While the Royal line attributes its origins to the marriage of a chieftain's daughter to the River, the priesthood reckons its beginnings from the arrival of the Ghun Zhweng , or Black Priest. It is often said that the Waterborn are the River while the priesthood serves the River, but in The Blackgod this is revealed as something of a lie. This worship, of course, is forbidden by law. The Cattle People Background Cattle mean everything, and their very name, the Pirakirut , literally means, Cattle Folk. The main unit of organization is the Kar , or patrilineal clan.
Descent is traced through the male line, but property is generally inherited from women.
Men with much Piraku build Damakutat , or hill fortresses. These are palisaded longhouses of great size, usually wooden, usually multistoried, with room enough to house and protect the poorer, surrounding people and the prize cattle in times of war. The clans are loosely organized into tribes, usually defined by strong bonds of marriage and relatively contiguous land holdings. These tribes are governed by a council of clan elders, and in turn pay a general allegiance to a high king, or Kapaka , who is the patriarch of the most powerful clan. This king has no absolute authority, but is more of a mediator and consensus-builder.