The Itothani (pronounced eye-toe-THAH-nee) are the reef-dwelling locathah of the Wounds. While generally friendly and welcoming of outsiders to their communities, they are fiercely protective of their vibrant reefs and are willing to take drastic action to protect them should the need arise. They are a diverse group of peoples with varying traditions, spread across the many coral reefs of the Wounds.
Geography
The largest populations of the Itothani are in the Vese-Te-Mona Reef near the Protectors, the Itzazoa Reef near the Angry Kings, and the Vivid Reef near the Chain. They value all coral reefs, however, no matter their size, and smaller communities can be found in reefs far and wide across the Wounds.
Historically the Itothani also lived in the Wonder of the Seas, now known as the Corpse, a reef south of the Old Twins. After its destruction in the early waves of the demonic invasions of the Old Twins, the survivors from this reef fled throughout the Wounds and have culturally diverged from the Itothani, becoming the Bakari locathah.
Demographics
The Itothani are entirely locathah. Still, some individuals of other ancestries can be found living in their reef-villages as well, usually aquatic elves or less commonly merfolk.
Culture
Religion
Most Itothani are followers of the Cascade. Strictly speaking, on its own the Cascade is more of a philosophy than a true religion - it is the reefs themselves that are the object of worship. Each is treated as, if not quite a deity, then something close, a benevolent living god itself composed of both the flesh-forms and spirit-forms of all that live within and around it. Every reef, whether that be the major ones such as the Itzazoa, Vivid, or Vese-Te-Mona or the great many smaller ones that can be found throughout the Wounds, is worshiped slightly differently, with varying areas of concern, tenets, and domains, depending on local conditions and the populations that live around them. The religions of all reef-gods have a number of shared edicts and anathema, however, centering primarily around the need to protect the reefs and heal the injured whenever possible.
Some Itothani hold other faiths in addition to, or instead of, the Cascade, but this is not common. The Sunken Star has a few adherents, as does the Beating Heart.
Society
Traditions
Languages
Nearly all Itothani speak Hikunza, the language of the locathah of the Wounds. While their dialects are generally mutually intelligible, they do have a significant degree of variation. Communities in the same reef can easily communicate with each other but they sometimes encounter difficulty in speaking Hikunza with locathah living in far-away reefs. It is also not atypical for the Itothani to know Sea-Speak.
Art
Itothani artistic works make heavy use of coral as a living medium. Polyps are grown into living statuary, sometimes representing people or animals but more commonly abstract designs that play with the natural shapes of the corals. Some locathah wear living coral as ornaments. This shaping of coral can have practical applications as well, such as in the form of coralflesh prosthetics.
As with many other culture of the Wounds, the Itothani do not commonly write, but neither do they pass knowledge through oral stories. Instead they encode their histories, legends, moral lessons, entertainment, and more in the form of dances, which are elaborately choreographed and practiced. Demonstrations of these dances often involve many individuals at once, all moving in careful synchrony.
Architecture and urbanization
Food and agriculture
Itothani cuisine is effectively entirely based around seafood. Seaweed, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, crabs, and shrimp are core parts of their diet, but fish accounts for most of it. Not all types of fish are consumed by the Itothani, however. Most families and communities hold one or more species of fish to be of particular significance and representing of their own relationship with their reefs, and therefore sacred and protected, but the exact animals that are given this status vary widely. Tropical fish that are only found in symbiosis with local corals are most typical.
The Itothani value freshness in their food, preferring to eat it as it is gathered or harvested, or at least very soon after, without allowing it to sit any longer than is necessary. Almost all dishes are eaten with raw ingredients, though often combined and prepared in inventive ways.
Travel
Though the Itothani are not bound to their reef-cities, it is unusual for them to leave for long. They may frequently travel within them and even outside for a time, but these trips out into the ocean or into the surface world are rarely of extended durations. The Itothani see their communities and their places within them as too important to neglect, for one, but also the open ocean is widely considered to be too dangerous of a place to stay. When they do travel, they often take with them dolphin or eel mounts, or less commonly mantas, but these are more commonly associated with the Angareza.
Trade
While Itothani communities enthusiastically engage in trade, both with surface dwellers and with their nomadic Angareza kin, they never exchange away parts of their reefs. Their corals either remain in their reefs or else carried with the locathah themselves, not given to any outsider except as a sign of the greatest respect. The Itothani frequently trade items made of shell, chitin, and so on, and in return greatly value surface foodstuffs and goods made of worked metal.