Rakkaan tribes

> *"Ours is the blood of strength, ours is the blood of life. Others hide from themselves, imprisoning thier bodies and minds in cages of civility and law, allowing the weak to flourish and the strong to falter under their weight, we will not fall to such frailties as them"* (Rakkaan bloodsinger)
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The **Rakkan tribes**, often called **Wildmen** are one of the oldest civilizations that exists on the surface of Soi. They are a collection of mortal nations that spread throughout the world from the Dawn era.

Their practice a form of severe social darwinism in that only those with the best traits are allowed to breed and pass on their "bloodline" to the next generation, this is often achieved by combat, exposure to the elements, disease and conflict with other civilizations.

**Rakkaan** or **Rakkaani** are known for almost ubiquitous hostility towards other nations or peoples and having little to no rules of engagement. They are expert survivalists and savage fighters. Rakkaan enclaves are known to hide unseen in the wilderness for generations until they have enough numbers to completely overwhelm nearby settlements and towns, often carrying off everything valuable.

* The Rakkaan are considered a stone age people, however loot enough tools and artisan slaves to have iron tools and weapons.

## Culture

> *"Compassion for the weak is weakness itself, for you allow it to survive and infect the rest of our kind. Only the strong may live, and as such we grow stronger with every passing age"*
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### **Language**

The Rakkaan have a crude form of written language primary composed of pictographs and easily translated symbols that often resemble the verb, adjective, or noun that they represent.

Their spoken language is limited to a butchered form of common and their own dialect. The dialect includes many onomatopoeia in lieu of new words being added, thus ensuring that various Rakkaaran tribes can always understand each other to a certain degree.

* Their priests or "bloodsingers" tend to be better spoken

### **Minimalist architecture and tools**

The Rakkaan eschew the use of any tools, architecture, or clothing that is not made out of the remains of once living animals or humans.

Despite their limited building materials, Rakkaan have been known to build armor, weapons, tools, and even multi storied structures entirely out of the cleaned/bleached remains of living creatures. In one recorded instance, a place of worship for Rakkaan was discovered to have an entire floor based mosaic depicting Rakkaan warriors savaging each other made entirely out of human teeth of various size and coloration.

### **Death and reincarnation**

The Rakkaan believe that the spirit lives on in the blood of your descendants, and so long as you have a living descendant you live forever. This prompts the Rakkaran to have as many offspring as possible. If a Rakkaan bloodline ends, it is considered a spiritual death, and their essence scattered into the world, where it will return as vengeful diseases or venomous creatures to spitefully attempt to end other bloodlines.

### **Medical culture**

Despite their religious refusal of scientific advancement in the fields of engineering or materials science, the Rakkaan have a remarkable understanding of biology and anatomy. Their knowledge is frequently cited as being comparable to some of the best medical minds in the Family Hearth or Encircled territories, this knowledge has been collected over generations of experimentation on the living and the dead by their doctors and surgeons, often called "vivisectors" by outsiders and "fleshcrafters" by their own.

This knowledge is typically used to increase their warrior's proficiency in the field, with the detailed understanding of human anatomy being only second to strength or combat prowess in terms of importance. They are particularly proficient in creating prosthetic limbs and restoring wounded to fighting capability.

## Religion

### **Culling**

When a tribe gets too large for the natural environment to sustain them, parts of the tribe either migrate and expand to new areas or the tribe undergoes the process of a **culling**. The Culling is a series of trials involving everything from extreme exposing to the elements, exposure to disease, physical combat and poison resistance. Only those deemed "worthy" by the eyes of their gods live and are immediately bred to pass on the gods favor to the next generation.

* Due to the prodigious breeding of the Rakkaan, the culling happens every few years

### **Bloodline Gods**

The Rakkaaran worship the idea that blood itself has a spiritual power. The shared or similar groups of bloodlines are considered gods in their own right and are prayed to for strength and power. The size and strength of their bloodline gods are inextricably tied to the individual and group power.

During conflict with other creatures or humans, the Rakkaan see this as conflict between different gods, with they themselves being the representatives of their own personal bloodline god.

## Expansionism

Rakkaan expansion is driven by their religious and cultural drives to spread their bloodlines across the

world, to prove their worth against both nature and other bloodlines of human. When one group of Rakkaan grows too large for the area to support their population, they have two forms of recourse. The tribe either splits into several groups that leave for new areas to create their own tribes, or they undergo a ceremony know as **the culling**.

Their expansion usually involves social groups breaking off into their own tight knit groups that pick the unconnected stragglers to their ranks. These groups expand into the nearest fertile and suitable land, if uninhabited they settle and begin growing as a population until another expansion is required. If occupied, they grow until they can conquer the other civilization, taking prisoners and anything of value. Due to the lack of preparation necessary for these splits, the expansion of Rakkaan tribes is relatively quick and expedient.

* Rakkaan tribes can travel any distance, due to this their patterns of migration and expansion are unpredictable
* Due to this Rakkaan are found nearly everywhere

## Encounters with other nations

### **Encircled**

The Technocracy considers the Rakkaan one of the greatest threats to human progress in the world second only to the Goran or Tallet Empire. Whenever possible the Encircled eradicate Rakkaan near their borders, the prominence of the Rakkaan combined with their sheer tenacity has made this seem like a losing battle to the ministry of warfare.

The Rakkaan in turn find the Technocracy and their actions to be a perversion of the highest order in attempting to spread the treatment of disease and injury. They see the Technocracy and all they hope to achieve as a poison that will weaken and bloat their blood gods and "free" encircled territories of such poison whenever they encounter them.

### **Family Hearth**

The Rakkaan to the Hearth on wheels is considered a pest that destroys the network of civilization they are attempting to build in the world. As such they have put a bounty on Rakkaan tribes, offering sums of gold and other resources for their destruction.

The Rakkaan see the family hearth as prey, always joyful when another caravan thick with riches rolls through their territory.

### **Ashed Confederacy**

The Ashed Confederacy reacts to the Rakkaan differently depending on which city or leader questioned. Their fortified cities are usually far too defended for Rakkaan raiders to ever hope of breaching or scaling, the farming areas immediately outside of the city and surrounding territories outside of Ashed control however often prove fruitful targets. When a Rakkaan infestation has taken hold in Ashed lands, most of the guild heads express frustration that supply lines around the city are jeopardized and increase the cost of business as they now must hire extra security. The heads of mercenary guilds however find the Rakkaan to be excellent sources of income, as their presence alone is enough to cause merchants to offer vast sums of gold to keep them safe.

### **Tallet Empire**

The Tallet has a strange relationship with the Rakkaan tribes, seeing them as both a plague and boon to conquest, they either zealously hunt them down or avoid them entirely to allow them to spread depending on whether or not they plan on conquering the nation that they inhabit. The Rakkaan often cause so much conflict and chaos in the nation they live in, the Tallet Legion is almost a welcome presence and often serves as a pretense for invasion and conquest that the disgruntled locals are all too eager to accept Tallet Law if it means the destruction of the Rakkaan.

However, the Rakkaan often turn into a horrendous problem for Tallet supply lines if they are allowed to grow too numerous.

### **Woag**

The Woag have limited encounters with the Rakkaani tribes due to their lack of wealth and unpredictable borders. The Rakkaan see the Woag as northern blood kin as they have adapted to the extreme conditions of the northern continent. The woag relish a challenge and enjoy the simplistic combat that the Rakkaan offer, however find little plunder or spoils when emerging victorious from these conflicts, finding the combat without prize somewhat dissatisfying, and some of their more indirect tactics cowardly and frustrating.

### **Goran**

The Rakkaaran view the Goran people as a separate and powerful blood god that is self aware much like themselves, and seek to either kill it or join it depending on the tribe. They see the rae woods of Goran lands so full of fruit and combat the perfect breeding ground and seek to inhabit as much of it as they can, often attempting capture of Goran Urok in order to add their blood to their tribe.

The Goran find the Rakkaan to be abhorrent admirers, but respect their way of life to a point. Many Rakkaan bloodlines have been utterly destroyed by Goran armies, yet they still come after over a thousand years of conflict. Rumor has it that several Rakkaan warriors have made it through the trials of Gorr to reach the top of their pyramid and become a part of the Urok breed.

## Potential ab human status

> *"Truly remarkable, their biochemistry is so similar to our own yet under observation reacts wildly different. In terms of culture and technology they are centuries behind everyone else, in terms of physicality they are generations ahead"* (Citadel geneticist, "Study of the savage Rakkaaran")
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Rakkaani have practiced a violent and brutal form of selective breeding since the dawn age, changing their attributes and occasionally abducting members of other human groups and breeding them to introduce certain traits into themselves. They are often visually distinct from other humans in the area.

* Rakkaan are known for being exceptionally fertile with lower rates of infant mortality and shorter gestation and growth periods
* Some Rakkaani children often reach pubescence before their tenth winter

### **Sub categories of Rakkaan**

> *"The Rakkaan of the central regions tend to be leaner and longer of limb with less body fat content than the ones found in the northern climates, which build thicker muscle mass and frames that would better benefit the colder climate, yet they all share the distinct cheek bone and hip structures of their phenotype. This rate of adaption should not be possible without a guiding hand"* (Citadel geneticist, "Study of the Savage Rakkaaran")
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Due to their wide spread across the surface of Soi, the Rakkaan have selected various traits to better adapt to their chosen environment, effectively force evolving themselves over generations. This has led to various Rakkaan that are visually distinct from one another depending on the region they have settled.

## The Crucible

The Rakkaan's land of origin lies deep in the deserts of the Midlands. Within the deepest, most inhospitable parts of this region lives the Rakkaan **Heart Lands**. The Rakkaan according to their oldest myths were banished to these lands by the civilized folk, and left to die. Instead of dying however, they found that over the generations they were strengthened, and left to find that survival in the outer lands was easy, and the softer peoples made for easy conquest.

### **Geography**

The temperature of the heart lands during the day can be described as similar conditions to an oven, where

the night side can be described as freezing cold. The high altitude of these lands leaves less oxygen for the area. What little water there is often contains contaminants and is generally toxic to most living creatures.

Within the badlands lies a labyrinth of jagged rock faces known as **The Heart of Rakkaan**. This is the rumored area to where the Rakkaan heart tribe lives, and the place in their mythology where they first found their blood gods. While the badlands around the labyrinth are barren and blasted, the rocks have been observed to have vegetation growing on them, suggesting an oasis of sorts. This has yet to be confirmed as no one has ever returned from the Heart.

* Rakkaan tribes do not live in the heart.

### **Ecology**

There is little in the way of life in the heart lands. Though in the face of the inhospitable climate, some life has thrived in the area. The stone labyrinth is filled with dangerous animals and plants, the badlands around the labyrinth is sparsely populated with cacti, insects with very little water.

### **The Heart tribe**

The current tribe that inhabits the heart lands are revered as the strongest stock of their blood. Occasionally other tribes may come to this area and

## The Rakkaan illness

> *"Aside from a shared language and culture, the Rakkaan appear to have several traits both psychological and physiological that appear viral in nature. Those that have been taken captive by Rakkaan if they are rescued display heightened levels of aggression, lessened inhibitions, and a pattern of red markings that appear all over their body"* (Technocracy doctor field notes)
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One of the universal marks of the Rakkaan tribes is an illness that afflicts nearly every member of their society. It is often communicated between Rakkaan and their offspring, prisoners, or those that come into physical contact with them through combat or other means.

* The illness can be cured, however causes long lasting side effects.

### **Signs and symptoms**

The illness is often identifiable by bright red patches of skin, darkening of the whites of the eyes, enlarged veins, and bloodshot irises.

Those afflicted tend to become aggressive and violent, often causing enjoyment at the act of inflictin pain on others. Their pain tolerance increases exponentially, to the point of most of them seem to derive enjoyment from having pain inflicted on them.

### **Pathology and transmission**

The illness is caused by a parasite that lives in the blood and inter-organ space of the human body. The parasite

The illness enlarges the adrenal glands, allowing for greater periods of exertion, however puts them at great risk of death by overexertion. This also tends to shorten their lifespan by around twenty years so the average lifsespan of a Rakkaan is around 40.

The brain of Rakkaan tend to be stunted and similar to the brains of 14 year old humans without the illness, those that catch the disease seem to stop mental development even if they are later cured.

The disease has a very low transmission rate, often requiring weeks of regular physical contact in order to contract the illness.