Lachawaka

Lachawaka is a tribal society that is legally part of the Confederate Cantons of Lovvia, itself a part of the Empire of Ischanor. Lachawaka represents one of the last known hunter-gatherer societies in the entire world of Abexilas, as the members of the tribe believe agriculture and urban dwelling are against their particular sect of the Ischanic Church.

Etymology
The name Lachawaka is derived from the indigenous language of Ug. It means "rockworks", or more literally "[to] make [from] rock". This name is descriptive of the distinguishing factor between the Lachawakans and the agricultural societies around them, which use tools of metal and diamond instead.

History
The oldest stories in Lachawakan oral tradition with explicit dates are said to have occurred nearly 15,000 years before present. Their traditions are incredibly old, some of the oldest immaterial culture surviving in the world. Stories involve topics such as heroes, wars, fables, comedies, tragedies, and histories- including the story of the domestication of the dog, which Lachawakans insist their direct ancestors accomplished in the millennia before agricultural civilization.

The Lachawakans as an ethnic group are thought to have split from the proto-Aysari peoples early on, as their language is distantly related to other local tongues. Known simply as Ug, an onomatopoeia for a generalized vocalization, it is simultaneously highly derived, and highly conservative. Over the millennia, the Lachawakans and other hunter-gatherer peoples were slowly displaced by agriculturalists, be it via integration and adoption of farming, or through violent conquest and subjugation. Yet the tribes of hunter-gatherers never had a singular identity or political goal, as they only became increasingly separated geographically and spoke different languages.

By the times of the Kingdom of Vangar, which established a protectorate over a group of tribals ancestral to Lachawaka, the remaining hunter-gatherer peoples had only one contiguous territory remaining. The other peoples had been subjugated or outright exterminated, and thus the Vangaric state established a single authority among them. Since then, the tribes have existed in loose association with one another, and a single "Rock-worker" identity has formed and solidified in the face of an increasingly agricultural, urbanized, and now industrializing world.

In [the 2nd year before Abexilas launch], Lachawakan big-woman Thag Sentorga entered an agreement with a number of smaller states within Ischanor (specifically Herlundy, Kalkenstein, and House Swift) to form a single union known as the Confederate Cantons of Lovvia, in order to gain further collective influence within the government of the empire. While it changes very little about the internal workings of the tribal society, it is hoped that the Lachawakans will have more political influence outside of the wilderness they roam.

Government
Being a tribal society, Lachawaka lacks a central leadership, royal families, elections, or other hallmarks of any kind of aristocratic, autocratic, or democratic settled society. The informal authorities of Lachawakan culture, simply known as a "big man/woman" (Ug: Bagoobagrug, bagoobaunga) attain soft social power through clout and interpersonal relationships. They generally tend to be the most capable or helpful members of society, and the Lachawakans believe this to be the most natural form of governance. In external diplomacy, a preeminent big man serves as the de facto ruler and/or diplomat from Lachawaka. The current representative of Lachawaka to the Ischanic government is one Thag Sentorga.

Previous big men have been known to periodically enter agreements with the settled states to ensure the protection of the land their tribes live on. Integration into the Ischanic Church is one such form of agreement, the first in a long time to be more than a merely economic relationship. The current agreement allows for a single and unalienable Lachawakan territory within the Cantons of Lovvia, having briefly existed as a technical barony directly under the Ischanic crown.

Food
Lachawaka's most distinct trait is its lack of practiced agriculture or urbanism. The Lachawakans exist as semi-nomads, roaming regular hunting grounds and only establishing semi-permanent dwellings where food is abundant- usually around locations with many fruit trees and abundant fish. The traditional diet is largely based on fish and game, supplemented by a variety of fruits, berries, nuts, wild grains, mushrooms, and tubers.

One of the Lachawakans' most famous dishes is achagobme, a kind of fermented food made from a variety of berries and fruits mashed and fermented after being cooked slowly. The fermentation process can be mild, to make a hearty probiotic stew; it may be allowed to continue more for a decadent alcoholic sludge. The cooking releases sugar from the fruit, allowing for safe fermentation and adding to the sweetness to cover for the bitterness of alcohol. The dish is complicated to make, and thus alcoholism rates are very low among Lachawakans.

Architecture
The traditional semi-permanent dwelling, known as a tumbum, is comprised entirely of natural materials- stone and earth, with a wood interior and hatched roof to vent smoke from the fire inside. They are easy to construct, maintain, and demolish, and serve as a kind of dwelling that allows other animals to inhabit its crags and plants to grow upon it. The Lachawakan attitude towards the tumbum as a structure is that it is a natural building, simultaneously basic and fulfilling one's needs without violating the laws of nature. As other animals build nests, dens, dams, etc., the Lachawakan argues, a human should live in a natural shelter such as a tumbum, tent, or cave.

Many Lachawakans, especially during long periods of migration, instead may choose to carry a small tent. Tents may be constructed of sticks, animal hides, bark, and even bone or mammoth tusk. These small shelters are usually where the Lachawakans live in when they are not staying in an area long enough to construct and use a tumbum- usually less than two months. Occasionally, abandoned tumbums may be reinhabited by Lachawakans or other large animals such as foxes, wolves, bears, or hyenas.

Religious structures constructed by the Lachawakans are markedly different. They consist of permanent megalithic structures, usually a henge of concentric boulders or worked stone. These are aligned with natural astronomic features such as the equinoxes and solstices, and serve as ritual meeting places for prayer and meditation as well as political meetings.

Religion
The Lachawakans represent a holdover of the most primitive peoples in Ischanor and its surrounding lands. They worshiped a number of gods and spirits, almost to an animistic extent, but primarily an earth goddess named Ungalubene (literally "lady earth" in Ug) that is syncretized with Ilfeijas of the Ischanic Church. Because of their deep religious relationship with nature, they insist on maintaining a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and refuse to establish farms or truly permanent settlements. They recognize the power of settled agriculturalist states, yet have a sense of moral superiority over them, despite being seen as little more than backwards savages by many in the outside world. They heed the authority of the Ischanic Church, as they believe in more or less the same gods, and swear fealty to the Emperor who they see as a protector of their land and way of life from outsiders.

Economy
The Lachawakan economy is largely based on subsistence foraging, with the average person hunting, gathering, fishing, and making products all on their own. There is some limited specialization of labor, especially with things like knapping, pottery, and shamanry, but most individuals partake in nearly all of these tasks within their lives. Some excess products, especially pelts, leather, ivory, dried meats, and maritime products are bartered to traders as exports in exchange for what few things the Lachawakans cannot produce for themselves. These exports are often at a comparative disadvantage to the Lachawakans, as they in many cases have historically served as a form of political tribute rather than a free market exchange.

Despite having disdain for settled agriculture and urban life, they nonetheless recognize Ischanor as a patchwork of different lifeways, in an almost ecological fashion- all interdependent on one another. Without the tribute they give to settled-folk traders, it is known to the Lachawakans that they would lose protection and be driven from the land by settlers who see them as nothing more than vermin.