Kekunan

The Kekun­an are the most skil­led ikranä mak­toyu (moun­tain bans­hee riders) of all the clans. Light­ning fast refle­xes, cool com­po­sure and a cou­ra­ge­ous heart help them com­mand the magni­fi­cent aeri­al predators.
This dar­ing clan makes its home at the base of sheer and dan­ge­rous moun­tain cliffs. The Kekun­an love not­hing more than to leap and dance from one floa­ting moun­tain to ano­ther and urge their Kekun­an brot­hers and sis­ters to fur­ther feats of daring.

The Kekun­an dress in bright, bois­te­rous colors, a sym­bol of their unbre­aka­ble con­fi­dence and a tri­bu­te to the crea­tures that sur­round and sus­tain them. Riders often sel­ect shades that match the vibrant pat­terns of their ikran mounts. As a tra­di­ti­on, the Kekun­an make cop­per-colo­red batt­le bands cal­led masat for riding ikran in batt­le. They also wear visors made from lea­ves and fea­thers to pro­tect their eyes from wind while fly­ing at speed.

Kekun­an youngs­ters train for Ikni­ma­ya at an ear­ly age, deve­lo­ping the refle­xes and ner­ve the Kekun­an peo­p­le are famed for. Child­ren and youngs­ters use bans­hee cat­chers and ikran toys, for use as edu­ca­tio­nal tools. Clan elders use them to demons­tra­te the dyna­mics and phy­sics of flight. They teach their child­ren spe­ci­fic maneu­vers that mir­ror the beha­vi­ors of real moun­tain bans­hees, such as diving, gli­ding and tur­ning. This deve­lo­ps con­cen­tra­ti­on and quick refle­xes—two indis­pensable traits of high­ly skil­led bans­hee riders. This is part of a wider focus on bans­hee riding pre­va­lent in the Kekun­an Clan.

Legend tells that a Kekun­an hun­ter named Taro­nyu was the first per­son to bond with an ikran, and inven­ted the bans­hee cat­cher, a tool still used today by all Na’vi who attempt Ikni­ma­ya.