The history of the Va'fa'na'var as explained to Mi’Alm Isali ail Ifaraji ail Hi’cian: (MialmIsaliIfarajiHician) (AlmHician)
M’Alm Hi’cian, I am honoured and privileged that you have asked me to be the one to provide you with review of the history of these lands and people.
M’Alm, I humbly ask why you choose me to speak to you rather than the learned Maswa imi Tir’al or Stef’ar Aliri’am?
Ah yes M’Alm, I am honoured and most humbled that you want my unfiltered thoughts.
Where would you like me to begin, M’Alm?
Yes the people … according to the stories the Shawnal were here before there were villages or towns dotting the Va’fa’na’var. Of course the Shawnal call these lands something else which is loosely translated as "The Land of Dancing Grass". They tended their flocks, migrating across the landscape to pastures and lands that traditionally belonged to their tribes.
I do not know how long the Shawnal have lived here, they claim they have always been here. Furthermore, they believe this land was given to them by their ancestors and that their ancestors will always be here watching over them. There are few enough of the Shawnal left to remember their stories and they are a broken people.
Who is next M’Alm, why TheDromar. The Shawnal will claim that they invited the Dromar into these lands, while the Dromar may claim that bargained their way into The Land of Dancing Grass. The only written accounts are from the KoKorn. The Dromar developed a symbotic relationship with the Shawnal of the Dancing Grass.
The Dromar have a written language, however most who speak Dromar use either our or the KoKorn writing and have forgotten how to read their own. They believed in Spirits and were part of the land around them. There were spirits of the mountains, rivers, lakes, fields, stones, all things that were permanent to this land. Perhaps it is their belief that allowed them to co-exist with the Shawnal.
Sorry M’Alm, I should have been clearer these Shawnal, are not the Shawnal that live below the Great Barrier Cliff, they call themselves the Tribes of the Broken Lands. They are perhaps related cousins, and do not possess the same strength or conviction. No M’Alm I can not believe that our Shawnal (Of the Dancing Grass) would ever work with the those Shawnal of the Broken Lands, because the Tribes of the Broken Lands consider the Shawnal here The Tribes of Betrayers. However, that story is still to come M’Alm.
The Dromar built villages on the lands of Shawnal of the Dancing Grass by some of the lakes and rivers and so traded with the Shawnal. Both groups apparently benefited from this arrangement through trade and protection. Many of the villages became associated with the various tribes and almost claimed kinship. Most of the Dromar settlements weren’t larger than a small town and each town and village had its own spirit to protect and guide it.
The KoKorn entrance upset this balance and most of the records we come from the KoKorn themselves. The KoKorn were dominated by mages, may Chal protect us, who made up their ruling class. They came from the North, each mage taking one or more of the towns under their control. The Dromar didn’t have the ability to defend themselves from these mages and however, I suspect that the Shawnal had more resources. So, a tentative peace was created that mimic the Dromar / Shawnal relationship, but was skewed more towards the KoKorn. For hundreds of year these mages controlled their own city states and lived in an uneasy truce with the Shawnal of the Dancing Grass.
No M’Alm, the Kokorn didn’t force their beliefs on the Dromar, thinking that they would be more likely to accept the Kokorn rule if most of their beliefs and customs were allowed to continue.
Yes, perhaps that is why the Dromar are so ready to accept new over Lords. However, the Church has not be so lenient with their beliefs.
Yes, M’Alm, I apologize, I should filter more of my thoughts.
The Tribes of the Broken Lands originally come from the areas of the Ji’Alm Emajal and J’Alm Prishja. What they called themselves before I do not know, for the sake of our tale I will call them the Eastern Shawnal and the Shawnal of the Dancing Grass, the Western Shawnal. The Eastern and Western Shawnal were rivals even though they shared a common culture and language. At times the rivalry broke out in war and bloody revenge reprisals.
M’Alm this evidence is pieced together from the stories told by the Shawnal, Dromar, written KoKorn documents and fragments of writing from the Empire of the Tiger.
At some point after the Kokorn arrived and lived with the Western Shawnal, the Empire of the Tiger, of which few records remain, started making life every difficult for the Eastern Shawnal and so naturally war began. Despite their differences, the Shawnal had traditionally banded together against outsiders. Apparently, the Eastern Shawnal expected support from the Western Shawnal. For some reason, The Western Shawnal fought with the burgeoning Empire of the Tiger against their Eastern cousins.
There is some speculation that Empire of the Tiger may have promised to help the Western Shawnal against the Kokorn Mage Lords. If that was the case the betrayal was in vain. Although the Western Tribes survived for sometime and took some of the lands vacated by the Eastern Shawnal, their victory was not what they hoped for as the KoKorn mages remained and strengthened their power.
Yes, M’Alm these are the mages that caused so much suffering and destruction to the Mi’lar and lands here. Some of the scars of battle are still seen and felt in these lands. It was the death assassination of the Great Gur’than Ur that spurred the Chal to create the Silimiri to hunt the mages to near extinction.
Our people the Mi’lar have ruled over these lands for approximately two hundred and fifty years. The people who you govern are proud and remember their own stories. Some of these stories are mixed into the Teaching of Chal and many are true believers. There are others who remember and yearn for a freedom that is only told of in stories.