Northern Avali

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

(the region i am from and where almost all of my recollection lies)

Avali do vary based on region, with significant physical and cultural differences.

Most avali fall in line with "central" avali, those who live in city centers closer to the equator. These avali do vary and their influence is planetwide, but they do tend to be slightly larger than avali in the northern or southern areas. City avali often are born with very distinctive patterns with clean lines, and those who are more of a mix tend to dye their feathers in a similar fashion when living in population centers. Center avali control the <conglomerate/illuminate/core packs> - a centralized governmental body who's outward purpose is centered on solving resource scarcity and unifying the planet and outlying colonies.

Northern avali, by contrast, are more secluded. They live in areas that most other avali would not consider particularly habitable and often cluster around sources of heat. As northern technology has improved, more of the area has become habitable - though expansion is discouraged by outside forces.

Northern avali are physically smaller than other avali. Their ears droop more 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. 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. 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 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. Northern avali don't often use very standard technologies that are abundant in other areas of Avalon - the energy delivery used by the rest of avalon does not function well in the north due to environmental factors, and 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 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.

Northern avali often use a resource called <northern resource> which has a blue, uv-like luminescent glow without needing any kind of fuel. (haven't found a great name for this yet.) 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 is often.

<northern resource> 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.

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, still. 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.

While northerners are very quick to defend themselves in a very forceful manner - something learned through generations of raids - they tend to be very welcoming of those who would come with good natured intentions. They are not closed off, in either technology or culture, and tend to welcome visitors looking to know more - though these kinds of visitors are exceptionally rare. Northerners themselves are not against mating with or incorporating those who are not northern into their tribes, but this is extremely rare as many, many generations of avali have bodies more adapted to the extreme temperatures.

More often, visitors that arrive are raiders looking to steal supplies of <northern resource> or avali looking to "provide gifts" and "civilize the north" in the hopes of also acquiring the resource. Most communication with the <conglomerate/illuminate/core packs> 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 renewed attempts to try to integrate the northerners into the central systems have ended in failure and frustration. New systems for the north would incur a huge amount of rework, and as central systems grow the technical burden of integration only piles up.

Northern avali do not tend to move around, and gravitate around geothermic vents for heat. Their dwellings tend towards semi mobility, as a number of factors could force them to move. Recordkeeping tends to be very sparse.

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 harrassed. Northern blood tends to give traits that are not considered fashionable or attractive. Those who raid the north are only generally punished when there is enough political pressure, and there usually is none.