Joon Tribal Zu'aan

History

The Joon tribal zu'aan follow an origin story which leaves its mark on their zu'aan and their societal functioning to this day. All beginning in the year of 4E 12, when, due to the destructive effects of the Shattering Age, an untreated illness was allowed to re-emerge among many tribes; it, to modern medicinal standards, is something easily treated, that can be compared to tuberculosis, but, for many of the groups around the Deranixea Bayou, it was as close to a death sentence as an illness could be, which not only measured to kill directly.

But also had the capability to leave the zu'aan around the region vulnerable to kin'toni invaders. This infectious disease spread itself by a waterborne virus which could easily be able to latch itself onto any zu'aan that tried to have a drink from the otherwise potable water of the Deranixea Bayou or that even tried to take a bath in their rivers, which made it so, as was explained, the population of zu'aan in the region decreased more and more, that is until the emerging leadership of the Joon group.

Which, after countless attempts at combating this biological challenge, was able to dominate the pathological threat which impeded development in the Deranixea Bayou. The Joon developed manners to utilize the natural elements provided by the Deranixea Bayou and forge them into a filtration system which allowed for the water to be fully drinkable once more; it was done by rearranging mosses and roots in specific layers which let the infected waters be drained into containers where it could be utilized once more.

From this point on, the Joon, which was now a full-on tribe, began developing their civilization around the region, taking as an advantage the fact that even kin'toni avoided the Deranixea Bayou region, keeping in mind that it was completely unsustainable to remain within that biome without the filtering systems developed by the Joon. By the year of 4E 36, they had not only mastered intricate systems that allowed for the usage of water not only for drinking but also as an extensive tool for agriculture.

But also to navigate it masterfully; they became known as the dominators of the flow which shaped all of the regions bathed by the Deranixea River, every water body that they could reach upon became infrastructure, it became a weapon, and many times even borders, while still providing for the tribe's self-sustenance and expansion. In the year of 4E 52, they had developed, even with the limited technology of the Shattering Age, engineering that allowed for precise usage of currents and collapsible banks.

Which made it so even if kin'toni were to invade the Deranixea Bayou, they'd have to face nature itself as a defending force; this shaped a society where power belongs to those that have power upon the waterways and their navigation, be it for trade, war, or survival, it was all negotiated around the bedrock of the Joon tribe, the water and the Deranixea River. Taking as their core strategy controlling the nature that allows anything to go anywhere instead of direct conquering.

Psychology

The psychological outline which shapes the psyche of the Joon tribe begins with the very establishment of prioritizing one thing above all others, that being environmental responsibility, justified by the historical and permanent importance of the ecosystem for the well-being of every member of the tribe and the world as a whole; this extends itself to the point where the members of the Joon tribe don't even see themselves as autonomous zu'aan but simply operators which serve the functions of the Deranixea Bayou.

Things such as guilt are seen negatively due to how it is able to cause imbalances to the river's flow, for example, which extends to responsibility as well, where such notion is of extreme importance due to the practical consequences of interrupting the well-being of the Deranixea Bayou. When it comes to core values which allow for the shaping of the Joon's mentality, we often see movement occupying a high priority in the emotional hierarchy of the Joon tribe's members; they see that moving is crucial to survival, whereas its opposite, stagnation, is a clear failure and can be compared to death.

Which actually makes it so most of the Joon see themselves in a constant need to work or to just be doing something so as to avoid that state of paralysis; they find psychological comfort in being able to constantly be occupied, which makes it so a calm Joon isn't someone who is able to relax, but who is able to regulate their heartbeats during constant movement. When it comes to their treatment of outsiders, the psyche of the Joon also translates in a very unique manner; they don't necessarily hate outsiders, but they are definitely seen as an unstable set of facts which can interrupt the natural functioning of the Deranixea Bayou and its well-being.

This isn't because the outsiders are inherently evil, or, to use a more pitiful term, foolish, but due to how their unpredictability makes it so it's impossible for the Joon to see their intentions. This makes it so their treatment of outsiders only seems hospitable whenever they act in acceptable ways that don't compromise the ecosystem's natural stability; this actually isn't limited to outsiders, as we see that within the tribe, members of the Joon tend to see trust as something fully conditional that can be reversed easily if it becomes needed.

As was mentioned before in the history section, their perception of others and inter-zu'aan relations tend to focus on the capabilities associated with one's skills and the very bedrock which allows for the existence of the Joon tribe, that being the Deranixea Bayou and its river; so those merchants or geographers which are able to read weather patterns or redirect flows into well-done engineering projects are the individuals which receive the highest amount of respect within the tribe, which makes it so things such as age, conservation of lineage, or even developed charisma hold little importance within the Joon tribal zu'aan.

Culture

When it comes to the culture of the Joon tribe, it follows an undeniable watered tone, which is responsible for shaping most of the outline for its framework; we see that the culture is entirely focused around behaviours which relate themselves to the water systems that are fundamental to the tribe; we see as a primary example of that their calendar, which is shaped all around timed schedules of tides, currents, and even rainfall, organizing itself fully around the timed life of the nature around the tribe.

This can also be seen in meals, in resting cycles, or even social gatherings, which occur, instead of by marked schedules, on moments with, as an example, less or more rain depending on how favorable it'd be for the event. When it comes to their settlement and their architectural structure, we observe how the irregularity of nature shapes even their housing styles, creating a modular manner to live which goes around malleable and intentionally unstable living units. Seeing how they live oftentimes in wooden huts which follow stilted structures by the margins of the river,.

But, in moments of floods or perhaps grouped travels which might take days on end, they often choose to follow the river's flow and allocate themselves via floating wooden platforms that are designed for not only quick dismantling and things such as drifting, but can also sink properly in critical moments; it is very rare to see any examples of permanent structures within the Joon tribe. When it comes to their craft and technological advancements, they often focus more on practicability and its application under stress.

As well as plain innovation, often acquiring impressive feats for the limited technology that was left within the Shattering Age; this may extend itself to filtration systems that use, as was mentioned in the history section, a vast array of natural elements like roots and different sorts of moss that are encountered in the Deranixea Bayou. Not only that, water-resistant materials are a constant objective in the scientific development of the tribe, trying to avoid dampening or even corrosion.

Since such a feat is quite challenging for the materials that are found in the Deranixea Bayou, they adopted the strategy of creating materials that are easily replaceable and repaired instead of other examples which can just be rendered useless after being exposed to long time periods. The family structure is more often than not formed around dynamics birthed from workplaces, which creates a certain hierarchy where family is more appreciated at its love and interactionality instead of blood relations; they are actually still quite sentimental most of the time, and care is spread amongst the members of a family.

This creates what some tribes see as contrasting: the average member of the Joon tribe doesn't even know the individuals which gave birth to them, but they feel oftentimes more comforted around the community they're placed in in comparison to many more traditional forms of family, which makes it so the normalization of separation leads to, oddly enough, happier and more lovable members.

Government

The governmental logic of the Joon tribe is one which doesn't differentiate political decision-making and the art of governance from the economical state of the society, where we often observe the blurring of the line between governing and the management of circulation, be that of water, zu'aan, or, of course, goods. This logic of political authority is often justified by theories which put forward the analysis which relates the regulation of markets and materials as the more efficient way of keeping a society afloat, without needing a series of tradition or religion to justify itself.

Well, sometimes those two points are still brought up, but we often see that instead the public debates hold accountability to the talking point which relates stability to keeping the flow of important factors uninterrupted, which allows the state to keep its legitimacy as a means to prevent practical collapse even if it fails to represent individuals. Since the government is often a factor which is regulated with the direct influence of the economic sector, we see the main contributors to the latter assume the highest political positions.

Which led to the Joon tribe creating a unique merchant-governor class, where political power and protagonism are concentrated amongst those which are responsible for the controlling and management of trade routes and land, well, in this case, more so water access instead of land. This ruling class oftentimes contains a group of senior traders, navigators, and those responsible for the organization and planning around the engineering that utilizes the waterworks, which really reinforces the point of how authority seems to be gained via economic leverage.

Directly allowing for the translation of economic power into political power indiscriminately. Though, these governors actually don't hold that position formally; we observe in the Joon tribe an actual class of what are the most commonly regarded as politicians, often called "lords", which work in another, in theory, classical example of a rotational council that is responsible for the decision-making around the tribe and its exterior actions; there exists no regulation which impedes this system from being corrupted by economic power.

Which makes it so, for example, in times of election, money and goods are pumped into the campaigns of the leaders which are most favorable to a determined set of merchants. This might seem harmless or simply how the system works at first, until observing cases where this money is instead invested into, for example, direct political violence, such as the event where mercenaries from the Cydon tribal zu'aan were called in to eliminate political opponents which sought to develop systems which favor the decision-making of the masses of zu'aan.

When it comes to political voice, even that is gatekept by the economic contribution of an individual, and this is regulated and maintained directly by different policies that are well established in the political infrastructure of the tribe. The most undeniable example of this is how in those voting seasons the votes of individuals that have the highest amount of economic accumulation under their belt have proportionally higher value in the decision-making.

Military

The core military functioning of the Joon tribe often shapes itself, such as nearly everything else in the tribe, around the very term that has been repeated a lot as well, "circulation", be it in its logical functioning and war philosophy, or what it seeks to defend, the latter being, of course, the flow of the Deranixea Bayou. This point that was just mentioned is the primary objective of the military within the Joon tribe, holding the purpose of not only defending the citizens to some degree, but also the trade routes, the access to water, and all of that heavy engineering the tribe invested so much time and effort into.

Even war itself is treated as a failure which, regardless of objective or intention, fails the functioning of the tribe by being a disturbance within the nature of the Deranixea Bayou. The structure of the armed forces is decentralized and often functions within contracts, since most of their tribe doesn't fight directly with arms in hand and, instead, utilizes the Deranixea Bayou as their shield and sword, a lot of the fighters that defend the Joon tribe during critical times actually come from other tribes.

This contracting of mercenaries is also done by the merchant governing class as a means to stop the military from accumulating any sort of political protagonism, leaning to instead hire warriors from places like the Cydon tribal zu'aan, since after they are able to claim any heroism and protagonism, they just leave back to where they came from and are promptly forgotten about. Now, a point that was mentioned in the last paragraph that leaves room for curiosity is how most of the tribe actually does defend itself in times of critical invasions that might not leave leeway to call a series of mercenaries or warriors.

They do this by using the Deranixea Bayou as shield and sword; the vast trees and their canopies might be used to hide, or even diving in the rivers during a rush in the hopes of escaping unscathed, or, as is most commonly done by military engineers, utilizing the Deranixea river as a weapon itself, redirecting its currents (to the extent that is possible with the Shattering age's technology) to push back invading kin'toni, or to even attempt to activate horrible floods which the kin'toni are way less prepared to face in comparison to the members of the Joon tribe.

Now, the military in here, while justified and legitimized as a tool to defend the tribe and its inhabitants, does hold an extra purpose for that governing class, which oftentimes utilizes their economical accumulation as a means to concentrate power around their own private objectives; what this means is that the military forces are also commonly deployed as a means to suppress and express internal control in things such as populist movements or any real expression of revolt or simple acts which oppose what is deemed as disciplined.

Creating a sense of oppression which threatens to take down any real attempt of changing the tribe's status quo.

Religion

The core theology which defines the Joon tribe's religious framework is one which follows a savior born by the bank of the river, which, after floating for a couple of years by the flow, landed by a tribe that was riddled by the now extinguished plague that used to render the Deranixea Bayou unliveable; that little messiah named Atony was responsible for healing most of those members that were, in their majority, extremely ill from that historical plague, but also suffered from hunger and thirst due to their lack of energy to take to any collecting job within the biome.

This sense of discipline extended itself throughout his lifetime, where he was able to shape the mentality of many followers which wrote countless pages telling about his deeds and how he was responsible for the most moral and just manners of life. This tribe was thus the birthplace of Atonyism, a religion which in its beginning years and in its theological theory praises notions of love, care, and solidarity to those which need it, making it so those are the fundamental sacred duties that allow for the well-being of society and the salvation of individuals; helping others is framed as keeping the river flowing.

And, not only that, as an action which allows it to flow wide. Excessive emotions, revolts, or selfish desires are actions that narrow one's sense of self and spirit, which only leads to more pain amongst them, which won't achieve salvation from behaving like this, and the others which may need support from those who are able to be more caring within the tribe. When it comes to sin, it's pretty clear that it’s defined by the interruption of those notions of love and care, and it follows a notion of heavy guilt that is not only discouraged due to its existential and cosmological negative effects.

But by how it comes to stagnate an individual which, as was mentioned in the psychology section, is one of the strongest factors that make a zu'aan walk the route of being considered a useless piece of organic waste to the tribe. Furthermore, when it comes to the historical development and the overall applicability of this seemingly harmless religion, it is undeniable that the Joon tribe's elites and clergy utilize their religious authority and socially justified righteousness as a means to weaponize and justify their own powers, even if those contradict the notions defended by Atonyism.

Since priests are the readers which are, according to Atonyism, the highest living form of zu'aan since they are the ones that are constantly the closest to the image of Atony, they are able to dictate most of the social norms that are seen as morally condemnable or condonable by the religion's followers, and those decisions don't exist in a vacuum, since, in the same way the merchant and rich elites are able to translate that wealth into political power, they also use it to influence things that clergy will decide to say in ritualistic moments of praise or the interpretation of writings.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

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