Fantasy Universe: Caina

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Caina refers both to a country and the great swampy forest that covers the majority of it.
Due to the conditions on the ground the people live in the treetops of the great Akine trees, having built great cities, known as settlements, up there over the course of many generations. The Akine trees are so important to the Cainans that their word for tree is Akine.
Most of their tools, armour and jewellery are made from Akine. They have a very limited access to metal, so it is only reserved for warriors and those of high status.
Cainans have straight, thick, sometimes coarse, hair in the colours ranging from straw to dark brown. They have a light build and are one of the tallest people in this hitherto unnamed Fantasy Universe (I need to come up with a name.....)

They have a large production of fabric due to cottonlike plants that grow like misteltoe in the Akines named Mikain, and the many silkworms living of the leaves of the Akines.

Commoners wear very much the same genderwise, their legs are fairly uncovered so they can climb relatively unrestricted should the need occur. Their shoes have rugged soles so they can tread more easily.
They wear a relatively little amount of jewellery, mostly necklaces and bracelets made from wood beads. Only a few settlements paint the wood as the Akine is holy to the Cainans and most of them believe it is beautiful the way it is.
There are a number of different occupations for the common Cainan, but many work in the production of fabric or as swamp pluckers (they are hoisted down to gather plants and/or fish and animals), craftsmen or farmers. Even up in the trees small farms have been established, as the need for food always dictate one's living conditions.

A very small group of people have the knowledge of how to work metal and these guard the secrets of their trade closely, as the resources are scarce and they are paid handsomely for their work. Their secrets are passes down in the families.

The green colours come from Akine sap mixed with  extracts from other assorted plants to get the different shades.
The reds and purples come from crushing the shells of various Shirii; crablike creatures living down in the swamps
The browns are made by mixing the two together.
The exact shades are very traditional to the individual settlements.

Both men and women shave parts of their head if they wish, but only the high ranking do it every day. Men tend to only have one braid, while women have several. The specific hairstyles tend to vary depending on the settlement.

Every greater settlement has their own specialised warrior force, but it is the ones closer to the edge of Caina who have the most well trained and strongest.
Two of those are represented here. Each settlement have variations in weapon types and war-paint, but the armour is very much the same, as they all depend on the warriors climbing and athletic skills, as almost all of the forces focus on fighting in the trees, jumping and swinging from one to the other. They also have to be silent, as they mostly patrol the outskirts of the forest looking for intruders and enemies.

One of the most successful and admired forces is the one from the Settlement of Saiga. This is perhaps one of the most difficult forces to get into. Each warrior is involved in the process of creating their own halberd-like spear known as a Thaigii, so it is perfectly suited their fighting and climbing style, they usually have a sharp straight point that goes down into a hook-like blade that can hold unto branches and ribcages. The spear-butts vary quite a lot.
They don't wear any footwear, but their feet are so accustomed to the climbing that it would be a hindrance anyway.

The other warrior depicted here is one from the Etne force, who are especially skilled in the sneaking-up-on-people business. They do, however, all have the same equipment.

The whole country is ruled from the Biggest settlement Gaine by the great council, but each city has their own magistrate employed by the council.
The council has seven members, the positions are handed down from parent to child so it is the same seven families that have been ruling for generations, magistrates are most often elected from these families, so there is a lot dealings in the corners to get specific families in charge of lucrative settlements. Not all settlements are happy about strangers coming from Gaine to control everything.

Seen here is a council member and a magistrate. They can be easily identified by their long robes, shoes and decorations.
The council member has decorations made from large pieces of metal inserted with green opals which are found deep deep underneath the swamp and are even more difficult to obtain than the metal.
Her shoes are impractical and more decorative, showing she does not need to walk around as much, much less climb.
Her dress is a specific deep purple meaning it has been dyed from an especially rare type of Shirii, and many have been needed to produce this dark a colour. The sleeves are just to show exactly how much money was spent. The longer sleeves, the more costly.

Magistrates don't have access to that large decorated plates of metal jewellery, so theirs often consists of many small ones put together.
They also wear darker clothes, but made from slightly more common Shirii, and not enough to make an entire dress, their shoes are also slightly less ridiculous.
As can be seen here, they have the time to shave their head daily.

Cainans are traditionally very spiritual but does not have any defined gods. Instead they believe in spirits, ghosts and magical beings.
They believe that all living things (plants, humans and animals alike) have an essence and when they die it is released, sometimes it is reborn or split up (seeds and babies), but occasionally it leaves this plain of existence and wanders through the spirit world, Lasha, occasionally visiting our world, Rasha. Spirits that somehow get stuck, either accidently or due to interference or commitments, become bad spirits.
Every household has a house altar to pray to good-luck spirits or ancestors.

A few people leave the treetops behind to become Root Dwellers.
These live down below the Akine in small caves formed by the roots, often a fair distance from any settlements. They are capable of releasing their essence and wander freely between Lasha and Rasha, they can also see, communicate with, bind and free spirits who are in Rasha, in spite of them being invisible to normal people.
Their hands, feet and faces get permanently darker as a side effect of their wanderings,the rest of their skin has a lighter slightly grey tinge due to the lack of light amongst the roots. Nobody really know why their skin gets darker, some say it is due to the mud, others that it is because they are half dead and it is their skin dying.
They have the ability to access and influence most essences, but the power of this is very dependant on the individual essence and often age and skill level of the dweller, the longer the dweller has lived amongst the roots the stronger.
They can also summon various spirits from Lasha, the strength again variates.

They have a few official duties. Most of the time, as they are alone, they run around naked, but if they are called upon to deal with bad spirits or to appear in a ritual, they wear the garb as seen above, and shave their head completely. their dress is always darker than common people, even if they don't wear particularly fine colours.

They have two major rituals a year where they clean out their closest settlement for bad spirits, the Blossoming and the Falling.

A foreign religion, Iklashe, is however making its way into Cainan settlements, mostly through some of the northern borders. It is basically a two-god system, where one is the good benevolent Ikla and another is the evil ruthless Nillo. Its followers believe that one has to do good and preserve all the creations of Ikla and spend as much time as possible fighting and possible destroy the creations of Nillo.
They don't believe that the bad spirits are trapped or should be saved, but that they are creations of Nillo and should be killed. In their mind the world is very black and white, bad thoughts and things are sent by Nillo and good things are sent by Ikla as a reward for good thoughts and behavior. They do believe in spirits, but not in Lasha. and are of the opinion that they simply come into being.They can be recognised by the symbol they wear, the Eye of Ikla, wich watches over all things good and bad.

Many Iklasheans are often poor and their religion is somewhat persecuted by the Spiritualists.
A few of them have gained the ability to kill spirits, which did not help with their popularity, so many of them meet in secret.
and even fewer number have some essense bending (elemental) skills as well.


Whew! a bit of a long one this time, but it all just wanted to come out
Comments? questions? what type should I do next? I'm thinking snowy, mountainy stuff.

This time around I was heavily encouraged by this: Paul Tobin, There and Back Again , which I will most likely never shut up about.