Dakoan

Legacy

Dakoan people are those descended from the folks who stepped off The Bitter Road early on in The Bleak Journey. Their forebears for hundreds of years often thought they were the only people left.

Dakoans arose out of the people that broke away early during the Long March and braved the frozen mountains to ultimately forge a relationship with.

Descended from the same initial group of survivors, they opted to take a path that led them beneath the Shadow of a great Doom, and vanished from history, long forgotten or thought dead until their many tribes, which they call Thangs, were discovered.

Out of contact with the Empire for centuries, they developed a different way of life and became a favored people of some Powers, likely including Chicory, whom they often call “Hikory Lass”.

Tradition

Dakoans are the least tradition bound, it is often said, because few understand their traditions.

This gives them a certain air of paranoia at times, or a sense of defiance of authority, or even an insatiable curiosity. In truth, it is derived from their need to be aware, to be alert, to know what is coming and what is possible because all of that can help ensure that survival will prevail.

Dakoans are pragmatic and practical – as befits a people that opted to take a different path during the darkest time. They have come to value that, for they knew of the experiences of the Sibolan survivors long before the Empire knew of them. While they did not have it any easier and remain leery of places where the earth is boiling and the air is poison, they tamed the horses and they fought the dragons and they carved a place of their own out.

Dakoans have a deep and abiding love of three things: Adaptability, Personal Autonomy, and Harmony with their environment (though not with people, necessarily). This is often looked at by others as a sense of defiance, of being overly unconcerned, and of being more than a little savage.

For Dakoans, life is a constant test for survival – in their ancestral lands, they deal with more of the ancient Dreadnaughts than any other people, and these often happen when seeking to find food for the family or oneself. Should they come from a city or a town, that drive to adapt and survive follows through with them, even if it evokes yearning for the freedom of the grand Tents and the wind across the hills. While Dakoan can now come from anywhere, they still retain many of the strong ties to their heritage, passed down over the years.

Dakoans expect each member of the family to be able to work both alone and as part of a team, and they do not place emphasis on leadership except in times of war.

Kinship

Dakoans are divided into 50 Thangs, or Tribal like groups, led by a collective of Elders of Kiths, who ae chosen by the Elders of the Kins and an Event held yearly called a Throng.

Historically, the Dakoan peoples roam freely throughout the vast ranges. Sometimes they will cooperate if they run into each other while nomadic, and sometimes they will war upon each other.

Every Thang has a specific week that they are meant to spend in what is sometimes called the City of Kahokia. This week is a week of celebration, observance, and more, and acts as the major holiday for a given Thang. However, every year, from the 15^th to the 28^th of Snowy, all the Thangs gather there and celebrate a long festival and make peace and settle disputes and generally drive their entire people forward in the Great Throng.

This is followed as smaller levels down into the Families themselves, where even the youngest has a voice and a say in the Throng of the Family.

Young Dakoans are often give a Test in their Tenth Summer, taken out into the lands through which their tribe has traveled and left alone with instructions to make for a specific point, and to survive. These Tests often last a week, and while the youngling is followed discreetly, they are never told of it until they are about to do the same to their own younglings.

This is meant to teach them to use the things they learned growing up within the tribe, which collectively acts as a school for them, and to the extent possible, all needed functions are taught to all people within the tribe.

Perspective

Dakoans are tough, private, and known to be fiercely protective of what is theirs, but also stunningly pragmatic. As a people they generally don’t worry about things they cannot change, and they hold the ability to adapt to changing circumstances as the highest ideal.

Dakoans are taught early to be skeptical, to ask questions, to be cautious and aware of more than just what they need at that moment.

To them, making your own way is no shame, and sometimes making your own way means accepting help from those whom you love.

Stigmas

Dakoans are seen as savage, difficult, and sometimes cowardly. Those from the Empire, especially, are most commonly seen as uncouth, ill mannered, and easily fooled by folks in Aztlan, Dorado, Akadia, Qivira.

In Lyonese, they are often seen as “great lumbering oxen”, best suited for menial work, but everybody loves to see them in the Grand Games.

Appearance

Dakoans are often almost as tall as Imperials, but are lither of build, with long delicate hands and stout legs.

Dakoan features are generally more rounded, and they are often noted for lacking any kind of facial hair, having somehow avoided the need to shave. Dakoans have square shaped eyes and generally a type 2 hair of some sort.

Qualities

Dakoan do not have a written form that is commonly known among their people and see written language as a kind of risk and a spell.

Dakoan have three names: A Kith name, for those not part of the tribe, a Kin name for those who are part of an extended family, and a Secret name, which they give only to those whom they love. Dakoan believe that giving this Secret name out can lead to them being summoned by dark sorcerers and wicked wizards and enslaving them.

Special

You gain one carved keepsake or trinket that has significance and is tied to a kind of associated creature that the individual Dakoan considers sacred to them, as a person. Knowledge of this is generally confined to a specific people who are close.

Trait

Dakoans have an incredible sense of direction. They always know two things: the direction in which they were born and true South.

Talent

Dakoan gain a +1 when using a Horse Bow. This is due to the tradition of learning to use them young, which most families keep even when in territories other than Kahokia.

Tell

Dakoan have a Weakness to Manic Damage.

Notes