Lashunta

Lashunta are bipedal humanoid with no visible tails. A pair of highly mobile antennae, varying between 6 - 18 inches long, grow from their brows.

Lashunta females bear children as Mammals, with a pregnancy term of 1.5 Castrovellian years (9 months) and bear live young, whom they breast-feed.

Lashunta children typically begin puberty at around 30 Castrovellian years old (15 years). At that time, they clade differentates as either Damaya or Korasha. They are considered full adult at 40 (20) years old.

Lashunta are omnivorous, with a preference for cooked food, and favoring meats and fruits.

Lashunta society has a long and proud matriarchal tradition—women are often expected to take up leadership roles when the need arises. While Lashunta men may seem more obviously suited to (and enjoy engaging in) brawling, both sexes regularly become warriors and adventurers, in part because their telepathy makes groups of Lashunta more effective combatants.   Larger Lashunta settlements are typically led by elder Lashunta women. Lashunta cities are often governed by an elected Hall of Matrons, headed by either an elected Lady or a hereditary ruler. Smaller households are typically headed by a pregnant female or a mother with a newbown child.   Male Lashunta are not typically allowed to own land. Society applies strong pressure to enter a relationship with a woman and work her land as a means of supporting her children. Men wishing to retain their independence need to do so as either warriors, hunters, or fishermen, though whenever they return to civilization, they are expected to yield precedence to females.   Within the cities, both men and women are expected to perform a period of military service at coming of age. Women typically serve as Shotalashu cavalry; men as infantry.

IQ of 120 (+2 to Int)

Natural limited telepathy and limited telekinesis.   In battle or times of stress, Lashunta enter a collective consciousness state call War-Mind, which helps them coordinate actions telepathically. This specialty is practiced by Lashunta ~Zheieve~ - Outriders as an effective means of leading troops in battle.

Many Lashunta families and small settlements psychically bond with an ~Eazue~ - the Castrovellian Milktree. Along with providing milksap, the Milktrees will psychically records analogs of Lashunta memories, and over a single Lashunta's lifetime may record most of their consciousness. Over enough time, the Milktree may begin to develop a collective consciousness of its own, based on the thoughts and memories it has records, at which point it is held as a Soul-Tree.   Many Lashunta warriors, especially Damaya, - will psychically bond with a Shotalashu, a lizardlike steed about the size of a large bear, which are nimbly adept at jungle and arboreal travel. Shotalashu also server as watch-beasts for Lashunta settlements.

Lashunta city-states dominate most politics, which form alliances, conduct trade, and seek advantage. While disputes and conflicts are common, they rarely lead to outright warfare, which, when it happens, is largely demonstrations leading up to a negotiated peace or a ritual combat. This is believed to result from their high degree of psychich empathy. Lashunta save their most genocidal hatrad for non-Lashunta foes.   Qabarat is the largest city, located at the mouth of the Yaro River on the Northern Shattersea Coast, with a population of 250,000, of which 50,000 are Elves, making it the largest Elven settlement outside of Sovyrian.   Nivaea is the next-largest city, located at the mouth of the River Hisyho, on the Central Shattersea Coast, with 174,000. It is one of the few cities still governed by a reigning queen.   Valmaeana, dominating the Southern Shattersea Coast, is one of the few nation-states of any significance. It is a confederation of five cities united in war against the Formians, for a total combined population of  1.8 million. Its capital Qoaronaea - the City of the War-Goddesses - is the Lashunta's third-largest city.   Other Cities:

• Alendrastya (Valmaeana)
• Candares (southeastern Asana)
• Hanazhyana (Yaro Valley)
• Jabask (northeastern Asana)
• Komena (Valmaeana)
• Lasahaua (Northeastern Shattersea)
• Lea (Lake Aresene / Southern Retaea)
• Mahyat (Yaro Valley)
• Ofu-Laubu (Northern Retaea)
• Ofu-Vou (Valmaeana / Straits of Glory)
• Reshat (Northwestern Shattersea)
• Son (Yaro Valley)
• Then (Lake Arasene)
• Tihes (Lake Aresene / Northern Retaea)
• Timiyurael (Valmaeana)

Female Damaya are described as 'tree-like' or 'bough-some', tall and slender like a tree, their hair and eyes reflecting all the hues and beauty of a tree's leaves and blossoms.   Male Korasha are described as 'rocky' or 'stout like a stump'. Their shoulders and muscles are compared to a crag's boulders or the gnarled burls within a tree's stump. Their hair is likened to the moss that grows upon stumps and boulders.

Female Damaya are expected to take leadership roles both at home and in the community. They are seen as charismatic and commanding. Male Korasha are expected to serve, both as mates, laborers, and warriors. They are seen as brusque, war-like, and also rash.   While all Lashunta accord worth to scholarly pursuits, a Korasha following a scholarly or psychic vocation is taken as a great honor by their family. This is one of the few areas in society where a Korasha may have a chance of obtaining near-equal status with Damaya.

Polyamory creates a complex web of intricate courtship and romance. Women are expected to take only other women as lovers until they complete their military service. Then at a ~Soreatha~ - bridetide, they choose their first male lover and transitions from maidenhood to wifehood as fully-vested leaders in society. Men are typically given by their families in adolescence to a Love-mistress, to teach the manhood before their begin military service. Any child born of this relationship represents an obligation that the man is expected to return to care for after he completes military service. Nothing prohibits a Lashunta from having a relaionship with more than one lover, regardless of sex or gender.

Lashunta families (households) are polyamorous-normative. Marriage does not exist as an institution, though individuals may swear love-faith with each other, in a variety of combinations. It is not uncommon for two female mates to start a household and share male mates between them, thus creating a bond of kinship between their children.

Lashunta have developed an advanced, steel-age technology, similar in many ways to early-Renaissance Earth, except that they do not have access to firearms. They have attained advanced millwrightship, glasswork capable of producing spectacles and telescopes, and psychic magical science that can sustain long-distance communication. Lashunta also have operational knowledge of the Elven aiudara gates, which were left behind when the Elves abandoned many of their colonies on Asana.

While most Lashunta cities or regions have their own languages and dialects, the ~Limi Qabarati~ - speech of Qabarat - is spoken and understood in most places in Western Asana, and also beyond. Qabarati is closely related to the languages of the Yaro Valley and the Northern Shattersea, creating a strong degree of mutually intelligibility within those regions.   Elvish is studied as a requirement of good education by many wealthy and upper-class Lashunta. Thus it is possible to travel to nearly any Lashunta city (though less likely in the small townholds and freeholds) and find someone who speaks Elvish reasonably well. Qabarat Lashunta speak Elvish almost as a second language, to the extent that many greetings and polite formulae are spoken in that language.

At formal social events, Lashunta will not eat food with their hands. Instead, they will telekinetically float morsels into their mouths. Only drink goblets or soup bowls may be hoisted by hand. Since alcoholic drink quickly inhibits psychic power, eating with ones hands is taken as sign of an undisciplined and dissolute character.   If a man gives a woman any offense, she has the right to issue a ban-curse, forbidding him from her presence. She may then announce the ban-curse to the community's rulers, who will then convene a trial to determine whether the man shall be banished from the community. Regardless of the trial's outcome, the man will still be forbidden from the offended woman's presence.

Lashunta have no particular taboos about nudity. Clothing is largely a matter of function, decoration, and ostentation. Both women and men will wear a cotton loincloth, which may be tight or have covering flaps, the most common garment worn for manual labor. To this they may add a wrapped silk or linen skirt/kilt down to the knees or calves. Due to much of Lashunta's lives occurring in trees, shoes are very rare.   Maidens, especially while in military service, will wear a haltertop, either a scarf wrapped and knotted or laced choli-like jacket cut and fitted. This is intended as a support garment while riding Shotalashu. Older women may add this garment if they go Shota-riding.   Outriders will wear an ornamental breastplate over their haltertop (note this is intended only to have ceremonial value, not defensive value). Along with this, they will wear ornamental greave-anklets and vambrace-bracelets for formal occasions.   Adult women who have completed their bridetide may leave one or both of their breasts bare, as a sign of their fertility and authority.   Wealthy wives will wear a saree-like bodyshroud of silk, often dyed, woven, or embroidered. To this, matrons will added a transverse-crest crown of gold or silver.

Many Lashunta, both in popular and scholarly pursuits, venerate the Age of Sage-Queens as a classical golden age of their civilization's refinement and advancement. This age oversaw a pinnacle in accomplishments in Psychic Magic. Many contemporary Lashunta psychics and scholars seek to recreate the works of their forbears from this time.   The ~Zheieve~ - Outrider class consists of knightly orders of heavily armed female Damaya warriors and their psychically bound Shotalashu steeds, typically organized by city. Outriders form the professional backbone of the Lashunta military officer corps, as well as serving diplomatic functions. They adhere to a chivalric code of honor that governs their behavior with Outriders and citizens from other cities.

The ~Soreatha~ bridetide is a coming of age ceremony for Lashunta women, wherein they choose their first male lover and enter society as adult, child-bearing women.   Right of personal combat is an accepted means of settling personal disputes, though some communities, especially large cities, may regulate it. Options may exist for both barehand and armed combat trials. However, it is almost unheard of for men and women to fight each other.   Lashunta kiss not with their lips, but with their antennae, which they wrap and twist together with each other. This also establishes a strong empathic connection and can also facilitate telepathically sharing thoughts.   Lashunta do not clap hands to show applause. Instead they buzz. To show disfavor or disapproval, they will hiss.   An Outrider has the right to audience with any other city's government.   During wartime, an Outrider may exercise ~Dithamoe~ - 'Saddle-Right' to appropriate food and supplies for her city's defense.

If Lashunta dwell in an ~Eazure~ Milktree's tree house, they will not shed blood or bring raw blood within it, so to not offend the tree's spirit. Butcherwork will be performed in an outshed upon the ground. Even if hunting in the wild, Lashunta will take care not to shed blood or let any drop of blood fall upon a Milktree. They believe blood will make its milk-sap dry up.   No blood may be shed or brought into any temple.   Offense or violence against any pregnant woman or nursing mother is held a grave crime, and may likely result in the perpetrator's banishment.

Lashunta legends hearken back 30,000 Castrovellian years (15,000 years) on the continent of Asana, to the taming of the first Shotalashu, the rise of the first queens, andthe great war with the Moqeva. For 6,000 years they migrated southward as they pushed back the Moqeva and settled the Yaro Valley. The Age of the Warrior-Queens began 24,000 years ago with the founding of Son, the first city. Then the Lashunta began their war of extirmination against the Moqeva in earnest. A series of empires followed as Lashunta spread throughout the continent of Asana, but were eventually replaced by the Sage-Queens, who committed to governing and settling their differences peacefully, marking the Lashunta's classical golden age.   At the same time, Lashunta first met Elves, who were spreading from the continent of Sovyrian after migrating their from Golarion, right before Earthfall. After some initial conflicts, Lashunta and Elves managed to build a framework of mutual coexistence, which has largely lasted to the present time. Together Lashunta and Elves colonized the continent of Marastra, popularly called the Colonies.   The Age of the Sage-Queens ended with the coming of the Formians, who conquered Marastra from Lashunta and Elves, and then tried to invade Asana. The Lashunta and Elves threw them back at great cost, which almost destroyed their society. The Age of Thief-Queens followed, a dark age of tyrants and empires, until the societies slowly began overthrowing and replacing them with popularly elected matrons. After a second Formian invasion, the cities of Western Asana, largely led by Qabarat, founded the Pact of Peace, swearing to mutually defend each other against the Formian Threat. This corresponding with Elves' withdrawal to Sovyrian, whose population had dropped with the recolonization of Kyonin on Golarion. For the last four thousand years Lashunta have fought to preserve their lives and society against not only new Formian invasions, but also threats from the interior jungles: giant, dinosaur-like Qoelu-monsters, and swarms of flying Mobats who control Castrovel's jungles.

Queen Eieshe was founder and first queen of Son the first city, starting the Age of the Warrior-Queens.   The Warrior-Queen Rahyle founded the city of Mahyat.   The Warrior-Queen Sievae founded the city of Hanat.   Queen Inene of Son led the siege and destruction of Lost Hoshiasa, the last Moqeva stronghold within the swamps east of the Yaro Valley.   Queen Lanare of Son founded the first empire in the Age of the Warrior-Queens, when she conquered the cities of the Yaro Valley and the Retaea Moors. The ruins of her pleasure palace still dominate the peak of Ta-Eizohu, overlooking Son. For several thousand years, these ruins have sheltered the monastic schools of the philosopher-sages.   Queen Aheale of Son signed a treaty with the Azlanti Empire from Golarion, granting them permission to found a Human colony at the site of Qabarat, known as Castrovellarium.   Queen Heieryme is known as the Last Warrior-Queen. She was the last queen of Old Hanat, and was slain when the other Yaro cities rose against Hanat's empire and razed it.   Thessus the philospher-sage founded the Hall of Stars atop Ta-Shestaru, the first Lashunta astronomical observatory.   Zhaleas the Mistwright invented the first mistboat, letting Lashunta explore and colonize the Sea of Mists.   Queen Berelezh of Retaea was the first Thief-Queen, conquering Son, Mahyat, and Hanazhyana. Aiahil was the last native-born queen of Son, after whom her line was exterminated.   The Thief-Queen Koroneth conquered Thesenya and Reiefya.   The Thief-Queen Hishnoar conquered Qabarat (at the time a mostly Elven city).   The Thief-Queen Vemereth attained the ancient title of Tyrant-Empress. She united the whole of the Yaro Valley and the Southern Retaea Moors, but died laying siege to Ofu Laubu. Her empire collapsed with her death.   Qabarat overthrew the Thief-Queen Idrassil and instituted the first Hall of Matrons in her stead.   Lady Issendil of Qabarat founded the first Order of Outriders to fight the Second Formian Invasion of Asana.   Elmereth is known as the Last Thief-Queen, who was driven from Son and fled to the Retaea. Since her, no queen has ruled anywhere in the Yaro Valley.

Tess was the legendary first queen of the Lashunta. She tamed Shotaviras as her steed to save her treehold from the Moqeva. Tess went on to start the great legendary war against the Moqeva, and with Shotaviras bore fifty daughters, who shared her gift to psychically bond with Shotalashu as rider and steed.

Lashunta have a longstanding traditional alliance with the Elves of Sovyrian. ~Difelari~ - Elf-right is an ancient tradition among Lashunta communities of extending hospitality and privilege to Elves.   The largest Elven community outside of Sovyrian is located in the Elf-Farthing of Qabarat. A full 50,000 (20%) of Qabarat's citizens are Elven. Qabarat keeps an Elven calendar and holidays, as wells as temples to the Elves' gods.