Cavehand Clan

"Underestimate our intelligence and be made a fool. Underestimate our numbers and be overwhelmed. Underestimate our strength and be overpowered."

— Cavekeeper Tiq

The People Unseen

While every clan knows where Cavehand territory lies, few people could tell you where to find the Cavehands themselves. They are seen as quiet and weak by most members of other clans and they have no problem with that; they actually believe that other people underestimating them is one of their greatest advantages.
What the others do not know is the location of the caves in the duskward side of the Greatvalley's protective mountains which the Cavehands call home. In these caves they live, work, and cultivate a variety of fungus with nutritional value or medicinal effects, knowledge of which is guarded with their lives.
The Cavehands live in several separate groups each living and moving of their own accord. They often cross paths near the caves they migrate between and when they do they celebrate, share information, and sometimes people from one group will transfer to another.
Cavehand hunting parties rely on traps and ambush tactics to most effectively capture their prey; from small snares to elaborate spike traps, they are better than any other clan at it. Their ability to supplement the fruit of the hunt with mushrooms all year round gives them a significant advantage during the winter where other clans are reduced to a very limited selection of foods during that season. Now that the longcold is over and summers are becoming longer this is less of an advantage against the climate but still provides a safe method of food acquisition.

Life in the Cavehand Clan

It is tradition among the Cavehands to give birth in the depths of their most important cave, the Glowpath. Deep in the cave the mother and several attendants follow the way passed down through the generations to the nursery. There, deep in the mountain, surrounded by the faint blue glow of fungus, nearly every mother in the Cavehand Clan has given birth for as long as stories have been told. Once a child is born, the spores of the great fungus of the Glowpath are painted onto them.
Children are taught about the different fungi found in the various caves of the region - not all of them are safe - and about the plants they have access to when the season is right. They are also taught to identify details in their environment and how they could be used to their advantage. Once shown how to create and place them, children are then in charge of both the creation and use of small traps. They also begin learning other important skills such as tool-making, meat preparation, and fire-making.
As they get older they begin to join the adults on hunting trips - save the few who take on roles as cultivators - where they learn to place larger, deadlier, traps for bigger animals like longhorns. Long before their first trap catches an animal, they will have been taught how to prepare the meat, bones, skin, and organs of it into the many foods, tools, and ornaments that they use.

A Symbiotic Relationship

There is a specific type of fungus that grows on the skin, presenting as red blotches across affected areas. These rashes are not itchy - not that itchy anyway - and are said to bring good health and fortune to those who possess them - the more, the better. Among the Cavehands, those with the most red skin hold more sway among their community, they are often called the Chosen. The Chosen are integral members of Cavehand society, performing ceremonies and serving as keepers of knowledge.
Members of the Cavehand Clan find themselves falling ill less frequently than those of other clans, something they attribute to their fungal symbiosis.
This isn't only a one-way relationship as the fungus gets to prosper on the members of the clan. The clan members also care for the mushrooms within the caves ensuring they are able to grow and never over-harvesting them to ensure that they will always have more in the future.

Clan Relations

Many generations ago there was a deadly battle between the Cavehands and the Boilbloods and the tension between the groups has never lessened.
The Longtooths and Cavehands have a relationship of indifference; while they share some overlapping territory, they rarely compete for the same resources. Though the Cavehands respect the Longtooths for their often quiet behavior, they also think their way of speaking is blunt and overly-hostile.
What the Cavehands can't get - or get enough of - themselves, they can get from the Nightwalker Clan in exchange for some of the fungi they cultivate. These trades are conducted directly or through the Openarm Clan as the Cavehands and Nightwalkers share no overlapping territory.
The Cavehand Clan and the Openarm Clan often trade with each other and are allowed to move through each other's territory freely. The Cavehands see them as boisterous and overly talkative but bear with it for the benefits of their relationship.

Outside Views

It is the nature of the Cavehands to keep their homes hidden and to speak only when necessary. They don't loudly boast and their plans use muscle only when their minds fall short. The other clans see this secretive behavior as suspicious and are hesitant to trust them. They are also seen as weak because they don't present a strong - or exaggeratedly strong - face to the other clans.