any diplomatic visits or among those seeking to establish trust Ruchi build up immunity to many poisons over time, though they more easily detect and recognize the effects of poisons than others Keeping a client alive is the Ruchi’s code • Svaramu are hired public speakers that announce and spin all family matters for public consumption They can often be rehired to tell a completely different story the very next day Some svaramu earn wonderful secondary incomes secretly reporting on additional details about their public employers and the true tales behind the official story • Vargam are also poisoners, though they are not as exhaustively trained as the Rumu, nor they act with the acceptance of Prajan leaders In short, they are amateurs at poison craft at least in terms of variety and depth of knowledge in creating and using poisons They are the outlaws, and perhaps not just assistants to assassins These crafty bug and lizard collectors extract what they need from creatures and nature, mix it with roots and saps, and dole out their toxins liberally to those who can afford them Their ability and speed at crafting virulent poisons for assassinations make them highly sought after by the desperate who cannot wait for a Rumu’s help • Takaku are a caste of unclean laborers with no possibility of upward social or economic mobility Not quite slaves, most Prajalu shun these indentured servants or, like shadows, acknowledge them only as needed or when noticed Strangely, many private rites demand their blessings for the establishment of homes, new ventures, and new loves Child Trading & Child Selling Prajalu sometimes sell infant or very young family members to one another, but rarely they so after a child can walk, and only then for matters of continuity (if a family loses many to a plague, for example) On the surface, this appears to be a form of slavery, but nothing could be further from the truth In Prajalu minds, seeking new blood strengthens the family unit with new skills or abilities Newfound brothers and sisters are immediately welcomed into the fold Outsiders think the Prajalu practice of child trading and purchase alarmingly odd, and keep their own children under a watchful eye when among them Prajan practices generate many fearful rumors, making them an easy spook-story for misbehaving children— “behave or Prajalu will steal you away in the night!” 74 Customs & Culture Given how distrustful the Prajalu are of other humans and other races, learning about their culture comes more through the Nyutu or older lore from the times of the Dragon Kings Things have changed much since then, granted, so it is a guess as to how much truth wanderers know about this tribe without braving them face to face Prajalu are generally indifferent to the other human tribes and races of their world They recognize that every group must make practical adaptation to their surroundings in order to survive and, so long as another group does not interfere with them, they are content to live side by side If others should enter Prajan lands, they find that Prajalu distrust all non-equatorial humans to a point bordering on racial hatred Foreigners garner immediate suspicion regardless of actions or inactions It becomes understood that they prefer the company of other Prajalu The exception to outsider-loathing is their universal embrace of the Nyutu, regardless of tribal origin, as harbingers of prosperity Nyutu recognize this and move through Prajan lands in greater numbers than elsewhere on Khitus At the birth of any Prajan child, a Prajal adult can invoke a combat challenge to claim that child for his or her family This practice is often employed by jealous cuckolds or romantic rivals Any family member can accept the challenge to fight to keep the child, though it most often falls to one of the child’s parents Regardless of the challenge’s outcome, enormous social pressure ensures that the child is raised fairly and cherished Prajalu are free to marry as many times as they deem necessary, usually for business or political purposes In the process they create large, extended or multiple family units with concurrent marriages The Prajalu are just as jealous or emotional as other humans, so these multiple marriages are often fraught with strife, either among the multiple spouses of either gender or simply in matters of inheritance and the seeming favoring (or lack thereof) of children The dead garner widespread mourning in a family and community; there are specific rituals for the deceased and those held dear None among the departed’s immediate family and closest friends may speak during the seven-day mourning period after discovery of the death, lest their voices drown any final messages from the deceased; they write all communications on wax tablets that are eventually collected and interred with the fallen’s other belongings As soon as possible, a family member and a Rumu make a death mask of the deceased After a body’s disposal on the second day of a mourning period, the death mask and any other artistic effigies or representations of the deceased become the