Culture Focus: Atayala

[Username17]

This is the fifth installment in the Culture Focus series. These people are the final remnants of a fallen empire on the mainland - the government in exile as it were. They proclaim themselves to be the only people remaining in the world and spend most of their time protecting themselves from the monsters which are apparently trying to destroy their way of life.

Atayala: The Last of Their Kind

Lay of the Land:
The island of Chuluan is difficult to access by any means. It has few ports worth mentioning, and is surrounded by dense coral reefs interspersed with deep undersea trenches. The entire island is continually surrounded by a strong storm, and few vessels are capable of making the journey even if the way is known. The pounding weather is also profoundly detrimental to skyships, and the island is represented on many a chart as simply a region of "bad weather".

Chuluan itself however is blessed with an extremely regular weather pattern, with a light drizzle virtually every morning which quickly clears into being a sunny day well before the sun reaches the half-way point across the sky. While the howling storms are clearly visible from the shores, they hardly ever reach land. There are some 600 beaches, despite the fact that the entire land mass is only 23 kilometers across.

Two mountains jut sharply out of the sea on opposite sides of the island. These two mountains are Wind Mountain (so named because of its particular weather patterns), and Skull Mountain (so named because of its particular pattern of caves). The two mountains house numerous shrines along their landward sides.

Major Cities:
There is exactly one settlement on the island of Chuluan: The Imperial Seat of Atayala. The palace itself is a gaudy and gilded affair with jewel encrustments and multi-tiered gardens. Atayala is built on the East side of the island on the largest bay. The total population of the city and the island is approximately 120,000 people. Of these, roughly 10,000 live and work in the palace grounds themselves and another 40,000 are employed as guards.

Outside the palace, buildings are fairly unimpressive, being simple affairs composed of thick grasses. Most homes are raised on poles in order to minimize their contact with the ground, as the ground is considered to be a major source of contamination.

Economics:
The Empire of Atayala has no external trade and is completely self sufficient. The island has a substantial rice crop and the astonishing number of fish which wash up on shore are used to supplement the diet. Virtually all wealth is held in the hands of the Emperor of the World and his Stargazer advisors. There are no fishing boats, although there is a freight fleet of some eight boats capable of traveling from one end of the bay to the other - the storm sometimes closes in to approximately 800 meters from shore, so boats never venture out of shouting distance from the land, or even out of the bay.

Most of the adult men are in military service, ostensibly to defend the island from an imminent attack from the forces which shattered the Empire some 400 years previous. Farmers and artisans produce for themselves, but must tithe 40% of their gross production to the Stargazer who owns them.

Law and Order:
For the casual visitor, the very most important law of the land would of course be the death sentence for the crime of espionage and the continual lethal hunt for shapeshifting monsters - two categories which include every single human, ormigan, or dragon from outside of the empire. It is taken on faith as a key doctrinal point that there are no true humans left anywhere in the world except upon the island of Chuluan. All other creatures are designated as monsters, some of whom are capable of assuming human-like guises.

But there's more to Atayala than xenophobia. The Empire also boasts a number of restrictions on the movements and activities of its residents which are defined by the Stargazers who own a particular region or person.

Magical Traditions:
Air Magic is featured prominently in the workings of the Atayalani. The Stargazers have a monopoly upon the secrets of weather magic, but simple levitations, cleansings, and the like are common place. Earth magic is heavily stigmatized. Actually touching things which are themselves touching the ground with the hand is considered to be unclean, and the Atayalani generally don't do it if they don't have to. It is usual therefore to at the very least use the power of air to lift an object slightly over the ground before its weight is transferred to the arm. Void magic is likewise feared. Iron is not only considered unclean, but is considered to be the work of the human-shape monsters. Its use is not only banned, but unknown upon the island of Chuluan.

The island defense force, which compromises fully two thirds of the adult men of the island are taught to use the powers of Air and Ghost in a lethal combination to create deadly darkened clouds and semi-solid arrows that strike true regardless of wind speed.

Much effort is spent in the maintenance of the storm wall, and all the Stargazers are required to participate in the great rituals that protect the island from the imminent invasion. The Stargazers have an iron grip upon the weather of the region, and the pattern remains fairly constant day in and day out, season after season.

Government:
The Emperor is the son of the previous Emperor and attains his exalted rank and status as living god as soon as he has no living father or brothers. The Emperor is guided by the Stargazers, who pay fealty directly to the Emperor and who in turn own the rest of the populace. The Stargazers are in charge of making sure that the defense force is constantly ready for a full-scale invasion. Stargazers who mobilize a stronger and more beautiful defense force rise in status and influence with the government.

Status as a Stargazer is inherited to the most able of the children of a previous Stargazer, with all other children being found work in the military or palace staff.

Foreign Relations:
Atayala claims to be the seat of an Empire which extends not only onto the mainland, but all the way to the far shores, and possibly beyond. Ever since they were forced into exile upon Chuluan Island, the Emperors of Atayala have considered themself to be at war with all the combined monstrous forces of the mainland which are currently occupying their territory. Any incursion by these forces into lands they are presently capable of defending are met with lethal force.

The territorial claims of Atayala are not recognized by any other nation, and for the large part ignored.

[virgil]

What is an ormigan?

[Maxus]

The extreme xenophonia reminds me a great deal of the culture of the Discworld Agetean Empire, as mostly shown in Interesting Times. Hell, the permanent storms surrounding the place remind me of Fourecks.

But it's an interesting-sounding place, especially to visit. Nothing like having to convince people that you're not a howling vampire ghost to add zest to your life.

[Bigode]

What is an ormigan?

Strangely enough, the Google search's seeming to work decently. That's the most relevant post.

[TavishArtair]

If the Atalayans did indeed have an Empire that is even a miniscule fraction of what they claim it was, one has to wonder what has happened to those remnants. That's pretty much announcing "RUINED FORTRESS FULL OF LOOT IN THIS AREA." While certainly some of it has already been sacked and ran off with, the players are quite likely to be the primary cause to much of this being sacked and ran off with. Doubly so if the treasure is currently in the possession of, oh, a shapeshifting monster. Or even a non-shapeshifting monster.

[name_here]

That certainly seems possible, though it's also possible that the fallout from their collapse has mostly settled.

Actually, most likely many of the ruined forts are empty, but only mostly, and some are largely unlooted for whatever reason. So, basically, finding a ruined Atalayan fort is worth a widely variable amount, though generally the harder it is to reach the more it is worth. Also, a number of the forts are most likely some other nation's fort now.

[Username17]

Remember that the people living in any particular area are likely descendants of members of the empire. So like how after the fall of Carthage, a lot of people kept on living and using plumbing along the North and West African Coast.

Some people will be romantic about the old empire, because they never had to live in it. Other people will be fiercely nationalistic about whatever new tribe, kingdom, or nation they now belong to.

But yeah, a fair number of border outposts would just plain get abandoned. Military outposts usually require continuous supplies, and with the collapse of the empire that just wouldn't happen. One could expect there to be quite a big of salvageable architecture sitting essentially untouched in the middle of the more howling wildernesses.

-Username17