Jetei Shuvuu

"You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?"

Deep in the mountains north of Azim Steppe is a valley where the Shuvuu reside, their lands considered blessed due to its volume of yol nests. The great birds are worshiped as the totem animal of the tribe and only those who successfully tame and attune to one of these creatures is considered a warrior. From then on the xaela shares a bond with the yol that makes soaring the skies second nature to them. There are far more fatal failures than successes, but each warrior is considered part of an elite few and reach the peak of the social ladder within the tribe's hierarchy.This does nothing to temper their arrogance, but it also fuels their ambition. To a Shuvuu, personal honor is everything and each forever strives to overtake their peers in contest and conquest. If a group is presented a challenge, they will often bid amongst themselves for the right to meet it. For example, if two warriors each seek the right to hunt a great beast, the first could declare they would go without any survival gear. The second either yields, or raises the stakes such as also taking only one arrow. This process of bartering handicaps goes back and forth until one warrior yields. If the winner succeeds they win great honor for themselves, but a defeat brings an even greater loss. These challenges are considered the whetstone that maintains the Shuvuu strength and reputation. A warrior must always press onward, must always seek new ways to break their previously set limits.This practice means that death is common as their bright sparks burn out, and their lifestyle has evolved to embrace every second to enjoy at its fullest. They are performative, dramatic, and embrace the whims of a moment. Rarely does a Shuvuu live beyond 30 years, and those that do often step down to become honored elders that engage in the politics of the Conclave, a governing body composed of various family lines.Whether through trial or flight, the heights Shuvuu aspire to mean they often look down upon their steppe born cousins, believing that the Shuvuu serve a higher purpose in their reverence towards the Duskmother. Few tribes know them as anything more than by the shadow cast by distant wings.Though the Shuvuu are a proud and boastful people, they are not without secrets. Their magical arts are blessed by the predators they worship, granting them a fighting style not unlike the Ishgardian Dragoons. Keen hearing and eyesight is common among the yol-attuned warriors. Someone gifted in aethersight would also be hard pressed not to notice the incorporeal wings on a Shuvuu's back, mirror images of the great steppe birds themselves.