Ai’dallani, the children of Nizsi
Totem/Fetish/Guardiangod/Spirit
Nizsi, the great riverAll life that ever was, is, and will be is a gift from Nizsi. During spring, Nizsi spreads to the country, removing the old life and seeding new life in its place. During late autumn and winter, Nizsi is weak, gathering strength for the beginning of the new cycle.
Pact: Nizsi grants her children with all they need for life – food, water and protection. In exchange, all she asks is that all that came from her is returned back to her when it is no longer needed. For a child of Nizsi when their time comes, returning to her welcoming arms isn’t just a great honor – it is a necessity, the only way to be reborn again.
When Ai’dallani feel that the great river is angry, they pick several people amongst the volunteers, which then sacrifice themselves to Nizsi. During this self-sacrifice the person takes the largest stone they can lift, and jump into the water, holding the stone in their arms. It is considered the greatest honor amongst the tribe.
Minor Spirits
Lankushna, the crocodile spiritLankushna and his mate Ailinia were the first children of Nizsi. All life descends from their connection.
Pact: Lankushna is the spirit of fighting and protecting. He grants Ai’dallani warriors strength and resilience, but only when they fight nearby the great river’s waters.
Ailinia, the ibis spiritPact: Ailinia is the spirit of family and continuation. She helps to heal wounds and cure sickness, if one is submerged into Nizsi’s waters. Every newborn child in the tribe must be bathed in the great river right after birth, so that the first thing in his life is receiving Ailinia’s blessing.
Leadership
Ai’dallani have two levels of leadership – a ruling couple representing the guardian spirits and the council.
Each spring, at the start of a new lifecycle, the tribe performs a ritual to celebrate. During this ritual one man and one woman are chosen through divination as Lan’Nizsi and Aila’Nizsi – the human representatives of Lankushna and Ailinia spirits. They then live as a couple for the following year, ruling over the spiritual aspects of the tribe.
The council consists of chieftains of the seven poap’ki – the floating villages that shelter most of the tribe’s population. The chieftains are chosen from the most skilled people in the tribe, they can be the bravest warriors, the most successful hunters or fishermen, the most revered seers or healers. The council rules over the material aspects of the tribe.
Organization
Nomads travelling the river in their floating villages
Warriors
Ai’dallani are rather peaceful people, the only true warriors in their tribe are
Kushini – the crocodile warriors. These are the most elite fighters from the tribe, sworn to protect the people and to serve as bodyguards for the Lan’Nizsi and Aila’Nizsi. The crocodile warriors fight with two weapons – long and short with sharp spikes on one side, resembling the jaws of a crocodile. Mauls are usually made of bone or wood, with sharp stones or real animal teeth.
If need be, hunters and fishermen can be useful in a fight as well.
Important People
Kiala – current Aila’Nizsi
Kiala was first elected Aila’Nizsi at the young age of thirteen and now it is her third year in row leading her people. While being young, innocent and perhaps a bit naive, she has strong connection with the spiritual world and great experience with interpreting the will of the spirits. She and Ruvvi are currently expecting a child. It is considered a great blessing for the tribe when the leading couple conceives a child during their cycle together.
Ruvvi – current Lan’Nizsi
Ruvvi is twenty-six and it is his first cycle as Lan’Nizsi. His election was a surprise – he wasn’t a great warrior or a seer like his predecessors, but rather a simple fisherman. Despite that, he is quite smart while having a calm mind, not easily provoked to violence. While most leading couples throughout the history were just formal tradition, Ruvvi and Kiala truly love each other and plan to stay together.
Ozei – chieftain of one of the poap’ki
Ozei is a twenty-two-year-old female leader of one of the floating villages. She is friendly and outgoing, but also rather short-tempered – easily angered, easily excited. Despite her flaws, her people love her as a fair and responsible ruler. She is a fearsome fighter, although her duties as a chieftain do not allow her to join the Kushini. She at least gets to train with her mate Vug, who is one of the crocodile warriors. They have three children.
Story
At the beginning of time, there was only a barren wasteland, spreading over the world. In that wasteland, a small spring appeared, which would soon become a great river Nizsi. Nizsi spread into the land, seeding it with plants of all kinds. Then she gave birth to the first living creatures – her children Lankushna and Ailinia. They roamed and enjoyed the vast world, but as it seemed too empty, they decided to bring more life into it.
They joined together and their connection created ancestors of all living things – fish, birds, reptiles, insects, mammals and their final creation – humans. They taught humans about the world and about mother of everything – Nizsi. Humans decided to live as close to their mother as possible, at first creating feeble boats which, in time, were perfected into the shape of poap’ki – the floating villages.
Currently most of the tribe lives in one of the seven large poap’ki, although some decided to live on smaller vessels that accompany the villages on their journey. The villages usually travel in the same general direction, not completely together, but always nearby. There is dense traffic of smaller boats travelling between poap’ki at all times, transporting goods, news or people from one village to another.
Since the river’s current downstream is nearly non-existent, the villages can freely travel to wherever the council or the leading couple chooses, using many long staves to push the poap’ki around, or even small sails, if the wind is favorable.
Ai’dallani are friendly people, even to other tribes with different beliefs. They believe that all life, including the land-people came from Nizsi. Whether the others believe it or not doesn’t matter – they are just blind to the truth, because they have not been in contact with the mother for generations. Ai’dallani will gladly welcome guests from other cultures, provided the guests will be respectful to their traditions.
