Mazwephukile

Map of the Mazwephukile tribal lands

The **Mazwephukile** are a collective group of half-elven tribes that historically resided in the Guimudu Mountains or "Brokenlands" of [direction continent]. Though once numerous, their numbers have dwindled in modern times due to warfare, disease, and settlement of the Guimudu mountains by other peoples. Being mostly pastoral nomads, the Mazwephukile do not build many permanent houses nor do they write extensively on their history while in their homeland.

However, a number of Luangese sources detail these peoples' history; the *Tsua Wou Lin Sher,* or "History of the Western Hill People", is a notable foreign history written by the Yua Dynasty scholar Chui Suangmuo. This is the primary source on their history and culture for most foreign accounts on the Mazwephukhile, however other lesser-known accounts written by other visitors to their land, and from the Mazwephukile diaspora, do exist. Unfortunately, many of the stories written on the Mazwephukile come from Luangese sources, and thus those stories that deal with Luangese affairs consist of the majority of accounts on the Mazwephukile.

The Mazwephukile in the past and still today engage in nomadism, raising goats, sheep, and cattle. They also hunt, as bushmeat is an integral part of their diet, and the products of animals (pelts, ivory, leather, etc.) are often traded with foreign merchants. A few of them also engage in mining, as amber, bituminous coal, and emeralds are found in their mountainous homelands.

## Etymology

The name *Mazwephukile* literally translates to "people of the broken lands" in Swe'etumbe. The broken land in question may refer to the constant state of separation of the Mazwephukile into tribes, or to the broken appearance of the mountainous region that they reside in.

## Tribes

There were, at their greatest extent, 13 tribes of the Mazwephukile according to Chui Suangmuo. They are generally named after the location where their tribe inhabits.

* **Ahachimahle**: "Dry Creek." Live in the desert hills around the wadi that feeds into the salt lake to the east.
* **Aha-Ngodo**: "Eastern Ahachimalhe". A splinter group from the Ahachimahle that inhabits a thin strip of desert between the "western" Ahachimahle and the mountain savannahs of the Guimudu Mountains.
* **Hloko**: Tribe whose name's meaning is unknown. Inhabit the open jungle to the southeast of the Guimudu mountains proper.
* **Ibigushisho**: "Holed Nose". Known for a lineage of chiefs with elaborate nose piercings. Inhabitants of Mount Unyashamenzi and the banks of Lake Inengikhulu.
* **Idleloswatsa**: "Black Mountain-Meadow". One of the most central tribes, living in the mesas at the heart of the Guimudu Mountains.
* **Menadena**: "Bare mountain" or "Mesa". Inhabit the dry desert mountains, in the lands between the Woduduwa and Mlambo-Isandla tribes.
* **Mlambo-Isandla**: "River-Palm". Inhabit the Palm River's banks in the far west of the Brokenlands.
* **Nkalatho**: "Oak". The easternmost tribe, inhabiting a high woodland valley.
* **Paniutikhe**: "Wide Valley." Inhabitants of the central valley, and the southern shores of the lake that bears the same name.
* **Qalaitabi**: "[River] Branch Beginning". Residents of the area around the Ikhabehachi River's headwaters and its surrounding valley.
* **Qalushe-Beyi**: "Bone-North". Inhabit the eastern Guimudu Mountains, separated from the Qalushe-Nana by the Paniutikhe and Hloko. Their land consists of very rough open tropical woodlands and the western shore of Lake Inengikhulu.
* **Qalushe-Nana**: "Bone-South." The southernmost tribe, inhabiting only the peak of Mount Nidhe.
* **Woduduwa**: "Separation". Inhabits the fork in the river between the Ikhabehachi and Catshane rivers.

## History

### Origin

Being half-elves, the Mazwephukile are partially elven and partially human. Their legends tell of how their elven ancestors settled in the human-populated Brokenlands, and intermarried with the locals. Over generations, the distinction between who was elven and who was human disappeared, and while many of the Mazwephukile can have more elven or more human traits, they are distinctively neither one nor the other.

### Western Water War

A large war occurred among the western Mazwephukile in ancient times, according to the *Tsua Wou Lin Sher*. It began with a verbal treaty between the chiefs of the Ahachimahle and Menadena tribes; each agreed that the lands on their respective side of the Palm River would become theirs, and that they would only let their livestock graze on the side they owned, in order to prevent conflict between the two tribes.
However, this agreement did not take into account the Isandla tribe, who lived along the riverbank. The Isandla began to let their goats and cattle graze the grasslands and marsh along the river's headwaters anyways, to spite the other two tribes. This only angered the Ahachimahle and Menadena, who with their premade agreements decided to team up one night and steal their livestock. The livestock raid was successful, but angered the Isandla.

The Isandla attempted to wrest their cattle back by raiding the Menadena chief's camp first, and attacking the Menadena in their sleep. The massacre killed the chief, but his younger brother survived and sent an envoy to the Ahachimahle to warn of the attack. However, the Ahachimahle had been attacked as well, as the Isandla had a larger population than both other tribes combined, and thus more warriors. An Ahachimahle band decided to split from the main group to avoid further conflict, becoming the Aha-Ngodo, and occupied the hills to the east of the main Ahachimahle territory.

The war continued for several more battles, but ultimately the Isandla secured the marshes for themselves. This was a devastating blow to the Ahachimahle and Menadena, who lost their largest source of water, and were forced only to drink from springs in the desert valleys, and from dew and rare rains. In their victory, the Isandla renamed themselves to the Mlambo-Isandla, having secured the marshy upper river (*mlambo* being a term that applies to both marshes and rivers in the Swe'etumbe language).

### Ivory War

Many of the tribes of the Guimudu mountains regard elephants as sacred ancestor beings. However, the Qalushe tribe had encountered explorers from Kiao-dynasty Luang who desired riches from the western lands, and one of the goods they desired was ivory from the elephants' tusks. In secret, the Qalushe began trapping elephants, often chasing them off of cliffs with torches in the night to kill off entire herds. When it was found out by the Idleloswatsa that the Qalushe were doing this, they stoked up anger among their Menadena and Ibigushisho allies. The combined forces slaughtered the Qalushe hunters and any Qalushe who attempted to seek revenge, eventually chasing the tribe out of the valley that they inhabited and into the hills. The valley was then resettled by Idleloshwatsa, Menadena, and Hloko tribespeople.

### Wokulalawayo

The Wokulalawayo, translated as "the killing" or "the destroying", was a large event that coincided with the later end of the Kiao Dynasty in Luang. King Dorei of Kiao desired riches and wealth, and thus sent more explorers and armies across the world to search for wealth. These Luangese explorers ended up in the lands of the beleaguered Northern Qalushe, and sought to make a deal with them. They would continue to supply Luang with ivory and other goods, and they would receive protection from the other tribes in return. Similar deals were made with the Nkalatho and Ibigushisho later on.

the Luangese king still pressed for more, and desired a wider variety of goods. Thusly, the eastern tribes under Luangese guidance went to war on the other tribes, extolling tribute in the form of gold, leather, animal pelts, ivory, and any other resource that they could find. Yet the will to keep fighting united the other tribes against the westerners. In an attempt to win over them in the long run and appease the near-insatiable desire of the Luangese imperialists, the eastern tribes and Luangese expeditionaries began capturing Mazwephukile individuals as slaves. Not even children were spared in the raids, and hundreds of people were sent east to Luang to never see their homeland again.

Tired of the war, the Idleloswatsa began to look for ways to switch sides. They had found sources of amber in the mountains, and offered to mine and sell it to the Luangese in exchange for peace. The Luangese army's general in the Guimudu convinced them to continue the war effort on their side, however, and for their turncoat actions, the southern end of the Idleloswatsa's land (which was inhabited by large numbers of Hloko and Menadena people) rebelled and formed the Paniutikhe tribe.

The war remained a slow slog for generations, with Luang and her allies slowly pushing further and further into the mountains, depopulating the region and exploiting the land for resources. However, other peoples from the east like the early Al'Madorans sailed up the rivers and established contact with the western tribes, and began to sell them weaponry in exchange for goods and enslaved people from the east. They accepted the offer, and slowly the Luang-backed tribes were pushed back. The front collapsed with the sudden death of Kiao Dorei, and the establishment of the Yua Dynasty. The state of Yua Luang remained in contact with the Mazwephukile tribes, but no longer traded weapons or slaves.

Regardless of the end of the Wokulalawayo, and the establishment of peace once more, the warring and slave raiding had decimated the Mazwephukile population. However, while few still remained in the Brokenlands, a few remained in the diaspora and established small communities around the world. Still others returned from their diaspora communities to their homelands.

### Yua Integration of the eastern Brokenlands

It was during the Yua Dynasty that Luang began exerting direct control over its former vassal states, and migrants poured into the Brokenlands from foreign lands. Many of them were Ypili, who settled in the Ibigushisho lands, and Luangese settled the Nkalatho valley. The chief of the Nkalatho, Ayileli of clan Ivumbe, made enemy with the Snailist Order, which had grown in power in Luang at the time. Ayileli sought immortality from similar means as the late Kiao Dorei, his former ally, and as an immortal the Order sought to strike him down. His brother and rival claimant, Sezingela, joined the Order in an attempt to dethrone Ayileli, and he succeeded. However, the Order decided that Sezingela was in violation of the Order's code of honor, having seized the throne for himself instead of the Order's ideological goals, and he too was put to death by Luangese snailists. The camp of Ayileli and Sezingela was then rebuilt into the first city of Pomue, which stood until the Wheat Rebellion of the republican era.

## Economy

The nomadic-forager economy of the Mazwephukile has historically relied on wild animal pelts, ivory, and other animal products, selling them to foreign merchants. While iron tools have been used in the region for hundreds of years, the relative rarity of the metal in the region means that most locally-made tools are made of stone, and most iron is imported from elsewhere. This iron is usually bartered for animal products like leather and ivory.

Salt, used in the preparation of meals and meat preservation, is mined from rock or traded for, mostly coming from the salt flats to the west. The Ahachimahle are the only tribe able to mine salt in economically-significant quantities, and thus rock salt must pass through them to the other tribes. Amber, emerald, opal, and other valuable stones are known from the region, and these can be collected in rivers and streams, or directly mined for.

An odd stone found in both Menadena and Qalushe lands is locally known as *Khalupe-pamusho,* or "light-green glow", and while sought after is rarely mined due to a natural scarcity. Under complete darkness, this stone is said to glow a faint green, and where it is found it can be used to make a special green glass. This green glass is manufactured into ingots by the Menadena and Qalushe, who sell it abroad to be re-melted into other products. While the Mazwephukile are not incapable of producing finished glassware, it is simply too fragile to be useful in their rough nomadic lifestyle.

## Culture

### Nomadic Living

Being nomads, the Mazwephukile do not traditionally build permanent dwellings. They instead live in easily-constructed huts made of earth, thatch, hide, or whatever else they can either carry or find in good supply. They live mostly off of what they can find in the wild by foraging and hunting, or can produce from their herds of sheep, goats, and cattle. They are experts in survival in the desert and high savannahs; when water is scarce or unaccessible, they can live off of the morning dew and find springs in the desert sandstones. They have a strong medicinal tradition as well, with numerous different herbs and roots being used to cure disease and heal injuries. The knowledge of this medicine is restricted to only a few practitioners, however, who are regarded highly in society.

### Cuisine

Much of the food consumed by the Mazwephukile comes from meat and dairy. Both livestock meats and wild game are commonly consumed. Collected fruits such as wild peaches are considered local delicacies, and a variety of foraged seeds, nuts, tubers, and wild grains are able to supplement their meat-based diet.

Open-pit barbecues are some of the most common ways meats are cooked. Tubers and roots can be boiled in clay bakeware over a fire, and are eaten mashed with the meat. Other meats are dried and salted to be preserved for long-term storage during the dry season. Milk and cream are often combined with wild grains and baked to make *ziphana*, a kind of pastry eaten during festivals. These treats and cooking styles have, over the years, worked their way into becoming well known in Luang, and many Luangese Mazwephukile work as restaurant-owners making their traditional food in the foreign land.

### Religion

Traditional religion among the Mazwephukile takes the form of a vaguely animistic faith, believing in wild spirits that inhabit every object. They also practice a form of ancestor worship, and a strong oral tradition among the tribes exists to maintain the legacies of their ancestors. However, they also believe in sky worship; Eshongo is the Mazwephukile personification of the sky. Eshongo is often referred to with the epithets "siluhi" (blue) or "utikhe" (broad, wide), and its position as the only named large spirit prompts many scholars to consider Mazwephukile traditional faith to be one of Eftar's few monotheistic religions.

Among the Qalaitabi and Ibigushisho however, the predominant religion is Tumecipocu. This is due to the co-settlement of the Ypili people into traditional Ibigushisho lands, and the subsequent spread of their faith.