"Water-That-Remembers-Fire"
Southwestern Yanayazi sits where the Scheleur River runs closest to the Firespine before turning west toward the sea. The river runs warm here, not hot enough to harm but noticeably above the temperature of normal water. The Neka of Yanayazi have built their lives around this peculiarity.
Yanayazi is the fishing village, though "fishing" understates what they do. The Scheleur's warmth supports species found nowhere else: heat-adapted fish, crustaceans that cluster around thermal vents, amphibians that bask in the warm shallows. Yanayazi fishers have developed specialized techniques for harvesting these creatures, some of which are valuable to outside alchemists and gourmands.
The village is also the confederacy's connection to the western interior. The Scheleur is navigable by small craft, and Yanayazi traders pole their way upriver to deal with other Urok peoples, carefully, given the jungle's dangers, but profitably enough to justify the risk. They're the most mercantile of the Neka, with a practical streak that sometimes frustrates the more traditional villages.
Yanayazi's relationship with the Firespine is complicated. They're close enough to feel its influence but not close enough to produce many fire-speakers. Instead, they've developed their own spiritual tradition around the warm river. They believe the Scheleur carries Yolu-Kazyn's blessing outward, that the heat in the water is the serpent's gift to lands too far from the spine to receive fire directly. River-prayers before fishing expeditions are common, and Yanayazi mourning rituals involve releasing the deceased's ashes into the current to be carried toward the sea.
Hooks:
- Yanayazi traders can arrange passage upriver for those with legitimate business, and sufficient payment
- The warm-water species occasionally include things that shouldn't exist
- Something upstream has been fouling the water, and the village wants to know what