Vorakh
A now long conquered tribe that often wandered the Dravanian Forelands during the warmer seasons, hunting the plentiful game in competition with other apex predators. Believing themselves to have an ancestral connection to Dragonkind, this tribe was well known to practice glamours to allow them to take a Draconic shape.
Religion:
A yet-unnamed deity in the form of a mighty Dragon, culturally represented by a symbol resembling a sharp Dragon’s eye. Widely regarded as male, he exemplified honor, regal elegance, and wisdom. He was considered the patron deity of Lifeblood.
They revered more intelligent Dragons as elder life-guides and direct descendants of their patron deity. Despite this reverence, or perhaps because of it, the tribe was particularly adamant about the culling of malign scalekin. As a whole, they resented those of Ishgardian heritage, believing them to “have deception in their blood.” It is believed this is owed to tales passed down through the generations that painted Ishgard in a negative light.
Occult Practices:
Their rituals were oriented around the power of one’s lifeblood, and blood was involved in every aspect of their tribal magic. From the commonplace (the consumption of the blood of a fresh kill), to events of far greater meaning (close family paying respects by drinking from the recently-deceased), the Vorakh were adamant in the assimilation of those energies into the self.
Several objects found meaning in the practices of this tribe, including: pieces of fallen foes (usually teeth); shed Dragon scales and less commonly, horns; and paste colored to represent each aspect of the elements, which was used on the bodies of those with active roles in the rituals (whether performer or receiver). Raw precious gems and especially crystals were favored tools used in performing feats of magic and healing, though the former were mostly reserved to adorn the staves of the medicine men and women among them, as they were believed to hold superior power.
Rite of Passage:
'Ascending' into Eorzea's greatest apex predators was a ritualistic and truly religious experience for them, one which all members of the tribe were expected to go through after seeing twelve summers, as a rite of adulthood. During the annual pilgrimage to Dravania, youth who had reached their twelfth year were given minimal provisions and supplied with a superior-quality weapon of their choosing; they were then turned loose into the wilds to track and slay a greater scalekin, from which would be drawn a vial of blood along with its heart.
Those who returned were subjected to the task of consuming the creature’s heart, after which point they were required to trade the vial of scalekin blood for a sip from a far more potent bottle: blood obtained from a willing Dragon by the Alpha medicine man or woman upon the tribe’s arrival into the Forelands. The youth would undergo a transformation of body and spirit, becoming one with their Draconian ancestry both inside and out, and they would then perform a ritual dance before the tribe in praise of their deity for his acceptance of them as one of his children.
When the symbolic dance concluded, the younglings were communally hailed as adults in the eyes of their tribesmen. While the transformation brought on by the Dragon’s blood was only temporary, they retained their spiritual “wholeness” in being taught the ability to cast a glamour on themselves to achieve the appearance of a Dragon at will. Perhaps owing to some psychological trigger, the glamours had a tendency to resemble some aspects of the scalekin whose heart was eaten. This only further fueled the tribe’s belief that consuming the blood or vital organs of a kill allowed one to assimilate its spirit into one’s own.
Eventual Demise:
The Vorakh were tragically slaughtered and scattered by the Dotharl tribe over a decade ago. It is rare to encounter a Xaela with this name, as precious few of these remarkable Au Ra survived.
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( Arietta’s parent tribe headcanon, go! )
