem, if you're gonna get a mention in the wiki, then you need to be relatively important. I mean why bother list tribes and villages that have no impact if they don't stick out terribly much? Rosic nekos and Scorch Claw nekos stand out. One uses musical talent passed down generations to convince local predators that they're losing something big by destroying their village (sounds like bribery all of a sudden) and the other is constituted of adept fighters, weapons imbued with some kind of fire magic, thus hinting at a talent for weapon enchantment and affinity for a particular kind of magic, and forged an alliance with the local bird infestation as a result. So if we're gonna describe customs, it's pretty much tailor-made to be relegated to stories only for an new entry entirely, one that discusses how the average indigenous humans survive. Also as a perk we get to see some entries that don't revolve around magic and we desperately need more variety in that department.

Also, if I may suggest something else, I think the destroyed tribes should be removed for two reasons. One, since they are destroyed, there's really no point describing them, unless it had some grand historical influence, in which case there would be a reason why people in-universe would bother research them aside from being a survivor. Considering they're listed solely because they're linked to two surviving characters, neither are significant by any stretch, it'd be more efficient to simply state the destroyed tribe in the character's entry. Two, speaking of survivors, this is really just a precautionary measure, but this is basically asking for bad fan fics where someone creates a character who just so happens to be another survivor but was never mentioned up until now. Given our very lax standards, I wouldn't be surprised if that happened sooner or later.

Shady Knight wrote:

If I may add an addendum, you could extend that topic to virtually all species that live in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, hybrid creatures included. The best we have are elf tribes, but in a way, being highlighted in the wiki means that they are among major tribes, thus not exactly threatened as much as a village whose sole protection is to remain hidden.

Indeed.

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I mean why bother list tribes and villages that have no impact if they don't stick out terribly much? Rosic nekos and Scorch Claw nekos stand out. One uses musical talent passed down generations to convince local predators that they're losing something big by destroying their village (sounds like bribery all of a sudden) and the other is constituted of adept fighters, weapons imbued with some kind of fire magic, thus hinting at a talent for weapon enchantment and affinity for a particular kind of magic, and forged an alliance with the local bird infestation as a result. So if we're gonna describe customs, it's pretty much tailor-made to be relegated to stories only for an new entry entirely, one that discusses how the average indigenous humans survive. Also as a perk we get to see some entries that don't revolve around magic and we desperately need more variety in that department.

I do indeed think there's a place to describe tribes that do not stand out as uncommon. We need examples of how the more ordinary humans (or nekos, or elves...) live and survive in "the wild".

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Also, if I may suggest something else, I think the destroyed tribes should be removed for two reasons. One, since they are destroyed, there's really no point describing them, unless it had some grand historical influence, in which case there would be a reason why people in-universe would bother research them aside from being a survivor.

They provide examples of how people in Felarya live. (And people don't only research what's extraordinary.)

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Two, speaking of survivors, this is really just a precautionary measure, but this is basically asking for bad fan fics where someone creates a character who just so happens to be another survivor but was never mentioned up until now. Given our very lax standards, I wouldn't be surprised if that happened sooner or later.

I don't think bad writers read the wiki very much.

You obviously weren't around when I was writing in 2008. For the destroyed tribes, as I have to repeat myself, they should be removed because their mere existence is an artifact to two characters which, again, have no significance in the grand scheme of things. It's the simple law of conservation of details, it would be much more streamlined and efficient if they're mentioned in the respective character's page, especially since neither tribe appeared to be special by any means. As for researching, I mean in-universe. For all we know, both tribes were your standard hidden villages who were discovered by a giant monster girl, so how do you research something that's such an unknown? If they were special, their entry doesn't allude to it in the slightest, so we need to get info from the author about what their deal was. For the time being, both entries are anemic and the only real thing that stand out is that they're destroyed, which happens to every single tribe regardless of species.

Coming back to this, with a focus on the original topic: Fleshing out native Felaryan humans (other than those living in the cities, which we already know a little about). In other words, "wild" or "semi-wild" humans.

For reference, here is the wiki article on humans.

The story linked to above was an attempt to develop the humans who live in the forest around the Giant Tree. Here are relevant quotes about them, from the story:

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They wore very little; a few strips of woven plant matter round the waist, concealing their genitals, for hygiene and protection rather than modesty. [...] Their bare skin bore finger-wide painted stripes and dots in green and brown and black, over their chest and back and limbs and cheeks. Each of them appeared to have their own specific dominant pattern, repeated several times over their body, with smaller patterns beside.

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[T]hey were kneeling together at the foot of a large tree. They had stripped away a patch of easy-peeling bark, exposing soft pale wood beneath, and were busily drawing a picture onto the wood, the two of them together, using thin sharp pieces of wood dipped into baked clay pots of semi-liquid pigment – blue and red and orange and yellow and green and brown and grey. Their sharp implements carved lightly into the soft wood, leaving a fine thin groove of colour, which soaked into the pliant material, preserving the picture. When they had finished, they would stick over their picture a thin, almost transparent coating which they had peeled from a giant leaf, thus protecting their work –for a time– from any rain.

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"The Crisis!" the man gasped. Pulling himself together after a second or two, he stepped in front of his companion, as though to shield her. The woman, however, pushed him back, and stood in front of him instead.

"Don't be so presumptuous," she told her companion, kindly but firmly. "It is my task to protect you." She looked up at the naga, putting on an air of remarkable calm, despite the fear pounding within her chest, and within her mind. "Please eat only me, and spare him," she said, with only a slight quaver to her voice. "He is my najeem; I am ltlarey."

The naga's huge eyes flicked from one to the other. "Are those your names?" she inquired with polite, almost friendly curiosity.

The humans looked at each other. "No," the woman said. "They are our status. We're of the Yurullum tribe. I'm of the ltlarey caste. He" –she reached back to slip her hand into his– "is my najeem. My carer, my servant, my mate."

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"Our tribe is dispersed, scattered into individuals and couples and families. It's the easiest way for us to survive, by not attracting too much attention."

The naga nodded, following that line of logic with obvious interest and understanding. "You said you two are mates?"

"Yes. When two members of our tribe meet, and decide to mate," –she took a step back to stand beside the man, and they put their arms round each other– "if one of them is of the ltlarey caste but not the other, then that other becomes najeem. He or she serves serves his or her ltlarey in every way."

Crisis tilted her head a little, trying to absorb that. "That sounds complicated."

"Not really." The woman nodded at her mate. "Tell her."

The man bowed his head ever so slightly in obediance, and took half a step forward, looking up at the gigantic naga. "I prepare sha Aynehi's meals, and feed her. I carry our belongings, and keep them in good shape. In prepare her bedding at night. I wash her–"

"Wow!" Crisis interrupted, eyes widening. "Why do you do all that?"

"I love her," he said simply. "And it is my place to satisfy her needs."

Crisis considered it. "I'm not sure I'd want a najeem," she said finally. "I prefer to find my own food, and wash myself without anyone doing it for me."

"Your upbringing was different to mine," Aynehi said calmly. "I am quite capable of looking after myself, but status has always required that my najeem do these things for me. In return, if necessary, it is my duty to sacrifice everything, even my life, to keep him safe."

Crisis shook her head. "It's weird," she decided. As though suddenly remembered what had begun this conversation, she looked past them, at what they had been drawing, and pointed at it. "What's that? You didn't answer me earlier."

"We're painting the way," Aynehi said, as though that somehow answered the question.

Crisis giggled. "You're what?"

The human woman sighed. "Take a closer look." She and her mate stepped aside, giving the naga an unrestricted view of what they had been painting. Intrigued, Crisis slithered a little closer, still on her belly. She had to lie down flat to peer at the picture which, to her, was extremely small. As she moved, a low groaning rumble rose from her belly. She paid it no attention. Whatever it was she had eaten for her breakfast, her stomach was now actively digesting it. Aynehi quietly hoped it would not digest too quickly and leave her hungry again.

The painting depicted a scene in the forest. Trees and bushes had been represented, surprisingly lifelike, in realistic colours. The Giant Tree had been painted in, towering above the others. Amidst them all, standing out sharp and bright, was an oval shape, filled in with orange pigment. Nearby it was a simple purple shape which she tentatively identified as a frog. Above it was broken horizontal puprple line, and below it was a loosely stylised froglike pawprint, also purple. Elsewhere on the picture, orange dots were laid out in a careful pattern, along with simple orange figures clearly symbolising particular plants. Above the painting, and clearly separate from it, were large blue dots connected by blue lines, with varying numbers of small blue notches beside the lines. Crisis looked it all over carefully, fascinated.

"We'd almost finished," the man said. "We were going to move on."

Crisis examined it a moment longer. "I don't really understand it," she admitted at last, and turned to them for explanation. "Why have you made this?"

Aynehi held her gaze, unimpressed. "Again, why do you want to know?"

"It's interesting," the naga said with rather touching honesty. "I want to understand it." She paused. "Also," she added thoughtfully, "if humans are doing things like this on my territory, I want to know what's going on."

Aynehi bristled a little. "Actually, it's our territory, as much as yours. These are our tribal lands. You and we simply occupy them at different… levels of the food chain."

Crisis smiled. "Can you tell me why you made the painting? Please?" She gave a sweet, pouty look.

[...]

"As you can see, we've shown a nearby area of the forest. It's not the one right here; it's just" –she pointed– "over there."

The naga nodded, eagerly taking it in. "Why the funny orange and purple things? And the blue thingy with dots?"

"Orange is the colour which we use to indicate something useful. Purple means danger." She paused. "I suppose I should start from the beginning. We're not making this picture for ourselves. It's a guidepoint, for any other member of our tribe who comes this way."

Crisis absorbed that. "Ooooh!" she said, excited, after a few seconds. "So it's like, you're leaving a message for other little humans?"

Aynehi rewarded her with a smile. "Exactly."

"Oh, but that's great!" The naga clapped her hands with glee at the revelation. "I never knew that humans do that! What does it say? What does it say?"

Aynehi turned to her companion. Her eyes were instruction enough; he nodded obediantly, and replaced her beside the picture.

"The orange oval" –he pointed it out– "indicates a water source. Water is vital for us, so we let our tribe know where they can find some. And they let us know, too; the forest is full of these pictures, all across our tribal territory."

"Really?" Crisis was almost childishly delighted. "I'll have to watch out for them." She peered at the image. "Why orange? Water isn't orange."

"For it to stand out," he explained. "For our important messages, we use symbols, and we don't use natural colours. Green, brown… We only use those to draw the background, the setting."

Crisis was smiling broadly, lapping up every word. "You've also drawn plants in orange. Useful plants? For food?"

"For food, or to make containers, or clothing."

"The orange dots?"

"Berries. The number and pattern indicate what type of berry."

"So… Everyone in your tribe needs to know the code?"

"Yes. We all learn it at a young age."

The naga nodded. "Purple for danger…" She pointed. "You drew that there to indicate you'd seen an arboreal frog?"

"Almost," the man said. "We didn't see it, but we suspect it's there. So we drew it to tell our people to watch out. That broken line above it indicates that we only suspect its presence, and the paw mark beneath–"

"–indicates why you suspect its presence," Crisis guessed, eagerly. "This is really exciting! It's like a game!"

"To us, it means life or death," Aynehi said quietly. "We draw these messages to help one another stay alive."

"What are the blue thingies?"

The man looked at his mate, who nodded for him to answer. "It's a map," he said. "Indicating other water sources in relation to here. With direction and distance."

Crisis sighed, happily. She adored learning new things. She looked them both over. They were appetising, but that was not what most caught her attention. She had one more question for them. "Why are your little bodies painted too?"

"Tribal markers," Aynehi said. "So that anyone we meet will know who we are. It indicates not only our tribe, but our genealogy; who we are in relation to other members of the tribe. And in relation to each other," she added, glancing at her najeem with a discreet but loving smile.

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She stood beside a new set of pictures, while her mate stood dutifully back. "We don't only paint messages to tell each other where to find water or food or shelter, or to warn about dangers. All that's very important, of course, but we also use these trees to… well, to preserve and to spread our knowledge."

"Knowledge?"

"Our… Our culture, our stories," Aynehi said, choosing her words carefully. "Our history, our laws. And what we know about how the world works."

"So… What's this one?" Crisis asked, with bated breath. "It's got plants on it."

Aynehi smiled. "This one explains how plants grow."

[...]

"How do you know all this?" she asked, bemused.

"Ah. You know, that's actually one of our mysteries. All this knowledge has been handed down to us by our ancestors, but we don't actually know where they got it from."

In short: The Yurullum tribe live very near the Giant Tree (where they're preyed on by Crisis and by giant harpies, among others). To survive, they avoid congregating and attracting attention: they live in the smallest possible units (families, couples or even just individuals). Not being in permanent contact with one another, they communicate by leaving messages to one another on trees, with specific symbols and colours (not an alphabet, but a simple form of proto-writing, based mainly on pictograms). By this means, they communicate vital information (the location of resources or threats), but also more abstract knowledge, passed down across generations.

The tribe includes a hereditary upper caste called the ltlarey. (That's a small l, not a capital i.) When a ltlarey and a non-ltlarey form a couple, the latter becomes the former's servant as well as his or her loving mate, and performs every almost task for him / her (include feeding, dressing, bathing, and so on). In return, the non-ltlarey's safety is the absolute responsibility of the ltlarey, who must be prepared to sacrifice his/her life for him/her.

Any ideas to create other human groups in Felarya (or to further flesh out this one)?