Kithkin

A kithkin appears as a menage of the larger cats, crossbred with humans. However anyone mentioning this fact will likely wish they hadn’t during the last seconds of their lives. They are a combination of great strength, keen senses, sharp intelligence, and lightning reflexes — making a kithkin possibly the most perfect hunter anywhere in Miranda.

Both male and female kithkin are expected to hunt, herd, and defend the tribe. Those that show special skills often find themselves becoming traders, craftsmen, teachers, or even a shaman. The kithkin have no form of currency; although most tribes have a cache of coins and jewels to trade for the materials they need.

Most kithkin will live no more than 40 years; however the oldest known kithkin lived well past 200 years. Unlike most other races, a kithkin is considered fully-grown by the age of 8, with most walking and speaking before their first year is over. Young females will give birth to one or two children every other year, while older females may only have a successful birth every five years.

Still, this rarely stops any female from attempting, as children are very special to kithkin tribes. The kithkin have even been known to adopt orphaned children of other races until they reach maturity — after which they are set outside the tribe. Only mature kithkin of the tribe and children may freely stay within the lands of the tribe.

Both males and females are around 5½ feet tall, with females being less broad around the chest. Their bodies are covered with a soft layer of fur and often a short mane extends behind the head, which can hang as low as to the middle of the back. The coloration can consist of stripes, patches, or any number of solid colors. Unknown to many outsiders a kithkin’s exact pattern is dependent upon their birth tribe, as coloration is passed down to descendants.

It is often the face that unsettles most people that have never seen a kithkin. Although they appear descended from human stock, their eyes are placed forward and their jaw extends outward, barely covering a deadly set of teeth. Their eyes tend to be colored from dark browns to light green. Bright yellow eyes are rare, and are seen as the kithkin as either a good or bad omen.

They have short whiskers near their cheekbones and ears set high on their heads. This helps to provide a kithkin with senses of a born predator. Their legs are more similar to a cat than human. The length from the hip to knee is short, and the foot consists of just the ball and toes, with the “heel” part of the leg sitting about midway between the knee and the foot. Their gait is very distinct as they move in a way that seems foreign to any other race. This causes them some discomfort when moving around in a world full of things made for the other races.

Kithkin are a nomadic race. They are deeply tied to the family and clan to the point where a kithkin cast out of their tribes is almost certain to die. Tribes roam the grasslands of the Bronze Sea. The bison herds that roam these lands hold a special place in their culture, being powerful, dangerous, and useful. Each clan or tribe can range quite widely over the course of a few years.

Kithkin live in low, rounded tents called “galug”. Typically between eight to ten stay in each galug. The members of the galug typically form around an elder who is in charge of the galug. The word galug also has special meaning to the kithkin, as members of a galug have a tighter bond to each other than to other tribe members. Membership is not always by close blood ties. The elder decides who is allowed to stay in a galug.

While kithkin do not always form formal bonds of marriage, the parentage is noted and the father is responsible for the child's rites for certain milestones. There most common rites are the Rite of First Breath, the Rite of Weaning, the Rite of Naming, the Rite of Adulthood, and sometimes the Rite of Marriage. When a kithkin is no longer capable of hunting, there is the Rite of Elders to mark their progression into the ranks of the tribal elders.

A common rite of adulthood is to hunt a dangerous predator alone. The shoag are often targeted for this ritual, as they are a dangerous enemy to the southern kithkin and well-respected. Kithkin in the northern reaches of their territories choose to fight carthin warriors.

A variation of the Rite of Marriage is most often used when tribes intermarry. The kithkin who will leave essentially is born into the new tribe, and married to a kithkin of the new tribe. At that point, the ceremony often includes a shortened Rite of First Breath to symbolize the new tribal member's membership through birth into the new tribe.

When an orphan is taken in of the kithkin race, they will undergo the Rite of First Breath and two kithkin will step forward to take the role of mother and father. It does not matter what the age is of the child. If the child is old enough to have earned their Name in another family, there will be a new Rite of Naming, though it is typically several months later.

The one exception to the tribal structure is the shaman. The shaman, or dream talker, typically lives outside the main village. It is believed that the dreams of the many inside interfere with the shaman's need to commune with the dreams of the dead ancestors. The shaman typically lives in his or her own galug, with only one or two youths who are training to become shaman. If a tribe is powerful enough to have more than one, they each stay outside in separate gulags.

The shamans hold the spiritual history of the clan. They are the healers and the heralds. They know the songs to sing for the seasons, they know the rituals for the successful hunt. They keep watch over the tribe and ward off evil from harming their kin.

It is not common knowledge, but the kithkin do smith metals that they trade for or steal. A kithkin who is trained as a smith does not travel with the clan. He or she lives in a hidden place to forge the metal. Not all tribes have smiths, and those that do hold a higher status in the greater culture.

Elders are the cornerstone of the tribe. The history of the clan is kept by the elders. When an adult kithkin steps down from the role of hunting, they start to learn the history of the clan from the other elders. Over the course of two years they learn the legends and stories to commit to memory.

The kithkin often challenge caravans traveling across their lands. They typically will demand gifts in exchange for unmolested passage. The gifts they accept are often of no great value to humans, beads, tobacco, and beer are the most common.

The kithkin view humans with a mix of admiration and confusion. They rarely leave their tribes to travel into human lands, and so have little interaction with them. The interesting things the humans create and trade fascinate them. They typically offer up hides, artwork, and cured meats in trade for metals, fine wood, and other things that are not easily found in their realm.

Many kithkin have some level of psionic ability. This ability is usually focused on enhancing their already excellent hunting instincts. Some common psionic abilities include hunting sense, limited foresight, animal empathy, limited invisibility, or even psychic weapons.