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Tushratta-Nawar
Updated: Aug. 13, 6:13 p.m.
This island is a canonical part of the DINO-PIRATES OF NINJA ISLAND setting. You can still edit it, but aware that the admins may revert your changes if they don't align with the overall vision of the setting.
Summary
A lost ninja clan, gone native and merged with a strange tribe, now trouble their neighbors as headhunters. They also look for a way to remove the curse that is gradually changing their warriors into gorillas.
Tushratta-Nawar is a small string of mid-sized islands that were once home to the long-lost Iron Fan Sect, one of the first ninja clans to enter the islands. The secret of what happened to them isn’t really so mysterious; they were few, the natives on their islands were numerous, and over time the clan’s traditions and that of the natives merged into a new hybrid society. But they remained lost and disconnected from the rest of the world until recently, when a curse on the warriors of Tushratta-Nawar caused them to seek out solutions outside of their island.
The diviners and sorcerous shamans of the Tushratta-Nawar have learned to bind capricious and mercurial spirits to the world, and these spirits advise them and help them and otherwise are an integral part of life for a Tushratta-Nawar warrior. Gradually, by canvassing the knowledge of as many spirits as they can, they’ve managed to discover a little bit of the nature of their curse, but have not yet found a way to reverse or halt it.
The solution? They need to bind more spirits. And the Tushratta-Nawar method of spirit-binding requires the shrunken heads of captives taken in raids, which become the hosts of bound spirits. So the confederation of Tushratta-Nawar chieftains have decreed that the war canoes must leave their islands and find more captives, to take their heads, shrink them, and bind spirits in them, so that the spirits can be interrogated about the curse of Tushratta-Nawar. And then, conveniently, used to advise the warriors and shamans about spiritual matters from that point on.
How to use Tushratta-Nawar
Owner: Hobo
The most straightforward use of Tushratta-Nawar is to utilize raiders who want to take the character’s heads back to their island to be shrunken and used to host a minor spirit of some kind. More idealistic characters might be motivated to try and help the clan with their curse. And raiding parties of gorilla warriors is always fun to deal with.
The spirit-hosting shrunken heads can occasionally find their way off the island, especially as raids increase (and some raiders are killed and their bodies and goods left behind on the islands that they are raiding, of course.) Having a talking shrunken head as an accessory is always interesting.
Curse of Tushratta-Nawar
Owner: Hobo
The Curse of the hybrid native/ninja peoples of Tushratta-Nawar has started manifesting just recently; within the last five years, many of their young braves have slowly started mutating into gorillas. While in many ways, this has improved their potency in battle, it also makes them surly, uncommunicative, and significantly less desirable as a mate.
Many of the warriors who have completely turned into gorillas have formed their own tribe in the hinterlands of the island, under their own chief—the first gorilla warrior, who was the son of one of the most powerful chiefs on the island. While not all gorilla warriors go into exile to join this tribe of all gorillas, few of them enjoy being around their collegues, friends and families any more. Many of them eventually make their way into the island and join the new tribe.
Not just warriors turn into gorillas; one of the most powerful shamans has also done so (rumors are that it was voluntary in his case, so he could join the gorilla’s tribe, advise them, and attempt to keep them from falling on the other tribes in raids.) This old, shrunken silverback shaman wears a necklace of babbling and cursing shrunken heads, and is reputed to be the most powerful shaman-sorcerer on the island.
