Keamara League
The Keamara are a tribal group of Loanua, a united group of semi-nomadic bands that cooperate to share the small stretch of mountain, forest, and plains they call home. This is how they have lived for many centuries, and this is a way of life they will work to preserve at any cost. But invaders to the island have slowly crept inland and now the Keamaran lands are on the doorstep of Loanua's imperial attack dog: The Kingdom of Analona.
Unable to muster the forces to destroy the encroaching colony, the Keamara have done their best to adapt. But as their allies have been picked off, they have had little choice but to accept being the "wall" of Analona - they have agreed to protect the kingdom from raids in exchange for their continued existence. Some of the other tribal groups consider the Keamara traitorous for this, especially since the Keamara often allow Analonan adventuring groups safe passage to go attack other island tribes. But the Keamara have faced the wrath of Analona before over these same adventurers, and they know that if they act hastily they will be destroyed without hesitation. They do what they can: they protect their Meako birds and wildlife from poaching, they dislodge colonial attempts, and they accept refugees from the Eastern coast who want to join them in their way of life. This last point has been something of a pain that Analona has been too proud to admit or respond to: the Keamara accept a steady stream of outsiders and escapees, ranging from criminals to disillusioned youth to political exiles, and proceed to harbor them and sometimes smuggle them into other parts of the island. This has given the Keamara an unusually diverse population, and given them access to a wealth of knowledge and specialists.
But what about how they actually live? The Keamara are not a unified group, so living conditions and routines vary from tribe to tribe. Much of their land is hilly arid plains, rich with buffalo, moa birds, gazelle, bison, horses, and pumas. To the Southwest, this turns into lush temperate forest. In the North, it becomes rockier mountains known for their clambering goats and their intricate cave systems. In these mountains are the old halls- hidden caves and fortified canyons to which the Keamara and their flocks have retreated in times of trouble for millennia. It is a semi-nomadic existence of constant movement that allows the land to renew and flourish. It is a life of celebration, hunting, community, and meeting with other tribes within the group. In times of peace, it is a happier life than you will find in most places off of the island.
Structure
The Keamara have no permanent leadership, and defer most decisions to their component tribes. Every tribe has three leaders: the chief, the priest, and the Meako. The chief manages resource storage, dispute resolution, and military training; the priest manages navigation, preservation of the tribe's histories, and diplomacy; the Meako leads to tribe in their migrations, monitors the ecosystem, and acts as the primary guardian of the tribe.
Every year in early autumn, the many tribes meet together where the forests, plains, and mountains meet to celebrate, plan policy, and share news. This is the Amatalara, or the Day of Amatala, and is the annual holiday celebrating the shared bond and identity of the Keamara. It is also when the Keamara select their greatest champions to race in the Running of the Birdmen later in the fall. Typically, most Keamaran business is done on Amatalara, but any tribe can call the others together for an emergency meeting.
History
The Keamara were formed in the ancient days of Loanua, when the great wars of winter had settled and a system of peace and friendship had unified the islands many tribes into local tribal groups. They had always been a cultural identity of those groups who lived in the Keamana valley and hills, but the 825 treaties set that in stone and institutionalized that identity.
When outsiders came and the time of peace ended, the Keamara were resilient and adaptive. They would retreat to their mountain hideaways whenever an enemy arrived, pay the minimum necessary tribute, and wait for the enemy to leave to burn down whatever outpost had been left behind. Few enemies would even bother trying to project power there, and tribute was often gathered annually by the Wakalona in the East (and the Analonans when they replaced them). This was done in 900 and 1251 with little hassle. Far more dangerous was the chaos generated by pirates, slavers, and raiders, who pushed coastal tribes inland. The Keamara tried to resolve these peacefully whenever possible and were generally receptive to harboring and incorporating outside tribes. Through hard work and open hearts, the Keamara kept their peace as they had promised long ago. They were also one of the first to accept the Ember League of early Saraka religion, and were eager to avoid the tribal dissolution and chaos brought by the missionaries of other religions. While the Sarakan infiltration was slow, it did slowly draw Keamara into Anlonan vassalage.
The Keamara may not have led the charge in attacking foreign settlement, but they did not sit idly by either. Foreign raiders faced fierce resistance here, and from 1312 to 1325 the Keamara offered support and safe harbor to the famous Analonan bandit-rebel Cocolo. When the threat of punitive action disappeared in the early 1400s, Keamaran support for Analonan tribal rebels intensified. But in the 1470s, a new force emerged: the Red Weniko, a religious faction dedicated to removing foreign influence by force based in the Southwest of the island. Many among the Keamara who chafed at the Sarakan religious influence and foreign domination invited in Red Weniko warriors to continue their war in Keamana. These warriors and priests got along very poorly with the local priesthood and they did disrupt the peace with Analona. In 1480, the Analonans sent warriors to drive out the Red Weniko, and their intrusion led to the Keamara and other surrounding groups to respond with revenge raids into the heart of Analona. These "red raids" were in fact a join Red-Blue Wenikan effort, but the heavy emphasis on Western interference created visions of a terrifying Loanuan tribal empire reaching out. This so frightened Analona that they were willing to come to the table and meet the Keamara as equals as long as they removed Red priests and warriors. In 1481, the Keamara expelled the Western warriors and accepted their peace- beginning an age of Analonan cooperation and earning the eternal hatred of the Western tribes (which saw the Keamarans as traitors who would rather profit in peace than finish the job).
The Sacred Wars
From 1481 to 1700, peace again reigned in Keamara. During this period, Analona was an ally, missionaries could be expelled without fear of invasion, and the pirates and raiders had been forced back into the Southeast. In 1700, the invasions began again and Analona went back to serving foreign masters. Pirates, raiders, slavers, and poachers returned in larger numbers to Loanua and again fueled internal chaos across the island. And in 1740, a grand invasion arrived carrying a whole cast of warlords and princelings that saw Loanua as their personal predestined playground. Keamara was forced into war and allied with one of these warlords to try and protect them from the rest. And in 1743, a new threat came from the West: The 'Scarlet Horde', a group of vengeance-seeking Red Weniko tribes that sought to mercilessly destroy all foreign settlements and punish 'traitor tribes' in the East. Led by Toako the Red, the Scarlet invasion scouring Keamara and slaughtered many priests, foreign refugees, and merchants in perceived revenge for Keamara's expulsion of Western warriors in 1481 (and ensuing feud). Keamara's warlord was also slaughtered and the remaining forces sought a grand alliance of Blue Weniko tribes with other tribes and coastal kingdoms across the Northeast. Colonial Sarakan extremists piled into the fighting, which became a messy three-way war that sprawled across borders. While the great Scarlet army retreated back to the West in 1751, the religious fighting continued before slowly petering out by the 1780s.
From the 1780s to 1810s, the blue alliance that Keamara was part of looked like it might carry the day. The reds had faded from prominence and the Sarakan zealots required constant outside support to sustain their war effort. Some priests wondered if this might be the new order: a semi-tribal federation of the East, perhaps with attempts to recreate the pre-1700s Analonan peace. But in 1815, yet another invasion crushed that dream and shattered the fragile Blue alliance. Keamara paid its tribute, withdrew into itself, and tried to weather this storm as it once did. As always, the new conquerors withdrew to their strongholds and let Keamara be. But the old enemy in the East had now fully reformed and was back on the offensive.
The Great Bird Hunt Crisis
The new overlords of Analona were imperialist colonizers, but were willing to accept Keamara as a trade partners while they consolidated their hold over the coast. But they were always pushing boundaries, testing how they could leverage power over the tribes. Keamara and the surrounding tribal groups worked together to try and rebuff these aggressive tactics, but the stronger the new "Kingdom of Loanua" got the harder it was to resist. In 1939 a powerful sorcerer-merchant from cosmopolitan reaches of Northeastern Garadel, Zalana of Zonostra, began exploiting the situation for her own gains. From 1939 to 1941, she scoured central Loanua for as many Moa and Giant eagles as she could for export back to her home country for breeding. Keamara was one of the most violently hit. They did their best to herd as many birds as possible into the mountain sanctuaries, but found that Zalana had the finances, manpower, and magic to give chase. The war was brutal, and many expected it would trigger a great war across the island; but just as she as she arrived, she threw money at everyone involved and left with over 100 birds. But no great war or uprising ensued, nor did any great invasion of the West. The chaos Zalana had brought had left everyone hurt and had actually destabilized the colonial government, and while the tribes of the West waged plenty of war in that ensuing chaos it failed to make an alliance with the East. Keamara and the Eastern tribes were unwilling to start a war they couldn't win and so was the unstable colonial "Archduchy of Loanua". And so Keamara focused on renewing the local bird population and was even able to extract a treaty clamping down on poaching from Analona. But for all the niceties, the great expedition of Zalana left Keamara bitter and militarized.
The Otters Ruin Everything
From 1941 to 1990, Keamara licked its wounds and solidified its alliances with the other Eastern tribes. They even began raiding Analona in 1955, when the kingdom had become independent and vulnerable once more. From 1955 to 1960, talk of potentially launching a revenge war for the grand expedition - or even allying with the Red Weniko for a great push East - was common, and it almost came true. The Keamara made a peace with the West and vowed to join in a great invasion of Analona in 1959. But the selkies arrived and dashed those hopes in 1960. The selkies brought unity to the coastal kingdoms, destroyed the friendly pirate republic in the West, and sent the Western military into disarray. Keamara threw aside plans for invasion and waited for a new opportunity. But that opportunity never came. The selkie imperialists have had a much more competent administration that quickly transformed Analona into an impenetrable force of commercial hunger. They have also ruthlessly scrubbed all traces of cooperation from the East.
In 1990, things escalated sharply: an adventuring army of foreigners and colonists led by the Prism warlord Karza Ezeken invaded the Rurana tribal group to the North of Keamana. There, Karza captured and enslaved as many of the Rurana as she could and built her own petty kingdom known as The Kingdom of Karzado. The Keamara led the charge against Karza, jumping in to aid the Rurana. With Keamaran assistance, the Northern Rurana were able to break free- but as they pressed to remove the core of the new settlement, a second invasion began. In 1991, a second adventurer, a hybrid named Drena of Anashtra, invaded Keamana. The Keamara were forced to withdraw, but with the aid of the surrounding tribes they were able to quickly respond and defend. Luckily, Drena was far less competent than Karza and the Keamara were able to lure her and her personal retinue away from the main force and ambush her. She was captured, and her main army was ambushed and slaughtered. The reinforcements sent illegally by the Kingdom of Analona found no army to join and did something rather remarkable: led by their 'Warsingers' (Selkie bard-mercenaries that act as their secret police), they defected entirely to join the Keamara. The Keamara cautiously accepted, and ever since they have been the go-to place for Analonans to escape to.
The miserable failure of Drena's expedition and the disappearance of the reinforcements were enough to scare Analona into backing off. While they never stopped covertly supplying Karzado, they did agree to stop all adventurers, poachers, and settlers from entering Keamana formally in 1993. Peace was shaky- the Keamara strained relations with a grand campaign against Karzado in 1995, but by 2000 the Eastern Loanuan tribes were willing to accept a white peace with Karzado. The remaining Rurana slaves were released and Karzado was forced to pay reparations, but they were able to keep their stolen land.
From 2000 to 2010, the Analonans and Karzado withdrew somewhat. But as it became more and more clear that the Keamara and others did not have a secret weapon and were still recovering from the wars, that caution fell to the wind. Now they have appropriated Keamara as a human shield- they do not poach in Keamara, but they send poachers through to Keamara's neighbors knowing that there can be no equal retribution. The Keamara are exhausted and desperate. Will they fall under the unrelenting pressure of Analona- or will their great opportunity for revenge finally arise?Demography and Population
The Keamara group contains around 13,000 humanoids across 95 bands or tribes. 70% of this population is Human, 14% is Dryad, 10% are hybrids of some kind, 3% are Pearl Pangolins, and 3% is Prism.
The tribal groups that make up the Keamara range from 50 people to 200.
Military
The Keamara teach all who can to hunt- even the Dryads and other non-carnivores- both to supply their tribes with food and to practice the arts of war. Keamarans are excellent at ambushes, are capable archers, and are experienced survivalists. The greatest problems facing the Keamaran military are weapon supplies- notably arrows and warbows. While the composite antelope-horn warbows of Keamara are high quality, the wars of the 1990s saw bow-makers targeted and antelopes hunted for sport. And while the Keamara have their Prism-smiths producing small quantities or iron and bronze, the quantity and quality of arrows necessary for sustained warfare with Analona outstrips supply. So the Keamara have turned to trade to supply their weapons (ironically, Analonan trade most of all).
While bow-wielding skirmishers make up the majority of Keamara's forces, their battle-winning force is their cavalry, especially their Meako. Access to mountains, plains, and forests means that the Keamara can breed and train with large numbers of both moa and giant eagles.
Religion
Keamara is aggressively Blue Weniko and claims to be the birthplace of the faction. They blend Saraka beliefs with those of their ancestors to create a tradition of forgiveness and renewal. In this combined cosmology, Loanua is the sacred land at the heart of the world and beloved home of the world-creator Goddess Marana, who then discovered the sacred heaven of the universe-creator Ishikiro. When the world fell into sin and was redeemed by the Lovers Ara and Kara, Marana was reborn as Tira the Fire Goddess as she descended from the sun to grant them power. While the Weniko priests of Keamara do not accept the full authority of the Sarakan priestly hierarchy, they do respect them as fellow priests.
Part of Weniko is the locality of religion, with every place and every tribe having its own god. Keamara has its own patron deity named Amatala. Amatala was the younger sister of Kara, who was taken by her sister to heaven and given a lifespan of 500 years before returning to Loanua. There, she became a respected magician of immense power and sought peace with the many warring animals of the world. She tamed the wolf-king by turning him into a dog and the lynx-lord by turning her into a cat. But the bear-king waged terrible war on all, and led the other unhappy predators in attacking Amatala. She fled and the mountain opened up before her, and the bear-king was terribly lost. She imprisoned him there and became a spirit of the mountain, to forever keep harmony and protect this most sacred of valleys.
Founding Date
825
Type
Political, Confederation
Demonym
Keamaran
Power Structure
Confederation
Economic System
Barter system
Major Exports
Wool, dyes, bird-bone, obsidian
Major Imports
Iron, steel, warbows, spices, magical components
Official State Religion
Subsidiary Organizations
Location
Official Languages
Neighboring Nations
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