Essih

The Essih are a **Manna** tribe of purely women who live deep within the Kuran Rainforest. They are typically unaccepting of men or other races, with the only race they allow themselves to be close to being that of the **Aldi**.

## Settlement

The Essih reside within the village of **Zria**, which is well hidden and hard for outsiders to stumble upon. Within the center of Zria is a large, stone statue of Ter’ot, with fresh offerings placed in the wooden bowl held in his claws. Despite Zria being the main village, there are many settlements of Essih throughout the entire rainforest. The village is primarily made up of Manna, but the women will take in abandoned girls of other tribes or races to bring into their own, raising them as a part of the tribe. This is especially true for abandoned Aldi that the Essih may come across, because the Essih believe that they are regressions of the Aldi people. Aldi that are brought into the Essih tribe are treated like royalty and given high status amongst the women.

## History

The founder of the Essih, **Tane Essih**, had always been a Manna. However, Tane had a close connection to the dragons of the lands, with her being known as the first dragon tamer ever known to the lands. This natural draconic connection led to the Essih tribe seeing themselves as higher beings, believing they are above the rest of the Manna and closer to the God Ter’ot than the rest, with only the **Aldi** themselves being above them.

In the beginning, the Essih had allowed men inside of the tribe, but began to retaliate against the men when they had begun to abuse their power over the women. The women tried to convince Tane to discard them, who had refused, and the tribeswomen took matters into their own hands and slaughtered the men. Tane had soon after been overthrown by the first warchief, due to the tribe seeing Tane as too gentle and forgiving. The tribe did not kill Tane, however, and simply allowed for her gentle nature to go towards being a medicine woman and caretaker for the tribe, a duty in which Tane accepted and lived out the rest of her life focused on.

## Physical Appearance

The Essih are incredibly tall compared to the other **Manna**, with the tallest of their tribe reaching almost 8 feet (243.84 cm). They are extremely well built, with it being said that they are able to carry boulders upon their back without breaking a sweat. Their faces are more angular than most Manna, with sharp canines and a more animalistic expression.

Their clothing consists of tight tunics that go across the chest, or leather battle suits. They never wear any metals due to their confidence in their fighting ability, as well as to be more silent when stalking through the trees. Their shields and weapons are depicted with a dragon or a serpent in honor of the Celestials **Ter’ot** and **Tozra**.

On the exposed parts of their bodies, the Essih will paint on war paint in the style of dragon scales, typically wearing black around their eyes to keep the sun out. Their hair is typically worn in ponytails, tight buns, or shaved. The warchief of the village is the only woman who does wear jewelry, with a golden headdress along the crown of her head to distinguish herself. All of the women in the tribe will bind their chests or go through a ritual to have their breast tissue removed to help prevent injury to the area when shooting bows or fighting.

## Culture

A small percentage of the Essih believe that they are equal to **Ter’ot**, or even see themselves as his prophet. These women will push their beliefs onto the other tribe women, resulting for it to be seen as normal and even expected of the Essih to worship Ter’ot on the daily. However, there are also Essih who worship the Goddess Tozra to the same level as Ter’ot, due to the first warchief of the tribe being believed to be a Demigod offspring of Tozra and a Manna man. During the Eprean Civil War, they sided with Tozra in honor of the first warchief, and were responsible for most of the deaths within the rainforest during this time.

The women of this tribe defend their lands mercilessly, with it being a common thing for them to attack without approaching first, especially if the target of their attack is a man. They attack in a quick and unpredictable way, with the neighboring tribes giving them the title of the Fury of Nature. Due to the reclusive nature of this tribe, it is rare for them to meet with their fellow Manna.

The tribe is a tight-knit community, often doing communal bathing's and grooming's together within a natural waterfall and hot spring found within Zria. The women are typically happy to attend the bathing's, with some event looking forward to going to them, due to the belief that a close relationship with your other tribeswomen prevents betrayal.

The Essih have a natural hostility and hatred towards **Juena**. The Essih do not do well at sea, and refuse to eat any aquatic life or to go onto boats. Being a petty Celestial, Juena returns the hatred to the Essih, with many of her sea protectors going towards the edge of the ocean nearest to the Essih settlements as a form of intimidation.

### Food

The Essih use their lands to support themselves, getting everything they need from cultivating the land and hunting the native species. The Essih are known for their archery and riding skills, with their preferred mount being a lizard-like creature called the **Linar**. The women also will go on raids on the surrounding areas with these creatures to search for food or supplies, causing almost all of the tribes living within the rainforest to be battle hardened and ready to defend against attacks when needed. The women have a close companionship with the Linar, to the point that they decorate their pottery with imagery of the Linar and Essih riding them with battle axes.

### Worship

The Essih believe themselves to be direct descendants of the dragons, giving them a close relationship to the Celestial **Ter'ot**. Outside of Ter'ot, the Essih also worship the **Warmonger Tozra**, looking towards the serpentine Celestial for strength when they prepare to go to war, or when they prepare to go on one of their pillaging missions.

### Romance

Essih will court other women within the tribe, getting tattoos on their inner wrists to show the marriage between the two women. The only reason an Essih would leave their tribe for a romantic reason is to find a male mate during the fall months, returning once she was pregnant. The Essih gives birth inside of the village during the spring or summer months, with all of the women taking on a maternal role towards the new daughter, which leads to all of the women in the tribe having strong bonds with each other.

If the child is a son, however, one of the tribe women will take him and carry him to a nearby village, leaving him outside and abandoning him in a place where he could still have a chance at life.

### Death

Upon death, Essih women are wrapped in leather and brought to the village burial grounds. They are buried deep within the earth with glittering gemstones, and the weapon they were most proficient at is buried in the earth above the grave as the gravestone.

If a death within the tribe is through an execution, the Essih will place a thick veil over the head of the woman in order to avoid seeing the face of the sister who betrayed them, tossing her body into the ocean after.

## Leadership

The current Warchief of the Essih is a woman named **Carmilla**, who is believed to be a Demigod of **Ter’ot** and an unknown woman, due to the serpentine features of Carmilla’s face.