Dauguki

Used to refer to all cultures following the god Dauphiir. This collection of varied groups live through out the continent of Shucu and the nearby islands. Despite their range and diversity all members of the Dauguki can trace their roots to the land surrounding the Gold Sea.

## Ethnonym

The term "Dauguki" is derivative of these people's god, Dauphiir (Sword-Father), and roughly translates to "sword-people" in Auri. This term is used primarily in contrast with "Sudeguki" (strange-people) the catch all term for foreigners.

## Classification

The Dauguki are normally divided into the 8 Tribes of Dauphiir which share their worship of Dauphiir and the strict caste system among other notable traits. These 8 groupings of Dauphiirians come from the semi-mythic political divides that occurred early in the history of the world. Each of these 8 tribes include a variety of sub groups and are settled across wide areas of Shucu. Despite their wide distribution, the 8 branches of the Dauguki stick mainly to their own group and within its traditional areas.

## History

Due to the long history of Dauten Poets specifically the Verizhta (historian) there is a wealth of historical information on the Dauguki. Although countless cycles have been lost the sheer mass of surviving independent cycles with similar information allows modern historians to know a great deal.

### The Dauphiirian Age (0 AoG ~ 2,591 AoG)

Beginning with the creation of the Dauguki by their creator god Dauphiir this period is shrouded in the mystery of all ancient times. We know that this time happened because we know Dauphiir created the Dauguki and lived among them for some time before creating his paradise which orbits Ami where he currently resides. The only references to the actual events of this time come from the Datigake.

During this time Dauphiir was said to live among all his people in the great Crescent City upon an island on the Golden Sea. Over time Dauphiir became overwhelmed by the constant petty squabbles of the Dauguki and built for himself a small island connected by bridge away from the Crescent City where he could work with less distractions. However, the Dauguki still came to their god for their problems and overtime even the separation of the bridge could not allow Dauphiir the seperation he desired.

To provide himself with more time to work on his own projects Dauphiir then decided to sink the bridge connecting the islands. His followers, believing something was wrong, all gathered at the banks of the Crescent City and began swimming and taking boats out to Dauphiir's island. Dauphiir then called up great waves to push the people back to the shore. These waves were so great that all but three especially strong and zealous young men were pushed back to the City.

The Dauguki were very worried and began fighting among themselves trying to determine who was to blame for their god abandoning them. A great many arguments were made on who or caused this, but as swords were being drawn, the first prophet Mahuvatur appeared before them. He established that Dauphiir had not abandoned them but was merely trying to create a paradise for them to live on with him after their death if they proved faithful to him. Mahuvatur also said that rather than bring all of their troubles to Dauphiir he would bless certain people with great wisdom, strength, and magic to serve as judges on minor issues called Diize.

Mahuvatur lead all the Dauguki until his death at which point there was a splitting of the now overpopulated Crescent City as different clans began following different schools of Diize. After a few generations the various Diize schools begin to have confrontations with one another and soon it seemed open warfare between the Diize and their followers would come. It was at this time that the second prophet Zeden came.

Zeden reported that Dauphiir was nearing completion of the great paradise and that it was imperative that the Dauguki lived just lives according to Dauphiir and Mahuvatur's teachings. Zeden chastised the quarreling Diize and codified a group of laws to guide how the Diize should act and make their judgments. Zeden tried to unite the clans of the city together and was largely successful but was killed when a brick fell from one of the many towers of the Crescent City.

The Dauphiirian age ended when Dauphiir's paradise was completed and he returned to the Crescent City to give his final direct words to the Dauguki. In addition to his final message Dauphiir also created the first Phiirate and asked them to lead the Dauguki to colonize the Phiseme. It is from the first departure of the Phiirate in 8 groups that the 8 Tribes of Dauphiir come from.

### Phiiratic Era (2,592 AoG ~ 4,327 AoG)

The Phiiratic era can generally be divided up into three periods as the 8 Tribes of Dauphiir colonized Shucu, established civilizations, and struggled for power. During this time the central theme was the domination of the *Kahugashe* over the *Damest.* Throughout the Phiiratic age Dauphiir's most powerful creations, the Phiirate, led the various groups of the Dauguki for better or worse.

#### Colonization of the Phiseme

Beginning with the 'Mandate of Paradise' when Dauphiir asked the newly raised Phiirate to lead his people to go forth and thrive upon the Phiseme, the Colonization time lasted for several hundred years. Under the guidance of the first Phiirate and their early Diize the Dauguki made great technical advances from their previous reliance on Dauphiir for all their needs. Agriculture, taming of some animals, tool-making, and the initial beginnings of spoken all came to be and spread during this time.

In all 8 Tribes the pattern of development followed the same pattern. First, a Phiirate would found a city known as a Phikikau along the coast or a short trip up a major river. From this city the Diize of the reigning Phiirate would give clans a land grant to build their Piruumash in the city itself or the surrounding area. As the societies grew they would enter the second stage where influential Diize would be sponsored to create satelite cities further along the coast or up the river valleys known as Gaphikau. Eventually the Gaphikau themselves would gain enough size, population, and influence to sponsor their own Gaphikau and so forth. In this way the Dauguki expanded across the Phiseme and came to inhabit most of central Shucu.

It was during this time that the first Gashke came to be. When Diize gained high amounts of power and influence during their life sometimes their followers would continue to revere this leader past their death. When this coupled with support of one of the Phiirate this influential Diize continued to maintain their connection with the Etphii. Over time, with support from mortal followers and the Phiirate, these Diize could begin exerting influence back upon their people in the same way the Phiirate did. These pseudo-Phiirate became known as Gashke and went on to build their power and became and important class of the Kahugashe bridging the gap between the Phiirate and the Diize.

#### The Time of Troubles

As the initial settlements of the Phiirate and their vassal Gashke and Diize expanded throughout Shucu they eventually ran against the borders of the Phiseme. Without constant expanses of virgin land to expand into the Dauguki began encountering issues that this were time unprecedented.

Beginning in Mahunuka and the areas around the Golden and Wailing Seas overcrowding of cities and clan tower complexes lead to struggles for resources on scales never before witnessed. Although conflict began on a clan to clan level early on it was a short period of time before Diize lead communities confronted one another and the Dashke who sponsored them were drawn into the fray.

It is difficult to get an accurate picture of any details of this time as no written record exists and the few oral poetic cycles that tell of this time and earlier are biased at best and frequently speaking of events ancient in the time of their composition. What we do know is that it is during this time that the first wars happened and more importantly the first deaths of a non-Diize Kahugashe.

As tensions grew within each Phiirate's own people they began to lose the tight hold over their Dashke and over the centuries it became not uncommon to see plots of Dashke culminating in the death of another Dashke and the destruction of their Dazhguki.

#### The Collapse of the Pantheons

Until this time the 8 Tribes of Dauphiir were each lead by their own pantheon of Phiirate. Being that the Phiirate of this time were still the original 58 appointed by Dauphiir they represented a very stable and persistent aspect of Dauphiirian society. However, the centuries of internal conflict during the Time of Troubles had greatly weakened their overall power as well as their relative position to the Dashke they controlled. This, in addition to pseudo-conflicts within the pantheons themselves led to the Collapse.

Beginning with the Northern Phiiratic Revolution, when a coalition Dashke of the northern Kahernia and several original Phiirate conspired to overthrow the original Pantheon of the Kahernia, the old system began to crumble. Century long conflicts that had been slowly brewing came to a head in a series of consistent wars which ravaged Shucu. As pantheons were destroyed and reformed and countless Dashke, Phiirate, Diize, and Damest perished the entire Dauphiirian world was forever changed. None of the original Phiirate survived this time and most of the Dashke perished too.

These great collapses did bring about the wide circlation of the Datigake and the near universal adoption of the Auri language. With this centralised holy text came the wide spread belief in the school of thought known as Yiskitahuzht or 'Obligationism'. This taught that the Dashke had an obligation to protect their people just as Dauphiir had an obligation to protect them all. Yikitahuzht as a dominant ideology brought about the next era of Dauguki history.

### Dashke and the Horticultural Revolution (1 AoP ~ 1,079 AoP)

The collapse of the ancient Dauphiirian Pantheons brought about a dramatic shift in all aspects of the lives of the Dauguki. Truly modern Dauguki society only began following the collapse as they had to rebuild from basically a stone age level of technology.

#### Dauphiirian Dark Ages

During the late stages of the Collapse of the Pantheons the total war tactics of the primarily bronze age civilizations of the Pantheons forced countless millions to flee their homes. Entire peoples were forced to become roving hordes as various Dashke and Phiirate wielded their Dazhguki like property. Most cities of the Phiiratic era were razed and massive numbers of people were lost to the centuries of nearly ceaseless warfare as the various Kahugashe struggled for power. This loss of life lead to a corresponding loss of technology and the advent of 'plague-warfare' between increasingly spiteful Dashke lead to unprecedented famines throughout Shucu.

Much of the Dauphiirian Dark Ages was spent nurturing the small populations of Dauguki to begin regaining their population and knowledge. This was challenging to do as the plague illness which had shattered much of the agriculture of the Dauguki were still present. A shift towards more long term growth of hardier fruiting trees allowed populations to survive but forced a slower pace of growth and a need to protect their orchards. The prevailing doctirine of Yikitahuzht coupled with low populations lead to more emphasis on the importance of secular power sources in the form of Diize and Zetiku.

In the middle and late Dark Ages the first nations began to arise as powers which had more successfully sought to expand from an established power base. The ambitions of Dashke to create new Pantheons were contingent on their secular power base now that the class of Dashke was much larger and yet individually weaker. These new governing structures, while still theocratic, featured a more active Damest class, and were known as Rause. A Rause government is characterized by Ruling Council of Diize representing the Dashke's interest. The Diize used their control over the Dauten to impose their will upon the Zetiku who were now expexted to manage their Dauye. This represents a shift from the governments of the Phiiratic era where the Zetiku were more of a ceremonial leader who represented rather than truly controlled their Dauye.

#### Age of Heroes

The Age of Heroes is a bit of a misnomer and stems from a revisionist view of the period by later realms. The Dashke period represented a very long period of time which saw many advances that were previously lost be slowly rediscovered as the shattered population of the Dauguki rebuilt. The name Age of Heroes is meant to convey that this time was a golden period of renaissance to seperate itself from the so called Dark Age. In reality the progress being made during the Dark Ages followed a steady growth track throughout this time and heroic figures are just as likely to have been older than the time period bearing the name.

The key differences of the Age of Heroes are the demarcation of the modern de jure borders, rise and circulation of the philosophies of Chapheskur and Zephikesht, and the creation of the modern Dauten schooling system.

This period was notable also for it seeing the foundation of the first dynastic Diize-Kingdoms including the Kingdom of Ausese, Kingdom of the Rock (in Phera), and the Derian League (in Desadu). This was a style of governing where a particularly strong clan's Zetiku is chosen as a Diize (known as a Ziidenku) and uses this additional power to rule unopposed as a secular and spiritual power. The original Kingdom of Ausese was eventually eclipsed by a Ziidenku called Shikirite, from a suburb of Ausese who eventually took over the great city to found arguably the greatest empire of the Dauphiirian world.

### Dauphiirian Classic Era (1,080 AoP ~ 600 AoW)

The so called Classic Era continued the shift in Dauguki culture towards a more secular and human focused society. Many Rause governments were wracked by political instability which lead to increasing strength of the Zetiku clan leaders. As states began to form under more centralized Rauses and Ziidenku kingdoms a general shift away from the less formalized interactions of the countless trading cities that studded the Phiseme.

## Culture

It is challenging to make generalizations about the Dauguki as they are a diverse and large people but due to the similar environments they inhabit as well their shared ancestry and religion some things are quite consistent.