K'aitan

From Almeopedia

K’AITAN >

K’aitan [ˈkʰaj tan] is a kingdom sharing Apoyin island with Omeguo, off the coast of Bekkai. Its language, K'aitani, is Western. The capital is Begai. K’aitani territory is almost all mountainous, except for the valleys of the Danep/Davai river system in the north, and that of the Feren farther south.

Etymology: K'aitani ‘honor-realm’, Omeguese Kaitan, Ver. Caitan.

History

Aboriginal

The original human inhabitants were racially Telise, deriving ultimately from Vipodoȟ. They lived as hunter/gatherers and fishermen. They adapted easily enough to the lowlands of Apoyin, but left the colder highlands alone. Very likely they brought the roa to the island, as wild roa are still found in the Bekkayin jungles but not on Apoyin.

They seem to have spoken an Old Bekkayin language, which survives only in place names— e.g. the islands Arus, Bamar, Mei, Onus, Urus (-us is presumed to mean 'island'); the rivers Amat’, Meradi, Rimadi, Rit’on, Umbe (-di probably means 'river' or 'water'); the lakes Eki, Ere, Nibu; the regions of Emorno, Koron, Vet‘uno. The predatory bird ait’ur and the mythical monster eio are also assigned to this substratum.

The K'aitani invasion

The precursors of the K'aitani are also racially Telise, but dark brown rather than caramel in skin color. They had settled the Bekkai from Nan starting around 1400, and began colonizing Apoyin around 1900, probably from the area of present-day Bad. K'aitani is most similar to the language of Tuŋbad or East Bad, though this does not mean that it was settled from there; both areas are marginal in the development of Bekkayin civilization, and more sound changes accumulated in Urunči.

The K'aitani depended mostly on agriculture (as well as on roa and fish), and soon greatly outnumbered the aborigines, who either disappeared or were absorbed into the K'aitani population.

They also adapted Bekkayin crops to the colder highlands, a development intensified about 2100 by the discovery of significant zinc deposits, which allowed the forging of brass. As ironworking was never discovered by any Bekkayin peoples and no large tin deposits for bronze were known, this was the pinnacle of weaponry and armor, and highly prized— most warriors had to make do with leather or threadwood armor and with stone clubs or wooden arrows with obsidian or flint heads. To this day the main motivator of K'aitani politics is control over the zinc fields and the forging of brass weapons. The name of the island, Apoyin, is Urunči for ‘Great Brass (Island)’, though the K'aitani call it Riagur after Ria, the snake goddess, as the encircling sea is likened to a great snake.

A series of wars in the 2200s and 2300s led to an uneasy partition of the island between three alliances of barons: T’orá in the north, Rode in the east, and Anofar in the southwest. Of these Anofar was the strongest, and its leaders liked to style themselves kings of Riagur; Rode had some claim to the oldest of the kingdoms and the site of first settlement; T’orá was the weakest but protected by its relative distance. Anofar was generally strong enough to defeat either of the other kingdoms but not both at once; however, T’orá and Rode were never able to maintain a permanent alliance.

The Omeguese invasion

This balance was shattered around 2500 by the appearance of a new player: Urunči, the strongest of the Bekkayin kingdoms, which saw an opportunity to monopolize the supply of zinc and thus brass weaponry. At first it allied with T’orá and Rode in an attempt to conquer Anofar. This seemed well in reach when the main port, Ičan, was captured; but the Anofari retreated to the mountains where the mainlanders could do little against them; they also induced Rode to change sides.

To continue the war, Urunči made large grants of land, conditional on actual occupation. Many mainlanders, high and low, jumped at the opportunity, but focussed on the southern lowlands, more similar to their home valleys in Urunči only larger and more fertile. The area was named Meguo ‘beautiful country’, and greatly prospered; within two centuries there were as many Meguese as K'aitani on the island.

Urunči's long-term strategy was vindicated; but in the even longer term it was a failure, for its colonists soon thought of themselves as a new nation; if anyone would profit from the conquest of the island it would be them. This was underlined by a war, ending in 2740, which established the independence of Meguo. In celebration it added o ‘honorable’ to its name, forming the nation of Omeguo.

Anafar was conquered twenty years later; its main city Ečahen had already become the Omeguese western port, Ičan.

Consolidation of K'aitan

K'aitan and Omeguo (3480)

In theory this left T’orá and Rode as the remaining K'aitani kingdoms; in fact it led to a collapse of both states as the barons adapted to the new situation. Increasingly it was felt that Omeguo was the real threat requiring unity of all K'aitani; but the barons were too used to playing kings against each other, and disliked the idea of a single king almost as much as they feared Omeguese conquest.

For some time a stable new set of kingdoms developed: Ammetá and Issaf in the north, Amgur in the southwest, and Eferená and Rode in the southeast. These allowed a byzantine and constantly changing set of super-alliances. Not infrequently one or another king would ally with Omeguo in hopes of gains at the expense of another king.

Finally the balance was upset by the Six Kings War, which started in 2861, in which the northern and western kingdoms allied with Omeguo against Eferená and Rode. The war was too successful, in that Rode was entirely defeated, its territory divided between Omeguo and Eferená. This finally convinced that northerners that Omeguo was an existential threat. Ammetá and Issaf announced a merger of their kingdoms and war against Omeguo (2875), and for good measure made their joint heir the infant Dusgasta, rightful heir of the old kingdom of T’orá. The new kingdom would however be known as K'aitan.

Eferená hardly knew which side to take; it decided to ally with Omeguo, which turned out to be a fatal miscalculation. The new alliance, together with Amgur, defeated and occupied Eferená and fought Omeguo to more than a standstill— reconquering about a quarter of the territory that Omeguo had taken from Rode.

The war lasted over thirty years and exhausted both sides; it seemed only fitting that the kings of Ammetá and Issaf both died near the end, so that the new king Dusgasta was able to make a lasting peace with the king of Omeguo in 2894. The borders between the two countries were virtually the same as today's.

The southeast was largely alloted to new barons made from northern generals, though a rump barony of Rode was alloted to the descendents of the old kings. The king of Amgur swore fealty to Dusgasta, but was given a new title, duke, to suggest an exaltation over mere barons.

Recent centuries

There was a long peace with Omeguo, enough that central authority was weakened; the barons largely felt sovereign and occasionally fought battles among themselves. The kings at Begai were respected as a symbol of national unity and convened occasional conclaves of all the barons, but their own barony, T’orá, was not even particularly powerful.

In the 3200s there was a gold rush in the southeast, focussing on the barony of At'ura. People from all over Apoyin and even the Bekkayin states flocked to the barony and the mountains to its southeast, hammering away at the hills. Omeguese, by now more experienced as merchnants, dominated the distribution though not the finding of gold; this led to resentment and persecutions, which were increasingly protested by the Omeguese government. Finally, in 3265, it led to war. The result was the loss of the entire barony of K'argras and much of that of At'ura, which have remained as the new Omeguese province of Sainšen. In addition the rump of At'ura declared itself independent (3273).

The modern civil war

In recent decades there has been fitful contact with the rest of Ereláe and more sustained trade with the Bekkai, and this has led to the realization that K'aitan is a somewhat backward area, where things are done as they always have been— for the benefit of the barons. The mountain baronies, still the focus of zinc mining, feel increasingly resentful over the increasing dominance of the coastal cities; the presence of Omeguese merchants and even farmers spilling over from the dense lowlands is another agitating factor.

To some, the answer is a stronger government, more along the lines of Omeguo's. But the steps that have been taken have antagonized the more traditional barons. In 3477 this led to civil war. There are three sides to the conflict:

• The royalists, led by king Mukin; his base of support is the center north (including the largest city, Melik'ur but also includes the far southwest and southeast.
• The rebels, organized around duke Gavnor of Ammetá and duke Edak of Ek'u Ait'ur. Though they denounce the king as a tyrant, their cause is largely their own aggrandizement. Whether they would collaborate or fight if they won independence is hotly debated.
• The duchy of Issaf, which joined by its neighbor Eiok'ur has remained neutral and denies entrance to armies of both sides. This separates the armies of Gavnor and Edak, but also divides the royalist area in two.

In addition the barony of K'imgur— the site of the richest gold mines— has been quietly occupied by Omeguo. The Omeguese claimed to be operating on behalf of Mukin, as the baron of K'imgur threatened to join Gavnor, but K'aitani of course suspect them of hoping to hold on to the barony. Taxes due the king are occasionally actually sent to the royalists, which amounts to a small subdidy for the royalist side. (Omeguese tax administration is infinitely more efficient than K'aitani, so Mukin may actually profit from the arrangement.)

Culture

Technology

From an eastern Ereláean perspective, life in all the Bekkayin states is primitive: no ironworking, no fine cloths, no machines or clocks, no horses or draft animals. Armies mostly wield stone clubs and the bow, with the elite using easily dulled brass weapons. The people are near naked and do not maintain permanent fields, but clear new ones from the jungle every few years. And even by Bekkayin standards the K'aitani are considered savages: dirty and warlike but disorganized, living in petty tyrannies with little understanding of markets, with no high-density rice-growing areas, and without any native writing system.

Some of this may be considered temperate-zone prejudice: garden agriculture is an efficient and sustainable way of using tropical forests, and of course there's no need for clothes so close to the equator. Armor is used in warfare, and this has evolved into ceremonial decorative items for the upper class; there is also a tradition of elaborate body painting for various purposes (religious intimidation; medicine; status; adornment for young women), which motivates a strong interest in minerals and herbs suitable for pigments. And there is simply little land suitable for rice, though it is grown in the Davai valley.

The K'aitani are known as excellent miners, with a long tradition in brass and gold working. Perhaps ironically, these goods are so valued in the rest of the Bekkai that they are expensive in their homeland, seen only in temples and baronial households.

They're also skilled in masonry; their castles (ek’uek) nestle formidably among the mountains and are almost impossible to capture (without treachery, of which there is generally an abundant supply). Their mortarless masonry is all the more impressive in that it is made without iron or steel tools. Humble residences are made of wood frames with thatched roofs; the walls are formed of dried leaves held by a network of branches, and often provided on two sides only.

Social structure

The land is divided into 36 baronies (enorák). The barons consider themselves sovereign within their borders, responsible to the king (betan) only for national defense, conflicts with other barons, and certain ceremonial duties. In theory gold is a royal monopoly, though private mining allowed with payment of a tax.

The king may call a conclave of barons (the enormakkes) for counsel, to address emergencies, or to serve as a court; it's considered unseemly if this isn't done soon after his accession but oppressive if it's done more than once a decade.

Land is owned by the barons, who exact rent in kind from peasants, fishermen, and hunters. Miners are essentially serfs, but engineers and metalworkers have more liberty as their skills are in demand; a wise baron will keep these essential workers happy.

Thieves are an organized, even respectable profession; indeed, K'aitani folktales often center around likeable rogues and tales of their daring thefts and complicated code of honor; the stories are an obvious outlet of dissent against the arbitrary and unchecked power of the barons. Naturally the barons are big on property rights, but they are often interested in thievery against their peers, since direct attacks on an ek’u are rarely successful.

A K'aitani girl— upper class, as the green pigment is expensive. Her hair is naturally red but enhanced by red clay.

There is a small urban economy, especially in the northern lowlands, centered on the cities of Melik’ur and Eferená. Trade in general is dominated either by merchants from these cities or from Omeguo, and is considered a step down morally from honest thievery, which at least targets the rich.

Rich merchants or barons may employ Omeguese to keep books for them; and barons have found ways to encode diplomatic or military secrets so that messages can be sent in Omeguese which are nonetheless opaque to persons knowing the language.

Sex roles

The highest prestige activity in K'aitani society is warfare, which is (almost entirely) restricted to men; the general view of women (and their major work, child-rearing) is therefore low.

From a general Bekkayin point of view, however, K'aitani women are scandalously independent, able to go as they please, reject arranged marriages, speak their minds, and even use weapons. They may even inherit baronies— the highest-ranking of these, the duchess Anora of Melik’ur, is dismissed by no one. (They are required to submit to their husbands when they marry; naturally they take consorts instead and marry only when elderly.)

Most K'aitani live in small settlements and have little tolerance for what they consider sexual immorality. Far outsiders such as Verdurians may be scandalized by public nudity and by sex taking place in hammocks, in crowded houses open to the street; but actual practice is almost entirely heterosexual and monogamous (at least among the poor; rich men can take multiple wives). Barons and their families face fewer restrictions (though castle life offers not much more privacy); port towns feature prostitutes of both sexes, either slaves or of foreign origin.

Religion

The K'aitani worship a motley collection of gods (nofek) and spirits (pusek). Though the gods bless and support agriculture and the social structure, temples have never been organized or theologized, and are thus a patchwork of overlapping cults. Temples are entirely independent and priests train their own successors (usually their children).

Outsiders usually remark on the cult of the snake goddess Ria, identified with the surrounding ocean; her services featuring enormous snakes are certainly impressive. However, to the K'aitani she is merely one deity among many.

The focus of K'aitani religion is not worship or morality but supplication— the gods have favors and special powers to bestow, and more likely to listen to their followers than human authorities. They can also be considered entertainment: stories of heroes and supernatural thrills and horrors are popular. Priest and priestesses are often experts in herblore and magic.