The Trials
Around 14 years of age, all Male Liberi Coltoti, or Colts, must undergo the Trials. The Trials are broken down into three challenges- The Brother Quest, The Hunt Quest, and The Warrior Quest.
The symbol of the beginning of this ritual is the delivery to the Colt of his first War Club. There are several variants of the war club, the Tomahawk, a stone tipped club that symbolizes the heavy kick of the Eun. The Hatchet symbolizes the powerful bite of the Lon Dubh. The War Club symbolizes the attack of an Eun Bull. The Colts are allowed to train with their new clubs for only one moon, and then they must battle each other on the Day of Brotherhood. The goal in this trial is to subdue, but not kill, ones opponent armed only with clubs by scoring points through various successful attacks. This point scoring is called the Counting Coup and in later life warriors from different tribes engage in this game at the Moon Festivals. To the Liberi, this ritual embodies the warrior spirit of close combat against foes of the tribe but emphasizes that it must never be directed towards the tribe members themselves - there is no civil strife amongst the Liberi. If a death occurs, and they sometimes do, the dead Colt is considered a weak warrior and his killer is also deemed unworthy of full tribal membership and called a Loner. Loners take no more steps in the Trials, and do not become fully fledged members of the Tribe. They are destined to spend their lives doing labor rather than Warrior work, and may never marry.
The lance symbolizes the Strong Arm of the Tribe- its Warriors. Only once a Colt has successfully completed the Brotherhood Quest may he receive his Lance. This begins the Hunt Quest, the second part of the Trials. The Colt is required to hunt alone but under the supervision of a Liberi Master Hunter, or Cheveyo. The Colt must bring down and kill an Eun with his knife, then one with his bow, and finally one with his Lance. He must do so despite all obstacles including constrictor worms, Eun bulls, Termite swarms, and even ambush from the Panthera, the Liberi’s arch enemies. A colt that succeeds in the Hunt Quest is then given his first shield and receives his first breast plate made of the leather and bones of Eun.
After a brief rest from the Hunt Quest, the Liberi Colt is escorted to the edge of the Swarth, and sent from the tribe for a full three moons. The Colt may bear only his weapons and armor and is not permitted to take food or water. This is the Warrior Quest, and the Liberi colt must survive and return to the tribe within his allotted time with at least one object from Faraway. Many Liberi Colts are lost this way, in fact nearly half, but those that survive come home to the tribe stronger. They have shown demonstrable survival skills, and all have a new found appreciation for the beauty and majesty of the Swarth and the Liberi way of life.
The completion of these two trials indicates a Colt has become a warrior and is now ready to take his place amongst the lance charging warrior squads of the tribe on the hunt and in war. At this time the warrior is given a Lon Dubh egg in the ceremony, and it is his task to rear the bird and form a lifelong bond with it. These vultures soar high above the warriors on the warpath and the hunt, and the special connection each has to his fathering warrior allows the Liberi to hear and understand the calls of his own bird. This gives the Liberi the ability to see through the eyes of his vulture and understand all that is taking place around him in the tall grasses.
Only Warriors may marry, and they participate in the Moon Night Festivals, dancing, demonstrating their skill at arms, and their war whoops- elaborate and long cries used to communicate across the vast open plain of the Swarth.
The Liberi Arts
Liberi handcraft much of their weapons, armor, and day to day goods from the products of the Swarth. They are also keen in expressing their warrior traditions through war paint on their bodies.
Relics and Relic Weapons
Liberi do not like things from outside the Swarth, and hold things from Faraway as evil. It is however the overcoming of Evil that Liberi believe is an important and necessary step on the path to becoming a warrior. This is why the Warrior Quest requires a Liberi to leave the Swarth and return with something from Faraway - Relics and very rarely, Relic Weapons. These items are given over to the Shaman of the tribe to be purified once the Liberi returns from his quest. If the Shaman deems the item “clean of Evil” he may give the item back to the Warrior who discovered it. At this time the Warrior decides whether to keep it or give it to the Tribe. Since most of these items are unidentifiable and worthless pieces of junk, they end up as part of the Tribes' communal property and are given in offering to the hidden and permanent shrines of the Big Chiefs. These shrines are said to be the last resting place of the Big Chiefs - the original Liberi that came through the Hole to walk Nowhere and claim the Swarth. The Relics kept by the Warriors are usually the very rare but useful items from Faraway. These items can be used as a weapon to enhance the fighting prowess of the warrior that found them and thus the Tribe as a whole.
Magic and Religion
To the Liberi, there is no such thing as Magic and Religion as separate things. They are one and the same. The fundamental tenant of Liberi religion is reincarnation and the concept that the Liberi are one with the Swarth. Each creature that resides in the Swarth is considered the reincarnation of a Liberi soul. The grass hoppers, snails, and animals are Liberi that have yet to be born. The Eun are Liberi who have died once. The Lon Dubh are those Liberi that have died many times. Finally the Condors the spirits of great chieftains. The constrictor worms and the termites are the souls of Liberi who have fallen from the vision of the Big Chiefs, and are evil. Hole Beasts are the vestiges of the Big Chiefs Spirit and are the most revered of all creatures. It is why the Liberi will sometimes sacrifice captured enemies to them, so that those enemies may be shown the errors of their ways and become Liberi Souls in waiting, purified by the cleansing digestion of the Hole beasts' inner fires.
Liberi Shamans are the keepers of the Liberi faith and can embody the Spirits of the Big Chiefs when needed through the casting of Fire, Ice, and Time Spells. They are also great Herbalists, and can use their concoctions to heal the injured and sick through rituals. They can also call upon the Hole Beasts for protection. It is the Shamans that give the tribe members their special satchels of spirit. These herb pouches have a strong scent and can negate the call of the Hole Beast as well as ward off Spirits of Evil.
All Liberi Shaman have blue eyes. The rare foals born with Blue eyes grow into colts (only males are born with blue eyes), and after completing the Trials, take on the Fourth Quest: the Spirit Quest. During the Spirit Quest, the New Blue Eyed Warrior must endure three moons without food or water and within sight of a Big Chief Shrine. The only sustenance they have is specially prepared bags of herbs and drug like extracts. Since the Shrines are in hidden and remote location they are often surrounded by foul beasts. The warriors that survive this ordeal, and few do, become apprentices to the tribe’s shaman.
They spend years in his shadow and under his tutelage, learning Herb craft and the art of calling upon the Great Spirits, the Hole Beasts. They also manage the social affairs and moral principles of the tribe. A tribe may only have one Shaman and no others. When that Shaman passes on, the eldest Apprentice takes his place. Few Shamans are less than forty years of age and are considered the source of wisdom for the entre tribe.
Dwellings
Liberi are nomadic and follow the great Eun Herds during their seasonal migrations. They have no permanent dwellings. Their housing and workshops consist of quickly collapsible tents built from the skins of Eun and other animals of the Swarth. They do not farm but live off the land. Only the Shaman Apprentices till the earth, and then only for special patches of ground to grow particular herbs.
When the Liberi stay in any one place for an extended periods of time, say four moons or more, the Shamans summon Hole Beasts to form a protective ring around the encampment. This gives them some defense against the wilder carnivores of the Swarth but is particularly useful in defending themselves against raids by their arch enemies the Panthera.
