Ojir Amaun, The People of the Oasis
Government Form:
Government by Consensus
Demographics:
There is only one people who call Revelation their home, and that is the Ojir Amaun. The People of the Oasis. Though they might once have been simply Human, the Ojir Amaun have adapted to their home in the centuries since the rifts first carried them to it. The unending day has seen their ability to see in the darkness all but disappear, and more visibly the harsh sands have made their skin tough and waxy. Of course, it is not common to see one the Oasis inhabitants showing much skin at all. Though uncommon, sandstorms wash over the Oasis on occasion, violent winds carrying sand that has spent decades baking in an endless sun. Given the alternative few don’t cover up, just in case.
The People of the Oasis still look Human, at least mostly. Small details like thicker, longer eyelashes, thinner lips, and smaller noses are usually enough to distinguish them from their ancestors, however. And that is without considering the odd sheen of their dry skin. Yet there can be no doubting what the People of the Oasis were for they are not that far gone from their Humanity.
Population:
Some hundreds of thousands call the Oasis home.
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Plane Description:
Before the Rifts, there can be no discussion of Revelation. How can one discuss what is not? That which is without space, time, or magic, but still is? If there is a word that exists which could describe what it might have been in those days, it would be potential. A plane of potential. One which sat patiently, content to be nothing, until it was given greater purpose.
None know the name of the soul that first stepped foot in Revelation. They are forgotten, but for the knowledge that their bones are among those that litter the desert they created. For when that first soul gazed into potential itself they saw only what they most feared they would: the very thing they’d fled from. An ocean of sand, in every direction, forever. A day which never ended illuminated by a light without source that cut through any shadow. Through any reprieve. Revelation was what they, in their heart, believed it would be before they ever saw it.
It was a fear that killed more than could be imagined. The Bone Garden stands as testament to the horror that followed the shaping of potential into a reality. Skeletons beyond counting turning miles of sand into a forest of bones. What the People of the Oasis know today is that none of the ones who were meant to survive did so. Only those most accustomed to deprivation endured, and of them only the barest fraction rejected death beyond the point that their minds failed them.
Madness. In a world of potential alone, where faith was all that mattered, it was the ultimate solution. Where the sane saw sand, felt sand, and cursed sand, the mad saw an impossible oasis in the distance and believed in it more than they had ever believed in anything in their lives. It would only be later generations that came to revere that moment as the Revelation itself, when all that was unknown became clear. For those maddened, dying, dregs? It was an imagined oasis that they plunged their hands into and drank from, only to find it had always been real.
An Oasis they knew would grow. Faith, against reality and all its illusions, kept the Oasis alive and allowed its expansion. After that? It no longer took the mad, for the sane had seen it. Potential cared only for the truth of the soul, and so the truth of the Ojir Amaun became the truth of the world itself.
History:
It is said that that the Ojir Amaun’s ancient ancestors, when they still lived on the Birthworld, were known as the Ojir Vara. The People of Dusk. Those who forged an empire at the end of their world, where the mythical sun set last upon a people who commanded countless leagues beyond their sight. Or at least, that is what is said. Surely there lie the bones beyond counting in the Garden, the remains of a vast migration, but who is to say what tales of the past are the truth? History since after the Arrival has been scarcely recorded in the Oasis. Of ancient days? Legends, myths, and old tales passed down among generations and distorted by the repetition are what remain.
What is known is that fear and doubt created Revelation, and that madness saved the few who clung to life amidst that first grave error. More than madness, faith. It is that which has been taught to every generation, and that which is the foundation of Ojir Amaun’s history. As for what happened after the birth of the Oasis? Other survivors came, surely, and time passed. How much time is an open question, for in a world without any way to track such things beyond what can be devised it took time before its passage was even marked. One hundred and forty-six thousand turns of the Timeglass in the Hall of Celebration ago the Ojit Amaun began track the passage of time in Revelation.
One hundred and twenty thousand turns ago the Oasis grew, and there was discovered enough new land for a thousand families. One hundred and ten thousand turns ago there is the first record of a Thirstless One, the monstrous remnant of an ancient migrant so deeply lost that they have imagined themselves a part of the desert which devoured them. Fifteen died returning that lost soul to the cycle of rebirth. Another would not be seen for sixteen thousand turns, when the Oasis again expanded. That time there was space enough for three thousand families. The rest of recorded history reads much the same, the Oasis grows, and at times things come from the sands. Manifestations of fear, or ghosts from the past, sometimes worse. Sixty-five thousand turns ago a family afflicted by Mind-sickness fled the Oasis. A thousand turns later the result of their illness, unchecked and alone, came back and killed at least five hundred before vanishing again into the desert. It has not been seen or heard of since, though little was recorded of it and in the generations since other horrors have found their way into the Oasis and perished.
Though, it must be noted that such events are rare. That they are recorded in the formal history in the Hall of Celebration at all tells that they eclipsed all other issues of the day. The vast majority of Revelation’s history, before or after the Timeglass, has passed unmarked. Tens of thousands of turns without a single record. The People of the Oasis live simply, they resolve what issues they have on their own, and they prefer to share what stories they have among each other. The Oasis grows, life is good, and they are ever prepared to safeguard themselves and their people.
The past has never been the concern of the Ojir Amaun. Rather, as a people they look as one to what they know to be a bright future.
Culture and Society:
What do a people become, five hundred years after ever needing to fight one another? Moreover, what happens if the ancestors of those people were almost entirely common folk and not artists, priests, or architects? The answer is they create something of their own, from what little they know, which belongs to each and every one of them. Equally. The Ojir Amaun are fiercely independent, and yet tremendously generous.
They have never shied away from coming to the aid of their people, but neither have they waited for orders from on high. What government burdens the People of the Oasis serves less as a source of direction and more as a distraction for those less inclined to tackle problems head on. If one of the people desires a home, they build it. If they want food? They farm it. Or they remain in their familial homes and take on other chores, if they please. Even then, none can force them into such an arrangement.
The Ojir Amaun are steadfast in their faith and in their freedom. Should there be any hint of coercion in the community, threats or blackmail, it is all but expected that the community itself deal with the problem. If one is not free, none are. Moreover, why does the Oasis grow if not for a better future for all? For these reasons it is not uncommon to see those who feel compelled to leave their family or village provided for one community or another until they can build their own home and farm their own land. The people share not just a desire for their own personal freedom, but a deep bond with each other and their community.
From that bond comes their commitment to the defense of their self and the greater whole. There may be no enemies in Revelation but for mistakes and ghosts beyond the Oasis, but it is folly to presume these things would never approach. They have done so before.
So, all the People of the Oasis carry arms. A wooden club, a bow and arrow, an ancient sword, or some new dagger forged from metal recycled over centuries. Whatever the implement, they stand ready. All are armed, always, for the safety of everyone. It is, however, not something often spoken of.
By and large the population of the Oasis is one content to see the day through and retire to comfort. As there is no shade from the light of Revelation, no darkness but that behind one’s eyes, the Ojir Amaun spend much of their time indoors among their friends and family resting. Each household has its own morning and night, as such things are a foreign notion to the people of Revelation, only syncing its hours of rest and work with close friends or neighbours.
Within those homes is great humor and closeness. There is no real concept of propriety among ones own kin, that being anyone close enough to be invited into the home, among the People of the Oasis. Generations ago they huddled together because they were few and precious, and now? They would say that it is just the better way. When all are aware of who is doing what with who and why, or who is feeling sick, or who is in need, peace tends to win out. Friends help friends, and issues get worked out willingly or not.
It is not a universal means of living, and plenty of the Ojir Amaun live alone or in insular communities, but it is not an understatement to say that these exceptions are not common. Perhaps, in part, because the faith of the People of the Oasis is practiced with others. From a young age the people’s children are taught what all know to be true: that the Oasis grows, that they have a soul everlasting and ever learning, and that they have lived before and will live again.
The People of the Oasis see themselves as the conscious mind of their very reality, and their souls are the living memory and will of that reality. They believe that every one of them has lived before and will live again, their souls going from life to life and accumulating knowledge and experience that will enrich reality itself. For this reason they are always seeking out new experiences, and creativity is a beloved trait.
Of course, as the truest belief of its inhabitant’s hearts is the only reality in Revelation, the People of the Oasis live knowing that their faith will be rewarded. They have, through ritual and magic, communed with their past lives and do so whenever the knowledge of elder generations is needed. While it is taboo to mention it, there is a caveat. Those that perished in the migration, before belief in the cycle of rebirth was universal and strong, have not ever been contacted. Not once, among all attempts ever made.
It is a terrible loss, but one most are keen to forget. They would rather focus their thoughts on the future, whether that be a new crop, a larger home, or a great party. With long hours inside to fill the Ojir Amaun are a people accustomed to revelry. They celebrate life most every night, and every hundred turn of the Timeglass? They gather in the Hall of Celebration and commemorate the occasion for as long as they wish. If there is one thing Revelation has in true abundance, it is laughter.
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Governance and Politics:
The Ojir Amaun, more commonly known as the People of the Oasis, lack a sophisticated form of hierarchal government. Rather, they engage in government by consensus. From the days when they numbered in the bare hundreds, to now when they are hundreds of thousands, the People of the Oasis have not centralized nor formalized their decision-making process. When there is a need for widespread agreement the people come together and craft it. In the past that might have meant every living soul coming together. Today? Government in the Oasis is conducted by families, villages, friends, and any other notable groups working out some opinion on whatever the issue of the day is. When they come to that they choose one among them, by consensus, to present that opinion to other designates. These appointed few gather at the center of the Oasis, at the Hall of Celebration, and come to a consensus of their own.
If that seems informal, convoluted, and prone to getting nothing done? Well, most of the Ojir Amaun prefer it that way. It is rare that serious difficulties trouble the Oasis, and when such things have happened in the past? They have always been resolved long before any edict could be proclaimed from the steps of the Hall. Beyond tolerated, such action is encouraged. If anything is taught universally among the People of the Oasis it is responsibility to the self, and responsibility the whole. Those men and woman among the Ojir Amaun who feel otherwise are always welcome to talk, but for most? When there’s a problem, you fix it. And if there isn’t one, why worry about it at all?
Technology and Magic:
Not one survivor of the migration knew more about magic that the fact of its existence. None attempted to revive it until it was a distant memory. Those who succeeded? They practiced what they knew, what old tales had taught them. Great rituals, absolute devotion, magic required above all else will, the commitment to change reality in as sure a way as true faith could.
Perhaps it was so on the Birthworld, perhaps not. What matters is that magic has returned to Revelation in the generations since its ‘demise’. Sorcerers and Sorceresses gather in houses of wisdom built by their parents and predecessors recording all magic that has ever worked and how it worked. They experiment without end, always hoping to either discover a ancient truth or will a ritual into existence purely on the power their belief and the strength of their argument in convincing their peers.
The magic of Revelation is, consequently, wildly varied, massively complicated, and usually conducted in the least subtle way possible. Of course, that is not to say it is weak. Faith is a great thing, and faith in magic? That was ironclad among even the first unfortunate migrants. Now it is a truth as certain as the bright future all Ojir Amaun pursue.
Military Overview:
None
