Khveinya

The Khveinya are a semi-nomadic insular race that hail from the vegetated layers of the Chasms. They are descendants of the **Ancient Ones** (*Tenegher* in Ukherney), although many pieces of apocryphal Khveinya scripture claim that they originate from an entirely different lineage. They travel along with their herds of a variety of domesticated giant worms, camping wherever is most suitable for the tribe or tribal confederacy. Additional resources gained by hunting and/or herding the local wildlife are used to manufacture huts, armors, clothing and general household items.

## Culture

The culture of the Khveinya is strongly centered around collective tribal identity, religion, and the synoptic relationship that the race has with the natural resources in their vicinity. The giant worms that they ride and mount barges upon are considered spiritual equals to the Khveinya due to their almost symbiotic relationship. They will use these giant worms to herd smaller, dog-sized silkworms as well as other large insects.

The Khveinya in general are very proud and austere, and they do not like to admit to things that shame them. It is suspected that these tendencies may have contributed to their reputation among other races of the Chasms for being untrustworthy liars or shifty fiendish backstabbers or thieves, which has led to them often being cast into a "rogueish" stereotype, with wandering Tribeless Khveinya often being barred from many independent settlements.

Their internal culture is often very polite. The act of giving gifts is particularly important in their culture and is seen as highly virtuous. Among Khveinya, a gift is a token and an act of courtesy among strangers, and great affection among friends and family. A thoughtful gift signals the giver is cautious, considerate, and aware of the receiver's wants and needs. Khveinya think it is shameful to attack unarmed persons of the same race, but will attempt to kill without hesitation an armed person who offends them or their tribal laws or religion. Those who do not know their customs often risk offending them just by speaking.

To be Tribeless, whether by exile or by choice, is a great disgrace in Khveinya culture, who view their lack of communal identity as a weakness. Very rarely will a Tribeless be able to enter and assimilate with a tribe, and even then, their ancestral lineage is considered broken and they are viewed to be without any sort of spiritual bond. Because of this, many Khveinya view the Tribeless as nothing more than animals, and killing them outright is generally overlooked and sometimes permitted by lesser tribal leaders. If the Tribeless were to overpower and kill their assassin(s), however, then they would be given a protective, honored status.

Challenges for sport can be declined without shame, but not challenges for honor. Honor challenges come from perceived offenses or arise from customary formal challenges of status or ritual. Khveinya may challenge a stranger who enters a yurt without invitation; customs differ with different tribes, but polite visitors who leave when requested are typically forgiven.

The Khveinya are a nomadic race, and they live in yurts which can be dismantled and moved. Their portable huts are comprised of worm-hides and fungus-leather stretched outwards on a chitinous frame. These huts can can be dismantled quickly and packed atop a worm to move to new grazing or hunting grounds. The tents of the Velikhan and his companions are larger, more elaborate version of a family tent. They have no need for material wealth.

Khveinya weaponry is often made by the keratin extract of their worm companions. Upon a worm's death, its rider will ceremonially gut it, extracting its keratin, and will use that alongside the resin of large beetles which they use as glues and stiffeners, to craft themselves and members of their family or friends sets of weaponry and/or armor. There are also instances of a sub-species of these worms being domesticated and bred specifically for large-scale production of arms.

## Religion

The religion of the Khveinya revolves around the worship of ancestors, which they believe empowers their spiritual endeavor of those ancestors in the afterlife. The Khveinya afterlife is portrayed as an unending field of battle, where the physical pledging of loyalty to a tribe in the physical world results in total spiritual alignment (what is known as a 'Spiritual Retainer',) and conduct spiritual warfare against enemy tribes until the end-times and the fall of heaven in the apocalypse. This event is known by the phonic particle KT'K. Some Khveinya cults believe KT'K has already occurred in the form of the Cataclysm, and that the end-times have been upon the world for hundreds of years.

Another important aspect of the religion of the Khveinya is the belief that mortals, specifically mighty warriors of great social standing, can 'mantle', or literally become, a god in the Khveinya pantheon based upon the actions they had taken in life. The title of godhood can be awarded post-humorously, and if a great man who mantles a title of a god in life and gains enough significance in their role, the title of the god itself becomes their own name and are considered titled in their own right. Tribal leaders will often wage religious warfare against other tribes, as either an act of ritual in order to pay tribute to a certain god or ancestor, or to "inherit" godly titles.