Zheivara

The Zheivara, or Stormcats as called by most Common-speakers, originated long ago, in the icy regions of Snegoviia. Their appearance was like that of a feline, though on its hind legs rather than on all four. Their heads were also larger than that of a common cat, leading to the belief that they are their descendants, just with more capability for reason and thought.

Today, the Zheivara primarily populate the country known as Zharstotzka, after the country’s “unification” of the ancient Stormcat tribes. Most of the Zheivara also follow the religion known as Kor Zhyurii (or The Storm, in Common.) Their main language is one known as Zheiyuz.

Tribal History
The Zheiva people were a split species, with many different tribes populating the cold and desolate lands; however, things would begin to change for them with the discovery of fire. Before, the Zheiva had to rely on only their fur coats and makeshift homes to keep them from succumbing to the freezing temperature, but no longer.

Many centuries after the discovery of fire, a new Variety of Zheiva emerged, one that appeared less hairy, but only moderately so. Without the dependency of fur to keep them warm, a large portion of the population had slowly been losing it through the generations. These people came to be known as the Orgova. And because of this slow separation, the original, fur-covered Zheiva became known as the Scherzhieva.

Things remained the same for many centuries after this, until the day the sun peeked through the stormy clouds of Snegoviia. No one knows exactly what happened genetically-speaking, but a select few of the children born that year would be birthed without much fur at all; and yet, even stranger, they wielded the very abilities of nature itself. Some had light control over the breeze, the rain, or even thunder, but most did not. All of them did carry one commonality however, besides their appearance; their body temperatures were through the roof, practically rendering them immune to the harsh colds of the land. These odd variations of Zheiva were known as the Najyuva, and they would soon become the key to the Zheiva’s rule and unification of their people within Snegoviia.

No longer being bound together in small tribes because of the constraint of the cold, certain tribes led by Najyuva leaders quickly began expanding. Small towns became cities, cities became states, and states kingdoms. War was rampant during the time, and many suffered terrible shortages of food, attacks by other groups, etc… This era came to be known as the Dawn of Blood. It lasted many centuries, shaping Zheiva culture as a whole, leading to much of their art and literature exploring themes of death and general suffering. This would also be when the traditional outfit of the Zheiva would be established; long and fuzzy coats, button on both sides; warm boots, made just for the snow; furry hats, covering their ears and heads; and of course, their scarves. This traditional outfit was mostly popularized due to 2/3rds of the Zheivara still not having the abilities of the Najyuva, but still being forced to move around Snegoviia –often without any campfires or torches to keep them warm. The Dawn of Blood might’ve been an era of great tragedy, but due to different Zheiva nations constantly striving to get a one-up on their foes, it was also a time of great innovation. The Zheiva had learned to smith tools, they had been working on enhancing their magics, and they attained the abilities of steam power!

Amidst all of the wars and the fighting, a young Zheiva who would come to define the modern age was born; the great Zyrei Sevona Rekoniira. They were a Najyuva-born warrior with magic abilities never before seen. They would be the first in all of Zheiva history to unite the split cities & nations in Snegoviia. They would establish the rule of a Zhur (The Diviner [or, Divine Ruler of the Stormcats] in Common] over their new nation of Zharstotzka, with Kor Zhyurii (The Storm in Common) being established as their one and only religion. Near the end of their reign, Zyrei –with the help of their council– discovered a method of transferring their magical abilities to another Zheiva, and so was established their dynasty, left unbroken for centuries; though, not without its close calls.

Thanks to the new era of peace and stability, the Zheiva were able to expand not only throughout Snegoviia, but would also occasionally traverse lands outside of it. Different Zhurara would occasionally send troops & citizens off to conquer new lands in the name of Zharstotzka; not many succeeded, but it did help at least expand the Zheiva people throughout the world of Abexilas.

Modern History
Throughout many of the Zhur’s reigns, there have been dozens of attempted rebellions, coups, takeovers, etc… There have been a variety of reasons for this; inequality, lack of freedom of religion, heavy policing, disagreement on ideologies, and many, many more. They have had varying levels of success, with some managing to even change a couple laws; however, none of them have ever truly succeeded. The largest & most successful one is nearest to the modern day, coming to be known as the Rebellion of the People. In short, the rebellion was caused because of an extremely authoritarian Zhur known as Exa Keitsii Rekozein, who decided to strip away one too many rights and doubled down on internal policing. The unbroken reign of the Zhurara since Zyrei nearly ended during the rebellion, were it not for Exa’s chosen heir.

Vanix Nyuzhak Rekoziv managed to reason with the people of Zharstotzka, promising change if they allowed Exa to transfer their power to them before their execution, and the heads of the rebellion agreed. Vanix’s reign was primarily made up of making changes to the Zharstotzkan Code of Conduct & rebuilding all of the destruction that the rebellion had brought. By the end of their life, they managed to get much finished, but they had to leave a large portion of the rebuilding to their heir, –known as the “First Modern Zhur” due to the rebellion– Reiya Pakyar Rekonaryan.....

Religion
Kor Zhyurii is the only officially recognized religion within Zharstotzka.

Traditions
Zheiva have three names; their first name, middle name, and last name. Their first name is one chosen by their parents. Their middle name is based on whatever profession they go into first (as such, most don’t have one until later in their life.) And their last name comes from their parent’s first name; more specifically, the one who can beat the other in a non-lethal duel. Ex: Zyrei Sevona Rekoniira in english would look like; Zyrei Warriora (child of)Niira. If their parent’s first name begins with a vowel, a consonant is usually added between the name & the “Reko” portions.

Zyrei Sevona Rekoniira
Zyrei was born a Najyuva with power like no other. They easily moved up the ranks in their respective nation, but Zyrei quickly grew tired. They refused to carry on the will of others weaker than themselves; and so, they declared themselves as chosen by Kor Zhyurii and went on towards conquest. Zyrei quickly took control of their original nation and convinced the people of their divine power, amassing many followers and a large army. What greatly helped them in this was their weapon, Peace. It was forged by the Pagans, who had been dwindling in numbers ever since the rise of the Zharstozka. Peace was a weapon enchanted with the magical runes of the Pagans, and it had strange abilities known to none but the Zhur, their council, and the primary Pagan government.

Even before Zyrei, many Zheivara had been fascinated by naturally occurring weather events, with plenty of religions being focused around them, but Zyrei's conquest would cement Kor Zhyurii as the weather-based religion among the Zheivara. Followers of any other religions –or even branch-off religions for that matter– were labeled as pagans and treated as lesser. Despite Zyrei's natural power and military inclination, they were not very bright as a whole, and frankly, they were nearly incapable of managing the sheer amount of people and cities they had taken under their own banner, the banner of Zharstotzka. This issue became increasingly difficult to manage when different territories of theirs began trying to rebel. Zyrei quickly realized they needed to do something about this, and so, formed a council under themselves in order to manage the actually important national problems; of course however, Zyrei did this carefully. They didn't want any of these council members to undermine their rule, so they proclaimed that while they were blessed by the Kor Zhyurii, their council was blessed by them, and that blessing could quickly be taken away if they were to disobey. Tying the stronger state powers to the religion kept their council in check, and made sure that if one council member was to rebel, they would have to deal with not just Zyrei, but the people as well, who were almost entirely religious near the end of Zyrei's rule.

After decades of their rule, Zyrei knew their life would soon come to an end as they succumbed to age. To prevent the complete fracture of their life’s work, they & their council established a holy practice, one where their dynasty could live on forever; Zyrei found a method to transfer all of their magical capabilities to an heir of their choosing. There are many rumors surrounding the process, with some believing that the previous Zhur’s ghost can speak to the current Zhur, and some claiming that it uses pagan magics, but no one knows for sure. One of the most prevalent of these rumors is the belief that Zyrei struck some sort of deal with the Pagans, who had previously been discriminated against by most of the Zheiva who had converted to Kor Zhyurii, and the Zharstotzkan government’s laws; however, after Zyrei’s reign was made official & their conquest finished, a lot of discriminatory laws against the Pagans were removed, and almost all that remained were made more tame. The Pagans became –at least partially, if not an oppressed– part of Zheiva society after these changes.

Although this magic-transferring process would make it technically possible to transfer magical abilities to either a Scherzheiva or Orgova, Zyrei believed that such a thing was an affront to nature; as such, they decreed that it was to never be allowed. In order to further limit the amount of people who could ascend to the throne, Zyrei made it so that only intersex Zheiva are to be allowed to become a Zhur, following in their own footsteps. Many centuries after Zyrei’s death, Zhurara after them have found ways to “transform” anybody into not only a Najyuva, but change their gender to be intersex as well. While these processes have not been properly made public, there are heavy rumors that they are incredibly painful and inhumane.