This group is very very heavily pulled from the old Kunanda'Nakhun pride, which was owned by Felyn and Dr Umeda. Their culture and beliefs are derived primarily from the K'N, although they will not be exactly the same, as the group is being reformed years after disbandment; though they were once isolated and insular, they've had years out in other lands and amongst other groups, and so the reformed group is more of an evolution than a straight continuation.
|Territory
After going over all their options, Intiha-ka has decided to, with the help of her mother, lead the fledgling pride to the tidal island once occuppied by the Einaliai Thalassai. This is a large island that can be seen but not readily accessed from the mainland, as the swim is too dangerous to attempt. At low tide, however, a narrow land bridge becomes accessible, affording a brief opportunity twice a day when the island can be accessed. The island itself is lush and tropical, boasting freshwater streams, pools and waterfalls, and is quite large - to walk from one end to another would, allowing for rest time and a leisurely pace, take approximately three days. At its widest point, it would take a little over a day to cross from one side to the other.
The island is host to a robust population of birds and various small-to-medium animals. Larger prey species are all but nonexistent on the island, and so hooved prey there is limited to smaller creatures such as dik-dik, duiker, grysbok, steenbok, klipspringer, oribi, and suni. If larger prey is desired, a hunting party is sent to the mainland to return with something more substantial. Fish, both from the freshwater pools and from the sea, is also a mainstay of the pride's diet. On very rare occasion, the carcass of a larger sea-dwelling creature will wash ashore, a turn of fortune that can spawn an impromptu celebration.
|History
Original K'N History:
Quote:
Every new beginning is some other beginning’s end, as the saying goes, and for the Kunanda’Nakhun – they marked the ending of a legacy by the name of the Purahka.
The Purahka pride was one of ancient origins, flourishing in a land lost over time on the tongues of storytellers, though a variety of names now exist for it. They were renowned for their strength and tact, breeding some of the most skillful hunters and warriors existing at the time. Outwardly, they had the strength and force only dreamt of in stories. Inwardly, they were crumbling at the core.
As is customary among many of the royal bloodlines of ancient, long forgotten prides, the royal family had led itself to inbreeding for many hundreds of years. Near the end of their reign, the royal family had begun to produce weak offspring that were more often than not troubled of the mind. Only years before the end of the Purahka, the pride saw its last true king and queen – two young cousins who, despite their misfortunes, were deeply in love. Sadly, because of her sickliness, the queen died giving birth to her one and only cub – a son that would one day become the last heir to the throne of the great kings. The king named this son Idbar’Shamat, a cub that was considered unlucky from the day of his birth, and a cub that would one day grow up to spread his bad luck like a wildfire.
When Idbar was little more than an adolescent, his father died from the grief and madness that had swept over him at the death of his beloved queen, and Idbar was named the new king of Purahka. It could be blamed on the fact that his father never paid him very much attention, or on the fact that his genetics had made him slightly mentally unstable, but young Idbar was a lion with a taste for blood and gore. He often stirred fights among his own pride just to see a pair of lions rip one another to shreds or he would give someone an impossible task with the threat that failure meant execution. Unsurprisingly, females were more often the victim of these games than the male warriors simply because of the preference in Idbar’s demented thoughts. Idbar himself went unchallenged for a very long time despite the whispers stirring among the members of the pride. He would continue his merciless rule until the fateful day that he pushed those tactful lionesses just a little too far.
Idbar had seen quite a few of those two-legged creatures in the forest of their lands early one morning and his twisted mind immediately decided he should pit a group of lionesses against them in order to test their strength. Most animals, by instinct, steered clear of these two-leggers, but Idbar had a rather corrupt thought process and a little less instinct than one usually came by with lions. With a wicked grin, he gathered up a particularly crafty group of lionesses and told them they must bring back a two-legger or they would all be exiled to the far reaches of the pride lands where there were larger and more violent creatures than these two-leggers themselves. Now this may have seemed little more than his usual game, until one takes into account that one of these females was none other than a lioness, Vipatti, who had professed her love to Idbar – the lioness that many believed he would take as a queen since no females remained of royal blood. Perhaps he had just been testing her, trying to make sure she was worthy of ruling with him, but whatever the reasoning behind his thoughts, it all ended in disaster.
Not long into their hunt for these two-leggers, the lionesses began to feel uneasy. The animals of the forest were stirring more than usual, frantic and unnerved, and the instinct of the lionesses themselves screamed for them to leave. Many turned back, becoming to unnerved and unsettled by their own instincts, but Vipatti kept going – and so did those loyal to her. As they went deeper into the forest, deeper into the heart of this evil feeling, the surrounding area began to grow warmer. Ahead of them they could see light flickering, great light – but they could also hear the screams of two-leggers. The last lions with Vipatti turned away, begging her to come with them, but Vipatti would not be turned away from her one chance to prove herself worthy of Idbar.
These lionesses began to head back out of the forest, but as they went, a roaring noise began to build up behind them. When they finally turned around to look, the forest had caught fire – probably from something those two-leggers had done. They began to run, knowing it was already too late for Vipatti, trying to save their own lives. Once they had passed the edge of the forest and found the rest of their group, they had all suffered scorches and burns from falling limbs and twigs. They did the inevitable and went back to face Idbar. When he was confronted, for long moments he sat in silence, almost as if he might grieve for Vipatti. Then, with a sudden burst of rather maniacal laughter, Idbar condemned them all to exile while exclaiming that Vipatti just wasn’t cut out for a Purahka way of life.
Outraged, the lionesses of the pride all came together and developed a plan to dispose of their young, corrupt king. By now, even the males had begun to disapprove of Idbar’s actions but they still did nothing. It was no matter, for as the night fell over the lands of Purahka, the tactful hunters the pride was so renowned for formed together for their greatest hunt – their king. They surrounded him on all sides with the shadows as their curtain, knowing that more than one of them could fall from fatal wounds. As he noticed that first pair of yellow eyes staring at him from the darkness, he began to laugh and he continued his laughter even as they fell in upon him with claws and teeth.
Many say that they carved him up, left him intact, but mangled his body with a wound for every sin he had ever committed against a lioness. Others say that they ripped him to pieces and threw him to the scavengers, letting the lowest creatures of the food chain have a meal fit for a king. Whatever the case, he was slaughtered, and since then no male has taken the throne. From among the lionesses, two queens were chosen to rule in his stead and the males of the pride were condemned for being almost as guilty as Idbar himself. Throughout Idbar’s reign of terror, not a single one of them had stood up for a lioness, be she family or friend. They had allowed him to torture and slaughter at his whim and they would pay for it in this life and the next and for as many lives as it took for them to repent their sins. The males that chose to remain with the reformed pride that these lionesses now called the Kunanda’Nakhun believed the lionesses were right and accepted their place in hope of one day being saved from their sins.
The lionesses fled their homelands, seeking a place far away from the tainted land of Idbar, and for many years they were a nomadic group. The original lionesses that overthrew the king died and left their children to lead on until many generations later found them nestled in the heart of the jungle with their new way of life already the norm.
Many have come to believe that perhaps that this historical legend had its events exaggerated as the story passed down from generation to generation and that some of the minor details such as names and locations have been lost to time entirely. Regardless, this is the history they know and follow, despite any exaggeration.
The Purahka pride was one of ancient origins, flourishing in a land lost over time on the tongues of storytellers, though a variety of names now exist for it. They were renowned for their strength and tact, breeding some of the most skillful hunters and warriors existing at the time. Outwardly, they had the strength and force only dreamt of in stories. Inwardly, they were crumbling at the core.
As is customary among many of the royal bloodlines of ancient, long forgotten prides, the royal family had led itself to inbreeding for many hundreds of years. Near the end of their reign, the royal family had begun to produce weak offspring that were more often than not troubled of the mind. Only years before the end of the Purahka, the pride saw its last true king and queen – two young cousins who, despite their misfortunes, were deeply in love. Sadly, because of her sickliness, the queen died giving birth to her one and only cub – a son that would one day become the last heir to the throne of the great kings. The king named this son Idbar’Shamat, a cub that was considered unlucky from the day of his birth, and a cub that would one day grow up to spread his bad luck like a wildfire.
When Idbar was little more than an adolescent, his father died from the grief and madness that had swept over him at the death of his beloved queen, and Idbar was named the new king of Purahka. It could be blamed on the fact that his father never paid him very much attention, or on the fact that his genetics had made him slightly mentally unstable, but young Idbar was a lion with a taste for blood and gore. He often stirred fights among his own pride just to see a pair of lions rip one another to shreds or he would give someone an impossible task with the threat that failure meant execution. Unsurprisingly, females were more often the victim of these games than the male warriors simply because of the preference in Idbar’s demented thoughts. Idbar himself went unchallenged for a very long time despite the whispers stirring among the members of the pride. He would continue his merciless rule until the fateful day that he pushed those tactful lionesses just a little too far.
Idbar had seen quite a few of those two-legged creatures in the forest of their lands early one morning and his twisted mind immediately decided he should pit a group of lionesses against them in order to test their strength. Most animals, by instinct, steered clear of these two-leggers, but Idbar had a rather corrupt thought process and a little less instinct than one usually came by with lions. With a wicked grin, he gathered up a particularly crafty group of lionesses and told them they must bring back a two-legger or they would all be exiled to the far reaches of the pride lands where there were larger and more violent creatures than these two-leggers themselves. Now this may have seemed little more than his usual game, until one takes into account that one of these females was none other than a lioness, Vipatti, who had professed her love to Idbar – the lioness that many believed he would take as a queen since no females remained of royal blood. Perhaps he had just been testing her, trying to make sure she was worthy of ruling with him, but whatever the reasoning behind his thoughts, it all ended in disaster.
Not long into their hunt for these two-leggers, the lionesses began to feel uneasy. The animals of the forest were stirring more than usual, frantic and unnerved, and the instinct of the lionesses themselves screamed for them to leave. Many turned back, becoming to unnerved and unsettled by their own instincts, but Vipatti kept going – and so did those loyal to her. As they went deeper into the forest, deeper into the heart of this evil feeling, the surrounding area began to grow warmer. Ahead of them they could see light flickering, great light – but they could also hear the screams of two-leggers. The last lions with Vipatti turned away, begging her to come with them, but Vipatti would not be turned away from her one chance to prove herself worthy of Idbar.
These lionesses began to head back out of the forest, but as they went, a roaring noise began to build up behind them. When they finally turned around to look, the forest had caught fire – probably from something those two-leggers had done. They began to run, knowing it was already too late for Vipatti, trying to save their own lives. Once they had passed the edge of the forest and found the rest of their group, they had all suffered scorches and burns from falling limbs and twigs. They did the inevitable and went back to face Idbar. When he was confronted, for long moments he sat in silence, almost as if he might grieve for Vipatti. Then, with a sudden burst of rather maniacal laughter, Idbar condemned them all to exile while exclaiming that Vipatti just wasn’t cut out for a Purahka way of life.
Outraged, the lionesses of the pride all came together and developed a plan to dispose of their young, corrupt king. By now, even the males had begun to disapprove of Idbar’s actions but they still did nothing. It was no matter, for as the night fell over the lands of Purahka, the tactful hunters the pride was so renowned for formed together for their greatest hunt – their king. They surrounded him on all sides with the shadows as their curtain, knowing that more than one of them could fall from fatal wounds. As he noticed that first pair of yellow eyes staring at him from the darkness, he began to laugh and he continued his laughter even as they fell in upon him with claws and teeth.
Many say that they carved him up, left him intact, but mangled his body with a wound for every sin he had ever committed against a lioness. Others say that they ripped him to pieces and threw him to the scavengers, letting the lowest creatures of the food chain have a meal fit for a king. Whatever the case, he was slaughtered, and since then no male has taken the throne. From among the lionesses, two queens were chosen to rule in his stead and the males of the pride were condemned for being almost as guilty as Idbar himself. Throughout Idbar’s reign of terror, not a single one of them had stood up for a lioness, be she family or friend. They had allowed him to torture and slaughter at his whim and they would pay for it in this life and the next and for as many lives as it took for them to repent their sins. The males that chose to remain with the reformed pride that these lionesses now called the Kunanda’Nakhun believed the lionesses were right and accepted their place in hope of one day being saved from their sins.
The lionesses fled their homelands, seeking a place far away from the tainted land of Idbar, and for many years they were a nomadic group. The original lionesses that overthrew the king died and left their children to lead on until many generations later found them nestled in the heart of the jungle with their new way of life already the norm.
Many have come to believe that perhaps that this historical legend had its events exaggerated as the story passed down from generation to generation and that some of the minor details such as names and locations have been lost to time entirely. Regardless, this is the history they know and follow, despite any exaggeration.
The Kunanda'Nakhun thrived for many years before fate forced them to disperse, and the pride scattered to the winds. Some chose to live as rogues; others joined new prides such as the Antianeira and Einaliai Thalassai, finding comfort in social structures that were at least somewhat compatible with the beliefs they were raised on; others still moved on to vastly different prides and adapted to the new lives they found. Some found themselves uprooted yet again when their new prides fell apart, and it was then that they began to find their way back to each other.
Sataa, daughter of the lioness Kianga who had been bonded to one of the Kunanda's last Adhi-raj, who had made her new home among the 'mermaids' of the Einaliai Thalassai, was reunited with her daughter Intiha-ka, who had chosen to live in the Antianeira. Sataa was accompanied by Ikkuma, a male from the Kunanda'Nakhun who had chosen to stay with her, and Intiha-ka travelled with a lioness named Aletheia, whom she had befriended during her time in the Antianeira. They decided to stay together and formed a small, informal unit, continuing to live a nomadic life in unclaimed territories...until one day, Intiha-ka came across a strange sight: a rowdy band of creatures, most but not all of them male lions, travelling together. Curious, she followed them, and soon came to the realization that some of them were not companions, but captives.
Furious that these males had the audacity to enslave others - she had heard of such things, but never seen it with her own eyes - she hurried back to her own makeshift group and told them of what she'd seen. They shared in her outrage, and she and the other females returned that night to where the outlaws had made camp and set upon them. By the time they had finished, every member of the band had been killed or else had refused to stand with honor and fled. Not only were the former captives grateful, most wanted to stay with their rescuers, and just like that, their little group had more than doubled in size, with the addition of several lionesses, a lion, and even a few non-lions.
After many days together, hearing stories of where they were from and what they had been through, and telling her own, Intiha-ka decided that merely existing as drifters was not enough. Years and many miles away from the pride of her birth, she had seen time and again that the world was chaos and disorder without structure and obedience to tradition and value to keep it at bay. It was past time for the Kunanda'Nakhun to return, but it would not return quite the same.
They would be the Te'a-Nakhun, the Sharpened Claws.
|Species
All predator species, both regular and familiar, are accepted within the group. However, familiars are not viewed as familiars and should remain on their own certs, rather than going on the cert of a regular species member. The group is strongly opposed to any form of servitude.
|Culture
The core of this group's belief and societal structure is honor. One must always act with honor, and avoid dishonor at all costs. There is nothing worse than dishonor, which harms the soul and will weigh it down when it is judged after death. Traditionally, honor is most commonly earned in battle, not just by being victorious but by fighting honestly and well: the least honor is earned by killing one's opponent; the most honor is earned by defeating an opponent without leaving a mark on them. Honor is also earned by performing one's duties well, whether those duties are hunting, healing, teaching, or so on. Giving aid to those in need is also an honorable act, and so on.
Dishonor, too, ranges from small to great, and can take the form of such things as lying, cheating, stealing, harming those that can't fight back, etc. Those who have dishonored themselves may atone for the wrong by setting a punishment for themselves, but this punishment must be equal to the offense, or they will only create more dishonor for themselves.
They believe that when a creature dies, their soul is judged, their honor and dishonor weighed against each other, and the outcome of that judgement is reflected in their physical appearance in their next life. Those whose honor across their lives has greatly outweighed their dishonor will be females with brightly-colored pelts and above-average size; those whose honor slightly outweighed their dishonor will be females marked with mostly bright colors and are usually average in size; those whose honor was equal to or slightly less than their dishonor will be females with dull pelts and can also be smaller in size; those whose dishonor greatly outweighed their honor will be male. Honor and dishonor build cumulatively across lives, the slate is not made blank with a new life. For example, if a soul has enough dishonor that it has been born a Parastar, it would most likely take several lives of living well and honorably to climb their way up to being born a Rawal.
It is believed that souls are reincarnated within their own species: the soul of a wild dog will always be reborn into the body of a wild dog. In the case of hybrids, they may house the soul of someone from either of their parent species. For example, a cheeton could have the soul of a cheetah or of a lion, but being housed for a time in the body of a hybrid does not change the soul's nature. A cheetah soul will remain a cheetah soul, and when the hybrid dies, that cheetah soul will move on to the body of a cheetah (or another cheetah hybrid).
Disputes and disagreements of all kinds are often settled by a duel between the involved parties. Duels may only be between females of the same caste: a Gasht cannot challenge a Rawal or vice versa. If, however, someone feels that a wrong was done them by someone from a different caste, they may beseech someone from the appropriate caste to challenge and fight for them. If a challenge is issued by or given to someone from the same caste, but of a species that would make the duel unfair, a champion may be found for either party. For instance, if a wild dog was challenged by a lioness, the wild dog could ask a trusted lioness to fight for her. If a challenge is issued by or given to a female who is part of a bonded pair, the pair will fight their opponent together.
Once a duel has been finished and the winner decided, that is to be the end of the matter. To hold a grudge is dishonorable.
The Ijman-a are the only females who can never be challenged to a duel. The Sira, the Apar, and even the Adhi-raj can be challenged, but losing does not risk their position in any way. Duels are used to end disagreements and resolve wrongs, not to gain rank.
