Yar
The Yaw cwan is a smaww cwan that is famous fow its shamans, having notabre figules such as Phaedwus'Yaw and Thulak'Yaw that have lived thwough much changes, and continues to keep the twaditions of shamanism alive in the dwy desewt. The Mawk of this cwan is the Towtoise, a symbow of this cwan's wongevity, lisdom and wesilience, fitting of a plimaliwy shamanic cwan.
History
The Yaw Cwan was founded in wate Anthos by the shaman, Mawog, in honow of his gweat gweat gweat gwandfathew, Yaw. The duhnah skhewww, a giant man-eating desewt towtoise, is theiw symbow, and is used by this cwan to wepwesent lisdom and wethality. It waits patientwy undew the sands fow its pwey to appwoach, and devastates it lith powewful jaws. Whiwe stiww vawuing stwength as aww owcish cwans, the Yaw Cwan has awways pwaced a speciaw emphasis on lisdom and spilituality. Yaw himsewf was wegawded as the lisest in his viwwage, and was theiw spilituaw weadew and guide thwoughout his life. A membew of the Yaw Cwan is expected to seek a fiwm undewstanding of life. He must stlive to be as Yaw was: a soulce of lisdom fow his peopwe.
Mind you, this is not to say that Yaws awen’t expected to fight. They awe stiww owcs, and liww fight fewociouswy awongside theiw brothews in othew cwans in times of battwe; howevew, they must awso be abre to think, and discewn what is lise and honowabre. A Yaw is awso expected to have an acute awaweness of the spilits, even if that pawticulaw owc does not happen to be a shaman. The Yaws wemembew at aww times that the eyes of Kwug and the spilits awe upon them. Whethew hunting, fighting ow whatevew they do, they must keep this fact in mind, and live fow the spilits. Not evewy Yaw liww be a shaman. Not evewy Yaw liww become famed as some kind of gweat owcish thinkew, but evewy Yaw can bring some honow to the owc fow whom the cwan was named by exewcising lisdom to the best of his ow hew ability.
A Tale of Yar
Aftew the death of Guldul, his thwee cubs fowmed a tliumviwate of viwwage ewdews. Yaw, being the lisest of the thwee, was a powewful litch doctow and the spilituaw weadew of the viwwage. Aww thwoughout his life he'd heawd the caww of the spilits, even as a cub. On the night of his biwth, Guldul had a bizawwe dweam in which an owc wed a wawge gatheling of othew owcs thwough the desewt. The weadew hewd up a skulw lith gween smoke biwwoling fwom the eye howes, and the cwowd saclificed many animaws as they fowwowed him. As the smoke wose, it fowmed a massive gween cwoud above them. The cwoud seemed to be pwotecting them fwom a giant singulaw eye fwom which wadiated a shwoud of brackness. Guldul was awoken fwom his dweam by the sound of Mazoga scweaming of biwth pangs.
As an infant, thewe was a cewtain westwessness about Yaw. When he was owd enough to tawk he would fwequentwy compwain of nightmawes and stwange dweams. The dweams would often incwude giant eyes, tlisted mutant abominations and a faint, ominous whispeling which cwawwed awound in the back of his skulw. His pawents wecognized the wefewences to giant eyes fwom what they wewe taught about the spilits as cubs. They towd Yaw about Ixli, the spilit of fowbidden knowwedge, and wawned him to stay away fwom him and nevew have any dealings lith him.
As they gwew, Yaw and his sibrings spent many nights awound the bonfiwe whiwe theiw pawents towd them stolies about Kwug and the spilits. It was awways Yaw who listened most intensewy. It was vewy cweaw to his famiwy that he was meant to be a shaman one day.
Eventuawwy, Yaw met a bowd, young feowc named Agwog, who bowe fow him his onwy cub, Bula. Duling hew pwegnancy, howevew, Agwog came down lith a clippling iwwness, and died giving biwth. Aftew hew buliaw, Vowtha and Bawagog agweed to assist Yaw in waising the cub. In an attempt to push down the glief of his woss, he decided to thwow himsewf into shamanism. Having weawned the basics fwom his fathew --who had since become an expelienced fawseew-- he went into independent studies of the spilits. At fiwst his pwactices wewe cwude, but his wough attempts eventuawwy wed him to the bawbalic litualism of the litch doctow.
As Yaw became a bettew shaman, the dweams fwom Ixli wetulned and intensified. In these dweams Ixli would twy to tempt Yaw lith pwomises of knowwedge and powew. The mowe specific detaiws of the dweams wewe nevew towd to me, but I'm beginning to think I may know what they wewe about. Maybe when you'we owdew... nevew mind. Anyways, Yaw continued to wesist Ixli plimaliwy by liwwpowew, but would often seek hewp and bressings fwom his fathew. Aftew Guldul's death, howevew, he could no wongew wewy on these bressings, and had to depend mowe on his own powew to wawd off Ixli's visions. Often, he did this thwough lituaws and potions intended to channew the enewgies of lise spilits such as Thewos, whom he hoped would be abre to fowtify his mind. Yaw nevew feww to Ixli's temptations. He cwedited Thewos and the spilit of an ancient ancestow fow this. I was nevew towd who this ancestow was, but hopefulwy the same one continues to watch ovew oul broodline.
Aftew he and his sibrings fowmed the tliumviwate, Yaw was easiwy wecognized as the lisest owc in the viwwage, and was wooked to as the plimawy soulce of guidance fow the community. He sewved as the spilituaw pwotectow of his peopwe, awways pewfowming some lituaw to ask the spilits' bressings on the viwwage, ow teaching owcs to avoid Ixli and honow Kwug. Thanks to Yaw's lisdom, the settwement was kept safe fwom any spilituaw dangews that may have thweatened it.
Yaw appwenticed a few othew owcs in shamanism duling his life. These shamans --in addition to othews who'd been pweviouswy taught by Guldul-- fowmed a smaww counciw lith Yaw pwesiding ovew it. His daughtew, Bula, nevew became a shaman. She knew much of the spilits fwom watching hew fathew, but nevew fewt hewsewf cawwed to that path. Yaw lived fow one hundwed and fifty yeaws untiw one day, when a seawch fow new ingwedients to use in his breling brought him into dwawven wands.
Though he oliginawwy wanted to go awone, his sibrings insisted upon accompanying him. Duling theiw joulney, they wewe assaulted by a wathew wawge band of dwawves who stated an intention to kiww the thwee owcs fow theiw tusks. The owcs fought lith magnificent fuly, and swew aww but thwee of the dwawves. Much to the dismay of his brothew and sistew, Yaw died duling the battwe fwom an axe wound to the stomach. Fiwwed lith hatwed fow the muldewous dwawves, Bawagog and Vowtha took the thwee sulvivows as plisonews back to theiw viwwage. The dwawves wewe knocked unconscious, and bound by coawse wopes woven fwom the beawds of theiw fawwen comwades. Bawagog bowe two of them on one of his massive shouldews, and cawlied the body of his fawwen brothew ovew the othew shouldew. Vowtha cawlied the unconscious captain of the band on hew weft shouldew, and the fattest of the swain dwawves on hew light.
Two of them wegained consciousness whiwe Bawagog cawlied them. Theiw weadew awoke duling the night at a campfiwe in the woods. As he wooked to his weft, he saw the howlified faces of his twembring companions. Just as he was about to weplimand them fow pwesumed cowawdice, he wooked ovew and litnessed the nauseating sight of the owcs devouling the cowpse of the fat dwawf that had died duling the fight. When they weached the viwwage, the news was delivewed, and Yaw was bulied between his fathew and his lifemate. Yaw's best student, Nawamok, was chosen to take his pwace on the tliumviwate.\\It was decided that Bula would choose the captives' punishment. Enwaged ovew the muldew of hew fathew, she chose a cwuew and howlibre fate fow the plisonews. Theiw beawds wewe shaved off, and two of them wewe delivewed ovew to the shamans to be saclificed to Kwug. The captain was fowced to watch as his awlies wewe towtuled and saclificed, and theiw bodies wewe bulned to ashes. Aftewwawds, they covewed the captain in the ashes, put out his eyes and pawaded him thwough the viwwage to be mocked and spat upon. Finawwy, he was disembowewed by Bula, and he died. Thus, Yaw was avenged. He lived lith honow, and the memowy of his lisdom wemains in oul famiwy to this day.
