Arkhipovmko Tribal Zu'Aan

History

The Arkhipomko are a native zu'aan tribe of the Aericunus Coniferous Swamp region. Their origins can be traced back to their founder, Fowula Jeremiahk who gathered the small, isolated inhabitants of the area into a singular clan. The process was not easy nor peaceful and saw a lot of fighting and negotiation before an agreement could be formulated before the clan began to take shape. Fowula's inspiration for a large, singular clan were the hostile conditions of the environment including the lack of resources and the presence of many hostile animals.

He figured out that these small isolated clans stood a better chance if they came together and developed an organized method for the collection and distribution of resources. Unfortunately for him, many clans would not share his vision and had to be convinced by other means. Fowula would start his campaign with a handful of his own personal warriors and would roam the countryside visiting one zu'aan villages after another in the hopes of enticing them to join his clan. He would formally name the clan the Arkhipovmko, once the first few villages joined in and their numbers reached the hundreds.

The clan would raise its first main settlement in the middle of the Aericunus swamp. This settlement was a temporary solution to their housing needs and were mostly composed of very flimsy structures offering only the most basic amenities. It was intended as a staging point from where the clan could gather and conduct their activities. The camp would expand as they went along to become the heavily built-up area in later years. As the clan began to expand, their methods would also grow increasingly more aggressive.

Until they were actively going into neighboring regions with the intent of starting wars and absorbing the remaining survivors once they were defeated. This period would give birth to their distinctive style of fighting that involved their warriors overwhelming their opponents in groups and attacking them relentlessly. The effectiveness of these attacks would also earn them their fearsome reputation. The Arkhipovmkp would face their first major challenge in the form of the kin’toni outbreak.

They were initially wary of these new opponents, having heard about their physical prowess and advantages. These wary initial attitudes would however change once the kin’toni began to wander into the lands. Fowula’s clansmen were fiercely territorial and they couldn’t an act of provocation such as this to go unpunished. This would start off a series of conflicts between the two sides. The kin’toni would take notice of the clan’s defiance and even began sending more warriors their way.

The Arkhipovmko would use their tactics of overwhelming their enemies against the kin’toni to great success in this conflict. The move took the kin’toni by surprise as they were only familiar with zu’aan clans who would sit behind the safety of their walls and defend with ranged weapons. The success of the melee attacks would lead to the Arkhipovmko would becoming one of the most successful zu’aan clans in dealing with the kin’toni.

Psychology

The Arkhipovmko tribal zu'aan were descended from the native inhabitants of the Aericunus swamp region. As such, they shared the same hardy psychological makeup necessary to survive in the hostile environment filled with natural threats such as wildlife, other hostile zu'aan and the kin'toni who would be the last to arrive. This resilience would also help them survive hard times such as food scarcity which was common in the region. They were very survivalist by nature and could adapt to new methods and ways of life to ensure their own survival

These included trying unconventional dietary sources and fighting other zu'aan and kin'toni for possession of scarce resources. Their founder, Fowula Jeremiahk's aggressive tendencies would also wear off on the rest of his clan. They were known for their warmongering ways and would always be on the lookout for an opportunity to fight and prove their dominance. They considered bravery in battle as the highest form of honor and would always be on the lookout for opportunities to earn some.

They were extremely territorial and had a very deep attachment to their lands. They did not take kindly to intrusions of any kind be it by a harmless zu'aan who had lost his way or the powerful kin'toni. This was one of the main reasons why they would go to war against the kin'toni, who were found wandering into their lands during the kin'toni outbreak. The lack of resources and the scarcity of material all over their lands naturally made the Arkhipovmko hoarders of whatever little goods they could find in the region.

They were very resourceful and made their houses and structures from a mix of every material they could scavenge from the region. This gave their structures their distinctive, shabby appearance which would only increase with every repair and renovation made to it. Many of their decisions were motivated by the need to collect more resources. They were a very short-sighted people and never thought to solve their problems through long-term solutions. They preferred quick-fix solutions that gave instant results.

This made them ill-suited for diplomacy and other skills that required patience before visible results were seen. This was mostly visible in their method of recruiting new members where they used violence and battles to defeat and forcefully convert the survivors instead of conducting tactful negotiations which could solve the same issues with lesser consequences. The clan had very strong religious beliefs and worshipped a god that they named Jamaja. Their religion would play a strong part in their beliefs, which included a strong reverence for fire and water- elements associated with their god.

They believed in many superstitions and had many customs and rituals before any undertaking whether in battle or in civil life. The clan was very close minded and refused to belief any new discoveries and scientific principles, if they did not correspond to their religious beliefs. This unacceptance of science and new knowledge made their clan backward and very primitive in terms of technology. They preferred to keep their religious beliefs unchallenged

Culture

The Arkhipovmko culture was based on loyalty towards the tightly knit clan. The members were discouraged from socializing or interacting with people outside this clan. Marriage and partnerships occurred only within the clan and any person who chose to marry outside was expelled from their ranks and subject to the ridicule of the members. The clan were deeply suspicious of their neighboring clans and believed that they would rise up at any moment, given the chance. Thus, they always kept themselves in a state of readiness and trained regularly.

Their culture was highly militaristic and placed a great deal of emphasis on an individual's ability as a warrior. Children were taught the art of battle and to fight in the clan's distinctive style. Tournaments and fights were a regular part of a child's life and would gradually progress to mock drills and actual raids against their many enemies. Bravery in battle was the first prerequisite to being accepted into the clan. They took pride in their combat abilities and were always in the lookout for new opportunities to display their skills.

This made them a very aggressive and unreasonable lot who were always looking out for an excuse to pick up a fight. Their culture placed a great deal of importance on their lands. They were the first clan in the region to place much emphasis on territory. Most of the other clans did not bother with borders which were very hard to denote in the wet forests of the region. The Arkhipovmko did it out of a compulsion to assert their power in the region. It also gave them another reason to go to war when someone intruded within these boundaries.

Their culture placed a great deal of emphasis on scavenging and resourcefulness. This was necessary in the bleak and resource depleted region where every scrap had to be utilized. This was inculcated into children from a very young age. No commodity was allowed to go to waste, and many adults continue to wear clothes that contained that the same materials from their childhood clothing. Their houses were also constructed from many materials and resources that they collected from all over the region. They were shabbily constructed and had no aesthetic value due to their ugly appearance.

The clan’s culture was based on a strict observance of their religion, which was the worship of a God called Jamaja. They believed that he was the creator of the entire universe and associated the elements of fire and water with their god. Sacrifices and social worship were a regular part of their life and would be conducted before the clan embarked on campaigns, wars or other economic business. The worship and sacrifices were conducted by High priests who occupied an important role within the Arkhipovmko clan’s hierarchy.

They were responsible for setting aside auspicious dates for major events and battles which would be followed by the clan, as well as supervising and conducting all affairs concerned with religion and worship.

Government

The government of the Arkhipomko tribe consisted of a single authoritarian leader and his advisors who made decisions on behalf of the entire tribe. The first such leader was the tribe's founder, Fowula Jeremiahk. He set a strong precedent that would be followed by his successors. He came to power through a demonstration of his military might and his ability to convince people to join his cause. The backbone of his authority was his military strength and control of the army.

He was not afraid to use it and would continuously resort to its use during the early years of the clan's formation. During these years Fowula would march across the entire region with his armies and gave ultimatums to the villages in the region to either join his new clan or face the wrath of his armies. He built up the clan in this way, through voluntary participants and those that were forcibly integrated after their defeat. Due to the nature of the clan's recruitment policy, Fouwula had to ensure that there was no room for dissent among the unwilling participants. To keep the clan members in check he would create a civil police organization that responded to him only.

This police force was a permanent organization unlike the army which was recruited among all members of the clan during times of war or on campaigns. The police were composed of people who swore their loyalty to him and were given the authority to catch and even secretly terminate any clan member who was suspected of harboring resentment against their leader. Fowula also maintained a group of advisors who were composed of elders from among the tribes. This was to gain an air of respectability and to lend some legitimacy to his leadership.

He would occasionally ask them for advice on many matters which were outside his area of expertise but the final decision was his and his alone. Many power-hungry advisors would rise during his rule but they would discover that the position was very limited. Fowula remain unmarried all his life and had no known heir. He didn’t want the clan to be ruled by weak leaders or dynasties where the leadership would be passed down on the basis of blood relation and not by ability.

He wanted the clan’s new leader to possess every ability that he held dear such as the ability to attract people to his cause along with combat ability. He devised his own chaotic system to select a successor based on these requirements. All the prospective candidates were to build their own army and followers from among the clan and fight a civil war, where the winner would become the new leader. The rest of the candidates were also to be punished by death to prevent any rebellions in the future.

Thus, the Arkhipovmko clan would descend into chaos and civil war after every death of their clan leader. This pattern of leadership and government established by him would remain unchanged and ultimately became synonymous with the tribe.

Military

The Arkhipovmko Tribal zu'aan were known for their martial traditions and were involved in many wars in the Aericunus region. Their armies have evolved over many centuries but their tactics essentially remained the same since Fowula's first wars. Fowula's first wars were fought with the sole aim of gathering more followers and members to his clan. He marched against many villages in the region, asking the people for their support and to join him among his new clan. He would fight against many of these villages to subdue them and to force them into becoming members of his clan.

Every member of the clan was by law, obligated to participate in the clan's military activities and were counted as the army. Only the pregnant or expert craftsmen whose services they couldn't afford to lose were exempted from military service. Fowula would find success in this arrangement, his numbers would increase with every victory and his military would become more effective as a result. The Arkhipovmko's military tactics relied on the use of their numbers to gain advantage over their adversaries.

They fought with a brash and brutal style while under the influence of intoxicating local plants that dulled their senses to emotions like fear and self-preservation and imparted a sense of urgency along with a reinvigorating effect. They would fight in this drunken state with no care for themselves. In battle they would look to close down their enemies and get in range to throw their spears and sharpened stakes after which they would charge into their ranks.

They would take advantage of the shock caused by their thrown weapons to charge into the enemies ranks with sharpened melee weapons. They would then encircle their enemies and pummel them before retreating again and repeating the same tactics, over and over until the enemy surrendered. They always worked together in mobs and each child was taught from a young age to never wander off alone. Their armies lacked any form of awareness and training in the art of advanced tactics and strategy.

They relied solely on their bravery and numbers to win their battles. They fought in an unorganized manner and all their ranks and battle formations would disappear once they saw the enemy. They thrived in the chaos of battle and preferred to fight without order and discipline. This made them very unpredictable and won them many wars against deadly enemies like the kin'toni who didn't expect their strategy. The Arkhipovmko used very primitive weapons that were made from various kinds of wood, stone and bone.

Metalwork had not made its way into the region due to the unavailability of any metal in the swampy ground and the primitive nature of the tribesmen who were extremely superstitious and did not take kindly to any new forms of technology and developments. They were very gifted at creating sharpened weapons from their primitive resources including the most commonly used jagged bone spears that could cause much harm once they were embedded into the flesh.

Religion

The Arkhipovmko tribal zu'aan held many strong spiritual beliefs that centered on their main God, called Jamaja. According to the tribe their god was brought into their zu'aan realm by an asteroid that crashed into their plant. They believed that the world during this time was a rocky wasteland with hostile conditions and without the presence of either air, water or life. He slowly realized that he was stuck on this new planet with no hope of escape and began to adopt the planet as his own home.

He used his abilities to mold the environment into a more friendly habitat that could support life. He created the terrain that started life on his planet. They believed that his physical form no longer exists, as all life forms must die, but that his consciousness and spirit still exist and watches over all inhabitants of his world. Jamaja was chiefly associated with the elements of fire and water which he could manipulate and used extensively to create the environment as it is now.

Thus, the Arkhipovmko have a strong reverence for both these elements which feature prominently in all their rituals and sacrifices. They have many other objects and artifacts that they associate with their god, including their most popular type of wear- a fur coat made from the jlan animal. The jlan was the most sought-after animal in the tribe as their legends believed it to be the favored animal of Jamaja. who was known to take its form on more than one occasion.

Those who wore these coats were thought to be blessed by God and was one of the most important and common clothing for their priests. They believed in many superstitions and had many customs and rituals that they performed before any undertaking, whether in battle or in civil life. Sacrifices and social worship were a regular part of their life and would be conducted before the clan embarked on campaigns, wars or other economic business. The worship and sacrifices were conducted by High priests who occupied an important role within the Arkhipovmko clan’s hierarchy.

They were responsible for setting aside auspicious dates for major events and battles which would be followed by the clan, as well as supervising and conducting all affairs concerned with religion and worship. The clan was very close minded and refused to belief any new discoveries and scientific principles, if they did not correspond to their religious beliefs. This unacceptance of science and new knowledge made their clan backward and very primitive in terms of technology. They preferred to keep their religious beliefs unchallenged.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown