Saemdhi

The Saemdhi were a tribal group numbering some ten thousandThe God is Not Willing, Chapter 6, US HC p.119 in northern Genabackis, who were said to dwell on an island ringed in ice. They were known as the "Sae Imas hedi" in their own language, which meant "People of the Cold Seas".The God is Not Willing, Chapter 6, US HC p.107-108 They did not get along with their neighbours, such as the Korhivi near Silver Lake or the Jheck of the Toblai Tundra. The Saemdhi hunted seals, whale, and caribou on the tundra, and marked their territory with the fangs of sealions.
As a rite of passage to become warriors, Saemdhi youths travelled far into the north to bring back the head of a White Jheck. Both the White and Black Jheck hunted them in return, although not as prey.The God is Not Willing, Chapter 6, US HC p.125The God is Not Willing, Chapter 13, US HC p.216-217 The Saemdhi traded oils derived from seals or whales with Teblor in return for hardwoods. The Teblor used this oil as part of the process of creating Blood-oil, while the Saemdhi used the wood to create scaled down versions of Teblor weaponry.
The Saemdhi were broad-shouldered, bandy-legged, and heavy-boned with yellow hair and prominent brow shelfs. They wrapped their bodies in leather and strips of fur, wore necklaces of teeth, and adorned their hair with bird-bones. Their weapons--large recurved bows that used barbed and poisoned arrows, javelins, atlatls, and knives--were made from combinations of natural materials such as antler, horn, bone, and cheap trader's iron.The God is Not Willing, Chapter 4, US HC p.75-76 They took the scalps of their enemies and wore them on their shaved heads or on their hide belts. They decorated their limbs with spiral-patterned tattoos and their faces with tattoos that left raised scars.The God is Not Willing, Chapter 6, US HC p.107/111
When a Saemdhi perished, their knife was driven into their skull between their eyes to capture their soul. Then the knife was thrust into the trunk of a tree so that the soul would be bound to the place and the place bound to the Saemdhi people. If the knife was removed and broken, the soul was cursed to wander lost and the Saemdhi people would seek vengeance against the descrator.The God is Not Willing, Chapter 4, US HC p.76-77
Their Shamans were known as Bone-ThrowersThe God is Not Willing, Chapter 4, US HC p.73 or Bonecasters, and they could communicate over great distances.The God is Not Willing, Chapter 9, US HC p.154 They used stone blades to draw out their own blood for ritualistic purposes. Some said that even Saemdhi hunters could read the language of the land and sky to converge from opposing horizons.
Saemdhi enhanced their verbal threats and curses with dances that mimed the slaying of beasts.The God is Not Willing, Chapter 16, US HC p.280
The Saemdhi feared the waters of Silver Lake which flooded a sacred valley once known as Tarthen'ignial'--meaning The Valley of the Tarthen Stones. Tall stones had run the length of the valley and at the valley's centre was a mound of Tartheno and Imass skulls. It was believed the Imass skulls remained alive, looking upon their flooded world and waiting for boaters and fisherman to drown and join them.The God is Not Willing, Chapter 4, US HC p.73
==In The God is Not Willing==
When Damisk and Rant made an emergency camp on the north side of Silver Lake, Damisk was startled to find sealion fangs marking the area as Saemdhi territory. He speculated that the Saemdhi had killed all of the Korhivi in the forest as no refugees had made their way to the town.The God is Not Willing, Chapter 4, US HC p.67-69
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==Notes and references==
Category:Imass