Information on Sippher’s Clan
Tribe Name: “Vor’ashk Clan” (meaning “Honorbound”)
Codes of Honor: The Vor’ashk Clan adheres to a strict code of honor, emphasizing the use of melee weapons like swords and spears in their hunts. They consider close-quarters combat to be a more skillful and honorable way of taking down their prey. The use of blaster rifles is seen as less honorable and is only employed in situations where it is deemed necessary.
These following six Tenants are just some of the many codes upheld by the Vor’ashk.
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The Way of Skill - Embrace the path of true mastery, relying on your physical prowess and instinct alone. Unnatural aids tarnish the honor of the hunt.
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Honorable Contest - Engage in the hunt with utmost honor, respecting fair play and the balanced contest between predator and prey. Let the contest be determined by skill and cunning alone, refraining from unnatural advantages.
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Heritage of Tradition: Uphold the ancient ways handed down by our ancestors, preserving the methods, rituals, and techniques that define our people and ensure our legacy.
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Unity of the Tribe: Stand united with your kin, embracing selflessness and contributing to the well-being of the tribe. Individual acts that disrupt our unity and values have no place among us.
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Harmonious Bond with Nature: Forge a deep connection with the untamed world, relying on your senses, intuition, and understanding of nature’s rhythms to engage in a sacred dance with your prey. Cherish the delicate equilibrium between life and death, honoring the circle of existence.
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Ancestral Wisdom: Hold in reverence the wisdom of our forebears, respecting the accumulated knowledge passed through generations. Abstain from unnatural means in the hunt, upholding the sanctity of our ancestral teachings.
Training in Ancient Weaponry: The tribe places great importance on training its members in the art of ancient weapon mastery. From a young age, members of the clan are taught the techniques and disciplines required to wield swords and spears effectively. They learn about different fighting styles, tactics, and the spiritual connection between the warrior and their weapon.
This isn’t to say they are not untrained in more modern weapons. While most Vor’ashk use primitive forged metal spears and swords, it is not uncommon to find vibro weapons or even blasters among their kind. Even the Vor’ashk admit, some predators are too dangerous to face honorably and require the use of blasters. These are often also used to defend the clan from other sentients, such as Trandoshan pirates.
Ritualistic Practices: The Vor’ashk Clan incorporates various ritualistic practices into their hunts. These rituals serve as a means of paying homage to their ancestors and seeking blessings from the Scorekeeper, the deity revered in Trandoshan culture. Rituals include offerings, ceremonies, and chants to ensure success in their hunts.
One vital ritual is the coming of age hunt. In which a young member of the clan is transported off world to Wasskah, one of Trandosha’s moons. There they are presented with a spear of a sword of their choice, and told to hunt a Katarn. Alone. And are given five days to do this. This ritual notably mirrors the wookiee hrrtayyk ceremony almost in it’s exact as the rite of passage for wookiees that have reached twelve years old.
Trophy Collection: Like many Trandoshans, the clan values the collection of trophies from their hunts. However, they prioritize the trophies obtained through skillful sword or spear kills, considering them more prestigious and symbolizing a deeper connection with their primal instincts. These trophies are displayed and revered within the tribe as symbols of prowess and honor. Often these trophies are incorporated in craftsmanship of the tribe as well. Jewelry made from the teeth of noted predators or the horns of prey.
Tradition and Respect: The Vor’ashk Clan places great emphasis on preserving their specific Trandoshan traditions and respecting their cultural heritage. They hold ancient customs in high regard and strive to pass them down from one generation to the next, ensuring the continuation of their unique way of life. Causing a disparity between them and many more forward thinking and technologically advanced Trandoshan cultures. As well, many young Trandoshans find the focus on tradition suffocating and eventually leave the tribe to escape these bindings.
Isolationist Stance: Sippher’s tribe maintains an largely isolationist stance, preferring to keep their customs and way of life separate from the influence of other Trandoshan clans or outside cultures. They value their independence and autonomy, often residing in remote regions of their homeworld. This has put them on the receiving end of many a aggressive war with fellow Trandoshans looking to take over the territory from their less advanced brethren. The original homeland of the Vor’ashk having been burned to ash by a Trandoshan Pirate Crew that their clan ran afoul of.
The Too Proud Hunter Myth
A story frequently told by the Vor’ashk of a famed hunter being punished by the Scorekeeper for treating the Wookiees as prey.
The Trandoshan hunter, Vokarr, was infamous Dosh. Known for his relentless and cruel pursuit of Wookiee pelts. He saw himself as a master predator, taking pride in his ability to outwit and overpower his prey. Favoring trickery, and a blaster rifle. He would often return to his tribe adorned in the pelts of the Wookiees he had slain in violent raids against Wookiee settlements on the neighboring Kashyyyk. Displaying them as trophies of his prowess proudly until his home in the tribe became a macabre display of his hunting conquests. Wookiee pelt rugs and tapestries, with bones and claws displayed in dark jewelry.
Despite the fact that most Trandoshans highly value wookiee pelts, the Vor’ashk did not show Vokarr the deference he believed due to such a great hunter. Instead elders of the clan would tell him time and time again he risks bringing destruction upon their clan. To the Vor’ashk? A wookiee is not prey, but a fellow hunter. To be met in combat honorably, or not at all. Not to be hunted as sport but as adversaries and rivals to be respected.
While the tribe did not approve of Vokarr’s actions, they believed that the Scorekeeper would eventually deliver justice in her own way to such an arrogant hunter. One who defied their clans traditions so brazenly and openly, but none dared to face directly.
Word of Vokarr’s arrogance and desecration of Wookiee pelts reached the ears of the Wookiee clans. And those who had lost family to the feared Dosh hunter finally had enough. These Wookiees broke from traditions of peace and travelled to Trandosha, to the heart of their spiteful neighbors lands. Tracking Vokarr to the Vor’ashk clan home.
Lead by a warrior named Ral’karra, these Wookiees proved to the tribe to be far superior hunters than Vokarr. Silently they crept through the trees surrounding the clan, and invaded Vokarr’s home before anyone knew the wiser. A struggle ensued, and Vokarr was dragged into the street of the settlement, and the clan roused by roars and demands from the Wookiees to come see.
Before his entire tribe, Vokarr was left humbled. His weapons striped from him. But when the Woookiees demanded those who would side with him join him, and face them, none stepped forward except the clan elders. Who condemned Vokarrs actions to the Wookiees, and told him his actions dishonored their entire clan. And had brought the ruin they had so warned him of.
The Vor’ashk tribe, knowing that Vokarr had brought this upon himself, chose not to intervene in what came next. The elders announcing Vokarr was the Wookiee’s prey, and they were his hunter. And that he should learn the consequences of treating other beings as mere prey to be slaughtered.
Ral’karra considered what the elders had said, and might have slain Vokarr where he stood. However, another option was offered by the clan. Despite their desire for him to receive punishment, the clan elders still wished Vokarr to be challenged with honor. Ral’karra, who had come with hate in his heart for the Trandoshan, was surprised by the request. But relented in his fury, if only just. He allowed the hunter to be granted a spear of his people’s make, to be used to defend himself and he would challenge the dosh in a duel.
Though terrified, Vokarr accepted the challenge, realizing that he had no other choice. The duel that followed was intense, but Vokarr’s arrogance had blinded him to the true depth of Wookiee hunting prowess and their natural strength. Ral’karra displayed remarkable skill and agility, countering Vokarr’s ineffective attacks with ferocity.
In the end, Vokarr was defeated, humbled by the Wookiee warriors’ superior abilities and slain before the crowd of Wookiee and Trandoshan hunters both. And the Vor’ashk tribe pronounced Ral’karra the clear victor, and more honorable of the combatants. Yet this did not satisfy all of the Wookiees present, who desired more vengeance upon the Trandoshan tribe, for the wounds brought on other Wookiees. Yet it was Ral’karra who calmed them this time.
For that night, Wookiee and Trandoshan spoke in peace on Trandosha. And in the morning the Wookiees left with Vorkarr’s body, to be shown to those tribes he had harmed. The pelts and remains of the many Wookiees he had killed burned and mourned by the hunters.
The death of Vokarr served as a somber reminder to the Vor’ashk tribe that pride and arrogance and a straying from their ways made one unfit as a hunter. It underscored the need for respect and understanding between other species, even in the face of cultural differences and conflicts. The Myth of the Too Proud Hunter became a cautionary tale for generations to come, a reminder of the consequences that awaited those who strayed from the path of honor and harmony. And even more so of the strength of Wookiees, and the danger of becoming too proud.
Sippher often tells this story to emphasize the significance of honor, respect, and the understanding that true hunting goes beyond mindless killing. It serves as a reminder that one should know the difference between being a great hunter, and a great killer.
