Qaru

The Qaru are a fictional ethnic group from the original story Lodestar.

They are prevalently homosexual and live in male-only and female-only villages situated inside the Forest, which they rarely ever exit.

"Qaru" means son or daughter (it's gender neutral), as they consider themselves sons and daughters of the Goddess.

They speak the common tongue as well as their own language, the qarut language.

Appearance
Qaru have dark skin and their natural hair color is black; however, most of them bleach and dye their hair different colors that always symbolize something (status, occupation, etc).

Since they live in areas with hot climate, they wear clothes that show a lot of skin. Many women walk around topless, as breasts aren't seen as inherently sexual.

Culture
Their culture revolves around the concept of the Couple. They worship a Goddess, and stars and planets are omnipresent in their folklore.

They are very skilled hunters who predilige the bow and arrows.

The Couple, family and reproduction
The concept of "Couple" ("nala" in qarut) is fundamental in Qaru culture. A Couple, or nala, is formed by two lovers who have sworn eternal devotion to each other; in other words, they're married lovers - however, non-married lovers are sometimes referred to as a Couple by others anyway. Qaru population is divided in Couples instead of nuclear families, so children are taken care of by the whole community, almost like they're everyone's children.

Once a year, the population of a male-only village visits a female-only village in order to perform rituals of fertility. The main ritual consists in men donating their semen to the women, so that they can use it to become pregnant; the other rituals generally consist in dancing and praying the Goddess that many of the women can become pregnant. The day after performing the fertility rituals, the men return to their own village, taking all the weaned male children with them.

Religion and folklore
All Qaru people worship the "Goddess" (Okale in qaru). The Goddess is the Great Mother of all living creatures, She who created the sky and the seas, the Sun and Moon, the stars and planets.

The Qaru people believe the Goddess prefers them over the outsiders who are "not loved by the Goddess".

The Goddess is always depicted with very dark skin and pink hair, and because of this:
 * very dark skin is considered the most beautiful in Qaru culture
 * pink is a sacred color, so no one is allowed to dye their hair pink.

Story of the Sun and the Moon
The story of the Sun and the Moon is very dear to Qaru people. It recites as follows.

Once upon a time, there were the Sun and the Moon. They loved each other very much, but they could never meet, because the Sun came out during the day and the Moon during the night.

One day, an evil wizard named Pakhat who wanted the world to end cast a spell on them and they turned into mortals. They assumed the form of two young men, and the world fell into darkness, for nothing was illuminating it anymore.

The two men could finally be together, but if they couldn't find a way to go back into the sky as soon as possible, the world would have ended very soon. Holding hands, they travelled all around the Earth to find a magician who could turn them back into their original forms, but none of the wizards they met could ever help them. However, they met a water nymph who told them: "The only way to break an unbreakable spell is to bathe in a sea of stars, for stars carry all knowledge and can grant any wish."

They reached the nearest sea and there they waited for days until they saw that the water was calm and reflecting all the stars in the sky; so they entered the water, and asked for their wish to be granted.

The stars replied by saying there were two wishes that the couple wanted to be granted: one was to return to their original forms; the other was to be able to be together forever, but the two wishes contraddicted each other. They asked to choose only one wish.

The couple spoke at the same time, saying that they cannot choose. The stars said: "If you don't return to your original forms, everything on Earth will die". Again, the couple said they could not choose. The stars insisted: "If you don't choose to be together forever, you will never meet again.". For the third time, the couple said they could not choose.

The stars appreciated the way the couple saw duty and love as equally important, so they gave them a third choice: "If you can prove that your love is authentic, we will make sure that you can meet again."

There, the couple recited what has become nowadays' Declaration of Intent:"«I shall protect you with my life until the end of times""And if I were to ever fail my duty""I shall wash your blood from your offender's hands""with their sinful own.""I take your blood and you take mine""Under the Goddess we become a single being""We dance for the Moon, the Sun and the stars""For we are one and cannot be separated.»"As soon as they bit into each other's neck, drawing blood, a multitude of stars began falling from the sky into the water, until the whole sea was lit from the inside.

Their wish was granted; they returned to their original forms and, once in a while, they could meet for a short period of time (eclipses).

Even nowadays, Qaru people celebrate this tale by bathing in their forest's lake or river on clear nights when shooting stars are predicted to appear.

Marriage
Marriage is considered the most important moment of a Qaru person's life, because it's the day they truly form a Couple with someone else.

During the wedding ceremony, the couple drinks a sip of each other's blood from a cup and recite the Declaration of Intent. From that moment on, the two become One in front of the Goddess; they become the most important person in each other's lives and all other relationships become of secondary importance.
 * When the village Chief, also known as the Sun, becomes One with their partner, their partner becomes their Moon. From that moment on, their spirits are connected to those of the Sun and Moon, their ancestors, and their hair is dyed gold and silver.
 * People can only become One (marry) officially after turning 20.


 * Divorce does not exist in Qaru culture, so people need to choose their partner extremely carefully, as there is no going back.

Laws and rules
Their law isn't written, but is instead passed on verbally from a generation to another. Generally, their way of dealing with crime is "an eye for an eye": if a woman kills another woman, she gets killed by the victim's wife in return; if a man rapes another man, he gets raped in front of the whole village in return.

Life and occupations
Qaru live in organized societies led by one Chief, who is usually chosen thanks to their hunting and leadership abilities. Although blood relations aren't seen as particularly important, the only exception is the Chief's bloodline: once a Chief has been chosen, that person's children are destined to become Chief as well. Usually it's the Chief's firstborn who becomes the new Chief, but not always.

Children become adults when they're about 15 years old. There's no coming of age ritual in Qaru culture, but people start to gradually change their behavior towards boys and girls who turn 15. However, Qarut can't join the rituals of fertility until they're at least 17 years old.

Adult Qarut are given a job based on their natural inclinations; there are artisans, butchers, healers, shamans, tailors, merchants and various other categories, but most Qaru people are hunters. Qarut hunt using the bow and a particular kind of very thick and lethal arrows that are typical of their culture.

When they're not working, Qaru people love to hang out in the forest (especially children), listen to stories narrated by the elders, work out, take care of their house or of their appearance - especially their hair.

Hair color is very important, since it always denotes something about that person: that could be status, occupation, current situation, etc.

List of Qaru people

 * Altair - Soon to be Chief of the men's village, also known as the "soon-to-be-Sun".
 * Vega - Altair's husband, also known as the "soon-to-be-Moon".
 * Nihal - A young man, son of Altair.
 * Rigel - A proud and cocky young man.
 * Deneb - Soon to be Chief of the women's village.
 * Sadr - Chief of the men's village.
 * Shedir - Chief of the women's village.
 * "Papi" (Phad) - A tall, buff man who travels a lot. Very popular among young, unmarried men, he's a real celebrity in every village he visits.
 * more to be added in the future

Trivia

 * If Qaru men and women lived all together, their society would be a matriarchal one.
 * Red hair sybolizes what we would define as "royalty". It indicates that that person is the Chief or future Chief of the village.