COMMUNITY - FORUMS - GENERAL DISCUSSION
If you like Yoru

Hello everyone. I'm a very new member of the CoE community, but I am just as excited to be here as the next person. Over the last couple weeks, I've taken my own sort of deep dive into this amazing world that everyone is building. I think by now I've probably read every developer journal and watched every single full-length Q&A stream at least once. This really seems to be the game I've been waiting for, like so many other people. Though I prefer high fantasy and have little interest in politics, I know that I can find my place in this world regardless. It's really inspiring to see the kinds of things the team is doing here; especially the logic-based and scientific approach to creating a living world.

Moving on; one of the most heart-breaking things I've seen so far is being teased with information on twelve different tribes before finding that only eight are available at launch. It's completely understandable, I believe in all of your reasoning and to me it seems like you made the best choices regarding the cuts. But it leaves me starving for information on the unavailable tribes. Most notably my #1 tribal affinity of the twelve, the Yoru. My element is water, especially in its phases at or below freezing. Blue is my favorite color and pale is my favorite tone. Though their size and strength is interesting, it's not why I like them at all and actually diametric to my second favorite tribe(Kypiq). I'm curious about their culture, lore and how they ‘thrive’ in the tundra. Of course, I'm not going to just cry about it. I have a rough plan to contribute to their post-launch discovery, integration and assimilation. Even if it means dedicating an entire spark of life as a role I'm not emotionally invested in towards that goal.

Onto the body of this post. I have some thoughts and ideas on what ‘Yoran’ might be like. I wasn't around if there were any community suggestions when tribes were being designed and I might be missing some information available. But I've done my best at finding what I could and this is all purely conjecture based on minimal information and logical deduction.

We know that the Yoru are descendants of Mann, because all tribes are descendants of Mann and genetically compatible, living in a tundra biome. Currently, their only tie-in to the other tribes is in Brudvir legend. Brudvir children enjoy embellishing them as ‘ice giants,’ though this may not be precisely wrong. “The Yoru generally keep to themselves, but will come to the aid of the Brudvir in times of great need..” From this we can deduce a few things. The Brudvir are the northernmost playable tribe at launch, living in and around an alpine forest biome where cold and snow are prevalent and soil is naturally acidic so not much can grow there. The Yoru live even farther north in an even less forgiving environment, where likely next to nothing grows. For anyone that might not know, a tundra is defined as ‘a vast, flat, treeless Arctic region in which the subsoil is permanently frozen.’ This is a very limiting biome and a lot can be said about the Yoru simply by knowing this. How are they able to survive in such a harsh place?

Well, they're probably not vegetarians. Judging by their muscle mass, they're probably almost if not completely carnivorous. This could actually be a disadvantage, similar to how the Kypiq vegetarian diet is as well. Iterating on that, even wildlife is probably scarce in most areas. Due to this, they are more than likely one of the primarily nomadic tribes with locomotive settlements; and they probably travel in small groups. Larger settlements might be within the safety of natural caves and tunnels or those carved from ice. This could result in a system in which various parties of hunters venture out, from the safety of their cave systems, for weeks at a time in search of food for their home settlement. This ties in as well to what I think might be one of if not their most dangerous enemy, the Pteroguin, which are quite large and also live in the tundra. With such a vast open area, minimal shelter and nowhere to hide the enemy above you is your primary concern. The need to be constantly on the move is reinforced in this scenario in order to at least avoid migration patterns. Inversely, it's possible that they hunt, in groups, vulnerable Pteroguins for food when the need arises. Or not because that's one scary penguin.

Other tundra fauna include the Dryas Elk, Domino Foxes and the Flower-Cup Porcupine. In concept art we've seen characters wearing Dryas Elk antlers. This is most likely one of the primary deterrents the Yoru have against Pteroguins while out in the open.

Without more information on what other kinds of fauna might live in the tundra, the Dryas Elk would be the most logical choice for domestication and mounts. But it's precisely because of this that I don't think the Yoru are very concerned with the process of domestication as a whole or even riding on any sort of animal for transportation. An Elk would just be another mouth to feed, and the Yoru are quite strong and probably have enough natural stamina to walk or run long distances at a good pace unaided. It’s also possible that the Yoru will primarily be living in the areas even farther north than where you might find Dryas Elk and Flower-Cup Porcupines which, as herbivores, require some amount of vegetation.

When I think about what the Yoru might be like, they have some amplified commonalities with the Brudvir but if you peel back the surface then I'm sure things will be quite unique. i.e culture, motivations, mental priorities, religion or the lack thereof.

A couple quick unsourced references to Q&A videos;

“Yoru are the most mid to high fantasy tribe in the game.” - Caspian

“You’re not going to be hiding as a Yoru. So if you like stealth play, don’t bother with Yoru...You’ve got semi-translucent white skin. So you’re going to be reflecting tons of light.” - Souzou

“Their skin is white-blue.” - Caspian

“Yoru can't wear disguises.” - Souzou

Some advantages and disadvantages I think the Yoru might have:

Advantages:

Cold immunity or high cold resistance, at least much more than Brudvir.

Slow metabolism: the need to eat or sleep is less frequent and their stamina is drained less from physical activity.

Disadvantages:

Pallid skin(although this is the Dras’ only inherent disadvantage and it’s probably unique to them)

Permafrost skin: They fatigue much faster and are more vulnerable to dermic injuries in warmer biomes.

Carnivorous: veggies hurt tummy?

Monster or Mann: Due to their natural size and unique epidermis, they can’t disguise themselves as any other tribe and have trouble finding any way to hide(especially outside of their home biome).

Attributes:

Their primary attributes are seemingly physical strength and stamina. Agility may be lacking. They’re clearly not very social outside of their own biome, though whether this is intentional or simply due to their location is hard to say. Without knowing anything about their culture, I can’t say they’re not social within their own tribe but it’s likely not a strength. I doubt they lie much, they’re probably very straightforward so I can’t see their persuasion or maybe even intuition being very developed unless they’ve been watching the other tribes from afar. They’ve helped the Brudvir before seemingly without expecting much in return so they probably have noble personalities but might also be a little gullible. Unless that’s what they want you to think. Without more information on lore their mental attributes are difficult to analyze; will, reason and focus. They’re probably very focus-oriented because of the struggles they have to face every day in order to survive. But everything else really depends on how spiritual they are.

Religion:

They may be Faedin not unlike the Brudvir, Janoa and Kypiq but there isn’t a ton of spirit in a frozen wasteland. It seems more likely that they wouldn’t be religious at all or might have their own religion or Faedin variant with a more introspective direction. Spirit of the self, and a mental connection to the rest of the world. Meditation and soul-searching is key there.

Now, back to the Yoru’s singular continental tribe connection. From what I've gathered, the original intention of the developers was to design and release all 12 tribes before final testing. They made the decision to table four tribes until post-launch for various reasons. However, the minimal amount of information that had spilled out over time before that decision were all predicated on their simultaneous release. This means that any design information related to the Yoru and other hidden tribes had to be halted and revised after the decision change to make sure they would blend with the world. Plus, priorities. So it's possible that the Yoru might not speak Northerner at all or even be natural allies with anyone because they probably won't be on the same landmass as the Brudvir. Unless that was always the intention and I'm way out of line. In which case, that would beg the question of how such a secluded tribe could already know how to speak Northerner. Regardless the further away we get from the initial statements, the more likely that everything I'm saying is just ridiculous Trison poop. For example, inspiration for the Yoru lore related to some sort of shamanism and the Three-Eyed Raven.

KingInTheNorth

Either way, I’m extremely excited to learn more about the history and lore of this fantastic tribe. Maybe I’ll get lucky and someone will decide to share something we didn’t know before. Like, maybe some concept art. That being said; to the community, if I missed anything please enlighten me and feel free to give your thoughts and opinions on my own silly conjectures.

Yoru&MeForever


1/31/2018 11:59:48 PM #1

Welkome to the community, your summary of what is known about the Yoru atm seems quite accurate. When you venture north in seek of the mighty giants, be sure to stop by the town of Brash. We will happily supply you with enough food and other supplies for such a hazardous journey.


Brash

2/1/2018 1:55:50 AM #2

Another major point I would like to point out is that the Yoru came to the aid of the Brudvir without being on the starting continent.

That means Yoru have had some form of ocean travel since before the events of the game.

Considering the resources in the tundra, that tells me that they must have skinboats. These can be made with whalebone, seal skins, and seal fat, so it would imply that the Yoru are both sealers and whalers, or some Elyrian equivalent.

2 more hints I can see about their culture comes from their relationship with the Brudvir and their inability to disguise themselves or hide.

Now, if they rarely interact with the Brudvir, that means they have no logical reason to care what happens to them, and that they helped them entirely out of goodwill. A Janoan-esque bloodlust is also out of the question because again, there's not much further interaction, ruling out mercenaries.

Combining that with their inability to use disguises or hide (ruling out Yoru deviants), they probably have some sort of white-knight (no pun intended) honor-driven culture. They can't hide, so they in turn have nothing to hide.


3/18/2018 1:11:13 PM #3

Yoru are Faithless, Caspian and Snipe hunter have said "If you ask them about gods they will tell you "we are alone in this world." So that answers at least one of your thoughts heh


3/18/2018 1:35:48 PM #4

Welcome welcome welcome! I'm glad to see whenever someone goes on a deep dive into the ecology of the worlds we all come together to build and live in. Your research into the Yoru makes me want to hire you for an expedition team! Loving the insights :D


3/19/2018 5:22:35 AM #5

Just to toss in a few more ideas...

And thanks for all your great work on extrapolating the things that have been told so far. They may be just myths and legends for all we know, since the interaction with the Brudvir is extremely limited at best, and I would assume that all the information that does exist has been filtered thru their eyes.

For some reason I've been picturing Yoruland as something similar to Greenland. But perhaps it is more like Iceland with hidden geothermal resources and such? Maybe some combination of both? A hidden city at the center with the barren areas as a buffer to keep others out?

I also see them as being very few and far between, even there, as the food supply could be even more volatile than in any other biome. Do they hunt some type of Giant Polar Bear? Mastodons and Mammoths? And if so, what do these large creatures then eat? Are the Yoru the hunted, as well as the hunters?

Could those that have come into contact also be some type of subclass that doesn't truly represent the greater Yoru population? Explorers? Outcasts? Are they really Mann at all?

Again, more questions than answers at this point.

But still a lot of fun to toss out ideas.


We Are The Many... We Are The One... We Are THE WAERD !!!

3/19/2018 10:22:56 PM #6

<script>alert(“hi”)</script> hello


When I die, I want to go peacefully like my grandfather did–in his sleep. Not yelling and screaming like the passengers in his car. - Bob Monkhouse

3/23/2018 6:42:00 AM #7

K wait, so... if the Kypic and Yoru sign a child contract, we can make smurfs, right? Totally doing it.


Need a friend code? - B2FAF3