Nuoy - , or roaming quoyah

When one gathers berries, leave some for the beavers. When one harvests tree sap, leave some for the drayi. When one passes through a clearing, drop some seeds as you go. This way, the forest will be all the fuller the next time.

— Nuoy saying

  While the other Quoyah / Woodlanders have their home base at one of the Source Trees (known as the Vahyo Quoyah, or tree quoyah), the Nuoy quoyah have adopted a more nomadic lifestyle. These are the roaming woodlanders. They wander the snowy woods of Ilinor from hotspring to lava rift, looking for warmth and food. Along the way, they do a lot of subtle but impactful landscaping work, keeping the forests they roam in the best possible condition.   Like all Quoyah, they value life above all. Doing their utmost best to preserve life. They prefer to use fallen branches for fire rather than chopping living trees. And prefer to harvest re-growing food like berries and goat-milk rather than harvesting a full plant such as wheat, or slaughtering animals. The Nouy have a slightly more relaxed attitude towards this than the Vahyo.  

Gender expression

Task-based genders

All Quoyah are born with a mix of feminine and masculine sexual traits. Both physically and mentally. Most lean slightly more on one side. These traits, however, do not dictate their expressed gender or pronouns. The task they hold dictates their gender role. Fire keepers, for example, are always referred to as 'she', regardless of sexual traits, apparel or personality. This means that all fire keepers have to behave in a 'feminine' way. It is not merely a part of the job title they hold. Their task dictates how they express themselves, what and how they wear their apparel, how they hold themselves, how they speak, talk, and what things they are educated in. A young nuoy with no assigned task, has no assigned pronoun, and is referred to as it. A person can take on a different task later in life, but only if they can complete the new ritual. Completing more than one task-ritual is a high honour, as each ritual gets progressively harder. A nuoy that has completed the task-ritual for more than one assigned task is assigned a fluid gender. They can express themselves in any way they prefer.  

To acquire a gender is to prove that one can observe, think and act in the best interest of the entire family, and the forest as a whole.

— Nuoy rite of passage

 

List of tasks and pronouns

The nuoy, more so than the vahyo, build their community around the main task a person has. While everyone helps anyone where needed, for each task, there is one or more people responsible for the correct and timely execution. Each task is associated with either a feminine or masculine gender role. The person responsible for the task will take on this pronoun as part of their initiation ritual. Some of the tasks include:

• Fire keeper (she)
• Gatherer(she)
• Landscaper(he)
• Builder(he)
• Cook(he)
• Tooler(she)
• Tailor(he)
• Ceremonial guide(he)
• Navigator(she)
• Educator(she)
• Name keeper(she)
• Mediator(he)
• Task ritual keeper(she)
• Newborns/ one without task (it)
• One with more than one task (they)

 

Naming traditions

Names of Nouyah are not tied to a person at birth, but rather given as they take on a role in the community. Often combined with a specific trait of their habits, apparel, or achievements. In common speech, their names would translate to 'gatherer with the red braids' or 'strong-legged fire keeper'. for example  

Legends

The legend of the feathery tailor and the white nightingale.