Category:Darfari



DARFARI The Cannibals of the South "He glanced back at the shadowy palm groves, among which a red glare was mounting. A chanting rose to the night, rising with a savage exultation. And another sound mingled with it, a mad, incoherent screaming, a frenzied gibbering in which no words could be distinguished. The noise followed Conan as he rode westward beneath the paling stars." -Shadows in Zamboula

Darfar is one of the northernmost of the Black Kingdoms, located just south of eastern Stygia. The River Styx cuts through Darfar and feeds the massive swamp in eastern Darfar. Darfar is largely grassland in the north-west. A hill range separates the grasslands from the southern forests, a dense belt about thirty to thirty-five miles deep.

Beyond the forest, to the west, lie open savannas. No Darfari cities are mentioned in the stories; likely the Darfari live in primitive villages. Western Darfar is the location of one of the most impenetrable barrier swamps of the Hyborian age. This swamp is composed of open water in some places, submerged vegetation in others, floating fringe vegetation in still others and includes large sections of seasonally inundated woodlands, grasslands and scrublands.

Description
In racial make-up, the Darfari are closer to the southern blacks than they are to the Kushites. The Darfari are deeply dark skinned, tall and lithely muscled with extremely kinky and coarse hair. They have short, broad and nearly straight noses. As a race, the Darfari strongly dislike facial hair, so it is usually plucked out. Their chest and forearms are quite hairy. Probably their most distinctive characteristic is their filed teeth. Both sexes file their front teeth (the incisors and canines) to fine points, which is seen as attractive throughout Darfar. They tend to walk with a slouching gait. The women of the Darfar tribes typically have almond-shaped eyes.

Grooming is important to the Darfari; the men mold their hair into grotesque shapes with twigs and dried mud, sometimes over a wooden base. Darfari men remove facial hair through plucking; both males and females find facial hair disgusting. Some tribes stain their hair red with cow urine.

Darfari women wear their hair long in most tribes but a few tribes prefer their women to shave their hair except for a long top-knot; the women of these tribes also shave their eyebrows. In addition to shaping the hair, some Darfari tribes practice techniques of cranial binding on infants in order to shape their skulls into elongated or even heart-shaped forms.

Clothing
The Darfari wear few clothes. Adult males usually go naked except maybe for some beads around their necks or their wrists. In some civilized regions they may wear loin-cloths.

Darfari enjoy ornamenting themselves with jewelry. They may also adorn their noses, ears or lips with rings of ivory or precious metals. Adult women are usually nude in the villages but may wear goatskin skirts or plantain girdles with long, dried grass hanging from them when travelling outside the villages.

The Darfari do not use dress or costume to signify status beyond a leopard skin worn by the tribal chief or headman. Indeed, the older a man is the dirtier and more ragged his clothing, regardless of his status.

Body paint is a common practice among the Darfari.

The Darfari, like many other Black Kingdom natives, use body paint for ritual and decorative purposes. Red or blue paints are the most common, although white is worn by witch-doctors.

Tattooing is also common.

Behavior and Notable Oddities
Demeanor - The savage Darfari are regarded as thieves and murderers, without a hint of basic trustworthiness. They are quick to take offence and are fiery in temperament, being utterly indifferent to human life makes them dreaded by neighboring people. The Darfari laughs at even the slightest hint of humor despite their warlike, vengeful nature. The Darfari are also rather indolent, preferring to avoid work if possible. The men would much rather sit in the main hut of their village (the palaver house) and make thatch or fishing lines.

Art - The Darfari enjoy poetry and song. They have different songs and chants for different activities. The Darfari have work songs, celebratory songs, cultural songs, ritual songs, war songs, historical songs and flattering songs for ancestors, spirits and friends. The most interesting use of song is in a ritual competition to resolve legal issues.

Dance - The Darfari love to dance. Like most Black Kingdom tribesmen, the Darfari use almost any excuse to dance. They always hold a dance at the time of the new moon. Their rapid dance movements are obscene yet graceful. Drums keep a constant time while torches flicker around the dancers. Usually a dance begins at the onset of darkness and continues until dawn. One important dance is the famed ‘moon-dance.’ Each month when the moon is full, the Darfari hold a dance to figuratively ‘eat’ the full moon (see under religion), using captives as stand-ins for the moon.

Like most Black Kingdom tribesmen, the Darfari use almost any excuse to dance.

Fishing - The Darfari love to fish using fishing nets, hooks and traps. They go out into the rivers and swamps in dugout canoes. Fetishes designed to bring luck to the trip and safety for the tribesmen hang on the canoe, including skulls and other bones.

Fetishes and charms are believed to bring luck and safety.

Cannibals - The Darfari are shameless in their cannibalism and practice it even in the light of day. Cannibalism is not just an example of perverted dietary preferences among the Darfari; their ghastly cults demands such gruesome fare. The eating of people is a matter of ritual and symbolism (see Ritualistic Cannibalism under religion).

Diet - At birth, each Darfari is assigned a taboo food that he is thereafter forbidden to eat; the taboo varies from individual to individual and is divined by the witch-doctor when the child is brought to him by his parents. Beyond this restriction, the Darfari will eat nearly anything, preferring meat. A person’s taboo food may only be eaten when he is given permission by the witch-doctor, for taboo foods are considered extremely potent magically. A witch-doctor may chew his own taboo food while casting certain powerful spells to increase his magic potential.

Religion

 * Ancestor Veneration
 * Animism
 * Spirit Worship
 * Superstition
 * Yog and other Darfari gods

Polytheism - The Darfari do have gods, though they do not worship any one more or less than any other. Their tribal/nature religion is based on many gods and numerous dark spirits of nature – animal and jungle spirits that empower the world with magic and life. Witchcraft, sorcery and juju are mainstays of their religious experience, although most of their magic is directed toward mystical entities to bring chosen weather, to encourage a good harvest or to bring about success in war.

Any spirit or god that is ignored is likely to visit a host of ills upon the people. Their creator god, the Source of All Things, is named Anyambi and other shadowy gods include Nzame (who created people), Mabere (reptile god) and Nkwa (personification of destiny). The Darfari gods are indifferent to the sufferings of man but they insist on being honored lest they send doom to those who do not honor them.

Ritualistic Cannibalism - Cannibalism among the Darfari is not just an example of perverted dietary preferences, the eating of people is a matter of ritual and symbolism. The Darfari believe that the flesh of a human tastes better if that human has been frightened and forced to run, so they will usually try to arrange a chase instead of just killing someone if possible. The Darfari prefer bludgeons as weapons to beat their victims to death or unconsciousness, feeling that this retains the flavor of the meat. The victim is then caught and bound so that he is completely immobilized and placed in the cooking pit to be roasted alive. After the victim is cooked, the body is offered as a sacrifice to the gods. Some tribes paint the victim black at this point. Once the ceremonies are complete, the body is cut up and distributed to the tribe.

The Darfari believe that human flesh tastes better if that human has been frightened and forced to run.

When ritual cannibalism is conducted in favor of Yog it is believed that, once each month, they Darfari must "eat the moon". His worshippers may only eat meat, never plants of any kind. They must consume human flesh at least once per month, and those who fail are considered ritually unclean until they have done so. The tribe gather to symbolically spear and eat the moon, using captives as convenient (and tasty) stand-ins for the distant spirit. The moon then gives up its cosmic secrets and tells the tribes when fishing will be good, when planting should begin and what the weather will be like. Eating outsiders' flesh is said to make the Yoggites immune to weapons.

The moon is considered a particularly powerful spirit among the Darfari.

Tribal Religion - The Darfari religion is tribal, so they do not try to explain their religion nor do they try to convert others. One is either raised with the tribe to believe in this religion or one is not – and is therefore forever an outsider. Overall, the religion is designed to reinforce the need for community among the Darfari, to strengthen the tribal ties. The Darfari believe spirits abide within everything – including parts of themselves. The Darfari are quick to burn hair that is cut or plucked from them and do not let strangers near their blood if they are bleeding. They know the spirits within hair and blood can be used for witchcraft.

Prayer Words - Words and language are powerful forces in Darfar, so each Darfari is given a secret, magical word by a witch doctor. This magical word is uttered as a prayer by that individual Darfari.

Ancestor Veneration - The Darfari worship of ancestors is limited to worshipping their deceased fathers. When a man’s father dies, the paternal skull (along with other bones) is placed in a reliquary, which is a wooden box with a guardian figure attached to it. The skull is thought to possess the full power of the dead person and these boxes are treated with reverence. A Darfari may ask it for advice, sacrifice small animals (usually chickens) to it for favor and generally worship it. The skull of a man’s father is considered to be an extremely powerful source of magic. The women worship the skulls of their mothers.

When a man’s father dies, the paternal skull is placed in a reliquary.

Ritual Sacrifice - Ritual sacrifice among the Darfari takes a grisly form. A sacrifice is decapitated and its vertebrae removed from its corpse – still attached to the head. The genitals are removed and the rest of the body is dismembered and used for fetishes and magical charms.

Health and Medicine - The Darfari are very superstitious. Most healing is done through a combination of sympathetic magic and herbalism. Illness is not considered to be a failing of the body but the result of ‘witches’ in the body. The more severe the illness, the more ‘witches’ are within the body. Essentially, each symptom is the result of a separate ‘witch,’ so a person with five symptoms is said to have five ‘witches’ within.

Fetishes and magical charms are usually made of body parts that are shrunken and sewn together.

Omens and Animism - Everything is an omen or sign and anything the Darfari sees as dominant or great obviously has a powerful spirit in need of placation. Also, objects, places and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork and perhaps even words— are perceived animated and alive.

Government
Darfar is not a nation proper unified under a ruler but simply a wilderness area occupied by a cultural group consisting of many tribes. There is no centralized authority. The tribes are autonomous but interconnected through intertribal trade and many shared cultural values. The Darfari have clan leaders who handle both the spiritual and political needs of the clan. The chief always has at least one large, carved mask which supposedly allows him to communicate with the village ancestors.

The clan leader is also expected to know the clan rituals and he is the focus of most of the clan’s rituals. The clan leader is an arbitrator when necessary and chooses the headmen that lead raids on other villages. The clan leader is a ritualized symbol of authority, not a dictator.

In addition to the clan chief, most Darfari villages have a headman or war chief (in some cases, they may be the same person). War chiefs often levy tribute from nearby villages in return for not attacking them. Darfari law is informal at best. Intra-tribal conflicts are often handled with singing or chanting contests in front of the tribe, with each person putting his side of the story into the performance. Intertribal conflicts are a bit more complex, however.

Intra-tribal conflicts are often handled with singing or chanting contests.

The typical solution for intertribal problems follows this pattern: One villager commits a crime or offence against a member of another clan or village. The wronged Darfari travels to a third-party village and kills the first animal or woman he sees. When the owner of the animal or woman comes out, outraged and demanding to know why the Darfari killed his property, the Darfari says that he has been wronged. He identifies the village and the name of the person who wronged him and tells the third-party that the burden is now on him to correct the wrong. The third-party Darfari then travels with the wronged Darfari to the village of the original offender and finds the offender. The third party Darfari demands payment for the loss of his animal or woman.

At this point, all parties go to the main street of the village and tell their sides of the story and talk it out before all of the village. They attempt to come to an agreement on how much will be paid to the wronged parties (the offender must offer goods to the original wronged Darfari and to the third-party Darfari if he is deemed by the village to be guilty). If an agreement is not reached, then both of the wronged villages will raid the offending village until satisfied – which could easily escalate into a never-ending feud. The reason for the involvement of the third party is to increase the cost of bad behavior and, thus, discourage criminal acts.

Economy and Common Professions
Darfari own few material possessions. The are hunter-gatherers and their grasslands and jungles are filled with ferocious game and fertile soil. The Darfari have some sense of money, using iron arrowheads in bundles as a measure of value. A single iron arrowhead (or an equivalent amount of iron) is called a Beki. A bundle of ten Beki is an ntet. A dowry is typically something valued at ten ntet or a hundred Beki. Women are their primary trading commodity.

Goats are also traded with some frequency, considered by most Darfari to be only slightly less value than women. Cloth is the third most commonly trade good. Salt is highly sought after in trade. Millet and tobacco are also deemed trade goods. Further, the Darfari trade in the dead. Unless the dead is a chief, the Darfari will trade their deceased with neighboring tribes, for they do not eat their own clan members. Chiefs and other important persons are buried.

Common Professions:
 * fisherman
 * hunter
 * warrior
 * witch doctor

Sex Roles and Marriage
The sex roles in Darfar are clearly defined, especially in regards to the division of labor. Men hunt and herd and women cook. Boys are taught to fish, herd and hunt while girls are taught to cook, make pottery, weave baskets and mats and care for the children. Men till the fields but the women plant the crops.

Women and children sleep in the houses while men sleep in the cattle pens to watch over the family wealth. Only men are permitted to be blacksmiths because of the ‘magic’ involved. Men herd cattle and the boys practice by herding sheep and goats. Males and females bathe together in the rivers and pools without regard to modesty.

Prior to marriage, Darfari girls do as they please in sexual terms; virginity, chastity and virtue are not held in any sort of esteem. It would be uncommon to find a maiden much past puberty in any given tribe. The Darfari see polygamy as an ideal situation but in practice most men only have one wife because of the ‘bride price’ payment and the lack of possessions most Darfari males have. Darfari are required to marry outside their clan. Grooms pay a ‘bride price’ to the bride’s family, which creates an alliance between the two clans. If a woman’s husband dies, her husband’s brother is expected to marry the woman (without the need for a further ‘bride price’ payment) in order to provide support for the widow and any children.

If a Darfari warrior has more than one wife, all the children are raised together as members of the same family. The various wives typically cooperate but each wife is ultimately responsible for her own children. Adultery is common in Darfar and one of the chief reasons for raids and warfare between the villages and tribes. Wives are loaned to all guests.

Slavery
The Darfari are ferocious and treat prisoners badly, often allowing them to starve if they are not eaten. While Darfar itself is an endless source of slaves for Stygia, Turan and Shem. Darfari slaves are sometimes used as pit fighters. For example, Darag Wolf-Jaws, born in Darfar and sold as a slave to a trader in Turan, was raised to be a bestial fighter who uses his teeth and a set of clawed gauntlets.

The Turanian city of Zamboula has large population of Darfari slaves who prowl the streets of Zamboula at night looking for human prey. The local population knows to keep indoors after dark, and do not care much for the strangers that pass through, allowing the slaves to prey on the foreigners.

Influences
Darfari own few material possessions. Men usually have a few weapons and the family may own a house, a dug-out canoe, tools, pottery and woven goods. Most homes have a block of iron for an anvil. Virtually all Darfari property is filthy.

The Darfari live in bee-hive huts or cave dwellings. The bee-hive huts are made with mud walls and have conical roofs of thatch that require constant maintenance. There are no windows. The door is usually just a huge strip of bark leaned against the doorway at night. The houses have dirt floors that are beaten down hard. Beds are side-by-side long poles supported by forked branches. Usually two beds are found on either side of a house with a fire pit in the center, beneath a hole in the ceiling.

Over the doorway of each house hangs a bundle of skulls, a fetish given as a gift to a family by the witch-doctor to protect the house and family. Often other grisly fetishes hang around the house from the roof, usually skulls of men, women and children, with the spines still attached. Some are fully fleshed heads are considered more potent fetishes.

Bones and skulls hang from the roof as macabre wind chimes. Along the back wall is the aforementioned reliquary containing the bones of the father of the oldest Darfari male living in the house. Stools, bowls, gourds, baskets, hanging shelves, boards and other implements can be found throughout a house. Hooked tree branches depending from grass ropes hold food and weapons.

The women and children live in the houses, while most of the men sleep in the cattle pens to protect the only wealth they have, although the houses are otherwise used by the entire family. The cattle pens are larger than the houses and have mud roofs. Darfari tribes in and around swamplands live in permanent villages that are built on high ground.

''Tip: Darfari tend build very sparingly. Huts in various sizes on ground or up in trees works best. The T2 wooden building pieces looks good up in trees, other go with T1 building pieces for their ground based round mud huts.''

More Information
RPGS:
 * Return to the Road of Kings (Darfar, p 90-99)
 * Faith and Fervour (Gods of the Black Kingdoms, p 25-27, 29-30)