Nishutu

*"The right wing liberated the thief of his head. Blood covered the sands of Nisha. The left wing liberated the merchant of his thirst. Rain covered the sands of Nisha", Excerpt from 'The Merchant and The Water Thief'*

      The Nishutu are a semi nomadic people inhabiting the desert of the old continent. They refer to their desert region as 'Nisha'. While each tribe is their own "town" as it were, they do have a center of governance located in Ahítantí and Reálu. Each tribe has their own dialect, but the language of N'shut was established to be able to communicate easier between tribes in times of peril.

### Appearance

The Nishutu are tall dark-skinned humanoids, adults reach 200 cm frequently. They mostly have short dark hair and dark eyes. However, occasionally so called "water touched" Nishutu children are born with near perfect blue eyes.

### Religion

The Nishutu beliefs revolve around one central deity, the Mother Vulture. They believe that Astyrea was once walked by gods and demigods. These creatures were so technologically advanced, socially advanced, that life for them was a paradise. However, due to their lifestyle, the disrespect of the surrounding world, nature became more and more restless. One day, the sun burnt away all of their palaces and one night, the moon stirred the seas that flushed away the remains of their palaces. A full world reset happened, and the only creature that survived was the vulture, who by feasting on the remains of these gods, managed to grow and attain divinity itself.

The Mother Vulture, after this calamity, taught the inhabitants of the new world how to live in accordance to the natural law to prevent such a catastrophe from happening again.

### Culture

#### Greeting and Gifting

Nishutu strongly hold firm the belief that the Mother Vultures right wing, or sun wing, is used to punish and condemn, while the left wing is used to forgive and reward. As such, greeting people must always happen with the left hand, regardless of what greeting gesture is used. The same applies for giving and receiving items, they must be given and received with the left hand (or both, but this is usually a sign of mixed feelings).

A typical Nishutu greeting can be described as follows: the guest pounds their left fist on their heart, and makes a sweeping motion after, stretching their left arm parallel to the ground, mimicking a bird unfolding its wing, for a moment before returning to a neutral pose. Afterwards, the host does the same with their left hand and arm. NOTE: When confronting enemies before battle, the Nishutu do a similar greeting but with their right side.

#### Funerals

Funerals are a unique experience in the Nishutu culture. After passing away, fellow Nishutu who are close to the deceased person prepare a ritual pyre and cook the deceased person. They believe the strength of their comrade can be absorbed by doing this and thus, they will never be truly dead. The tastiest parts of their former companion are distributed to the people closest to the deceased person, the subsequent parts are distributed to people who are less close to the deceased.

Of course, there won't always be opportunities to throw a ritual dinner, so in circumstances where the person dies and this is not possible a close traveling companion chops off a piece of the body to eat later and drains the blood into their waterskin to drink. In circumstances when the deceased person is alone on death or without close friends or relatives, the remains are left to the vultures.