Kajuns

## Information

### Region

Tenuezie, Cantuqie, Zaurka, Arcansaux, Bamou, Acadiania, Mizzipie, Fleurdeau, Jourja, Okiehumma, Texhuss

### Skills

Sailing, Trade, Fishing, Music, Culinary arts

## Appearance

### Physique

Stocky to Slender

**Kajuns** were the peoples who inhabited the coasts surrounding the Mizzip Sea as well as several outlying areas. They are known for their mastery of sailing and fishing, as well as their quick wit and skill as merchants, musicians, and cooks. They were also a highly superstitious people, who believe nothing happens for new reason, shamelessly believing in the spirits and curses of their voodoo religion.

## History

The Kajuns believe their ancestral homeland to be a place called Louisiana, home to the great mythical city of Nola, which long ago vanished beneath the waves during the floods of the Thousand Years Summer. After the submersion of their homeland the Kajuns took to the rising seas as sea nomads and lived in floating villages which followed the currents. Their tribes also originally lived in the murky swamps of the low-lying archipelagos of Acadiania and Mizzipie.

In the later half of the Epoch of Reconstruction they began to sail around the Mizzip Sea, setting up trading colonies to do business with various Dehxie, Texhun, Laeklunder, and Midlunder people who lived around its shores. Rapidly the Kajun merchants became wealthy from their trade and the outposts grew into powerful mercantile city-states known as parishes whose stilt-houses were crisscrossed by networks of waterways and canals. Cities such as Fifolet, Archevele, Olsau, and Raydeaux grew to become large metropolises with great influence over smaller Kajun settlements, with whom they formed alliances known as leagues.

The expanding power of the Khagoan republic to the north forced many of the fiercely independent Kajun cities to seek the protection of the Kajun League led by Fifolet. The Kajun league fought in the bloody Kajun Wars against the rising republic and was defeated after three brutal wars. The majority of the Kajun city-states then fell under the rule of Khago, but they retained their independent spirit. Even under the Republic and later the Empire the Kajuns clung on to their cultural identity and their cities remained wealthy and influential forces in the maritime trade of the Mizzip sea.

After the fall of the Empire to ravaging Kanuck tribes from the far north, the Kajun cities once again asserted their independence and Fifolet once again became a powerful force, facilitating the trade between the new Feudal barbarian kingdoms of the east and the Texhun Empire in the west.

## Culture

Kajuns had a very vibrant and colorful culture heavily influenced by the Voodoo religion and musical and culinary traditions. Kajuns were known for their great celebrations and festivals commemorating their heritage such as Maurdi Gras. All aspects of their lives were based around their Parish and their strong sense of community, with wealthy elites often looking after the poor and disenfranchised and witch-doctors looking after orphans and sickly.

A large portion of Kajuns, especially rural ones made their living by fishing in shallow swamps and bayous for shellfish. Urban Kajuns often were employed as traveling sea merchants or the owners of stalls selling wares from all over Maer'Ka. Kajuns dominated trade between the various cities on the Mizzip sea and thus played a huge role in the economy, with their merchant fleets transporting goods between east and west. Wealthy Kajuns were often part of the mercantile aristocracies of the parishes they lived in, and were expected to give back to their communities by constructing large music halls and markets, as well as hearing issues in the parish councils.

Kajuns were considered by many to be some of the best cooks in Maer'Ka, with their heavily seasoned seafood and rice and bean based dishes. Their musical traditions were also strong, with great emphasis placed on brass instruments such as trumpets and saxophones, which they used to play an ancient form of music important to them known as Jaaz. Men and women had an equal position in society, with many women becoming powerful leaders in their cities or communities.

## Religion

Main Article: Kajun Voodoo

The Kajuns followed their Voodoo religion which placed great importance on spirits and ghosts, as well as hexes and curses which could be placed on followers for wrong doing or out of spite. Their Voodoo religion was viewed as strange by many foreigners but held a great importance to all Kajuns, who were known for their superstitions. Followers of the Voodoo refrained from doing wrong upon others in their communities out of fear of being cursed or ostracized by their neighbors.

Prominent deities included the serpent god Blanc Dani, the Grand Zombi, and the trickster god Papa Lébat, whom were venerated at altars where sacrifices were made to them. Charms, amulets, and talismans known as Gris-gris were often worn by followers of the faith to ward off bad spirits. Great respect was placed upon elders, who were viewed as wise leaders.

## Military

The true strength of Kajun military forces lie in their naval forces, which had some of the best rowers and sailors in the known world. But their land forces were also formidable. Most Kajun soldiers were medium infantry who were adorned in unique armor made from crocodile or alligator skin, and equipped with spears and shields, as well as a sword to be used if their spear broke or was thrown. These phalanxes would fight in tight formation forming shield walls and fighting off attacks with walls of spears, these medium infantry formations were supported on the flanks by skilled light infantry skirmishers armed with javelins and slings who would harass enemy units to weaken them before the main assault.