Rescot

The primary language of the Rescot tribe is Andescaf. Most Tabaxi outside the tribe also learn this language as children. Unlike most other Sandsage tribes, nearly every member of the Rescot is multilingual. Most people seem to know at least three languages. Common is spoken more frequently among the Rescot than most other tribes, but is by no means standard. The tongues of the other Sandsage peoples are the standard fare for additional languages learned here, and as a whole the tribe is far more competent in communicating with the others than any of the others are between themselves.

If any of Einborg's indigenous cultures are hub connecting the others together, it's the Rescot. The other tribes regularly send emissaries to visit the Rescot to barter goods and news. Okisun metal goods, Valdéra and Balapyup textiles, and common tools or materials are easily found on the Rescot's goat-pulled sleds intended for barter. Often, the Rescot deal in news from the various regions of the Sandsage Ancestral Lands. This is one of the major way in which the nomads are able to plan and adjust their migratory patterns; if a concern is discovered in an area, the tribe who found it will send someone to tell the Rescot so that the Rescot may tell others who come to barter. This level of respect and trust for accurate knowledge of nomadic concerns means the Rescot are arguably one of the most universally respected tribes among their peers.

The Far Gone

Typically, the Sandsage tribes think poorly of people descended from tribal 'settlers' who abandoned their nomadic ways to adopt the more common lifestyles of Yvard. The use of the tribal name "Rescot" to refer to anybody of the feline species, nomad or not, reflects a more tolerant opinion of differing lifestyles. These settled descendants, the other Tabaxi not part of the Rescot tribe, are called the Far Gone among the nomadic culture. The Far Gone are welcomed to come and visit the tribe at any time to reconnect with their roots without being pressured to give up their erroneous ways and return to the "proper" lifestyle of the ancestors. Many Tabaxi make at least one trip in their lives to live among the Rescot for a short time, usually a week or two. A mutual benefit to this practice is the exchange knowledge, news, and legends from various parts of the world.

 

Animism

This spiritual belief is built upon the concept of every physical thing in the world having its own spirit. Every river pebble, every animal, and every tree is a vessel to a distinct and living entity with its own priorities and aspirations. Collections of these spirits in close concentration form a whole new spirit but don't lose any individuality themselves. Every grain of sand is its own, but together they create a mighty desert spirit. Likewise, great singular spirits in objects like trees or rivers can be separated from the whole and retain a piece of itself until they reunite. Leaves can fall from a tree and will have their own spirit, but when the leaf withers away the spirit returns to the tree through the roots.
Spirits stay within the vessel until the vessel is destroyed. Destruction is not always a bad thing; animals graze plants and societies make tools. These things, when done responsibly, do not anger these incorporeal beings. They simply find a new vessel somewhere else. Each spirit has its own aspirations, needs, and temperament and select vessels to reflect this. If you've ever heard a carpenter say "that limb wanted to be an axe handle" or a sculptor describe their latest project with the stone "speaking to me" or "crying out to be this beautiful piece", whether they intended to or not they have acknowledged the animistic nature of their material. Hunters thanking an animal before or after killing it are another example of animism in practice.

Knowledge and Spoken Words

The Rescot treasure stories, legends, history, wordplay, and poetry. Many are skilled linguists who are often called to interpret interactions between other tribes or between the tribes and other cultures. They keep no written records, so their vast pool of communal knowledge is preserved through oral traditions which have been proven to be amazingly accurate when compared to written documents from long ago. Sometimes even more accurate. Children grow up hearing stories, being taught history, learning languages and linguistic games, and creating their own tales all while seeing to the daily needs of nomadic life.
When any of the tribes undergoes important interactions with another group, the Rescot are often requested to send a lorekeeper to observe what's said and done for preservation in the communal knowledge pool. Once there, very little information is lost. Detailed conversations from many generations ago are still preserved in this way, and no other Sandsage tribe has ever had reason to doubt their accuracy. Even particularly good wordplay contests from several hundred years ago can be recalled by somebody in the tribe and are often used to teach children the multifaceted art of linguistic games.

While many scholars are tempted to see something of themselves in Rescot cultural values, those who know this society firsthand do not use the term "scholar" to describe it. The Rescot value knowledge, yes, but do not typically apply much of what they know to change or better their way of life. They don't desire to learn more in order to further understanding or uncover mysteries so much as to simply preserve the knowledge for their enjoyment. This could certainly be said of many prominent scholars I know, but the Rescot don't seem to teach this knowledge to other people. I'd argue that they don't even "teach" it at all to their descendants; the communal knowledge pool is passed along for preservation's sake, not application. The Rescot are known to have surprisingly technical knowledge of magic, foreign religions, foreign ecosystems, and other such things that could drastically change the way they live their lives. They simply don't apply this knowledge in that way because they choose to live the way their ancestors always have and see no reason to do otherwise.
Another mistake many scholars make is to assume the Rescot are peaceful. Before all else, these are a nomadic people who depend heavily on the availability and quality of finite natural resources in their perceived territory. They'll protect what they value and what they require as fervently as the Groshkata or the Orloth. Their communal knowledge pool contains military histories across the ages that have yielded surprisingly complex and effective battle tactics. Though their population is not large the Rescot are skilled hunters, scouts, and guerillas that use their broad familiarity with military history to snatch victory from opponents far superior in size and equipment. When the tribes unite under an Izen for war, it's the Rescot and the Orloth who are most feared in the dark shadows of the night.

—  Excerpt from The People on the Shores of Communal Knowledge: the Lorekeeping Rescot Tribe by Pensive Panner, written in 4 A.E.

The Rescot have little immediate need for clothing to protect them from the harsh elements of their homeland. Desert sands and scorching suns are far less threatening to a skin coated in fur, and the Rescot are the only Sandsage people who are completely furred across their whole bodies (despite their name, the Furskin tribe is comprised of a people whose degree of body hair or fur varies greatly between individuals). Nevertheless, the Rescot do wear light clothing to conceal their bodies and have a slightly more conservative stance on bodily coverage than some of their tribal counterparts. Which is to say, they consistently cover their genitals and usually prefer to cover their torsos except in hot weather. By most "civilized" standards, the Rescot are still far more comfortable with immodesty or nudity than most of Yvard's major cultures. But a passerby is far less likely to find a Rescot embracing casual nudity, partial or full, when compared to the Valdéra, Balapyup, or Naerean tribes.

Rescot garments are typically thin leather or cloth fashioned into knee-length trousers and wrap-front vests that can be left open or tied shut to manage the heat. These garments are worn by all genders, and the vests are acceptably worn open by all genders (though this happens more often to regulate heat rather than express oneself or "show skin"). The feline nature of the Tabaxi species makes the Sandsage practice of wearing thicker leather/fur or extensive layers of fabric both unnecessary and uncomfortable given their heavily furred bodies.

The primary art form among the Rescot is their love of oral traditions. Wordplay, recitations, storytelling, and basic components of acting are the primary form of artistic expression and entertainment in this society. Their flexibility and knowledge of various styles of poetry and drama from across the wider world (and the ages) are fluidly integrated into their own. One is hard pressed to find any true defining features among these traditions that are distinctly a "Rescot style".

Religious Customs

• Animism: the Rescot are very open to outsiders about their observance and interactions with spirits in the world around them. Offerings are freely given to the spirits, usually food of some kind, in thanks for the environment's assistance or lack of opposition regarding the tribe's activities there. Before any natural resources are harvested, a warning is given loudly to the immediate area so that any spiritual entities may vacate their vessels prior to said vessels' removal or destruction. Songs and prayers are sung loudly on windy days so that the wind may carry the Rescot's words across a wider range. These are regular daily occurrences and have been documented by anthropologists throughout many generations, though the people practicing these traditions rarely discuss why they give certain gifts or say certain prayers. It's not even known if individuals within this culture discuss their personal relationships with the God of Cats or the nature spirits among their peers.
• The God of Cats: virtually nothing is known about what observing this deity entails. The Rescot simply do not discuss or practice anything related to the God of Cats when any outsiders, even other nomad tribes, are present. Tribal shaman wear strange carved pendants that represent this deity but have inconsistent iconography. Most recorded look little or nothing like a cat or animal at all.

When a child becomes and adult, the community gathers and tells some of their most cherished memories of the individual's childhood years. They mourn the passing of this short stage of life and the perspective it brings, only to immediately celebrate what lies ahead. In most cases, the up and coming young Rescot must hold their own in contests of language, history, trivia, and wordplay for several hours against any and all challengers. Outsiders are encouraged to take part in these challenges, though usually find themselves outmatched. It's theorized that when no outsiders are present, there is some sort of ceremony invoking the God of Cats. This theory holds that said ceremony can be delayed until it is safe to hold such rituals away from foreign eyes.
At the end of the celebrations, precisely at midnight, the celebrant must declare a place outside the Ancestral Lands that they will visit in their lifetime. Every Rescot is expected to make a journey away from the tribe to their declared destination in order to learn news and history from the wider world to be added to the communal knowledge pool. Most people set out on this psuedo-pilgrimage within a year of declaring their destination. Some do not return, deciding to pursue non-nomadic lifestyles. When this happens the tribe mourns but does not consider that person or their potential descendants as outsiders. They remain Rescot, though most texts would now describe those individuals as Tabaxi instead. These Tabaxi and their descendants, even generations later, are largely the destinations where young Rescot declare they will journey to. Unlike any other Sandsage people, this culture inherently values all its settled kinfolk and places strong social emphasis on checking in with them in this way several times within each generation.

Funerals are very simple affairs. The deceased are buried in the desert sands while loved ones and friends share tales from the deceased's life or favorite stories and histories the deceased enjoyed. The body is given with a prayer to the desert spirit for future nourishment, and the soul of the departed is believed to become one of the countless spirits found in the surrounding world. This explains why the Rescot seem so dedicated to respecting the spirits around them, even compared to the other animist Sandsage people: the Rescot are the only ones who believe that the animistic entities that pervade existence are the souls of their beloved dead whose names are remembered as long as the Rescot's communal knowledge pool is preserved.

For how little history the tribe has in instigating warfare with anyone, their effectiveness in combat and familiarity with military campaigns around the world throughout history makes them highly effective strategists and military leaders. There have been several Izens from the Rescot throughout the known histories of the Sandsage people, many of which are regarded among the more clever and considerate warlords to have held the sacred title.
There is one non-Izen figure in Rescot history that carries a similar magnitude to that of an Izen: Weaver Of The Nine Iron Stars. He was a prominent member of the tribe and a powerful shaman who lived long before the Old Empires War began. He delayed taking the journey he declared during his coming of age rite until his family was killed in inter-tribal warfare. He left to travel to an obscure mountain cluster in the southwestern Monstrous Flats and forsook his nomadic lifestyle. The Rescot know he survived his trip among these mountains but nothing else about his time there and little about what happened afterward. He simply disappears from their histories despite being one of the most venerated historical figures among a tribe who remembers even unremarkable individuals throughout millennia. This whole in their collective lore may be one of the reasons why his name carries so much weight. There are very few people about whom the Rescot wish to know more but can discover nothing further.

The Rescot have a similar sense of beauty ideals to most major cultures. Some individuals value physical beauty over mental or spiritual traits and vice versa. The following are some more distinct characteristics considered beautiful by this people, though none of them are to the exclusion of traditional beauty standards.

 

Hygiene

Like other feline species, Tabaxi often clean themselves with their tongues. Given the Rescot tribe's arid homelands, cleaning is an involved and lengthy process if one wants to meet the tribe's general standard of cleanliness. The demands of nomadic life can make this a challenging endeavor and it is often something put off until more important things are done. But somebody who constantly keeps themselves clean, both in fur and other personal hygiene practices, is generally considered to be more attractive.

Memory

Like the Okisun, the Rescot put great cultural emphasis on the power and beauty of the mind. The Okisun do so through the filter of psionic capacity and growth. The Rescot do so with an emphasis on accurate memorization of oral histories, lore, knowledge, and poetry. Tabaxi in general are prone to having impressive memories for the things that interest them, and a Rescot who knows a lot about a lot of varied things is considered more attractive and respectable for it.
Included in these mental faculties for knowledge and spoken word is wordplay. The Rescot love traditional poetry of many sorts but any sort of wordplay falls under their appreciation. Puns, riddles, innuendos, and other forms of wordplay that most other cultures would scoff to call poetry are considered equal in value to more recognized poetic arts.

Spirituality

The Rescot are a highly spiritual culture. Like all Sandsage Tribes, the Rescot are animists. Unlike several of the larger tribes, however, they also revere a deity separate from their local nature spirits. The God of Cats isn't commonly worshipped by Tabaxi outside of the Rescot tribe, but nonetheless the yearning for spiritual fulfillment and growth is common among the species given that they all originally stemmed from Rescot culture.
It's not entirely clear about which aspects of one's spirituality are measured to assess personal beauty, but it is known to be a common ideal among Tabaxi. Regular observance of rituals and being in good standing with local nature spirits are believed to be some of the more desired and attractive spiritual traits, but the truth is certainly more than such base reductions. The Rescot simply don't talk in detail to outsiders about their ancestral deity or their relationships with animist entities despite their generally accommodating society.

Much like their naming traditions, the Rescot place little to no emphasis on distinctions between genders. Everyone is expected to support the community on their migrations in whatever capacities are needed. The only ideals or norms associated with a person's gender or sex are those of anatomy with regards to childbearing and infant care. Rescot men, women, and gender non-conforming people are expected to be and do whatever is necessary for the moment. All are expected to be patient nurturers with children, skilled hunters, and ferocious warriors.
The community is widely supportive of its members discovering all aspects of their personality including their sexuality. "Coming out" is hardly a concept among this tribe because there's no known prejudice against genders or sex like there are in some other parts of the world. When a Rescot develops a strong sense of their sexuality at any age, they often announce it to friends and family as an entertaining story full of recognizable metaphors and comparisons that the community understands readily. These stories typically use little to no sexual themes or imagery, preferring to utilize other known comparisons like would be used in any typical storytelling event.

Courtship is usually observed in time spent together. A common courtesy, though certainly not a requirement, is for two people courting each other to spend an evening among their partner's family simultaneously. The time spent in this "family feint" (the literal translation from Andescaf) usually consists of a casual meal and several hours of entertaining the hosting family with stories, trivia, and wordplay contests. The origins of this tradition aren't clear, but it is a very informal affair that not all courtships complete. Forgoing the family feint doesn't seem to have any social ramifications, so doing it is just considered a nice observance of tradition.
Other than the family feint, courtship among the Rescot is largely unstructured. Family units do little to encourage or discourage courtships. Whether a courting succeeds or fails, it's considered a lesson learned and one that the family should not involve themselves in unless necessary. As a product of this line of thought, arranged courtships/marriages don't happen among the Rescot.

The ideal Rescot relationship is one in which both parties are happy and grow each other in their pursuits. Partners must be friends, and any relationship in which the people involved aren't friends is a mistake. Another factor in an ideal partner is the potential they offer to create stories between both personalities. The bold make for good tales of excitement and adventure, but the timid often facilitate profound stories of personal growth and emotional complexity.
The story-loving Rescot culture admires all sorts of themes and symbolism in their tales, and different people hold different symbols and values in varying regards. As such, selecting a partner means being compatible with their values and recurring symbols in storytelling and in life. The tribe often speaks in metaphors and symbolism, so finding somebody whose personal symbols and idioms blend well with yours is preferred. It makes telling stories of your adventures and struggles together more enjoyable to the community.
While typically monogamous, Rescot society doesn't restrict various forms of non-monogamy. Gender restrictions on courtship and marriage don't exist because the tribe considers all genders and sexual identities equally valid.