Shaali

The **Shaali**, elsewise known as the “Snowclaw”, are a branch of the Bloodmoon recently absorbed into the clan following a short but brutal civil war in living memory. They take their name from Kivah Shaali, a founding Matriarch who led the long migration from Meracydia to Aldenard to settle within the northern reaches of the Black Shroud, bordering on Coerthas. Well before their migration, the Shaali and families close to them lived in seclusion and avoided the larger settlements that others of their kind preferred, deigning to be as self-sufficient as possible.

Though the rocky expanse and cavernous mountains of Coerthas were better suited to their comforts, they found that living harmoniously with the Elements of the Twelves’ Wood granted an exceptional boon. Hardship paved the path to their realization that using the forest in excess were sins that they could ill afford to partake in if they wanted to avoid the admonishment of the whimsical spirits of the forest. This knowledge was first surmised by Kirah Shaali, the daughter of Kivah in the years after her death. Initially, Kirah was branded as both a witch and heretic (for purporting visions granted by the forces of the Shroud), and was forced to live in exile on the outskirts of their village. Even exiled as she was, the Shaali expected those who are naturally attuned to supernatural abilities to provide support to those of their clan proper.

It was during these years of exile that the Shaali nearly fell to ruin to the contraction of woodsin, multiple changes in leadership and familial divides. Only once the clan was granted a shared vision that placed Kirah as their leader did they welcome her back from exile. From that appointment, the Snowclaw were led by those who were born with a natural affinity for conjurer magicks and though the ability to manipulate aether did not propagate readily throughout their ranks, each generation found their leadership in a singular or council of priestesses.

As far back as memory serves, the Snowclaw paid their respects to Menphina. Their rites and rituals have always served to spread Her ideals. Though the Snowclaws exists as a markedly less religious and devout people, they no less integrated their views of the Goddess and other powerful animal spirits into the core of their being. Strength, humility, and a sense of self sufficiency are the most ideal traits to embody.. Rites of adulthood, bonding, and leadership all coincide with these ideals as well.

Both women and men are required to survive in the wilds, stripped bare of their belongings, clothing, and weapons. Only once thirty suns have passed may they return home, with an expectation to bring a trophy to show their ability to rise alone from nothing. Bonding ceremonies between lovers have a similar criteria, in the eyes of the Snowclaw, when two of their kin have found another with whom they want not to be without, they must submit to a task that demonstrates their abilities to live with and without the other. Leadership, initially, was reserved for the strongest and most humble of Huntresses, with the rare occasion that a male might rise to the status of council. It is expected that the strong carry the weak and even should failure come to plague one of the Snowclaw, they are not left behind. To be humble enough to carry the weight of others with no expectations of return is an aspiration drawn from motherhood and deeply ingrained in their society.

Seclusion, ultimately, led to the downfall of the Snowclaw - their remote settlements made trading difficult and the wanderers of Oschon visited aspiring huntresses less and less. Greed took root and this desperation beget poaching, over harvesting, and the stripping of precious metals buried deep in the frozen tundra of both Coerthas and the Northern Shroud. They dwindled down to a shadow of its former self, the few remaining families integrating into other clans and families who had not incurred the wrath of the Elements. A desperate few cling to the ideals of their former glory and remain as an imitation of the clan they had once been known as, collecting other outliers, stragglers, and exiled and existing as a menace to the Shroud and all the clans within it.