The Meranesian Islands

[Fitermon 667]

The Meranesian Islands

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

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Beautiful beaches, dense jungles, hot summers, and relaxingly warm winters are all features of these islands. Far beyond the reaches of Axios and its inhabitants, the Meranesian Islands are a series of island chains that are inhabited by two primary people groups. These people groups are the Tuvati and the Tandu, with the Tuvati living further South and the Tandu to the North.

 

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The Tuvati People

 

The Tuvati are a seafaring, tribalistic conglomerate of both Humans and Dark Elves, with the Humans forming the lower classes of society and the Mali’ker forming the upper classes, namely in governmental positions. Due to the long lifespan yet incredibly low fertility of the Elves, they established themselves as leaders to guide the short-lived, yet much more fertile Humans through each generation, forming an unusual culture of respect for the longevity Elves experience from the Humans.

 

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Government

 

The Tuvati tribes are a large confederacy of around seventy-five tribes, each led by a Mali’ker throughout each generation, dubbed the Annil’maln . Due to the respect Mali’Ker receive in the society and the slim numbers, women and men are treated as equals by the Tuvati people. The Annil’maln that lead the tribes all meet and discuss various issues, such as inter-tribal relations and struggles, trade, foreign influences, and other political issues that plague the tribe, effectively a council of the sorts. Beneath each tribal lead are two Humans selected by the Annil’maln, called the Medi’valah. The Medi’valah are responsible for interpreting and expressing the desires, issues, needs, and problems the Human Tuvati face that may seem inconsequential or non-important to the jaded, aging Annil’maln. Due to the long lives of the Elves, the issues and problems that Humans face are sometimes akin to how one view’s a dog’s issues and lifespan, short and inconsequential in many respects. The Medi’valah aids in bypassing this racial and temporal difference between the two different species, effectively making the Annil’maln the long term factor and the Medi’valah the short term factor in terms of the tribe’s direction and goal. When foreign, non-native threats come to the people of the Tuvati islands, the Medi’Valah form a more formal and strict position above the council to organize the tribes into one pseudo-nation to ease military duties for the nation. It is only during this time there is ever one official “ruler” of all of the Tuvati people with full authority, and even then it will try to be avoided if possible.

 

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Culture

 

The Tuvati people live relatively simple lives, with most neighbors sharing with one another, and a large portion of their lifestyles revolving around the ocean and sailing. Given the short distances between islands, the Tuvati are in almost all cases skilled sailors to the point of being able to travel alone. Since most do travel between islands alone and quickly, the use of wind boards has grown common amongst the Tuvati people to cross the distances between the islands. Tribes usually hunt together, most of the hunting being done aquatically, such as spear fishing, or herding sea creatures into bays and coves to surround them and herd them onto shore. This is not only done for sport, but also for social purposes as various fish scales and sea creatures’ teeth will be used in various pieces of jewelry that act as currency for the Tuvati people. For example, one of the main tribal interactions held between the Tuvati is the exchanging of such currency as a dowry for engagement. If a suitor wishes to wed out of his or her tribe, he or she must gather a variety of seashells, dolphin teeth, and fish bones and fashion them into a large strand of jewelry, akin to a scarf of assorted shells. Tribal disputes are settled either through similar payment, or through a ritualistic spar, where the first to draw blood is to submit on whatever the issue at hand was. If further disputes result from any disagreement on what the price for reparations should be or the validity of a spar then tribal wars usually break out, although these wars are less so wars then they are harassing skirmishes, with the tribes doing things such as capsizing rivalling boats, destroying gathered shells and dolphin teeth, or in more violent cases starting fist fights with one another. These disputes tend to go on until either the Humans find reach a compromise or solution to the original issue, or the Dark Elves leading the respective tribes step in, holding the experience of having lived many lifetimes of a Human.

 

The Tuvati dress appropriately for their environment, in ways many may consider immodest as all that is usually worn are undergarments of simple nature, such as a cloth wrapping around a woman’s chest or a loincloth at one’s nether regions. Because of this custom, most of the exposed body is covered in tattoos of tribal patterns, each specific to a tribe. One can easily identify a different tribe and where they live along the island chain by the tattoos adorning their flesh. Despite most tattoos being simple tribal identificators, some bear special purposes, such as public marking of a heinous crime, or detailing one as an esteemed member of the tribe. Upon wedding into different tribes, the groom and spouse are both marked with the tattoos of the opposite tribe, with the original’s tattoos being done in a different color to allow one’s origins to be traced. These tattoos are usually done in white or black, with white being much more common and black left for weddings, crimes, leaders, and esteemed members of tribes. Finally, jewelry is very common among the Tuvati as well, many adorning necklaces, bracelets, earrings, or rings forged from shells, fish bones, textile plants from the jungles on the islands, or fish teeth. Gems and other precious stones are rare and few, the only really valued one being pearls. When one may cherish an emerald necklace, a Tuvati tribesman would throw it away in exchange for even a semi-decent pearl.

 

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History

 

The recent history of the Tuvati people consists of three main notable events, the Taori-Maheta Dispute, the Tandu War, and the Great Expansion.

 

The Taori-Maheta Dispute

 

In the early fifteenth century, the Tuvati tribes were much larger, fragmented into three federations of tribes. These federations were the Taori, Maheta, and the Tuvu. The Taori were ran by both Humans and Mali’ker, unlike the other tribes which held a much more contemporary model of government. The Maheta held a government more like the modern Tuvati system, with the Mali’Ker as tribal leaders and the Humans as advisors to the leaders. The Tuvu were even more similar to the modern version of government, with practically no communication throughout the leaders of the tribes to form a semblance of government above the tribes, while the Maheta at least had the more powerful tribes domineer the smaller ones beneath them. The Taori and Maheta tended to clash with one another, be it over fishing rights in an area, rejecting the custom of tattooing brides and grooms from other tribes in each other’s general area, or of laying claim to the same islands as their own land. Eventually this powderkeg burst with a sudden assault on bordering Maheta islands, in which the raiding Humans in the Taori tribes killed all of the Mali’ker present on the islands raided and inducted by force the survivors into their own people, painfully disfiguring the flesh of any that bore the tattoos of any tribe beneath the Maheta cluster. This event came to be known as the Taori Raids to the Maheta people. As a result, the Maheta took up arms and prepared for scuffles greater than the cultural norm, ready for war.

 

 

In the summer of 1409, two notable leaders in the Maheta cluster came forth, Telros and Elrys Maheta. Telros and Elrys were closely related due to their two separate tribes sharing various maternal links every few generations as a sign of lasting trust between the two, and thus cooperated easily. When the two heard of the Taori Raids they quickly sent their Human advisors throughout the Maheta islands to other tribes, gathering the support of other Maheta tribes to rally against the Taori. As the Taori continued their occupation of the closest bordering islands, and raids on the next closest islands, the two leaders organized a small army, using fishing spears, weighted nets, and various other unconventional weapons to fight off the Taori. Beginning with night attacks, the Maheta used bioluminescent flora and fauna in the waters to safely sail to the occupied islands on the bordering rim to their West, and retook them from the Taori. To ensure the Taori were kept off guard and disorganized, the Maheta continued their nightly advances West into Taori territory, quickly cutting through any form of resistance on the islands, often injuring and wounding their foes, but not killing. As the casualties increased for the Taori, the Taori leadership began to have their people produce true weapons of war, such as spears meant to kill other Descendants instead of fish, boats meant to transport and protect large groups as opposed to one or two windboarders, and camouflage improvised from leaves, bark, and vines from the inner jungles of the Taori islands. The best equipped and well trained soldiers were sent to the Eastern front to stall off any Maheta attacks at night, and the populace was evacuated from the coastal huts and bungalows to the increasingly dense jungles on the islands, leaving the only options for any Maheta raiders to be engaging the Taori directly, sailing North through neutral Tuvu territory, or sailing South into deep ocean waters to circumvent the Taori military. Ultimately, Telros volunteered to lead the Maheta raiding parties through the Taori line, resulting in the Battle of the Southern Chain, the significantly better equipped Taori picking off Maheta windboarders as they approached allied shores, then wiping up the few remnants that made it to shore alive easily.

 

Following the failure and death of Telros in the Battle of the Southern Chain, Elrys saw the rather futile nature of using fish hooks and nets against spears and javelins, and adopted a similar militarization effort to the Taori cluster, resulting in both sides being similarly equipped along their bordering islands. For the next two years, up until 1411, a stalemate was occurring just along the Eastern borders of the Taori islands, any attempts to break past the Taori or Maheta lines being met with a mixture of thrown spears, javelins, harpoons, and other various weapons accompanied by spearmen taking out those that managed to actually touch land. Despite each attempt at advance being a failure, not many died, with only around six thousand dead over the couple of years as the already small population didn’t take many risks unless the possibility of success was offered. Elrys saw that there was no true benefit to the war after these two years passed, and offered the Taori tribes the option for a temporary ceasefire until fair reparations could be made for the losses the Maheta faced, given a fair number of Mali’ker were slaughtered and the Elven curse did not bode well for replacement of those lost. Reluctantly the Taori cluster accepted, the Tuvu from the Northern Islands coming to occupy the taken islands from Taori and Maheta control to ensure neutrality as the Tuvu held no ill will to the two tribes. This ceasefire was to be dealt with over whatever period of time was needed to satisfy both warring parties, but however it was cut short on the first day of the year 1412 by a foreign foe.

 

The Tandu War

 

On the day dawning a new year, the discussions for peace between the Taori and Maheta, led by a conglomerate of tribe leaders and Elrys Maheta respectively, was interrupted at dawn from Tuvu tribesmen, reporting of attacks in the Northern Islands. Further investigation revealed to Elrys Maheta and the Taori leadership that the center of the Tuvu populace, Tuvu-viti was taken over by the foreign Tandu to the North on the Grand Continent.

 

 

Responding quickly, the Maheta and Taori sent scouts north to Tuvu-viti, all of who did not return. From what the Tuvati could gather, their northern neighbors were seeking to expand their sphere of influence into the islands, and they didn’t seek to do so peacefully. The Taori leadership, realizing the dire situation, surrendered to Elrys Maheta under the condition that the Taori would not be subjugated beneath the Maheta, but accepted to tolerate the Maheta and Tuvu government styles. Elrys agreed, and immediately went about organizing a defence against the Tandu armies. Given the militarization due to the civil war, his efforts were not futile, and the Tandu were contained on the Tuvu islands to the North, rendering control past Tuvu-viti impossible for the Tandu. The Tandu occupying Tuvu-viti were effectively surrounded, supplies from Rajat-Khat being cut off by sea and any efforts to forage in the jungles limited by Taori-Maheta soldiers, along with any brave Tuvu that resisted against the occupation. Left at a crossroads, the Tandu military leadership in the city organized a defensive and offencive force, giving command of each to two Tandu nobles. With eight-thousand Tuvati sieging the city, and ten-thousand at the Tandu’s disposal in the area, a plan was made by Elrys Maheta to besiege and stall the Tandu while reinforcements came from the South, pressuring the Tandu into a retreat and surrender of the invading army. The siege went on for three weeks before at night the attacking Tandu sections broke off, spearheading an assault through the South-Eastern line of Tuvati troops, the better equipped army easily smashing through the unsuspecting tribal forces. Elrys Maheta heard of this, and ordered a retreat to hold the two strips of land running South along the island, the Eastern flank much more disorganized and scattered about. However the retreat was not done effectively enough, and the Tandu army continued to march South towards the coast of the island, almost holding complete control over it. The Taori-Maheta forces on the island were effectively left with the option to contain the island, or with more risk contain the city and advancing army, and Elrys Maheta finally decided after some deliberation to retreat and hold off the Tandu until reinforcements arrived.

 

Opting to wait it out, Elrys and his armies stood their ground in the South-Western lands of the island. The Tandu armies approached both the Northern and Eastern fronts of the remaining Tuvati, ready to push them off of the island entirely. Fishhook met talwar, and blood met salt as the opposing forces fought, each side suffering numerous injuries and casualties. As it would be, lady luck proved to be a cruel mistress to the Tuvati, the desperately needed reinforcements arriving just as the soldiers on land began to flee and rout, fearfully parting from their lines and brethren back to their boats, making their way to the seas once more. The Tuvati watched on from the safety of their rafts, boats, and canoes on at the advancing Tandu, along with their respected leader Elrys being surrounded and quite literally shoved off of the land into the waters, a naval landing near impossible to effectively pull off in time. As this moment came into existence, so it stayed, the war another standstill for the Tuvati as their navy held the seas connecting to the rest of the archipelago, and the Tandu held the Northernmost island, preventing safe travel to their homeland to the North. Albeit a stale, and sudden ending to the war, it proved vital for the survival of the Tuvati people, surely unable to stand against the Tandu were it not for their naval capabilities and knowledge of their homelands.

 

The Great Expansion

 

Years passed, the Tandu holding their conquered lands, and the Tuvati returning to their usual ways, with little to no change aside from bitter memories and regretful losses. However, many Tuvati grew bored of this idle, complacent lifestyle, and abandoned their homes for the foreign great beyond that waited past their continents. Many took up their possessions and sailed, either heading off to the South and East into the blue horizons, North to settle amongst the Tandu, or head past the snow white mountains, or West to try to surpass the Grand Continent and the Grand Desert, many dying save for the few that braved the torrid sands, blazing winds, and salty air. As the Tuvati travelled, their traditions travelled ahead of them. This resulted in some cultures adopting part of the Tuvati culture themselves, causing certain races to take up the art of tribal tattooing, or sailing, or a closer relation between Humans and Elves. Ultimately, as the Tuvati travelled, their culture did, and the event known as the Great Expansion has begun, and continues to this day.

 

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Geography

 

The Meranesian Islands are a tropical paradise, each island mostly similar in environment. The coasts along the North of most islands are coated in silky smooth sands, and the Southern edges littered with coral, seashells, and tiny pebbles. If one headed further inland, they’d come across a consistently raising canopy, eventually shadowed by dense jungle and flora. The Northmost island is unique with its rather large inlet into a bay, a vital source of food and water for the people living there. Fish, crabs, lobster, jellyfish, sea stars, and a vast assortment of seafaring creatures linger in these areas, especially dolphin. The relative closeness of the islands allows for easy trade and travel, given one is adequately equipped to do so of course. In addition to this, many sandbars litter the coasts of the islands, further aiding in this process, as well as the cultural developments of naval capabilities. Finally, the rather calm weather makes life on the islands a simple and relaxed one, at least compared to the harsh deserts to the West, ravenous mountains to the North, and expansive oceans to the South-East.

 

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[MangoArt 399]

((Fabulous lore...are these folks playable?))

[NotEvilAtAll 9926]

((If only there were islander halflings))

[Fitermon 667]

23 minutes ago, MangoArt said:

((Fabulous lore...are these folks playable?))

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Yes, they are playable, however I may post future additions or clarifications with approval to elaborate exactly what one would have to experience to travel from these islands to Axios.

 

14 minutes ago, NotEvilAtAll said:

((If only there were islander halflings))

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Maybe in the future.

[MangoArt 399]

On 6/1/2017 at 5:44 PM, Fitermon said:

On 6/1/2017 at 5:28 PM, NotEvilAtAll said:

((If only there were islander halflings))

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Maybe in the future.

I have an explanation for how it could happen. Dwarven raiders come and..y'know, (Word that'll get me forum banned here) the humans. The Dark Elves don't give a ****, but see it as impurity and contamination, so they abandon the halfbreeds on some island where they become Halflings.

[NotEvilAtAll 9926]

1 hour ago, MangoArt said:

I have an explanation for how it could happen. Dwarven raiders come and..y'know, (Word that'll get me forum banned here) the humans. The Dark Elves don't give a ****, but see it as impurity and contamination, so they abandon the halfbreeds on some island where they become Halflings.

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Sweet! I should totally make a lore post on this if I ever have the time!

[Carson 936]

I already have a Hawaiian based character from Makuakane, but idk if they're related to the Merenesian peoples.