Koari Confederation

## *Unknown*

The Koari Confederation is nothing but a label that describes the manner in which the Thylan people govern themselves. True to their belief that all of creation is a shared gift that must be maintained in the form in which it was originally given, the Thylan of eastern Jorrhildr do not settle in any one place, construct home of stone or timber, nor cultivate a single crop. Instead, somewhat independent groupings of tribes, called Elements, follow shifting paths between spiritual sites. These geographically overlapping groups are informally led from within by individuals devoted to keeping their people well-fed and safe within one of the harshest environments found on all of Aloria.

## History

The Thylan are relative newcomers to Jorrhildr, both east and west. Prior to the Cataclysm, the area held no Thylan at all, although the system of Elements and paths has always been with the people themselves, having evolved over time through natural trial and error.

After the Cataclysm, when the Thylan began their northern exodus, they saw the land of Jorrhildr as a gift given to them from the great spirits. In accordance to their traditions, they began to discover and consecrate holy sites throughout the land, mostly where resources were abundant. The paths of the five elements were said to have come from a single dream that at least five elders shared within each element. The truth was somewhat less glamorous, but in the end the Thylan claimed thousands of sites across their five Elements. Each season, the tribes of a given Element follow a path that regionally connects many of those sites, rarely in a straight line and in varying configurations. Most weave along the rivers and the contours of hills and mountains.

Within the first few generations there were scattered conflicts with the Ur over the Thylan appropriating, for religious purposes, the vacant dens of the Ur during the summer months. Come winter, the Ur would return and make themselves at home once again, casting out both any religious decorations and Thylan hoping to shelter within. By the third generation this escalated to a somewhat organized effort by the Ur to remove the mark of the Thylan on any cave wherever they may be found, whether it was needed for habitation or not. Such actions precipitated the conflict that persists to this day.

Currently, there still remains no formal system of government, although the Elements themselves are fairly well-defined by their path sites, as are the border sites that are shared between Elements. While this system has been effective for centuries, the recent organization of the Ursula Federacy poses a considerable threat. Raiding parties have been having increasing trouble ensuring that sacred sites, which also provide sustenance, remain available for Thylan use. It is unknown what will become of this tradition of the Koari Confederation if they fail to adapt.

### Etymology

Outsiders call the tribal government of the Thylan the Koari Confederation, which was the result of nothing more than a placeholder offered by Regalian scholars. The word Koari is Thylan, translating, poorly, to ‘all of us standing in this one place.’ It does not refer to the people as a whole, but due to some miscommunication, and Ailor apathy, the label stuck. The term confederation is used because of the decentralized nature of the tribal organization. The Thylans generally never refer to the system uniting the individual tribes. They simply do not concern themselves with the idea of one entire nation. To the extent that they do, the word ‘warrmalu’ may be used, referring to ‘all of us of the south.’ Because the Thylan originated from southern lands, coming to live within Jorrhildr as a result of conflict and environmental pressures, they still think of themselves as a southern people.

## Geography

The geography is that of eastern Jorrhildr. It consists primarily of unforgiving ice plains broken up by craggy outcroppings where pines shelter from the ceaseless winds that bend them. Much of the landscape is ever changing, as a network of glaciers slowly carves the terrain, flowing from the central highlands to the lower shores. Beneath them may sometimes be found streams of melt that become rivers during the short summer season. Like a long spine twisting from the southeast to the northern tip of the main landmass, the switchback Dobra Mountains visually divide the island, although not impeding travel due to the plentiful, if treacherous, passages.

Aside from the wide, pebble beaches of the southern expanse, the ragged coastline of eastern Jorrhildr offers little to the potential visitors but cliff-faces, pounding waves, and splintering sheets of ice sliding into the sea.

### Climate

Eastern Jorrhildr offers only tundra and taiga, comparable to the western half of the continent, although receiving more precipitation and enjoying a slightly longer summer due to marginally favorable ocean currents. Boreal forests may be found throughout the lower elevations, primarily clustered at the bases of hills and outcroppings. Lichens and mosses are plentiful by the coasts, as are short scrubby plants that return for a time each summer. In places, often those where the Thylan tend to congregate, the warmer seasons bring fields of short grasses, dotted with flowers that rise up between the rocks and boulders. Smaller clusters of evergreens and birches border these areas, doing all they can to grow strong and tall during the temperate months. When winter comes, the land is again locked in a frozen stasis while the wind whips over the mountains and tears across the open fields.

### Notable Landmarks

* **Wailing Caverns**

One of the largest natural cave systems within the northern-most island, the Wailing Caverns was named because of the sounds of the wind makes as it travels through the mountain via its various entrances. The Thylan first entering those caves found it sounded as if something was calling out and howling. They felt that it must have been a spot where the spirits bleed over and weep and call out for those that were lost during the exodus to Jorrhildr and they feel anyone interned there is watched over by these spirits.
* **The Bone Shots**

As some Thylan near adult age they may be found visiting the Bone Shots, a reference to the similarity visitors to the site bear to ammunition hurled out of a sling. The shots, as they are often called, are rushing torrents of warmer water that intermittently gush, carving a slide-like passage across, or sometimes into, downstream glaciers. The exact paths of these hot-spring fueled waterslides changes each year, but they are plentiful in the area by the central eastern coast of the main island. Some flow constantly, with the water running temperately across the ice. Some are fueled by geysers, resulting in an empty, smooth-walled canyon that intermittently floods throughout the day, sometimes with remarkably hot water.
The Thylan that dare, enjoy holding onto hollowed out planks the size of their upper bodies and jumping into the streams as they flow. It’s a remarkably dangerous practice, but it can be a lot of fun in the summer. Towards the bottom of a particular shot, when needed, there will always be some companions holding a rope across the torrent to help the thrillseeker come to a stop. Some say that the Bone Shots are so named due to the dead, although in reality only a dozen or so Thylan have ever died while riding—a statistic than can either be viewed as a deterrent or a small comfort.
## Government

The Koari Confederation is as close as the Thylan have to a form of government, even if it lacks a proper seat of power, written charter, or a static group of officials. In fact, the confederation hasn’t even a set of specific borders. Rather, it refers to a loose form of self-government used by the Thylan people, no matter where they live or travel, after the great exodus into Jorrhildr. Anyone that ventures into any of the of confederation tribal lands are welcomed with open arms unless a proven enemy. The nature of the confederation allows this race to constantly move and shift as needed throughout Jorrhildr, with little concern of conflict from different tribes or races, besides their hated enemy the Ur.

The confederation is broken into five larger groups called Elements, each following one of the Thylan’s great spirits of nature and their lesser spirit children. The five Elements travel their own paths, connecting different spiritual sites belonging to their specific spirit, as well as border sites that allow two or more elements to meet. Leadership of that group shifts freely throughout the paths depending on what is needed at that time. As such, the most experienced and knowledgeable individual needed at that moment leads their group. The leader then chooses the next site on the path, trusting that the spirits will call them to the path that is most fitting. At each site groups come together, sharing news and banding together, if it can be supported, or splitting into smaller groups for reduced resource requirements, only to repeat the process again when reaching the next site on their path. This unending pilgrimage is what keeps this confederation so strong and adaptable, always learning and growing.

### List of Rulers

* **Alintu Vas**

Also known as Twisted Root, Alintu Vas spent much of her adult life sharing the leadership of the Water path. She was notable because she led the movement to actively hunt local Ur during their hibernation. Extremely intelligent and drawing from a long lifetime of accrued knowledge, she helped her people seal hibernating Ur within rock caves by filling in cracks between seal-stones using a natural concrete of sand, ash, and clay. Vas died at the claws of teeth of a young Ur she had adopted after his family had been slain.
* **Tul Para**

Also known as Early Summer, Tul Para never actually led a path, refusing that honor, stating that he has never heard the call of the spirits. He did, however, advise other leaders on his path throughout his life, as well as those of other elements. Still alive and healthy at 68, he is often called the most traveled Thylan to ever have lived due to his shifting of Elements with each season. If there is one alive who understands the breadth and scope of the people as a whole, it is Tul Para.
* **Kuruju Wiru**

Also known as Blind Bird, Kuruju Wiru is a well-known elder who often leads the tribes of the Fire path during the spring months. Come summer, he departs with able-bodied Thylan in pursuit of new holy sites to consecrate and add to his path. His current notoriety comes from his use of the local Notherne, making him something of a diplomat and a trader. Wiru has been trading some furs for seasonal use of human controlled lands. Previously, spare furs had been freely given as a largely unrequited gift.
### Foreign Relations

The Thylans themselves do all they can to stay on good terms with the Northerne that coexist with them geographically. However, they do not, as a rule, have foreign relations of any kind with the outside world. They are too scattered and independently organized to engage in such formal matters of communication. More importantly, they have been spared the requirement of doing so due to isolation. There may come a time when someone will have to speak up for the Thylan as a whole, but that time has not yet come.

### Military

The Thylan do not have a centralized military force of any kind. However, their division by tribe and Element make it possible for them to muster in numbers far greater than those of the Ur, certainly greater than the scattered Ur of eastern Jorrhildr. When they do fight, however, it is largely in small groups that number between twenty and sixty, usually best described as a cluster of several hunting packs. Their weapons are primitive, although the Thylan can often make up for that with cunning and ferocity. While it’s incorrect to liken them to pack hunters, they are at least as skilled in military maneuvers as primitive Ailor. Come the end of winter though, many may be described as famished and weak, making the Thylan extremely seasonably vulnerable, even more so than the better adapted Ur.

Most raids are necessitated out of a need for food justified by an insult against the Great Spirit, as with the Ur. However, many would argue that it is simply the deep winter, not spirituality, that causes some groups to invade and claim a few sleeping Ur to survive. Still, there have been many legitimate issues with trespassing or desecration of the spiritual sites by the Ur, above and beyond that which is done for the sake of hibernation.

With the recent formation of the Ursula Federacy, raiding has been become a larger part of life for the western-most Elements. There has also been divisive talk of federacy leader Kazomir Vuk eradicating entire tribes of Thylans that live upon the western half of Jorrhildr.

## Economy and Technology

Within Thylan society, being a culture of the whole is more important than the self. There is no system of currency in place, or even one of proper trade and bartering. In smaller groups, everything is shared, from the piles of furs where the whole groups sleeps to combine and conserve warmth, to the communal cooking pots which any and all add to so that everyone may eat.

The closest the confederation has to any sort of currency is that of trophies, either braids of fur from great creatures killed or the carved bones from slain enemies. It is said that the trophy holds a piece of the spirit and as such grants the person carrying it a portion of that power. Stories around the fire of how each trophy was gained tightens bonds and bring news of those not of their own immediate group. These are traded between hunters and warriors only. Any trophy worn upon on a fallen member is buried with them, as those spirits he held are returned to the dreaming realm and to the whole of themselves.
Living the ideals of the confederation, of not maring the land that they feel was given to them, means that they do all they can to not harm their land but to live with it, allowing the land to give them what they need to survive. The only permanent structures built and used are those of tombs and art. The tombs are large natural caves used for honoring and keeping of the dead safe, which is an important part of the Thylan society. The works of art found throughout Jorrhildr are primarily works of stone, either large boulders that are painted and carved or that of stones stacked or placed along patterns on the ground.

### Demographics

All but the Ur residing within Jorrhildr are theoretically recognized as legitimate inhabitants of the confederation. However, the great majority within the area are Thylan, and it is generally accepted by outsiders that only Thylan compose the Koari Confederation. Others in the area are simply isolated settlers.

* Thylan - 55%
* Ur - 15%
* Northerne Ailor - 25%
* Other - 5%

## Culture

According to the Thylan elders, the Koari Confederation follows the great spirits and the spirits of their ancestors from the time before the world was awake, known as the Great Sleep, when all the world and everything in it was but a dream. They protect the land as a gift given to them from the great spirits as if it were a cherished child. The culture of the people that occupy the land over which they loosely hold stewardship, is that of the Thylans. And, due to the exchange of individuals from one Element (both a geographic and cultural group) upon reaching adulthood, the culture is remarkably homogenized across the entire eastern continent.

There is little wealth, only that of subsistence, religious decoration, and the trophies coveted by individuals and tribes. The clothing of the state follows that of Thylan everywhere, it is one of necessity adorned with whatever trinkets hold their fancy. As Thylan do not have the insulating layers of fat the Ur have, they need to wear furs and hides of animals in order to survive within Jorrhildr. However, in the warmer months the Thylan delight in wearing nothing but simple skirts wraps of thinned hides. It should be noted that they never make any use of Ur hides, considering it as barbaric as tanning their own.

In the border sites between elements it is common for groups to come together for rituals and the sharing of goods. Such items are not traded, they are freely shared. If a starving tribe of Thylan comes upon one with only a meager supply left, both would likely starve together rather than hoard their meager supply. At these meeting places there are no structures to be observed, neither there or elsewhere. The Thylan go out of their way not to impact the land, feeling that to do so insults the gift of creation and would harm them in the end. They have their share that is offered by the land freely. They feel they have no right to take more than that.
The diet of those within the confederation resembles that of the Ur, as they have borrowed many of the techniques of food preservation. Like the Ur, wild grains, berries, mosses, and small game dominate in the summer. In the winter they survive off of their stores of preserved meat and fish. However, the Thylan are far better at hunting birds. Using long nets of their own design they swipe the birds as they fly about the nest spots, one individual sometimes able to catch a hundred small nesting birds in a day. The prey are usually sealed in hides and buried, where fermentation preserves them well into the winter.

## Symbols

While the confederation has no official symbol, often present is the Nyuku, five circles surrounding a central cluster of stars, representing both all of creation and the Thylan individually. Interestingly enough, ‘nyuku’ translates to ‘that thing right there,’ which, for them, applies to all of creation.

## Trivia

* Normally at the age of adulthood, most males of the confederation change Elements at the border sites, allowing a deeper understanding and connection between Elements and a changing of paths.
* Kuruju Wiru is a legendary Bone Shot rider and one of the few elders who dare to continue the practice into later adulthood.
* As far as the Ur are concerned, the Ursula Federacy extends from west to east Jorrhildr, making all of the people of the Koari Confederation inhabitants on Ur land and therefore criminal invaders.

## Some attributes

### Third

*Unknown*

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