Shunai / Fervent but Contrite

The Founders of the Holy Herquisition.

Shunai are warm-blooded Mammal-like reptiles; more reptilian than mammalian. In adulthood, most of the Shunai’s body is covered in a smooth yet tough carapace, resembling some sort of exoskeleton, with the exception for the front of the neck, armpits, palms, inner thighs, buttocks, and the base of the tail. The soft frills and scutes upon this carapace are phosphorescence and may glow bright in vivid colors for several hours. The heat emitted by these frill is used for communication, as Shunai perceive light in the infrared spectrum. They also possess a nictitating membrane.

Unlike other egg-laying mammals, Shunai females rarely lay eggs, as they are mostly Ovoviviparous, but sometimes the gestation period can be prolonged, and the egg is expelled intact; the eggs themselves resemble large sacs with a soft leathery shell.

Their sense of smell is heavily developed for direct communication, which (along with their toughened facial skin) has led to a regression of the Shunai's facial muscles, making their faces less expressive. Two sweating pheromone sacks hang from each side of their temples, emitting a considerably mild scent, with array of tones that only the Shunai’s olfactory senses can fully perceive and discern. However, understanding of different aromas you can still identify is important for your visit to areas densely populated by Shunai. For example: citrus notes with garlic or dirt are a sign of hostility; faint honey or cheese tones indicate friendliness and hospitality; if you smell fresh plums, especially if the scent is so strong that you can taste it on your tongue – it's an excellent sign if you are into reptiles.

Shunai minds are inherently gullible, confiding and compliant. They are frank in their actions and relationships, never trying to deceive or mislead others, yet they are susceptible to contradicting ideas and are easily manipulated with lies and deception. If they don't have time to reflect upon things through on their own, or if their closest kin don't remind them the truth quickly enough, Shunai can effortlessly have their worldviews swayed. Therefore, trust, honesty, and cooperation are highly regarded in their society. As a result of this well-known mental wiring, many Shunai are very paranoid and pedantic, frequently rejecting any type of progress until it have been thoroughly considered and pre-planned. Even new friendships requires a lot of checks to be passed before they are fully accepted. As such, they are very collectivist – family and community bonds are strong and reliable within this tribe, with a widely shared collective vision of the future, and high social cohesion. It is very characteristic for new generations to engage in succession of service and follow many-century-long family traditions, which, however, leads to strong nepotism and a decrease in meritocracy, especially among youngsters who always treat their elders as respectable and experienced masters.

On the positive side, Shunai accept punishment as a group too, not only as a family, but also superiors and subordinates feel guilt for failing to prevent the mistakes of others; and not many of them strive for personal enrichment, but more commonly they desire for purpose and derive satisfaction from the results of their work, considering this in itself a reward when they see that it benefits their fellow sistren in Meority; thus valuing an understanding of own’s role, limitations and fit in larger system. Shunai may even decline greater responsibility and higher awards if they believe themselves to be of more benefit to community by remaining where they already are.

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Although it is hard to push them to violence, as they favor compromise and cordial, Shunai can choose absolute brutality when it is inevitable; and when it is inevitable, they prefer to crush their adversary to the point that they will never pose a threat again, for they don’t want to resort to violence again. Of course, the latter does not apply to the heretical sistren.

As expected from the founding tribe of the Holy Herquisition, one emotion that remains inevitable and unchanged since the Age of Crumbling is the Shunai’s blind hatred towards the Envious. A rage that incomparable to the simple scorn and disdain that other tribes feel towards the faithless fallen sisters. And this rage grows more intense when the Shunai see a reflection of what their own tribe almost became. Even having been forgiven by Meora Herself, and blessed with Her Aspect as proof, they still feel guilt and disgrace for the actions of their ancestors – for stranding away from Her Light, causing Her to weep in the Legacy of Regret.

The history of the Shunai tribe during the Age of Crumbling is... grim. And the results of that history have carved the social mentality they bear today. As the closest allies of [REDACTED] and second in power in their Hegemony, they committed brutal acts, partake in violent Crusades and other ill atrocities that the Shunai themselves don’t want sistren tribes to forget. They hope never to be expiated for the actions of their ancestors and for the Sorrow they brought to the Allmother and all the sistren.

What truly happens is that from the very birth of the first tribes, the Shunai felt a profound shame towards their own bodies: their feet are not as elegant and delicate, their buttocks are hidden behind massive tails, lay of their muscles and abs is concealed under a thick carapace, and their bosom rarely grow impressive sizes. The shame so deep that they regret being Her children, and now they regret to be blessed with Her Aspect.

Such self-shame was so easy to exploit, to push the Shunai towards despicable actions. They were mislead by [REDACTED] into believing the otherwise, that their tribe was the embodiment perfection, just one step below [REDACTED]. They were deceived into believing that other tribes were disgusting in mind and ugly in body, unworthy of being called sistren, but merely servants of true beauty. Worst of all, they were deceived into unbelieving in the existence of our Allmother, Her Gorgeousness and Joy…

But if Meora absolved Shunai of sin, and blessed them with the Aspect of Honor, then why should we blame them for the past? Especially if they devote all their efforts to remedy that past? Especially if these foul events are bygone and out of minds of people who live today?

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Shortly after the Grievous Strife begun, the Shunai were, unsurprisingly, betrayed and abandoned by the Hegemony, to be used as meat shield against the other tribes, who were rightfully enraged at them for the crimes they had inflicted. Yet, unlike for [REDACTED], it was not through death and oblivion that the others wanted deliver their retribution upon the Shunai, but through the enthrallment of an entire tribe and subsequent derogation.

The descendants of the survived Shunai abated, fearing to lose the precious gift of existence the Allmother granted us. They were chained, used and abused by those they had previously subjugated. Furthermore, their own minds were once again perverted, to believe that such an existence was all that the Shunai were created for – to be mere thrall to greater beings. Yet, through the grace of Meora, they were kept in shackles for a little over half a century and were reprieved when the first Angel of Honor gave her first order.

When the Grievous Strife ended and a new age begun, the Shunai tribe was still traumatized; the minds of the new generations, who had gained freedom for the first time, surmised it as their fate and duty to forever serve the begotten Aspects, as apostles, spreading their words and erecting their ideas into live – an eternal punishment they had shouldered on themselves. From the construction of the Empyrean and Angelic Lodges to the maintenance of the Holy Herquisition. However, given the nature of the Aspects' personalities, the public some dissidents doubts sacrilegiously speculate if anything that has been built by Shunai is truly the wishes and demands of the Aspects, or merely exalting delusions grown of the Shunai’s guilt (for what they have done) and zeal (for what they believe they should do from now on).

From the Laws of the Herquisition to the needs of sistren tribes; from the Commandments of the Aspects to the well-being of their families – today, the Shunai are passionate, punctilious, pious and subservient people, seeking beauty in the senescence of existence, living so that the world may thrive and that future generations may endlessly reap the fruits of their labor. They covet to make Meority prosperous, be that through aiding the Faithful or by eradicating the Envious.