The Tembo: A Race of Sapient Elephants
Posted: 21 Jun 2021 05:11
The Tembo
The Tembo are a race of elephant-like creatures notable not only for their human-level intelligence, but also their bifurcated trunks, which operate like two independent grasping limbs. They primarily inhabit the savannah, but may also be found in forests, mountains, and deserts. They live on average to be 80, though the oldest cows have lived to be over 100.
The Basics
Tembo live in matriarchal family bands that remain nomadic year-round, meeting only with other bands for diplomatic, marital, and economic purposes. The eldest cow, the Matriarch, leads the band in all decision making, and is believed to be the literal embodiment of the sun. The two eldest bulls, the Moons, are her bodyguards and are believed to be the embodiment of the two moons.
Division of Labor
Cows gather food, while bulls build tools and protect the herd. Children become fluent in the Tembo language around one year old, and they are quickly segregated by sex and learn their respective sex’s jobs.
Art
Tembo art is primarily in the form of music and body paint, which often intersect in religious or social festivals such as a solar eclipse or a wedding. Their musical instruments include of course their trunks, but also bells tied around the ankles that jingle when stomped, flutes, drums, and xylophones. Tembo music is highly polyphonic and hypnotic, and is usually played to put the listeners in a trance. Body paint is primarily used by males to impress females, including entire plot lines and characters in complicated, repeating symbols drawn in ochre on the skin.
Relationship with Humans
Tembo were sapient before humans, and, according to the local mythology, actually introduced humans to fire. As such Tembo think condescendingly about humans, and relate to them infrequently. They do however permit the Watu people to maintain a monastic order that lives among the Tembo, learning their language, their customs, and acting diplomatically between Tembo and humans. This is only because the Watu worship the Tembo as their ancestors reincarnated, and the Tembo like the adoration.
If you’d like any more detail, just ask! Thanks for reading!
The Tembo are a race of elephant-like creatures notable not only for their human-level intelligence, but also their bifurcated trunks, which operate like two independent grasping limbs. They primarily inhabit the savannah, but may also be found in forests, mountains, and deserts. They live on average to be 80, though the oldest cows have lived to be over 100.
The Basics
Tembo live in matriarchal family bands that remain nomadic year-round, meeting only with other bands for diplomatic, marital, and economic purposes. The eldest cow, the Matriarch, leads the band in all decision making, and is believed to be the literal embodiment of the sun. The two eldest bulls, the Moons, are her bodyguards and are believed to be the embodiment of the two moons.
Division of Labor
Cows gather food, while bulls build tools and protect the herd. Children become fluent in the Tembo language around one year old, and they are quickly segregated by sex and learn their respective sex’s jobs.
Art
Tembo art is primarily in the form of music and body paint, which often intersect in religious or social festivals such as a solar eclipse or a wedding. Their musical instruments include of course their trunks, but also bells tied around the ankles that jingle when stomped, flutes, drums, and xylophones. Tembo music is highly polyphonic and hypnotic, and is usually played to put the listeners in a trance. Body paint is primarily used by males to impress females, including entire plot lines and characters in complicated, repeating symbols drawn in ochre on the skin.
Relationship with Humans
Tembo were sapient before humans, and, according to the local mythology, actually introduced humans to fire. As such Tembo think condescendingly about humans, and relate to them infrequently. They do however permit the Watu people to maintain a monastic order that lives among the Tembo, learning their language, their customs, and acting diplomatically between Tembo and humans. This is only because the Watu worship the Tembo as their ancestors reincarnated, and the Tembo like the adoration.
If you’d like any more detail, just ask! Thanks for reading!