Simiku

in: Races

## The Basics

* **Appearance:** A savage tribal people. Humans with bronze skin, painted with bright colors, sometimes with ritualistic scarring. They favor feathers and skins in their ornamentation, clothing, and decoration.
* **Lifespan:** 75 Years
* **Height:** 170 cm (5'7") - 190 cm (6'3")
* **Regions Found:** Northwest of western continent. North of Jaziran
* **Culture:** Tribal, each tribe favoring an animal totem representing different ideals. Chieftains are advised by a Shaman or Shamaness.
* **Common Character Roles:** *Males*; Leadership, Warriors, Hunters, Scouts, *Females*; Cooks, Tailors and Leatherworkers, Healers, Magic Users
* **Common Allies:** None
* **Common Enemies:** Everyone and Anyone
* **Religion:** Beast King
* **Views on Magic:** Varies from tribe-to-tribe, Nature and Blood magic users; Shapeshifters respected. Others are not.
* **Quirks:** Tribal, Savage

## Appearance

The Simiku are a savage, tribal people with a very harsh warrior culture that influences their day-to-day lives. They boast a lithe or muscular physique with a bronzed skin tone. Their height range is relatively average to the other humans around the world but are known to not only paint their skin with inks and colored pastes, but also intentionally create scars on their skin in ritualistic patterns. Simiku fashion is relatively simple, but colorful. It is mostly derived from hides and leather, some cloth and is at times stained with dyes. Feathers and other bestial appendages are often mixed into their outfits. Antlers, feathers, pelts for cloaks and more are all unique attachments they are known to put to use to further identify themselves and the clan they represent.

## History & Culture

### Culture

Simiku live a very practical, difficult life which makes them a very resilient people. Though the tribal practices vary greatly from group to group, certain aspects of their overall culture remain constant. There are four major tribes of the Simiku, with lesser tribes fanning out from under them. Each have their own identity expressed through an animal figurehead:

The Raven, the Wolf, the Bear and the Elk.

Gift gifting has a heavy social expectation to it among the Simiku. This practice is something they use to express themselves among themselves whether that falls under admiration, the search for forgiveness or to gain favor among their kin.

Currency has no place in Simiku culture. Foreign or otherwise. They make what they need by what is provided by the areas around them or they go out and take what they are in need of. Raiding parties are usually a result of these needs more often than not.

## Simiku Tribes

### The Raven Tribe

*Curiosity, Cruelty and Promiscuity*

The Raven Tribe is known for being the most depraved and the most aggressive in their hostilities with other Simiku and outsiders alike. Their curiosity drives them to expand their own territories and gains while they wield cruelty like a weapon to hold fast to their claims. Singular relations within the clan are not common, either, for they are quite promiscuous by nature. Given their curious nature, they are known to migrate from time to time, though never too far from their place of origin.

Men are the leaders and the warriors, as is the case in all Simiku culture, but the Raven Tribe has the longest history of female figureheads emerging and taking charge of not only their tribes, but also in leading their warriors to battle. In further breaks from the traditional norm, there have been entire groups of women born and raised to fight in the absence of men or if the need was great enough. It's worth noting that for most young Raven warriors, their first exposure in combat is often against the Bear Tribe to loot their advanced tools, equipment and other various stock, or the first foreign influence to set upon the Raven territory.

Their curious nature has been noted and recorded over the years of conflict by those that engaged the Raven Simiku. Some historians who survived these conflicts even wrote that while other Simiku tribes showed little to no interest in the advanced technologies of their enemies, the Raven Tribe has confiscated and even employed the use of weaponry, armor and other technological marvels of the age at the expense of their enemies.

### The Elk Tribe

*Planning, Family, Virility*

The least aggressive tribe of the Simiku, but just as capable of violence as their peers, the Elk Tribe have the most unique position in Simiku culture. As a general rule, within the realm of the Simiku, they are the most despised. The Wolf Tribe in particular have led multiple costly raids against the Elk, adding to a lengthy and yet ongoing clash of clans for several years now. Whether it is the forests the Elk Tribe build within and have reinforced or the occasional foreign support they enjoy to fend off would-be attackers, they continue to survive against all odds.

The Elk Tribe is the only tribe of the Simiku who, in any capacity, have shown a willingness to cooperate with outsiders. Trade, though limited and difficult due to the stark differences of cultures, flows through the Elk encampment. They are also the only Simiku tribe that does not migrate from one place to the next, allowing raids against them to find their target with certainty as well as inviting the influence of foreigners.

With their more peaceful roots when compared to the Simiku at large, a focus on planning for the future and growing their families is what drives their willingness to bypass the common sentiments their distant kin share against foreign entities. An emphasis is placed on promoting virility within the tribe, and some families even offer their children to foreign visitors as a means to promote relations.

### The Wolf Tribe

*Savagery, War, Conquest*

The Wolf Tribe is also known for a level of savagery and aggression that surpasses all others, even the Raven Tribe. This caliber of aggression is not in the same vein as the Raven Tribe, as they're more brutal in how they behave where as the Raven Tribe is creative and cunning. They’re usually the first to declare war on Simiku and foreign forces alike. Conquest is a driving factor in everything they do and they are the ones who expand their reach beyond that of the other Simiku tribes without fear. As a result, they're often on the move, picking up a new camp as much as they are settling another.

They do not believe in using foreign weaponry. Their belief is that their strength comes through a purity given to them by the Wolf, and that the ability to strive for conquest is a direct result of their cohesion as a collective. It is this belief that brings to the forefront a prominent demonstration of dangerously capable female warriors and leaders. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their male counterparts in battle and share equality in that facet of their day-to-day lives.

Those of the Wolf Tribe have no fear in the face of death and run headlong into it, embracing their final moments in a flurry of glorious zealotry for whatever cause has them marching. Their sworn enemy, above all, are the Elk Tribe due to the Elk Tribes occasional friendly relations and cooperation with foreign influences. This affront to what the Wolf Tribe believes to be directly against the very essence of Simiku is a declaration of war in its own right.

### The Bear Tribe

*Strength, Endurance, Rage*

The Bear Tribe is slower than the others to rise up to a call-to-arms, but once riled, their pursuit is unrelenting. Those of the Bear Tribe often set themselves apart from the other Simiku tribes through a consistent trend of growing feats of strength and endurance. Traditionalists at heart, but not prisoners to it, they have embraced a practical mixture of staying true to their roots while advancing their own tribe through learning ironworking. This includes the production of tools, weapons and even basic armor.

It's common for the Bear Tribe to be subjected to raids by the Raven Tribe. They are a popular target because they serve, indirectly, as an excellent test for the Raven Tribes newest warriors while boasting of the most advanced weaponry and equipment when compared to the other tribes. As a direct result of these raids, it has become a deciding factor for where the Bear Tribe settles; Mountainsides serve as natural barriers of defense against encroaching forces, allowing the Simiku who reside there to establish relatively basic, but effective lines of defense against raids.

These Simiku are self-sustaining people mostly. Barring the usual need to raid for resources to enhance their ironworks, they live true to the nature of their totem animal. Independent, powerful and when provoked, fearsome. Once they are pushed to a point of battle, they seldom stop until one force or another has been completely decimated. It is the warriors of the Bear Tribe who are often likened to one who suffers much in battle but feels no pain until the conflict has reached its end.

## Government

Simiku leadership is tribal in both its design, and the process in which things are done and decided. They’re all led by men, though rumors have sprung up over the course of history of key female figureheads leading the charge. Foreigners who have looked in on the Simiku peoples from the outside usually do so without any real insight and typically report the tribes as nothing more than violent savages.

The tribes are often hostile to one another. Alliances are made as quickly as they are broken resulting in an ever shifting landscape of ties between the Simiku peoples. These people have a long history of conflict with outsiders and have even longer memories. As such, the odds of the Simiku people embracing the other people of the world in a non-hostile fashion is extremely unlikely. Simiku tribes are hostile to everyone.

A Chieftain sits atop the hierarchy of a Simiku tribe. He is directly responsible for leading and guiding the warriors of his clan. The eldest women of the tribe are the ones who select the Chieftain and oversee the domestic affairs which are handled by the tribe’s women. This includes, but is not limited to the preparation of foods, leathers, clothing and other everyday items needed to survive their harsh world. Marriage is handled by the older women as well.

In extremely rare points throughout their history, the Simiku Tribes have united together under a single cause. Attempts by others to delve into the unknown forests of their territories to eradicate these hostiles en masse were met by a united group led by a War Chief.

## Religion

Worship in Simiku culture is hard to pin-point. It is done in different ways depending on the tribe, with each totem animal held with differing levels of reverence. Each totem beast represents its own aspect of their worship.

* The Raven is attributed to curiosity, cruelty and promiscuity.
* The Wolf represents savagery, war and conquest.
* The Bear is the standard bearer of strength, endurance and rage.
* The Elk is often viewed as the figurehead of planning, family and virility.

As a collective, the Simiku worship something ancient and dark, perceiving the Beast King as a modern incarnation of their dark faith. It is unclear the extent of how the Simiku view the Beast King. Some ponder whether he is a new manifestation of their Dark God, a child of it, or just a messiah of this Dark God. Regardless of the various perceptions for the Tribes and the Beast King, his presence has the tribes stirring.

This development among the Simiku has driven them from their forests with a fervor. Like a tidal wave of raw, unbridled emotion and a zealotry that betrays all logical reasoning, the Simiku threaten their neighbors with raids of the nearby settlements that continue to take place, with each one reaching further and further from their territories. Those who enter the forests to give chase are never seen from again.

The Simiku are a legion within their dark forests, pitiless, merciless. Their culture is alien to outsiders and they are ready to surge forth from the treeline to sweep away everything in their path – all in line with the Beast King’s discovery.

## Architecture

Constantly warring, raiding, or being raided, Simiku live a somewhat nomadic lifestyle. Because of this, Simiku largely use the materials, minimally processed, that they can find around them. Tents may be crafted of animal hides, bordered by stake fences, with a cook pit in the middle of the settlement. If Simiku do opt to settle for longer periods of time, they may erect small wooden structures.

## Common Character Roles

### Males:

* *Chieftain:* The leaders of tribes. These men can be ruthless and cunning, heeding, or dismissing the advice of their shamans.
* *Warriors:* Tribe guards and raiders.
* *Hunters:* Acting upon the information brought back by scouts, hunters travel out into the land to stalk and bring down prey animals, large and small.
* *Scouts:* Survey the land, and its inhabitants, then report back to the chieftain and hunters.

### Females:

* *Cooks:* Prepare kills brought back by the hunters, responsible for feeding the tribe.
* *Foragers:* Counterpart to the hunters, these bring back the various plant materials necessary to sustain a village, from medicinal herbs, to berries, to fibrous plants used to make twine.
* *Craftwomen:* Skinners, Tailors, leatherworkers, etc.
* *Healers:* Medicine women, using methods both magic and mundane.
* *Shamans:* Magic Users and advisors to the Chieftains.

## Perception of Magic

Magic is a unique element within Simiku society. The majority of the people do not practice magic and have no real connection with it. The ones who do are almost always exclusively women.

Depending on the tribe, different spheres of magic are found most practiced. For instance, the Raven and Wolf tribes are renowned for their use of blood magic while the Bear and Elk tribes have a higher display of nature magic.

The unique ability of shapeshifting is something that is as much revered as it is feared. The reverence is held in the highest degree for those capable of matching their tribe’s totem animal while other forms are met with fear and even violence. Even the Lycans are perceived to be a blessed or cursed form, depending on the tribe.

Where the Raven, Bear and Elk Tribes would meet a Lycan’s existence with battle stemming from fear and loathing, the Wolf Tribe would treat a Lycan with great admiration. To those of the Wolf Tribe, a werewolf is believed to be the ultimate warrior of their people with a direct connection to their animal figurehead given physical form.