Stagnation is Death


Formation

Twoleggers were the catalyst for the sundering of the Sakura race.

When the Sakura first came upon the creatures, they looked so harmless. Their furless bodies were all hunched over a flickering flame that had taken pity upon their sad, weatherbeaten bodies. The Sakura saw them and also took pity, teaching the lost new additions to Firesky proper respect to the Cycle, as well as more practical knowledge, like where fish were most plentiful and which fruits were safe to eat. In return, the hoomyns shared their kills with the Sakura more readily than did the Asahiko, protecting their friends of smaller stature. Life was peaceful.

But the Sakura never should have interfered. The hoomyns should have been consumed by the wild. They were an infant species in the heart of the forest, soon to come into their unnatural power.

Twoleggers invaded the forest, driving forth the animals with iron and fire. They wrongfully took the Cycle's power of life and death, they brought and early end to Firesky's life...

When the ashes had settled and the papillon were left orphaned and alone in the world, the Duuyo had seen the nature of hooymnity and knew it was rotten. Grieved though they were to learn that the twoleggers they had loved so dearly could grow to be such monsters, the Duuyo faced the facts... the Kenjin could not. They were the wolves who refused to cut ties with the twoleggers. Few though they were, the Kenjin flew with the four winds back to the now forbidden settlements of twoleggers. There, unknown to the Duuyo, who had assumed the hoomyns had killed the misguided Sakura, they grew fat on the prosperity of the Unbalancers, and grew in number.

The two factions grew seperately for many years, each believeing the other to be extinct. When they ran into one another again, there was first attempts at diplomacy. Neither faction would abandon their position, and soon the conflict exscalted into violence. The Jitsuko, having already endured a similar split a century earily, stepped in before it could turn into the war that rocked the former Firesky at weakened the Asahiko as a race. Soon each group was formalized into seperate clans, and an uneasy truce has existed since.

Beliefs and Behavior

Each papillon believes in what they call the Great Cycle of Being. They accept that everything that is has its own place in the Cycle, and that reaching one's full potential is only possible when one accepts one's place. To keep the Cycle continuous, Balance must be maintained. When a soul is recalled to the Cycle (death), then it is encompassed within the very heart of the Cycle, in which the soul knows nothing but bliss. Then, depending on how much a soul has grown or regressed, it is sent back out to one of the many realms to fill a position the Cycle needs for the continuation of the Eternal Rotation. Should a soul ever reach its full potential, then it shall become a part of the heart of the Cycle, and a new soul will be born to take its place.

Of course, different clans interpret these basic beliefs differently.

The Duuyo see things as much more black and white than other clans. Also, they tend to take a holistic approach to matters. The clan condemned twoleggers as a whole for the destruction of their home, and, once lost, the trust of the Duuyo is not easily won back.

To the Duuyo, each species is either an agent of the Cycle or works to unbalance it. Naturally, they view the papillon as creatures of balance. Twoleggers they attempted to nuture and bring into the same role, but they believe that the twoleggers betrayed them and the Cycle that birthed them. The Duuyo believe that Firesky is simply a warning sign of things to come-- a microcosm of the world that is. Should the twoleggers be schooled in knowledges they weren't ment to have, they will, in their arrogance, strike out and end up bringing down Creation with them when they fall.

However damning this sounds, the Duuyo do not blame them for this. In fact, they place more blame upon themselves for having helped the hoomyns in their forest to prosper. Obviously, the creatures never shold ahve been allowed to prosper... the Sakura stepped out of their place in helping them, the Duuyo realise now.

While the Duuyo tend to classify species as "good" or "bad", they understand, at the heart of balance is the balance between good and evil. So, the Duuyo expect for there to be reckless species like the hoomyns. They are determined not to make the same mistake of helping an ignorant species such as hoomynity and risk upsetting balance. This is why their shunning extends to all twolegger species, not just the hoomyns they felt betrayed them.

Though they seem judgemental to outsiders, the clan is open to adaptation. Their Clan saying, stagnation is death, is taken to heart by members. The Duuyo have come out from their hiding to revel themselves to twoleggers. Some packs have even risked lending aid to them again, though usually this is always a short-term situation. More often, they appear to help twoleggers, but actually end up setting them up against one another. It is also often Duuyo who can be traced to "faerie" sightings by playing tricks upon twoleggers wandering too close to pack territories. The Duuyo are always adapting themselves to new situations, a thing they accuse the Kenjin of being incapable of.

Still, besides the examples sited, the Duuyo are very secertive around twolegger species. When a twolegger does catch sight of them without their knowing, the little wolves are a stunning site... especially to a twolegger unfamilar with either species of Papillon.

Duuyo v. Jitsuko
Attitude Towards the Other Clans

Hikari: These two clans sometimes refer to one another as their "sister clan". Hikari, being somewhat arrogant, tend to view themselves and the Duuyo as the "higher" clans of each of the Papillon species. Thus, they afford Duuyo wolves the most respect. Sometimes, the two clans can even have overlapping territories. However, as close as these clans are, Hikari tend to see the Duuyo as their "little sister" clan, rather than their full counterpart. This can get be grating on Duuyo who have regular interaction with a particularly arrogant Hikari. Most of the others know not to baby the Duuyo overtly.

Jitsuko: These two clans struggle to come to terms with one another. Though the Duuyo understand adaptation, they cannot fathom why the Jitsuko would willingly give up their wings. There is also some left over resentment from Jitsuko intervention in the Sakura's conflict and their help in establishing the Kenjin as a seperate clan. They have always seen the Jitsuko as being on the Kenjin's side. This, coupled with the Jitsuko's disturbing willingness to aid the forced of unbalance, tend to make Duuyo avoid Jitsuko as much as they do twoleggers! However, with the thiness of the the papillon breed, the two clans have begun to open up ties with one another, Jitsuko and Duuyo packs allying with one another in territory where they are threatened. Stagantion is death. The Duuyo can adapt to the Jitsuko, but only when they have to.

Kenjin: Their rivals, these two clans of the Sakura have more conflicts with one another than their larger cousins, the Asahiko. Fortunately, the separation in habitat usually keeps tension at a minimum. Kenjin packs tend to be near twolegger settlements, while Duuyo establish their homes as far away as they can. However, not all Kenjin packs live near twoleggers, and when found in the deep forests, at times come into conflict with the Duuyo. At times there are blood. With the dire situation of the papillon population, though, these days Kenjin and Duuyo have an uneasy truce.

Relationships With Other Creatures

Two legged species: Shunned and avoided by Duuyo.
Sentient Creatures: Duuyo view the extermination of sentient life for purposes other than protection of the Cycle as a crime. They respect sentient life, good or bad.

Suicide

Duuyo do not practice mercy killing of other Sakura or condone suicide. Life and death is the domain of the Balanced, not those struggling through the turns of the Cycle.

Neuters

Neuters are not looked upon favorably by the Duuyo. Like the Hikari, the Duuyo see neuters as incomplete. They tend to believe that a neuter is a reincarnation of creature who was not quite noble enough to be born full papillon in this lifetime... The neuter gender is the 'transition' time for a soul being intoduced to the Papillon lines. Thus, neuters tend to be thought of as incomplete by their fellows, though it is expected for them to exist in the packs. Never do they advance very far in pack rankings. With the thinning population of papillon, neuters often find the pack's anger of ever dwindling numbers of papillon directed squarely at them.

Naming

Duuyo are never named after actions or things as Kenjin and Hikari are. The closest is when a Duuyo is named after a word in a language foreign to them. Typically, though, these wolves take only names that serve soley to be names . They are never named such degrading names like 'Bobby' 'Joey' 'Dennis' 'Ashley', and the like. 'Akira', 'Keiko', and 'Luceid' are examples of proper Duuyo names.

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