Caugos Confederacy

## Government

### Elections

Once a year, during the final five days of Akaken, all of the Chiefs and Grand Chiefs come together to hold a legislative assembly in the town of Ijhier Guard. There, the Grandchiefs discuss and propose the agendas for discussion only by consensus after secret discussions. Then, the chiefs hold discussions in favour or against proposals. Finally, the Grandchiefs and the chiefs vote together on proposals. At these meetings, the various unique executive powers to three special Grandchiefs are distributed for a new year.

Should Grandchiefs be unable to agree on an agenda or if the chiefs cannot agree on the next year's executive Grandchief titles, the agreement is that the Caugos Confederacy will be disbanded and all of its laws and agreements scrapped. As such, there is a very strong motivation from gathered parties to cooperate and come to a consensus.

### Grand Chiefs

**Warchief:** The Warchief is elected to command the Caugos Army. They are able to set the areas of land for further taming and support efforts to settle those regions. If an enemy, such as Osiria, mounts an organized resistance, the Warchief may call upon the warriors of all chiefs to fight under his banner.

**Earthchief:** The earthchief is an elected civil chief responsible for internal trade and the settlement of new villages. They have the power to resolve disputes between lower chiefs and acts as the highest judge in the land.

**Seachief:** The seachief is the elected religious and diplomatic chief responsible for all omens and signs. They are also responsible for carrying out diplomatic relations with other Jarissan clans or with other non-Alfar species.

**Grandchief:** The Grandchief is a chief with such a large clan that they are given a special title. Currently, there are Grandchiefs in the towns of Snowguard, Vax'itua, Ijhier Guard, Forest Lodge, Swindoe, and South Lodge. A Grandchief that does not have a special title has an extra vote during the election of Grandchiefs.

**Chief:** The chiefs are the eldest male heir of the previous chief. A chief may, at any point, be deposed by a majority vote among adult males within their clan. The chief has total power over all matters within their clan, unless specifically directed by a Grandchief

### Military

The Caugos Confederacy has no centralized, standing army. Instead, each chief is responsible for finding, hiring, training, and maintaining their own personal armies. These soldiers are often of many different backgrounds and fight with their own unique fighting styles. Jarissian culture demands self-sufficiency from individuals, so most soldiers are only trained as hunters or fishermen rather than full warriors. Those who do opt to live their lives as warriors frequently follow the Warchief personally and work driving out Alfar from lands chosen to be tamed.

The Jarissan weapons of choice are axes, spears, and bows.

### The Druids

Caugos women have very little social status. They are officially property of their husband or their father, and are not able to take part in any elections. One exception to this title is the druidic sect, which is open to men and women alike. The druids are responsible for helping in the domestic matters of a clan, such as hunting. During the taming of a new land, however, the druids are feared among the Alfar and are put to death on the spot.

### Navy

The Caugos navy is mainly used for fishing, trade, and the raiding of the Daria and Kavees coastlines. Employing advanced construction and navigation tools, their ships are able to out-track the Crimson Sails over long distances, and are only captured if the Crimson Sails can keep their rowers working long enough to catch up. Without having rowers does mean that the lack of wind can occasionally leave the entire fleet dead in the water. Each clan has its own ships under command of the chief, but the Seachief may summon multiple chiefs' ships at once in times of need.

## Economy

### South Lodge

The largest city in the confederacy is South Lodge. It houses 3000 humans within it, one of the only cities in Caugus with a full-time population of artisans and merchants. The region is along the fertile Mia River, a land taken from the Alfar that has become famous for its paper-making and cotton farms. The locals have opted not to destroy the previous Alfar town, and so this town is built on the raised slopes of sandstone pyramids that include a temple of Feyus re-purposed into a public baths and a Nolariaball stadium that now hosts theatrical plays.

### Ijhier Guard

Built on the Paral River is a modern town with many tall towers. The city was the first built after the invasion and the local Alfar ruins toppled and the pyramid materials re-purposed into stone houses and a primitive keep for the local Grand Chief. On the side of an old Sunray garden now sits the meeting hall where chiefs discuss and hold elections for Grand chiefs. Although some locals stay here to tend to animals, most residents spend their years hunting and foraging in the wilderness and only return during periods of relative quiet such as wintertime. Ijhier Guard has many blast furnaces and produces most of the iron goods used in the confederacy, and is generally fueled by the clear-cutting of the local forests for charcoal.

### Forest Lodge

Forest Lodge, aptly named, is where the Ijhier forest begins to grow taller and thicker. This coastal town has created long wooden docks that may be raised or lowered from the water as seasonal hurricanes come towards the coast. Those ships built there make up the majority of vessels used by Iridians across Altus. The techniques to build the sturdy hulls and triangular sails are kept a closely guarded secret.

### Snow Guard

Snow Guard is a cold town on the north coast. Due to its isolation, it relies much less on trade and instead has become relatively self-sufficient. The clays here are baked into pottery, iron extracted from the riverbed, and in the winter the local druids hunt on the ice for seals and penguins. The Grand Chief of Snowguard have a tradition of spending their summers raiding Osiria by crossing the Coast Mountains and returning with slaves who are ritually burned or forced to fight for entertainment.

### Swindoe

Swindow was once a farming town that has become a large exporter of agricultural goods within the confederacy. Its soils are on the edge of old riverbeds and it engages in trade with the Cellian Empire from time to time. Merchants wishing to purchase Alfar slaves frequently come to Swindoe to purchase them, as they are closest to the Moratan settlements within the Emerald Valley. Local efforts to tame the forest to the south have been impeded by local resistance that some believe is Sun Knights in hiding, while others argue it is actually forest spirits.

### Vax'itua

Named for the chief who died during the conquest of Mount sulphur, Vax'itua is a struggling community on the edge of a volanic wasteland. The arrival of merrin weed on Morata has meant that the hunting grounds of the locals have been reduced until they were forced to adopt agriculture instead. While fighting the growth of the invasive merrin weed is time-consuming, the flowers produce a drug which is enjoyable to consume.