Riverfolk
We are the brood of the water. Never forget it my children
The Riverfolk, as they call themselves, are the sapient species inhabiting all arms of The Great Stream. They posess perhaps the most advanced civilisation in the world, made up of biological changes, hierarchical architecture, loving priest and devout heretics.
Biology
The name of the Riverfolk in tongue of their neighbours, the Grovefolk, is Laidarin, which roughly translates to the reborn ones.
Riverfolk are amphibian, four-legged beings, whose final form can reach up to 90 cm in height and around 45 kg in weight. Before they reach these extremes, they first must undergo their life cycle
Spawning
Newborn Riverfolk are hatched from egg clutches of four or smaller, which the female Riverfolk lays into the rich soil of the riverbed and then fertilized by the male. Before the dawn of civilization, the parents would then take turns guarding their eggs while the other gathered food.
Today, the fertilized eggs are dug up by the parents and brought to their home, where they can be guarded more easily and even left alone for brief periods of time.
After hatching the newborn Riverfolk must be brought into the river by their parents immediately, as they still lack the ability to breathe underwater. At this point the young are little more than a head and torso, which ends in a surprisingly strong tail which propels them through the water.
The parents care for their young for one year, after which they undergo their first transformation:
Neotenes
After their first full winter, Riverfolk will grow their four appendage, each ending in a sixfingered, webbed hand, though they will still lack their claws until maturity. Upon receiving their limbs, Riverfolk begin what is known as The First Migration, in which they leave the arm of the river they spawned in to venture out into the world.
Once they depart, Riverfolk in this stage of their life are called Neotenes, because they can choose to delay maturity until they feel ready for it. As they age, Neotenes will grow up to about 60 cm in height and gain a last few physiological features, including their whisker- or hairlike external gills, and primitive lungs, both necessary adaptations to supply the growing body with enough oxygen.
Metamorphosis
At any time after at least ten winters, Neotenes can make the choice to enter maturity. Upon willing it, their bodies undergo sweeping changes, most notably growing claws on the end of their fingers, which enable them to both dig and defend themselves. They will also gain more advanced lungs, which they trade for a decreased efficiency in their gills, and they can now grow to up to twice the size of Neotenes, enabling them to survive much longer without a food source.
Society
The Riverfolk are shaped in their society primarily by two factors: their twin lifestages and the river they live in.
The larger picture
The river shapes their society by being the lifeblood of the region and by the Rivergates, which are erected at any major disturbance of the Streams flow, be these the joining of two river arms or a waterfall. Whoever controls the Rivergate is called Gatemaster and is the de facto ruler of the settlement that forms naturally at a gate.
While they profit from the tax they can charge travelers looking to cross their gate, they must also accept the place it affords them in river hierarchy. Any rivergates upstream of theirs are their subjects by default, meaning that they must work with the Gatemasters of these gates, while also protecting them from dangers that may come from downstream.
Vice Versa, they are also subject themselves to the next Rivergate further downstream, but can return on its protection. The last and largest Rivergate is that of Godsmouth, the settlement at sea, and its Gatemaster is called Oloviand, King of all Gates.
The smaller picture
The two main forms Riverfolk also implicitly determine their role in Riverfolk society.
Neotenes are the mobile lifeblood of the riversystem. They cannot leave the water for any extended periods of time and are as such confined to the geographic limits of the river. At the same time, they are able to breathe underwater indefinitely, which makes them ideal guards and workers for any goods that may need moving up- or downstream. During winter they will live below the sometimes thick ice sheet.
On the other hand, mature Riverfolk are less bound by the confines of the river, as their lungs enable them to stay on land, but their less efficient gills prevent them from staying below the ice in winter. As a result they must secure a safe home to weather the cold months and become much less mobile compared to Neotenes. They form the major body of Riverfolk populating the many settlements at the Rivergates.
Further reading.
(More articles will appear linked here as they are written)
If you wish to explore more about the Riverworld:
- Rivergates
- Gatemaster
- The Gate-War
- The Riverguards
For more about the final settlement:
- Godsmouth
- Oloviand, King of all Gates
- The Sediments
- The Floodgates
- The Alluvial Fields
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