The Sun Folk were the first of the other tribes to be discovered by Cutter and the Wolfriders.
They are a secluded, peaceful community of farmers settled in the desert oasis of Sorrow's End. Their beginnings lie also with a small group of the Firstcomers, who traveled deep into the barren desert before they too made a home on the World of Two Moons. Savah, their Mother of Memory, was a mere child at the time of the Firstcommer's arrival to the desert and is a link to the Sun Folk's distant heritage. After the Wolfriders' settlement in Sorrow's End, some of them remained behind after Cutter embarked on his quest - Woodlock, Rainsong and their family, more attuned to the peace and harmony of the desert than the harsh, dangerous life of the woods, and also Dart, who, having taught them the secrets of hunting and self-protection, went on to lead a new generation of Jack-Wolfriders born of the village.
Culture[]
The Sun Folk are the most advanced tribe amongst the elves at the time of the Original Quest. They are an iron age civilization, who know the art of metalsmithing softer materials such as gold, copper and silver, although they lack the ability to smelt other metals. [1]
They are the only tribe that practices agriculture, and they subsist primarily off of planted fields and small game. Hunting was not common amongst them until Rayek begins hunting as a child.
[2] They have domesticated animals, and are well-practiced in creating cloths such as silk. They are the only tribe shown to build their homes rather than shape them, and they create their huts out of sun-dried bricks.
Initiation[]
The Sun Folk practice a form of breeding outside of Recognition called Initiation. It appears to be an early form of Recognition induction, as it's stated to work only rarely.
Festivals[]
The Feast of Flood and Flower.
Trial of Heart[]
Major Sun Villagers[]
""All known Sun Villagers can be found under the category.""
Leetah Rayek Savah Shushen: the lovemate of Dart and a jackalrider. Deceased as of (issue #).
History[]
Rootless Ones[]
"Yurek the Rock Shaper became our leader and our salvation. He urged us into the desert, vowing that he would protect us with his powers. By day we slept, protected from the all-consuming sun, within shelters summoned from the sand by Yurek. When evening-light fell, Yurek would dissolve the shelter he had made, and he would summon water for us to drink from the rocks deep under the ground. Then we would walk all through the night, five tiny fragments of life in a barren wilderness. Only one thought cheered us. We knew humans could not exist in such a place."
The Rootless Ones were the ancestors of the Sun Villagers. They were presumably descendents of the High Ones rather than High Ones themselves: their tribe was made up of thirty elves when Savah was first born, by which point they had already established themselves as hunters.
They were hunter-gatherers and lived in a vast forest, where they waged a perpetual war against the humans. When Savah was twelve years old, several tribes of humans banded together to drive the elves out of the forest. Of the thirty original Rootless Ones, only five survived: Savah, Hasbet, Yurek and Dreen.
They decided, in order to escape the humans, to flee the forest. First they travelled to the west, until they reached the mountains. Discovering that humans inhabited these lands as well, they headed south, led by Yurek. [4]
They may have been an offshoot of the Gliders who chose to remain outside of the Blue Mountain.