The Kingdom of Reshan
The Kingdom of Reshan
So this is the first journal entry in my role as assistant archivist in the new Qatar Archives. The archives is a bold endeavor by our king, but truly an exciting one. I, for one, am really exhausted over the fact that most knowledge is supposedly in the heads and stories of griots. People trust griots with the history of our land and the deep knowledge of our world, and I’ve never been comfortable with just a select few having that power. Recording our stories and history in an archive gives the opportunity for anyone to have ready access to them. And not just access to stories, but to true history from a real person who can help the reader properly digest the information. It’s not enough to know what a djembe is, but how was it made, what skin is used, what are its limitations, and what are the things the drummer won’t tell you about his instrument of choice. That’s what I hope to accomplish in my entries, an in-depth analysis of every topic, raw and uncensored. King Lugobi has given us this authority and I intend on using it.
My first entry is on the old kingdom of Reshan. All the griots seem to agree that Reshan is the oldest kingdom in all of Mbali. That’s such a mythical statement. In the stories I’ve heard since I was two feet tall, the continent of Mbali is thousands of years old. Through all of that time, we have mostly depended on the traditions of griots to pass on what has happened over all those years. And in the recent millennia, the most talented griots are musicians in the Masanii. I say all that to make the point, how do we really know that Reshan is the oldest kingdom in Mbali. We don’t. We just have to take the word of our storytellers. I know I sound skeptical. But its for good reason. Reshan is the most backward kingdom in all of Mbali. That’s not my opinion. It’s a fact. Let’s consider the current information on Reshan.
The kingdom of Reshan consists of seven villages: Shouba, the capital; Kondor, Xaire, Bush Hill, Oweto, Niles, and Knon. Each village is represented by an elder. This elder is generally the oldest person from the Village. It was reported that one of the current elders is over 100 years old! These “elders” makeup a council that is partially in charge of running the kingdom! Up until very recently, the largest ruling responsibilities rested in the king of Reshan. From the oldest stories of Reshan, the government of the kingdom was divided like this: The king decided on all business that effected the entire kingdom. That includes diplomatic relations, taxes, disputes between villages, war, and what was needed from each village to maintain and protect the kingdom. The elders were in charge of general rulership of their particular village. All village business was governed by the elder of that village, who acts as a judge for all disputes and concerns. The elder also determines how to address the needs asked for by the king from their particular village. This system existed for more than a millennia.
Now let’s think about this. The elders determined the culture of every village, and since they spent most of their time collaborating together in a council, they determined the culture of the entire kingdom. They continued traditions that should have ended centuries before. The words and wisdom of someone of my age would have been inconsequential. The people lived in the past for generations upon generations.
Now recently this has finally changed. After the death of their last king, Reshan has been going through a very interesting rebirth. The story has become almost legendary even though it is a modern series of events. After a deadly battle with Thiya, Reshan emerged the victor though the efforts of a very young drummer. The council must have took this as some divine sign from Jindh, and after the king died in the battle, the council initiated a change in the government structure of the kingdom. This unprecedented change included expanding the council by electing a “young” representative of each village to govern alongside the elder of that village. So the council expanded from seven seats to fourteen seats. And the change that really shakes the baobab, is that they chose not to appoint another king. I don’t even think we can continue to call Reshan a kingdom anymore! Rather, they vote on one of the members of the council as head beat, and that person's job is to facilitate council meetings and make this new system work. This structure has only existed long enough to have one head beat, and that individual was formerly the young drummer that helped them win their last battle with Thiya.
It’s truly an amazing story of change. But until we hear differently from Reshan, I’m going to recommend that we start calling them a nation rather than a kingdom.
-Barika
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