Huroola

Huroola was a matriarchal human Nubari tribe, known for its xenophobic and militaristic culture, that inhabited the southwestern edge of the Fire Mountain of the Malatran Plateau in Kara-Tur.

Habitat
Huroola territories were bordered by the Fire Mountain foothills to the northeast and the shores of the Dreaming River to the south.

Culture
Huroola were a prideful and territorial people. They once were male-dominated, a legacy that forged their xenophobia and militarism. Huroola had the best warriors and heroes of the Living Jungle, but they believed that they could tame the jungle and survive on their own without the aid of other Malatran tribes.

Males of Huroola were entrusted with keeping homes, preparing food, maintaining fires, and protecting food storage via traps. None of these tasks was achieved with the use of spears or daggers, as males were forbidden to use any type of weapons. Men provided childcare as women patrolled and hunted during the day. Both Huroola males and females were rarely seen outside the tribe territories. Each village usually consisted of ten to thirty huts constructed of bamboo and hardened mud.

Garb
Men and women of Huroola dressed practically in light clothing made using animal hides. They wore brightly colored wooden and clay jewelry affixed on leather thongs. When warriors ventured on hunting expeditions or entered battles, they covered their faces in blue mud and their hands with chalk.

Customs
All males were barred from wielding weapons while within the Huroola lands. Male visitors were encouraged to stash their weapons somewhere before dealing with Huroola. Those who disrespected this law faced some of the cruelest and most violent punishments of the Living Jungle.

Traditionally, at least for several centuries, Huroola women took on the professions of warriors, hunters, and leaders. Males were considered untrustworthy to wield weapons of destruction and were delegated to positions of 'speakers of the dead,' witch doctors, and shamans. 'Speakers' effectively were priests of the tribes, practicing ancestral worship and communing with spirits of generations gone. They dispensed wisdom, mitigating conflicts, and provided healing. In the distant past, the gender roles of the tribe were reversed, however, yet as of the late 14 century DR, some women still were known to become speakers.

Government
With the establishment of a matriarchy, the speakers of the dead received power to guide and advise female Huroola elders. No warring, no alliance, and no discussion were done without tribal speakers. Each village had, on average, between three and six speakers who communed with the ancestors. Both male and female 'speakers' were sources of ancestral lore and stories. Nightly, stories were retold to the new generation of villagers, with new stories added after each heroic deed committed by the tribe's women.

Trade
Men of the Huroola villages were taught to craft tools, baskets, and pots. None bore particular decorative value and were simple in design. Women hunted boars, giant snakes, and most other mammals and reptiles that inhabited the Malatran Plateau. Male trappers brought home small game and fish At one time, women joined male fishers with their spears, but that practice was abandoned to not tempt men with the bloody power of weapons.

History
Around 300 years before the 14 century DR, the Huroola were a patriarchal society. Men were exclusively warriors, and physical strength was the only thing worth respect. Women of the tribe were speakers of the dead and shamans. Under the leadership of men, Huroola lived from war to war. They conquered a third of the Malatran Plateau, from the River of Laughing Idols to the savanna. Huroola were in a constant bloody conflict against other tribes and creatures of the Living Jungle and tribe warred against tribe within Huroola.

This blood-soaked culture led the Huroola people to the brink of extinction as a result of internal conflicts and acts of deadly revenge. But the women of the tribes—the speakers of the dead—were granted a vision by the tribe's ancestors. They guided the women to claim rulership from the men who were deemed untrustworthy by their ancestors. This revolution took place virtually overnight, owing to the convincing visions and Huroola's dire need for salvation. Following the switch, men were delegated to shamanistic duties while women took on the roles of leadership and power.

In the Year of Great Change, in the late 14 century DR, the extraplanar evil known as the Tamara was looming over the Living Jungle. In order to reveal the invasion and the dreaded Tiger, the heroes of Malatra sought an alliance with the isolationist Huroola tribes. The heroes were tasked with rescuing two dozen Huroola hunters captured by the Kretch, servants of the Tamara who infested the jungles. When the mission was successful, Huroola provided eighty of the strongest women of the tribe to the united army of the Living Jungle with only one demand: they only obeyed the orders of female commanders. This was not a problem as the general who ended up leading the battle was the Snake Mother of the yuan-ti.

One year after the battle at the Blood Bridge, in the Year of Tigers Curse, a member of the Huroola tribe almost brought ruin and destruction to the jungle. Nathani was a Huroola hunter who thought that the tribe's ancestors were angered by Huroola fighting side to side with males in the battle of the Blood Bridge, and she blamed all misfortunes on that fact. By luck, she came across Talunuku, an ambitious spider katanga who sought to become the new Mother of a Thousand Young, and the two decided to join forces. Nathani believed that with the demise of the Mother of a Thousand Young, it would take Talunuku some time to gather forces of the katanga under her rule, hence taking away allies from the Tamara's inevitable second invasion. However, Nathani's plans were thwarted by the heroes of the Living Jungle.

Notable Huroola

 * Alabbe, a female warrior who protected Tuwanne and Valapana villages against an influx of Nubari-eating little thunder garuda in the Year of Sorrow and Hope.
 * Ambeela, the leader of Valapana in the Year of Sorrow and Hope.
 * Inhoc, a male Huroola athlete who participated in the contest of skills during the Council of Tribes in the Year of Discovery.
 * Joru, a young male Huroola shaman who joined heroes of the Living Jungle against the Mother of a Thousand Young in the late 14 century DR.
 * Kimichi, the "speaker" of the Taupassin village in the late 14 century DR.
 * Seer, the witch doctor of Valapana in the Year of Sorrow and Hope.
 * Sitka, a Huroola of a somewhat progressive worldview who gave non-Huroola men an opportunity to drop their weapons without being slain on the spot.

Appearances

 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * The Curse of Fire Mountain &bull; The Courage of a Coward &bull; Huroola Prophet &bull; Monkey City &bull; The Necromancer's Stone &bull; Come the Tiger &bull; An Army of One Thousand
 * Shadows of Sin
 * Shadows of Sin