Culture of Third Earth
The Elephants
*Most of the known Elephants of Third Earth reside together in a large (in proportion to body size) village on a large, lush mountain amongst several other smaller mountains, connected by krudzu-bamboo bridges to said mountains.
*The village consists largely of stone temples, stone and wood houses, a meditation circle for the elders, and a very small (to Elephants) hut which magically leads to the mysterious Astral Plane.
*Unlike most other Animal species, there are not a great many sub-species or races amongst the ranks of the Elephants. They include Indian, Asian, African, forest and bush, and that's it.
*The Elephants' neighbors include satyrfolk, panda folk, both giant and red, Chow Chow guards, and various other species which are usually peaceful. The giant pandamen have been drastically reduced in numbers by some of the war packs, like Jackals, wolves, coyotes, foxes, and other predators.
*The Elephants are the third, and only other, Animal race besides the Cats and the Birds that have prospered well in their country and stayed at the top of the food chain. This may be due to the fact that each of these three races protects a Power Stone, in the Elephants' case, the Spirit Stone, which they hid in the Astral Plane.
*While the Cats live by magic and mysticism and the Birds depend on technology, the Elephants are a very spiritual species, abiding by maintaining the peace and harmony of the universe through meditation and understanding.
*The Elephants grow their own crops, fruits and vegetables, and they keep it as safe as possible from the giant insects called the wraiths, which often steal some of their food. Nonetheless, they depend on the wraiths' existence to protect them from a barbaric stone giant that sleeps near both the village and the wraiths' hives.
*Although the Elephants aren't as interested in complicated education like the Cats and the Birds, they do have small schools in their village, the Bawdi Elementary School and the Gangani High School, where they teach their young about nature, harmony, living off the land, and quiet meditation, among other similar things that they find important.
*The village has no organized government, but if it did have one, some might see it as a quasi-theocracy, because of the Elephants' devotion to the fabric of the universe and the spirits which amend it.
*Elephants do some of the same things real elephants do, like drink, cool off and bathe in a tank (pond), graze on their food on feeding grounds, and relax from time to time under shade trees.
*Elephants always cremate their dead rather than bury them, because they believe that by honorably destroying the body, the spirit is freed to become one with the universe.
*Elephant calves, like most Animal children, love to play with each other, and enjoy such games as "Four Corners," "Passing the Parcel," "Lucky Ducky" and "Duck Duck Goose." To their sadness, the Birds of the Bird Nation and Avista consider the last two games to be obscene.
*Elephants are rarely possessive, and share their things with each other generously. To them, anyone with a conscience can see that nothing is permanent, so it can't belong to anyone indefinitely, and only the greedy would get their hands on more than they need.
*Partly because of their large, awkward hands, but mostly because of their adherence to vocal legends and traditions, Elephants don't read or write books, and are usually illiterate.
*They do, however, have the hands of a healer, and they can mend many different kinds of wounds one might receive, although a broken heart is not one of them.
*Elephant society has marketplaces for them to get their goods and supplies, but instead of using money to pay for them, they generously trade some of the extra goods they already own to the merchants in exchange for the ones they need.
*The village also has a dozen wells to help water their crops and provide drinking water when the tank is drying out, as well as barns for their working non-sapient animals, and a few playgrounds for their children, especially at the elementary school.
*Elephants are talented musicians, and can make anything from drum music with their feet to tuba-like music with their trunks.
*In spite of the old saying, "Elephants never forget," the sapient Elephants of Third Earth are not known for their good memories, sometimes forgetting things almost as soon as they hear them. But they never forget that there is a delicate balance to all things, and this is why they allow the wraiths to take some of their harvest so the stone giant won't wake up and destroy their village.
*Like their neighbors, Elephants are usually pacifists and don't like to fight. However, if they have to protect their village from hostile invaders, or they have a friend they wish to help in his/her own fight against a villain, they are willing to fight for as long as necessary.
*If Cat society is like medieval monarchies in Europe and Bird society is like a western technological milieu, Elephant society is like that of the Hindu philosophers of the Indian subcontinent. The Elephants even have Indian accents.