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 Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 8:51 pm
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Their History:
They came to these lands from the east. Back in their homeland, different healing practices were common knowledge. They came from a communal herd where all the young were raised together as siblings by the mares of the herd, learning and receiving affection from each of them as they grew. These six, being born around the same time as each other, grew up together as a close knit group of sisters. From a young age they were taught how to distinguish between different herbs as well as how to use them for healing purposes. As they grew they learned different healing techniques which ranged from the use of pressure points to alleviate pain to even the use of crystals and stones.
One day, a mare arrived asking for help for her herd in neighboring lands that had been affected by a great sickness. A matriarch of the herd went with the mare to help her and her herd. At the time the sisters were still learning and not old enough to leave their herd. Some time passed and the other mares of the herd felt the six had reached the end of their training having learned all they had to teach them. They had not seen or heard from the matriarch in quite some time so they sent the six to go help her and practice their craft. The older mares stayed behind to take care of the younger foals and help those that were expecting.
They went in search of the matriarch, but by the time they reached the neighboring lands the sickness was gone and she was no where to be found. They were told she had been asked to help in yet another land struck by tragedy and so they continued on to find and help her. As they traveled they helped those in need, and learned different techniques along the way.
As time went on, they ventured farther west. They heard of a great fire that had swept through the Kawani lands, and they knew that they must go and try to help them. They also wondered if maybe their matriarch had gone to help as well. On their way to the Kawani lands they happened upon a herd of deer who had fled the lands to escape the fire. Many of them were injured and in need of help. After taking some time to help deer recover they continued on their way, now only with a few new friends who had become attached to them in the time they spent together.
After helping in the aftermath of the fire, they were surprised by the fact that so few in these lands had the knowledge of different healing techniques. They decided to stay to help those that sought their help, often pregnant mares came to them to help during pregnancy. They also decided that they should try to spread their knowledge to others in these areas that had an interest in healing. |
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 9:01 pm
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Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:18 am
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Spoof and DG's brainstorming session
Herd of origin - nomadic healers, either gender, who accept any who want to learn. The herd started many years ago, founded on the belief that all life has value. This translated into an interest in healing, and most members specialize in childcare and childbirth - because the act of creating and assisting new life is the most sacred to them. It also makes them good diplomats since they tend to remain neutral in disputes. They teach healing but the catch is that depending on the amount of skill one wishes to gain they are required to pledge a certain amount of time and dedication to the herd. They aren't forced to stay a member forever, but for several years at least. The herd doesn't require this commitment, but anyone they teach what boils down to 'first aid' they also lecture them about how you can hurt rather than heal if you don't know what you are doing - which is the reasoning behind them requiring a commitment of time to learn their art thoroughly.
The core herd is an extended family of kirin who live their lives in the herd and so have children. They raise them in communal groups of foals based on age. The sisters of this particular group were all born within about a year of each other and so were trained at the same time. They train their young who are interested in learning to heal over the course of their lives. Once they reach a point where the elder healers feel they are reaching a mastery they can choose to go on a journey to both prove themselves and seek new knowledge on healing to bring back to the herd - if they decide to return. It is not unheard of for members to not return as they find a calling in the lands they travel to.
The healing is traditionally taught/executed by the ladies of the herd because the focus is on mares and pregnancy but they would not turn away a stallion eager to learn. The males of the herd (born or joined) are also taught to heal to the same extent as the females but often opt to learn other techniques like scouting and defense techniques which they use to seek out those in need of help. The herd is traditionally lead by a female who is regarded as the best healer among the group. She earns the title of 'Matriarch' and the herd decides by deliberation who will be the next in line. It is not uncommon for the Matriarch to decide she has a calling elsewhere - if the Matriarch leaves the herd for a long time often they will send a scouting group out to find her, if they do not succeed or she does not return on her own then the next in line becomes the new Matriarch. When the Matriarch reaches a certain age she steps down and there is a group of elder-type soq who are often called on for their wisdom and so typically have the most say in who will be the next Matriarch - made up of former Matriarchs.
- regarding the girls being sent rather than a group of scouts to find the Matriarch - the herd didn't know that she wasn't coming back. They thought she might need help since she left on a specific task at the request of an outsider. Perhaps one of the girls specialized in defense as well? So a larger group of scouts wasn't sent out because the group was just going to help out and they had some protection already? Dunno.
- they value all life (reason for healing) even those who might not be very nice or deserving of care/healing in eyes of others - (sw) - to the point where if a SW was lying helpless/dying they would help it as long as it didn't pose a threat to their lives or other patient's lives.
- herd is open - but as above the girls follow the rules of their herd of origin in that they will not teach someone who isn't willing to commit to a certain amount of time or level of skill - and if they are only interested in learnign the equivalent of first aid or something then they make sure the soq knows the risks of trying to help but not knowing how.
- mates - the herd has been mostly kirin because they lived in an area which contained mostly kirin. The ladies would probably avoid darker soq who don't share their reverence for life, and mates would have the option of joining the herd or else the herd member in question is free to go if they want. They would not be kicked out of the herd or not welcome back, unless they started using their knowledge to kill.
- children - if they show interest/aptitude for healing they can opt to be taught by their various aunties, but it is not required - though they will still be taught until a certain age if they remain with the herd. Also something mates who stay close will have to deal with is the sway each auntie has over each others kids (so not quite communal raising but each mare might be more hands (lol!hooves) on than what might be considered normal in each foal's upbringing).
Any other ideas? Comments? Thoughts? None of this is permanent, totally open to discussion but we just wanted to get the ball rolling. Feel free to add or change. C:
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Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 12:34 pm
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I really like what you guys brainstormed so far! Gives me some fun ideas for Arcadia to be a healer that also uses her knowledge of the body's weaknesses to defend her sisters while they are out searching for their matriarch!
It seems like a lot of the herd's day to day dynamics was covered as well as their overall beliefs so I don't know that I have too many suggestions. Not sure if you wanted to incorporate any sort of religion into their culture but if so, I was thinking a Mother goddess might be appropriate since going off of what I remember from your herd helper application I think your inspiration was a herd centered around tending to mares and helping them with childbirth. I googled it and according to wiki, "A mother goddess is a goddess who represents, or is a personification of nature, motherhood, fertility, creation, destruction or who embodies the bounty of the Earth." So that could kind of explain why there are warriors in the herd as well as healers. It could be a cool inspiration for a totem too.
I was thinking we could cement what basic healing skills every foal raised with the herd will know by adulthood as well as some specific examples of specialties they can go into are (I know you gave quite a few examples for ideas for the sisters so maybe we could make those official?). We could also talk about the different healing techniques they teach outsiders and exactly what the required time payment for each technique would be and what their responsibilities will be while serving the herd in payment, do they have to act as servants for a year, do they need to do a certain number of favors for the sisters, do they need to live with them and basically be an extra set of healing hands wherever they go for a certain amount of time? I was thinking it might be kind of cool if the sisters had specialties and each could take on students of that specialty and those students mainly served that specific sister but were also part of the herd by default, kind of like indentured servitude since the herd is still so small. that way there would be room for individual plots within the communal herd. The outsider could plot with that specific sister, or that sister could send them to help out another sister for a day- Just tossing an idea.
Since the sisters are basically starting all over again to form a new family herd where they have decided to settle down, we could talk about what role each sister will be charged with so that the herd can still function or maybe they could split the responsibilities equally. Ex.) Teaching outsiders and foals, raising foals, healing outsiders, defense of the herd, recruiting new members and spreading the word of the sister's willingness to help.
Will they elect one of their own to function as a new matriarch? Is there some sort of process/contest, or have they already chosen a new one, perhaps Eliana, as the oldest, simply inherits the position?
Also, should the herd be nomadic like their parent herd and go where they are needed, or travel a specific route each season or something, or will they settle down so that they are easy to find by those that need them?
Are the deer at all involved in healing or herd life or are they purely devoted companions?
Also, we should come up with a herd name, All I can thing of is... 'The healing ____" xD. I'm not great with herd names. |
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Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 4:31 pm
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Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 5:04 pm
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Ina May Gaskin is a famous midwife. I think The Ina May or simply Ina May is a cool sounding herd name! I like the way it rolls off the tongue.
Female elephants have "allomothers", and they take responsibility for full time raising of the young, and any task involving the rearing of the young calves. Allomothers, or a term similar to the kirin, would make a good herd name too! Since they were stemmed from a nomadic herd, they could be Nomaheals, or Doulamothers. Doula, is another term for a type of midwife. They specialize in reducing the stress of the mother, and are there for them the entire time.
Or perhaps a more mythical name. Like Qilin Mothers.
Nü-gua (Nü-kua), is the term for the Chinese Goddess who grants children. Song-zi niang-niang, is also credited for bestowing children in mythology, but not as widely worshiped as Nü-gua. Song-zi Qilin has a nice ring to it.
Could also go with the Greek name for mother. Mitera [mee-tEh-rah]. The Mitera, is simple enough. Mana is the average way of saying mother, and Ma, is a very informal way of saying mother. Similar to the way we say Mama and Mom. Mitera, Mana, and Ma, could possibly be ranks in the herd?
Just tossing stuff out. XD
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Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 5:11 pm
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Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 5:13 pm
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Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 9:39 am
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I'm totally ok with the girls being related if everyone else is, like sisters or cousins or something.
Maybe for Ranks
Matriarch
Protector?
Heir?
And then the various healer ranks
Umm to throw out possible rank type names for people to consider: Priestess, Paladin, Druid, Shaman, Healer, Cleric
|(Again, just tossing stuff out, no need to use any of it)
It could be one rank is better than another or it could simply have to do with what they specialize in and the only actual ranks belong to the healers?
To indicate level of skill, maybe we could use a second title
So say we were to just use 'Healer'
Could be
Healer apprentice
Healer Novice
Healer journeyman
Healer Adept
Healer Master
I really don't have any ideas right now of what each rank would be able to do, but maybe its just the amount of time you have put into studying or something rather than X knows first aid, and Y knows surgery, and Z knows something else?
And since all the sisters are healers and probably should be 'masters' of whatever they do since they have finished training (I assume?) and have been trusted to leave their parent herd on an important task, they could have job titles too.
Gatherer
Maybe some sort of religious leader if we do any sort of religion with them
Warrior
Nanny
So, for example, Arcadia could be a protector as well as a healing master.
Gotta run but hope this is helping DG? |
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Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 4:16 am
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Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 9:14 am
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Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 4:31 pm
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Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 7:12 pm
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Reply
