Wild Rice Lodge

## Manoomin Midewigaan 'Wild Rice Lodge'

* **Purpose:**First and foremost, the central and sacred purpose of the *Manoomin Midewigaan* is to preserve, guide and protect the lands and practice of the harvest of Manoomin  ("Wild Rice" *Zizania palustris*, *Zizania aquatica*) one of the central crops of the Anishinaabe, easternmost of the Twenty Recognized Nations of the Oceti Sakowin. Of course being Mide, they extend this beyond its literal definition and get involved in every level of agribusiness and of protecting the Anishinaabe traditional ways of life. This means they involve themselves in everything from teaching ricing to the young people to being involved in protectionist trade policies in the highest levels of government. On the Oceti Sakowin side of the border, they are something akin to a political party in the Upper Yankton CF.
* **Headquarters:**The Manoomin Midewigaan complex at Mishimakwadinaa, Upper Yankton CF (formerly 'Fort Ransom ND'), which serves as central lodge, agricultural laboritory and administrative center. In Region 3 of the Zone  the Manoomin Midewigaan tends to operate out of the local headquarters of their close business partners in the Manoomin Consortium at 250 7th Ave NE, Maitomoni'ohe, Upper Yankton CF 58078. They also make use of the Midewiwin sacred spaces at the Tekakwitha Lodge in Fargo  itself.
* **Membership:**The Manoomin Midewigaan is composed exclusively of *Mide* (that is to say, full Shamans  who are practitioners of Midewiwin) who are enrolled members of the Anishinaabe Nation. Between the three nations in which they operate (Oceti Sakowin, Niswi-mishkodewinan and UCAS) it is difficult to determine their full numbers but it is estimated to over a hundred overall. Leadership in Mishimakwadinaa is composed of a council of the oldest and wisest of the Mide, who often travel to outlying fields to lead harvests, ceremonies or take leadership of situations. The leading Mide at Maitomoni'ohe is Brenda Molting Goose, famous for her stubborness and her role as an impartial neutral party in local disputes.
* **Strictures:**Attendence (Harvest), Belief (Midewiwin), Service, Dues, Deed, Limited Membership (Anishinaabe)
* **Resources:**High, with access to Very High resources from their allies in business and government. The Wild Rice Lodge itself stands at a confluence of Religion and Big Agribusiness and their services to help insure good harvests are much in demand, paying them with both influence and nuyen.
* **Relations:**The Manoomin Midewigaan is one of the most powerful sects within the continental religion of Midewiwin, and this gives them a lot of influencial allies both magical and mundane throughout the regions in which they work. In Region 3 of the Zone, they are known mostly for two relationships, their alliance with the similarily-minded local farmers in The Crop Circle, which they back in return for boots on the ground in matters that concern both groups and their often-bloody rivalry with the Baba Yaga Society, which started as one of the Babas frequent vendettas against a Mide of the Manoomin Midewigaan but has now spiraled into something just short of an out-and-out war. Brenda Molting Goose has repeatedly denied any connection between the respectable Manoomin Midewigaan and the vigilante activies of theHanging Cloud Society, but rumors persist of ties between Manoomin causes and Hanging Cloud activity.

* **History:**The wild grass we call 'Wild Rice' (*Manoomin,*lit. "The Good Berry" in Anishinaabe) has been central to the Anishinaabe way of life for as long as they have lived in the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest. The plant itself provides a high-protein food sources that is and was one of the staples of the Anishinaabe diet and the wetlands in which it grows attract a host of game birds who also eat the grass. Even during the centuries of their subjugation to the 'Anglos', its harvest and sale remained an economic mainstay of the Anishinaabe and related peoples. One a less material level, the Anishinaabe tell that the Manoomin was waiting for them when they followed the sacred Megis Shell westward, a sign confirming the Prophecy of the Seven Fires, making it an important and central symbol of the faith of the Midewiwin. When the Great Ghost Dance War freed Western North America from the Anglo invaders, one of the first actions of the newly-empowered Mide of the Ansihinaabe was to organize to ensure the safety of this most central and sacred of their people's activities.

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