Awat City Zu'aan

History

First Records

As chaotic as is the past of Awat ("Azure Land"), confusing and uncanny is its origins. Different versions are told, both in oral and written mediums. All mostly because Awat has been "evacuated" and re-claimed many times. One thing is sure, Awat initially came to be as a cluster of different groups trying to survive the savage surroundings of the Soend Terraces that encompass its archipelago. Before even the start of the 4E, different tribes of Zu'aan worked together to fight off the Kin'toni groups that roamed the isles and lived inside the terraces (golden age's structures that were covered in wild vegetation).

The first survivors of Zu'aan operated on the beaches of the isles communicating through smoke signals and developing means of navigation to sail and explore other lands, some tribes even developed shelters made of acuatic animals' skins to live inside and that also served them for their rustic rafts moved by oars. At some point of the last years of the 3E, the Zu'aan population reached a immensely significant growth, this may be due to the consolidation of efficient shipbuilding that let them travel safely and efficiently through the isles.

Here starts the time for explorers to abandon the archipelago and seek a better in distant shores. Others proposed a total alliance of the tribes to make worthy settlements on the already explored terraces, this required them to device invasions to Kin'toni controlled territory. For Zu'aan's luck, decades of docile mammalian extinction and vegetation overgrowth in uncontrollable jungles made the Kin'toni population lower. In this way, in very little time, the Zu'aan were able to take the first terraces. Soon more terraces would be taken and a system of bridges between them would be created, aside from other bridges that were already there from the golden age.

Foundation and Ruin

The Zu'aan quickly managed to domesticate the levels of the terraces, nevertheless the jungle on the "flat land" would remain savage and wild when it wasn't connected to the coast. They discovered that the terraces were very fertile land and started to enjoy the privileges of an easy agriculture. And so Awat was founded along an elaborate system of bridges that connected the terraces that extended to the shore of the central island. Explorers established contact with others Zu'aan cities and tribes and mapped the known sea (Known as Soend Sea by the Awatians, due to the finding of sunken and destroyed structures with the "Soend" mark on it, the same Mark that could be found repeatedly on the metallic and stone pieces of the terraces).

The economy flourished and different colonizing expeditions were sent to other regions outside the Archipelago, one of them would mark the foundation of Athlerale. Everything seemed perfect and thriving enough to consolidate an unified culture and society. Until in one of the last winter of the 3E, a sudden outbreak of coordinated Kin'toni attacks happened in the majority of the terraces. With that event, a lot of Awatians sheltered in their terraces, closing their access bridges, losing contact with others. Others maintained a planned an outlined resistance to push Kin'toni back.

This resistance started losing strength and numbers, making many to escape to the coast and migrate to Athlerale (the closes Awatian colony).

Lost Records

And so started another dark period of Awat. Again, reliable versions of what happened next are scarce and still contradict one another. What is known is that a group of unknown Zu'aan, called as "The Daring Ones", liberated the central terrace of the main isle from the Kin'toni. This sparked an event named "Night of Fire". In this event, all sources coincide that on the night of the 4th month's 22nd day of the 4E 20, all terraces from the archipelago experienced the appearance of very bright lights in their interiors.

These light that came from cavities of the structure had the brightness and intensity of the sun. Some Zu'aan ended blinded by these lights, but it killed the majority of Kin'toni that occupied terraces. The central terrace burned completely in a big fire once the lights faded. It deforested the surrounding area of the terrace jungle. For the years to come, the soil of the terrace would remain infertile and unusable forever. The deforestation made clear that all the five major rivers of the main island came and ran from the central terrace (somehow this was lost knowledge for the Awatians of the time as other terraces are water sources)

Rebuild of Awat

Nobody knew who "The Darings" were exactly nor what happened to them. The only big proof of their deeds to this day is the burnt great terrace that lies as the economical and political center of Awat. It would be found later, on the 4E 55 that the underground of the great terrace had an intricate caverns and metal-made ruins complex that was a source of minerals. Another remnant of "The Daring Ones" memory were sculptures, local songs and other works of art that were lost with the next conflicts, although a few of these remain.

Awatian communities on the whole region re-established communications and trade again between them. They organized, but their own differences due to years of isolation and lack of a common enemy made this process very slow. It wasn't until the 4E 65 that, after another population growth and after the starts of the mining industry, that they decided to found once again one unified political entity. In this way they would present themselves to other distant cities, regulate trade and fight piracy/looting.

However this process was complicated due to the competitiveness that the ruling Awatian oligarchy held among them.

Civil War, First Monarchy and Second Ruin

On the 4E 120, a civil war broke on the archipelago, as it expected from the instability of "The Shattering" were the jungles lost some lushness. Many details of this period are unclear as it spanned one chaotic century of wars. The result, however, it is acknowledged as the crowning of the great king Zurust One-Handed, the first of the Ro'wol Dynasty. And so a period of peace reigned on the Acrhipelago, where piracy was eradicated and Awat could expand its influence across the Soen Sea. Arts and sciences flourished for about 250 years. It could have been considered the hegemonic empire of Soen Sea and its coasts, due to its influence in politics and economy.

However on the 4E 447, Awat suffered a major defeat trying to subjugate Athlerale and its Athulzan neighboring allies. This started a decline on the empire, where piracy came back, that culminated with the "Lok'kol crisis" on the 4E 488, where a race of intelligent anthropoids emerged from the depths of the central terrace and decimated a good portion of Awat's population.

"Lok'Kol Wars and Second Monarchy

The last 12 years of Awats are marked with instability and greed from many factions for both winning the wars against the Lok'kol and claiming the Burnt Throne. In this period another civil war broke among some terrace rulers, other terraces were conquered by the Lok'Kol and the shores became unsafe because of pirates Different figures helped in ending the crisis, among them are counted the Athmoran warrior Kurukath Uzzur and the last Ro'wol princess, Ra'artha II. Now Awat is faced with a succession crisis, claimants from other lands, that descend from marriage alliances of the Ro'wol dynasty, press their demands.

The political and economical instability made the once powerful Awat an easy target for other nations in this upcoming ice age.

Psychology

Due to the constant danger of the Archipelago's jungles, Awatians have developed and interesting mindset that has evolved over the centuries. They always think in the most practical terms, prioritizing first the usefulness of actions. They do this as a way to also reserve the highest amount to stamina "to see another day standing on two feet". The only exception to the rule are artworks, as these improve moral and "cleanse the spirit from sorrow". Awatians, before the first monarchy, preferred cooperation towards every other Zu'aan than competition.

This was because of the constant Kin'toni threat. If there was competition among oligarchs, was due to each having different views about how Awat should be ruled or favoritism towards their own culture, explicit personal greed for power was a rare motivation. After the unification, a nationalistic pride enveloped the population, favoring always those that were part of the Acrhipelago rather than outsiders. Due to the cultural trauma and harshness experienced, even in times of abundance, Awatians tend to be short worded or brief spoken outside celebrations.

They prefer to listen their surroundings and gather information, they do this unconsciously as a way to "defend" themselves later. This kind of mental pattern has led them to trust experience and tangible evidence rather than ideas. It seem that Awatians are in a constantly "do or die" mindset when they are not relaxing, sun basking or doing any other leisure activity. They commonly take every productive activity with utmost seriousness and they seem bothered when outsiders or immigrants do not adopt this way of thinking.

At difference from other cultures (like the patriarchal societies of the Athulzan range), Awatians do not mind gender roles. As long as someone is useful, they can take whatever social position they wish if their skills permits it. For this, a philosophy of survival of the fittest runs in every Awatian, this is very important for courtship, as couple are going to end up paired depending on how well they can survive together (even in times of order and abundance). Families ties are important, the larger the family, better survival chances are.

An Awatian will alway prioritize their family over their culture and their culture over the kingdom, so there is the conception that the Kingdom serves the people as being the protector of all families. When Awat was first founded, many Awatians tried to live more peacefully and compassionate, for this many turned to vegetarianism. They trusted solely on the abundance of the terraces. But when the Kin'toni counterattacked and invaded, they realized that they could not trust abundance. This made the to choose adaptability and resourcefulness to the extend to practice rationing even in good times.

Awatian rarely eat or over-eat, their only pleasure is art. This also makes them highly mistrustful of hedonists. Although this obviously change among the different "terrace cultures". As a note, idiosyncrasies vary between terrace complexes, and change significantly in the coastal areas. In the coasts we can still find traces of the Athleralen's roots in the way of thinking.

Culture

Shared Customs

Since the 4E 20 Awatian culture has found itself diversified by many variation found in every single terrace. But two main traditions are always carried by the population regardless of their local culture: Rites of deed and passage; and hunting. To release tension, hunting has become a common sport, breeding the best archers in the Soend Sea. Awatians has always been hunters, even in their early fisher periods. It was hunting what made them gain knowledge of every environment in the Soend Archipelago. This is one of the reasons of why silence is valued in Awat, a silent individual is a good hunter.

The rites of passage or deed is a series of undertaking by an Awatian to validate their identity or belonging to a group, to demonstrate their capabilties and skill, their reasoning on a matter by collecting evidence as a form of epistemology or to solve legal matters, to gain the approval of their future spouse and their family to gain merit or anything that involves a change. Awatian believe that if someone desires any position on society, the must prove how they can serve that position.

The way rites are measured depend on the cultural perception of the locality where they are performed. This means that the beholders of the rite are the ones that judge the person undertaking it. The monarch is considered the ultimate judge of rites, next to him are the solar priests. There is also a quite different, yet homogeneous in its expansion, culture in Awat. The coastal Awatians, they are usually more peaceful people, being mostly merchants. They mostly carry on their affairs in expectations of comfort and wealth, the reasons why the comply so much with terrace Awatians.

Arts

Leather works from hunting is the second most popular art, hunting being the first, which result in the crafts of many useful good like waterskins, clothing, bags and other items. Sometimes remarkable artist do images on leather. This form of art was born in the beginning of Awat, where fishers and sailor would use the leather of different aquatic animals and big reptiles to make drafts and waterproof clothes. Charting and map making usually fits the need to travel for Awatians or to manage the intricate terrace corridors.

Charting later would develop into wood cutting and engraving. Whole maps would be displayed engraved in the terraces' walls and even in dining tables. Music is an important element in Awatian culture. There is always the need to divert the overwhelmed attention, that is given to the jungle sound, towards a more soothing melody of a trained singer and musician. Singer are well valued as the most skilled can imitate the sound of the local birds. It isn't uncommon for hunters to become singers to survive

Lastly, only reserved for those of great skill, gem cutting is a great revered art in Awat. Due to its "scarcity", jewels are reserved for those who trained years with cheaper gems, and even so, cheap gems are treated like a luxury.

Government

Sailors, Hunter-Warriors and Farmers

The very first government of Awat was very much like the first colonizers of Athlerale, just Zu'aan trying to help each others. They would be just coastal communes of sailors, fishers and explorers. All changed with the first great offensive that conquered the terraces. From this point onward Athlerale would become a mix of sailors coordinated with jungle warrior bands. When the terraces were claimed, one side of the warriors dedicated themselves to farming and construction, while the other preferred to explore the jungles and become hunters and tamers of the wilderness.

As the terraces' environment was domesticated, the numbers of farming families would increase. The terrace were so fertile that little work was needed and so there was no need to require servants. This made the terraces to be safe family complexes rather than landlords' territories. We could say that Awat was for a time, an idyllic anarchy of coordinated sailors, hunters and farmers that supplied each other, even with an ever growing population.

Chieftains and Lord of the Hunts

During the time that Awat was a cluster of isolated terraces and the safest places were the coasts again, sailors would have some contact and act as suppliers for the nearby terraces, although some migrated to Athlerale and other colonies. Meanwhile the terraces adopted a tribal life style to survive and defends themselves from Kin'toni, leading to seek the most strong individual as the prime defender of the terrace, the chieftain. These chieftains would be either female or male and would have reproductive rights over any other tribe member.

Parallel to chieftains, there were the hunt lords. Leaders of hunting parties that would explore and reclaim lost shelters in the jungles. They would also risk themselves to hunt Kin'toni to secure territory for themselves. Their organization varied from party to party and is impossible to determine a general rule for them. They usually came from exiled of the tribes or descendant from the less fortunate that couldn't shelter on a terrace when the Kin'toni attacked.

Oligarchy

Both chieftains and hunt lords would become oligarchs, ruling whole growing populations of a terrace. The system was almost the same as before, but now they would have to constantly communicate with each other. That meant to also involve themselves in the issues of other terraces that were affecting the archipelago or solving the archipelago's issues together. This was a very hard endeavor due tu cultural differences among terraces that would lead to minor frictions. Those minor frictions bred more problems as the effects from The Shattering came to the island.

Conflicts from the lack of resources started to spark and so a whole periods of wars started on the archipelago.

First Kingdom

From the war, the mysterious Zurust One-Handed became the unifier of the islands. The first official laws and governance systems were created. The system was rather simple: A meritocratic-familiar monarchy were kings or queens should prove their power through rites of passage and demonstrating their governance skill through lifetime, if they were to be unfit they would be replaced by another family member of better performance. This applied to the viceroys and their vassal princes.

Viceroys would be the rulers of entire regions, be them of the archipelago or oversea regions. Princes would control provinces (a terrace is considered already a whole province). Viceroys would oversee princes and princes would oversee the citizens of Awat. These two types of nobles could be replaced by members of their dynasty and if they were no one fit, then a prince would take the viceroy's position, in the case of the princes any Awatian could take their position.

New Kingdom

The system remains almost the same as the previous one, but now many vassals are starting to doubt the loyalty to the Burnt Throne.

Military

Awatian army is integrated by the best archers and skirmishers in the Soend Sea. Centuries of hunting have made them the perfect warriors for distant and stealthy combat, hardened by the harsh and mortal environment of the jungles.. Protected by little armor, they can carry many kinds of throwing weapons along with their bows and poisoned arrows to the battlefield. These fast warriors can run miles and outrun many predators. This qualities makes them hard to be reached by heavy armored enemies and experts in ambushes.

They also use all the environment to their favor to place traps all over the battlefield, to actually use the less amount of energy in battle. One reasons of their defeat in the Athulzan range may be that they couldn't outrun the cavalry and also that the Athmoran flying troops could detect them easily when hiding. A second type of warrior, in moment of shock battle, are light armored club/mace wielders. Usually they are employed to fight heavy armored opponents as blunt damage is effective against armors.

As Awatian families are very large, the kingdom demands that at least one to three family members become part of the army permanently. Then, while retaining their family bonds, they would make a second family with their "hunting" party or warrior "lodge". Some hunters became masters of infiltration. They could be used to kill important targets and win wars without any important loss for both sides or sometimes they would infiltrate in sieges and open city gates. These valuable agents are feared by some folks as some say they can elude Oe's eyesight or that they are protected by him to not be seen, a lot of this propaganda and sabotage missions made other nations to surrender to Awat.

They lack any type of cavalry due to being on a jungle environment of untamed predators. This is a factor to consider when studying their defeat at the Athleralen-Athmoran alliance. Towards the inner wars, different fleets of Awatians were created and fought each other. From the last veterans a whole naval tradition was created that would dominate the Soend Sea during the next centuries. What differentiates Awatian navy from others, is that Awat's tactics are centered in relying on firing fire arrows and constantly retreating in favor of the wind, rather than most shock and boarding tactics of other Soend Sea's navies.

The swift movement of the ships are not only thanks to rowers, but to different domesticated aquatic creatures that can move the ships faster. Lastly, they also stole the alchemical fire knowledge from Athleralens. In the last years, some captains deserted the navy and became deadly pirates that tormented other nations with deadly warfare. Lastly, their siege engine relies on large animals of big hard horns and thick skin. These are one of the few animals that they can tame and deploy overseas.

Nevertheless the logistic to maintain sieges is important as these animals require abundant portions of vegetal food. As note other war animal are other small beast of thick skin and horn and some big felines. All these beast lose utility on colder climates.

Religion

Polytheism

Awatian religion started as the cult of many pantheons. Gods would be worshiped by burning offerings, either incense or food. This changed as resources could not be wasted, and so offering stayed as mostly aromatic objects, such as incense and resins. Later on, times of peace music would appear as a better offering, first as chanting and then as more elaborated compositions with instruments that would appear afterwards in history. The broad pantheon started its decline in the 4E 20 with "The bright lights and great fire day", from there the sun as the main god started gaining more importance.

After the century of inner wars, the king would consolidate the solar cult as the official religion, but terraces would still adhere to their patron gods as a secondary religion. Most of the old gods are forgotten and lost. Only few old song with vague references remain.

Totemism

Among those who dwell the jungle, in some terraces, islands and coastal places, totems are erected as markings of respect towards predators. These places are believed to be imbued with the visceral powers of the dangerous animals. Hunter would gather here to meditate and "acquire" the qualities of the animal they are meditating upon. Some would even use the place to do a ritual hunt for different variety of purposes. Totems are usually made of jungle wood and are adorned with leather and bones from animals.

Sometimes. if many hunter have died in the totem area, an offering bowl is left in the place so both the predator is rewarded and the spirit of the hunters can have a last meal before departing this world.

Sea God

Polytheism also declined among sailors who preferred to adhere to only one god, the god of storms and the sea. In this way the performs offering and deed for peaceful travels. Is for this reasons that sailor sometimes could be seen as cowards by some solar cultist, as sailor often want peaceful lives instead of facing pain, justice and truth.

Solar Cult

The main religion since the foundation of the first kingdom is the worship of the sun god "Oe". Since ancient times the sun was linked to justice as it is said that "he could see it all", a quality that every Zu'aan should imitate by perceptions and discernment. This also is linked to the pursuit of the tangible by the Awatians. Considered the ultimate all-seeing witness and the bane of Kin'toni, "Oe" is adored as both a benevolent and severe father who brings life and pain.

"Oe" is also considered the light that guides the path int he darkness, be it inner darkness or the darkness of the jungle. Blood of preys from hunts, that were found due the sunlight, is offered as well as urns containing Kin'toni ashes. Priests are often singer who takes turns in singing during all sunlight hours in front of the great flames that reside in each temple. Temples are located in the topmost part of a terrace. All priest must be celibate as they are considered married with the sun.

Taking all his qualities into account, kings and queens must exhibit the living example of "Oe" in flesh.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

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Awat City Zu'aan

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