The Dinnin have no single flag or symbol that unites them, thanks to their nature as a loose confederacy of associated peoples.
Government Form:
Lamia: Matriarchal Tribal Confederacy
Painted: Familal Confederacy
Great Clans: Feudal Oligarchy
Demographics:
The actual name ‘Dinnin’ refers not to a single race or group of people, but to anyone that has taken on the Covenant agreed centuries ago between the first people to arrive in the plane and The Flame. This means that the Dinnin themselves are fairly diverse, especially due to their habits of slave-taking.
LamiaThe second most numerous non-humans within the Dinnin, and considered to be The Flame’s chosen people. Lamias are half human, half serpent, with the upper half of a man, transitioning to a snake’s tail at the waist.
A typical adult lamia is anywhere from eight to ten feet when measured tip to tail-end, with reddish-black scales often arranged in sophisticated and unnatural patterns, each of which is unique to that lamia. In addition to their tails, lamias also sport long, curved fangs in their mouths, filled with potent venom. It would be a mistake to assume that just because one is out of bite range they are safe however, because lamias are capable of ‘spitting’ their venom out up to a distance of five meters. Although harmless when it comes into contact with unbroken skin, contact with the eyes can result in permanent blindness, whilst contact with cuts will envenom the victim as surely as a bite.
Lamias typically live anywhere from 80-120 years, with their childhoods and adolescents lasting a similar length to humans. Lamias give birth to live young (although the process is ovoviviparous, with eggs developing internally, and the young hatches shortly before birth.) Once born, snakelets are extremely vulnerable, especially to cold temperatures, requiring approximately a month of careful tending by their mothers to ensure their survival. Once this dangerous month has passed, the snakelet’s chances for survival improve drastically. Unlike human young, snakelets are capable of locomotion only a few months after birth, although more complicated types of movement may take them years to learn.
Lastly, lamias ‘run cold,’ in comparison to other members of the Dinnin. They are the most reliant on the warm desert sun to rouse them from their slumbers, and the most inactive when winter arrives. Equally speaking however, they are capable of operating in even baking heat for far longer than any other race in the Dinnin, traversing deserts and scaling to the very edge of sacred volcanos.
Lamias have a single distinctive and unnatural subspecies- the Echidna. Echidna are the children of Lamias and Ifreets- mysterious desert spirits the Dinnin believe to be living manifestations of the Flame. Echidnas are characterised by a forked tail, much darker colouration, a longer lifespan, and most peculiarly, the ability to bear not only Lamia, but also human children.
The Painted FolkThe most numerous demihumans within the Dinnin, the Painted Folk (often just the Painted,) are both physically and culturally different than the lamias they reside alongside. Bipedal, digitigrade, typically no taller than 5’4”, and heavily resembling canines, the Painted Folk are so called because of the natural camouflage patterns that occur on their fur.
Whilst Lamia prefer to stick to the mountains and deepest deserts, the Painted Folk are far more at home at the fringes of the desert, where life can begin to creep back in and scraggy grasslands and savannahs provide food for enough wildlife to sustain their hypercarnivorous nature. The nature of the Covenant means that the Painted Folk have no permanent settlements and are instead constantly on the move throughout the year. This causes them to come into the contact with the Kaffin (non-Dinnin) more often than their Lamia counterparts, constantly testing the Painted in a struggle for both resources to survive and slave-taking.
Painted can live to the same ages as humans, but their rugged, difficult lifestyle and constant fighting cuts many Painted lives shorts. A painted over forty is considered old, and one over fifty is practically venerable. Those few who live out a full life to their seventies or eighties are considered blessed indeed. Painted have litters of 2-4 pups, who develop much quicker than human babies, going through puberty between eight to ten years and considered fully grown around fourteen.
HumansDinnin humans are surprisingly common, outnumbering the Lamias comfortably. Although there are large quantities of enslaved humans within the Dinnin, (who are considered Kaffin automatically,) there are no small number of free individuals. The most numerous and important groups of Dinnin humans form the collectives known as the 'Great Clans,' mighty houses that have carved their homes out in the valleys of mountain ranges on the edges of the desert. Although the reason for this is poorly understood, the mountains prevent the desertification of the land outside of the cities, thus allowing for metropolitan centers to be build despite the Covenant. The nature of this arrangement- with its periphary farmers and city-dwellers, has lead to a familiar feudal system forming.
Population:
Approximately 3,000,000 people fall under the broad banner of the Dinnin people, although it would be extraordinarily difficult to mobilise their full population.
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Plane Description: Etalwid is a large, realm, resembling Gaia in many ways. It has fertile floodplains, lush forests, freezing tundras, wide oceans, towering mountain ranges and rolling deserts. All manner of races go about their lives in this realm, much as they do on Gaia, but for those seeking to truly understand Etalwid, it is the deserts and mountains that they must venture to, where the Dinnin have made their homes, and become effective masters of the center of the plane.
History: (What happened after you landed on your new plane of existence? This can be as brief or detailed as you like.)
Culture and Society:
At the core of the Dinnin people are the covenant they have made with the Flame, and the ways that their lives and culture have been impacted by this covenant.
The Flame is interpreted in two very different ways. The most prominent and accepted version is that the Flame is a primordial entity, that existed before even the water or the dirt. Burning upon every plane, the Flame created the heavens and the earths, each infusion of the Flame's power becoming its own manifestations. When the intelligent races were born, they knew of the true nature of the Flame, but in time forgot, and began worshipping the other manifestations equally. Although it was not
incorrect to worship these other manifestations, by doing so these peoples, the
Kaffin (Forgotten Ones) had lost something.
When the settlers that would become the Dinnin arrived in Etalwid, they were barraged by these manifestations. At first, they accepted them as equally righteous and true, but as the Kaffin drove the Dinnin back further and further into the unwanted parts of the world- the deserts, burning so hot as to be unbearable, the mountains so high as to be unbreathable, they began to turn to the Flame, and in doing so, began to realise its true nature.
With the Dinnin numbering fewer and fewer, they made a great pilgramage to the heights of the Jabal Ilah. There, they made a Covenant with the Flame, and the Dinnin were made righteous, true, and gifted new forms. These forms were scaled and cool, so as to resist the desert heat better. Their legs were changed to tails, so as to scale the dunes and clamber across the rocks quicker, and they were granted swiftness, strength, and wisdom. For all this, the Flame requested nothing but their unwavering faith, a price they were ecstatic to pay.
This is where the first of the Lamia were born, with those refusing to acknowledge the truth remaining Kaffin, whilst those who accepted it taking for themselves the name of
Dinnin (Remembered/Chosen One.) However, as they would come to understand, they were not the first that had learnt of the true nature of the Flame. In savannahs and scrublands, the Painted people, wide-ranging and animalistic, had also understood that everything came from the same source.
To them though, it was not the Flame in the sky, burning down as what the Kaffin called the 'sun,' that was their source of power, but it was instead the Flame of life itself. Burning within every blade of grass, every wild beast, and every intelligent creature, the Flame thrummed. This Flame, they believed, was most potent in the earth, where all life drew its origins from, and in blood- the purest expression of the heat inside each individual. When the Painted and the Dinnin met, it was the Lamias who recognised this similarity, and although built on initially shaky ground, the relationship between the two flourished and bloomed, until the Painted were Dinnin, as resolutely as their snakelike cousins were.
Suddenly infused with new power and fresh allies, the Dinnin began to wage war anew with the Kaffin that had driven them so far back. As the Dinnin expanded outwards, they initially welcomed the opportunity to govern over more lush and fertile land, but within just a handful of years, these once fertile plains began to dry out. Riverbeds became sunbitten dirt, green grass wilted, replaced by blowing sand, and the desert itself would take over wherever the Dinnin settled.
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Governance and Politics:
Lamias: At the core of every lamia tribe is the matriarch, the most senior female snake, almost always a priestess of the Flame. Underneath these matriarchs are the rest of the tribe's heirachy, with one of the matriarch's husbands usually serving as the warmaster for that particular tribe. All Dinnin have equal standing in the tribe, regardless of species, and under them are the Kaffin slaves, who must obey their masters unquestioningly. Each matriarch is soverign over their own people, and when a large number of these tribes converge, they form a clan council, the pecking order of which is determined by a complicated web of family trees, alliances, tribe power and, of course, if the matriarch is an echidna or not.
The largest and most important of these clan councils is the Conclave, a collection of the matriarchs of the most powerful and august clans. The clans from whom the Conclave are drawn from all roam close to the the Jabal Ilah, and they are expected to meet at the sacred mountain every year. During this meeting, the Conclave will decide upon pressing issues, clarify previously-given rulings and instructions, and issue
fatwa, binding religious mandates that are expected to be followed by all Dinnin. Iftā, the act of declaring these fatwa, is considered to be the Conclave speaking with the authority of the Flame itself, making these fatwa akin to a heavenly commandment.
Painted: The Painted have tribes, much like the Lamia, but unlike their snakelike cousins, the Painted's tribes are smaller, more compact, and rarely involve significant numbers of Kaffin. Painted 'tribes' are typically simply extended family units and are managed in a relatively democratic manner. When Kaffin
are included, they're typically done so with the intention of including them within the family- Painted tribes are well-known for including adopted members of a wide variety of species and peoples.
Great Clans: The cities of the Great Clans are, broadly, feudal, but constructed in a way that might be unusual to more 'traditional' feudal systems. Each city may be broken down into the different Clans that live within it, with an individual's position in a clan determined by how close their bloodline is to that of the Clan's original founder. The firstborn child of the previous clan heirach assumes the head position, with their immediate family making up the highest positions. As the bloodlines diverge further and further, one's rank decreases, until at the very bottom are those who are not related to the Clan at all, but are instead the children and converts of Kaffins, Dinnin by right of being born or tasting the Flame, but with no heroic legacy.
The clan heirachs meet to collectively elect the head of the city-state, known as an Emir or Emira. Although an Emir's reign is for life, those foolish enough to consistently go against the wishes of the heirach's council will find their lives rapidly shortened by the sting of an assassin's blade.
Of all the Dinnin, it is the Great Clans who are most reliant on slave labor. The lowest farms and the highest estates float atop this living mass of Kaffin. The Great Clans are keenly aware of this, with the main duty of houseguards being to prevent slave dissent and revolt. In addition, the Great Clans are also the only of the three major Dinnin branches who routinely practice castration, both in order to prevent Kaffins from giving birth to Dinnin children, and because eunuchs are considered far more trustworthy than other Kaffin.
Technology and Magic:
(Before you start, please read the Technology and Magic section up above. Done? Aight, go ahead and let your imagination run wild)
Military Overview:
Just as the Dinnin are a fragmented people, so too are their militaries fragmented. Despite this, their drive to control the mountains, deserts and their surroundings and the constant need to press ever outward in search of tribute and captives have built up the desert dwellers into several, quite distinct yet no less formidable forces.
The first, and most 'regular' force, are the house guards that the Great Clans muster when they need to go to war. Houseguards march in orderly formations, donning tough lamellar armour that resembles the scales of the Lamias that the settled clans so look up to. With spears, shields and maces, house guards represent the Dinnin's heavy infantry, professional soldiers with excellent morale and training. This toughened core is often supplemented by kaffin slaves, usually pressed into battle with little choice about the matter, given simple weapons and simpler armour, there to bolster numbers and bog down foes with numbers and a fierceness bourne from being more terrified of those driving you forward than the enemies you're being driven into.
Apart from their human forces, the Great Clans may also rely upon their Lamia betters in battle. Although usually preferring to fight on their own terms, it is hardly unusual for snake warriors to join the Great Clans in battle, bringing with them their magic, venom and skirmishing power.
In addition to infantry, the Great Clans also bring to bear several war machines, for when they need to break their enemies and crack their cities. Bombards, heavy, cumbersome machines, are hitched to chariots, decoupled, and then rain down fire onto those foolish enough to prevent their attack. Aside from carrying the bombards, war chariots also provide warriors with a method of rapidly entering battle- whilst the time of chariots crashing through infantry lines and carrying the day entirely by themselvs have died out, these fast-moving infantrymen are nonetheless a fearsome foe.
Perhaps the most terrifying thing that the Great Clans can bring to bear however are not machines made of iron or steel, but are instead their monstrous warbeasts. Deep within the territories the Dinnin control, there are beasts, as big as a house, with four legs each like tree trunks and a fearsomely long nose, capable of picking a man up and dashing him against the ground. How the Great Clans tame these monsters and bring them to bear against their foes is unknown, but when battle is joined, these fearsome creatures, known as 'Oliphaunts,' have great structures built upon their backs, from where Dinnin archers may rain their arrows down on any foolish enough to stand against a creature already capable of crushing a human underfoot.
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Additional Info: (Anything else you want to include that there isn't a spot for up there. Little factoids about your nation are both amusing and welcome.)
Tortoise
Snowdrops
Days
Otakuforreal
shaitarn
Velos
TokyoPewPew
World Traveler
Timemaster
