Tofar / Loyal but Ferocious (Patreon)

Tofar’s most notable physical features are their faintly-poisoned keratin spines, but especially their ominous bone masks. Like deciduous teeth, it breaks and sheds a few times in their childhood, until permanent one starts forming during teenage years. It grows from temporal and mandible parts of a skull, really tight to their skin, with a layer of microflora between – as a way of protection from dirt, dust, infections and diseases that can occur in these hard-to-clean gaps.

Remains of primal and feral ancestors show that ancient Tofars had a much different mask than their modern, specially Noble, descendants. It was longer, with deformed nostril airway in the mask and even the actual skull; thicker bones, with sharp teeth and tight-closed jaw; and with a superficies layer of powerful muscles and skin covering mask itself. Presumably, it was mainly used to bite off big pieces of raw meat and chomp it into smaller pieces before chewing again in actual mouth. Another use would be as a natural weapon during primal hunting and wars.

Nevertheless, such basic craft as cooking, and then future technological advancements, drastically reduced Tofar’s dependence on their bone masks even for food consumption. After thousands of years it shrinked, exposing mouth, and only basic muscles around still remain. Loosing or even badly damaging mask, hence exposing real face beneath it, is very embarrassing and shameful experience for Tofar, and they afraid of it more than pain and torture.

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As a tribe Tofars learn to be devoted to a family, a pack and a nation, obeying orders of social hierarchy, and put interests of a group ahead of own ambitions with a strong incline for self-sacrifice from a young age... and as well they learned about deep-seated aversion towards their tribe, which became mutual and turning them isolationists.

During early Age of Crumbling Tofar kin were driven away from the Sea of Birth and Thigh Region by other tribes, for their erratic brutal nature and high prospects to turn Envious. As a result, a lot of their people were one the first to settle in unexplored and unstable regions of Her Gorgeousness, as castaway. Most of Tofar went south, founding first settlements there – they were forerunners of Noble Tofar; and centuries later, when they subdued their primal ferocity, would establish Kingdom of Bosom, alter growing to Realms of Bosom. Still their views on being civilized and courteous are differ to what most othertribe kins consider polite and amiable – they are aggressive and ruffian even among Royal family who represent themselves as the best of their kin.

Hair poses certain meaning in Noble Tofar society – higher status members grow it long and fashioning into various coiffures to indicate current sentiment or professional mood: hair gathered in a knob is neutral, a sign of fairness, or an indication of being engaged in important undertaking and not be disturbed for pity reasons; ponytail or single braid thrown over right shoulder is a sign of dominance, aggression, self-confidence and libido, or disapproval of circumstances; ponytail or a single braid thrown over left shoulder is a show of friendliness, respect, approval of current situation, willingness to act; setting hair loose means exactly that – being free of duties or responsibilities, in which case tilting head left or right is equivalent to what was previously described. It is also traditioned for Tofar who are married, engaged or not looking for relationship to retain at least some visible braids in public.

One of Noble Tofar’s belief, which spread and deepened in Bosom and Tum regions, is a physical and mental bonds we gain when eat food of the same source: from family eating dinner prepared on the same oven, to a nation eating bread made from the same harvest, but most importantly – all of us are always connected, as we all feed on what is bestowal and gathered from Her Gorgeous body.

Other Tofar, who were fierce and uncultured even for their own people (and still are), discarded themselves far north with other outcasts – they are called Ferals, and they earned this name rightfully at that time. Not a lot of their kind left now – throughout hardships of history many died in toxic wastelands, hot jungles and dry deserts of northern regions, from heat, hunger, deadly animals and plants, numerous Envasions of Jealous Beasts, and even storms manifested by the First Angel of Honor would take lives of many. Feral’s torment lasted even into current age, until thirteen century, when Tofar Chiefess-great-grandmother Tagara Fohr united hidden clans of her fellow kin before they all shamelessly succumbed to Serpent’s influence. She had the only dream – redemption: to prove her children loyal to Her Light even if animus by other tribes. Today Tagar’s dream is alive, today Feral Tofar are twice proclaimed citizens of Feet Republic, and many are ravenously committed to become Hunters in their mission to eradicate verminous Cult of the Snake and its malevolent stems that nest and incarnate in desolated lands of north: because they see it as their duty to erase from existence shameful blots of their kin who despicably flocked to a false salvation.

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If you look deeper, despite bestial temper Tofar can be brilliant in mind, well-educated and disciplined, but don’t ask them them to focus and participate in activities where significant precision, tidy, recurrence and calmness are required – it drives them really mad. You should especially worry that it is considered for modern, more polite, way of society they reluctantly force on themselves with repetitive values and artificial prohibitions of own nature is what irritating and vexing them the most, fueling their hotheaded temper. Even so today Tofar control their savagery better than their predecessors millennia ago, they still have the highest number of Envious and Abominations among Eight Major Tribes...

Abhorred by other and loathe these others, Tofar still chose to stay on the same side with them and live the same live as them – not for forgiveness, nor for fear of themselves... but for Her alone, because they are Her children too, Joyful and Gorgeous like Her. They understand own problem and from young ages they mold themselves to be ready to shred own life at the last moments of conscience rather than succumb to the Envy, betray our Allmother and serve to the Serpent; and they do so in horror of burden and dishonor they leave for sistren kin when they can’t control own body and thoughts anymore. In best case they hunt for Jealous Beats and Cultists of Envy, in hope to take as many heinous procreations with them as they seek death in fight; those who are too powerful to perish even this way still can ask to avoid feared fate in the most honorable way they recognize – death by breast smothering.

Nevertheless, Tofars ARE exalted by Our Joyful with the Aspect of Hope, vindicated by Her Light; and so, even the most mindless zealots of Red Capes do not dare to vacuously question rights to exist of other envy-pliable tribes like so did the Hegemony: if Tofar are blessed with Her Aspect – then still our Allmother loves them, and so She loves all of us with flaws we bear.