Avikan/Factions

Avikan Clans are essentially tribes - a social group of Avikan who share the same home and are often family too. Clans started out pretty small, but they've grown to enormous sizes by now: in a giant Terve like Vhelin, pretty much every Avikan who lives there is a member of the Vhelin Clan.

The largest clans of the Avikan are Vhelin, Anakahr Rhakor, Remura, Koden and Andrava, but there's dozens of other relatively large clans and hundreds of minor clans.

Before the Era of Vhelin, when Ilyalat ande Vhelin united all of the Khoden clans under a single banner, there were plenty of clan wars on Kadavan. After Ilyalat united the clans however, not a single war was fought between the clans, and the Era of Vhelin lasted for over a thousand years until the Thell finally arrived.

All of the major Avikan Terves were evacuated, and many smaller ones were too, but those who were too far from any spaceport had to be left behind. That means that there were quite a few smaller Terves that were unable to evacuate, and many of those who still followed the old nomadic ways were also left behind. There were also many volunteers who stayed behind to ensure the safe departure of the Nomada, and some outposts that remained staffed to keep track of Thelean activity on Kadavan. All of these outposts have gone dark though, either to hide from the Theleans or because the Theleans found them and wiped them out

It's likely that there are still Avikan left alive on Kadavan, but no-one's been able to contact them.

The unification under the banner of Ilyalat ande Vhelin helped resolve inter-clan conflicts, of course, but the Great Exodus brought the clans even closer together simply because they needed that unity to survive.

Back on Kadavan, clans were closely tied to Terves: every large Terve had its own clan, and when a new Terve was built, it would eventually start its own clan as it grew independent from other Terves. New clans were formed every now and then, though it was rare for one to cease to exist. The clan of Vathra is one of few recorded to have gone extinct entirely. Nowadays, aboard the Nomada, there's clearly no more Terves. Now, clans are tied to fleets, flotillas and capital ships: all the large clans have a large capital ship, accompanied with many smaller vessels. Some smaller clans have only a few ships, or even just a single ship. It's very much possible for new clans to form, but there's an extensive bureaucratic process tied to it now.

Avikan society is divided into clans, but overall is ruled by the Council of Elders: a council with representatives of all the clans. For a new clan to form, a request must be submitted to the Council of Elders, who will judge the request and decide whether or not a new clan is allowed to form. They'll consider the merit and intentions of the requester, who will obviously already have to be a meritful individual: if their request is approved, they become a member of the Council themselves, so they need to have proven their merit. It's rare for new clans to form, but it does still happen occasionally.

Clans usually have some custom traditions, values and a unique personality that its members are generally very loyal to.

Vhelin
Vhelin is obviously the largest and best-known clan, since it's Terve was considered the capital of Kadavan and this clan was responsible for uniting all clans under a single banner. The orange/yellow pattern you find all throughout Avikan society originated in Vhelin and was a signature symbol of theirs. It's Terve is located in eastern Avikha oasis.

Anakhar
Anakahr is best known for Anakahr Systems. It's the technological mastermind of the Nomada, and developed a lot of the common technologies used by the Nomada (and also built some highly advanced weapons). It's Terve was located in the northern Vha'leihan mountains, and many attribute it's technological prowess to it's vicinity to Vas Vha'leih.

Rhakori Clans
Rhakor and Remura both came from the Rhakori Highlands, and are the most unique culturally of the large clans. Their mountain homes were incredibly well fortified and survived countless ancient wars, but the region isn't nearly as fertile as Avikha where most of the large clans come from. They valued water even more than the other large clans, which were all situated closer to some oases (though they did have some underground reservoirs). They're known to be handy and direct, but also very physically strong. They had to do a lot of travelling to hunt effectively and to gather water. They are also known for their majestic architecture, and especially their towering structures built on top of the natural Rhakori plateaus.

Rhakori clans are great hunters, known for endurance, strenght and skill. Their hunting grounds were massive and relatively sparse, and home to a lot of the more fierce predators of Kadavan. Rhakori Highlands were considerably more dangerous than Avikha oasis, along with surrounding Eastersand, they were crawling with Sandstalkers and other massive predators.

The Rhakori clans didn't have a single distinct colour, but there were a couple of common colours. Yellow was often by those clans - likely due to the surrounding sands and frequent sandstorms in the distance - as was a pale blue that resembled the colour of the sky on a rare clear day. Some clans liked to use green too, to contrast with their surroundings, but green dyes were hard to make in the Highlands.

Koden
Koden was heavily involved in the original production of the Droden, and have also contributed greatly to designing the Vanguard's drones. Their signature color was red, much like the Vanguard, to represent the red sands surrounding their Terve.

Vathra
Vathra was once an Avikan clan of criminals and outlaws. The clan was a massive headache to the other clans of Kadavan, and grew incredibly infamous across the Avikan world. Eventually, the largest of the Avikan clans - the Clan of Vhelin - managed to locate the Terve of Vathra and eradicated the entire clan, though some small fragments remained. Over time, the name Vathra grew to become a curse word amongst the Avikan, much like how Vas Vha'leih became a blessing. The Avikan have quite a history of using names of historical clans and locations in such ways.

Their signature color was black. They used a lot of spikes and generally appeared intimidating. Their clan was located in Eastersand. The remains of what was once Vathra clan are now also part of the Darve'ras, but officially, their clan was disbanded after their Terve was destroyed.

Whitelands Tribes
They were mostly unknown of for a long time, but during Era of Vhelin even the clans of the Whitelands were united under the banner of Vhelin. The clans of the Whitelands had little trouble with water resources, since there's snow all around. However, they were always looking for sources of heat and find some comfort. They generally lived underground or near some rare hotsprings, and wore more clothing than most clans. The Avikan can withstand cold temperatures - the deserts can be freezing at night, after all - but prolonged exposure isn't good for them so the Whitelands clans tried to stay warm.

The Whitelands are home to animals with fur, which is a rarity on Kadavan. The clans there ofter crafted their clothing and equipment using this fur, so they looked very different for the other clans when fully outfitted. The same fur was often used to decorate their weapons, which were made of slightly different kinds of bones. During the Era of Vhelin, they too transitioned to using more metal, but the clans of the Whitelands were still some of the most conservative and focused on tradition. The Avikan living there also often had a lighter skin colour, some even being nearly white in color.

Kavanite-plated structures in the whitelands were generally painted white so they blended in better. The inside of the structures (other than the entrance) was usually not painted, so it still felt more like home inside thanks to the familiar sandy colours.

Andrava
Andrava (named for the Avikan home system) was formed after the Exodus. It's members came from the countless minor clans that were destroyed during the Exodus, and so it's got highly varied culture. It is now one of the largest and most diverse clans, with a lot of sub-groups and unique legacies.

Darve'ras
Unofficial clan, that formed after the Exodus. Mostly made of Avikan outlaws, criminals, black market dealers and various other deserters, who turned against the Nomada. Their name literally means "Without allegiance", not many actually have allegiance to Darve'ras itself. While they are generally seen as a single faction, they don't have a central leadership and they definitely don't always get along with each other. They have a lot of black market activity and definitely deal in assassinations and the like, but there are plenty of Darve'ras who simply oppose the Nomada's ways and seek another life amongst the stars. Could be called a spiritual successor to the Vathra clan, (In fact, ex-Vathra clan members, post-disbanding, are now 'apart' of the the Darve'ras) though they are definitely less malicious.

Others
This section lists medium-sized clans about which there is not much information about. For some an approximate location of their Terve is known. If all of the minor clans of the Avikan are included, one'd end up with a few hundreds official clans. There's far fewer large clans, but likely still a few dozen more than are yet unknown.
 * Athra, somewhere in Avikha region.
 * Kalach, somewhere in Kalachi Waste.
 * Kalachi, possibly an adjective form of Kalach or it's own clan. Which one is unknown.
 * Kaviri, somewhere in Westersand.
 * Kharaad
 * Tevira
 * Vagaard, somewhere in Avikha region.
 * Valura, in Vhalakis.
 * Vhalin, somewhere in eastern Avikha oasis.
 * Vhalakin, unknown. Possibly also in Vhalakis.