Cloud Country

The home territory of the cloud clans that consist of the Ñuñu hills, but in the past included the Haunt of the Marshes, the Mist Shores, the Painted Beaches and the Flooded Slopes along the Bad Step.

Structure

Immortal King

The figurehead and official ruler of the country. He is and always has been the original Cizin who united the hills after the collapse and forged a new identity and empire for the Clans. Only until the country was middle age, did the king abstain from his royal duties and sequester himself from the public viewings ever since for hundreds of years. Even when a multitude of crises inflict the realm, he cannot, or will not, remove himself from his harem.

The Cizin

Cizin is a title of imperial character. It derives from the first immortal king; when several would-be kings sought to secede from the country. It had been long whispered that the immortal king Cizin, had long died and his memory was only kept alive by corrupt elites in the Hills. From this sentiment, disloyal governors and rouge generals took the name to grant themselves legitimacy. Overtime, the title's holder came to be the practical ruler of the state, even though Cizin was still alive.

Youth Prince

The regularized title given to the cizin's designated heir. The first introduction of this designation is though to denote the official deterioration of the empire. Whereas before, the "cizin" title could only be bestowed by Cizin to acknowledge the ruler; the "Youth Prince", in that he is chosen by the holder of the cizin title, by default, removes Cizin from political considerations.

Imperial Court

The nominal ruling government of four houses chosen by the cizin. Within the court, Cizin chose highborn aristocrats into positions of "Justice of the Peace", "Justice of Wars", chief justice, divisional judges and puny judges.

Assets

Woods

The hills of Jaujaman and Jaujamong have the last remaining wooded areas belonging to the king.
These are the last wild spaces in the hills, but even so, they need to be managed by humans. The trees grow thickly, and the space between them is overgrown with grasses, shrubs and underbrush, so as to attract migrating birds for their feathers.

Springs

All the hills of Ñuñu have natural springs capped with wells that provide for the urban surroundings.

History

Keanian Era

The Ñuñu Clans were the favoured pets of the Keans.

— Thoughts of one Yatei scholar on the history of the Hornkin

Time of the Empire

Conquest

There is not much in the way of protracted warfare in the Cloud's expansion. Except for the Twin Hill Sieges.

— Opinion of an experienced shark man of the Conch Cult

This was the primary rivalry between the Tribes of Yate and the Cloud Clans. However, the capacity to wage war was radically different between the two. The Clans had enjoyed centuries of favour with their Keanian overlords which yielded plentiful food, stone infrastructure and general cultural superiority.
By contrast, the yatei and tyr tribes were enslaved to do the Keans' bidding, more exposed to the elements and generally enjoyed a smaller population. Yet, they managed to hold off a surging Cloud for an impressive 200 years. But while cloud generals had hammered at tribe defenses from many angles, when the final blow came, it was the tyr that took the greatest loss. So much so that any remnant of the tyr were willingly absorbed into the surviving yatei.

Colonization

Cloud colonization was an organised colonial expansion by the clans into the northern and southern shores during the period of the empire. The 'northern shores' were in reference to the floodlines of the hanging valleys in the Valley of Man and the Brine Marsh. The 'southern shores' were in reference to the Foggy Hills in-between Ñuñu and Yates; and the opening into Giantsfall near the Floodgates.

Decline of the Dream

Revolts

Coming to the end, there had been mutterings of malcontent along the colony coasts. But where the biggest had erupted into actual war were the Yatei Hills under the appointed governor Yumurco. Who apparently succeeded by wishing it so.

— History lesson in a Talon classroom

The unrest had become so great, and so wide spread, that the legions needed to be broken up to properly address them.
In Haunt: A slave revolt evolved into a mass exodus deeper into the Marshes with the majority of the working population. The remaining loyalist proved incapable of rebuilding what once was and simply returned to the capital and abandoned the colony.
With Mist Shores: Native Mist Men grew ever bolder and directly attack the empire's settlement. With reinforcements, attacks and raids were dissuaded, but concerns over plague would have these troops be recalled to Ñuñu.
By the Beaches and Foggy Hills: There was a total collapse of cloud authority within this region of the empire. Two legions succumbed to the diseases and a mass of refugees moved in every which direction.
However, in what was seen as the biggest failing, was the redeployment of the last legions and on the Giant's Back to stop those fleeing people from returning to the capital with lethal force.

Ominous Oil Pastel Portrait by Ashley Dorney

Painted Plagues

Through some unknown and malevolent force, the governor sought to gain a kingdom of his own. And in answer, a deluge of diseases crossed over from the Cold Swamp and, one after another, laid waste to the administrative framework across the empire's cities, coastal colonies and the capital itself.

Demography and Population

It cannot be seen by looking at them, but the Cloud population is culturally homogeneous. Any group of related individuals possess different shades of eyes, skin and hair among themselves so it can be difficult for outsiders to say whose related to who.

Territories

Current Holdings

Ñuñu Hills

The cloud people carved settlements out of the extremely dense mountain forests among the four Ñuñu hills and with the Marañón and Huallaga cross space between them.
Throughout the floodlands, regardless of culture, the high ground is apparent and immensely important. Come the flood season, only the truly desperate are anywhere near the lands' valleys. So much so, that any physical high ground is representative of the owner's right to rule; if for no greater reason than to provide refuse.

Luya Catacombs

It is a natural cave system that has been expanded and stylized as a burial site of the most important of the cloud people. The walls within the tunnels are painted to represent stages of a ritual dance and of couples holding hands. The tunnels burrow into the ribs' outside of Giantsfall where the dead are vertically laid to rest.

Lost Territories

Haunt of the Marshes

A curious formation of interlocking basalt columns that slowly descends into the area like natural steps.
The columns also depict engravings of individuals as part of an old culture's funeral rites, which is generally avoided in respect for the dead.

Mist Shores 

The coastal area of Mist Valley where half descendants of the clan colonizers still live.

Painted Beaches

The coastal area of Mais that is best known for the amount dyes that can be extracted.

Flooded Slopes of the Bad Step

The part of the Bad Step that crosses from the valley of man in the floodlands that marks the end of where the flood waters can go.

Military

Offense

Four Legions

Once; the legions of Jamachu, Jaujamong, Jaujameb and Jaujaman were the vessels of imperial expansion. On their backs, the floodlands were for the first, and only time, under a single state.
After rebellions, ongoing plagues and sharing its former dominance; this fighting force has been reduced to a defensive guard.

Eeat Raiders

These are squads of youth trained and conscripted into making attack runs on Eeat, be it dry or flood season, so that Cloud Country maintains its claim. Most members of the legions have to start their military careers with the raiders.

Defense

Doppel Division

A secretive, but still visible, host of droves that sit on the hill slopes facing the Haunt; apparently without independent thoughts or reactive instincts. The doppels (short for doppelgangers) are recreations of still living proven warriors of the host legions and notable captured enemy combatants. The necessity of their creation, as given by the state, is as a measure against the supernatural things that come from the Haunt. Regardless, from within the population, there has been a persistent ethical debate on the very creation of doppels since their beginning.

Technological Level

Doppelgangers

The exact science of an artificial being is not known to the wider population unsurprisingly. But loose lips of a maid servant in the Blue Temple gives insight into the preparations of its sorcery.

We were stripped bare by a foreign looking woman and told to excite them. I was scared by what that meant but no one else seemed to be.
The prisoners were lying on straw mats in one of the inner hallways, like they were dead. About twenty bodies long and two rows deep. Looking around me, the other girls were stroking them. And once they ejaculated, the girls left to be wiped by the priestess.
I eventually did the same to this shark man I had wandered in front of. I'm not sure if his was dead or not either. His chest was moving up and down but was aloof in every other way. Thinking back, his face might have been frozen in a smile but I'd think the muscles in his face were slowing relaxing and left a slipping ghost of a smirk.

— Tollssi, performer maid in the Temple of Flies and Sky

Religion

Imperial Cult

A remnant from cloud country's imperial era's worship of the country's immortal king Cizin, from when he was an emperor, and some members of his family with divinely sanctioned authority.
Its introduction was highly controversial as Keanian worship had been the predominate faith since the Keanian era. But as the population turned to the state cult, conservative groups moved away from the hills to practice in autonomous communities along the shoulders of the Giant.

Foreign Relations

Painted Tribes

The tribes on Mais are considered trapped and stranded by the clans and that they wait desperately for the emperor to reassert himself.

Yatei

The natives on the Yatei and Tyr twin hills are considered ungrateful for their revolt and, it is believed, inflicting the plagues on the Floodlands.

Tinged

A traitorous offshoot of a former colony under Jaujameb administration. There is little in the way of diplomatic relations now.

Agriculture & Industry

Coral Harvesting

Throughout the seasons, pilgrimages would be made to Coral City outside the floodgates for research purposes, vacations or exotic hunts.
Everyone on their returns, have some souvenir of bright coral to decorate or to sell.

Fishing

During the flood season, clan people make crude rafts out of driftwood and/or light coral and skim their returned coasts.

Mining

During the dry season, valuable and rare minerals are upturned from the churned earth in small amounts as a result of the surging tides.
For greater quantities, residents have to dive into flooded craters, hold their breaths and do manual labour underwater.

Trade & Transport

Dry Season

Generally, the dry season slows down trade on account of porters having to trek through drying mud and traverse through ascending mounds and around flooded craters.

Flood Season

The flood season allows for the extensive use of boats within a fifty year period. Tragically, the flood season is also a time when many diseases crisscross the traffic heavy routes with the potential to spread plagues from the Cold Swamp, the Valley and other places beyond Giantsfall.

Education

Upper Classes

The sons of nobles, sons of the kings of conquered peoples and virgins chosen for the imperial cult went to schools for four years to study religion, history and government, and moral norms. Young men, in particular, were given careful training in physical education and military techniques.
After examinations at 19, novices would celebrate in yearly competitions and festivities attended to by Cizin for a thousand years.

General Population

Knowledge and skills deemed relevant to a child's future occupation, culture and the artistic aspects of clan life are passed on by their closest elders. These children would also learn other skills simply through living day-to-day like spinning, weaving, and chicha brewing.

Infrastructure

Floodline

There is an area that wraps around the circumference of the hills christened the 'Floodline', which marks the maximum water levels that can be expected during flooding. As a result, it also serves as the ideal place where foreign traders, local merchants, fisher folk and ferry men park their vessels when not on the water.
The hills are easy enough to ascend once the flood waters come and there is not far to walk. But during the dry season, when one must start the hike from the base, the most help comes from one of the four inner stone staircases of Marañón and Huallaga.

Above the Floodline

Jaujamong Hill

The easterly Ñuñu hill with the most direct interaction with foreigners and thus the most developed hills as a cross section between the flood waters and Luya track.

• Temple of Flies and Sky
  Also called the Blue Temple; it is a center of learning and research, and is most famous for its blue canvas stretched over several free standing stone pillars and walls.

Jamachu Hill

The westerly Ñuñu hill has the third highest population of the hills. Its side facing the Floodgates is, by imperial decree, entirely devoid of human development.

• Imperial Palace
  A bastion of bedrock decorated in transmuted reliefs similar to Eeat and crowned with an exaggerated coral sculpture. The palace sits at the peak of the hill

Jaujaman Hill

The northerly Ñuñu hill is the least populated hill as the rush flood tides awash the this hill more than any other.

Jaujameb Hill

The southerly Ñuñu hill is the most populated, partly because it is closest to the Luya Catacombs and the most shielded from the flood waters.

Below the Floodline

Free Space

The bottom half of the hills are kept barren. As a matter of policy, when the flood waters recede in their fifty year cycles, free reign is given over to exploiters to do with the exposed land as they please.

• Nobles would invest in plantations, knowing it would only last 50 years
• Family units build, expand or excavate mausoleums buried under 50 years of sediments
• Others might opt to construct homes here in the 50 year period

Bridges

Simple rope bridges made of grass and vines woven into large bundles to cross over the Marañón and Huallaga gaps and connect four hill tops together during the dry season.
It is the job of the state to roll up the bridges before the tides return and have prepared the pontoon brides to take their place once the flood waters settle.

Type

Geopolitical, Country

Capital

Ñuñu Hills

Alternative Names

Formerly:

• Imperial Clouds
• Empire of the Clouds

Demonym

Cloud People

Government System

Oligarchy

Power Structure

Feudal state

Economic System

Palace economy

Major Exports

Coral

Seafood

Sea Salt

Textiles

Minerals

Phantom Gum

Major Imports

Foods Stuff

Fabrics

Phantom Gum

Dyes

Timber

Saltwater Crops

Legislative Body

• Imperial Court

Judicial Body

• Imperial Court

Subsidiary Organizations

• Imperial Cult

Location

Floodlands

Related Traditions

• Mist Mountain Pilgrimage

Controlled Territories

• Coral City
• Ñuñu Hills
• Temple of Flies and Sky

Manufactured Items

• Eye Plates

Related Ethnicities

• Cloud Clans

Related Myths

• Āhuilli
• Between Sun and Shadow
• Flower Girl
• Water Beast

Inhabitants

Occasional Visitors