Paigkein

North of Solasuta lies the Masun Forest. Train tracks cut through the heart of it, and there is two stations - one is a small station within a kilometer of the lone Raliok tree, and the second is in the foothills, where a settlement of mixed ethnicity people live and farm. Both stations were grown much like the Laron sector of Solasuta. The base of the station is a single floor and spiraling upward from that base are leaf-like arms that curve toward the heavens. An elevator takes one up the spiral to the viewing center situated at the peak of the leaf-arms, shaped like a huge dewdrop. There are a few accessible floors in the leaf-arms that are mostly servers and administrative offices with windows shaped like dewdrops. Trade with the tribes of the Masun forest are conducted mostly through these two stations.
The primary ethnicity of this region is the Paigkein. The Paigkein hunt and gather in the forest, where quite a few herd narlip. Narlip are a great horned beast that eats ground vegetation and tangler-vines that coil around trees, thus keeping the forest healthy. The tribes sometimes fell a tree or do a controlled burn to keep the forest in good health. One of the Paigkein tribes practice agro-forestry, while others are primarily Narlip herders.
The selection of which tree to fell is an art that only highly skilled forest tenders can do. Any unused portions of the tree are traded at the station to Isanto civilians, visitors, or local authorities. The intricate wood carvings, woven art and baskets, and scaled pelts are highly sought after goods, which the Paigkein sometimes sell at the stations for technology, seeds, or food.

The Tribes

The Paigkein are a communal nation of three tribes. They are not actually a part of the Isanto nation, but they have a treaty with them and are considered an ally. The Masun forest, especially the area around the Raliok, are their ancestral lands.
Their myths of their origin are tied to the hidden/lost Egoni portal, where they claim to have descended from the family and Saepi relatives of Kakia. They believe that the homeworld of humanity was used up by greed, whiteness, and war, where the planet was thrown into chaos and became inhospitable to human life.
In one version of this origin myth, the Dragios are implicated as the ones that brought humanity to Elivera and left them to the hostility of the planet. This version of the story mirrors some of the older legends of the Kakia myth, where a rebellion against the Dragios initiated the Silence.
A second version of this origin myth holds that some of their ancestors followed the visions of their Noiraid and came to the forests of Egoni. There they found the Narlip. The planet and the Lost Ones (likely the same group from the first version of the origin myth) shared knowledge on how to care for the Narlip.
Much of their belief system is oriented around the concept that all of creation has a spirit -- the land, trees, planet, stars, etc. So they will honor and respect those spirits with offerings, engaging in relation-building sacrifices and storytelling, and protecting the land from encroachment from outsiders. They are a partially nomadic people, and they follow their herds, mostly keeping to the forest and rarely entering the foothills to the north or the land near Solasuta. They have an intimate knowledge of the land and navigate by liminal spaces of place-names.
Every tree, rock, fungi have names that assist with navigation and caring for the forest. Sometimes outsiders are taught these place-names to aid in navigation.
All of the Paigkein have secret names that only relatives - chosen or biological - may discover. These names are rooted in mind-songs, where each person and each conscious spirit of the world has a mind-song unique to them. This truth, per their legends, was given to them by Kakia themself. The Paigkein are also one of the few ethnicities that believe Kakia was actually two people who were intimately linked through a shared mind-song. All children learn their mind-songs before they undertake the naming ceremony at age 5, where they share their chosen name with the people or ask for the community to give them a name.
The Paigkein are split up into sub-tribes depending on their location and roles:

• Raliok Tribe live in and around the Raliok as guardians of the great tree. They believe the root system to be the origin of all of the forest's smaller trees. They live in sod houses around the roots of the tree, though some live on the lower branches of the Raliok in small clusters of huts. They grow their food in and around the trees and follow the art of agroforestry. They are often the tribe to assist the most with the burns during the burn season.


• Narlip Tribe are the primary herders of the Narlip. They are nomadic, and they are the tribe most outsiders think of when Paigkein are mentioned. Duties are shared among members of the tribe: herder, gatherer, scout, hunter, Kanta (one who communes with spirits and guides the tribe), and fire-weaver. This tribe is smaller than the other sub-tribes.


• Orken Tribe also tends to Narlip, but they focus more on the wounded, elderly, or maimed Narlip. They are skilled growers, healers, weavers, Kanta, and agroforesters. They mostly roam the northern portion of the forest between the Raliok and the start of the foothills. They have a central settlement 2.3 kilometers north-west of the Raliok, which is where they grow food between trees using agroforestry methods. This is where they whole up in the winter seasons, but during spring and summer they roam and find the Narlip in need of aid. They are also known for taking in other humans who are in need of aid, and they bring them to their settlement.

Lunar Calendar System

Each season consists of two cycles of the moon pair. Moon duality -- when both moons are in a line in front of each other is when the moon energy is at its peak, where storms are common and the canyon song evolves into multi-layer harmony. This is a time of ceremony, rest, and protection rituals for the alien world is at its most deadliest then.
The smaller moon gives a sign that heralds the Moon Duality, where it seems to slow down and creep closer in the sky to the large moon. This is an optimal illusion, but for the Paigkein, they view it as an omen for an upcoming duality. Preparation rituals are conducted and a suitable place to rest is found for the herds. The duality lasts between two to four days.
There are seven seasons in a Paigkein year, for a total of 10 cycles. 1 cycle = 16 to 28 days.

• 1st Season: ïe̯bngë "Growth" season has two cycles. First cycle is 28 days, where larger moon is dominant. Second cycle is 16 days and smaller moon is dominant.
• 2nd season: Ygwïtad ngë "Hot" season has one cycle that can last from 16 to 19 days (this is to account for lunar cycles being three days less than total days in an Elivera year).
• 3rd season: Mopjünjyo ngë "high-pitched" has one cycle of 28 days where the larger moon is dominant.
• 4th season: Tsoa̯htyngë "lower-pitched" has one cycle of 16 days where the smaller moon is dominant.
• 5th Season: Tëdïe̯gkoa̯ ngë "harvest" or "calving" has two cycles. First cycle is 28 days where the larger moon is dominant. Second cycle has 16 days where smaller moon is dominant.
• 6th Season: Htüä̯tsbhpjïe̯ ngë "Burn" season has two cycles. First cycle is 16 days where the smaller moon is dominant. Second cycle is 18 days where larger moon is dominant.
• 7th Season: Tjühpjyngë "Hibernation" has two cycles. The cycle is 28 days where larger moon is dominant. Second cycle is 16 days where smaller moon is dominant.

Naming Traditions

Family names

Names are constructed in the following way: Nickname before naming ceremony + Name given in naming ceremony + family lineage name + tribe name
So after a naming ceremony, a person may have the following names: Payo Boa̯jji Ngie̯htj Narlip

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

The Paigkein predominantly speak Paigke Language.

Shared customary codes and values

The Paigkein believe the planet is alive. That humanity are orphans taken in by the planet and the planet's indigenous creatures and spirits. Respect and humility is crucial to honoring that bond. The world (Elivera) provided their Teachings. The teachings are rooted in Humility, Courage, Respect, Honesty, Cooperation, Love, and Communality. All are necessary to live a good life, where one gives back as much as one may take, where the people live in harmony with their world and each other.
Communality is the communion of subjects (living beings, world/Earth) not objects, and is based in the relationality of all living things and the theplanet itself. What is relationality then? It is the relational way of being, knowing, and doing as defined as the socionatural configurations that arise from the recognition of the radical interdependence of all living things, where nothing preexists the relationships that constitute it.
The People's atoms come from the Planet, and thus all are interconnected, entangled. As the Planet lives, all live, and all are in communion with all living beings on the planet. Nothing exists intrinsically; everything is mutually constituted. This belief aligns with the results of quantum science (that Paigkein call Tea̯jie̯boa̯jja), and how the atoms of all people are constituted of star dust -- Big Bang dust, all mutually constituted, unable to exist without all the universe also mutually existing with, in, and around the People. All of the People's particles are entangled with the particles of the universe. From that one starting explosion that expanded outward in all directions and dimensions to form the lattice of superclusters, galaxies, stars, planets, and the People. From that one beginning, all were all formed. The universe made conscious in humanity (and any other sentient beings), burning with a curiosity to know itself.
This influences their practice of taking the remains of their dead and burning them. The ash is them composted to provide nutrients to continue the cycle of life.

Average technological level

The tribes have Sefir in their meeting houses for the community as a whole to use, but it is rare to see individual Pagkein with that technology. This is partly due to their reluctance with devices that may betray their privacy such as location data, as this can interrupt or put in jeopardy their pacts with the land. Some scientists speculate this is also due to Pagkein refusal to share the location of any of the lost portals of Egoni with outsiders. 
Various types of Growth seeds are used in some of the more permanent structures around the Raliok tree in north-central Egoni. There is also some technological devices used to clean water and purify air within homes. Radios are present in the community centers or individual homes, and often scouts will use a long-range radio for communication on secretive bands - these radio signals come encrypted with music that no outsider has yet decrypted.

Common Etiquette rules

Common customs involve sharing soreli when visiting another person/family/tribe, at the start of ceremonies and/or rituals, or before meditation. This is a common courtesy to show that one is ready to be hospitable and open to another.
Offerings of food, handmade trickets, song, and soreli are often left for spirits of the land and creatures. This is a way they show respect for the world around them. It is customary to offer a gift - often food or a handmade item - to those one visits or before trade is conducted.

Common Dress code

Garments are woven from carbon thread, narlip hide, and Raliok leaves. Loose-flowing pants and tunics are woven for warmer seasons, but thick pants, tunics, and coats are woven for the colder seasons. Hats are common and woven from scale-hide; they have a circular brim and a conical peak. Sometimes a feather or flower is woven into the left side of the hat.

Art & Architecture

Architecture

The Paigkein have several different types of homes. All of their homes have a firepit/hearth in the center of the dwelling regardless of whether it is a tent(portable) or a sod house (permanent).

Portable Homes

The most common one is a Igjami, which is a conical tent that is erected with wooden or iron poles. The tent ranges from 28 to 40 meters long, 16 meters tall, and 16 meters wide. There is a smoke hole at the top that is 0.25 meter wide with a mesh covering to keep out any bugs. The canvas is made from Narlip hides and woven with carbon thread that is synthesized from Raliok leaves. The thread is made using traditional thread-making techniques that are passed down through generations, and the technique is relatively unknown outside the Paigkein nation. This is why the carbon thread of the Paigkein is highly sought after because it is one of the strongest building threads known to Elivera.
Fabric dividers are hung with poles to demarcate different areas of the interior. There is a sleep area, an entertainment area (near the front canvas flap), a create area, and an eat/cook area. Each family has their own tent, though once a child comes of age, they are given materials to build their own Igjami. Each igjami is decorated by the family with bright colors and inked drawings. Often the life-story of the family and/or tribe is depicted with animal metaphors.

Permanent Homes

Sod houses are common in the settlements, especially around the Raliok. These buildings are round and have grass roofs. They are large enough for a hearth/cook area, a create area for weaving and drum making, sleep area, and an entrance/visitor area. Each area is demarcated by either a sod wall or a canvas wall. The sod walls are reinforced with wooden beams. The top of the sod house has a circular opening for the smoke from the central hearth fire.
Raliok homes, where the dwelling is built on one of the lower branches, are constructed from canvas, wood, and iron poles. These are conical and constructed similar to the Igjami.
Within settlements, the sod homes where families dwell are constructed in a circle around the commons area. The commons is where ceremonies, gatherings, and other events are held. On the edges of the commons, in a semi-circle -- usually on the northern or north-western side of the commons -- there is a series of long houses, which are constructed from sod and wood. One loghouse serves as a place of learning and music sharing; this is where the youth go to learn the cultural mores, knowledge of elders and various roles, and the music of the tribe. A second longhouse is where people gather for governing and partitioning of tasks the tribe needs to survive and thrive.
A third longhouse serves as a meditative place for the darker winter times and has the largest firepit in the village. One half of the third longhouse contains canvas curtains for the baths, which are dug trenches lined with treated wood and packed sod to keep the baths fairly waterproof. The water is drawn from wells situated around the bath-mediation longhouse, and heated in pipes made of smelt metal alloys that pass from the side of the wells, through the fire-hearth, and into each of the trenches. The user opens the valve with a twist of a wheel, and the water flows into the trench. Another twist shuts the valve.
The metal alloys for the pipe system was smelted from fire-weavers or traded with the Isanto nation. So some of the system was made locally and some in Solasuta. The pipe system also includes pipes running from the wells (each of which connect with the aquifer that exists deep under central Egoni) to each of the sod houses. This allows water to be drawn from the valves for use in cooking or washing of hands and feet.

Art

Paigkein art is geometric with many an animal and tree motif. One of the most common artform is drums, carefully constructed from wood and hide and painted with ink. There are two styles of drum: handheld and depth. Handheld are small, held in one hand, while the other hand strikes with the base of the palm. The Depth drums are held between the knees and both hands are used to play it; the depth drums have a deeper depth than the much thinner handheld.
Woven tapestries, garments, and baskets are also a common artform. Each are uniquely made and constructed with local materials. Great skill is needed to successfully weave the object, many of which contain intricate geometric color patterns. Carbon thread is then threaded through to add in any decorations and/or animal motifs, each of which tell a story. Woven objects can take weeks if not months to complete. Many of them are woven during the winter months, where the snows and storms often make travel difficult.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

Ceremonies and/or Festivals

An inter-tribal ceremony begins each season, where the tribes either send delegates or gather as a whole around the roots of the Raliok. Every other season the tribes will gather for governing actions such as crafting treaties with other nations, amending or creating agreements or by-laws, and establishing rules of conduct. Ceremonies always begin with the sharing of the soreli - a musky tangy fruit that grows on the Sorets tree along rivers and streams. After the governing is completed to everyone's satisfaction/consent (consensus-basis government), the sharing of food, gifts, dance, drumming, and art begin. Delegates are rotated out so that everyone has at least one turn/year at the tribal councils.
Kypjea̯tsij "Feast of the Dawn"
This signals the end of winter - Tjühpj ngë "Hibernation" season - and the start of the growth season. It can also be seen as the new year. It is common to see parents wait until this festival/ceremony to enact naming ceremonies for children. The feast of the dawn can last up to seven days. There is much music, dancing, sharing of art, and attending naming ceremonies.
Tëgie̯jjyo "Duality"
Every time the moons align, the people gather within their tents, sit around the fire hearth, and share food and stories. They rotate out the herd-watchers, who must stay outside to guard the herd from heightened local flora and fauna danger, so that all able people have a turn at this sacred duty. Herd-watchers always are in pairs (dual).
Htjüe̯üjjr "Naming"
At ages three to five, naming ceremonies are conducted. The child is given a selection of names, and they chose one. It is also possible the child chooses their own name rather than abide by the selection of names portion of a typical ceremony. The child also articulates their current gender, or how they wish to be referred. Soreli is shared before and after the ceremony. The ceremony concludes with the child "passing through the fire" (bogktsyohti die̯ge äbdïhpjï) which generally consists of them stepping over smoking logs or sticks to "seal" the names. Food, drumming, and dance ends the time to celebrate being "born anew."

Equinoxes and Solstices
At each equinox, the people within a tribe gather in the longhouses to share food, weave art, and drum together.
For the solstice, the tribes come together, share soreli, and build a great bonfire in a safe location. They raise smoke -- using a rare fungi (süä̯hpjie̯pja "fiery mushroom") that grows on the Raliok bark -- to cleanse their tribe. They then roast nuts, meat, and vegetables to share with the People. Dance, drumming, and music happen after the feast. People will throw handmade worry charms into the fire as a ritual of giving one's worries and concerns back to Creation, of which Creation will help heal and meet the People's needs.

Ilrea̯pjo "Calving/birth"
For the herding tribes, the calving season for Narlip is a time to settle into a safe location to rest and aid the birth of new narlip. IT is a busy time. To thank the forest for each successful birth, food offerings and woven Sehpjboa̯tä (staple crop, type of root-grain) are left on the branches of trees near where the birth happened. Meditative drumming is often held in the evenings and in the early dawn hours.
Htüä̯tsbhpjïe̯ "Burn"
After a successful burn to prepare the forest for new birth and to sustain the older trees, a feast is held and offerings left in the newly cleansed trees. Burns are always conducted carefully with the guidance of äbdïhpjïnj "fireweavers."

Coming of Age Rites

Njoa̯pïhpjüä̯ "Vision"
At ages 15 - 17, youth go on the "Vision" search, where they take only water and a walking staff (sometimes journal and ink too). Elders prepare them for their search by smoke rituals to ceremonial "cleanse" them, then a meal to start the day. Once the youth starts the search, the elders keep track of them by tame railoi - a lizard-bird common to the region. The youth search for a place of quiet, where they meditate, fast, and take in the world with all their senses. It is permissible to bring writing supplies to record sensations. Thoughts should not be recorded as the goal is only to feel the world in all ones senses and Ability and to let the world experience them. After 32 hours awake and alone, the youth returns to food, rest, and they must share their experiences as no search can end until the experience is shared.
The animal or creature they saw the most, that provided comfort during the solitude, will often become their spirit guide. Once this ritual is completed, the youth is now an adult and will take up duties that reflect their talents and meets one of the tribes' needs. This ceremony is never taken during Moon Duality.

Funerary and Memorial customs

Hïe̯tsev "Death"
When a person dies, the body is cremated and then the ashes mingled with the dirt from the area where they died. The ashes are then buried under a tree to feed the tree and continue the cycle of life. The tree is marked with a carving in its bark to signify the individual buried there, and offerings of food, water, and/or small handmade trinkets are left in honor of the person's life.
A ceremony is held by the family, where the tribe brings gifts of food, song, drumming, supplies, and water to assist the bereaved. Stories of the person's life is shared over food and around the firepit. The Paigkein believe their spirits are reborn once they pass through the tree's life force (which cleanses them from past trauma, sorrow, bad deeds). People's spirits may be reborn as animals, people of the tribes, or even people not of the tribe -- the Creator's will is the final arbiter on where the person is reborn. For the Paigkein, the "creator' is the one who made the universe and guided them to their sacred calling in the forests of Egoni.

Ideals

Gender Ideals

Queerness and third or fourth genders are commonplace. There are no duties specific to any one sex -- all the people do what they are capable of doing based on one's needs, one's Abilities, and one's talents.
Paigkein have an expansive view of gender. Children determine their gender (if any) during their naming ceremony. Gender is seen as mutable and may change over time.
Common terms used:

• teë̯htïe̯ : male
• tsähtse  : female
• omgke : all-gender
• mungke : no-gender
• naellaske : 'star-moon' gender (often is an intersex individual born in moonlight)
• bïejjigke : 'sun' gender (often is an intersex individual born in sunlight)

Roles are demarcated more by Ability than any other attribute, as it is believed that an individual should do work best fitted to their talents. Those who sense attributes of life often work as herders or tribe healers. Those that sense the music of the land often become Noiraid or scouts. Hunters and food gatherers have a mix of sound and life Abilities usually. Those that sense energy in stone/earth are often crafters and/or water finders.
Noiraid serve as the conduit between the spirit world and the people. They work with the land's spirits to make sure the correct offerings are made when the people hunt, father, fell and plant trees or forest crops, or harvest food or stone or metal. Noiraid can be any gender, but most often they are a non-binary gender.

Encompassed species

• Human

Languages spoken

• Paigke Language

Related Locations

• Egoni