Taaga Nuuwe

## Overview

The Nul tribe or the Taaga Nuuwe is a group of indigenous people in the tropical jungle island north east to the capital of Most Serene Republic of Ferea. The tribe formerly settled among the island with the **Wenja** family being the first to arrive and establish a permanent village. There are many religious beliefs within the tribe, for the Nuls live by the saying, 'All is one'. However, there are three identifiable religious groups, the worshippers of *Fedu*, the cult of *Dinowa*, and the followers of *Cobblestonianism*. A long time ago, the Nuls were people of the desert but fled for refuge due to the ongoing war at the time. The Nuls went three separate ways, one returned to the warm sands of the desert, one fled to the snowy mountains, and another settled on a tropical island and became the Nuuwe tribe.

## Government

The **chief** is the sole leader of the tribe, though the power sphere spreads out evenly throughout the family of the chieftain. On occasion of a community scale issue, the final decision is made by popular votes among the tribe.

## Biology

The Nuuwe people is a humanoid race with darker skin tone and tall bodies. The color of the skin varies and the height averages around 8-9 feet tall. However, the only physical feature that does not vary individually is the bright yellow eye color. *"The Nuuwe tribes people have an interesting biology. They have big bright yellow eyes that can be as bright as candle in the night. They tend to be extremely tall but not slim, rather bulky which is quite hard for normal humanoid genes to do so because muscle fibers tend to spread out evenly throughout the limbs so usually having a tall body would make you slim or at least seem so. However, this case is quite different for the Nuuwe and we're still trying to study them but they don't just come around for us to learn about them, I suppose it is the language barrier that has annoyed them very much in the past encounters so we barely see them nowadays." **-*** **Biology Research Center, University of Ferea.**

## Culture

### Language

The Taaga Nuuwe has two main and one lesser spoken tongues that are widely spoken throughout the tribe, the Nuuwe dialect of the Nul language, the original dialect itself, and the Kalusa Wen language which has been brought over to the lands by the goat people along with their cult of *Dinowa*.

#### Nul

The Nul language is an ancient tongue that evidence suggests dates back to around 800 years. The Nul tongue has three mainly spoken dialects, the original tongue native to the desert, the tongue of the mountaineers, and the dialect of the tropical islanders, Taaga Nuuwe. *"The Nuuwe dialect is extremely hard to pronounce. They have weird clicks that they make the sound with their inner throat to project a louder sound for easier recognition because they live in such an exotic environment where they must be able to communicate from long distances."* **- Linguistics Research Department, University of Ferea.**

#### Kalusa Wen

Kalusa wen is an ancient tongue only spoken by the witches and shamans of the cult. The language itself has been forgotten and rediscovered many times though the letters of Kalusa wen remained the same throughout history but the pronunciation has been altered and changed thus the original pronunciation has been lost.

### Music

Traditionally there are two main types of musical instruments that is commonly used among the tribe, woodwind and percussion or what the Nuls themselves like to simply refer to as, 'hit and blow'. The music itself is a *heterophony* type harmony. Heterophony, in music, texture resulting from simultaneous performances of melodic variants of the same tune. The tonal resonance or pitch being of the native's accent, *"The native's pitch determination in music is rather unique. They have their own interpretation of variety in the sound frequency which makes the musical scales we know of today, except they have their own. Their musical scales do not have any sharps, flats, half steps or full steps. Every single pitch is exactly 177.7 apart in frequency measures. Therefore, they can shift keys in songs very easily thus making their music heavily improvisable to which they do very much so."* **- Institute of Music, University of Ferea.**

#### iibuxiisa (ee-bu ngee-sa)

A quadruple reed woodwind instrument carved out from a small jungle tree trunk and its reed is made by taking the leaves of a jungle tree to dry out in the sun while routinely rubbing them with wheat oil, then take the dried oiled leaves and cut them into a mouth piece. It has four holes on the upper part and two holes on the lower part with the bottom having a rounded shape. It has a sharp sound thus the name 'xiisa', which means sharp. The role of the instrument in a traditional band assembly is to lead the tone of the song and the music overall. The instrument is used for religious ceremonies of the Fedu and Saint Cobblestone worshippers.

#### iibugoma

A similar instrument with similar procedures in the making. However, the reed is more triangular and has 2 holes on the upper part and four on the lower, the opposite of iibuxiisa. The bottom of the instrument is also flat, unlike the rounded xiisa. It has a rounded sound thus the name, 'goma', which means round. It is used in traditional tribal dances to accompany the movements, used to play as an opening to a cheerful events and for everyday casual entertainment.

#### ga'u ga

A set of hand drums with different pitches tied in a row to which the player would start slow and escalate the speed very quickly to the peak of rhythm. It is made by taking the skin of a cow's belly and drying it out in the sun, then routinely rub wheat oil over the skin to not dry it out. The oiled skin is then nailed with iron nuggets onto the the body of the drums which is made of oak wood for its balanced thickness can project the resonance of the tightly fit skin. It's played solo without a large assembly and is commonly played in ritual openings as a calling to nature to come witness and accommodate such events.

#### kaaga

**A pair** of drums one with the rhythmic percussion family. The face of the drum is made from the skin of a cow's back for its toughness and the body of the drum is made from dark oak. There are no nails hammered down onto the face and the body, both sides are both held together by a tight strap made from cow belly skin wrapped over and around the exterior ring at the face of the drum made with layers of dried vines, thus the black colour. It is played in all festives and fights but never in rituals for they are considered a 'commoner's' drum and does not hold any significant holiness unlike the tabo.

#### tabo

A rhythmic percussion instrument used in almost every occasion and is an essential instrument in a Nul band assembly. It's process of making is similar to the *gaw'ga* but it is much bigger and has a more complex variation of beats. It is considered a sacred instrument among the rhythmic percussion family of the Nul instruments, therefore it is played in all kinds of rituals and would rarely be played with common festivals.

#### tix-juu'b (ting- jueb)

A percussion instrument played to keep a steady beat in a song. It has two beats, *tin* and *juu'b.* The instrument is made by smelting golden nuggets then forging them into bowl shapes and connecting them together with a yarn crafted from the vines of jungle trees. It is played to accompany tonal instruments and singers in all kinds of events, rituals and festivals.

#### shaa-wab

Similar to the *tix-juu'b* but has a wider plate. The process of making a shaawab also follows the making of a tix-juu'b. It is not commonly played for its role is only to extend the variety of beats which uses the tix-juu'b as its base rhythm.

#### moxuporoxu (mongu-prorongu)

A unique tonal percussion instrument with a high resonance radius. It's forged very similarly to the *tin-juu'b* by smelting the gold into the desired shape like a big bowl with a rounded bulge. However, in some cases copper can be used as an alternative. It is equipped with 16 pitches. Its role in an assembly/band is to play the base melody for all the other instruments to stick with. The Nuls like to refer to it as, the 'mother-tone' instrument.

#### moxuiti (mongu- iti)

An instrument relative to it's sibling, *moxporox* except it has higher pitch and 18 pitches all of which are an octave higher parallel to moxporox. It's role is the same with the *bwo'tu* but with more limitations to improvising with the rhythm because it has to play continuous melodies despite improvising, which is why it is very hard. Most players of this instrument would come up with the improvisation beforehand to be able to keep the melody going easier.

#### bwo'tu

A tonal percussion instrument similar to a marimba, only this one is made with bamboo and has 17 pitches*,* relative to the moxporox but added one higher note at the very top of the pitch*.* Its role in an assembly/band is to add variant textures into the music for it's the instrument that can **most** freely improvise its melodies and modify the rhythm of the song without effecting the other instruments.

#### romba'tu

A tonal percussion instrument similar to a xylophone, but made with dark oak wood and has 21 pitches at the lowest pitch being a octave higher than the lowest of a *bwo'tu.* The role of romba'tu in an instrument assembly is to play a continuous melody leading the the other instruments. The Nuls refer to it as 'collecting' the gaps in between the music. Similar to the *moxiti,* most players of this instrument would come up with the improvisation beforehand.

#### The Sawa'u Pat'ti (sawa'upat'ti)

In literal translation, 'Ceremonial Assembly'. This type of band is used in all religious ceremonies, events and rituals. The band consists of, tabo, tin-juu'b, moxporox, moxiti, bwo'tu, romba'tu, and iibuxiisa.

#### The Sawa'u Xosa (sawa'uxosa)

In literal translation, 'Festival Assembly'. This type of band is used in all kinds of festivals and celebrations. Very frequently, in a song they will go around the band doing solos one by one of each and every instrument. The band consists of, kaaga or gaw'ga , shaa-wab, tin-juu'b, moxporox, moxiti, bwo'tu, romba'tu, and iibuxiisa.