Nanuq prepares for guard duty, wearing her tribe's traditional armor.

The armor itself is made mostly of wood, with some bones for additional armoring as well as some fur lining for protection against the cold. As her people don't actually hunt most of the materials are scavanged, although occasionally the tribe may kill an animal or two when in need of materials or if an animal or group happens to grow bold and wander into the village. In such cases they make sure the kill is not in vain and most of the parts are used one way or another. For warriors of the tribe it's a rite of passage that they gather a skull for their headdress to prove their fighting and survival skills. Typically this means tracking and killing an animal that's large enough so that it's skull can be worn such as a wolf or large snow cat, the animal's spirit is believed to then become the warrior's totem and guardian spirit.

In Nanuq's case this meant she had to take down a polar bear as it was one of the few predatory animals large enough for her to wear it's skull. A feat not many of her tribe cannot claim to have pulled off, let alone on their own, which had certainly helped Nanuq with gaining acceptance and respect within the tribe for a while.

Art by   foxenawolf
Character belongs to me   chakat_blackwater