Tak-Mi-Lah (nation)

About

National Overview

The Tak-Mi-Lah are a nomadic people with a matrilineal culture. While they are not established as a nation-state, they claim a large territory as their traditional homelands and have kept foreign settlement and occupation at bay for centuries.

Dominant Culture

Tak-Mi-Lah

The various tribal groups within the range occupied by the Tak-Mi-Lah peoples follow a similar cultural pattern.

Geographic Area

Central and Western portions of the Plains of Tekara, between Tabras to the North and Aralia to the South.

Population

The population of the Tah-Mi-Lah territories is primarily composed of the nomadic Tak-Mi-Lah peoples. In some bands ethnic outsiders may be present, but it is a rare thing. Some foreign ethnic settlements exist, mostly as small hamlets or trade outposts along the borders of what is considered their territory. The occupants of such locales are usually of Tabrani or Aralian origin. The Malys have some presence along the Eastern edge of the territory.

Government

The Tak-Mi-Lah have no centralized authority, nor singular head of state. They are governed on a tribal level by the clan matriarchs, and when inter-tribal issues arise, gatherings of several Matriarchs or their representatives will be formed to mediate disputes and render judgements as necessary.

Law Making

The Tak-Mi-Lah follow an oral tradition and as such their laws are not a written document, but a living story of the various rulings made by the ancestral and current ruling matriarchs. The Tak-Mi-Lah favour restorative justice, and a re-connection to the community and one's place within nature, over punitive measures. However, great wrongs, such as murder, warrant more serious responses. Exile from the tribe is the last option before putting an offender to death.

Enforcement

The common law is enforced by social contract amongst the tribes membership. Everyone is expected to help those in conflict to regain their place amongst the clan and tribe.

Taxation

Taxes in the form of tribute are paid to the matriarch of each tribe. Such wealth is used to support her immediate family, and any less fortunate members of the tribe.

Public Works

As a nomadic people, the Tak-Mi-Lah have no physical infrastructure on a national level. Some tribes may may moderate improvements to regular camp sites, or resources, but this is done on an individual basis and is not a nationally organized activity.

Commerce

Agriculture

The Tak-Mi-Lah do not engage in static agriculture, instead they depend on the wild bounty of their territory.

Herds

The Tak-Mi-Lah are pastoral and will drive domesticated herds of animals, mostly Cebuc and Rabbuc. Such animals will travel with the tribes migrating as needed to ensure fresh grazing.

Hunting

The Tak-Mi-Lah get many resources from other animals during group hunts which allow for larger and greater numbers of animals to be killed. Such activity is usually seasonal, occurring twice per year. Small scale huntung and trapping is performed as needed to supplement individual family diets.

Fishing

Fishing is less common amongst the Tak-Mi-Lah, and generally only engaged in where camps are adjacent to an appropriate river or lake known to hold large stocks of fish.

Gathering

Gathering of wild edibles and various herbs is engaged in as needed and according to seasonal availability of such plants. Wild grains, legumes, berries, mushrooms, and root vegetables are common foods.

Industry

Resource Extraction

The Tak-Mi-Lah will exploit surface deposits of clay, copper, and flint, as needed, but do not engage in such activities on an industrial or commercial scale.

Manufacturing

The Tak-Mi-Lah will make clothing, tools, weapons, and furniture on an as needed basis. Such handcrafted items are typically of a simple and utilitarian nature.

Trade

The Tak-Mi-Lah will engage in trade between tribes for resources they lack, or have in abundance. They also will trade with their neighbouring states typically at established trading posts, or mutual moot sites at specific seasonal gatherings.

Imports / Exports

The Tak-Mi-Lah will purchase crafted items they cannot make themselves, typically iron or steel tools and weapons. In exchange for such objects they will typically trade in pelts, furs, or hides. Some will trade live animals from their herds as well.

Transportation

The Tak-Mi-Lah generally travel by foot. If they cannot personally carry their belongings, it is seen as a sign of greed, and wasteful materialism. Some tribes will have Horses, or Rabbox to haul heavier loads, but such beasts are almost never ridden. Given the lack of roads crossing the open prairie, wagons and carts are not used.

Trade Routes

The Tak-Mi-Lah have no established domestic trade routes within their territory. They will carry goods along their migratory travels and trade opportunistically with foreigners or other tribes. Foreign traders who have attempted to make transit through the territory may be harassed or attacked if they are seen as invasive. Some may secure local escorts to ease such travel, but no established regularly reoccurring routes exist.

Currency

The Tak-Mi-Lah have no currency. They prefer direct barter over token based trades.

Role of Guilds

No guilds operate under the direct purview of the Tak-Mi-Lah, however some are present at trading outposts. Those present are primarily Furriers and Herbalists.

Military

The Tak-Mi-Lah do not have any form of nationalized military, instead relying on the tribal warriors to defend their interests on a case by case basis.

Controlling Body

If an organized band of warriors is required they will typically be lead by one of the Matriarch's husbands, and are loosely organized according the skills of the individual members.

Size

A tribe can effectively field about one third of its population as capable warriors. The remainder are either women, the elderly and infirm, or children too young to fight.

Roles / Equipment

Scouts

Those with excellent tracking skills may be employed as out runners and scouts. Such scouts will typically wear light leather clothing and may be armed with a light atlatyl (arrow) and a knife.

Throwers

Hunters skilled with one or more ranged weapons. Armed with heavy (javelin) or light (arrow) atlatyls or slings, and wearing light leather clothing or woven grass armour.

Ak-Milae

Medium foot, armed with the signature weapon a heavy wooden club, with a semi-circular blade at the pommel end. These warriors will typically be dressed in a mix of leather and woven grass armour.

Integration with Civil

Every adult male of the tribe is expected to be a capable hunter, to provide for the needs of their family and extended relations. Such skills make them capable warriors and they are always on call to defend the tribe from threats. Older males who may find that their age, injuries, or ailments, prevent them from participating directly will mentor and train the younger generations, sharing their knowledge and experience.

Religion

Clans tend to follow the beliefs of their Matriarch, and elders amongst the tribe. Changes to the beliefs of a given group are slow,

Dominant Religion

The dominant religion amongst the Tak-Mi-Lah is still their own belief in a mother sun and her husband moons.

Minor Religions

Belief in the Twinned Goddess is a growing minority religion. Such worship exists around the periphery of the Tak-Mi-Lah territory where they have regular contact with foreign worshippers.

Integration with Civil

It is usually the Matriarch's eldest surviving husband who leads the spiritual needs of the tribe. The role is assumed based on age and experience, but holds no special privileges or additional status within the community.

Education

Education amongst the Tak-Mi-Lah is focused on the skills and knowledge required to support their lifestyle. Males are generally taught how to hunt and provide for their family, while females are taught how to manage and maintain the family home. Later lessons on the roles of men and women in the community are developed before adulthood, such that women are groomed to eventually lead their own tribe in time, and for men to seek out wives in neighbouring tribes.

Teachers

Schooling is informal and done on a individual basis with any elder taking on the role of teacher according to their expertise for younger tribe members.

Chronicler

The role of chronicler falls to the Matriarch of the tribe. She is the repository of the clans history, and shares this with her daughters through an oral tradition of retelling the stories of their ancestors, and adding the new generations stories to the growing narrative.

Literacy

Very few of the Tak-Mi-Lah are literate in a written script. Those who have learned to read and write have often spent significant time outside of the tribal nation amongst foreigners.

Languages

The Tak-Mi-Lah speak their own common language, although regional dialects are present, they can still reasonably communicate between distinct tribal groups. Where they have contact with foreign cultures a second or third language may be known. Tabral is also a common second language amongst those who trade with Tabrani or Aralian merchants. Other languages are typically that of the Malys, Anatu, or Drolac

Scripts

The tak-Mi-Lah do not have a script for their own language, but do use a set of common pictographic symbols to illustrate key ideas in their artworks.

Trail Signs

A code of trail signs is commonly used to denote information for others along routes of travel, or when scouting. Broken twigs, twisted grasses and piles of stones are typically arranged to convey complex messages for those who know how to read them. There is some overlap between the arrangement of elements and their meaning as used by the Tak-Mi0-Lah and the Malys.

Numeracy

Mathematics is not specifically taught beyond simple counting, and some arithmetic. Complex geometry or more complicated calculus is beyond the needs of the Tak-Mi-Lah, and not pursued.

Philosophy

The Tak-Mi-Lah have a world view that favours harmony with the environment, and living according to one's role in society. They have few people who have pondered the greater meanings of the universe or the nature of the mind or self.

Architecture

Materials

The Tak-Mi-Lah uses resources that are readily available within their environment. Wood for frames, animal hides for a outer shell, and mats made from woven grasses or reeds for insulation and flooring.

Designs

As they are nomads, the structures built by the Tak-Mi-Lah are temporary, easily assembled and disassembled, and portable.

Houses

The typical family dwelling is a tent, with a conical frame composed of long wooden struts lashed or locked together at a central peak. This framewokr is wrapped in a large sheet of leather, with a door opening, covered by flap, which can be raised to form a awning. A smoke hole is left at the top to allow for air flow.

Workshops / Storage

Crafting is usually done under the awning of the individuals home. A few lower profile tents with a more oval profile may be utilized for communal storage or food processing.

Fortifications

The Tak-Mi-Lah do not built permanent defenses. they may erect temporary low walls or fences from brush and woven mats on stakes. These are typically used for corralling animals.

Matriarch's Tent

The clan Matriarch's tent is a elaborate structure by comparison to individual homes, and is typically about four or five times the size. A ring of individual tent structures are erected, with the center being a open and covered by a single leather sheet. This allows for separate bedchambers for her many husbands and personal attendants.

Timekeeping

The Tak-Mi-Lah live according to their daily needs. they measure time based on the course of the sun through the sky. Activities take however long they take. They do not worry about hours and minutes.

Calendar

Annual cycles are noted by the silver moon, and seasonal shifts in the weather, as well as the behaviour of animals, and growth cycle of plants. An informal calendar which notes key annual changes is used, but does not exist as a written document.

Key Dates

The Tak-Mi-Lah do not have specific dates attached to events which they track. Instead they generalize to the seasonal patterns or lunar phases.

Timeline

Each tribe has a personal timeline branching from the common ancestral lines. This is recorded in a oral tradition and kept by the Matriarch, who tells the history to her daughters in turn, as the next generation of chroniclers in turn.

Dynastic Timelines

Such timelines are a matter of individual tribes. Given the nature of their matriarchy the entire nation is descendant from a single historic mother figure, but each tribe has only one leader, and they split into new tribal units upon her death.