Múrtani
From Almeopedia
| Múrtany | |
| Taxonomy: | nmurťanis hurises |
| Habitat: | Mountains |
| Avg. height: | 5.0 ft. / 151 cm |
| Population: | 10 million |
| Verdurian: | múrtany |
Múrtani [ˈmur ta nɪ] are an intelligent species of Almea, an offshoot of the elcari. The divergence occurred in historical memory, in fact, about 23,000 years ago; biologically the múrtani and elcari are a single species, and are interfertile. Almeans however always consider them a separate Thinking Kind.
Physical description
Múrtani resemble the elcari, and remain adapted to the mountains. There are some genetic differences: larger, pointed ears; a bluish cast to the skin; an elongated face with a sharp chin and hornlike knobs on the top of the skull. They normally shave off their hair, use heavy earrings to lengthen the earlobes (very large ears are seen as highly desirable), and apply scarification to mark transitions into adulthood as well as submission to leaders.
Almeans generally believe that the many unattractive qualities of the múrtani are inherent; but there are cases where múrtany infants have been adopted by elcari, and grow up to be fairly unexceptional members of their khat.
Lifestyle
The múrtani are not great builders; they prefer to take over elcarin cities, or to use natural caves; failing these, they make fairly simple structures of stone and wood. They hide the location of their settlements as much as possible, and add watchpoints, ambushes and traps to take care of intruders.
The basic unit of múrtany social structure is the tribe or band, consisting of 100 to 300 adults. The leader is a young, strong male who wields absolute authority, and indeed terrorizes the entire tribe, from his rivals to the smallest infant. His reign is likely to be short and end in a grisly way, as rivals will oust him as soon as they feel strong enough.
Unlike ktuvoks, múrtani are not good at suppressing their own rivalries-- they are in a state of near-constant civil war, not least because advancement to adulthood and to leadership positions requires bold action in raids and warfare. Even more prestige is won by raiding the elcari, though this may require a trip of several hundred kilometers. A favorite tactic is to pick off a few isolated elcari or even humans-- any reprisals must be in force, as the entire tribe must be defeated.
As many as three quarters of female infants are killed; this makes adult females a scarce and valuable (though disdained) resource. Females all belong to the leader, but he also uses them to reward friends and relatives. (Mathematically, this means that each female must bear at least eight babies to maintain the population; in practice, as child mortality is high, she may bear twice that.)
Possibly due to this extreme induced shortage of females (combined with the múrtani love for bullying), múrtani are notorious for sexually abusing and/or enslaving their captives; for this and other reasons human nations often have a policy of killing them on sight.
Ecologically, the warfare of the múrtani may be seen as a way of reducing population pressure in an extreme environment. Ironically, the elcari seem to avoid resource overconsumption through a great disdain for hierarchy and status (thus never creating large dense kingdoms), while the múrtani are consumed with hierarchy (and keep their population down by warfare and infanticide).
History
The split between the elcari and múrtani occured about 23,000 years ago, reportedly in the Elkarin mountains. The Count of Years has the demon Soxāeco stealing away elcarin children and raising them as his own; some elcarin tales describe the sin of one Nkâshegg, an insane elcar who demanded that his people worship himself rather than Khemthu-Nôr. The múrtani however are polytheists— it's said that the names of their gods are those of demons in elcarin mythology.
There were numerous large-scale múrtany-elcar wars. During the periods of war the múrtani were organized into a strict hierarchy, though they were continually undermined by internal leadership struggles. The major wars were:
- Around -19,000, apparently arising out of the original divergence of the múrtani. The elcari were entirely driven from the Elkarin mountains.
- Around -16,000, the elcari returned and reclaimed their cities in Elkarinor. The defeat was so devastating that the overall múrtanin organization was entirely shattered, and the characteristic band structure emerged. Múrtani migrated as well to other portions of Almea.
- Around -9000— a resurgence of the múrtani, though only in the area of Elkarinor.
- Around -3000— another great defeat of the múrtani.
In 1628 the ktuvoks, as part of their continental struggle, induced the múrtani to invade and occupy the human nation of Metauro— the only time they have ruled a human population. This was probably of little help to the ktuvoks, but it was certainly horrific for the Metaurilō, who were disarmed and subject to ceaseless harrassment— the múrtani have the tireless interest in bullying otherwise seen only in junior high school students. They were finally tossed out in 1671, with the aid of Caďinas, which had finally destroyed Munkhâsh. The Caďinorians massacred as many múrtani as they could, but (as usual) could not find all their hiding places.
Etymology: Ver. múrtany, Caď. nmurťanis, from Elkarîl nmurthankh ‘one who denies elcarin solidarity and is ugly too’; Ismaîn nŕsani, Bar. murthani; Cuêzi ōidracelo '(those) enticed away'; Ṭeôši zul gezûžumi 'evil elcari', X. zulgezume.
