Manitou Council

## The Manitou Council

* **Name:***Draesis ti'Tolo*(Sperethiel: "The Wheel of Spirits", 'Manitou Council' in English)
* **Description:**Elven  Nationalist organization claiming to speak for the elves of the NAN . Regional rebellion based in the northen parts of the Niswi-mishkodewinan.
* **Status:**Mostly Unrecognized (except for the République du Québec and Tír Tairngire). The Sovereign Tribal Council generally follows the lead of the Na-Dené Nén and classifies the Manitou Council as a 'Combatant Organization' for legal purposes. Naturally, the government of the Niswi-mishkodewinan refuses to call the Manitou anything but 'terrorists' and legally treats them as a criminal problem.
* **Motto:***Mawryn reth'im*(Being Elven Together)
* **Language:**Sperethiel
* **Leadership:**The Manitou are lead by the *Raegh,*their "Lord" or "Lady". Currently the *Raegh* is Laura Hawksford (*Culúrien Sornolahta*). The *Raegh*is supposed to be chosen by test, administered by elders (*Mes Eoerin*) of the various Paths of the Wheel, although other methods (such as challenge, chosen successors and naked force) have been used in the past. Lady Hawksford administrates through her *Dresneri,*her hand-picked lieutenants. Rumor has it that the imprisoned rebel leader Raven Darkplace (*Corcon Falanshoam*) has been running operations from his prison cell and holds the rank of *Faladaeth* or "Huntsman" in the resistance, second only to the *Raegh*herself.
* **Capitol:**Arviat on Hudson's Bay, in the Manitou-claimed territories in the North of the Niswi-mishkodewinan . As a rebel organization though, this isn't permanant and the leadership often has to stay on the move.
* **Structure:**There are really two entirely separate Wheels of Spirits, the formal government in Manitou territory that keeps the lights on and prosecutes the open war against the Niswi-mishkodewinan government (informally called the *Ma'halma* or Throne), and the rebel cells operating throughout the rest of the country supporting them (called the *Ozidan*"The Left Behind"). The Throne is run directly by the Lady, who has a court of 4-6 *Dresneri*who act in her name to the communities. Silvermoon's teachings (The Spirit Way or *Mes ti'Tolo*)  lay out a system of living built around commune/village/extended family communities called *Imleäl*, which doesn't have a direct English translation but often is translated as 'Clade' or 'Creche'. While the original *Imleäl* were meant to be egalitarian (*irenis*or 'casteless'), circumstances have forced them to select village commanders (*herenya*), generally from their own number, often after some notable deed or test. The Silent, sympathizers who live among the main population of Niswi-mishkodewinan and neighboring countries, are modeled after the Rinellé ke'Tesrae in Tir Tairngire. They are organized into cells called "Branches" *olwen*, the branches are run by master cells "Trees" *aldasal*, who are made up of members each of which has exactly one contact with one other Tree, in the *Shay b'Ozidan*"The Forest of the Lost". Nobody knows who runs the *Ozidan*, although rumor hints that it might be the *Faladaeth* or one of the *Dresneri*.
* **Allies**: The Council is not the whole of the Manitou cause. Outside of the *Maraerth ke'Tolo* , the primary militia of the council and the spies and supporters of the *Ozidan*, other organizations fight for the Manitou, such as elven chauvinists of the Meraerth ke'Désach, The Mother's Sons ecoterrorists and the Road Warrior Company, mercenaries hired by their foreign allies to assist them in their war against the government in Sâskwatôn.
* **History:**The history of the *Raén ke'Tolo*(The People of the Spirits) goes back to the foundation of Tír Tairngire back in 2035. The Tír was founded by the Cenesté, the "Forsaken", a rebel nationalist group within the elven Sinsearch  Tribe of the Seliš-Bukwus Chíchelh Sq'èp, led by Elven nationalist Lugh Surehand . Among the Cenesté there were those who supported the dream of a North American elven homeland but opposed the aristocratic, racist politics of Surehand. They left the new land and started to spread over the continent looking for a place to build the elven utopia of their dreams. Over the next decade, Adrienne Silvermoon , (*Falisté Telepisil*) a charismatic young shaman rose to lead these *Raeintest*é ("The True" or "The Pure") in their quest. In 2045, she and her followers arrived in the Niswi-mishkodewinan, where she cut a deal with the government to settle her elves there, drawing like-minded elves tired of human persecution and Tir rigidness to settle in the empty places of the sparsely-populated Council of Three Fires to form the *Raén ke'Tolo,* the People of the Spirit (called "Manitou" by their Anishinaabe neighbors). Enough responded to make Elves something like a third of the country's newly-expanded population. With the unanticipated success of Silvermoon's call, the Council of the Three Fires, under Chief Bobby Bear, rewrites the constitution to include the newcomers, giving Silvermoon a seat in the ruling triumvirate, as Ceremony Chief, equal to Civil Chief Bobby Bear and War Chief Okwaho. While this arrangement begins harmoniously enough, the cracks begin to show in 2050. A crop failure (thought by many to be brought on by stray engineered organisms escaped from an Ares Agribusiness project to the south) caused a food crisis in the Three Fires. Settled on wild lands, some of the least productive in the country, the "Manitou" were among the hardest hit. Which is why Adrienne Silvermoon joined with her fellow Triumvirs to support the plan to bring  Aztechnology in to prevent famine and prop up the economy. In return, Aztechnology is awarded exclusive contracts to the Three Fires' main agricultural exports. This is a wildly unpopular move among the independent Manitou, To call this move unpopular is to understate it. In her own lands an opposition movement among the Manitou, who stand against Aztechnology involvement, make a move to displace Silvermoon as *Raegh* of the *Raén ke'Tolo*. However this effort collapses when key members of the opposition movement die under mysterious circumstances over a period of thirteen days. This does not, however, spell the end of the crisis. Indeed, the opposition martyrs only fuel resistance in the troubled region. The next year, 2051 a former supporter of the opposition movement, war hero and military mage (a "*Meraerth ke'Ailiu*"), Derek Highsun leads a coup against Silvermoon (possibly with the tacit approval of some non-elven elements in the Council government). Silvermoon dies during the coup, reportedly after a spirit she summons turns on her. Civil Chief Bobby Bear and War Chief Okwaho appoint Highsun as the provisional Ceremony Chief, some say because they were backing his rebellion, others says because they were desperate to avoid intervention by the Sioux Defense Force.  Resentful of interference in their internal affairs, Manitou elves constantly protest the Highsun administration. Over the next ten years, as they go through four different *Raegha/*Ceremony Chiefs, Derek Highsun, Falia Truesight, Meredeth Ninestars and finally, in early 2060, Laura Hawksford as power shifts between the pro-government Solar (*Maeltish*) faction, followers of Highsun, and the more pro-independence, internationalist Lunar (*Isilmëtish*) adherents of SIlvermoon and back again. Hawksford's rise represents a Lunar ascendance. Fringe members of these movements form extremist groups, such as the Elven separatists of the Meraerth ke'Désach (Warriors of Change).
* February 7, 2061: A terrorist bomb destroys the Aztechnology building in Mohkínstsis (formerly Calgary AB, in the primarily *Elakómkwik* dominated territory) during a meeting with the Council, killing, among others, Civil Chief Bobby Bear and War Chief Hillborn. Manitou druidic extremists, who had been protesting Aztechnology's exploitation of their nation, are blamed by the Council and there is a sudden upsurge of anti-Manitou anger among the other nations of the Council.
* March, 2061: Bobby Bear's son Joseph Bear provisionally assumes his father's position on the Council, while Doxtator, next highest ranking military officer of the Council Armies, is appointed pro-tem War Chief. They dedicate the Council's resources to finding the Elves responsible (and they do always maintain it is elves).
* November, 2061: The Hudson Bay Incident. Military (largely from the Atiwandaronk elite 'Keepers of the Eastern Door' units) and Aztechnology security forces attack a boathouse, suspected of harboring ecoterrorists, The Mother's Sons. All inside the boathouse are killed, and the some of the dead turn out to be leaders of the Manitou tribe, including their High Shaman Charlie Nightwolf and several Lunar faction leaders, including Councilor Trent Starblade and Marietta Greengrove, a former aide of Silvermoon and suspected leader of the Meraerth ke'Désach.
* December 2061: Ceremony Chief Laura Hawksford calls an emergency policy meeting of the surviving Manitou leaders at the Lynn Lake Great Lodge. After the third day, all media and non-elven persons were excluded, and the elven leaders of the Manitou hold a secret meeting for the next week.
* May 1, 2062: Laura Hawksford and other attendants of the Lynn Lake meeting announce the formation of the "Manitou Council" (*Draesis ti'Tolo*"Wheel of Spirits"), and declares that the Manitou will no longer acknowledge the Council of Three Fires' authority, claiming all lands north of the Kuugjuaq River.
* May 19, 2062: Civil Chief Joseph Bear and War Chief Doxtator issue a statement removing Hawksford from her position as Ceremony Chief and not recognizing the Manitou state as legitimate. A state of war now exists as Council troops are sent north to reclaim the territory. A noted shaman Arnold Halfway Man is appointed as the new Ceremony Chief.

This marks the beginning of the Algonkian-Manitou Civil War that has defined the life of Manitou for the last decade.