Admiral Squish
2014-02-25, 02:29 PM
Sasquatch
Created for Crossroads (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269334)
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/041/d/c/sasquatch_by_kyoht-d5ujjmx.jpg
Personality: Typically, sasquatch avoid human contact wherever possible, and are often nervous. Some react to this fear by fleeing, but others react violently, savagely attacking the source of their fear. When they can get over their nerves, they are usually quite calm and peaceful, content to live the simple life, though they can be rather defensive about their territory.
Physical Description: Sasquatches are tall, humanoid creatures, averaging about seven feet in height with males being somewhat taller and heavier-built. They are covered head to toe in shaggy brown fur, except for their faces. Their hands and feet are proportionately larger than a normal human’s would be. Facially, they have large eyes, a pronounced brow, small, flat noses, and somewhat protruding jaws. Their skulls have a short ridge running down the peak, and their lips are highly flexible, like an ape’s. They have very large canines, the males’ being larger than the females‘. Sasquatch reach adulthood at 14, middle age at 40, and can live up to 75 years, though by that age their brown fur has faded to a silvery-white.
Most sasquatches hibernate through the winter in caves, a physical reaction to low availability of food and cold temperatures. The sleep can be kept at bay, however, with a steady supply of food and enough insulation. Some populations, such as Tibetan yeti, do not hibernate.
Relations: Sasquatch live across a very broad range, with their relationship to humans varying from place to place. Most avoid human contact wherever possible, while some violently attack humans who intrude on their territory, and others try to live in harmony with their human neighbors.
Alignment: Sasquatches are generally more likely to be neutral than any extreme alignment.
LNC
G8128
N122012
E8128
Sasquatch Lands: The Sasquatch live all across the new world, and there are even a few isolated populations in China and Tibet. Typically they are small, isolated groups living deep in the wilderness away from humans, though the coastal population has grown drastically in number since the establishment of Fusang.
Religion: Sasquatch religion is highly varied by region, due to the isolation of each sasquatch group. It’s not uncommon for neighboring groups to have very different beliefs, though there are a few sasquatch legends and myths that span the entire continent.
Language: There are dozens of sasquatch languages spoken all through the new world. The most common is Oowawapx, spoken by the Sasu que‘che, the largest group of sasquatch. The word sasquatch itself derives from the Sasu Qua’che group.
Names: Sasquatch names vary by culture.
Adventurers: Sasquatch adventurers are relatively uncommon, though they can be seen more often in fusang. Most sasquatch groups are isolated enough that they don’t have enough contact with human groups to develop strong bonds.
+6 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence. Sasquatches are incredibly strong and rather hearty, but they are somewhat less intelligent than humans.
Monstrous Humanoid: Sasquatches are Monstrous Humanoids.
Medium Size: Sasquatches are medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties based on size.
Normal Speed: Sasquatches have a base speed of 30 feet.
Darkvision: Sasquatches can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Natural Armor: Sasquatches have a +2 bonus to natural armor due to tough skin and thick fur.
Bite: Sasquatches have a bite attack that deals 1d6 points of damage. This attack is always a secondary attack.
Wild Home: A sasquatch selects one of the following terrain types at character creation: Forest, Jungle, or Swamp. While in the selected terrain type, the sasquatch gains a +4 racial bonus to stealth checks, a +2 racial bonus to survival checks, and can move at their normal speed through any natural difficult terrain. Magically altered terrain effects them normally.
Cultures:
Background Skills: Climb, Knowledge (Nature), Stealth, Survival
Background Feats: Foul Musk, Green Guardian, Ironguts, Sure Grasp, Lucid Dreamer,
Native Language: Oowawapx (Note, the px is a kissing sound)
Bonus Languages: Zhongwen,
Taboos: Killing an animal for food or materials (other than clams), Cutting or knocking down a living tree.
Description Sasu Qua’che are tall, physically powerful apes with a humanlike body-plan and some humanlike features. They stand upright like humans, they have four fingers and an opposable thumb, and human-like feet, though they are unusually large and the large toe is slightly spaced apart from the rest. But they have a sagittal crest on their skull, powerful, protruding jaws, and long, sharp incisors like apes. On males, these features are more pronounced than on females. They are covered head to toe in long, somewhat shaggy fur, ranging from deep brown to light brown. Occasional individuals emerge with either solid black fur or blonde-white fur, but these are rare occurrences. Their fur covers all of their body, except for their face (though some males will have a moustache-like patch of fur), their fingers and palm, their toes and the soles of their feet. Females do not have breasts most of the year. During mating season they will develop breasts as a display. Outside of mating season, the only breasts to be found are on pregnant or nursing mothers.
Clothing Sasu Qua’che typically wear very little in the way of clothing, as their long fur protects them from the elements and they do not hunt animals. They may wear woven-vine bands around their upper arms, wrists, thighs, neck, or ankles, sometimes decorated with holed stones, small wooden carvings, or shells. They generally do not wear garments to cover their bodies, though some may wear clothes out of respect for human neighbors. Most find clothes to be uncomfortable over their fur.
Grooming Sasu Qua‘che are fastidious about keeping clean. Typically, family members groom each other by hand, a daily ritual that helps keep their fur from becoming tangled, knotted, or being host to parasites. Unlike many other primates, the Sasu Qua‘che do not eat the parasites removed from fur. With trade from Fusang, combs are becoming more common, and the invention is well-received. Sasu Qua‘che bathe in streams or rivers regularly, usually about twice a month. If not washed with some regularity, their fur can become quite smelly.
Psychology Sasu Qua’che are generally laid-back and calm, content to take what the forest offers and enjoy the natural beauty of their homes. When native humans were more common, they were more skittish and cautious, generally trying to avoid offending the humans or being tracked back to their mountain homes, but in recent years, with the population crash, they have lost most of their nervous behavior and walk openly through the woodlands, though some elders still try to convince the young ones of the importance of such things.
Life The daily life of most Sasu Qua’che consists of gathering fruit, berries, and vegetables from the temperate rainforests. Depending on the season and the availability, they may supplement their diet with meat from salmon (harvested dead after the spawning), recently-dead animals, or clams, particularly geoduck. Before Fusang was established, much of the population was nocturnal, to better avoid humans, but in modern times some can be found who live either way.
Arts and Crafts Sasu Qua’che arts and crafts are limited by the availability of materials. As they do not actively hunt, they do not have access to ‘typical’ native materials like leather, fur, tendon, or bone. And as they do not actively cut down trees either, they rely of wood from dead or fallen trees. Much of their crafting is done in stone, or in paints and dyes.
Technology and Magic Sasu Qua’che have strong druidic traditions and a relatively high number of shamans. They have never been particularly strong with technology, and may find their large hands too clumsy for most firearms or other intricate machines. They have made a number of unique advances in dream manipulation magic, their interest stemming from the long sleep of hibernation.
Love Sasu Qua’che believe strongly in love. Every member of the tribe is equal, and able to provide for themselves, so the concept of an arranged marriage is largely unheard of. They typically have casual, nonexclusive romantic relationships, where neither partner is really ‘bound‘ to the other. Sometimes there relationships are sexual, other times not. Many never leave this stage. However, if there is a true connection between two Sasu Qua‘che, the two can declare their love to the rest of the tribe. There is a great celebration in the tribe with music and dancing, celebrating the happiness the two now share. This ceremony is not truly binding, and both partners can ’divorce’ the other if they so desire, though this is rarely done.
War Sasu Qua’che are peaceful, despite their large size and great physical strength. Violence is not something they are accustomed to, though children going through puberty, particularly males, can be quite violent at times, leftover instinctual behavior from prehistoric times. Typically, when the Sasu Qua’che must fight, they prefer melee combat, using the forest to their advantage to get close to enemies before they strike hard. They don’t usually have much in the way of weapons, though they’re quite handy with hurling rocks.
Death Death among the Sasu Qua‘che is extremely sad, but part of the natural process. When one dies, the body must be treated with respect. They are known to go to great lengths to retrieve the bodies of the fallen from the wilds or even from hostile areas. The family of the fallen build a small raft from vines, sticks, and branches. Painted rocks are tied to the body’s wrists and ankles, and the body is placed on the raft in a river or stream near the cave. Those close to the fallen follow the raft down the river, making sure the journey is smooth and protecting the body from scavengers. When the body reaches the ocean, the family shouts their last goodbyes as they float out to sea. The raft typically breaks apart within a day or two, and the body sinks into the sea, to become part of the cycle of life and death again.
Society and Culture The Sasu Qua’che have rich social lives and deep connections to their tribe.
Leadership Political power and spiritual power are one and the same in the Sasu Qua’che tribes. Political power is held by the priests, shamans, and druids, the strongest being ‘in charge’ of the tribe, though it‘s not a formal position. The tribe follows the directions of the spiritually gifted to ensure they continue to benefit from good relations with the spirit world and the natural world. Spiritual leaders of multiple tribes may commune through dreams or communication magic, or in cases of dire need, they may gather together in person.
Social Structure The basic unit of social structure is the clan. A clan may range in size from a few dozen members to amore than a hundred in some of the larger cave complexes. The members of a clan come from many different families unified by shared living space. They are all extremely close, in a small town sort of way, as everyone knows everyone else. Above the clan is the tribe, a larger group of several clans living together in a particularly area of forest. The tribes are bound together by shared geographical areas, even if the clans do not necessarily get along. Some tribes are barely more than a hundred members, others nearly a thousand.
Family Family groups are typically one parent and one or two children, though they may feature a grandparent. Typically the parent is the mother, though the father may take over care of a child once they move past breast-feeding. The burden of children is shared by the entire clan, some gathering extra food for a pregnant mother or young children. Elderly are cared for by their children and grandchildren, who gather extra food when they are unable to gather for themselves, and generally take care of their needs until they pass on.
Traditions The Sasu Qua‘che have many traditions, ranging from fascinating to bizarre. One of the most interesting is the salmon race. In spring, the tribe gathers in a shallow river area. A handful of the tribe are designated as bears, dying their fur with stripes and their fingers red with plenty of extra powder. These bears position themselves along the river, upstream. The rest of the tribe runs in a great charge through the shallow water, trying to avoid being tagged by the bears. Those who are tagged are clearly marked by the powder on the bear’s hands, which leaves obvious handprints. Those who are out leave the water while the remaining members of the tribe try to make it to a designated finish. Any who survive the bears and make it to the end are triumphant. The more who make it to the top, it is believed, the better the season‘s salmon run will be.
Other Races The Sasu Qua’che generally live among their own kind, though they are no stranger to humans in this age. Some have even left the tribes to live among the fusangren, enjoying the benefits of their technology and magic. There are a handful of huli jing hidden cities in the deep rainforests, and typically the Sasu Qua’che are the first to know about them. The Sasu Qua’che are charged by the fusangren to maintain the forests clear of uncooperative tribes, bandits, and pirates. The Sasu Qua’che fighers typically use nonlethal methods to encourage these groups to move along, smashing their structures and harassing them with barrages of thrown rocks and sticks.
Religion Sasu Qua’che are highly spiritual, believing that actions on the mortal world can influence the spirit world, and vice-versa. Paying proper respect to the spirits ensures the forest provides enough food and water for all the Sasu Qua’che in the tribe. They have a pantheon of powerful spirits, in addition to revering powerful natural forces. Sau Qua’che religion tells that the souls of the dead travel out to sea to reside in the land of the dead on the ocean floor before they return to the land to be reborn.
History and Folklore In ancient history, the Sasu Qua’che were very warlike and violent, who viciously fought the humans that arrived in their territory. Initially, they were very successful, but the humans advanced much faster than the Sasu Qua’che technologically. Seeing his people on the brink of extinction, a great spiritual leader used the hibernation period to roam through the dreams of his people and convince them there was a better way to live. They moved to the mountains and hid themselves, and over hundreds of years, transitioned to the life they know now. Before the fusangren came, they lived neutral to their human neighbors, not interfering with them and not being interfered with. Then the Chinese arrived and brought with them plagues, plagues that ravaged the human populations of the area and left the Sasu Qua’che with free reign over much of the human’s former homes.
Language Sasu Qua’che speak a language known as Oowawapx that sounds very primitive to the untrained ear, consisting of hoots, whistles, ‘kissing’ sounds, and heavy use of vowels. The language itself is relatively simple to learn as there are very few synonyms, but mastering it is highly complicated, as tone and inflection can be used to add many layers of meaning. Taken literally, a sentence could mean ‘I go to water and bring food’, but the tone could explain that the individual is planning to move very quickly to the sea and gather clams to share with his family, but not the clan as a whole.
Phrasebook
Sasu Qua’che: A loan-word from Makah they used to refer to the Sasquatch in the region. the Sasu Qua‘che don‘t actually have a word that distinguishes them from other groups of sasquatch.
Written Language Oowawapx has no written language, partially due to the complex system of inflection and tone that adds meaning. Some priests and shamans have learned to write zhongwen, which they can use to convey most information.
Names Sasu Qua’che names are spoken in Oowawapx, making them somewhat difficult for most other races to pronounce, which often leads other races to refer to them by either a translation of their name or by a nickname of some sort. In Oowawapx, children are often named after natural features, animals, or plants, with a tonal/inflective description attached. So, a name could translate to ‘Swift Stream’, ‘Beautiful Flower’, or ‘Strong Bear’.
Cities and Settlements The Sasu Qua’che don’t really have proper cities, and each clan group is relatively small. They make their homes in mountain caves, for the most part. In olden times they chose caves above the treeline wherever possible, but in recent years they’ve been able to establish homes in lowland cave systems. Clans tend to grow to the extent that their local cave can accommodate them, then once the cave becomes overcrowded the clan splits up.
Economy The Sasu Qua’che rarely trade, typically gathering for subsistence and not having significant extra to trade. This, in addition to their cultural prohibitions against harvesting living wood or killing animals out of greed, means they have very little surplus to trade to other cultures. They do sometimes trade medicinal herbs, but for the most part, their trade is in services, with magic or muscle offered for goods.
Example city The Sasu Qua‘che have no proper cities, but they have some rather large settlements. One large one is is Hoo‘Aa‘Ah, a large lowland cave system. The caverns of Hoo’Aa’Ah are rather expansive, consisting of numerous major chambers along the river that carved it, along with a number of side chambers, connected by relatively wide tunnels. Difficult-to-access portions of the cave system are sometimes connected with vine ropes or wooden bridges. Large nests of woven branches padded with ferns, leaves, and moss are situated all around, usually against the walls. The walls are decorated with cave paintings in black dyes. The lack of light makes them difficult to see without darkvision. A handful of families share each chamber, some housing as many as a dozen, and the entire clan is very close to one-another. The tribal leaders keep the peace between neighbors when tempers flare. all told, the clan of Hoo’Aa’Ah has 80-some members, with room to expand.
Creating Sasu Qua’che Characters Sasu Qua’che characters are always interesting individuals. When creating one, consider their traditional way of life and why they’re leaving it. They may be lured away by the grandeur of fusang, or they may join in with native resistance groups such as the Haida. Some may seek to spread their spiritual ways to other sasquatch groups across the country. Others are only leaving their homeland in order to protect it from some greater evil.
Special Options Sasu Qua’che have a variety of special options available to them. Winter Guardians are Sasu Qua’che who stay awake through the winter to protect the tribe’s cave. There are a number of feats relating to their mastery over dreams, and the dream-walker class that allows a shaman to travel through the dreams of others.
Sasu Qua’che as Characters Sasu Qua‘che characters most often become brutes, capitalizing on their impressive strength and toughness. Some who come into contact with the fusangren may become martial artists. Others go the spiritual route, becoming druids, clerics, or medicine men.
Wild culture under construction
Created for Crossroads (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269334)
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/041/d/c/sasquatch_by_kyoht-d5ujjmx.jpg
Personality: Typically, sasquatch avoid human contact wherever possible, and are often nervous. Some react to this fear by fleeing, but others react violently, savagely attacking the source of their fear. When they can get over their nerves, they are usually quite calm and peaceful, content to live the simple life, though they can be rather defensive about their territory.
Physical Description: Sasquatches are tall, humanoid creatures, averaging about seven feet in height with males being somewhat taller and heavier-built. They are covered head to toe in shaggy brown fur, except for their faces. Their hands and feet are proportionately larger than a normal human’s would be. Facially, they have large eyes, a pronounced brow, small, flat noses, and somewhat protruding jaws. Their skulls have a short ridge running down the peak, and their lips are highly flexible, like an ape’s. They have very large canines, the males’ being larger than the females‘. Sasquatch reach adulthood at 14, middle age at 40, and can live up to 75 years, though by that age their brown fur has faded to a silvery-white.
Most sasquatches hibernate through the winter in caves, a physical reaction to low availability of food and cold temperatures. The sleep can be kept at bay, however, with a steady supply of food and enough insulation. Some populations, such as Tibetan yeti, do not hibernate.
Relations: Sasquatch live across a very broad range, with their relationship to humans varying from place to place. Most avoid human contact wherever possible, while some violently attack humans who intrude on their territory, and others try to live in harmony with their human neighbors.
Alignment: Sasquatches are generally more likely to be neutral than any extreme alignment.
LNC
G8128
N122012
E8128
Sasquatch Lands: The Sasquatch live all across the new world, and there are even a few isolated populations in China and Tibet. Typically they are small, isolated groups living deep in the wilderness away from humans, though the coastal population has grown drastically in number since the establishment of Fusang.
Religion: Sasquatch religion is highly varied by region, due to the isolation of each sasquatch group. It’s not uncommon for neighboring groups to have very different beliefs, though there are a few sasquatch legends and myths that span the entire continent.
Language: There are dozens of sasquatch languages spoken all through the new world. The most common is Oowawapx, spoken by the Sasu que‘che, the largest group of sasquatch. The word sasquatch itself derives from the Sasu Qua’che group.
Names: Sasquatch names vary by culture.
Adventurers: Sasquatch adventurers are relatively uncommon, though they can be seen more often in fusang. Most sasquatch groups are isolated enough that they don’t have enough contact with human groups to develop strong bonds.
+6 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence. Sasquatches are incredibly strong and rather hearty, but they are somewhat less intelligent than humans.
Monstrous Humanoid: Sasquatches are Monstrous Humanoids.
Medium Size: Sasquatches are medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties based on size.
Normal Speed: Sasquatches have a base speed of 30 feet.
Darkvision: Sasquatches can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Natural Armor: Sasquatches have a +2 bonus to natural armor due to tough skin and thick fur.
Bite: Sasquatches have a bite attack that deals 1d6 points of damage. This attack is always a secondary attack.
Wild Home: A sasquatch selects one of the following terrain types at character creation: Forest, Jungle, or Swamp. While in the selected terrain type, the sasquatch gains a +4 racial bonus to stealth checks, a +2 racial bonus to survival checks, and can move at their normal speed through any natural difficult terrain. Magically altered terrain effects them normally.
Cultures:
Background Skills: Climb, Knowledge (Nature), Stealth, Survival
Background Feats: Foul Musk, Green Guardian, Ironguts, Sure Grasp, Lucid Dreamer,
Native Language: Oowawapx (Note, the px is a kissing sound)
Bonus Languages: Zhongwen,
Taboos: Killing an animal for food or materials (other than clams), Cutting or knocking down a living tree.
Description Sasu Qua’che are tall, physically powerful apes with a humanlike body-plan and some humanlike features. They stand upright like humans, they have four fingers and an opposable thumb, and human-like feet, though they are unusually large and the large toe is slightly spaced apart from the rest. But they have a sagittal crest on their skull, powerful, protruding jaws, and long, sharp incisors like apes. On males, these features are more pronounced than on females. They are covered head to toe in long, somewhat shaggy fur, ranging from deep brown to light brown. Occasional individuals emerge with either solid black fur or blonde-white fur, but these are rare occurrences. Their fur covers all of their body, except for their face (though some males will have a moustache-like patch of fur), their fingers and palm, their toes and the soles of their feet. Females do not have breasts most of the year. During mating season they will develop breasts as a display. Outside of mating season, the only breasts to be found are on pregnant or nursing mothers.
Clothing Sasu Qua’che typically wear very little in the way of clothing, as their long fur protects them from the elements and they do not hunt animals. They may wear woven-vine bands around their upper arms, wrists, thighs, neck, or ankles, sometimes decorated with holed stones, small wooden carvings, or shells. They generally do not wear garments to cover their bodies, though some may wear clothes out of respect for human neighbors. Most find clothes to be uncomfortable over their fur.
Grooming Sasu Qua‘che are fastidious about keeping clean. Typically, family members groom each other by hand, a daily ritual that helps keep their fur from becoming tangled, knotted, or being host to parasites. Unlike many other primates, the Sasu Qua‘che do not eat the parasites removed from fur. With trade from Fusang, combs are becoming more common, and the invention is well-received. Sasu Qua‘che bathe in streams or rivers regularly, usually about twice a month. If not washed with some regularity, their fur can become quite smelly.
Psychology Sasu Qua’che are generally laid-back and calm, content to take what the forest offers and enjoy the natural beauty of their homes. When native humans were more common, they were more skittish and cautious, generally trying to avoid offending the humans or being tracked back to their mountain homes, but in recent years, with the population crash, they have lost most of their nervous behavior and walk openly through the woodlands, though some elders still try to convince the young ones of the importance of such things.
Life The daily life of most Sasu Qua’che consists of gathering fruit, berries, and vegetables from the temperate rainforests. Depending on the season and the availability, they may supplement their diet with meat from salmon (harvested dead after the spawning), recently-dead animals, or clams, particularly geoduck. Before Fusang was established, much of the population was nocturnal, to better avoid humans, but in modern times some can be found who live either way.
Arts and Crafts Sasu Qua’che arts and crafts are limited by the availability of materials. As they do not actively hunt, they do not have access to ‘typical’ native materials like leather, fur, tendon, or bone. And as they do not actively cut down trees either, they rely of wood from dead or fallen trees. Much of their crafting is done in stone, or in paints and dyes.
Technology and Magic Sasu Qua’che have strong druidic traditions and a relatively high number of shamans. They have never been particularly strong with technology, and may find their large hands too clumsy for most firearms or other intricate machines. They have made a number of unique advances in dream manipulation magic, their interest stemming from the long sleep of hibernation.
Love Sasu Qua’che believe strongly in love. Every member of the tribe is equal, and able to provide for themselves, so the concept of an arranged marriage is largely unheard of. They typically have casual, nonexclusive romantic relationships, where neither partner is really ‘bound‘ to the other. Sometimes there relationships are sexual, other times not. Many never leave this stage. However, if there is a true connection between two Sasu Qua‘che, the two can declare their love to the rest of the tribe. There is a great celebration in the tribe with music and dancing, celebrating the happiness the two now share. This ceremony is not truly binding, and both partners can ’divorce’ the other if they so desire, though this is rarely done.
War Sasu Qua’che are peaceful, despite their large size and great physical strength. Violence is not something they are accustomed to, though children going through puberty, particularly males, can be quite violent at times, leftover instinctual behavior from prehistoric times. Typically, when the Sasu Qua’che must fight, they prefer melee combat, using the forest to their advantage to get close to enemies before they strike hard. They don’t usually have much in the way of weapons, though they’re quite handy with hurling rocks.
Death Death among the Sasu Qua‘che is extremely sad, but part of the natural process. When one dies, the body must be treated with respect. They are known to go to great lengths to retrieve the bodies of the fallen from the wilds or even from hostile areas. The family of the fallen build a small raft from vines, sticks, and branches. Painted rocks are tied to the body’s wrists and ankles, and the body is placed on the raft in a river or stream near the cave. Those close to the fallen follow the raft down the river, making sure the journey is smooth and protecting the body from scavengers. When the body reaches the ocean, the family shouts their last goodbyes as they float out to sea. The raft typically breaks apart within a day or two, and the body sinks into the sea, to become part of the cycle of life and death again.
Society and Culture The Sasu Qua’che have rich social lives and deep connections to their tribe.
Leadership Political power and spiritual power are one and the same in the Sasu Qua’che tribes. Political power is held by the priests, shamans, and druids, the strongest being ‘in charge’ of the tribe, though it‘s not a formal position. The tribe follows the directions of the spiritually gifted to ensure they continue to benefit from good relations with the spirit world and the natural world. Spiritual leaders of multiple tribes may commune through dreams or communication magic, or in cases of dire need, they may gather together in person.
Social Structure The basic unit of social structure is the clan. A clan may range in size from a few dozen members to amore than a hundred in some of the larger cave complexes. The members of a clan come from many different families unified by shared living space. They are all extremely close, in a small town sort of way, as everyone knows everyone else. Above the clan is the tribe, a larger group of several clans living together in a particularly area of forest. The tribes are bound together by shared geographical areas, even if the clans do not necessarily get along. Some tribes are barely more than a hundred members, others nearly a thousand.
Family Family groups are typically one parent and one or two children, though they may feature a grandparent. Typically the parent is the mother, though the father may take over care of a child once they move past breast-feeding. The burden of children is shared by the entire clan, some gathering extra food for a pregnant mother or young children. Elderly are cared for by their children and grandchildren, who gather extra food when they are unable to gather for themselves, and generally take care of their needs until they pass on.
Traditions The Sasu Qua‘che have many traditions, ranging from fascinating to bizarre. One of the most interesting is the salmon race. In spring, the tribe gathers in a shallow river area. A handful of the tribe are designated as bears, dying their fur with stripes and their fingers red with plenty of extra powder. These bears position themselves along the river, upstream. The rest of the tribe runs in a great charge through the shallow water, trying to avoid being tagged by the bears. Those who are tagged are clearly marked by the powder on the bear’s hands, which leaves obvious handprints. Those who are out leave the water while the remaining members of the tribe try to make it to a designated finish. Any who survive the bears and make it to the end are triumphant. The more who make it to the top, it is believed, the better the season‘s salmon run will be.
Other Races The Sasu Qua’che generally live among their own kind, though they are no stranger to humans in this age. Some have even left the tribes to live among the fusangren, enjoying the benefits of their technology and magic. There are a handful of huli jing hidden cities in the deep rainforests, and typically the Sasu Qua’che are the first to know about them. The Sasu Qua’che are charged by the fusangren to maintain the forests clear of uncooperative tribes, bandits, and pirates. The Sasu Qua’che fighers typically use nonlethal methods to encourage these groups to move along, smashing their structures and harassing them with barrages of thrown rocks and sticks.
Religion Sasu Qua’che are highly spiritual, believing that actions on the mortal world can influence the spirit world, and vice-versa. Paying proper respect to the spirits ensures the forest provides enough food and water for all the Sasu Qua’che in the tribe. They have a pantheon of powerful spirits, in addition to revering powerful natural forces. Sau Qua’che religion tells that the souls of the dead travel out to sea to reside in the land of the dead on the ocean floor before they return to the land to be reborn.
History and Folklore In ancient history, the Sasu Qua’che were very warlike and violent, who viciously fought the humans that arrived in their territory. Initially, they were very successful, but the humans advanced much faster than the Sasu Qua’che technologically. Seeing his people on the brink of extinction, a great spiritual leader used the hibernation period to roam through the dreams of his people and convince them there was a better way to live. They moved to the mountains and hid themselves, and over hundreds of years, transitioned to the life they know now. Before the fusangren came, they lived neutral to their human neighbors, not interfering with them and not being interfered with. Then the Chinese arrived and brought with them plagues, plagues that ravaged the human populations of the area and left the Sasu Qua’che with free reign over much of the human’s former homes.
Language Sasu Qua’che speak a language known as Oowawapx that sounds very primitive to the untrained ear, consisting of hoots, whistles, ‘kissing’ sounds, and heavy use of vowels. The language itself is relatively simple to learn as there are very few synonyms, but mastering it is highly complicated, as tone and inflection can be used to add many layers of meaning. Taken literally, a sentence could mean ‘I go to water and bring food’, but the tone could explain that the individual is planning to move very quickly to the sea and gather clams to share with his family, but not the clan as a whole.
Phrasebook
Sasu Qua’che: A loan-word from Makah they used to refer to the Sasquatch in the region. the Sasu Qua‘che don‘t actually have a word that distinguishes them from other groups of sasquatch.
Written Language Oowawapx has no written language, partially due to the complex system of inflection and tone that adds meaning. Some priests and shamans have learned to write zhongwen, which they can use to convey most information.
Names Sasu Qua’che names are spoken in Oowawapx, making them somewhat difficult for most other races to pronounce, which often leads other races to refer to them by either a translation of their name or by a nickname of some sort. In Oowawapx, children are often named after natural features, animals, or plants, with a tonal/inflective description attached. So, a name could translate to ‘Swift Stream’, ‘Beautiful Flower’, or ‘Strong Bear’.
Cities and Settlements The Sasu Qua’che don’t really have proper cities, and each clan group is relatively small. They make their homes in mountain caves, for the most part. In olden times they chose caves above the treeline wherever possible, but in recent years they’ve been able to establish homes in lowland cave systems. Clans tend to grow to the extent that their local cave can accommodate them, then once the cave becomes overcrowded the clan splits up.
Economy The Sasu Qua’che rarely trade, typically gathering for subsistence and not having significant extra to trade. This, in addition to their cultural prohibitions against harvesting living wood or killing animals out of greed, means they have very little surplus to trade to other cultures. They do sometimes trade medicinal herbs, but for the most part, their trade is in services, with magic or muscle offered for goods.
Example city The Sasu Qua‘che have no proper cities, but they have some rather large settlements. One large one is is Hoo‘Aa‘Ah, a large lowland cave system. The caverns of Hoo’Aa’Ah are rather expansive, consisting of numerous major chambers along the river that carved it, along with a number of side chambers, connected by relatively wide tunnels. Difficult-to-access portions of the cave system are sometimes connected with vine ropes or wooden bridges. Large nests of woven branches padded with ferns, leaves, and moss are situated all around, usually against the walls. The walls are decorated with cave paintings in black dyes. The lack of light makes them difficult to see without darkvision. A handful of families share each chamber, some housing as many as a dozen, and the entire clan is very close to one-another. The tribal leaders keep the peace between neighbors when tempers flare. all told, the clan of Hoo’Aa’Ah has 80-some members, with room to expand.
Creating Sasu Qua’che Characters Sasu Qua’che characters are always interesting individuals. When creating one, consider their traditional way of life and why they’re leaving it. They may be lured away by the grandeur of fusang, or they may join in with native resistance groups such as the Haida. Some may seek to spread their spiritual ways to other sasquatch groups across the country. Others are only leaving their homeland in order to protect it from some greater evil.
Special Options Sasu Qua’che have a variety of special options available to them. Winter Guardians are Sasu Qua’che who stay awake through the winter to protect the tribe’s cave. There are a number of feats relating to their mastery over dreams, and the dream-walker class that allows a shaman to travel through the dreams of others.
Sasu Qua’che as Characters Sasu Qua‘che characters most often become brutes, capitalizing on their impressive strength and toughness. Some who come into contact with the fusangren may become martial artists. Others go the spiritual route, becoming druids, clerics, or medicine men.
Wild culture under construction