New Suthermont

On a colorful, hopeful Spring day in 716, the first Mass Resurrection was tested on the island of Suthermont. The enormous magical pressure always makes ripples beyond the intended effect: first the dead people are brought back, but then the living animals are infected with their own bits of consciousness, and then a third wave animates anything organic that's left over, whether intended or not. There are always side effects like this, accidental creatures known as "wacu," but Suthermont was an extraordinary case. It was more side effect than primary effect.
Almost everyone who used to live on the island has fled, and it's carefully isolated from the rest of the world, a massive magic-soaked failure the world wants to forget. But the new folks of Suthermont don't care if they're forgotten: they have their own memories now. In an explosion of intelligence and emotion and ability, they began to write the secret history of New Suthermont.

Public Agenda

To keep all sentient creatures healthy and fed until they can find a way off the island.

History

The chaos of the Mass Resurrection can be best understood from the perspective of Pentagon, who became a wacu at the center of the event and lives on today. She was eating from a freshly discovered carcass when a portion of earth gave way under her foot.
Pentagon felt the earth slither beneath her. With her limited ability to turn her head, she struggled to see what was happening, as bizarre things played at the corners of her vision. Light fluttered and weeds blushed from the hollowed ground, and then the magic reached Pentagon herself. Something lifted her into the air, until she could look eye-to-eye with a cat, then a dog; she rose a full meter, a meter and a half. She saw the world from a perspective she had never imagined before. Pentagon, once a beetle the size of a thumb, was transformed to a size that rivals most humans.
Still trying to process this new, tiny world, Pentagon was struck. The carcass in front of her, a mound of obviously dead meat, was resisting the beetles' attempts to pull it apart. Its mangled body began to grow back, reconnecting bones and muscles, and its face assembled just in time to bray viciously in Pentagon's direction. She crawled away from the battle alive, but disturbed more deeply than was once possible.
There was no time to relax. Some of the other beetles weren't given the same size and strength as Pentagon; she needed to protect them from this new world, as more dead creatures crawled from their graves and more living creatures drank up the mutating magic. And there would be no time to relax for the next few days.

Statistical stuff

For what it's worth, the people of Kudo have some detailed facts about the effects of the resurrection. The spell mostly targeted insects and arachnids, who vastly outnumbered the intended targets; the spell has since been revised so that creatures of greater mass are more likely to be resurrected. Four out of five resurrected creatures made it home safely, but it took two years of battling and evacuating. The island is mostly contained, except for a few clever wacu who stowed away on the boats, and some animated objects that could float across the water themselves.
But in some ways, all this is irrelevant to New Suthermont. When they were convinced that all this was just a side effect, the citizens of Suthermont tried to proceed with the resurrection as normal, dragging the revived people to safety and quashing any monsters in the way. Their every attack made their opponents smarter, stronger, and more stubborn, so they were forced to regroup, and many fled the island completely. Because of this, the people of Suthermont contribute surprisingly little to the story of New Suthermont.

Learning experience

For the first few days, a wacu's intelligence blossoms at an impossible rate. For the first few weeks, they continue to improve themselves with no sign of stopping. This can be upsetting for their enemies, but Pentagon found it pretty upsetting herself.
Fortunately she could confide in Glower, a little friend she made a few hours after she woke up. Even though neither of them could speak, they could share in their strange experience and watch each other's back as they explored the magically carved caves beneath the graveyard. Glower was a very interesting creature; Pentagon had never seen a cobra from this perspective, and the way he moved and gestured was fascinating. Maybe there's some joy to be found in this predicament.
Rounding a corner, Pentagon bumped into a Suthermont man--seeing a human like this was pretty weird too. He had nothing with him but a set of clothes that weren't his, but he had a knack for hunting and found something to use like a spear. He swept up the weapon an took a swing at the monstrous vermin.
The man advanced and retreated a couple of times, experimenting. Pentagon tried to respond in kind, but she didn't have the experience. He drove her backward, and as she hit something behind her Pentagon was forced to rise onto her back legs, rearing taller than her attacker. With a glimmer of inspiration, Pentagon swept her foreleg at a strange angle and parried his spear off to the side. She dove through his broken guard, saw Glower leaping to her aid...
Like the fight with the carcass, Pentagon can't quite remember how the battle resolved. She was experiencing a dozen new thoughts, and it was all she could do to sort them out as they intruded. She just remembers the panic she felt afterward, when she examined herself to realize that something was spilling out of her gut.
Somehow, without a voice, Glower realized the situation and cried desperately for help. And just like that, Pentagon was healed.

Botryte's influence

Botryte was very busy at the time: resurrecting people in a way that had never been done, guiding them to safety however she could, and fulfilling all her other duties as a god of death. But she couldn't ignore her creations, who were calling out to her in such familiar ways.
For Botryte, all of Suthermont is a blur: most mortals don't know what's happening there, and therefore, neither does she. But from the sea of thousands of voices, she cursively touched down to earth and answered a prayer, and Pentagon was healed.
...That went pretty well! Even as the inventors of Mass Resurrection bemoaned their tragic failure, Botryte felt a bit of healthy pride, and decided to stay in Suthermont a little longer.

Tragedy

The next big step in New Suthermont's intelligence and identity was a little event that sent an unexpected shock through the whole island.
Whoever caused the resurrection had brought a bag of seeds, which were transformed by the spell into sprawling fields of vegetables, berries, herbs, all the necessities the resurrected people could want. But while this limitless supply of food multiplied underground, the wacu only saw the scraps that were visible up top. There wasn't nearly enough for everyone, so they went to war.
The battle was driven by two gigantified anthills, with hundreds of soldiers and their allies on each side. They fought in a park that soon overflowed with the dead. Anyone with a telescope can see the carnage from the mainland, and the place is now called the Chitin Yard. In the aftermath, scavengers picking at the bodies discovered the awful truth: there was food, a hundred times what they were fighting over, just beneath the dirt.
The wacu had never been exposed to the concept of tragedy; when they stepped into the garden, saw the abundance of food and the uselessness of the whole war, they suffered a rude awakening. Some people thought the Chitin Yard was enchanted, because everyone who visited had a sudden attack of grief and anger and all kinds of undefinable emotions.

Signing

In their cleverness, the people of New Suthermont refused to let the tragedy happen twice. This is the story of Loop, a hornet who had seen the tragedy in person. A few weeks after the tragedy, Loop was attacked by another creature, who nearly drove off Loop's own prey in the process--a prey large enough to feed both of them for a week. Loop felt a surge of frustration when she recognized her attacker: this creature had also seen the tragedy! Why can't she see that it's happening again?
As her opponent stalked forward, Loop mustered the courage to try something unusual. Loop tapped the ground a few times. The other creature stopped to ponder her strange behavior. Loop thumped the ground with the whole front of her body. Loop almost lost her attention, but a flash of recognition crossed the other creature's face. To the best of her ability, Loop imitated the creatures who discovered the cache of food in the wake of the tragedy. She acted it out with desperate bombast, doing everything she could to make her remember, and to get a simple message across: "There's food here. There's food here and you're missing it. This is like the tragedy. You're missing crucial information."
With no language to assist her, Loop transformed the creature (whom we might call Plaintive) into a hunting partner and friend. She was amazed at how well the gesture worked. Both Loop and Plaintive trained their children, and anyone else who would listen, the same gesture: anyone who knew the context of the tragedy could speak to each other through that meme, a sign of peace with a simple but universal meaning. Three stomps on the ground means "stop attacking, we have a common goal."
Just a few years later, creatures in Suthermont have dozens of simple gestures which they can use to communicate. The following are some common examples, taught to young wacu as soon as possible.

Emote	Popular meaning
Sway back and forth, relaxing any muscles you'd use to pounce or strike.	"Hello. There's no need to fight. I'm willing to talk."
Tap your own body and tilt yourself to the side.	"Let's work together."
Use one limb to point at something, pointing your other limbs away to avoid confusion.	"Look over there. Let's go over there."
Swish your head in a circle, lifting the rest of your body if you can.	"Hooray! Good work. Time to go our separate ways. Be well."
Take a defensive pose, nod violently, make a sharp noise if you can.	"I want this territory. If you advance, I'll assume you're picking a fight."
Lower yourself and make a sound of pain, even biting your own tongue if you have to.	"I'm in serious trouble. I'd appreciate your help."
Make a soft, continuous noise.	"I agree."
Make a sharp noise and turn away.	"I disagree."
Waver left and right, either with noise or action.	"I don't understand."
Mark a piece of food, then push it away.	"We're running out of these. Don't eat them as quickly. Focus on growing more."
Tap rhythmically in twos, fours, and eights.	"I'm sentient. Do you understand?"
Make a variety of gestures and sounds, as distinct as possible.	"I'm sentient, but I can't do the rhythm test, or I disagree with it."
Wrench yourself violently back and forth. Glare at a creature. Indicate panic.	"This creature is lying! This creature is making friendly gestures to play a trick!"

These gestures have only recently been observed by outsiders, but they could have beautiful implications, not just in Suthermont. Anyone can learn the most useful emotes in under an hour, and almost any creature in Suthermont can understand them.

New Suthermont Today

Though it could never get away from the island or gain access to any language, New Suthermont has grown into a sophisticated network which makes use of farming, bartering, and some divine magic. Botryte isn't sure what to make of her odd creations, and Suthermont is still so shrouded in mystery that it's a blind spot for her, but she helps whenever she can through Pentagon and Glower, her talented clerics.
The relations between New Suthermont and the rest of the island have evolved a bit. Some villages have made silent agreements, avoiding clashes with New Suthermont and trading on occasion. But the coastal city of Whorlport is openly hostile, since they control the only trade port that's still active, the only way New Suthermont can escape the island.
For now the island is sealed off, both by Kudo's own actions and the Duumvirate War's stranglehold on sea travel. Most Kudoans have no idea what's happening in Suthermont anymore. Some believe that New Suthermont will die out in the next few decades; others are sure that, in just a few years, New Suthermont will become powerful enough to escape and reconnect with the rest of the world.

Territories

They've claimed all the places in Suthermont which their aggressors can't take: the mountain, the reefs, the underground, and a few places in between. Their territory intersects with some of the more peaceful neighboring villages.

Founding Date

Spring 51, 716

Legislative Body

With no language or outside assistance, New Suthermont has a patchwork system for settling conflicts, and only a few creatures are respected enough to observe and mediate arguments. Some patterns have grown into helpful judiciary methods, but some wacu are discovering exploits in the system.

Deities

• Botryte