Tenizi
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| Subtrain | Tenizi |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | 🔊 SAW-dah-gur |
| Base Strain | Kuulik |
| Eyesight | Low Light |
| Lifespan | 100 years |
| Location | Ships and travelling caravans crossing Otan |
| Language | Kuulik language |
| Terrain | All |
| Skin Color | Olive Green |
| Hair Color | Black to gray |
| Eye Color | Yellow, Orange, Red, Brown |
If ever a buckle was swashed, a Tenizi (🔊 ten-NEET-see) a swashbuckling Tenizi probably swashed it. Their brand of Kuulik-ness has made fishermen and seafarers of them all.
Overview
It would be as unheard of for a Tenizi child to grow up away from the water as an Ungir child who would not play in the dirt. The Tenizi often form tight communities with their Sawdager cousins as the swashbucklers often provide a means of distribution for their trade-hungry kinfolk.
Tenizi ambitions are somewhat different than the rest of Otan as well. While anyone from a noble Human to a revered Grendel will think about acquiring a large keep with many servants and tracts of land, a Tenizi dreams of more assets at sea. The very richest of the Tenizi create huge floating fortresses that are sometimes found circling the coastal waters of Otan. These fortresses often provide tax-free refuges for their Sawdager kinfolk and are often sought after as excellent opportunities for trade (particularly trade for rare items). Undoubtedly, because of their penchant for travel by sea and air, the Tenizi can also boast a heightened resistance to motion sickness.
Physical Characteristics
The Tenizi substrain varies little from the rest of the Kuulik strain, with a typical physical height of around 120cm (4 ft.). They differ from other Kuulik by the coloring of their skin, which is olive green. This color is uniform over their whole body, with the possibility of darker lips.
Their hair is uniformly black, with male-pattern baldness occurring in males as young as 20. As with nearly every strain, both male and female Tenizi will start to gray around their 40th year. They are typically slim and agile even into their waning years.
Natural and Latent Abilities
The Tenize are born to travel and seem to have heightened senses related to their famed desire. Compared to other strains, they have an uncanny sense of direction. Whether in daylight or pitch dark, above ground or below, they seem to know which way is which.
They also understand weather in a way that few can match without powerful magic. Though they use their regular senses, a Tenizi can usually tell if it will be windy, how windy, whether the winds will change, whether rain will come, how long it will rain, and other weather predictions.
Undoubtedly, because of their penchant for travel by sea and air, the Tenizi can also boast a heightened resistance to motion sickness.
Common Mutations
The only common mutation found in the Tenizi is the ability to see in low light.
Tenizi Culture
The Tenizi love to travel, and their culture is similar to that of wanderers. They may amass wealth and keep it in a safe place, but they are loath to acquire physical goods. Every item they own is an item that they have to transport, possibly for the rest of their lives. The best gift one can give a Tenizi is a song or a story that they can carry in their heads as they voyage.
Every Tenizi is weighed down by superstition. Whether by land, sea, or air, traveling in Otan can be dangerous or deadly. Long before Wizards and Witches cast their magical wards, and long before the Divines bless their ships, nearly every Tenizi will perform their own private rituals.
A Tenizi might have a lucky shirt that must be worn on the first day of a voyage... or every day of a voyage. They may have other poems, sayings, rituals, or songs that must be invoked or repeated during parts of their journeys. Those who believe in the intercessions of gods will not miss the opportunity to pray, often with prayers more elaborate than seasoned Divines.
The performing arts are very important to the Tenizi. Singing, dancing, and music are essential to while away the hours at sea (or in the air). The happiest crew is almost assuredly the one with the best musicians. As such, all of Kuulik culture is permeated with a vast trove of Tenizi songs, though two-thirds of the Kuulik population rarely take a step outside their hometowns.
Lifestyle
Tenizi lifestyle varies based on their most common form of travel. Those who travel the seas are accustomed to living aboard a ship in cramped quarters. They will naturally become connoisseurs of fresh seafood. When their ships are in port, they spend uncomfortable nights in hotels, swaying in their beds (which don't sway, but it feels like they do), and dreaming of getting back to sea.
Land travelling Tenizi sing songs of the road. They are accustomed to hunting and preparing fresh game for their nightly camps. On profitable journeys, they will frequent taverns... or at least those that are friendly to Kuulik travelers. They are often great storytellers, but because of their travels, are often expert gossips with a keen sense of regional troubles.
Those Tenizi who travel by air are a unique lot. Their diet consists mainly of birds or other flying creatures that happen too close to their airships. They too, pass a lot of time in the air, and will adapt the songs of their seaborne cousins to while away the time between stops. Due to the high altitudes, they drink a lot less than other Tenizi as their resistance to the drink is greatly reduced.
Diet
The Kuulik are notorious for their ability to eat almost anything and enjoy their meal. The Tenizi have perhaps the most refined taste of all the Kuulik and will hunt fresh game on their travels. The game will, of course, depend upon their mode of travel: seafood for the seaborne, small game for the roadies, and high-flying birds (and other creatures) for the airborne.
Each of the three groups of Tenizi will pack staples for preparing their fresh foodstuffs, such as salt and other spices, according to their tastes. They may also carry travel-resilient vegetables or dried stock to prepare soups and stews. Despite human folklore, they do not eat foods that humans would find disagreeable.
Religion
The principal religion of the Tenizi is superstition. Every single member of this substrain honors superstition in their own way. They may utter oaths, turn themselves in circles, or any number of strange behaviors to grant themselves luck on their voyages. Only after these strange and often complex rituals will they consider the idea that the gods might affect their fate.
Woden is the principal god of the Kuulik, though he is thought of as more of a figurehead than an all-powerful deity, mixed in the everyday lives of every Kuulik. The Tenizi, in their superstitious routines, may honor Woden, but they might also honor other gods from other religions.
Mujit, the sea god of the Araldar people, might receive a prayer or other offering from a seaborned Tenizi. Lyftwynn, cultist goddess of the air, might receive praise from an airborne sailor. Others still might offer praise to every god that they know of in a complex litany... anything to bring good luck to their voyage.
Tenizi Observances
Like the other Kuulik, the Tenizi observe a day of rest on the 6th day of the week, Senbi. They will not travel on that day if possible. If they are already underway on an air or sea voyage and they are unable to put into port, they will operate with minimal crews so that as many as possible can enjoy the day off.
A Tenizi adventurer will be similarly loath to adventure on a Senbi.
Tenizi Geography
The Tenizi live and travel anywhere and everywhere in Otan. They are truly unbounded. They are particularly unwelcome in Garis and Sweardaelf territory, but other than those two nations, the world is their playground.
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