Pyra Latu

The Pyra Latu are an isolationist, shamanistic offshoot of the Deindites who live in and around semi-dormant volcanoes.

Visual

Warriors use a mix of obsidian plates and creo scale to create a protective layer, with a glowing seam between armor gaps as an aesthetic tied to their fiery creo. Creo scale lets them walk on lava. Civilians and women wear lighter draped cloth/scale with metal cuffs and volcanic rock headpieces. Colors are more ashen and dark — the Fire Nation from Avatar mixed with elements of the Gerudo from Legend of Zelda.

Environment

Not from the Prime Dimension. An offshoot of the Deindites that has gone from nomadic to living in and near semi-dormant volcanoes, with small scouting encampments potentially outside the volcano's base.

Specialty

Glass weapons made from volcanic material, lava walking, and advanced smithing using the heat and materials of the volcano.

Combat Specialty

Rogue + artificer. They are sneaky and use stealth weapons with added vials of fumes and ash to discombobulate, confuse, and/or incapacitate foes.

Politics

External

Little to no contact with outsiders; very isolationist, treating any external contact with suspicion. Some weaponry and tool trade is done with other tribes, but they never give away their true "latu" weapons.

Internal

Shamanistic culture — three shamans make most decisions for the good of the tribe (think Nora of Horizon Zero Dawn). More spiritual than other tribes.

Tribe Dynamics

The shamans lead the tribe. A new shaman is identified when the other shamans single out a candidate and create a vision quest experience, relying on chemicals and smoke from the volcano to produce hallucinations; whether these visions are interpreted as good or bad determines whether the candidate becomes a leader. The rest of the tribe consists of families who look to the shamans for leadership, medicine, and justice. Their armor and building techniques let them walk on lava, so they build houses in the volcanic environment without trouble.

Lore

Volcanic ash has made the soil in their region fertile, so they don't need to trade with other tribes. While the Deindites, Zahirites, and Eskorai know of their existence, other tribes only know a legend of a group of Deindites who got too close to a volcano and were never seen again — a story the tribes in the know maintain to keep others from finding and trading with the Pyra Latu. They protect a stone called "The Heart of the World" inside the volcano: a Red Obsidian stone discovered by early Deindites exploring near a volcano. Its discoverer had a vision of the tribe's obligation to protect the stone from a darkness in the world. Legend says the tribe once lived at the base of the volcano but something called out to them and they withdrew inside it.