Banshees

Bonding with a banshee is a dangerous and required rite of passage for all would-be Na'vi warriors. Like the direhorse, a Na'vi can connect to a banshee through a neural interface that allows animal and rider to move with apparent effortlessness through the skies. Unlike the direhorse, however, the banshee will only bond with one Na'vi in its lifetime.

The mountain banshee rookery is high in the Hallelujah Mountains. The largest rookery, which features the biggest specimens (and therefore the best to tame for riding), is in grottoes and outcrops on a sheer cliff face of Mons Veritatis, one of the largest of the floating mountains. It is here that the Na'vi come to select (and be selected by) a banshee for domestication. The bonded mountain banshees nest in the highest branches of Hometree, where they can be close at hand for their Na'vi rider.

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Hallelujah Mountains

The Hallelujah Mountains (Na'vi name: "Thundering Rocks") are floating islands that circulate slowly in the magnetic currents like icebergs at sea, scraping against each other and the towering mesa-like mountains of the region. On Pandora, huge outcroppings of Unobtainium rip loose from the surface and float in the magnetic vortices due to the Meissner Effect.

The entire area is sacred to the Na'vi. They are the staging ground for Iknimaya, a treacherous but fundamental rite of passage in which a young Na'vi must select, capture, and successfully bond with one of the ikran (Banshees) who nest there. This poses a problem for the humans who have come to mine them for their mineral wealth. The mountains float like clouds among the fixed mountains and swirling cloud structures. When they are in clear sunlight they cast distinct shadows on the land below.

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Wallpapers

Here are some of my favorite wallpapers. The links for the artists that created them (that I know about) are beneath in the code of their names. Click thumbnails for larger downloads...

 

Azurelle

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Hometree

Function         Spiritual and physical home of the Omaticaya
Na'vi Name     Kelutral
Size                About 460 meters tall, roughly thirty meters in diameter

There are hundreds of disparate Na'vi clans on Pandora. Some of the clans, including the Omaticaya, live in ancient trees that are two to three times the height of the Terran redwoods that once covered the Pacific Northwest.

The name Hometree is misleading, as the structure is actually comprised of a grove of intertwined trees of the same species that have grown together, providing for mutual strength and structural reinforcement. This, coupled with Pandora's low gravity, is what accounts for the immense height of Hometree. The Omaticaya revere this quality of Hometree as a constant reminder that a community is stronger and more resilient than the sum of the individuals who comprise it. Hometrees are generally described as being more than a hundred meters tall, with a hollow base supported by mangrove-like roots. Within this base there are many columns, creating a large central area. In this central area is a natural spiral staircase, which the Na'vi use to move up and down the tree. The hometree was presumed to be over a thousand years old due to its rarity and size. It is believed that hundreds of generations of Na'vi have lived there (and are buried in its roots)

The circumference of Hometree is great enough to house dozens of clan members. The tree is honeycombed with natural hollows and alcoves in which the Na'vi sleep, eat, weave, dance, and celebrate their connection to Eywa. Each Hometree has enough room to comfortably accommodate the members of each Na'vi clan. Hence, there are no cases of Na'vi overpopulation on Pandora, they have no need to expand beyond their Hometree to conquer more territory, as resources are plentiful. When a young Omaticaya becomes a man he is allowed to make his bow out of the wood of hometree. Hometree was recently destroyed by the corporation under the authority of Parker Selfridge and Colonel Miles Quaritch, forcing the Omaticaya to flee. Like many sacred sites on Pandora, Hometree sits above a large deposit of unobtanium.

Na'vi Rituals

Mating

The Na'vi are monogamous creatures who mate for life. The mechanics of reproduction are similar to that of humans and other Terran mammals. However, their unique physiology provides the Na'vi with a level of intimacy unknown on Earth. Cultural anthropologists believe that when an appropriate mate has been selected (which can take many years), the male and female Na'vi will connect queues (called Tsahaylu) to create an emotional bond that lasts a lifetime. The intertwining of queues is both highly erotic and profoundly spiritual, but does not in itself lead to reproduction.[1]

Traditionally, once a Na'vi male has passed the tests on the path to manhood and has been accepted into the clan as an adult, he is not only allowed to make his bow from the wood of the Hometree, but he is also expected to choose his woman. After the woman has been chosen, the new couple are mated before Eywa.

Jake Sully chooses Neytiri to become his mate, and she accepts and mates with him under the Tree of Voices following his acceptance into the Omaticaya clan as 'One of the People'.

Once Tsahaylu is made between the couple, the ultimate in intimacy, pleasure that is unfathomable to humans, causes the somewhat unwillful sharing of the couple's good memories, and is a sign of Eywa's acceptance. If a couple can be foreseen to not have a pleasant or happy future, Eywa has been known to reverse the feeling produced by making Tsahaylu, a sign to the couple that mating would only, in simple words, ruin their lives together, and therefore prevents the mating, because of it's life-long span. After the resulting embracing and kissing, the couple is sent to sleep by Eywa, and the two dream hintings of their future together. The couple will experience the pleasure of Tsahaylu from the moment of connection, until they awaken and have completed mating, when they disconnect and return to the clan, mated for life.

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The Na'vi People

The Na'vi are the only known species outside of Earth to have human-like intelligence. Although their society is essentially Neolithic, they have developed a vibrant, complex culture based on a profound spiritual connection to their moon, to one another, and to the deity they call Eywa. They are superb artisans who celebrate the interconnectedness of nature through storytelling, song, dance and crafts. 

The Na'vi are a race of sentient extraterrestrial humanoids who inhabit the lush jungle moon of Pandora. Humans are known to refer to them as "Blues," "Savages," "the locals" or "the natives." Parker Selfridge at one point in the movie refers to them as "blue monkeys."

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