Dzewa ta M'alam (People)

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The Dzewa ta M'alam, or "Moon People" are a wandering people that have been wandering Jagda in search of a home since they were cast out of their land on the 20th of August.

### **Chronicles of the Dzewa ta M'alam**

The origin of this people is mysterious. They claim to come from a world where their land was arid and have been separated and spread out in a great event involving the Sun descending on their land and, just as he was about to rain fire and destroy everyone on that world, he took pity upon the people that had worshipped him for so long and saved them.

But this legend is far away and recently they had been living by a river in a world where, when they arrived, they discovered strange natives. They cut down the trees from the forest at the edge of which the native town was place and started building a home for themselves, but soon all the natives were gone. Other, wildly different people were also commonplace in that world, some with powers such they would be considered deities. Portals to other worlds were opened but they could never find their brothers they were separated from. Great works of architecture were started but slowly the world started dying. The other people left, and their homes became ruins. The temples they had built collapsed and as the Dzewa ta M'alam faced more and more devils springing from the ground, they learned to fight. But they forgot their great glass homes and towers of polished stones standing atop snowy peaks in the process.

And so, after numberless years, they watched in tears as no portal they opened could save the world. Some natives were seen, then and again, but they had to accept the hard truth: this world was now deserted and they were the only people inhabiting it. And so it came to pass that this dying world expelled them into the unknown.

For centuries they roamed the lands around the Sea of Leaves, near the great Jimu Udal empire and the nation of Apolo. Wandering merchants, they would harvest the sea-leaves that locals called "kelp" and sold them on the shores. But more demons were present and many of the Dzewa died. So they went in search of a new land, one where they could build a new home like the one they had in their previous world.

So, after almost 300 years (Reckoning of the Cow), they set out to sea, and attempted to reach the promised land that was whispered to lay to the North.

After passing the Bay of Martyrs, they were turned back once again in the Sea of Sorrows, shot down by demons from the deep. They washed up in the Bay of New Beginnings, seeking shelter in the town of Urbatum before they left again, after a long year regaining their strength, under the darkened eye of the Moon Goddess.

After passing the Ruined Kingdom of Agine in 735 (O.C. Reckoning), they rested near the River Deb, and, while considering to continue their search through the Promised Land by crossing the icy forests that lay to the North, the locals warned them about the Sea of Many Teeths that stood in the middle of their paths and they continued following the coast. By 736, they had reached Green Peak and a year later, they discovered the pillaged lands that became known as the Bay of Thieves.

After passing the Towers of Agatraz at the start of the year 737, they landed on Nel Kwen and waited the end of the year there. Their boat having wrecked on the Southwestern Coast of Nel Kwen, most of them (450 of the 500 they started with) crossed over the Channel of Foes by swimming. Finally, legend says, they first laid foot on the Coast of the First Moon on the very first day of the year 738 (Olden Cow Reckoning).

They had been promised peace on this island, but more demons came forth and so they had to burrow under the ground. This dwelling turned into their First Home, now called Tree Home, where the first quarry and mine are found. As of the beginning of the year 835, this is the only one and by far the main quarry. This is where the materials for the Tower of the Moon was extracted. The first records of Tree Home are found in 743, although it is unclear if the Tree of Life was present at that time or if it still remained a simple burrow.

In 817, the Tower of the Moon was completed (the celebration was on the first day of that year) and the last Dzewa left it in 818, marking a change in the civilisation, tired of the demons now also pouring from the sky. This was the First Day of the year 1070 by the Newer Cow Reckoning, which corresponds to the start of the year 2080 by the Reckoning of the Peak.

After 5 months (by Cow reckonings), the Dzewa left the Island of Nacgan Ajan in search of the promised land, on a new boat they had built.

For 40 N.C. years they roamed the Dry Sea, until eventually on the blessed day of the Alignement they arrived in the Promised Land, seeing the magnificent peak they would call home for the next several years. This was the start of the year 858 of the Olden Cow Reckoning, which corresponds by the Newer Cow Reckoning to the year 1110 and to the year 2118 by the Reckoning of the Peak.

In a year they had build a new home there, but at the start of year 1112 N.C. they were attacked by more demons and the ground shook and gave way under their blows.

It was another three years before their fields fructified and they descended to meet the natives that lived in the plains underneath their hill.

And so, with the shared riches of these people and the knowledge of the Dzewa ta M'alam, the town of Kunar Ut was founded in 1118 N.C.

For 94 years they lived together, trying to fight off the demons, farming the land and living off the salmon migrations in the river that runs through the town-village of Kunar Ut. But by the 13th Century N.C., the decision was taken to make the town more secure as attacks became more and more frequent and the natives seemed to fall prey to the Foul-Fleshed. Unfortunately, the works were interrupted at the start of year 1212. This project was eventually completed in 1234.

The Dzewa ta M'alam have since explored Drest Dib and made it all the way to the Jungle in the East, after creating their flag in 1416.

In 1565, the Dzewa ta M'alam began the construction of Larda Mena, which was followed by their mining of the earth for ressources to continue the building upon which they discovered diamonds for the first time. This was the beginning of a golden age that saw the advancement of building that would host one of the largest observation towers of their civilisation. This building is situated to the Northwest of the town of Kunar Ut and together with Mount Taat to the Northeast and the Hill of Udi'ja Kengar to the Southwest as well as an (as of yet) undecided location to the Southeast, all these will form the basis for the defensive structure of Kunar Ut.

In the year 1570 to 1590 a delegation of Dzewa ta M'alam ventured South and visited the towns of Regimold and Dawen, working the harvest season there and gaining some coin for the coffers of Kunar Ut before visiting the Hallowed Peak Monastery and returning to the west after having advanced in the snowy lands. Eventually, they reached the City of Astroria where they traded with the locals for seeds of exotic plants that could not be found in Kunar Ut. The delegation eventually returned in Kunar Ut by 1593, where it has since continued working on the Larda Mena, resuming in the 1700s to last work on it, to date, around 1756. This being written in 1851, the tower has stopped advancing as the Dzewa ta M'alam focus on the domestication of various animals and reproduction of those tamed birds and mammals, especially the fantastic project of crossing the valued Steeds of Kunar Ut with donkeys that were discovered passed an oasis to the northeast.

### **Artistic works**

As it has been mentioned in the chronicles, the Dzewa ta M'alam created their banner and flag in 1416. This was immortalised by a song written by the bards of Kunar Ut after the many attacks faced by the Dzewa ta M'alam during that night from Phatoms that descended from the sky.

*On the year ten-five-six when the goddess turned dark*

*We grew aware of how we had failed her beauty*

*By not celebrating with art, banners plenty*

*The pale face of the Moon, so quiet and peaceful.*

*And through night and through day we worked tirelessly*

*And then came the first moon, a blessing, we recalled*

*That gave us the island we call Nacgan Ajan*

*But we dallied too much and angered Alam so*

*The goddess in her ire sent death from the sky*

*Nine and one all at once descending from above*

*Plunging two at a time and with a piece of wood*

*Each of us tried her best to push back the foul beasts*

*But the blessings we gained by offerings to Her*

*Slew the demons if they tried to enter our town*

*One after the other the goddess called them back*

*And although she did not bless us with their essence*

*We were allowed again to collect the substance*

*Extracted from the seeds of the grain we offered.*

*This treasure in fairness second only to Her*

*That allows the harvest to be early and full*

*This pure white became paint, in her likeness it stands*

*On our flag, covering, in her gentle embrace*

*Both the sky and the land, both the blue and the sand.*