Coeurl Tribe

Coeurl

The Coeurl Tribe, an off-shoot of the Seekers of the Sun sub-race of Miqo'te, are located over a wide range of territory in the rural desert of Eastern Thanalan, near the borders of the beastman homeland of Pagi'than with some family clans choosing to settle off the coast of the Bay of Dha'yuz. While not much is known about this secretive tribe, three large villages appear to be the oldest settlements and will be the focus here.

Race : Miqo'te	Clan : Seekers of the Sun
Population : ~200	Number of Villages : 3
Religion : Azeyma, the Warden; nature spirits; the Coeurl	Naming Conventions : C' (pronounced ka)
Location : Eastern Thanalan, near the border of Pagi'than and the coast of the Bay of Dha'yuz

History

As with the rest of their species, the Coeurl tribe arrived in Eorzea in the Fifth Umbral Era, when ice bridges were created across continents. The ancestors of the current tribe followed not only their traditional prey but also the visions of their tribal leaders and the beast that they revered, the coeurl. During the end of the Fifth Umbral Era, when the ice began to melt, the tribe migrated to the eastern portion of Eorzea, preferring the desert climate much like their tribal guide. Much of the tribe remained essentially nomadic, though each claimed their territories in various parts of the desert around what is now the city of Ul'dah.
In the last several hundred years, three villages have settled down and created a tribal culture unique to themselves, abandoning the more common nomadic lifestyle in favor of cultivation and mutual non-aggression.

History of the Coeurl Tribe with the Amal'jaa

Due to their proximity to the grasslands of Pagi'than, the native home of the lizard-like beastmen known as the Amal'jaa, the Coeurl tribe has had a history of open warfare with the beastman. Each side has claimed that their lands were invaded first, though the true first aggressor has been lost in a long history of small raids, larger battles, cease-fires, and near-massacres. At the current time, the Coeurl tribe has not been observed crossing the border into Pagi'than or Amal'jaa lands, however the beastmen have been increasing their raids into Thanalan- even so far as the city of Ul'dah- so it is likely only a matter of time before the current cold war escalates once more.

Culture

Politics

Each of the three villages in the Coeurl tribe follows a system of government whereby five of the eldest members of the village- three females past child-bearing age and two males past hunting age- come together to discuss the good of the village. It is this Council that determines whether or not to declare proper war, when to look to new hunting grounds, and mediates disputes involving other villages, disputes between the various traditional ton (vocation-based fraternities and sororities), and disputes between nunhs. It is also this Council that determines which members of the tribe will be considered as 'Master Hunter' (the title is the same regardless of sex) and is qualified to lead the younger hunters and fighters through their training.

Religion

Azeyma's Rest

Azeyma's Rest is the summer solstice, when the Coeurl tribe believes that Azeyma shines her brightest before beginning to hide her radiant face behind her fan. It is a day to celebrate accomplishments of the year, to show one's strength, fertility, joy, and pride to the shining face of the Warden. It is often celebrated with elaborate dances, songs testifying the accomplishments of the tribe as a whole as well as individual members, and many times it is this day when young tias will attempt to challenge the nunhs of their village.

On the day of Azeyma's Rest, the Coeurl tribe's largest number of courtship rituals are acted out. While a small number of rituals occur on other days of the year, it is considered good luck to be courted on the longest day of the year, as it is believed that Azeyma will bless the pairing with fertility and will allow the new female to join her sisters with that nunh in good harmony.

Previously, there was a ritual enacted on Azeyma's Rest wherein a tia was chosen by the Council, sent into the wilds for 24 hours with nothing to eat or drink and no weapons. Should he return, he would be granted nunh status for that shortest night of the year and that night only and he should have his choice of any of the women of the tribe who would accept him, as they believed him to be blessed by Azeyma herself. Should a child be born of that symbolic union, they were almost universally heterochromic, a symbol of great importance to the Coeurl tribe and, indeed, the Seekers of the Sun as a whole. This ritual has largely fallen out of favor (at least publically) due to outside pressures from visitors to the tribe, who consider the practice overly superstitious.

Azeyma's Rest is considered a holiday primarily celebrating the masculine elements of the tribe, with music, dancing, and story-telling following this theme. It is occasionally referred to as the 'male's new year'.

Azeyma's Rising

Azeyma's Rising falls on the winter solstice, near the end of the rainy season, when the Coeurl tribe believes that the Warden is beginning to rise from her long period of resting and is finally prepared to draw back her fan. As compared to the more boisterous celebrations of Azeyma's Rest, Azyema's Rising is a deeply spiritual holiday and is focused on preparing of one's self and one's village to move into the brightness of the Warden's light once more- and to be worthy of it. A holiday focusing on relationships between the spirits and the 'real' world, each village's children perform a ritual dance for which they have practiced for months wherein they form a chain that resembles a great fork of lightning striking through the three villages, moving from one all the way across the other two, until each dwelling and gathering place has been touched by their footpads- which have been stained a pale blue by grinding a flower that grows only in the rainy season.

This same pale blue stain will be applied to the gates that stand at the entrance to each village, a symbolic rekindling of the bond between the Coeurl people and the lightning-bearing creature they revere.

When the sun has set, many lanterns are lit and great feasts are prepared, and the village's female shaman and bard, known as a jali, will step forward and begin to tell one of the stories of how Azeyma came by her fan. In the most popular version, the Warden's radiance was so dazzling the Miqo'te people became lost and wandered in the desert. They would have died had it not been for a great coeurl queen, who saw the brilliant goddess and took pity on the plight of the Miqo'te people, slipping between them and the shining sun's light. The coeurl's fur was burned black wherever the lady's eyes fell, like sunspots left behind one's closed eyes, but the lady was inspired, and fashioned herself a fan to shield her chosen people.

Once the story is told, the jali will partake of a drug to send herself into a light trance as the village sings and dances tributes to the coeurl and Azeyma. While in said trance, the jali will attempt to seek the elemental spirits of air, fire, and (should she be lucky) the coeurl itself to ask for a year of abundant game, healthy childbearing, and safe passage for the children passing into adulthood.

Given the deeply spiritual nature of this holiday as well as it's focus on beginnings, Azeyma's Rising is themed around the feminine and is considered the 'female's new year'.

Family Structure and Children

As with other Keepers of the Sun, the Coeurl tribe keeps to the traditions of having a limited number of males who breed, known as 'nunh's and a larger number of non-breeding males known as 'tia's. In the three villages, the number of nunhs is never greater than four and currently sits at three in each village, with approximately ten to fifteen tias per village.

The number of tias include adolescent boys and old men out of their prime but still technically of breeding age and so may seem inflated. It does not include the two males on each Council, nor the males of extreme age, as they are no longer considered competition for the nunhs.

Each nunh typically is mated to roughly ten females of breeding age, though that number is somewhat fluid depending on the females of the village and the nunh's efforts to maintain the relationships beyond simple breeding.

Typically, the females live in communal housing, sharing the hunting, gathering, cooking, and child-rearing duties amongst one another, with the very young and very old tias assisting. Each member of a nunh's household is considered family despite previous blood ties, with the females of a household referring to one another as 'sisters' or 'mothers' and the tias of a village either 'little brother' or 'uncle' depending on youth or age. The council members are always 'grandmother/father' depending on sex. The nunhs are typically not referred to in this familial manner, whether due to incest taboos or due to some honorary status attached to their names it is not clear.

Childrearing is a communal process that begins after the baby's eighth day after birth. Prior to that day, the mother and baby are separated from the rest of the tribe and visited by the jali or jeli daily so that they may rest and be kept safe from negative influences. On the eighth day, the baby is presented to the tribe and the jali or jeli performs a brief ritual so that the elemental spirits will reveal the child's name. The name is then typically not used in daily life, most Coeurl preferring nicknames or petnames until the child is old enough to undergo their coming of age ritual.

Courtship

The courtship rituals of the Coeurl tribe are varied but are based on exogenous systems- it is taboo to join with a nunh within one's village. Therefore, holidays such as Azeyma's Rest and Azeyma's Rising are extremely important cultural exchanges wherein the females of the villages meet the nunhs and tias of their neighbors.