"All Roads Lead to Zenithstrand"
VULTURE TRIBE WILD ELVES OF ZENITHSTRAND
The Vulture are known for their eccentric behaviors, outlandish customs and unorthodox beliefs about the world around them. Due to their odd and distasteful customs, they are detested but tolerated by most of the other tribes of Zenithstrand.
Because they hold no territory of their own, some wild elves consider them to be scavengers. Unlike other scavengers, however, the vulture wander freely through all areas of the overgrowth apart from Hemlock territory and are invited to meetings of the kudzu council.
In truth, The Vulture are the morbid cleanup crew of the Overgrowth. Although they are capable enough should the need arise, they prefer to not engage in pitched battles, but rather watch from the sidelines until they can pick off the injured and dying. Though Crow Tribe gathers the belongings of the dead as spoils, The Vulture relish the carcasses themselves. They have a taste for the flesh of those who would threaten the Overgrowth and indulge often.
HISTORY
After the sundering of the Shadow Isle, the Wild Elves of the Overgrowth began to focus on different values and splinter into individual tribes. The first Vultures were the starving survivors who wished to honour Coa’s sacrifice. Coa, known by the Vulture as “The Giver”, long ago sacrificed herself to preserve the island from splitting apart. The Vulture believed that the Overgrowth, and by extension all plant life is sacred, as Zenithstrand’s fauna fed from the remains of their late leader. They settled in the rotting bogs and putrid swamps of the Overgrowth, choosing to reap the bounties of the flesh and decay to avoid disturbing the revered plant life that embodies Coa. They were dubbed “Vultures” by the other tribes due to their insistence on their entirely carnivorous and scavenged diets. Due to their reliance on meat, Vultures are known to be extremely lithe and gaunt, and their hungry gazes often haunt colonists that arrive on the island. While not rabidly aggressive, their demeander contains a horrifying patience to them that unnerves most strangers. Today, with the influx of foreigners onto the island, many have discovered the fate awaiting them should they perish near or inside the overgrowth.
TRIBAL TATTOOS
Vulture tribe members bear the mark of the Vulture beak, an upwards-facing green triangle that meets between the eyes. Some decide to add feathers and teeth to their markings along the sides of their face, and behind their ears as piercings. The position or intricacies of the tattoo have no significance to the Olagot’Thalan’s social standing, and are strictly a personal choice.
CULTURE
The highest mark of opulence within the overgrowth is the ability to be picky about what, and who, you eat. The Vulture, while known best to the outside world as cannibals, consider themselves to be chasing opulence and renown at every possible possibility. The Vulture are ruled by the wealthiest among them; by their standards, this is the person who feasts the most. Because Vulture are aggressive at a killing ground, their chief must be strong and wily to consume or claim the most kills, and thus, the most food. The chief then has the power to determine how carcasses and other forms of wealth are distributed. Older chiefs have a tendency to become overweight, while new ones tend to be lean and fierce. This tribe inhabits the fringes of Overgrowth society, claiming the dead of any and all. Because the Coyote/Jackal also make use of the dead, these tribes are often in conflict. Though they perform a necessary function, many tribes find them gruesome and will avoid contact with Vulture. Vulture prey upon the sick and weak, even within their own tribe; few grow old to die toothless in bed.
Vulture leaders are determined by size and by feats of feasting. Therefore, the Vulture are meritocratic when it comes to their leadership, by their own traditions in line with their reverence to Coa. The term for a family unit of Vultures is a “wake”, and those that lead wakes are decided by their personal wealth in flesh carried around, alongside their greatest feat of feasting. The current leader of the Vultures is known for having feasted on Kraken, and many know the distinct and deep sound of his smacking lips and teeth to be a sign of imminent death.
Those who have consumed the most flesh are given the most respect, though it is rare to see any vultures with much more than sinew and skin on their bones. Additionally, Vultures are known among foreigners for having “wide-eyed” and “intense” expressions to match modified incisors and teeth. A fearsome symbol of Vulture aggression is the showing of teeth. Should you see a vulture grimace or smile and show their teeth, it means that they have decided that they’ve fasted long enough.
Due to the importance of flesh, and the reverence for plant based life— Vulture Tribe members waste not, and want not of anything they cannot derive from the corpses of creatures. This leads to a general distrust of alchemy, alongside picky dealings when it comes to barter. Furthermore, a non-traditional form of currency and displayed wealth is in the form of teeth, tusks, fangs, and beaks. When queried by outsiders, the answer is always “Eating Bones” or “Maw Pearls”.
Finally, an important part of their dealings with the world around them include their cultural hatred for the undead, and their proficiency with destroying them. Corpses that are raised into undeath turn to dust when slain, and because of this the Vulture are unable to partake of their spoils. Weapons wrought from silver are the choice weapons for Vulture tribe members, often decorated with bones and fetishes from their choicest finds. To raise undead is to rob the natural cycle of the dead feeding the living, and will be actively met with hostility from Vulture Tribe members. Hunters of the undead are identifiable by their silvered teeth, or fetishes covered in silver.
PERSONALITY / SOCIAL BEHAVIOURS
Vultures put a heavy emphasis on diet and efficiency. To a Vulture, “you are what you eat”, and to waste is to disrespect nature’s bounty. What this translates to, is that Vultures are constantly innovating and looking for ways to make their lives easier. Whether it is due to an extreme laziness, or just a lack of nutrition and energy is unknown. Better fed Vultures seem to be more inclined to act, and posture more aggressively when it comes to disputes, though in general they are happier to take what they can get without conflict or any sort of loss, and only seem to get aggressive when their scavenging is interrupted.
An important note is that flesh that has fallen 3 days or more prior to harvesting will be returned to the earth or used in concocting fermented drinks, and is valued much less than fresh meat. Similarly, weak enemies are sometimes not considered worth eating at all.
ARTISTRY
The Vulture value teeth, tusks, fangs and beaks as symbols of wealth. They often make jewelry and talismans from them. Other artistic pursuits that are popular include musical dirges sung with tones made from deep in the throat, on sinew-strung instruments, and the fermenting of a drink procured from the chopped bits of less savoury scavenged remains that go beyond the “3 Day Rule”. Folk from beyond the tribe refer to this unique blend of mineral spices and viscera as “Giblet Juice.”
COA'S DAY
Since Coa is revered as the “Giver” of plant life on Zenithstrand, Vultures pay tribute to her in two ways on Coa’s day every year in July. To celebrate Coa’s day, the Vultures hold a ritual sacrifice of their terminally sick and elderly, offering the remains to Coa in the form of fertilizer. Alongside this, they hold a great scavenger hunt which is followed by a feast, in which the best and brightest compete to go forth and find the largest corpse possible so the tribe may partake of its strength and prepare for the coming winter.
RELIGION
Due to the Vulture’s reverence of plant life, alongside their respect for those of beautiful size the religious community is split in two. Secondary to Coa, and by proxy Llyandra, is a fairly even split between Dunarthos and Haldora worship. To the Vulture both gods are seen as valid, considering Dunarthos’ sacrifice for the Dreamleaf, and Haldora’s voluptuous strength and beauty. The moral quandaries of light and dark do not cause much conflict between the two, considering the reasons for their worship, though Malagant and Styphon are universally hated because of their ties to undeath and waste.
Those Vulture less inclined towards the worship of the gods often find themselves following Ilyxtriak the Grey Dragon, for Their savage ways often suit the Vulture, who live violent, subsistence-level lives.
GRUDGES & ALLIANCES
Scavengers
The Vulture care little for the other Scavenger Tribes. Some are used as food when times are lean, but for the most part they are left to their own devices. The resurgent Jackal are an exception to this, as they employ the hated magics of Necromancy quite liberally. This has caused a great deal of hostility between the two tribes, and has led many Vulture to reconsider their views on open conflict.
Kudzu:
The Other Kudzu disdain the Vulture and their practices, and are often hostile, or at least unfriendly, in most dealings. Beyond the official stance of disgust though, the Vulture are generally tolerated, as they serve a valuable, if disgusting, role in the Overgrowth. Were it not for the Vulture, disease and rot originating from bloated corpses would run rampant in the forest. The Hemlock will still generally kill Vulture on sight, and they prefer melting the corpses in their territories with acid.
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CONTRIBUTORS
Cory Cass
Daniel McCoshen
& Anonymous