[hider=Ai’dallani, the children of Nizsi]
[b]Name: Ai’dallani, the children of Nizsi[/b]

[b]Brief description:[/b] Nomads travelling the river in their floating villages

[b]Main deity: Nizsi, the great river[/b]
All 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. 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.

[b]Side deities: [/b]
Lankushna, the crocodile spirit
Lankushna and his mate Ailinia were the first children of Nizsi. All life descends from their connection. 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 spirit
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.

[b]Government:[/b]
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.
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.

[b]Inhabited area and settlements:[/b]
The tribe inhabits the great river and the lakes it flows through. The area consists mostly of tropical marshlands, altough on some places the river runs through dense forests or open flatlands. Currently most of the tribe lives in one of the seven large floating villages, the 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 entirely 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.
The river's current is weak most of the year, allowing the villages to sail in any direction they want to, using long poles to push the vessels around, and even using sails when the winds are favorable. The river goes through a yearly cycle - with the beginning of spring the river widens and floods the surrounding areas, filled by heavy rains and snows melting in the mountains upstream. Summer and fall are the best seasons for travelling and finding a safe place to anchor for winter. The temperatures don't drop too low, but the rains stop and the becomes narrower and more shallow.

[b]Warriors:[/b]
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 the need arises, hunters and fishermen can be useful in a fight as well.

[b]Story:[/b]
At the beginning of time, there was only a barren wasteland, spreading over the world. The land was dry and cracked in many places. And from one of those cracks, a small spring appeared. At first, it was nothing more than a few drops of water, forcing their way through the rocks just as a child forces its way out of its mothers' womb. It was a long and painful birth, but drops became a trickle, the trickle slowly became a stream and the stream turned into a great river Nizsi, the mother of all living things. 

Eventually Nizsi spread into the to the wasteland that our world used to be, seeding it with life. Colorful plants of all kinds began to grow and bloom, turning the rocky barrens into fertile lands. Nizshi would come every cycle, sweeping off the old life to give a chance to new one and the world was in perfect balance. 

But Niszi felt there was still space for more life in this new world, so she gave birth to the first living creatures - her children Lankushna, the crocodile spirit, and Ailinia, the ibis spirit. They roamed the land, enjoying its beauty. Eventually they joined together and from that connection the ancestors of all living things were born. Suddenly the world was overflowing with life - fish, birds, reptiles, insects, mammals all placed next to each other, learning to coexist. It took Lankushna and Ailinia millenia to bring balance back to the world, to ensure that all the species will survive. It was then when Ailinia revealed her last creation - a human. Since the world was already in perfect balance, Lankushna was hesitant to place humans into it, worrying it might upset that balance. He eventually agreed, but the humans were instructed to preserve the balance, never taking more than they needed from the world, and always return everything to the mother of everything, Nizsi.

Some of the humans desired to explore the world and wandered far away from the river, forgeting about Lankushna's teaching. A large group however decided to stay as close to their mother as possible, at first sailing on feeble boats, which in time were perfected into the shapes of the poap'ki, the floating villages.

[b]Important people:[/b]
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 shaman 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. 
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