Vozonids

The **Vozonids** are a race of humans from the central land of Vozolaz at the continent of Palkyras.

## Characteristics

Vozonids have reddish-crimson skin, brown eyes, and dark curly or wavy hair. Some Vozonids are born with tan skin, light brown or red hair, and green eyes, indicating foreign ancestry.

The Vozonids are a mixed race -- descended from Gauvajuts and easterly aborigines such as the Zonunjas.

## Culture

See also: Vozonid mythology, Vozonid symbols

The Vozonids practice a Gauvajut culture mixed with their own elements.

In ancient times, the Vozonids and their Zonunja ancestors are well-known for being expert blacksmiths. The Gauvajut Empire used to invite and hire them as the best blacksmiths and engineers in the empire.

In some cultures, like Josol, every Vozonid son and daughter is taught to build basic tools from wood and other materials. These may range from tables and chairs, to houses and wagons in some cases. This is considered as honouring the ancestors, who lived in archaic times when modern technology and its resulting ease on life had not existed yet.

When Vozonids finish a task, they bow their heads to thank the guest or client.

### Traditions

* West is a sacred direction, as a represents the way of the gods.
* The gryphon is sacred to the Vozonids. Other sacred symbols include emeralds, spinels, and khopesh swords with axes.

## The Laws of Life(?)

The "laws of life" are a traditional code of honour in Vozonid cultures, since the days of Sarmelon I. It orders the avoidance of certain cruel customs by killing violators in extremely brutal methods.

For example, infanticide is punished by beheading, and cannibals are burned alive or impaled with spears. This law was also extended to those who murder children from war enemies, including Terran children and babies. The skull of the child-killer is displayed in public as a warning never to commit the same act, and the ashes of their body are trampled as devotees curse the offender's spirit to Hell.

### Offenses

Offenses under the Laws of Life, all of which were punishable by death, included:

* killing babies, toddlers, and children
* cannibalism
* intentionally spreading a deadly disease
* starving a child, especially if they are your own child
	+ Punishable by death, putting the entire family under supervision. Sometimes it also includes cursing the family's gods, if said offender claimed to do so for their god or if said gods are from a religion hostile to Vozolaz.
* denying a child access to healthcare, and also education
* murder (wrongfully killing another person for no valid reason - "valid" reasons were punishment for crimes, treason, terrorism, or violating the Laws of Life)

This may had led to Emperor Zoirondo permitting the killing of many invasive animals brought to his empire, as he wanted to inflict a collective punishment for destroying ecosystems or creating famine elsewhere. This also led to the grisly custom of raising a pile of skulls of any cultures or animals considered evil, from a pile of skulls made of the last cuckoo birds in Vozolaz, to another pile of skulls raised from the last Ontemazei out of hatred for the latter's invasion of the world.

### Animals under the Laws of Life

Even animals are also punished under the same law, usually if they are more "visible" like a dog, a cat, or a horse. In one case recorded during early Sarmelonid times, a male stray cat was seen killing several kittens to breed his own kittens with their mother. The cat was known by his black and white fur, and when he was trapped in a basket, several people brought the creature in a cage.

The cat was a stray, so he never knew anything except to breed and survive. Still, his catchers read his alleged charges in a mock trial, restrained him, and cut his head off. The cat's skull was dried and placed right next to other murderers.

This inevitably disgusted people elsewhere, that some even compared Vozonids who supported punishing animals, to Terrans for their cruelty. There was a boycott against Vozonid goods for several months since the cat-killing took place, but the Vozonids ignored it as they were not seriously affected.

From the reign of Emperor Silojennoz onwards, the executions of animals were changed to sterilisation, as the emperor believed that the unnecessarily killing of ignorant animals might had cursed his empire. He also claimed that since those animals took away precious lives, they too were to have their future taken away, so by being banned from breeding those animals will be replaced by better members of their own kinds.

Nonetheless, in spite of the new law banning executions of animals, Vozonids still believed that animals who committed horrible sins would still be thrown into Hell after their deaths. Vozonids also put animals to death for eating their own kind, out of hatred of cannibalism.

## Languages

* Archaic Sarmelonid glossary
* Sarmelonid glossary
* Jauparturnid glossary
* Arantarese glossary
* Wannaenid glossary
* Josolchir glossary
* Azgovian glossary

### Positive

* Sons of the Gryphon
* Children of the Gods
* Heralds of the Gods
* Children of Light
* Greenclad - referring to the green silk robes worn by royalty
* Whiteheads (a term used for gryphons)
* The Noble Folk
* Children of Sarmelon
* Bearers of the Holy Spinels
* Destroyers of Demons
* Reds - in response to other nations' usage of "Whites", "Blacks", and "Bronzes" for themselves, Vozonids proudly refer themselves as "the Reds".

### Negative

* Clayfolk
* Mountain Men
* Sandpeople (also a term applied to *all* humans by alien races, mocking their skin and weaker bodies)
* Dirtfolk, Scaffolds, Scaffoldlings (used by aliens to mock both Vozonids and all humans, referring to human bodies being more fragile in combat)
* Drunks
* Grass (referring to some human civilisations relying on human waves; including some foolish Vozonid commanders)

## Trivia

* Vozonid people are supposed to look like a mixture of Polynesian and Middle Eastern people.
	+ In a sense, they may be somewhat similar to the Telmarines from Narnia, who are a mixed Polynesian people.
* Vozonid traditional art was based on a mixture of Thai, Slavic, and Hittite art.

## See also

* Heronoi
* Ontemazei