[center][h1][b][color=0054a6]Kahu-ali’Haku[/color][/b][/h1][/center]

[center][i]In ancient days in other lives, long past, but not forgotten…
In darkest seas beneath blackest waves, the skeins of fate did tauten.
From many, one, and from one, many did the tides of yore divine, 
In that deepest place beyond mindseye did the first Republic shine.[/i][/center]
[hr]
In that dark place beneath the roil, where the gleam of moon barely found its way, one lone figure stood above the hallowed dead.

A baleful glare roared from his right limb, the arm of gods and the limb that smote the tyrant dead. The red palm, the glaring fist, the dread right hand of the creator god.

[i]Ku’Pama.[/i]

From distant reefs came the hand of Klaar, the five philanged limb of the twelve-armed god. Manus of blood and icon of catastrophe, this was no gift. It was the sole reward beset upon the Akua for their kinship with the God of Oceans and the one punishment for their driving him from the world. 

The sacrifice of Old Growth Below was theirs to bear.

The Tyrants of the All-Sire’s stock were not so thoroughly bound. Though his sacrifice was made for them, most thanked their lucky stars the dread-fish was gone. Now the blemish to their presence, their own greatness, could no longer be so easily seen. They could preen themselves with immodesty at their size and strength no longer eclipsed by their one, true sire. 

Not so for the Akua.

And so it was to them to heave their curses upon their backs and swim the dredged abyss, testing the limits of their will against the suffering laid before them by the ill-tempered tentacle of fate. 

Not so with Ku’Pama.

The first to bear it, to be cursed by that darkling thing, was no such stranger to agony. Though he endured as best a body was able, his flesh and scale was scarred and paled. If ever there one Akua knew suffering, it was he.

A slave to tyrants, a plaything to warlocks, and a prisoner to his fate. Such is the heritage of Tuah. Such is the inheritance of all Akua.
[hr]
Deep in the Mydian island chain, in the sea that sat between the loving embrace of four islands, the first city of the Akua was born. The exact founding of the city of the sea is unknown to scholars even among its own, for history beneath the sea is ever a difficult thing to track. As the cities of Fragrance and Santa Civitas were joined by Anghebad and Zuanwa, so too did the city of the Akua slumber deep below. 

Its location was hallowed and sacred, said to have been built upon the site of the mythical founder’s great ordeals. It is said that the vast beak of a mighty tyrant now thrown to the tides of time lays in the foundations of the city, for it was there in which he was slain. It was the deepest point within the surrounded sea, a pit dark and deep. There was safety there where the first tribes settled and those who would not be slaves could find refuge. In that sanctuary away from prying pairs of six bright eyes the power of the Akua could grow and thrive in solitude. 

Though its name changed many times since its founding, the city would be known for all time by its beating heart; Kahu-ali’Haku, the Stygian Edifice. 

At the center of the pit, where the great battle between legends had been fought and won, stood a monumental seamount of vast proportions. Strangely pillarous in its shape and peak, it was no doubt the work of the ancient gods and of the creator god himself, Klaarungraxus. When it was made and for what purpose little could be said, for shamans and soothsayers alike had never been able to glean from it its purpose. Despite this, its spiritual value was without question; it would be on this sacred site where the city would flourish. So it was said by the first and only monarch of Kahu-ali’Haku.

He who was Tuah Tama’Ranga o’te’Ku-Pama. 

A millennia since that legend and the place had become so much more. It is said that in the times of Tuah, who used his fist to drag up the twelve hills, there was much conflict. The rising might of the All-Tyrant and his ilk had made their hiding place all the more valued. Fortune favored the rising city for all the Great Reefs lay elsewhere and the wealth of surface nations ripe for sacking remained well above the surface. So Tuah led his companions, those freed slaves and others of his kind who refused to bend or break, and a quiet war where no sounds of mortal mouths dwelt. The All-Tyrant’s gaze, despite his claims, could not see so far nor could the tyrants of his making best the determined warriors of Tuah. Though struggle was their life and strife their shepherd, they did not bow and spoke heartily of days when vrool dread to tread waters that were not theirs to slave.

Decades passed and dozens of Vrool were dead, though hundreds of Akua had joined them. As Tuah bled his last breath in the currents his companions begged him to name his successor, wishing for the stability of their old lord’s word. This would not be.

Though his words are long lost to the waters of the world, held only at heart by distant Ku, what he intoned in the Holy Vonu remained in the hearts of his followers even after death. He could not choose for them for that would be the path of Tyranny. As they had chosen to follow him, so too must they choose for themselves the path forward. No more they could ask for him, for he had already given everything he had. With one fell stroke of his cleaver, Tuah removed his red right arm at the elbow, severing the bloodied curse from himself and offering it to them. They who sought to hold the Akua in bondage would die by this hand and they who sought to free them would bare it. So it was.

The Companions took seventy two days and seventy two nights to come to a verdict. Much discussion and much debate was had and though voices raised and tempers flared not once did the collected warriors share blows. None dared to sully their lord’s last decree. 

It was decided then and there that the city would not end. They would elect from among their number they who the Companions believed most able to continue the struggle, the Ho’aRa of their fallen master. From this decision pacts were born and each man swore a duty to uphold the decision of the rest, even if they were not among the majority. From there their work began and the Three Needs of Rulers were forged.

The First Need was struggle, for that was the breakwater in which all might was forged. Suffering and pain was a teacher and from that hardship came knowledge of what it meant. No true leader could live without it, for it was the lifeblood of empathy and the strength behind spears.

The Second Need was servitude, for that was the current on which all humility was carried. A true ruler’s ambition could never be more than the success of his people, for they were his masters and he their slave. If a Ruler had not served and followed, how could he know how to lead?

The Third Need was love, for that was the wave from which all action was cast and tempered. Love of one’s people, of one’s companions, and of one’s family taught a ruler the value of life, of others, and shown bright the lines that bind. No ruler could be without love, for that was the path of tyranny. 

From among the followers of Tuah the first Hakaiki was selected, to carry on Tuah’s Ho’aRa, his struggle. The Hakaiki would struggle and suffer for ten years before passing on the mantle if they survived, leading the people, the Ku’Ano, in their eternal war against those who would see them enslaved. It was agreed by all, even the first Hakaiki, that this would not be enough to follow in Tuah’s footsteps; they could choose wrong, or the Hakaiki could lose sight of purpose. No individual could hold the power that Tuah had over the companions for such a path would lead to destruction. It was decided, in that dark place where thoughts were born, that the companions of Tuah must always choose for themselves the path they would walk. The Hakaiki would be the spear arm of the people but could not be their mind, for that was theirs and theirs alone to bear. With this the first Hakaiki severed his arm and let the Ku-Pama regrow in its place.

All warriors would vote on all matters pertaining to the people at large, to discuss as the first companions had, from then on. Warriors suffered and fought and bled for Kahu-ali’Haku and for that they could be trusted. Shamans, the Kahuna, who practiced the arts of sacrifice, who knew pain and gave of their own blood for their people would be next, among the people who could direct the path of the Ku’Ano. Lastly, mothers who had brought life into this world would speak, for none more so than they understood struggle, and servitude, and love. Every day would be a day for deciding, no matter would be beyond vote, and the laws of the people would be made by the people so that the Tyranny of the Vrool would have no place among the realms of the free.

So it would be in the city of Kahu-Ali’Haku.
[hr]
In the years just before the return of the gods the islands of Mydia were struck by monumental quakes. Entire cliffsides fell from islands into the sea and whole shores were swallowed by waves the size of mountains. To the shorefolk who walked the ground it was no different from the quakes they had suffered in the past, said to be the work of the gods. To the Ku’Ano of the Great City, things were far different. 

Under the presidency of Hakaiki Kekoa Tama'Kala o'te'Ku-Pama, the Kahuna of Kahu-Ali’Haku had worked tirelessly to bring the ancient plans of the Hina’Rangi to fruition. As more and more cities of surface dwellers sprang to prominence it had been voted that the Ku’Ano could no longer hide beneath the waves. Using the powers of Telluric Sorcery, the great pit and mount upon which the city had flourished were raised. Though only the very peak of the edifice thrust from the waves, much of the city had been brought close to the surface. This was the entrance into the world that the Ku’Ano sought, confident in their strength to oppose invaders of all sorts at the height of their power.

Now would be the time of the Ku’Ano.



[hr]
[hider=Summary]
A myth, told from the perspective of Kahuna from Kahu-ali'Haku, about the founding of the Great City and the mythical founder, Tuah Tama'Ranga o'te'Ku-Pama. It describes the creation of the Ku-Pama, a cursed artifact created in ancient days while Klaarungraxus had lost his mind, and the foundation myth of the city. Further description of the lore behind Kahu-ali'Haku, the Ku'Ano Akua, and the first democracy on Galbar. Finally, a very simple description of the rising of the city towards the surface to take part in affairs of the modern era.
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[hider=MP Summary]
Start 2MP/5DP

>2 DP to the creation of the Ku-Pama, an Artifact bound to the current elected ruler of Kahu-Ali’Haku.
>2 MP, 2 DP to the creation of Kahu-ali’Haku, the Stygian Edifice, a Holy Site for free Akua and the heart of Akuan democracy. 
>1 DP for the raising of Kahu-ali’Haku to the surface as of the modern age.

End 0MP/0DP
[/hider]