The Unciae are a Lost Tribe of Crinos, heard neither from nor of for thousands of seasons. Their Khiulnter form was that of a snow leopard; fitting that form, their territory lay high in the mountains. Despite lack of competition for their land, they vanished long ago. Some say that the Unciae simply dwindled and died; others, that they moved on to new hunting grounds; still others, that they were slaughtered by another tribe or tribes for some unnamed and unnameable heresy.
KHIULNTER -- The form most often used by the Unciae, the Khiulnter is similar in appearance to the shadow Earth snow leopard. However, their coats are lightly spotted with a pure white background, rather than the pale gray to yellow norm. The spots range from light to charcoal gray in color, some having no spots at all. Note that snow leopards do not roar. This form is used extensively, as it is best adapted to the snow and ice. As a result, tools and buildings are not everyday items for the tribe.
DIMOH -- Adopted almost exclusively for rituals, and hence, only really held familiar by the priests of the tribe. Unciae dimoh forms are usually tan or light-skinned, and have catlike features and hair of gray, white, or very light blond. Clothes are almost never worn, even during rituals, and weapons are frowned upon -- those who can't adapt to using what they were given to by the gods are regarded as weak.
DIMO-KHU -- The dimo-khu, as in most tribes, is used only rarely. It doesn't carry the stigma that many on Crinos associate with it, however - shifting to dimo-khu doesn't necessarily mean violence is impending. A Unciae dimo-khu is substantially larger than both the dimoh and khiulnter form, and equipped with much longer claws and teeth. It appears as a hybrid of the other two forms, an upright cat. Though it is often used in war, it finds almost as much use as a climbing tool - in the mountains, the size, agility and grip provided by the form prove quite useful. Other than that, it's rarely resorted to.
The Unciae worship a Triat of god-figures: The Grand Father, the first being in creation, the sun-god Miethra; The Grand Mother, the second being in the world, the sun's mate, the moon-goddess Luna; and their first progeny, the first Verdimm, Uncia. It is believed by them that all Unciae and through them, all Verdimm, are directly related to these three beings. Unciae worship is colored by this link: their rituals and practice are more like a chummy get-together than the more formal attitude of many other religions. Unciae pray several times a day, usually in thanks, but prayer is more like a personal chat than a plea or debasement. Their holy days are happy affairs of celebration, and promote familiarity with that which they believe created them.
Miethra is the male sun-god, the first being ever to exist in the universe. He associates with the masculine, preservation of life, fire, light, the revelation of truth, violent death, and magic. Quartz prisms are his symbol, as are natural crystals, yellow circles, yellow star-signs, or simply a yellow dot placed above a green or brown line representing the land.
Luna is the female moon-goddess, created by Miethra as his mate. She was the second being in the universe. She associates with the feminine, birth, darkness, secrets, cold, ice, and natural death. Her symbols are rounded quartz pebbles, silver or white circles, white star-signs, blackness, or a simple silver dot placed above a brown or green line.
Uncia is the trickster-spirit, the legendary First Verdimm and daughter of Luna and Miethra. She is a good balance between her parents; as her father, she is curious and likes to seek out the truth, but she is also the root of all birth. Her pure white coat is doubled-edged: it is cold, like the icy power of Luna, but bright at the same time, like Miethra's brilliance. It is Uncia that leads the souls of the dead to their final resting place, as she has found the secrets of Death. Because she had the ability to make herself appear in any form, her symbols are many, but the most common are a white cat's paw, a circle half of white, half of black, or the pure white silhouette of a leopard.
The Unciae, unlike many other Verdimm tribes, believe the creation of Crinos went as following:
At the 'beginning', the time before there was a world, there was a time of light, where nothing else existed beyond it. This light had a consciousness, and his name was Miethra. Miethra was a powerful magician, and had the ability to create at will. To populate this vast nothingness a little better, he created a mate for himself, a being opposite in every way. This creature was Luna, and she was the first female. She added light to his darkness, and struck a balance with Miethra in the universe. The two were happy with one another, but the world was still not complete. With that in mind, they created the World, where man and animal could roam, and Luna and Miethra would oversee all. To aid them, they created many companion spirits, each reigning over a certain force or substance. But this World was still not complete.
Miethra and Luna mated, and Luna bore a daughter, Uncia. Uncia was both of spirit and flesh, and was very special. Unlike animal, or man, she had the power to change her own form. She was the first Verdimm, a pure white Unciae of incredible ability. She would become the mother of us all.
Uncia had many adventures in this new World, and in time, bore children. At first, these were all in her image, nurtured by Uncia, Luna, and Miethra. But with the passage of time, all things must develop a flaw. One of Uncia's children, Tenebrae, rejected the touch of his Grand Father, Miethra, and his mother, Uncia. He was burned by the Sun's power, and his hide became blacker than night. He fled from the land of the Unciae, and things were never the same again. Many more tribes were sired through him, and the blood of the Verdimm was made imperfect, flawed by their ignorance of the Grand Father, and Uncia.
The Unciae, because of their disdain of the dimoh form, almost never keep written records. The only class knowledgeable in any kind of pictograms are the priests and tribal elders, who keep track of notable rituals and events in history on stone slabs, scratching their marks in with the dimo-khu form. The language is quite simplistic, with few abstractions. The spoken language is a lot more advanced, however - cats love to gossip. An oral history of the Unciae is known by nearly every tribal member to some degree, in the form of stories and tales of the legendary figures of the past.
The Unciae, affected just as much as any other tribe by the cycles of the moon, explain the reason behind the sway of magic in the land quite differently:
New Moon - This is the time of utter darkness, the point where Luna is strongest in the sky. As she is goddess of the cold death, spirit, and darkness, it makes sense that these magics would be strongest at this point. She is not as accomplished a mage as Miethra, so it also makes sense that magic is generally weaker.
Crescent Moon - Here, Miethra is beginning to gain back his power, towards a balance. This shift makes spirit magic more possible, in that the spirits themselves are in flux.
Half Moon -- This is the balance between Sun and Moon, Miethra and Luna. Hence, all magic works equally well, and the earth is strong.
Gibbous Moon -- This is another shift, from a balance, to full dominance by Miethra. Hence, spirit magic is again enhanced.
Full Moon -- Miethra, the greatest mage in the world and lord of protection and healing, holds sway over this time. Hence, his spells are most powerful, as is his element.
The Unciae's habitat and range have altered three times during the turbulent history of Crinos, each change spurred by some major event involving the Unciae's society or environment. Each time period is detailed below.
EARLY HISTORY -- The Unciae traditionally spread out over the Snow-Capped Mountains and the continuation of that range to the far south-east of Crinos. Living much higher than the Ursum tribe, they were, for the most part, unmolested by most other tribes. The extreme southern part of their territory, among the coldest land in Crinos, was said to be the birthplace of the Verdimm - where Luna and Miethra set Uncia upon the land. Because of this, it was the center of their worship, their Mecca, if you will. Though other villages spread out farther to the north, all Unciae would trek south to visit this holy land at least once during their lives.
THE WITHDRAWAL -- When other tribes began to expand rapidly and abutt Unciae territory, one of the conflicts that always came up was that of religion - while almost all of the other tribes worshipped Luna exclusively, the Unciae Triat contradicted this, and became an issue of constant dispute. This culminated about the same time as the Snowspine Crack (see article proposed on this object on that subject), which left a great, near-unpassable rift between the new, often violent frontier to the north, and the Unciae holy land in the south. Faced with living on one side of the crack or the other, the majority of the tribe migrated back to the south while they were still able to pass over the land. A small number stayed behind to rearguard the retreat, but they too eventually passed across the crack. Then, for untold seasons, the Unciae were sealed in relative isolation to the south.
RECENT PAST -- For many years, the Unciae survived in the wastes of southern Crinos. As time passed, however, things became tougher for them. A trend towards more and more frigid winters began to kill them off, slowly, through exposure. This put a major dent in their food sources as well, and famine began to spread. To make matters worse, a plague spread through the tribe, something they were almost helpless against. Their holy land, though a great center for learning and religion, whittled the tribe down to a fraction of its former size. As a result, some small number of them considered a move back north, across the gap that had sealed them here long before. Bands of young, trepidacious Unicae began trekking across the crack and making small settlements, exploring the territory. Their tribal elders neither approved nor disapproved - they seemed to be waiting to make a decision, waiting to see how the scouts fared. The scouts did well, and the tribe indeed made an attempt to reclaim their northern lands, and move to a bit closer proximity with the other tribes.
The Unciae view the Tenebrae as slightly imperfect versions of themselves; thought not quite up to par, they're much better than the other tribes on Crinos. Hence, the Unciae have always been a little fonder of the Tenebrae, and kept up some contact with them at most times. Long, long ago, they two tribes had the capability to interbreed, but it was -heavily- frowned upon by the Unciae due to their Creation legends. No child of a Tenebrae and a Unciae can be remembered; their names were purposely stricken from what records the Unciae do keep. They still maintained contact, trade, and a shaky alliance, however, up until they moved across the Snowspine Crack, at which point they largely lost contact. Occasionally, a message would leak through to either side, but they were never face to face for the longest time. In the recent past, the Unciae heard of some great tragedy befalling their dark sister tribe, but little else. Eventually, contact was made between the two tribes, and the Unciae have since migrated northward, into their territory within the Snow-Capped Mountains.