Lost Village

Hey! Firstly, I'd like to introduce myself. Name's Acubens, astronomer extraordinaire and total physics geek, and I'm very happy to be here! ^^ I look forward to rping on this site and getting to know all of you guys on here. The idea that I had is kind of one that I've been tossing around in my head for the past year or so and I thought it would be cool to get some help with it and talk it out since I was planning on creating a character based around it.

Basically, it's a village of people who live outside of the walls rather than within. I imagine that they exist outside of the walls since, when the people first were moved to Paradis Island, I would imagine that they weren't as blended together as they are in the time this rp takes place. So I would think that there would be some clash between different beliefs and lifestyles and not everyone would agree to the idea of living together. So I wouldn't see it as too far-out there to say that there was a group that objected and decided to try their luck for survival on the outside of the walls where they could distance themselves from others and preserve their beliefs, language, culture, and lifestyle.

I know the most glaring problem with this idea is titans. Though I have a way around that. It's been shown in the anime and the manga ( I believe, correct me if I'm wrong ) that the northen region of Paradis is far colder and prone to more extreme weather. It's also been stated in one of the more recent chapters of the manga that the northern region has fewer outposts due to the lack or decreased presence of titans, since titans are mainly seen south of the walls. Given that fact, I think it is feasible for a small community of people to live outside of the walls if they reside in the northern region of the island. Given the harsh weather, I'd also say that they'd probably live close to the coast for a source of food since hunting for game and planting crops would be harder and less reliable, and I think the risk of titan attacks would also be decreased further by this since that places the settlement farther off.

I thought it would be awesome to have a community of people who haven't been subjected to the ever present fear of titans, since to them titan attacks would be rare, and to have lived in an entirely different social environment and culture. I've already got some facets of their society written out ( religion, social structure, technology, language, clothing style, writing system, etc. ) and I thought it would just be really cool for the interactions that could take place.

As for how the people would even make contact with those who live within the walls in the first place, the idea was going to be the reason for making the character I plan to. Though they don't have to worry over titan attacks, there are other concerns for such a small community. The main one being disease. Since they're a small group and have had no real reason to progress beyond the technology they currently have available ( as well as the fact they simply don't have the means to ) it means that in the face of disease they're rather useless. So when a disease they've never treated before crops up, they've no way to help themselves and must turn to the only other people who can offer aid. I would think that they know the walls exist, since that's the reason they are where they are plus a society like this would be mainly hunter-gatherer and it is an island so chances are someone has seen the walls, so they would certainly know where to go for help. Even if they have a dislike for those within the walls, I don't think it would be strong enough for them to risk losing their people and therefore their culture.

Anyways, that's pretty much it! Lemme know what you guys think and if there's anything I should fix! ^^

To be fully honest this actually sounds really interesting, and really feasible, too. None of that over-the-top "They are special and that is why titans don't attack".

Just one thing, though: On our forum, the entire 'people were moved to Paradis Island" is not a thing. (not to mention 'Paradis Island' is really the size of a continent, even in canon) Aside from that, however, it's perfectly fine.

The only one addition I have to this is have the people of the village only keep their own history in relative terms; aka. they're not *really* sure anymore. That's simply because of the 'open backstory' I'm keeping for the global situation.

At the same time, while there are less titans up north, it does not mean there are none. It would be great if you could come up with an inefficient method of killing/avoiding titans, one that works on token individuals that might attack the village every now and then. Maybe something like mammoth traps, only for bipeds?

Anyway, I'll wait your post with more detail, but consider this 75% approved, and feel free to make your character with this in his backstory whenever you please.

I'll fix the history part then. I'm glad for the flexibility for their origin there, though. It'll open up some ways to tie their history to their religion more closely, I think.

As for their defenses against titan attacks, I did have an idea. It's part of the original way that I wrote this lost village, but it might have to be changed. The original idea I had in mind when I developed this was that the village had a titan shifter who's titan ability was passed down through the blood line. I'll have to explain some of the titan's abilities here so be warned this might get a little bit template-y even though I'm trying for it to not get like that.

Basically, the most prominent trait of the titan form is the teeth. It has saber teeth and has the ability to pretty much eject these teeth from its gums in order to use them as weapons in battle, but that's not the important bit. The teeth share a trait with Annie's crystal ability in the sense that they don't turn to steam even when the titan's body does. So the main idea was that the village uses the teeth left over from combat to create basic defenses. Like the titan shatters the teeth and the splinters are repurposed for use as shingles for roofs or to create support beams or rough tools. I thought the titan shifter served a purpose for a few reasons.

They're a community that isn't very technologically advanced, so they lack the means to create weapons strong enough to do good enough damage to titans. Plus any metal they would be able to produce wouldn't be able to cut through titan skin ( like in season 2 when Sasha tried to attack a titan with a regular axe ) so the leftover teeth would be their best bet for effective weaponry. There's also the fact of their environment. They're close to the coast where the land is open with little cover and trees to string traps in. With no gunpowder or sufficient knowledge to create them, the community also lacks explosives that would normally be effective in those open spaces. That's really the main reasons I created a titan shifter for the community. To give them a way to create weapons effective for fighting smaller titans, but the titan shifter themselves also serving as both defense against larger titans as well as helping to provide a resource that lets the village fortify itself so they don't have to rely solely on the titan shifter.

There are still setbacks with this though. The teeth can't really be carved into any shape. Since it's the hardest material the village has access to, their own tools aren't able to really craft the teeth. The most they can do is have the titan shifter themselves apply the force necessary to break the teeth down to whatever size is required and create basic things from there. For more complex tools they have to rely on wood and metal to be their components. So even with a shifter they aren't really all set. They also still face the issue of the terrain to work around when it comes to creating traps and weapons.

That's the original idea I had in mind when I first began creating the idea of the village, but I understand if this needs changing and am willing to try and find other ways of creating defenses for the village if it does.

I actually like the Shifter idea, and you should feel free to go with it. The only request is that said shifter is 'region-locked', because he needs to always be at home to protect everyone. As such, I find it really likely that the shifter bloodline is also the chief bloodline, rulers of the town, but benevolent; the tribal self-sacrificing type, all he works is for the people. The fact shifters need to injure themselves to transform, or him breaking his own teeth off, both play perfectly into that.

Then, there should also be a shaman bloodline, who knows how to take the power of the Father and pass it to the Son. Once the father dies, the shaman just takes spinal fluid and feeds it to the son, but they do it much more religiously and full of prayers and other such ritualistic behaviour. After all, that shifter is likely considered a descendant of the gods, and that is where his power comes from.

So, feel free to keep the titan idea, it's marvelous in context.