Norri Society

NORRI — Children of Stone and Flame   Characteristics & Physiology   The Norri are a dwarven subrace uniquely adapted to the harsh, volcanic terrain of the Nozomu Isles. Stocky and immensely strong, their physical endurance is legendary — a product of centuries mining obsidian, brimstone, and rare magmoric ores in subterranean forges.   Eyes like molten gems reflect their environment, capable of seeing clearly in both total darkness and extreme light.   Hair and beards are ritualistically maintained, often braided and adorned with family insignias or volcanic glass charms.   Their skin is soot-stained and calloused, resistant not only to flame but to pressure and blunt trauma. Most wear fireproof kimono under armor scaled with obsidian, stone-plate, or polished copper.   Their bodies carry an inner warmth; it is said Norri can sense seismic tremors and even communicate with the “soul” of the mountain through a meditation called Kazan-Yume — or "Volcano Dreaming."       Spiritual & Cultural Beliefs   Norri spirituality blends ancestor worship, mountain spirits, and fire deities. Their patron god was once Vegris, the God of Wrath, but his cult was shattered after the Burning War. Today, most Norri revere a pantheon of elemental guardians called the Kazan-no-Kami — ancient mountain spirits who represent different aspects of flame, stone, and endurance.   Every clan maintains a sacred forge, which serves as both place of worship and smithing. Forging weapons is considered a sacred act — the soul of the wielder is said to reside in the blade.   Social Hierarchy & Feudal Structure   Norri society is hierarchical, rigid, and disciplined — modeled after a feudal Japanese system with dwarven pragmatism and reverence for craftsmanship. Their class-based society functions as follows:   Emperor (Tennō) — Ceremonial ruler, believed to descend from the mountain gods. Resides in Nymoto and serves as a spiritual compass.   Shōgun — The real power; a military dictator based on Eno Island, controlling armies, foreign policy, and mining guilds.     Daimyō — Seven elite clan-lords with domains (han) carved into different volcanic islands. Each rules independently but must report to the Shōgun annually per the Kazan-kōtai (Volcanic Rotation Edict).   Samurai — Elite warrior caste, trained in both martial and artisan disciplines. Known as Yamakin, or “Mountain Blades.” They wield uniquely dwarven tachi or katana forged from volcanic iron.   Peasants — Revered for their food production and ore-processing work. Bound to land and clan, but honored in community life.   Artisans — Makers of divine weapons, armor, ceramics, and ritual items. Many are adopted into samurai houses for their skills.     Merchants — Technically lowest, though rising in wealth. Form secret alliances and trade pacts, some even funding private guards and forge-schools.     Military Style & Strategy   The Norri prefer tight, formation-heavy tactics designed for underground or volcanic terrain. They make use of:   Ashwalkers: Scouts trained to navigate through fumaroles, ashstorms, and collapsing tunnels.   Molten Guard: Heavy infantry clad in obsidian armor, using heat-resistant polearms and fireburst grenades.   Sunsteel Ronin: Wandering Norri samurai trained abroad, often wielding foreign styles or heretical magics.   Their weapons are steeped in cultural significance — even simple blades are named and anointed before battle. Cowardice is not shameful to the Norri; only selfishness or failure to protect one's charge brings dishonor.     NORRI MILITARY STRUCTURE   MILITARY HIERARCHY   The Norri military is hierarchical and tradition-bound, drawing influence from both dwarven guild structures and feudal samurai ranks. Service is inherited but not guaranteed — each warrior must prove worthy through trial and ceremony.   Hierarchy (Highest to Lowest):   Shōgun — Supreme military ruler of all Norri forces.   Taishō (General) — Commands armies of multiple han; rare and highly honored.   Han-Chō (Lord Commander) — Leads the standing forces of a single han (domain).   Sensōshi (Battle Priests) — Warrior-monks trained in both martial and spiritual duties.   Yoriki — Field commanders or senior retainers assigned to critical operations.   Ashigaru-Ka (Elite Retainers) — Full samurai with lands or hereditary duty.   Ashigaru — Basic armored infantry and line soldiers.   Hi-kae (Ember Pages) — Initiates in training; runners, scouts, shield-bearers.   Promotion is possible through valor in battle, but disgrace can cast a family down the ranks for generations.   TRAINING RITES & TRIALS   The Ember Path (Hi no Michi): All Norri who wish to become samurai must walk the Ember Path — a pilgrimage across scorched rope-bridges, sulfur vents, and the caverns beneath Mount Ukadan (a semi-active volcano and sacred site). The path ends at the Shrine of the Silent Flame, where the initiate must:   Meditate beneath falling ash for a full day.   Recite their Kaji-no-Na (“Name of Fire”), a personal vow to the clan and gods.   Brand their own armor with a rune of loyalty forged by their family smith.   Failure to complete the rite results in banishment to the Ash Mines — a shame rarely spoken of.   The Kata of Stone and Flame: Combat training includes dual katas — Ishi no Kata (Stone Kata) for endurance and defense, and Honō no Kata (Flame Kata) for aggression and timing. A student must master both to graduate as a fully recognized warrior.   The Vigil of Cinders: Elite warriors (such as Volcano Guard candidates) must take part in the Night of Cinders, guarding a remote cliff shrine from dusk until dawn, fending off summoned flame wraiths and illusions of failure. Surviving the vigil grants the warrior a ceremonial bead of obsidian etched with their soul-name.     BATTLE STANDARDS & SYMBOLS Norri armies fight under ensigns of stone and fire, draped from massive back-mounted banners called yaguruma. These signify domain allegiance, honor claimed, and ancestral blessings.   Banner Examples:   Clan Yorotake: A coiled flame over a split mountain — defenders of the inner caldera temples.   Clan Hoshigama: Three falling stars over volcanic waves — known for sea-battle scouts and explosive tactics.   Clan Uzujin: A hammer striking a god’s skull — rumored to be the last bastion of those who once served Vegris.   Field Icons & Totems:   Ember Sigils: Burned into shields, these magical marks smolder when a war chant begins, granting morale bonuses.   Cinder Masks: Worn by berserkers or spiritual defenders; they resemble soot-black faces with glowing mouths.   Pyre Bells: Hung on the backs of champion warriors — they chime during movement, invoking fear or awe depending on the enemy's culture.   War Chants: Before battle, samurai chant the phrase:   “Stone does not flee. Flame does not forget.”   Each domain adds its own call after, often invoking ancestors or divine wrath. These chants are as much ritual as tactic, believed to awaken the volcano spirits that dwell in all Norri steel.   Clan Yorotake – Defenders of the Inner Caldera     “Stone shall not yield, flame shall not falter!” (Call-and-response style, often shouted from temple steps)   “We hold the breach!” “We burn with faith!” “Let ash and steel remember our names!”   Clan Hoshigama – Sea-Battle Scouts & Demolition Experts   “Like stars we fall — like gods we crash!” (Chanted before launching skyfire or ship-boarding maneuvers)   “Strike fast, fade faster, leave cinders in our wake!” “The tide is fire! The tide is fire!”   Clan Uzujin – Outcasts & Secret Vegris Loyalists     “One blow for wrath — one for the broken god!” (Spoken low before a decisive strike; some see it as heresy)   “The chains are ash — now rise and burn!” “We strike where gods fear to look!”   Universal Norri War Cry   (used when clans march together)   “From ember to echo, from echo to quake!” “Fire in our lungs! Stone in our bones!”        

"The Oath Beneath the Mountain"   Traditional Norri Pre-Battle Poem   We carve no words in ash, For ash remembers none. We write our names in flame and blood— Where blades are drawn, and vows are done.   “Kar’dun vak’reth, thol’un kaen.”   (Stone holds strong, flame holds truth.)     From forge to stone, from stone to shield, We hold the line the gods once sealed. Let foes come down like falling stars— We rise as smoke, we strike as scars.   “Dor’mek ul thazen! Bar’thrak ul ven!”   (We are fire’s children! We are vengeance born!)     If we burn, let it be bright. If we die, let it be right. Steel for the mountain, oath for the fire, Wrath in our veins, and will that won’t tire.   “Thorum vek, Thorum vak. Nuzari’dren!”   (Stand as one, fall as none. The mountain remembers!)     O ancestors, hear this hammer’s cry, Bless our bones if we should die. But if we live—let them fear the flame, And curse the mountain that bore our name.

          Daily Life in Norri Society   Morning Rituals   Fire Offerings are made at dawn — even the lowest peasant lights a small brazier or lantern to thank the mountain spirits (Kazan-no-Kami) for protection through the night.   Communal Baths, often geothermally heated, are shared by neighbors at different caste levels, but with strict time divisions to preserve class order.   Braiding the Hair is a meditative act and a statement of one’s status, skill, and pride. Many Norri spend nearly an hour maintaining their beards and topknots.     Labor and Craft   Peasants tend small terrace gardens carved into volcanic slopes or manage fungus farms in lava tubes. They also process raw ore, smelt it communally, and manage geothermal water systems.   Artisans often belong to craft guilds tied to specific families or deities. Work is considered sacred, and every forge begins with a Strike Song, calling upon the flame spirits.   Samurai train in martial forms and philosophy, often starting their day with blades in one hand and calligraphy brushes in the other. Many also study tea ceremonies, etiquette, or volcanology.   Merchants begin the day with quiet calculation. Markets open at the 2nd bell and close precisely at sundown. Many hire scribes to track ore prices or political tension among Daimyō.   Children attend school if born to samurai or artisan families, learning poetry, warfare, and geology. Peasant children work early but are educated in temple scroll-houses by retired warriors.   Meals & Cuisine   Norri food is hearty, earthy, and full of smoked flavor. Meals are structured communally and seasonally:   Breakfast: Spiced stone-root porridge, boiled mushrooms, and fire-dried jerky.   Lunch: Roasted ember eel or rice wrapped in ashleaf. Always consumed in silence if eaten in public.   Dinner: Communal hotpots (Kazan-nabe), where families gather to eat slow-boiled stews cooked over a geothermal vent.   Tea is central to all classes — volcanic ash-brewed oolong is highly prized. The ceremony of preparing tea is also used to show respect or humility.   Spiritual Life   Norri believe spirits reside in heat, pressure, and stone, so even a crack in a tunnel is often honored with incense.   Shrines are located in both public places and private homes. Offerings include obsidian beads, crafted charms, or cooling stones.   The average Norri might stop several times a day to bow toward the nearest mountain peak or geothermal vent, whispering a prayer for endurance or clarity.   Festivals & Events   The Ember March (late autumn): A festival where citizens walk barefoot across heated stone paths in honor of ancestral resilience.   Molten Founding Day: Celebrates the formation of the first unified Norri clan under the original Shōgun. Feats of strength, craftsmanship contests, and glowing lanterns mark the occasion.   Veil of Smoke: A midsummer week where the volcanoes are said to "speak" — citizens wear black veils and burn offerings at dusk in silence.   Evenings & Rest   Norri cities become eerily quiet after dark, as conversation is kept to a whisper — they believe the volcano must sleep, and silence shows respect.   Homes are built with lava-stone walls and red-paper shutters, often decorated with family crests, mountain sketches, and fire motifs.   Bedrolls are heated with smooth ember-stones, and storytelling by elder relatives is common, often recalling myths of fire spirits or tragic Samurai romances.     NORRI CEREMONIES & RITUALS     1. Coming-of-Age Ceremony — The Emberwalk Age: 15 (or upon proving strength or skill)   Overview: Young Norri walk barefoot across a path of heated volcanic stones laid in a sacred spiral while carrying an ember-filled brazier atop their head. It is both a trial of endurance and balance — symbolic of carrying one’s legacy with grace under pressure.   Key Elements:   Participants are marked with soot across their brow before the walk.   Elders chant the Five Flames of Kinship, invoking ancestors.   Success means receiving a Soul Bead, carved by one’s parents or clan elder, to be worn from that day forward.   Failure is not shameful, but the individual must wait a year before trying again.   2. Warrior’s Funeral — The Ashfall Rite Who: Fallen Samurai, Soldiers, or Honor-Killed   Overview: The body is wrapped in fireproof silk, laid atop a stone bier in a lava-lit chamber or mountaintop altar. A ceremonial blade is placed across the chest, and the warrior's name is spoken into a bowl of burning coal.   Key Elements:   The name is not repeated again — it is said to be carried into the stone.   Mourners dress in black-and-red robes, veiled in ash silk.   Instead of weeping, attendees strike their fists once against their chest in silence.   If the warrior died dishonorably, a cleansing duel may follow among kin.   3. Binding Ceremony — The Braiding of Flame Who: Two individuals (romantic or platonic) pledging lifelong bond   Overview: The couple kneel before a shrine flame, each holding a strand of their own hair. They braid them together while reciting vows written in charcoal ink on black vellum.   Key Elements:   Witnesses chant the Three Fires: Trust, Trial, and Temperance.   The braided hair is burned in a sacred censer; the rising smoke is said to bind their souls.   Each person receives a firecut ring (a band of obsidian split during the ceremony and bound by metal).   Common among romantic couples, but also warrior pairs and siblings of different blood.   4. Forge Blessing — Hammer’s Dawn   Who: Apprentice entering full Artisan status   Overview: Before forging their first solo weapon, the apprentice must spend one night in silence within the forge hall, meditating beside the anvil. At dawn, the forge master strikes the anvil once, signaling the start of the ritual.   Key Elements:   The apprentice must forge a symbolic item — often a nail, hook, or tongs — not a weapon.   This item is gifted to the forge shrine, never used, and treated as a sacred relic.   The forge master grants a chisel fan or ceremonial hammer in recognition.   5. Moonfire Vigil — Sootwatch   Who: Held when a great disaster, betrayal, or volcanic shift occurs   Overview: Norri gather in total silence by moonlight, surrounding the village’s central brazier or temple fire, which is covered in soot for one night. It is believed that to remain silent while fire sleeps is to invite wisdom from the mountain gods.   Key Elements:   The vigil lasts from moonrise to dawn.   Children place coal-drawn glyphs on their foreheads to show obedience.   At dawn, the brazier is uncovered and rekindled; fire dancers swirl coals to awaken the spirits anew.   The Shōgun may call a national Sootwatch in times of war.