The Wabanaki

It is far too late, perhaps, but even the most apathetic of the tribe members have begun to murmur that, yes, there may indeed be some truth to the old legends.

In the middle of it all is their current shaman - surprisingly to some, a woman - who says that the remains of the ward are the only thing keeping the surrounding fog at bay. But, she stresses, she alone cannot maintain their ancient power.

Eventually, the land was sold, but the argument split the tribe in two. With the schism came heartache, as family members nurtured unmitigated anger toward one another. The wedge grew deeper, became a kind of canyon, with the two sides glaring from either side, no longer willing - or no longer able - to cross the divide.

When the tribe was given a vast piece of land as part of the settlement, they could not decide what to do with it. They were offered a large amount of money for the land in 2005. This led to intense argument between several of the members; one side wanted to preserve the old ways and the sanctity of the hill, the other wanted to sell off the useless territory to finance the building of a casino.

In 1971, their shaman was shot and killed by the Blue Ridge Mine foreman. Several of the members of the tribe were jailed under suspicion of murdering mine workers as revenge. The natives were innocent, but many nights in prison first had to pass, with many raging looks cast through the cold bars, before any Wabanaki were released.

Whether it is indifference brought on by the senseless clamour of modern times or something ominous that has slowly driven the people of the tribe apart is anyone's guess. Regardless of the source of the rift, suffering through strife and hardship is nothing new to the Wabanaki of Kingsmouth.

## The Wabanaki: Extended lore

Wabanaki is the name of a group of Native American nations in the north-east part of North America, typically the New England area in the United States and the Maritimes in Canada. They are part of the Algonquian people, one of the largest First Nation groups.

The word itself means "People of the Dawn" and is used to describe people from the member tribes under the Wabanaki Confederacy. These tribes are the Abenaki, Penobscot, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy and the Mi'kmaq. While the Confederacy was disbanded in the mid-1800s, the five member nations remain close allies to this day, and several of the tribes refer to themselves as Wabanaki.

When the European settlers came to the new continent, they brought with them diseases that were unknown to the natives. The Wabanaki people were afflicted by several epidemics of smallpox, influenza and cholera between the late 1500s and 1750s. Maine's native population was hit very hard, especially in the early 1600s, with a mortality rate of up to ninety-five percent. The Wabanaki refer to this as the Great Dying.

Along with other Algonquian people, the Wabanaki mostly lived in woodland regions, and were more attached to a specific area than the plains tribes were. A number of Wabanaki live in coastal Maine with a small group centred in Solomon County. The natives there claim their people have lived in the area for thousands of years.

The tribe living near Kingsmouth has diminished in size the last decades and many of those who are left no longer identify with their indigenous culture. Many of the old ways are forgotten or considered old fashioned and backwards. Only a few remain who still tend to the traditions and even fewer are aware of the great responsibility that has been entrusted to them.

A thousand years ago - and a thousand before that - the Wabanaki shamans lived by ancient prophecies that claimed their holy land was also the resting place of something dark and sinister; something imprisoned there since the dawn of time could one day rise to destroy the world. Shortly after the Darkness War, they took care to conjure a ward to protect the island, and to reinforce the subterranean prison that kept the dormant evil confined.

The power of an artifact brought by the Vikings was used to enhance the magic, make the ward stronger. The only thing capable of undoing the ward would be the artifact itself, and so it had been sent away with the Norsemen on their long voyage home.

This ward had to be upheld and strengthened every so often, the knowledge having been passed on through generations. Now, with the decline in interest among the Wabanaki, the ward has weakened, and perhaps been weakened all the more by the negative influence of an unknown, outside force.

Whether it is indifference brought on by the senseless clamour of modern times or something ominous that has slowly driven the people of the tribe apart is anyone's guess. Regardless of the source of the rift, suffering through strife and hardship is nothing new to the Wabanaki of Kingsmouth.

In 1971, their shaman was shot and killed by the Blue Ridge Mine foreman. Several of the members of the tribe were jailed under suspicion of murdering mine workers as revenge. The natives were innocent, but many nights in prison first had to pass, with many raging looks cast through the cold bars, before any Wabanaki were released.

When the tribe was given a vast piece of land as part of the settlement, they could not decide what to do with it. They were offered a large amount of money for the land in 2005. This led to intense argument between several of the members; one side wanted to preserve the old ways and the sanctity of the hill, the other wanted to sell off the useless territory to finance the building of a casino.

Eventually, the land was sold, but the argument split the tribe in two. With the schism came heartache, as family members nurtured unmitigated anger toward one another. The wedge grew deeper, became a kind of canyon, with the two sides glaring from either side, no longer willing - or no longer able - to cross the divide.

In the middle of it all is their current shaman - surprisingly to some, a woman - who says that the remains of the ward are the only thing keeping the surrounding fog at bay. But, she stresses, she alone cannot maintain their ancient power.

It is far too late, perhaps, but even the most apathetic of the tribe members have begun to murmur that, yes, there may indeed be some truth to the old legends.