State of the Seidou five years ago:
Seidou Anjing wrote:....Why was the first out of triber to seem genuinely interested was a maybe god? Hells though, she'd take it!Hida wrote:Hida looked to Anjing "You are a stout warrior, a fine example of your people. You have impressed me with your tenacity." He motioned to a some stones that could be used for sitting "come I want to hear your story."
Anjing heads to the stones (disguising a limp as some stretching and waits for Tai and Hida to be settled before beginning.
She may not be a master storyteller, but she has passion, gesturing energetically with her hands as she recounts the tales of the stout and hardy Seidou and their battles to hold their land against bigger, stronger opponents. It also slowly becomes apparent who her tribe are (or at least, how Anjing sees them).
Hard working builders, meticulous craftsmen, slow to trust but loyal to the end, warriors not by desire but by brutal necessity. Good and honest people, if a little loud.
And then, finally, her reasons for coming north.
"About four seasons ago there was a light in the sky far to the south, so far we could not see where it landed or what it was. But every since, something has been wrong. We have hardly seen the ratmen and ogre raids come almost daily. Three villages have been burnt to the ground already, they never did that before, they liked coming back year after year to seize slaves and loot. It's like their afraid, and they're taking that fear out on my people."
Our elders say we just need to endure it as we always have but...that's just..."
She waves her hands around for an elegant description
"Really dumb. There's a problem, and we need to admit we can't solve it alone."
She looks over to Tai, reasoning the spirit talker probably has her own perspective on all these happenings.
Tai wrote:Tai follows, settling cross-legged atop the stone, feeling the sun's warmth baked into the surface and offering a silent thanks for the seat and the warm behind.
She listens with interest to Anjing's tale, curious to hear the hints of difference in a village that's not her own, but still part of the same tribe, nodding at her recounting of the woes of recent years. Her village had never had much to do with the rat people, and so hadn't realized they'd become so scarce.
"They attack more often, but with less craft. As we learn and craft better weapons, better walls, they've become brutish." She shakes her head. "I remember the light, and the trembling that ran through the earth even from so far away, but the spirits only know that the creatures to the south are troubled." The far-traveling wind might know more, but Tai had never had much rapport with the flighty spirits.
"We need time, honestly. We make stronger walls than my grandparents did. Metal blades, hard to come by, but they work better. Those few like me...we're learning to use the earth and fire of the world against them. But we need time that burned out village don't have." She pauses..."I heard a bit of what your brother, Hantei, said last night...about teaching people here. I don't know exactly what he...all of you...want to teach, but if any of it is about better ways to fight and defend our homes, I'd like to hear it."
Seidou geography:Tai wrote:Tai is slower to pledge herself. "The warrior's way is one thing, and it's absolutely necessary in our lands. But it's needed so we can live in peace otherwise, develop our craft, devise new things to do with the earth's gifts," she says to Anjing as much as to the Kami. "But we do need the strength of arms to hold off the nonhuman things." Her hands come forward, palms up, see-sawing higher and lower. "There's a balance that needs to be found."
Seidou Anjing wrote:"I'm from Luokan, you know, the village at the base of Wuzhi Mountain?"
Even amongst the Seidou, Luokan was known for its many smiths and the quality of their ore....as well as a slightly odd penchant for tattoos coupled with an insular attitude.
Seidou Anjing wrote:NoddingTai wrote:
"Not Wuzhi mountain, for sure! Maybe Lao?" she references one of the smaller mountains in the region, a hill with an inflated opinion of itself really.
"He's a classic Lao."
Everyone was like some kind of mountain or stone.
Seidou spirituality:Chaihime wrote:River in this case referring to the one that would eventually become the River of the Last Stand, pretty much the far northern extent of Seidou territories.
Tai wrote:So she thinks for a moment. "I guess some think so. I'm a potter who speaks with some of the spirits...mostly those of stone and earth. Priest seems like...the Seppun here, where that's their whole point and the main thing they do for their tribe. I'm not sure I'm that."
It does make her wonder. "Are there many priests among the Chinsei?"
Seidou Anjing wrote:"Of course! He takes the form of a huge ogre that stalks you in the fields, and if he sees you..he carries you off! His stories help keep Seidou close to the village until they're old enough to venture into the mountains."Kenshiro wrote:Kenshiro chuckled. "I can't argue with that." She certainly seemed to be making an impression on the tree anyway.
"The... what?" Kenshiro paused, pulling his spear back. "If the god of being noticed by bad things noticed you... you'd be noticed by bad things." He narrowed his eyes at her. "I trust you just made that up, though. The Seidou don't truly believe in a god of being noticed by bad things?" Of course, some tribes believed in some weird things...
Maybe lots of Kenshiro's people were noticed by bad things? Did they not even know of the fortune?
Spirits of the dead:Tai wrote:TBear cloak clasped close around her, feet wrapped against mud gone stiff with the fading of the sun, Tai heads toward the Seppun's sacred hill, hoping to meditate upon the bright stars there.
At the foot of the hill, she pours a small cup, prepared back at camp, of the local hootch mixed with four drops of her blood. Four for the elements, and for death--a symbol of sacrifice and a gift for the spirits of the sacred place.
Tai wrote:"In a manner of speaking," she says. "They journey to the realm of the dead and return to us, born anew. There are those who say they've traveled there living, borne on the beat of the giant festival drums as their spirit walks out looking for guidance for our people from the spirits of other realms."
"So we never really leave, we just pause to learn new lessons and keep serving the tribe." There's a smile on her face and a sense of contentment in the statement. "It's said that Kaiu carries the lessons of at least a dozen lives to have achieved so much in not so many years."
Seidou inventors:Tai wrote:For herself, she nodded at the descriptions of the realm of the dead, that matched the tales she had learned of other Seidou who had traveled there in spirit and returned. "We, of the south also know of the grey realm of the dead and its dour judge. We are told of the spirits who return again and again to learn the world's lessons. The spirits within us are all of the same stuff, worm or fish or bear or woman. It is why we thank the bear that gives up life and skin to keep a Seidou fed and warm. Their sacrifice may see their spirit return as a son or daughter of the tribe, to learn more and to bring that protective spirit where it will do good."
Her words rang true and held the clarity that came with both belief and the pragmatic lessons of their own mediums. She didn't know what a dead child of the Sun might return as, nor did she think this was the time to speculate. But the message of service and self-sacrifice that ran through the developing theology of the Seidou found an echo in some of the actions of these fallen children.
Tai wrote:"Walls, for sure. We're good at those, even without the like of me to whisper the stones into being just a bit more settled. I'm told there's an inventor a few villages over who's trying things like walls with stones strategically placed to fall on attackers and clever gates that are harder to break." She munches her bit of meat, thinking. "Storage I mentioned. Much harder for vermin to chew through stone, and harder for ogre raiders to just smash a hole in the wall and run off with a few barrels of our stores if they do get through the walls...and they do sometimes. There's a lot of them and they're strong."
Tai wrote:"He's [Kaiu] a smith who's been pushing new things lately. He thinks we should experiment with harder metals we can't melt down, work with ores we mostly ignore right now." She rests a hand on her knife. "My weapons are stone because I'm attuned to it, not because it makes the strongest weapons. And I know the strength of the fire spirits. I think he's right, and we'll learn to harness them to work even stronger metal than we have now."
"And he's clever. Worked up this spiral-shaped thing to draw up water faster than hauling buckets. That spread among the villages fast. I've done a few out of stone to help get water on the fields during those dry seasons we had about 3 summers ago."
Seidou Anjing wrote:"Everything really, the mountains are rich in ore but poor in food, so we trade."
Anjing casually loosens the thong on her hand axe and offers it to the Isawa.
"Our craftsmanship is second to none, look at the whorls on the head, classic Luokan pattern work."
Seidou customs:
Seidou Anjing wrote:"There are four ways you can get a tattoo like this. Hunt or gather enough to feed a family for a winter, forge an axe the chief smith can trade, build a home or wall that stands for two seasons or.....kill an ogre."
She brushes some imaginary dust off her hide...maybe not imaginary given quite how much dirt there was around
"And I'm not a great hunter, forger or builder."
Kakuro wrote:'' Heh...'' He noded to her and included a smile. She was clearly very proud of her heritage. '' So your tattoos have some sort of meaning, like you succeeded in a test of strength or combat prowess? or only marks you as a warrior?'' He was interested in the culture.
'' Do other types of people from your tribe have different tatoos? Although now i do remember that your kinwoman Tai blackened her teeth and nails...'' He thought for a moment if that was an equivalent thing but for shamans.
Seidou Anjing wrote:"Yup!"
Running a finger over the face markings
"This one means that I'm a blooded warrior, you can tell by the notches. You can earn it by surviving combat with a war party of at least six ogres, or by doing some extremely brave....that's not fighting six ogres."
She sobers up a little when Tai is mentioned
"Tai is uh....a little different, her marking are private, a sign of wisdom suffering and...probably pain. You should see if she wants to say more, I'm not really qualified."
Tai wrote:[...] "some tribes are definitely not happy when others come hunt their lands. Including the Seidou."
Seidou Anjing wrote:"Guests who shout their arrival are clearly to be trusted, those who skulk in silently are up to no good."
Seidou Anjing wrote:"....Oh...well we don't have a lot of that...unless you like to talk smithing? If calm and intellectual smithing debates are of interest we Seidou can provide that."Reiko wrote:"I prefer calm and intellectual debates and discussions about many different subjects."
Anjing had never quite grasped them, but hey, anything to try and get someone down south.
Chaihime wrote:"Practice."
Coming to the conclusion quickly that that was hardly a satisfactory answer, Chai elaborated, "What I mean is it was kinda a punishment of sorts; Back in Seidou lands, everyone is expected to learn at least a little about the crafts that are the tribe's lifeblood. If you're a trader, it's supposed to help you learn about what makes quality goods. If you're a warrior, it's supposed to help you learn how to take care of your equipment. If you're a provider, it's supposed to help you learn where your tools come from and how it is also hard work like tilling the ground. And so forth. Me? I found it all boring, and the punishment for not listening was always chopping firewood for the kilns and forges; Saves the actuall smiths and such hassle, so I never minded. Better than sitting and listening to some geezer yammer on about tongs or something."
Seidou courtship:
On enslaving people:Tai wrote:Tai thinks for a bit, feeling the solidity beneath her, thinking on the warming of spring, and what that brings. "Couldn't pick a better time, at least. Everything gets a bit randy in the springtime, neh?"
"Can't gift his family as usual. Can't just whip up a bandit attack, and our hosts wouldn't be pleased with just hunting down the Noriaki here and giving their weapons to him as a courting gift. But there's probably something that could work. Just need to grab the opportunity when it comes up, right?"
"In the meantime, I'll make you jar. It's a small thing, and we're going to go find some bees. They'll be winter sleepy and we'll get some honey for the jar." Her hands sketch the jar in front of her and mime the tearing open of hives. "Every dawn for three days, you put just a drop of blood in there and you talk to the spirits in the jar, telling them every good thing about you and that you've ever done. Every dusk, you offer one tear to the jar and tell it everything you see in him that's splendid."
"Then bring it to me, and if you've secured a meeting, I'll make a sweet cake of barley and that honey, and maybe a bit of egg if I can find one this time of year." She pats the imaginary cake. "It's a small magic. But pouring all that you are and wish to be into something sweet and sustaining? Can't hurt."
Seidou Anjing wrote:"Most are criminals I think, that and enemies captured in war. How does your tribe deal with serious crimes? Do you just kill the criminal too? Is there any solution you have for complex problems that isn't killing or raiding based?"
Seidou storytelling:Chaihime wrote:"But we Seidou have a few nezumi in captivity that are used in the mines. They can be dangerous places, and they're better at surviving such conditions than people, you understand. Besides, the rat things do nothing but steal and raid the village; They're not violent, but it keeps a pest in check."
Seidou Anjing wrote:"I don't know many stories...." She frowns, her tattoo scrunching
"But there is one tale everyone in Luokan knows."
Deep breath
"When my mother's mother was still too young to walk, it seemed like the world was ending. Every season there was less rain, less sun, our lands grew cold.
We tried to trade for rice, grain, anything. But our neighbours had nothing to spare."
She waves a hand, absolving all foreigners present of blame
"And then when it couldn't possibly get worse, the rat people came. They must have seen the Seidou wasting away because they brought a great army with more rats and ogres and trolls than every warrior in my tribe.
Their leader was old and wizened with pale firm, limping along with a staff of gold. And he demanded the Seidou submit and join the ogres and trolls and all the other races under the rats."
Her voices grows a touch more sombre
"We considered it, we really did. What was my grandmother's family to do? They had three children, should they be sacrificed for pride? Our village elder was going to agree when his wife stood, and she asked him for three days.
'If the Seidou can stand that long, they will stand forever'."
Anjing rubs the back of her head
"In hindsight, that was unnecessarily cryptic. Everyone badgered the woman, 'why did she need three days?' 'Was she just looking to run?' But she stood tall and proud and repeated her request, we needed to hold for three days, and eventually the tribe agreed."
Now her voice grows louder, heavy with pride
"In dark of morning she and her five children climbed the palisade and began the climb of Mount Wuzhi, the whole village watched them fade into the fog below. Then, we told the rats 'no' ."
"Our walls were strong and tall, as all Seidou make is, but so were their warriors. Trolls began literally ripping the palisade apart while ratman sorcerers warped the land. In response our spirit talkers hurled boulders like houses and my grandfather personally slew two ogres!"
She launches into a lengthy tangent about her heroic grandfather
"But we were being worn down, even with everyone in the village it was still enough. After the first day half of us that weren't dead were wounded. After the second there wasn't a single one of us not wrapped in bandages. By the third day most of us had fallen and we knew Luokan would be taken."
Another pause
"But then on the fourth day...the mountain moved. If you've ever seen it, you know of what I speak. A whole slope, a thousand people tall sliding as one, rocks bigger than villages tumbling down, trees flung dozens of li by the impact. Wuzhi....shrugged the invaders away, burying them all. We still find bones out there.
We rejoiced, the village was saved, the tribe was saved! A great feast was prepared for the elder's wife and her children.... but they never came home."
Exhaling through her nose
"To move that much dirt and stone...the mountain had asked a steep price, and they had paid it. Their shrine is still on Wuzhi, I've seen it, to be a warrior in Luokan you have to trek the mountain and offer it blood as they did, so that next time the sacrifice won't be so great."
......
"Uh....story finished."
Tai wrote:"My tale comes from the mountains." She smiles her dark-toothed smile, scars on her cheeks rising in furrows with the movement. "Most everything Seidou comes from the mountains."
"But it's stone, the very bones of the mountains, I can tell you about. Quiet old stone, resting on the spine of the earth. Stone mated to fire, running quick and hot in destruction. But most fascinating are the drowned stones of a lake in the shadow of Song." She pauses, realizing how that sounds. "That's Song mountain for the sounds made by whistling stones drawn from the lake for the shrine there. It's Song lake to, because it's by the mountain, right?"
"So the stones there are maybe a bit flighty compared to most and were tired of just sitting at the bottom of the lake. They asked the water to dance with them, to join with them. And it did, carrying off bits of the rocks here and there at their whim, carving the rocks in amazing shapes. There are diviners among us who sit and meditate upon the stones and the passage of light and shadow through all those carvings."
"Some of them have been given names." In exhaustive detail Tai patiently gives each named stone its due with description, history, divinations found within its crevices, and tangential tales about those who found or divined or befriended them.
The tale had started rather promisingly and just wound on and on and even more on as she paced out dimensions and wandered over to tap anyone who started to snore with the end of her spear.