A humanoid subspecies that evolved from Homo Altus families/clans/tribes that, during their migration, fled northward to Hyperborea, with some historians believe they used the land bridge that the later Hyperborean peoples that the continent is named for would also use before it was submerged beneath the waves, to escape the predators who had plagued their entire migration from Antarctica. The earliest estimates of Homo Pallidus, the scientific name for the children's species, inhabiting the continent of Hyperborea are around 320,000 years befor agriculture, with the latest ones being around 275,000 years. Discovering a massive subterranean landscape and cave system that stretches from the Tuyai Elocui (Home of Fire, the name for the central mountain chain on Hyperborea, named due to the present volcanoes.) to the Tuyai Gheata (Home of Ice, the eastern mountain chain.), the Pallidus would spread out throughout the cave system over the centuries, along with some settlements being founded in the mountains, most of these being located near major entrances to the cave system.
*The names of the mountain chains are in the early form of the language of the Children. They refer to the twin primary deities of their religion. The names would be changed following the climate changing following the Bronze Age.
The prehistoric culture of the Zaroi-Ghuațăi would have the few surface settlements be primarily hunter-gatherers who lived in small collections of family groups called Aetyi(Clan), with most settlements being inhabited by a single group on the surface, although those near the entrances to their subterranean home could have somewhere between five and ten clans living in one settlement. The housing of the Children above ground would be made from the wood of the trees of the forests, while those below ground would vary. Some would harvest the trees of the surface of subterranean forests for the material for their dwelling, some would just live in a cave or system of caves that were an offshoot of the main cave their settlement was in, or for the occasionally magically inclined among the children, use their gifts to twist the earth to form a house. The surface dwellers would eat game meat, gathered fruits and grains, and have small herds of livestock that they would fight the Hyperborean peoples for control of prime grazing grounds after they would arrive in Hyperborea. The subterranean Zaroi-Ghuațăi, perhaps due to necessity, would learn how to cultivate several species of plant and fungi that were found in the caves in a primitive form of agriculture mostly consisting of what basic modern gardening is, gathering seeds, planting them in dug holes near their settlement, watering the plants, and occasionally removing weeds, some of which would also be edible and used in cooking. Besides this primitive system, the Zaroi-Ghuațăi would hunt surface and subterranean creatures, gather fruits, nuts, and wild grains from plants, and later on eventually have small herds of livestock. Just as the Arctic wolfhound would be a companion to the Hyperborean peoples, the (wip) would serve as a companion of the Zaroi-Ghuațăi of the caves, while those of the surface would eventually acquire Arctic wolfhounds for themselves.
Societal roles in the early culture of the Zaroi-Ghuațăi would again vary depending if one was looking at the surface or subterranean settlements. The surface would have a structure rather similar to the Hyperboreans, with the men (and occasional woman) being the gatherers and warriors, while the majority of women tended to their family's home, with some scholars believing this system was adopted after several decades of interactions with the Hyperboreans. The shaman/religious leader of the settlement would be drawn from one, if there was one within the settlement, of the bloodlines with magical ability regardless of gender. The chieftain/head of each settlement was usually a renowned warrior or hunter from their ranks, who are believed to have been chosen by being the victor of some series of challenges that any who would wish to lead their kin would go through following the death of the old chief.
The societal roles for the Zaroi-Ghuațăi beneath the surface would have both genders contribute to the gathering of food in some manner, with men usually being hunters and the women gathering wild plants or tending to the primitive gardens most settlements have. Males would, besides that, usually be warriors, miners, and other more labor intensive positions, but in the case of the military, there is evidence of female Zaroi-Ghuațăi of the subterranean culture also being warriors. The usual female roles in the subterranean settlements would be either the clergy, tending to the children and their homes, and be gatherers. The leaders of these settlements varied from settlement to settlement, with the head priest/priestess of the settlement, the strongest clan in the settlement in a primitive form of hereditary monarchy, a council of the leaders of the clans, or the champion of a tournament similar to the surface settlements being the most commonly encountered options by historians.
The discovery of agriculture would impact the subterranean settlements more than the surface ones, by enabling them to create massive fields for their crops and by the end of the Bronze Age, a system similar to terrace farming potentially practiced elsewhere in the world, growing a variety of crops, mostly drawn from the plants of their underground home that were easiest to 'garden', like the (Red Leaf) to name one as a example. Settlements near one of the rare canyons or openings that allow sunlight down would attempt to grow in small amounts the crops of rye and barley, normally acquired through their actions against the Hyperboreans or traded with their surface kin for, who would have their smaller terrace farms filled with them instead of the variety of fungi and plants. Mining would first be used by the Zaroi-Ghuațăi by settlements without other means to expand their caves or by all settlements to acquire resources for their military's weapon and armor, but expand over the course of the Bronze Age with some new settlements being made solely for the mining potential nearby. Hyperborean mining attempts would be yet another source of frequent conflict, with more than one case of a Hyperborean settlement being destroyed by the Zaroi-Ghuațăi due to the humans mining into one of their settlements, passages, or in one case, a fort created to protect against another Hyperborean settlement.
"With bow in hand, ours is a vengeance rained down from afar, we are death upon the wind. With tall spears held out to our foe's throat, cold fury guiding our aim, we are death upon the wind." - Segment of a battle hymn of the Zaroi-Ghuațăi
"They roam and kill in darkness called up by their foul sorceries." - A Hyperborean warrior's opinion of the Zaroi-Ghuațăi
Warfare among the Zaroi-Ghuațăi would begin as skirmishes with iron-tipped javelins, spears, arrows, and other weapons being used with armor being hide, leather, or made out of wood, and evolve from there as the Bronze Age carried on. Due to the lack of copper and tin, the Zaroi-Ghuațăi would, similar to the Hyperborean people, primarily use iron for their weapons and armor either mined from the earth or acquired from deposits of Ironsand within in the cave systems. The smiths of the Children would then use clay vessels to form the weapons, using a process that over the course of history, would become more detailed and complex as technology advanced. They would occasonally also use magic, although the finest weapons and armor of the Zaroi-Ghuațăi would be from the western reaches of their territory. This process would allow them to create iron swords and spears of a better quality than the Hyperborean peoples.
The arms and armor of the Zaroi-Ghuațăi would shift to be iron hand weapons, with the rare piece of bronze weapon being present, (Not Wych Elm) bows ranging in height from smaller hunting bows to larger bows designed for warfare(ie longbows), and a variety of throwing weapons being the typically recorded arms of the Children. Their armor would be suits of iron armor for the nobility and warriors, partial suits of iron armor with leather or hide pieces to complete it for any warriors who could not afford a full suit of armor, then leather, hide, or wood armor for the rest of their warriors with the occasional piece of iron armor, usually a breastplate or helmet. While the Children would acquire some horses over the course of the Bronze Age, with them being used to pull chariots or ridden into battle in a fashion similar to the Hyperborean peoples by the surface dwellers, the rest of the Children would instead ride the (wip), a reptilian creature that they had domesticated and was normally docile, but the ones they managed to train and equip for warfare are argued by some scholars to be as vicious or worse than warhorses. These mounts would typically be ridden by a single rider.
Taking advantage of their superior hearing and being mostly nocturnal, the Zaroi-Ghuațăi would prefer to outmanuever their opponents and set up an ambush, sometimes striking at an opposing force, then disengaging to only strike again sometime during the night. So wars between the Zaroi-Ghuațăi would be more of a series of skirmishes instead of a single pitched battle, with what could pass as a battle among the Children typically being fought near the end of the conflict, with the victor of the battle typically being the winner of the conflict if they decisvely win. Otherwise, it would revert to being skirmishes and raids until the victor could force his opponent(s) into a field battle once again. Sending out champions to duel would be a very late Bronze Age development in their warfare, and in one record of a war between two city-states being comprised solely of a duel between five champions on each side.
The faith of the Children is described as a Mainstream, Martial, and Bastion of the Faith mindset with at least a dozen deities, but several prominent ones that are worshiped in most of the cities of the Children. Most religious services were carried out within the temple of the respective settlement, although some would be carried out at sites sacred to the deity, such as volcanoes for Auraei. The faithful of the Children were encouraged to sacrifice war captives and slaves, leading to martial traditions being developed around these parts of the faith's tenets over time.
Main Deities of the Children :
Fjalyvis - God of the Skies, rarely worshiped by the Children, but one of the primary deities of the surface dwellers who claim he is the God of Skies and Storms, and is one of the deities sacrifices are done to before long journeys or marching out to war. He is commonly associated with birds of prey, and the usual sacrifice to him would be a slave or captive with a blood eagle done to them left on a altar near the temple.
Miteluma - Goddess of the Moon/Night, Sorcery, Winter/Ice, and one of the three war deities. One of the twin goddesses highly revered by the Children, temples dedicated to her are usually are near the canyons or openings in the subterranean system or spire-like structures that rise up into the mountains. Sacrifices to her vary depending on the phase of the moon. Sacrifices during the new moon are flayed and then their corpses hung from the branches of a (wip), a tree whose leaves glow in the moonlight, during the crescent moon, they are beheaded with a ritual knife/scythe, during the gibbous moon the sacrifice's heart is extracted and then burned, and during the full moon, massive feasts are held while the sacrifices are forced to fight to the death in ritual gladitorial games. The 'winners' are then usually simply beheaded.
Auraei - Goddess of the Sun/Fire, (wip),Summer, and the second of the three war deities. The other of the twin goddesses of the Children, the temples dedicated to her are either located close to lava flows or are above ground on the side of a volcano in the western part, while the rest normally have her temples near those to her sister, or surrounded by the plant known as Auraei's Gift, due to it's glowing fruits at night having been used as natural lanterns by the children. Sacrifices to her are either thrown into the lava/volcano, or burned alive after their hearts would be extracted, which would also be burned.
Koriti - Goddess of Fate/Death and Rebirth. Her sacred animal is a (not-barred owl), and the usual sacrifices to her would be either buried alive or on specific nights would sometime involve ritual cannibalism.
Vendala - God of Waters, Storms, earthly fertility, and the third war deity of the Children. Temples to him are normally located near some form of body of water. Sacrifices to him would normally be drowned in the body of water or be drained of their blood.
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