[center][h2]The Sakabanatu Region[/h2][/center] [h3]Government[/h3] The Sakabanatu region is divided into vastly strewn out families and tribes, held together by a common culture, loose family ties and are typically ruled independently by seniority and elders or a gerontocracy with no inequality in gender succession. The numerous tribes are known to hold grudges, or alliances and have fluidly joined together for common goals or divided, but never has there been a complete unification of every tribe for any purpose. Warring among themselves isn’t uncommon but generally not very destructive or mindlessly violent as one would expect if two empires were to clash. Tribes can be as small as a family to multiple! [h3]Geography[/h3] The Sakabanatu region is mostly desert, yet holds some forest and grassland areas in the Northwest, allowing for the culture to spread diversely over two biomes. While there is no capital city, the tribal land of Sondoper is considered the epicentre of the Sakabanatu culture and has been the site of more than one historical treaty or deal among tribes. The tribes surrounding Sondoper are probably the most well known to outsiders who study oral histories, barring border tribes. [url=http://imgur.com/a/sd6kY]Map[/url] * Only major waterways and landmarks are shown * most permanent settlements (usually yurt towns or tent villages, but occasionally clay or mud huts) would be located where the Sanju splits with the Canal, where the Canal splits, along the Trade River, or in the Sondoper Oasis. [hider=Think like this (please read if interested in towns or cities)][img]http://eurasia.travel/files/aidarkul_lake__yurt_camps_1024x768_4g0.jpg[/img][img]http://eurasia.travel/files/aidarkul_lake__yurt_camps_1024x768_x0h.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.yurtart.com/images/Kyrgyzstan-2004-Letitia-33.jpg[/img] The Sakabantu tribes don't have anything like a city, stronghold or castle but there may be isolated incidents where a tribe built a clay fort or something for whatever reason. However protective mounds or palisades may be present around larger yurt towns or stationary craft/farmland.[/hider] [hider=forest tribes] Identical to the desert tribes in every way but dress and living accommodation, they tend to live in simple huts and tend to not be nomadic. Instead of desert robes, they found use in trousers and long ponchos. They tend to accumulate larger tribes in the glades of the forest, and because of their lack of nomad life, tend to have many different families. [/hider] [h3]Culture[/h3] Sakabanatu isn’t so much the name of a singular country or tribe but the unifying term for the culture that ties all the tribes together, one of the few if not only factor that unifies them into the same category nationally. The culture is in itself also a religion and holds a holy ground at Sondoper, specifically at the Sondoper tree, the birthplace of the religion and also a important site in Sakabanatu myths. [hider=Sakabanutu] TLDR: (Basically entities called the ghosts of Sondoper appeared from the hole in ground, taught everyone how to live and survive, gave them dreams, a written and spoken language, intricate canal systems/irrigation and the night sky, motivation and muse, as well as a special martial art known as the “dance of the Sondoper Ghosts (often practiced by Sondoper and Sakabanatu scholars)”, then left in the same hole named “Sondoper” then plugged it with the Sondoper tree which still stands, and now people revere their teachings of harmony, purity, respect of elders, and survival as sacred, making Sondoper a good pilgrimage destination. Sakabantu tribespeople often depict the ghosts as feathered beings or ones with intricate tattoos or often both and leave effigies of them in fields, carvings of them in the ground by canals or by the Sondoper tree for good will, and often feature them in their plays at harvest feasts by dressing up in feathers and painting blue tattoos on their bodies. Some claim to still see the ghosts now and again but the population can be skeptical, especially of those claiming to be part Sondoper. As a side note the Sondoper canal is a super canal built in the age of myth and credit for its construction is often given to the Sondoper Ghosts. The Canal is massive splitting canal that stretches for miles and eventually feeds into massive reservoirs and leads to the Sondoper Oasis that surrounds the Sondoper tree. ) TLDR on scholars: The scholars dedicate themselves to the purest form of the Sondoper ideals, and practice the Sondoper dance, to emulate their teachers as best as possible. Often scholars are signified by a hand print tattoo on their forehead, initiates start off with one finger and slowly form a full hand when deemed learned by their teachers. The dance is a deadly form of martial art, never completely mastered or performed at the feat the dancers of myth could perform, and definitely not at the level of the ghosts themselves. The dance is considered a representation of having the body and mind under the complete and harmonious control of its owner, and is practiced as a form of meditation. [/hider] [h3]Military[/h3] Each tribe and family will send their brothers, fathers, and sons to settle disputes with other tribes and families, be it diplomatically or by drawing blood. Battlefields tend to be small and pre-picked and “armies” can be as tiny as one person representing the entire family in the dispute. More often than not a large tribe in conflict with another will choose a champion to duel the other tribes champion instead of wasting valuable resources on a battle or war, this also reduces the time the men are away from tending the fields and livestock. If a large dispute does occur the tribesmen equipt themselves in thick quilts or a long coat made of linked chains of steel or iron and conical helmets of a variety of metals. Long curved blades and round laminated shields are favored among the resource rich tribes while heavy maces of various materials provide a close second. Hunting equipment such as composite recurve bows, slings and broad headed spears are also favorable, especially when combined with the small and swift desert horses or camels often used by central tribes and families, however the use of cavalry is generally unfavorable in honorable face to face battles to settle disputes and are exclusively saved for desperate wars, an uncommon occurrence. [h3]Heroes[/h3] [hider=Super hero] To be revealed IC. [/hider] [hider=Hero 1] drunk [/hider] [hider=Hero 2] wip [/hider] [hider=Hero 3] amputee [/hider] [h3]History[/h3] A brief history of your country is fine, so long as you cover the last 20 or so years. I’m looking for more of a summary of important events than list of dead monarchs. [h3]Relations[/h3] Tarkima: Mixed relations with the Tarkima tribes, often on edge. Occasional raids from the north trouble the northern Sakabanatu tribes, but they also benefit from Tarkiman warbands that travel through the desert alongside the “trade” river, where a lot of bartering for safe passage and supplies to get through the desert takes place. This trading allows the Tarkimans ease of passage to go and pillage the empires on the borders of the Sakabanatu region while providing the Sakabanatu tribes with fresh trade every raid as well as the purchasing of their lost sons and daughters that were enslaved by the empires but released by Tarkiman raids. From constant contact, the Grogar and other Tarkiman languages often find themselves as second languages in Sakabanatu tribes near heavy Tarkiman activity points such as the trade river and northern border. Empire of Mycae: Little interaction aside from some trading along the border, the relations of border tribes are stressed by the occasional slave raids from the Mycaens. Comyral: Jack shit. [h3]Characters[/h3] Optional section. Put any info about any characters here. Examples of this would be your kings or queens, military leaders, and non-hero “badasses”. You can also put more detailed info of your heroes here as well.