Northern Avali

Currently unofficial lore, and in progress.

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Northern Avali

While the majority of northern Avalon is considered uninhabitable, tribes have settled in the north around geothermic vents which have allowed enough warmth to live and gather the scarce resources around. Several disconnected tribes exist in northern Avalon, with significant differences in culture and ways of life - though several broad cultural concepts are consistent among tribes due to environmental factors and migration between tribes.

While the north has been fairly isolated, there is a current project lead by avali from Central to bring northern avalon into a more technically and medically modern state. Central’s primary methods of power delivery are incompatible with the north due to geomagnetic factors, and it is only recently that a push has been made to provide modern technology to the northern tribes.

Physical Characteristics

Northern avali are physically smaller than other avali - generally about one to two heads shorter than avali common to Central. Their ears droop downward, weighted by denser feathers. Their feathers do not tend to be particularly clean looking, taking on a fluffier appearance due to this density.

Northern avali patterns vary and don’t tend tend to follow exact lines. Males trend towards having splotches of color dispersed, generally around the eyes and areas where there are larger muscles - thighs, sides, upper arms, base of the ears. Female northern avali tend to be a single, neutral color, with specs of a very slightly different shade dotting various areas - common are the entire or parts of the head, middle and ends of feathers, the back, the ends of the ears, thighs, and sides. Their feathers are often more iridescent, and reflect more light, though in less clean patterns. Mono color northern avali and variant are common as well for both sexes.

Northern avali tails take on fluffy traits of the rest of their bodies, and don't stick upward, instead starting that direction and drooping downwards towards the end. They are often wider and more dense than avali from other regions.

Technology

Northern avali often use a stone/crystal called elevo which has a blue, uv-like luminescent glow without needing any kind of fuel. This is often used alongside heat sources in order to provide illumination - mostly used in tents or other places where avali often inhabit. This resource is fairly rare and important to northern tribes especially during times of light scarcity, which has historically been frequent. Elevo is often craved for its subtle glow by those looking for specific styles of visual augment, and northern tribes are often raided by those looking to acquire this resource for themselves or others.

Technology in the north diverges heavily from that of other areas. It is very energy and heat considerate - any heat generated necessarily needs to be harvested and used by the rest of the encampment. It is often insulated and connected in ways that look bizarre to other avali - very often using well insulated piping. Northern avali don't often use very standard technologies that are abundant in other areas of Avalon as energy consumption and heat output with the standard technologies are not sustainable for the northern environment. Augments are not uncommon in the north, but augments that take energy with no function are extremely discouraged. Augments that consume energy and cannot really be turned off are also generally not used. Northern avali in recent years have been working on incorporating thermal carrier generation into low power augments, as well as finding ways to store energy from geothermic vents in a manner that is compatible with the environment.

Technological progress has ramped up in the north in recent years, and creative solutions to the environmental problems are currently being investigated and implemented.

Culture

Most northern tribes are not nomadic, clustering around various types of geothermic vents for warmth and the richer fauna surrounding them. Their dwellings tend towards semi mobility, as a number of factors could force them to move. This spread and isolation generally means that northern culture tends to be fairly diverse, though a few principals have been fairly universal, due to environmental factors.

Spirituality and Cultural Themes

Heat conservation is imperative for survival, and because of this northern tribes often treat heat with an enormous amount of respect. Northern technologies are designed to recapture any heat they expend. At the most extreme, heat is worshipped in some tribes and given a spiritual reverence. For many tribes, elevo and its use have been a staple of the culture, and is considered sacred or important to the culture as well.

Northern avali are often encouraged to exist as they are, to let events roll off of them, and to be one with the environment. Very common is the idea of mindfulness, and being okay with not understanding another avali or pack or idea. It is encouraged to both explore the things you'd like to explore, while also being okay with not understanding. Trust in your tribe is paramount, and allowing yourself to not stress over something that another tribe member has covered is very common.

"It is okay to not know. It is okay to be taken care of. It is okay to trust in your tribe. It is okay to rest. It is okay to be."

Language

Northern avali do speak the same language as has been adopted by the majority of Avalon, but they do tend towards having a distinctive accent - characterized by "blending" their words together and modulating the pitch and resonance in a much more "legato" way than other avali speak. They can be a little difficult to understand at first, but adjustment to the accent tends to be very swift.

Very common is adding some kind of melodic interpretation to emotions even mid conversation, and movements tend to be dance-like and smooth as well when trying to communicate via body language. Northern avali often use their bodies more emphatically to communicate ideas in addition to language.

Pack and Tribe Dynamics

Northern tribes and packs tend to be fairly close knit, and it is common to have very close attachments to both mates and packmates, as living in the north means you are more likely to see the same avali many times throughout your life. Tokens given for mating are less common, and it is a little more common for northerners to mate amongst pack members - though generally mating happens between tribe members. While bonding over physical sex is still commonplace, mating itself is given a little more consideration. In times of resource scarcity, mating is discouraged - though kits born during this time are still given every consideration as kits born during times of abundance.

Relationships between packmates and tribe members tend towards being less rigid. It is often that a pack has a set of core members, with others joining and leaving every so often as attachments change. Tribe members are generally very familiar with each other, and bonding so freely has helped with pack separation and pack loss.

Relation to the Rest of Avalon

Northern tribes range from very open to very militant, and each had differing ways to deal with outside forces. Although raids are far less common now that Central is actively going after raiders, northern tribes are still often wary of threats.

While northerners are very quick to defend themselves in a very forceful manner - something learned through generations of raids - many tribes tend to be very welcoming of those who would come with good-natured intentions. All but the most militant tribes are not closed off, in either technology or culture, and tend to welcome visitors looking to know more - though these kinds of visitors have historically been very rare. Northerners themselves are not against mating with or incorporating those who are not northern into their tribes, but this also is fairly rare due to societal stigma and the higher chance that the resulting kits will have issues with the cold.

Most communication with the Illuminate tends to involve frustration on both ends, as most central technology or ways of resource acquisition and spread is not compatible with the north or the avali that live there. There tends to be a lot of misunderstanding, and historical attempts to try to integrate the northerners into the central systems have ended in failure and frustration. New systems for the north have required a large amount of rework and innovation, and the technical debt is fairly large.

Northerners are not generally regarded well. At best they are seen as reclusive and violent, and at worst they are seen as sub-avali. It is taboo to mate with a northerner, and avali who may have northern descendency are often looked down on or harassed. Northern blood tends to give traits that are not considered fashionable or attractive in modern Avalon. Historically, raiders that have been caught were only punished when there was political pressure to do so, which has only been true in recent years. There remains a lot of stigma about the northern tribes, though sentiment is improving as the active effort in the north pushes forward.

Traditions and History

The vast majority of northern history is passed down orally - tribes being as spread as they are means that there are a variety of subcultures and historical differences to be found in the north. Record keeping on a more permanent basis is a fairly new development, and something only originally started for medical purposes. Much of northern history has devolved into folklore, and while there is a current active effort to record the history that has been passed down, at the moment there is not a clear picture of the history of northern tribes more than just a few generations. okay

Music and Celebrations

Like many places on Avalon, northern avali tend to express themselves through music. Packmates will often hum harmonies with each other for bonding or comfort, and the prolific extent of this expression is theorized to have caused the more legato accent that northerners tend to have.

While northern music is only rarely recorded, it tends to be very heavy in texture and ambiance - often lacking in definitive melody. Musical ideas are layered on top of these textures in cases where specific emotions are attempting to be communicated, however mindfulness and allowing it to wash over tend to be the main intent.

Dance is also very common casually - movement and expressiveness through movement is very common. Northern avali very commonly dance without reason, and it is generally regarded normal to do so in casual events and in front of others. As rare as formal and serious meetings are meetings are, it is common to be more still and express yourself more precisely in such events.

Celebrations tend to combine these factors, adding rhythm and melody to the musical textures and purpose to the movements. Choreographed dances are very common, and celebrations of new seasons and resource abundance are fairly commonplace. While resources spent during a celebration are still fairly conservative, there still is a stockpile that northern avali tend to use to celebrate life with each other.