Asaiti

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Asaiti is a small, island nation in the waters of the New South Sea. Its capital, *Te Krui'asaitix* (translation: the crux where the Asa peoples meet) lies on the southern coast.

Inhabiting Asaiti are *Te Iti*, a race of cervid-like humanoids. They are recognizable by their antlers, their eyes with large irises and slightly oviform pupils, and their flat noses. Though they have lost most of their fur, most do retain the skin coloration that would underlie fur coat patterns.

Basic Statistics

## History

In the distant past, two tribes of *Te Iti*, one Seafaring, one Settled, encountered each other in what is now the capital, *Te Krui'asaitix*. This small coastal town of The Settled was host to a flurry of exchanged ideas, words, and values. Soon, The Seafaring took up residence in the town. Over the next three generations, the two peoples slowly became one. Their language, their culture, their ways all became a fusion of the two that preceded it.

## Geography

The Asaiti live on *Tsalhanga'eilta* (roughly meaning "the land of the hand of the storm"). This island is 408.5km long at its longest point, and roughly 82.2km wide at its widest point. The island is somewhat mountainous, with its highest point, *Maueina Kiwhe'a*, standing at 2,451 m. To the southwest is the Maraduri Strait between its southern coast and Bar'adan.

There are two major cities in Asaiti. The capital, Te Krui'asaitix, and Kuāpuwhai'i. Kuāpuwhai'i (pop. 1,078) is on the southern coast, and is the primary port of trade between Asaiti and Bar'adan. Te Krui'asaitix (pop. 3,260) lies just west of the Asa River delta.

### Climate

The average annual temperature in Asaiti varies from 16.2C along the northwestern coast to 0.4C at the peak of *Maueina Kiwhe'a*. The annual precipitation ranges from 490mm in the rain shadow of *Maueina Kiwhe'a* to in excess of 3,000mm on the southwest coast, a rather broad range thanks to the uplift from the mountains.

### Flora

#### Kioba Tree

The **kioba tree** (Asaiti: *kekaroa kioba*), also known as the **guioba tree**, **Asaiti roundberry tree**, and **gardener's bane berry** is a small deciduous fruit tree native to Asaiti. Kioba trees typically reach 3-7m tall at maturity. They have cross-venulate, cordate leaves with a denticulate margin, typically 9-17cm in length. The flowers are typically solitary, and have six petals, ranging from white to light pink to lavender in color. If not white, the flowers are deeper in color at the base of the petal, with variegation.

The kioba tree produces the *kioba fruit*, a large, smooth, yellow-green berry about 18-37cm in length and 12-25cm in diameter. When ripe, it is soft, almost yellow in color, and its thin skin breaks easily. The fruit is sweet and bright in flavor when ripe, and noticeably more tart and firm when unripe. Each kioba fruit contains anywhere from 300 to over 1,200 small, brown-black seeds, which are easily released when the overripe fruit is stepped on and readily sprout even in shallow soil, hence the name "gardener's bane berry". The flesh of the fruit is deep purple, and is used extensively to make dyes.

## Languages

The primary spoken language in Asaiti is Ntsēa Asaiti. It was formed in antiquity when the two proto-Asaiti tribes met, intermingled, and merged.

Word order is verb-subject-object, with descriptors occurring as article-noun-adjective*.* Agglutinative words also function this way, with any adjectival particles following any noun particles.

### Numerals

Ntsēa Asaiti uses a base 36, sub-base 6 numeral system. Every 6 is a *kape*, or hand, and every 36 is a *kau*, or bundle.

## Politics

The leader of Asaiti is the Head Councillor, Kyfa Aranga’a*.* She is the acting mediator elected by the Board of Councillors. At 34 cycles old, she is one of the youngest Head Councillors in recorded history. Daughter of Kaina and Etse’ana, both farmers, she was raised in a small village just outside the capital, and became determined to represent the needs and wants of the farmers she grew up around.

The government is a democratic syndicalist minarchy. Local issues are often voted on through referenda, while regional or national issues are discussed through councils, often representing guilds of various economic sectors.

The main political factions are those representing the big cities, such as *Te Krui’asaitix*, and those representing small villages. Though conflict is generally avoided, when it comes to economic planning, each faction often argues with the other over allocation. The big cities often push that resources be distributed proportionately with no regards to growth, while the villages push that they need more resources than would otherwise be allocated such that they too may grow larger and more prosperous.

Laws are enforced in a neighborhood watch style. Those who would do others harm are rooted out by those who would preserve the peace, and brought before the town or village square. Each party is given an opportunity to explain themselves, and the people decide collectively what (if anything) should be done to redress the situation.

There are few cities that have prisons. Even those that do only use them as a means to prevent the truly violent from inflicting further harm. Reformation and rehabilitation, as well as a needs-based lens for looking at causes of crime, mean that it is far more likely for a criminal to enter into a different workplace or an asylum than to end up in prison. The worst offenders (primarily those deranged enough to commit sexual crimes or serial murder) are forcibly banished, and a bulletin is sent out to all neighboring settlements to exclude them from society as well.

There are no true social classes, beyond perhaps those established when one joins the workforce and enters a guild. Each guild is seen as equal, with semi-proportional representation in each level of council. However, this does mean that the largest economic groups, such as farmers and weavers, are informally treated with higher regard.

## Religion and culture

### Moral values and principles

Cooperation and unity are valued above all else. To the Asaiti, discord is something that can be ironed out, and conflict is something to be resolved quickly.

Slavery is unheard of in Asaiti, quite literally. The idea of owning another person simply does not exist.

War is seen as unnecessary and barbaric. It is seen as a moral failing for one’s nation or tribe to go to war for any reason other than self-defence. This reflects personal views on interpersonal conflict as well.

As a culture, the Asaiti generally eschew monogamous relationships in favor of open, polyamorous ones. There generally is no expectation to date just one or two genders, either, though some lighthearted jokes are made about those who date all six (e.g. they are a collector interested in all the rarities). This means that entire villages may result in one or maybe two extended families.

This all results in a generally passive people. Life washes over them, and while advancement is valued, there is no need seen for progress at any cost. Expansion for the sake of expansion, conquest for the sake of conquest, and experimentation for the sake of experimentation are seen as base desires.

### Religion

The Asaiti practice a polytheistic folk religion, *Fewhane ta Wiura* (literally ‘life of spirit’) with various gods, goddesses, and other deities that serve to explain the natural world, as well as the wills of its peoples. There is the “heavenly family”, the “firmament family”, the “earthly family”, and the “cultural family”.

Above all, *Fewhane ta Wiura* serves to foster cooperation, understanding, and collective responsibility among its adherents.

While there are priests, they serve more as intermediaries between the people and The Divine, and are chosen by their spiritual attunement, not by meritocracy or by any means of lineage or favoritism.

The “heavenly family” were birthed by *Te Hapaunga Aita*, ‘The First Father’. The sun, *Haurā*, watched over her cousin the earth, *Da’ea*, who himself is the father of the “earthly family”. His daughter, *Sawhēa*, saw fit to fill the earth with life in the sea. Unable to create life that could survive on land, she urged her father and cousins to nourish the land with creation as well. Soon, *Da’ea* and his niece, *Itebiha*, collaborated to make the first people. Made in the image of the Four Families, these people spread from the first island, carried in boats on *Sawhēa’s* shoulders, branching out to many islands in a forking pattern, their paths tracing patterns that can be seen in their antlers to this day.

Upon death, *Da’ea* and *Itebiha* pluck one’s soul from their body, carrying them to the heavens, where they forever look upon the peoples from the stars in the sky. As the stars drift across the heavens, those who have died change their perspective, ever wishing to see all that The Divine has created.

Currently, *Fewhane ta Wiura* has no centralized work, just oral traditions and scattered tablets documenting the activity of The Divine.

Practitioners of *Fewhane ta Wiura* generally see their faith as being a way to be in tune with the world around them. Though the occasional unbeliever does exist in Asaiti society, these people are looked on with some degree of sadness, as they are so isolated from Divinity as to reject its existence.

### Traditions

#### Summer Solstice

The Summer Solstice is celebrated at the beginning of the month of *Mewaneni*, and is marked by great feasts made with the earlier crops that come to harvest midsummer. At the coast, groups of young adults work quickly to craft ships with large, branching masts– a tribute to *Haurā’s* magnificent antlers– such that they may sail before she disappears below the horizon.

#### Winter Solstice

The Winter Solstice is celebrated at the beginning of the month *Batawaneni*, and is marked by a lesser feast made primarily with pickled and roasted vegetables, as well as a plethora of baked goods. Prayers for the new year, as well as slower, gentler choral songs, are raised up to the heavens in great numbers.

### Art

Presently, artwork is made on tablets, sheets of wood, or tree bark, and is made with pigments derived from plants and insects. However, while two dimensional media are rather lacking, the Asaiti people have truly made a mastercraft out of weaving.

Fabrics made of thin, worsted thread, dried reeds, or dried grasses are colored brightly at measured intervals and woven into panchromatic tapestries to be worn or displayed. Clothing styles are experimented with regularly, from different cuts to the manner of which the shoulder piece is worn.

On the coasts, though weaving and apparel are still arguably the magna opera of each village and town, great care is taken to decorate the boats used, even those intended for everyday use. The wood is intricately carved, often depicting scenes of Divinity or of historical import, and the sails make use of the brilliantly colored and masterful techniques used for other clothcraft.