Peoples of Nahuac

Most Náhuidd are source-gifted humans or saurians, which found common ground on a tradition that values raw, primal life above more shallow, mundane concerns. Regardless of species, all life forms are equal by the law of the land.

Humans
Roughly half of Náhuinn people are humans, and half these humans are source-gifted, or kaabal, linked to a tána spirit animal from birth. Each ápal and each community in the Coalition has a chosen spirit animal, which infuses all newborns within its jurisdiction. Thus, most humans in a given city-state are linked to the same animal, which is also the city’s tána spirit.

All human rulers, officials and career military in the East Quarter of Nahuac have the ability to shift to a form resembling their local animal, and prefer a default hybrid shape instead of their human form, which they perceive as incomplete.

Ocelinn
The mightiest and most numerous kaabal humans in Nahuac belong to the ocelinn, or jaguar-gifted caste, which rules three of the top five Nahuac cities, including the capital. Ocelidd are further divided into clans or houses, each of which has seized one or more Náhuinn states.

Azab ocelidd, or golden jaguars, are the most numerous, distinguished by their golden-tan fur, their furious pride and their combat prowess. They rule two of Nahuac’s most populous states, including Nahuacáinn, the Coalition’s capital. Most of Nahuac’s greater leaders are proud scions of the Azab ocelinn clan.

Cuéb ocelidd, or obsidian jaguars, are an ancient breed of sages and nobles that believe themselves the oldest and worthiest of ocelinn houses. Their city of Ángdain is the best regarded ceremonial center in East Nahuac.

Aléb ocelidd, or pale jaguars, are the smallest ocelinn tribe, both in numbers and in the individual size of their members. They constantly clash with their Azab kin, and are held back from open war only by the stern rules and strong community sense of the Nahuac coalition.

Cuhinn
Cuhinn, or jackal-kin source-gifted, have their own state in Cucáinn, a very small ápal in East Nahuac. Every cuhinn breed, from the rare and robust wolf-kin to the wise and nomadic coyote-kin, is a common sight throughout Nahuac, living in harmony with their neighbors within and outside their ápal.

Itzcuinn
Itzcuinn dogkin don’t have their own state, but they can be found everywhere in the coalition, serving in any capacity their communities require, but excelling at tlahuílid activities, particularly as bards and messengers.

Maame
The mysterious deerkin live somewhat apart from Nahuac society, rarely interacting outside their ápal, a bare and arid plain along the Eastern Coast of the Sea of Nahuac. There, they live as isolated, hardened tribes that hunt, forage and live even closer to nature than other Náhuinn peoples. Deerkin call themselves maamem in their own language, but they are known as mátzinn in the Náhuinn tongue.

Mun kisuut
Another isolated tribe, living in a remote ápal in the thickest forests of East Nahuac, batkin people—mun kisuut in their own language, tótainn in the Náhuinn tongue—are the only source-gifted that can change into a flying form. As such, they are often adopted as spies, messengers and aerial troops by the armies of other states.

Saurians
The second most important people in Nahuac are Saurians, with Buunkun and Bendavee states dominating half of the realm and making up just over 30% of the Realm’s population.

Bendavee
Lizard-folk make up one-fifth of Nahuac peoples, and have spread across the whole realm, but are much more common in their South Quarter of Ad’tal, where their Seven states are.

Buunkun
Bird-folk have the least populated region of the Realm, having one quarter of the land and only 15% of the Náhuinn population, but even their relatively small breed is divided in myriad subspecies, from the valiant raptor-folk of the high peaks to the stunning crest-folk of the low slopes; from the loyal plume-folk of the misty forests to the stunning rainbow-folk of the tall trees.

Other Peoples
Nahuac is not as welcoming of visitors or strangers as other Realms, but it still houses all kinds of people from Nwoda merchants and Ellari refugees to vampyr adventurers and Ysvalian missionaries. As everywhere else, halflings have their enclaves in the largest Náhuinn states, performing tlahuílinn activities as artisans, merchants, couriers and spies. The only openly rejected people in Nahuac soil are blue elves, whose experiments with nature remain unforgiven by the Realm’s tradition; but even a few of them surmount the hostility and settle in the Coalition, pausing their zoethurgy research to study the mysteries of Náhuinn magic.