Sikoto

Sikoto are the indigenous human peoples of the Dominion of Hōu Zhanaland, with a larger diaspora spread out across various neighbouring nations in Southern Talasi. The Sikoto would arrive roughly three thousand years ago to southern Talasi after having migrated from central Talasi through multiple waves of experimental voyages and generational migrations that began nearly five thousand years ago. Over several centuries in isolation from other local ethnic groups, these settlers developed their own distinctive culture, whose language, mythology, crafts, and performing arts evolved independently from those of other southern Talasi cultures. While the majority of the Sikoto would take up territory in the northern hinterland of modern Hōu Zhanaland, some early Sikoto moved southwards to the coastline, where their descendants would mingle with the remnants of and become a new branch of Hōu Zhanaland's other indigenous group, the Sundati.
The Sikoto would become the majority ethnic group in the region, with its first set of tribal kingdoms noted in ancient records in the early 1st century ACA. The Sikoto would organise themselves into various tribal kingdoms, occasionally uniting themselves into political superstructures such as the mKweze dynasty in the late 12th century, the baSuto dynasty in the 15th century and the Ma-tuso dynasties in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The latter would be uprooted by Akashiren colonial settlement over the course of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Beginning in 1822 (49 AU), Akashiren colonial companies would gradually expand from the port city surrounding Cape Resolute to eventually claiming a political mandate over the entirety of the Gulf of Waimarama and the local Sikoto-majority interior regions by 1879, which would greatly strangle Sikoto power and ability to govern themselves as the Akashirens increasingly tightened their colonial mandate, culminating in the "White Knight Laws" which segregated the colonial society and made many Sikoto migrate to the Akashiren mainland & across the northern border where segregation was not enforced.
Efforts have been made, centring on the Constitution of Hōu Zhanaland, to increase the standing of Sikoto in wider Hōu Zhanaland society and achieve social justice. Traditional Sikoto culture has enjoyed a significant revival, which was further bolstered by a Sikoto protest movement and later the adjacent Majority Power movement that emerged in the 1890s and 1920s respectively. However, disproportionate numbers of Sikoto continue to face significant economic and social obstacles mainly in the coastal regions, and generally have lower life expectancies and incomes than other Hōu Zhanaland ethnic groups. They suffer higher levels of crime, health problems, imprisonment and educational under-achievement. Political and economic redress for historical grievances is still ongoing despite the formal end of minority rule in 1904.
Sikoto are the largest ethnic group in Hōu Zhanaland and one of the largest ethnic groups in southern Talasi by population and land ownership. In addition, more than 50,000 Sikoto live on the Akashiren mainland as the descendants of those that migrated there during the period of national segregation in Hōu Zhanaland. The Sikoto language is spoken mostly as a second language by the modern Sikoto diaspora, with the majority of the population primarily speaking Akashiren or Traveller's Tongue.
== Etymology ==
In the Sikoto language, the term Sikoto comes from the word sikit, which translates to "little" or "children". In various aspects of Sikoto folklore, the Sikoto people are considered to be smaller replicas of and/or the children of Tengawiti, the "man of the earths". Likewise, when describing different beings in Sikoto folklore, the term Sikoto is used to differentiate between mortals (eg. Tengawara sikoto) from deities and immortal beings (eg. Tengawiti kaha), which is another theorised origin of the term. 
One of the original exonyms for the indigenous peoples of southern Talasi, the Sikoto in particular, was the Akashiren term スンダダニオ, or Sunda-danio which was the official Akashiren term for the Sikoto designated upon the first contact of the two states in the 15th century, translating to "dark people of the underland". Soijiran trading groups first referred to the Sikoto kingdoms as Sunt-daimyo, translating roughly to "lords of the cold people". With the development of the Akashiren control over the region in the 19th century, many of the foreign interpretations of the Sikoto nation states would adapt to the same nomenclature used by the Sikoto themselves, with the original exonyms being adapted to represent the wider geographical region of Sundatano.
== History ==
=== Origins in central Talasi ===
The original Sikoto peoples are distantly related to some of the other Abexilas native humans, specifically those endemic to Talasi; the estimated divergence point between the majority of the fair-skinned Talasi humans is around seven thousand years ago during the last glacial maximum, although evidence found in archaeological sites in Levan indicate that Sikoto ancestry (as part of a wider hominid group) may date back as far as 8500 years ago, during the nomadic period and predating permanent settlement on the Island of Dwarves. Areas where remains of ancestral Sikoto migratory groups indicate that they were a continually moving people group, having erected no permanent settlements during the migratory period from the centre-west to the deep south of the continent. Archaeological remains also show that multiple groups travelled to a similar destination through radically differing migration patterns, with the majority opting for mainland travel following the Worldspine (or Teuhwhara) southwards, but a significant portion utilising early methods of sea travel in an oceanic route to southern Talasi, which during this period would have been significantly warmer. 
The time of arrival in southern Talasi varies heavily, with some archaeologists stating it occurred as early as four thousand years ago and some stating the contrary, arguing that it could have occurred as recently as a thousand years ago during the origins of the original tribal societies. However, a synthesis of archaeological and genetic evidence concludes that, whether or not some settlers arrived before the end of the last glacial maximum, the main settlement period was in the centuries after it, somewhere between 650 and 430 BCA. The possibility of migration beyond this point is subject to controversy, as potential Sikoto settlements have been found on Talasi's outlier islands, but not enough to support a substantial permanent settlement there, let alone further south in regions like northern Rozakko'ra.
=== Early history ===
Being one of the last major people groups to permanently settle, alongside the other ethnicities of southern Talasi, the history of the Sikoto is far shorter than their distant relatives. The earliest periods of Sikoto settlement, known as the "pre-modern" or "wāimua" period, dates from the time of arrival to c. 1400. The early Sikoto diet included an abundance of post-ice age megafauna and fur seals that had never been hunted before. This period is known for its distinctive archaeological remains - which often reflect some of the "barbaric" methods the early Sikoto used to hunt, and also remarkable for the lack of weapons and fortifications typical of the later "traditional" Sikoto. One of the main archaeological sites for the wāimua Sikoto is at the mKweze peat bogs in the Binnebo Territory, which have revealed remarkable remains of ancient Sikoto and former megafauna drowning while still in combat. 
The transition to the "traditional" or "teahuareka" period would occur in conjunction with a sharp drop in temperature and general conditions, with much of the south of Talasi being transformed into a vast taiga woodland and seasonal wastes, making large portions of the former Sikoto lands uninhabitable for up to eight months of the year; these new conditions would force the Sikoto to push further towards the coast, where they would come into contact with the descendants of the Natanic peoples they had pushed out of the interior during the migratory period. The Sikoto & Sundati would exploit a newfound boost in growth around the southern coast to organise a lucrative local lumber trade, forming the backbone of Sikoto traditional and later colonial-era architecture. This drop in temperatures also allowed for more Sikoto & Sundati peoples to travel across to the island of Waimarama, which Sundati tribal groups would mostly take control over by the 6th century ACA. 
=== Contact with foreign powers ===
Sikoto contact with the outside world began in 1452 ACA (373 BU) with southeastern trading peoples, including Baszku peoples & Ischanori sailors. and effective colonisation of the region began in 1775 (100 BU) during the Akashiren exploration of the interior by members of the Tigoma Clan, which would result in the establishment of Gaaten in 1822 (3 BU). During this period, the rise of what would become the state of Azrael would result in multiple clashes between the Azraelites and the Sikoto baSuto & Ma-tuso dynasties over the course of nearly four hundred years. The end of the "traditional" period would come in 1775 ACA (100 BU) with the onset of formal Akashiren colonisation ventures around Cape Resolute. While traditional states like the Ma-tuso Dynasty continued to function, their connections to the lumber trade were cut off over the course of the early 19th century as the Akashirens established a monopoly over the smaller Sikoto kingdoms. The Sundati peoples, who had lived around the Cape for millennia, were pushed into the interior in what is today the Binnebo Territory during this time, undermining the legitimacy of the Ma-tuso's ability to govern, and the dynasty's control would completely unravel by 1859 (35 AU). Beginning in 1880 (55 AU), colonial expeditionary forces led by expeditionary Tigoma Sudwent would lead a 600-strong force to map out the hinterland beyond Cape Resolute with the goal of claiming the territory surrounding the Cape as under Sundati protection. 
=== Decline and revival ===
Sudwent's policy was to instead meet the local powers on equal grounds and expand to cover the contested territory before they did. Large flagpoles would be utilised by the group, nicknamed the Pioneer Column, to stake Sundatano's claims in the surrounding region. Local Sikoto tribes expressed considerable outrage in response to the Pioneer Column's claim-staking over their local villages; despite this, many regional groups would claim loyalty to Sundatano on the basis that they were the "lesser of two evils", and their ability to extract considerable concessions from the colonial administration.This would culminate in separate treaties in 1882 & 1883 (57-8 AU) which outlined the technical separation of the territories of the local tribal lords from the rest of the colonial administration. The formal announcement of the end of the Pioneer Column's in 1884 (59 AU) with the Takushima Concessions creating the 'Sundatano Protectorate' over the newly occupied territories, for eventual future integration into the colonial administration.
Despite their clear numerical majority in the colonial territories, the Sikoto culture and peoples would be vehemently repressed during much of the "colonial" or "koronitanga" period. Many of the former boundaries of the Sikoto kingdoms would be ignored as arbitrary lines would be drawn through Sikoto territories over the course of the 1880s and 1890s, dividing the region between Calarith, Tsunojiin and the Akashirens. The former Sikoto kingdoms under the Sundatano Protectorate stood as the last truly indigenous states in southern Talasi before they would be forcefully integrated into the Colony of Sundatano after the Yasuda Agreements in 1892, with the Sikoto leaders being reprimanded as "warlords" and stripped of their titles. The dissolution of the remaining Sikoto kingdoms would result in the implementation of the "White Knight Laws", a series of segregation policies that reduced indigenous peoples to second-class citizens, over Sikoto-majority territories. Many would flee to neighbouring countries or to the Akashiren mainland during this time, in order to try and find a living in an unrestricted society. Over the course of the decade, Sundatano would begin to slip increasingly into decline as protests wracked the region over the controversial minority rule policies put in place by the Akashiren settler colonial government. When these boiled over into full-blown political violence in 1902 (77-8 AU), Haikato would intervene, mediating a settlement that pulled back some of the White Knight Laws that enshrined minority rule in law, reducing much of the policies to a regional decision. This gave much greater freedoms to the Sikoto peoples, and encouraged many first or second generation immigrants from the Sikoto-majority territories to return. The establishment of the Sudwentaland Territory as a government-administered preservative measure for the Sikoto people has helped encourage a contemporary revival of Sikoto culture on a level similar to that prior to colonisation.
== Demographics ==
As of the 1909 census, 1,491,000 people are recognised as Sikoto people - equivalent to roughly 68.2% of the general population. The majority of these people are concentrated in the Sudwentaland Territory, where Sikoto make up nearly 86% of the population, and the Binnebo Territory, where they comprise nearly 70% of the population. The rural regions in the Sudwentaland Territory are some of the most sparsely populated areas in the world, being largely covered in paddy fields & tundra wastes atop the plateaus, yet hold significant populations around the "historical villages".
The city of Haikato also hosts a significant portion of the Sikoto population, with nearly 350,000 Sikoto living in Haikato as of 1909; however, they only make up a little over 30% of Haikato's total population. The coastal regions host very small Sikoto communities, which barely ever surpass more than 10% of the total population. A large portion of Sikoto still live "traditional" lifestyles in the historical villages in the Sudwentaland & Binnebo Territories, and have a significantly lower life expectancy than their urban counterparts, with some areas having a life expectancy as low as 31 years old. 
== Culture ==
Sikoto culture forms a distinct part of the wider culture of Hōu Zhanaland, and due to its large diaspora across southern Talasi and parts of Halinn, modern Sikoto culture is a mix of both ancestral traditions and contemporary adaptation to other global cultures. The archaeological record indicates a gradual evolution of culture. In the course of a few centuries, the growing population led to competition for resources and an increase in warfare and an increased frequency of fortified settlements known as kowhao, or "hollows". Temporary unity under a central political dynasty would result in booms in literature and religious studies. Numerous systems designed to preserve the lands of the Sikoto also arose during these times, including dedicated aukati where entry was strictly punished. This is one of the earliest examples of a national conservation authority in the world. Warfare between tribes was common, and Sikoto would sometimes eat their conquered enemies or enslave them. Performing arts such as the kanikani te mate developed from their roots as a nomadic people, as did carving and weaving; these were introduced by picking up various aspects of other permanently settled cultures as they travelled. 
=== Religious beliefs ===
Traditional Sikoto beliefs originate from the oral traditions of pre-modern humans and tribal organisations endemic to central Talasi during the last ice age. Their religion is comprised of mostly animistic beliefs, conceiving of everything – including natural elements and all living things – as connected by common descent through raina whakaheke or the "line of descent". Accordingly, Māori regarded all things as possessing a life force or kahaura. These concepts of connection to the world around them are represented by the four major personifications of various aspects of the world:
* Teranganipe: the protector of the seas and the sand, also referred to as the "ocean below". Personified as a giant sea serpent or often simply represented by a pair of black-and-white eyes. 
* Ki-rangi: the protector of the skies, or the "ocean above". Personified as a vulture-like bird that roosts in cumulonimbus clouds.
* Onometira: the protector of the soil. Personified often as a small primate with an abnormally large head, also known as a upopeka, but is considered to be the embodiment of the land itself.
* Huakoreia: the protector of the harvest, or the cultivator. Originally not found in wāimua folklore, emerged in the teahuareka mKweze dynasty. Personified by the goat, which is considered a sacred animal.
Sikoto folk religions adhere to the principles that these four beings tie hominids (or tukua) to the rest of reality, and the subsequent balance of these four aspects is what holds the world together. While they are not officially pacifist, understanding the necessity of warfare and conflict in the human conscience, contemporary Sikoto theological thought maintains a strict aversion to the use of unrestrained physical violence, believing that an unrestrained conflict can lead to the end of the balance, and subsequently the potential for global catastrophe grows ever larger as the spiritual essence, or mana, of those affected disturbs the delicate balance. Events such as crop failures, tsunamis, earthquakes and violent storms are all attributed to these kinds of loss of balance.
=== Traditional folklore ===
The traditional folklore of the Sikoto is often set in the distant past, albeit in no set timeframe; this is simply referred to as the "time before time", or tewā. The content of Sikoto folkore often has direct mentions or connotations of the supernatural. They present Sikoto ideas about the creation of the universe and the origins of gods and people. The mythology accounts for natural phenomena, the weather, the stars and the moon, the fish of the sea, the birds of the forest, and the forests themselves. Much of the culturally institutionalised behaviour of the people finds its sanctions in myth, such as opening ceremonies performed at dawn to reflect the coming of light into the world. 
One of the most famous tales from Sikoto folklore is the story of Kaimona, a seafarer who is tricked into a series of escapades where he has to escape death at the hands of Teranganipe, having accidentally violated the sanctity of the seas. Contemporary folklore, meaning stories in Sikoto folkore that take place in the koronitanga, is often distinct between tribes and mostly tell tales of the various interactions between their respective tribes and the Akashiren colonial forces, though these are often classed as "chronologies" as opposed to folklore.
== Political representation ==
Further information: Politics of Hōu ZhanalandDespite making up nearly 70% of the population, the Sikoto have little to no representation in government outside of the "allocated" Sudwentaland Territory and to a lesser extent in the Binnebo Territory, which, as a territory of the government, has little to representation in itself on the national level. Despite the White Knight Laws, a collection of segregatory laws coming to an end in 1904 as national law, individual states during and after Federation were allowed to make their own decisions on whether or not to maintain them in some manner, the majority of which chose to keep many of the restrictions on a regional level. These heavily impede upon those referred to as "indigenous" peoples (the Sikoto and the Sundati) in their ability to function within wider society, by restricting their ability to hold political office, get a job, and access certain amenities that those considered "settler" people (mainly descendants of Akashiren & Soijiran settlers) would otherwise have unrestricted access to. This divides much of the voting population between pro-abolitionist voters (mainly represented by Labour) and pro-segregation voters (mainly represented by the Nationals). The Sikoto have no formal political party to represent them, though the majority of their population has voted for the Labour Party due to their stances on race relations. Smaller aspects of Labour are adjacent with the emergent Majority Power movement, a far-left political movement which believes in the reclamation of Hōu Zhanaland for the indigenous peoples, instituting a reversed version of the White Knight Laws that restricts the settler population's ability to function within a Sikoto-dominated societal order.
Category:Hou Zhanaland
Category:Akashiro
Category:Sundatano
Category:Cultures
Category:Culture of Akashiro
Category:Religions