#re-menda lore

[demonic-lair]

Wip of a drawing that will introduce another bad blood being rehabilitated by the Re-menda crew.

Doodling Lancia with his Ra-taro always fills me with joy.

Bit of lore time: That is Lancia's personal Ra-taro. His name is Ithya, an adult male that shows the ability of his handler for how well trained he is (though medical checkups are still a challenge. Ithya becomes rather cranky)

He is one of the five Ra-taro that travels with the crew.

U'yre, female, owned by Hu'nri'a. U'yre is the eldest of the pack. An older female tends to be rather tall, which becomes the perfect ride for someone as tall as Hu'nri'a. U'yre matches Hu'nri'a with her patient attitude and calming nature, making the Ra-taro a perfect assistant during therapy sessions with bad bloods.

Ta-gha, she is the Ra-taro of Rak'ne. Ta-gha came from a litter of pups from the same Ra-taro owned by Rak'ne's mother. N'rithe gifted her to Rak'ne when the huntress was barely a toddler. Ta-gha and Rak'ne have a rather strong bond.

Ca'rhak, he belongs to Kajiy. The hunter picked Ca'rhak even though he was the runt of another litter. Kajiy patiently took care of him and trained with him until he became a rather healthy and strong Ra-taro (Kajiy saw a lot of himself in this animal and wanted to make sure he survived).

Ar'kte, a young male assigned to Valka during her training. He became officially hers after her successful Blood Hunt. These two both share a rather similar personality: aggressive, impulsive, but loyal and protective.

The hood Ithya is wearing is inspired by falconry hoods, used with the same principles of keeping the Ra-taro calm during examinations or traveling in a ship.

[demonic-lair]

Small world building time.

How the Blood Hunt (Chiva) works in the Naghe-tih clan.

The Naghe-tih clan has strict rules regarding where the Ra-taro are allowed to go in a hunt.

A Kiande Amedha hunt is not one of these.

Ra-taro are strictly forbidden to be around a xenomorph.

To become a hunter, young ones have to learn how to cohesist and hunt with the Ra-taro,

Yet, since the Naghe-tih clan doesn't allow Kiande Amedha hunt for their blooding, the Blood Hunt consist of going to other planets to hunt other dangerous animals, where the Ra-taro can be useful companions and have higher chances of survival.

They are sacred animals and having one infected by a face hugger would lead to a catastrophic sin to the clan's eyes.

N'rithe killed Gahra, the previous matriarch, because she deceived them enough to bring a pack of Ra-taro inside a Kiande Amedha nest.

Kiande Amedha becomes a hunt reserved for when the new hunter gains more experience and is confident enough for a solo hunt without their personal Ra-taro.

Usually, yautja of the Naghe-tih Clan will try to kill a Kiande Amedha before mating season start, to court potential mates with.

The cooperation between the hunter and their Ra-taro is the focus of this rite of passage: the animal get assigned to the yautja since a young age, so they both get trained at the same time.

If a young hunter gets their Ra-taro killed during the Chiva, a whole trial will focus on the matter, deciding the fate of the young blood by checking the recording of the mask: if the death was caused by something out of control from the hunter, they will be granted another chance to prove themselves, however with stricter rules.

if the death of the animal was caused by the reckless and irresponsible behavior of the hunter, because driven by a big ego or greed, they will be cast out of the clan, condemned to always be Unblooded (This was unfortunately the case of one son of Dhe-hak).

If the hunter gets killed in the Blood Hunt, yet the Ra-taro survived, then the new blooded hunters have the task to take the Ra-taro back safely. The animal will be given time to process the loss ( Ra-taro are highly intelligent and emotional animal, they can mourn the death of someone they were close to), then the Ra-taro will be assigned to another hunter or to other tasks.

Valka's case was peculiar. Being a human who decided to join a yautja group definitely caused many question if they wanted to turn Valka into a hunter recognized by the crew and the clan.

Valka was trained together with rehabilitating bad bloods; when Rak'ne and Kajiy thought she was healed enough to approach the Naghe-tih Clan way, Lancia was the one who started training her, along with the other two hunters.

Lancia gave Valka her current Ra-taro, Ar'kte, who was a Ra-taro that no one claimed yet.

Valka had a hard time at first since the animal was way taller for her to climb on, nor could she mimic the command sound Lancia was teaching her, yet at the end she managed to do it her own way and starting to build a good bond with Ar'kte.

She passed her Blood Hunt successfully, much to the joy of the crew (and begrudgingly Kajiy too)

[demonic-lair]

I will post separately more information about them, otherwise it would be too long of a post, but I can sneak a little preview.

• The Ra-taro were brought on Yautja Prime a long time ago, by the Naghe-tih clan ancestors and since then, this clan always had these faithful companions alongside.

The Naghe-tih are known by nearby clans because of these creatures.

The Ra-taro are now considered sacred animals for their huge help and benefit on the clan and yautja that becomes trainers of these creatures are considered high ranking, just below the matriarch.

• Lancia is the trainer in charge of the Re-menda group and, as such, he has final word and lead everything regarding the Ra-taro, from their well being to their hunting use.

Even Rak'ne, the group leader, has to listen and follow his directions to make sure these animals will live well to hunt with them for many years to come.

• They are very intelligent animals with high energy and endurance; they can climb trees and rocks thanks to the thick claws on the front and the crow like feet on the back, altough they prefer sunbathing or floating in the water streams that surrounds the Naghe-tih village.

They consider the yautja of the clan as members of their pack, so they will get highly protective and aggressive when their trainer or owner gets harmed or is in distress.

These animals always hunt with a number of five or six, so they can be used by larger group of hunters or explorers too, not just for a single hunter.

• Yautja can ride them for longer travels and explorations ( some yautja even have personalized saddles crafted, depending on their activity).

• They are used also to guard the young ones or to help yautja through the daily activities (they can help deliver objects through the village or use their strength to do heavier tasks).

Ra-taro can be trained as therapy/assistance animals for those who didn't or are recovering from more traumatic hunts (the matriarch N'rithe has always one next to her side, she is still dealing with a lot of mental health problems after years, from a disastrous hunt she was in).

Yautja that lost the ability to walk or see can use the Ra-taro to move freely around the village or jungle and even resume hunting or other activities.

• There are not many differences between males and females outside of height and some patterns.

Females reach an height of 2.40 m (7.9 ft) while males are shorter, with a maximum height of 2.30 m (7.6 ft).

Females have mostly green patterns, however the male Ra-taro are characterized by colorful patterns on their lips, back spines and exposed fangs, using it to court the females.

The colors may vary but usually it's a dull blue with glowing spots on the four main spines on their back.

The spots will glow during mating season and the female will choose the male with the colors she prefers best.

[demonic-lair]

More Naghe-tih lore time yay.

The Naghe-tih clan has two symbols, both represents an animal that is important to the whole clan, the Ra-taro.

One complex version, the skull, is used to mark their ships or decorate their flags with.

The other is more stylized to put it on the metal of their masks or into smaller objects, from their hunting gears to important tools for non hunters.

Rak'ne group is known in the clan as the Re-menda.

They take part in a project that started with N'rithe: rehabilitate bad bloods...or at least those that wants to.

In her long life, N'rithe managed to meet some bad bloods from her own clan that regretted their decisions and wished to come back to their original hunter status and redeem both their honor and reunite with their friends or families.

She had seen honorable hunters making mistakes due to bad company, advices or even mental health, so she believed if they could analyze the root of the problem, they could give back those yautja a place to call home.

Once she became the matriarch, N'rithe started a rehabilitation project for the bad bloods of the Naghe-tih clan and even for other clans outcasts.

While some thought it was a foolish task, it was also a very risky one.

Rak'ne deals daily with yautja that are extremely violent and dangerous, that don't follow the honor code at all.

For the bad bloods that laugh at this idea and don't stop their ways, Rak'ne has the duty to kill them.

While those that shows regret and decides to give it a try, will be met with a more gentle approach, although always with a careful behavior towards them.

Even those that wants to rehabilitate, tend to be rough in manners and always rely to violence if they feel threatened or mocked, since they lived knowing only those methods, forgetting the right ones.

So dealing with them is never an easy task.

Rak'ne and her group have a strict rehabilitation plan that was organized with N'rithe.

The bad bloods gets stripped of any status they ever had and have to go again through training, both physical and mental, and have their first hunt again.

It's seen as a reborning moment, they will start again from the beginning, hoping they will maintain their honorable status after this second chance.

-Rak'ne and Kajiy are in charge of the physical and moral training.

-Hu'nri'a, being a medic, makes sure they are physically well and works as their therapist too, trying to figure out what led them to be a bad blood in the first place.

Being the bigger of the group, she is often assigned to contain or take down with Rak'ne larger bad bloods.

-Lancia uses the Ra-taro to make sure the bad bloods don't try harm the party: these animals can smell change of moods better than a yautja, they can sense when someone has an evil heart or there is something that makes them trust them a bit.

They are also fast deadly animals if the bad bloods decide to throw away their progress and flee again.

However the Re-menda train back not only hunters, but occasionally accept to take in groups of yautja that needs teaching for their first hunt, only if other teachers are not available.

The rehabilitation work takes most of their time and energies, for the Re-menda taking care of young bloods can be a moment of peace.

[demonic-lair]

did this because i thought it would look cool af but soon brain started to crave more and i tried to read something to give also a reasonable explanation to this headcanon.

Thanking Rak'ne for being the model for this idea (I had it while doodling her).

I base most of my yautja patterns and shapes off birds, sea animals, reptiles, so I thought: why not give them a nictitating membrane as well?

Their basic function is, of course, to keep the yautja eyes generally clean, moist and protect them, while being able to mantain visibility.

However, since yautja evolved in different ways, influenced by the area they live in or their hunting techniques, this membrane tend to change its specific purpose depending on the alien.

For example:

Water related yautja ( Like Hu'nri'a and Ha'rcar that come from a sea clan, and Rak'ne comes from the Naghe-tih clan, a swamp clan) have a thin, clear membrane, that allow them to see well underwater while also having their eyes protected by it.

For Desert yautja, like D'unar-i, the membrane can be compared to another of their leather eyelids: D'unar-i to deal with sandstorms and debris, if he loose or breaks his mask, it's hard to see without it, so this extra protection is darker (alwas see through) and thicker.

While helping to see despite the sunlight, it prevents the eyes from drying dangerously because of the harsh temperatures and winds.

Of course there can be some cons: While Ha'rcar can have a good sight with salt water, his membrane is not suitable for river and lake waters, his sight would be too blurred if he used his membrane.

Vice-versa, Rak'ne membrane is too sensible for the sea water and she would need to constantly wear her mask to hunt in those places; but with rivers and lakes, she has crystal clear vision.

While D'unar-i wouldn't be able to see anything at all, his membrane too dark and dense to allow to have a clear vision underwater.

His membrane is like a pair of sunglasses after all.

[demonic-lair]

Some Valka studies to figure out more her look.

Valka's DNA responded well to mutation, however it took a long time (around 5 years) for her body to fully change and it wasn't a painless procedure, since bone and muscle structure would grow and alter their shape.

When this all started, Rak'ne and Valka were close friends and, as the medical work started to become more challenging and making Valka exhausted after testing and physical therapy, the yautja huntress made sure Valka took enough rest and sleep as much as she wanted and needed, sometimes forbidding her to do combat and hunting training for a few days.

This often caused Rak'ne to put in place younger hunters that didn't see the presence of a human on board as well as her fellow, experienced yautjas.

Valka's body now can handle harsher climates when traveling from planet to planet: her lungs are able to sustain changes of oxygen, her bones and muscle grew stronger, to not give out easily after traveling for long time in space and suddendly walking on an alien planet, as well hunting with her yautja group.

Even if Valka doesn't have a long tongue like yautja, the mutation allowed her to develop a better sense of scents from her nose, and able to see a bit better at night.

The mutation made her form only four tendrils that, unlike yautjas' hair, are more sensible and fragile, so she always needs to cover them up with her own hair to protect them.

Her teeth and nails grew tougher and longer, until they turned to fangs and claws to use as a last resort during hunts or self defense, she even developed some scaley textures on different areas of her body, to sustain hits and injuries.

Altough Hu'nri'a consider the procedure done, the human body keeps having subtle changes and adapting to the new situations, so everyone is clueless on how Valka will look in the long run.

Valka doesn't mind it at all since she was the one proposing the mutation first.

She would do anything to stay the longer time possible with her dear Rak'ne and not let her down.