Winaq'li
TBDGeography
The isles of Winaq'li differ very little geographically; the entire archipelago is perpetually sweltering and the only seasons which they experience are the periodic rainy and dry seasons (which loosely correspond to winter and summer, respectively). However that is not to say that everywhere on the isles is exactly the same, as there is a noticeable difference between the interior regions and the coasts. The interior is covered with dense tropical forests, and while the coasts are usually just as covered the beaches and thick marshes are populated by mangrove forests.
The interior forests are densely vegetated, with an expansive canopy thanks to the numerous trees and a thick layer of shrubs and smaller vegetation all along the forest floor. Nearly the entirety of the interior of Winaq'li is covered with plant life, with the exception of the land cultivated by the Winaq not only for their great cities but for their farms and villages as well. The forests are home to a great number of lizards, snakes, insects, birds, owls, fish found only in Winaq'li. And while there are no large mammals native to the isles, there exceptionally large lizards and birds that are just as deadly as well as smaller creatures which kill with toxin. But in addition to their rare fauna there are a number of plants found on the islands, including crops such as squash, maize, and potatoes as well as more exotic plants like peppers and cacao beans, and a wide variety of indigenous flowers.
The coastal regions are often just as dense as the interior, but differ in several key ways. There are long stretches of swamp and marshland, as well as numerous beaches all along the coast. But the coastlines are dominated by mangrove shrubs and trees which grow in the salty water of the sea or the brackish water of the marshes, with the vegetation being far denser in the swampland. The mangrove forests are home to a number of animals including a variety of snakes, fish, and lizards among other, smaller creatures. The mangrove swamps themselves are no safer than the jungles, however, as there are carnivorous fish, venomous reptiles, and other deadly creatures.
The isles themselves are not particularly flat, as they are the result of volcanic activity. However, there are only two volcanoes that are currently active and they are both on the northwestern half of the largest of the islands. Fortunately these volcanoes are shield volcanoes, which spew slow-moving lava when they erupt rather than exploding and spewing excessive amounts of ash and lava. There are more volcanoes on the other islands, but they are all extinct and on the smaller islands they have been mostly eroded away.
History
The islands of Winaq'li were uninhabited when the most ancient ancestors of the Winaq arrived upon its isolated shores long before recorded history. Though to listen to the Winaq themselves, they dwelled upon the islands ever since the gods formed them from cornmeal. The earliest Winaq cities were far less impressive than those of the modern days, they formed the cores of the numerous warring kingdoms of the early Winaq.
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Culture
At its most basic, Winaq society is divided into two social classes: the nobility and the commoners. However, the distinction is not as clear-cut as one might assume. The wealthy merchant class of the cities are technically commoners, but in many cases wield just as much political power as the noble elite. And the noble elite themselves typically only hold political power by the grace of the K'uhul Ajaw, the Divine Kings who rule over the isles of the Winaq. And the rest of the commoners, those poorer men who work the land are not serfs in any capacity, but free men. Farmers typically own their own fields, miners are paid for their labour, and fishermen keep what they pull from their nets. In fact, the local affairs of smaller villages are typically looked over by one of their own, elected by their neighbours to the position.
How one lives is typically based upon the wealth of their family rather than their social class, though even the poorest of nobles are much better off than the average commoner. But there are certain facets of life which are a constant. The Winaq trace descent through their mothers, and it is considered the duty of the mother's extended family to raise the child rather than the father. The extended matrilinear families all live with one another, splitting apart when the family becomes too large. Sexuality is also a rather open affair among the Winaq; they do not have a concept of marriage and instead men and women enter into mutual relationships with one another that either can end at any time. Usually such relationships are monogamous, but there is no stigma against having multiple relationships.
Those who are not wealthy typically live in large huts made of wood, thatch, reeds, or similar materials. Out in the villages the huts are clustered together alongside separate buildings such as a kitchen, storage, or workshop all around a central open area. Meanwhile the cities, which are far more densely populated tend to have larger single buildings with built in kitchens and storage. They sleep on either reed mats or on hammocks hanging around the home, which allows more of the extended family to fit inside a single building. They tend to have three meals, one early in the morning, one later in the morning, and one in the afternoon. The men are typically the ones who go out and work, while the women take care of the home. However the head of the household is typically the eldest woman, and it is she who tends to deal with the household's finances. The poor tend to have very little education, and most are illiterate and in place of formal schooling children will, at most, serve as an apprentice to a skilled tradesman to learn their craft.
The wealthy, on the other hand, live a much different life. They live in expansive mansions and compounds, built out of stone and much larger than anything the poor dwell within. Instead of all members of the extended family do not all share a single room, there are numerous rooms with close family members sleeping within the same room. Instead of the hammocks and reed mats of the less wealthy, they will often sleep on actual beds raised up off the floor. The wealthy often only eat twice a day; the midday meal of common labourers are eaten to gain more strength for the work in the middle of the day, such a meal being unnecessary is a mark of the wealthy who don't need to deal with difficult labour throughout the day. Men are typically the ones who go out and work and the women deal with things around the house, but wealthy men don't do the common labour of the less fortunate while the women need not deal with more mundane activities such as cooking and cleaning. And almost all wealthy children receive some form of formal education, wealthy commoners employ professional tutors while the nobles send their children to schools staffed by teachers and priests.
While not all of them dwell within the cities, the Winaq are still an impressively urban civilization. There are numerous cities spread out across the isles of Winaq'li, and they serve as the administrative, commercial, and religious centers of Winaq society. At the center of each city lies the palace complex where the local Ajaw rules from, even now that the individual cities' Ajaws are no longer hereditary. And around that palace is a sprawl of pyramid temples, monuments, plazas, ballcourts, coliseums, marketplaces, schools, and residences of the noble elite. The more sacred and ceremonial of these structures are sometimes, though not always, separated from the others by walls. Around this central core is a residential sprawl of commoners' homes, both wealthy and not as the nobles are the only ones permitted to dwell within the city center. The cities themselves are often very haphazard, without any form of formal urban planning and grow organically through the haphazard construction of new buildings. And finally, many of the cities are connected through long, paved roads rather than the typical worn dirt pathways common throughout Winaq'li.
The Winaq have a rather particular and unique style of appearance, including dress and hairstyles. The basic garment for men is a simple loincloth, which is worn by men of all classes as well as all but the youngest boys. All adult men additionally wear a long cloth garment, with the way it is worn being an indicator of their rank. Commoners and nobles alike wear it across the front of their bodies and tied across one shoulder and under the other, though for commoners the garments ends around their knees whereas it extends to the ankles of commoners. The priesthood wear it in a similar manner, except it is tied over one shoulder and draped across the other. And members of the royal families are permitted to wear it draped across their back like a cloak. On the other hand the garments for women are similar across class, with it typically consisting of long skirt and blouse. Jewelry is also an important part of Winaq dress, and even the poorest of Winaq will at least have a pair of gold earrings. Wealthier Winaq will have much more jewelry, usually studded with gems such as jade and rulers will be laden with earrings, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and all manner of expensive jewelry. Among the Winaq hair is considered a sign of adulthood, and as such children of both genders have their heads shaved regularly until they pass into adulthood. The hairstyles of the poor tend to be simple; neck-length hair for the men and long, grown-out hair for women. The wealthier Winaq, on the other hand, will grow their hair out long and fashion them in elaborate styles with a variety of ornaments. Even warriors will typically grow their hair out into long braids with a variety of adornments. In addition the Winaq are known to practice several forms of body modification, which are often practiced as ways for the nobility to distinguish themselves even as the commoners gain more power. These include such strange practices as ritual scarification, the filing of teeth into sharp points, and especially head-binding.
Religion is an integral part of Winaq culture, and is an ever-present force within their society. The priesthood is not considered a separate social class, but exists outside the commoner/noble divide. Anyone is able to become a member of the clergy, though they must be offered to the priesthood to begin their training at a young age and the priests can accept or reject applicants as they see fit. In many cases there is no distinction between a priest born a commoner and one born a noble, but it is a fact of life that many high-ranking priests are relatives of those actually in power and the High Priests are typically the brother or cousin of the Kingdom's ruler. The Winaq faith is polytheistic and there is a deity, whether great or small, for practically everything in existence. There are a variety of rituals associated with different gods, such as feasts or festivals, but the most well known rituals are those of human sacrifice. For human sacrifice is a major part of the Winaq faith; blood is considered a potent nourishment for the gods, and human blood is seen as the greatest of offerings. While blood sacrifice does not always mean death, the nobles often practice bloodletting in religious rituals for example, there are still large numbers of human being being killed by the Winaq for their gods. Many of them are offered up willingly, or captured in the Flower Wars, or otherwise willingly meet their fate, for to die being sacrificed to the Gods means that one's soul will dwell in Paradise forever. However, the Winaq have no compunctions against buying slaves or even raiding for prisoners to sacrifice; human blood is human blood after all. There are also a wide variety of manners in which people are sacrificed, depending on which deity they're being sacrificed to, why they're being sacrificed, etc. And blood sacrifice is considered so important because the nourishment that it brings to the Gods is what sustains them; the Gods could survive for a period without any sacrifice but eventually they will fail and it would bring about a horrible collapse of the universe. Especially important is the Sun God, as the blood sacrificed to him is believed to give him the strength to make it through the Underworld every night.
And related to their religion, is the Winaq title of the K'uhul Ajaw. Often being translated to 'Divine King' the four K'uhul Ajaw are the three men who rule over each of the three Kingdoms of Winaq'li. To the Winaq they are no mere mortal rulers, not even ones who rule by the grace of Gods, but instead each K'uhul Ajaw is the incarnation of one of their deities to walk the world in mortal flesh. And as a result, they rule as the absolute monarchs of the Winaq people. Of course, that being said they have little to no influence on the land of the other K'uhul Ajaw and even the Council composed of the three of them that theoretically rules over Winaq'li is little more than an alliance and agreement not to go to actual war with one another, as opposed to a true government. The title is an inherited one as well, but inheritance among the Winaq does not pass from father to son but rather from uncle to nephew. This is because of the Winaq's matrilinear way of viewing lineages; the sons of the K'uhul Ajaw belong to their mother's family whereas his sisters sons are members of his family. The K'uhul Ajaw typically takes on one of his nephews to train to take his place upon his death, but failing that the title typically passes to either the eldest nephew by one of his sisters or to his eldest sister's eldest son. However this is not a steadfast legal rule, and wars have been fought over inheritance in Winaq'li just as they have elsewhere. But the process for becoming K'uhul Ajaw is not simply to inherit it; there is a ritual they must undergo which involves taking a potent hallucinogenic plant and then spending a day within a sweat lodge. The ritual is an important part as afterwards one must relate their visions to an assembly of priests who will interpret them and decide which God the new K'uhul Ajaw is an earthly incarnation of. AFterwards there is a grand coronation ceremony, and while the specifics differ they always involve human sacrifice.
Military
The Winaq would have no professional armies, but they have a number of men who could be considered career warriors. Most of them are employed as retainers or guardsmen, and a great number choose to fight as gladiators as well. Many of the best are from the noble families, as their wealth allows for them to pay for martial training and equipment, though any commoner who can survive as a warrior is welcomed into the ranks of the warriors as an equal. But the life of a warrior is a perilous one, for though the kingdoms of the Winaq live in relative peace the warriors must contend with the Flower Wars. The Flower Wars are a highly ritualized form of warfare between the Winaq between two 'armies' of equal size at a predetermined place and time. The battles are different from real warfare in that the goal is the capture of enemy combatants, and it is considered more of a test of honour and skill for the warriors involved. Those captured are typically sacrificed, or ransomed in the case of nobles, and great prestige comes to those who perform well.
The equipment of Winaq warriors often seems primitive compared to the warriors and soldiers of other lands, but they utilize arms and armour fit for their homeland. Their armour is made of thick cotton soaked in brine, rather than out of metal. And the reason for this is simple: in the hot, humid, and dense jungle of Winaq-li wearing heavy armour of metal would make it more difficult to move around and easier to overheat. And it is not unheard of for Winaq warriors in other hand to supplement their traditional armour with steel and iron. Aside from their cotton armour, they also protect themselves with rounded shields typically made of wood or maize cane. Most of said shields are circular in shape, but some are oval and nearly as large as a man. The warriors wield a variety of weaponry, with many of their traditional arms being studded with obsidian blades, for while the stone is fragile it can be obscenely sharp making it an exceptional weapon against the unarmoured or lightly armoured Winaq warriors. However, it is worth noting that the Winaq do utilize weapons forged of steel, which are used predominantly by those outside the isles. And one final thing of note, is that there is a distinct lack of cavalry among the Winaq ranks. The overwhelming majority are infantry, as horses are not native to Winaq'li and the dense vegetation would make it difficult to traverse.
The warriors of the Winaq are also rather well-known for their appearance, which many often consider garish or overly ornamented. Those warriors who had yet to prove themselves were quite plain and bare aside from their equipment, but higher-ranked warriors will adorn themselves with feathers, beads, jewelry, and bright colours. As a general rule, the more ostentatious a Winaq warrior's dress the more skilled and prestigious a warrior they are. This culminates in the Eagle and Dragon Warriors, two warrior fraternities that extend across the entirety of the isles. They accept only the most skilled over warriors, and to be accepted into their ranks is considered the greatest honour a warrior can achieve. They are easily spotted, as they clothe themselves in a manner emulating the predators they are named after; the Eagle Warriors wear great eagle-shaped caps adorned with massive feathers whereas the Dragon Warriors don the skins of tremendous lizards native to Winaq'li with their faces showing from within the beast's mouth.
Economy
Winaq'li's economy is a rather diverse one, and the isles themselves produce all of the
necessities for the people who dwell upon them. The farms and mines are all worked by free peasants, who are required only to pay a tax of their goods to the local ruler. The Winaq have a unified currency of golden coins in the shape of a square, and there is a class of wealthy merchants which dwell within the cities. These merchants trade extensively with the outside world, though their primary trade goods are the variety of exotic goods which the islands produce.
The Winaq grow a wide variety of crops, including plants such as maize, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, and beans. But most of the foodstuffs grown within Winaq'li stay within Winaq'li, for the cities are densely populated and the vast majority of the produce is required to feed them. And even then the local farms do not produce quite enough food to keep periodic famine at bay, and so the Winaq import all manner of food from other nations. But non-staples such as peppers, vanilla, or cacao beans are often traded as exotic luxuries. Though the Winaq also grow crops other than food crops; cotton is the mainstay of Winaq textiles and there are a variety of plants grown for their medicinal properties, both of which can be found on trade ships. And lumber is plentiful on the isles, though it is not often easy to cut down the dense swathes of jungle.
Minerals resources are quite lacking in the isles, with only a handful of exceptions to the rule. Obsidian is quite commonly found, but is rarely traded due to its heavy use by the Winaq themselves. However, Winaq'li is known for having an impressive amount of gold and gems, especially jade, and these are what most Winaq miners dig up from beneath the earth. But aside from simple stone, that is all the mineral wealth typically found in the isles. Ores for more useful metals such as iron are practically absent, and as a result any metal tool must be forged with imported iron. But gold and gems, or exotic jewelry made from them, are a common export from Winaq to the wealthy of other nations.
Relations
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