GYRI: THE ASSEMBLAGE OF MENEHYSI
(MENEHŠ - “LITTLE LANDS”)
“EVEN A RIPPLE MIGHT BECOME A WAVE,
EVEN A WAVE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A RIPPLE.”
The Assembled Islands of the Menehysi, or simply the Menehysi, are a collection of islands under the control of four clades, each of which is composed of numerous families. Its formalisation as the Assembled Islands of the Menehysi was a relatively modern categorization that was forced upon them under pressure by their steadily encroaching neighbors, the empire of Marathas. The Menehysi islands are a frigid place with the only sources of warmth being hearths heating stacked stone homes or the tangled mass of geothermal activity that gave rise to the islands themselves that now bubbles up through springs of boiling water. Despite the drifting glaciers and driving snow, these hot springs and wells of heated water are the means at which the Menehysians have been able to thrive in a place that offers little else beyond the bitter bite of cold.
The four clades that each control the islands are as follows: Mikehsa, Axkyi, Tekowa, and Mahkate. Each clade selects a patron family with the precise politics of each family unique to them. The patron family is responsible for care and upkeep of their islands and the other families within the clade, as well as representation of themselves within the Assemblage. The Assemblage is a small council in which grievances between clades can be navigated, or families within a clade can present their grievances to outsiders regarding their patron. Though this is a practice antiquated since the fall of the Marathan empire, it is one they have integrated and sought to make their own. The patron families of each clade fight and politic to the top every seven years during a period of conflict referred to as the Time of Tremors.
In spite of the intense inter-family feuds and conflict that occur during the Time of Tremors, their faith dictates that all hate must be tempered with love. The people of Menehysi are understanding of forgiveness and patience like few others, a gift derived from their worship of the two Brothers. The Brothers are mythical figures so intrinsically tied into their culture that they are inseparable from their very words for fire and ice. They believe that in order to not destroy all of humanity, the Brothers have locked themselves in an eternal, but necessary, conflict. The nature of clades is one of unity and an understanding that the shoe will inevitably be on the other foot, power ebbs and flows as surely as any other tide, and complacency risks tampering with the scales of the war between the Brothers, Aki (lit., “animate”) and Ari (lit., “inanimate”).
THE FOUR CLADES
MIKEHSA Growth. Simplicity. Stagnation. The most peaceful of the islands, a trio set further away from the other clades’ claims and covered in rolling hills of grass and moss. Here, herds of long haired goats roam its surface feeding off of the land and the sea, fed until they are fat for meat, milk, and wool. Anything eaten by a Menehysian that isn’t pulled from the sea comes from the Mikehsa clade. During the Time of Tumult, they isolate themselves and avoid outside interference from other clades, instead choosing to determine a patron through less violent means. Their lifestyle and land has given rise to the largest populations among the islanders, but has also brought forth a bitter envy of what the others must fight so hard to have.
AXKYI Salt. Ice. Storm. Sailors and raiders all, their land is rocky and seldom is a place found to build, let alone farm. They receive more than their fair share from the sea, and are oftentimes called upon by families from other clades to intervene and fight on their behalf in order to unseat a patron family grown too complacent. They hunt tusked whales for trade and sport, and pirate ships traveling from Lagain, Tousav, and Aardayn, much to the chagrin of the other clades. Antagonists of the Assembly, they frequently kick against the fetters placed on their people and despise mainlanders. They possess some of the most intricate and detailed charts of any of the islanders, but guard this knowledge jealously. The Axkyi claim that even Father Fate has his favorites.
TEKOWA Prosperity. Trade. Schemes. The families of Tekowa, for better or worse, adopted many of the mainlander’s traditions and style. They began as fierce of raiders as the Axkyi, but time and money tempered them. The clade found it could receive even more riches from their coastal neighbors by mere threat of raid than they could from actually following through. Soon they found themselves trading with them regularly, and acting as a funnel of commerce from between the rest of the Menehysi and Lagain. It is these acts that made them hang so tightly to the Marathan embassy where the four clades now hold council with another. The Tekowa have become more worldly than the rest, but are accused of doing so at risk of losing themselves. There is one Menehysian point of pride they have never relinquished though, and that is the cultivation of the thousand-thorned snail. A blood red snail that bears a remarkable amount of iron within its body, and is thus gathered en-masse to be crushed, then bloomed into iron. Many of the Tekowa bear shields and helmets with motifs of spiked, swirling shells because of this practice.
MAHKATE Faith. Forge. Sand. They are the caretakers of the Ayiwa, the enormous ever boiling volcano that acts as a beacon for all of the families who dwell at its base. They possess only one island, but its bounty of iron rich sands and geothermal power have proved fruitful enough to make them central to the conflicts between all other clades. Due to the minimal amount of timber available for charcoal production on the other islands, they rely upon the volcano’s heat to heat their forges and produce some of the finest metal goods in all of Yiegdra. Few permanent structures exist for long as the rune carved mountain frequently erupts, forcing them to rebuild. As caretakers of the Ayiwa, they must frequently recarve and settle the runes around the maw of the Gate that encircles the mouth of the mountain where Aki (lit., ‘animated’) resides.
THE DIVINE FAMILY
Within the islands, worship is dominated by a belief in the Divine Family, a pantheon consisting of four members (two brothers, a mother, and a father). Only the two Brothers possess any permanent Gates, the primary ones being a solitary volcano located on the sole island of the Mehkate that is referred to as Ayiwa (lit., “he is here”) and a whirlpool west of the Axkyi islands, referred to as Un-ayiwa (lit., “he is not here”).
MOTHER LOVE Life. Death. Naïvety. At the beginning and end of every Menehysi life, the Mother’s attention is garnered. At the death of someone important, this is done by the performance of a funeral rite called the Masquerade of Innocence, a ritual consisting of the slaughter of one of the family’s own young and a transmutation of hearts between an elder of a family and the innocent youth. She is there to remind the people that everyone eventually returns to whence they came from.
FATHER FATE Secrets. Indifference. Knowledge. It is said that from every rippling puddle and every crashing wave Father Fate’s eyes peer out. His is an everlasting hunger, a desire for secrets and to know the hidden things of the world. He knows where the sun goes to rest and from where the moon rises, he knows of every blessing given and every curse whispered, he knows the measure of everything. Regardless of the invasive nature of Father Fate, he is seen as an inevitability that cannot be avoided and so the people of the islands pay him little mind. He is there to remind the people that sometimes you must act without knowing all and that ignorance is the only thing you will ever truly know.
BROTHER FIRE (ARI) Flame. Passion. Tumult. No matter where one of the Menehysi are, they will insist that they can always smell his smoke drifting on the wind. Brother Fire embodies the spirit of change and upheaval, for better or worse. Smiths at the base of the Ayiwa, the volcano where his Gate lay ever open, entreat him as they forge metal. His is the name called upon at the Time of Tumult, and his is the voice that declares its beginning. To the Menehysi, Brother Fire represents bettering oneself and questioning the state of things, prayers are called up to him in council in good times and bad. He is there to remind the people that this too shall pass.
BROTHER ICE (AKI) Frost. Preservation. Stagnation. As one lays down to rest, he brings forth the bliss of sleep. He is the calm and the complacency of a life without hardships. Brother Ice brings forth stillness in all things, he is called upon when a blade needs quenching, or the fish are to be salted. His is the voice of a clade’s tyranny, and the stillness of corpses. With an iron grip, Brother Ice holds all things in their place, a necessity to balance Brother Flame’s eternal thrashing, but one that must be softened and shifted at times. Brother Ice helps everyone remember their yesterday. He is there to remind the people that the taller the tree, the deeper the roots.