Mřau

The Mřau are a group of humanoid cat people originating from the Maddrak region. During the times of the Xama Rakhar & the rule of Gnomes they were called the Gnirusull. The now-despised nickname meant salty animal, it was given to them due to the two races’ rivalry & hatred. Many of the Mřau were enslaved during the Rahkar’s rule. A few groups of Mřau would be pushed to the edges of Maddrak, with Some groups of Mřau –like the Moon Mřau– even deciding to flee the continent, with a couple even making it to Rathnir.

After the empire’s collapse, the Mřau & the Gnomes would eventually make peace, establishing the first & second cities of Lutumshire, and eventually, the actual country of Lutum.

The native language of the Mřau is “Nya’owo.” when the Mřau speak in Traveler's Tongue, it's typically a more simplified & shortened version of it (ex: instead of "I don't want to give this to you" it would be "me no give you"). This is due to the writing structure of Nya’owo being significantly looser than that of the Traveler’s Tongue. This however usually only applies to the common folk, as most nobles are educated in the language more thoroughly.

Mřau can naturally live up to 60-70 years; however, Most Mřau use their natural inclination towards magic to make themselves live longer in different ways, with the typical Mřau living up to 130-150 years old. Usually, the last 40 or so years of their life are where their bodies begin to give out, and most usually dedicate their time to studying, researching or teaching something important to them during those 40-ish years.

The Mřau usually have fluffy hair on their heads & tails, with minimal to no body hair. Their eyes tend to be more pointed, similar to that of an actual cat’s; though, their pupils are more human-like.

Ancient History
The Mřau are native to Maddrak, beginning within the Hařos Desert in the small fishing village of Ahu’han (now Fynxshire.) They mostly lived a peaceful life of simple farming & fishing. After many years, Ahu’han became heavily crowded, becoming a trading hub amongst the other races in Maddrak. This was around the time when the “Nehař System '' was established, and is thought to be one of the first systems of money in Eldham, spreading via merchant; rather than trading & bartering, people would get small, glass tokens that could be exchanged for other items. Being such a large trade hub, overpopulation quickly became just one of their many worries.

The Yařwu ah Ahu’han (council of Ahu’han) needed more resources to continue prospering, and the land they were in simply wouldn’t suffice; however, the Mřau had never expanded outside of their little area, primarily due to the lack of knowledge of what was out there. This caused the Ahu’han Yarwu –alongside some of the other races’ leaders– to slowly spend more and more resources & time to develop advanced mapping techniques fairly rapidly. Once they felt it was developed enough, they assigned the position of Duke to one of their richest merchants and sent him off to develop the land, alongside a couple of workers & guards.

Slowly, over a few years, the town of Uysu’kan (now Port Lutum) would be built from the ground up, with many of Fyxshire’s residents taking the trip across the scorching desert sands. Uysu’kan translates roughly into Traveler’s Tongue as “The City of Fish,” and it was named this because of how close it was to Dragon’s Lake, one of the most plentiful bodies of water for fish –specifically, salmon– in the area.

With the overpopulation issue more or less solved, the Yařwu ah Ahu’han focused their attention elsewhere. The Yařwu noticed a slight flaw in their Nehař System; people would often make false coins. On top of this, the increase in the system led to many people being paid for labor in these coins instead of food, and often, people would just not pay up. The Yařwu definitely had to step in, but they didn’t want to ruin Ahu’han’s reputation of being a trade city, so they couldn’t upset the merchants too much, or the town would lose money. Eventually, they came up with a solution; it was known as the “Sunřav Suhoy’wa,” or in Traveler’s Tongue, the “Contract Principles.” It was in essence, the first set of laws in Maddrak. The document contained various laws that had to be followed, with many of them focusing on the punishments for violating agreements between workers & merchants. It also established the fact that any legally binding agreement had to be written down & signed by one of the Ha’Yukea (influential merchants that helped run the town of Ahu’han.) Later on, the Yařwu would also switch from fragile glass tokens to coins made of rare minerals such as iron, copper, gold, diamonds, etc…

The town of Ahu’han would continue to prosper under the Yařwu, with some of them often being replaced by each member’s closest family member (or whoever they most trusted with the role) due to old age, leading to a constant stream of new ideas & thoughts. For many years, it would continue to expand, establish & become the capital of the first proper country in Maddrak, and only get richer & richer.

Nyovon was chosen to be the name, and for the first months it functioned very well, but there was a slight oversight. The then-mayor of Uysu’kan, Řuku, was unwilling to bend to some far off council’s will, even if their ancestors were the ones who put his own in charge. As Nyovon expanded, taking small settlements under their rule, Uysu’kan would quickly realize that there were a few who opposed the growing country; and so, Yuwu was formed. Yuwu was established in direct opposition to Nyovon, often gobbling up nearby towns just so that Nyovon couldn’t, even the towns didn’t want to become a part of Yuwu. They were only able to do this because of one main difference to Nyovon; even if they had less people & resources, Uysu’kan had always been focused more on combat training than Ahu’han, and over the years, it had led to a fairly large difference in the average soldier’s fighting capability. This was primarily due to all of the pirates that would often show up on Uysu’kan’s large port, and the much needed forms of deterrence.

After years of what was basically a cold war, Řuku had died suddenly due to unknown causes, and because his heir, Yuka, was deathly afraid of what a proper battle between the two countries would lead to, she decided to make peace with Nyovon. Some suspect that Yuka was so afraid in fact, that she had been the one to kill her father; however, nobody knows for sure what happened on that fateful day. After a couple days of peace, Yuka & the Yařwu ah Nyovon had decided that their countries would once more be reunited, however, this was no simple task. The people of Yuwu had grown suspicious of Oligarchies, and much preferred the strong will of a single leader. The people of Nyovon however, disagreed, and most believed it would lead to an extortion of the Sunřav Suhoy’wa. The two governments came to an agreement after multiple weeks of deliberation, deciding to make Křayna Fynx –the richest & one of the most beloved people of Nyovon– the singular ruler, but of course, there were stipulations to this title. They would not be able to make any large-scale decisions without the approval of the Yařwu, who would still serve as the main body of government. Nyuwu, as this merger would come to be known as, would unknowingly be the first of many to adopt this form of government, with the later Holy Kingdom of Lutum –in a sense, the spiritual successor to Nyovon– taking much inspiration from it. Besides a few isolated tribes, Nyuwu would expand to completely control both of Maddrak’s largest deserts, and further. At its peak, it was likely the largest empire of its time, though exact dates often get confusing, and this cannot be truly proven as fact.

Despite the immense success of Yuwu, peace & prosperity never last forever. Once the Gnomes invaded, the Mřau’s comparatively large height, claws, and affinity with magics made them natural adversaries to the Gnomes. As a result, they tried to enslave the Mřau, or in some cases, even kick them out of Maddrak. The Mřau of course wouldn’t just let these sudden foreign invaders defeat them in one fell swoop, and so, the Mřau fought back ferociously against the Gnomes. Unfortunately for them, they were largely unsuccessful; their towns, homes, and lives being pushed to the edge of the sub-continent. Instead of the large & centralized Nyuwu, the Mřau had become spread out and distant from one another. The new settlements of Ranaivř (The Last Stand), founded by Nyava Konekoshka, & the Kyař Ma’u (Fortress of Cats,) founded by Křayna Fynx, were the only large-scale towns left not yet overrun with Gnomes. Ahu’han had fallen, and it fell hard. To show their dominance to the Mřau, the Gnomes had completely leveled the grand city, leaving nothing but the burning sands and solitary oasis lagoon. Kyař Ma’u was mostly safe due to distance; a lot of the Mřau population had fled, yes, but not all of them wanted to flee their homes forever. As such, the Kyař Ma’u was established just East of Maddrak, in the waters of the Clucify Canal. The people of Ranaivř however chose to stand their ground, hence the name. They established the village around the middle of Maddrak, refusing to let the Gnomes take it all. Unlike the Kyař Ma'u, Ranaivř did not have the advantage of both being far, and the waves; instead, Ranaivř survived due to the strong magics of the Mřau living there (being able to enchant their weapons, curse their walls, etc…) Whatever enslaved Mřau the Gnomes managed to capture,

After a back and forth between the Gnomes & Catfolk (along with the other native races of Maddrak,) the Gnomes finally had the tables turned on them. Nyava Konekoshka one of the most prominent generals of the Uysu'kan part of Nyuwu, and at this point, he was more or less the main person leading the entire war. His unwavering spirit, combat prowess, and charismatic character inspired his armies, most of which were loyal to their deaths. After many years, He finally saw an opening, a crack in the Gnomish empire. They had been spreading themselves thin. Their recent expansions to regions outside Maddrak had left less soldiers to defend their cities, and that meant less resistance for them.

With them having been given weapons, the Gnomes' slaves had begun to revolt, overthrowing, and in some cases, even hunting the Gnomes. The Mřau were some of the most active members of the gnome hunting, right next to the Goblins, Trolls, Yirsi, & Lemurfolk. These "Gnome Hunts" would last many years, and would only partially cease once Humans arrived on the sub-continent, due to the Gnomes being protected by them. The few remaining Gnomes would go on to establish the small state known as Lötirum, originating in the only remaining city of the Rakhar, Yöjschká (Later known as Novashire.) The reason for the city not being decimated like the rest was because of its status as a shared city; while the Gnomes were a majority of the population, it wasn’t by that much, and most of the city’s officials were actually Dwarves. On the other hand, the Mřau had re-established Nyuwu, though progress was relatively slow.

Modern History
Multiple decades after the hunts, the heads of the leading houses of Lötirum & Nyuwu met with each other to discuss peace, for their populations had been –among other violent crimes– organizing small raiding parties against the other’s. Unako Fynx represented Nyuwu, and Loriza Arbastor represented Lötirum. They both desperately wanted to end the animosity between the two, because this issue was rampant to the point that too much of the countries’ labor force had been participating instead of actually doing work & rebuilding infrastructure. The treaty did not do very much, however. Even with “established peace,” the two countries’ populations continued to face off against each other, because a single piece of paper meant nothing in the face of history to them. It would not be for another couple decades that peace would actually be attained, via Řakuna Fynx, and Venzyre Arbastor, one of the most important couples in history.

The pair would fall in love with each other fairly early on in their lives, but it would not be until they assumed the titles of Leyrif öl Lötirum & Vařyin’řo ah Nyuwu that they would be properly married. This marriage was seen as taboo at the time, but because of the people’s respect for the two leaders, and their genuine bond with one another, they would finally cease to fight. In order to maintain this newfound peace, the Mřau people would adopt the Gnomes’ “Nobility system,” which focused on a more family-first approach to the rulers of the country, passing down their crowns to relatives. These closer & more friendly relations lead to a merger between the two states, becoming known as Lyötum.

Tales & Beliefs
The majority of Mřau believe in the myth of the Konekoshka, a warrior cat of legend who lived through 8 deaths in battle, before dying on his 9th. A lot of Mřau believe The Konekoshka to have been a Řavena or warlock of Da Berry, and was praised as such. It is told that he was the single reason for the survival of the Mřau during the war with the Gnomes, having immense magical power & having the ability to decimate an army by himself. While there is no concrete proof of many of The Konekoshka’s feats actually existing, there was a real Konekoshka. Nyava Konekoshka is believed to be the same catfolk today by almost every respected scholar & historian, with him having led many of the Mřau’s armies during the wars. Despite the evidence, a small minority still believe in the myth version of the war hero, with a couple smaller Berrist temples even having him listed as an official Řavena of the past. Despite some small disagreements about specifics, Nyava Konekoshka is indeed celebrated to this day, through the holiday known as the "Sařuk Paya." It takes place when the leaves are most orange, and the trees begin to decay. They celebrate his legend by putting on costumes of terrifying creatures to remember a pivotal point in the war, when many of the Mřau disguised themselves as Gnomes and infiltrated some of their fortresses & barracks to steal supplies & weaponry. Once they’re dressed in their costumes, the Mřau go to a small carnival-like event, usually set up by their government. The carnival usually consists of the following fun games;

Cat Fishing: a two person race with obstacles all over a little racetrack area. One person is the swimmer, while the other assists them by using a fishing rod & pulling them through certain obstacles that were set up beforehand.

The Race of the Drowned: consists of a closed off water area shaped like a race track. Within the pool track is a ton of obstacles that were set up beforehand, with magic (riptide) tridents used to traverse it.

Maze Betting: an underground maze with glass installed above it for visibility. Chickens are placed at the end, with a ton of foxes released at the start of the maze at the same time ofc. Once this begins, participants may place monetary bets on which fox makes it to the end first.

Traditions & Practices
Mřau typically walk fairly quietly. This odd quirk is due to the ancient beasts known as the si’ana řaka’o, or as humans typically called them, the “massive f*ing sand snakes.” These “animals” usually slept underneath the large deserts of Maddrak, being kept warm by the sand’s heat. Occasionally, they would wake to loud sounds, believing prey to have stepped within their territory. From this, it’s fairly easy to see why the Mřau developed a habit of more quiet footsteps; luckily however, they are extinct in the modern day, being exterminated largely by humans & gnomes after the formation of Lyötum.

Unlike with a lot of other races, the Mřau's culture is very polygamous, with most of the catfolk having several spouses. Despite this fact, they only usually have only one primary partner, being more often than not the one they live with. Whenever a catfolk gets married, they usually give rings to their partners like humans do, but these rings usually go on their tails instead of fingers. When a Mřau believes they have found their one true partner, they usually have a second wedding, where they tie a bow to the end of one another's tail.

Almost all Mřau practice Berrism, with a select few even practicing the more ancient and traditional Glowberrism. Due to their heavy emphasis on religion, every single one of their town's is heavily influenced by the Bope (leader of Berrism,) and they still practice religious sacrifice. Because of this, Mřau often aren't very phased by the thought of death, so whenever somebody dies, their life is usually celebrated instead of their death mourned; and, unlike other cultures, the Mřau don't bury their dead, but instead, feed their bodies to berry bushes or animals.

Being omnivores, the Mřau eat both meat & herbs, and in order to get some of their meat, they had to hunt wild animals; since most of their meat came from fish though, other types of meat were usually more for special occasions. Due to this fishing-first diet, they Mřau invented something known as the “Mřau’skit;” a fishing rod with a built-in mechanism to transform into a hunting bow. Even though common hunting bows are outdated in the modern day, many Mřau still keep a Mřau’skit in their homes just in case. During the Hařos war, (Nyovon-Yuwu war,) the Mřau that lived in Ahu'han had to prepare weaponry, and fast. This was an issue however, as they had needed little to no weaponry beforehand (save for the Mřau’skit of course.) After some thought, the Yařwu of the time decided on rapidly transforming their large quantity of anchors (made originally in advance for future oceanic voyages) into swords by basically just sharpening them & adding a handle. These types of swords were nicknamed the Na’koř Blades, the same word for anchor in Nya’owo. Even though there’s no cost-saving benefit anymore, the Na’koř is still the preferred weapon of choice for the Mřau, keeping tradition alive.

General Culture
Due to their early beginnings as a trading hub, today’s Mřau often value monetary wealth & large quantities of objects. Because of this trait, many Mřau have a sort of “hoard” of objects, usually consisting of a theme, but not always. Because of the Sunřav Suhoy’wa, the Mřau also highly value good recordkeeping, honesty, and a general study of history, on top of placing emphasis on tradition & ways of the past.

The Mřau don’t really differentiate between genders, this is mostly due to there never being much of a need for different groups to do different tasks because of their long relative peace in their ancient beginnings. As such, the Mřau don’t have words for “he” or “her,” but just “they” (albeit, different “theys” for different situations.)

Language
The Mřau speak a language known as Nya'owo, typically referred to as Catspeak in Traveler’s Tongue. Although it was developed fairly early on in the time the Mřau have existed, they didn’t have a form of writing for a very long time, and even when they finally developed one, most people still used pictures and symbols to communicate visually for a while. A majority of old Mřau records consist of these symbols carved into cave walls & trees, with only a couple of tablet-like objects, made right before paper was finally invented.

Clothing
Because of the Mřau’s non-distinction between genders, their clothes don’t differ between the two. Due to their emergence in hot deserts, they usually wear long, flowy clothes, in order to block their skin from the sun’s heat. The clothes of those who did manual labor differed slightly, wearing only the bottom half, with their chest usually being bare (in order to prevent sweat from making their shirts stick to their skin.) In ancient times, Mřau footwear was primarily sandals, to walk around in the sands. In the modern day however, Mřau usually wear boots & other more durable shoes, because of the incredibly rough terrain in Lutum.

Often, higher status, richer, & government Mřau will wear considerable amounts of jewelry, usually consisting of earrings (and other ear accessories,) bracelets, broad collars, leg accessories, and rings. These accessories & jewelry were usually made of colored glass made from the swaths of sand they had, with the richer & more powerful  Mřau having more intricate designs and/or colors carved onto them. The common folk usually owned a few of these, but they were significantly less detailed than those of the rich.

In order to show their loyalty to Da Berry, Mřau often used makeup on their faces & made patterns near their eyes, symbolizing that they had “seen the truth.” That practice would go on to shape the helmets of Mřau warriors in later wars, with soldiers using metal masks with carved out eye-holes & decorations. Today, those same helmets are used, and although the face-painting died down a little, most Mřau still apply a bit of makeup to the top and/or bottom of their eyelashes for tradition.