The Akwasesné (The People of the Trees)
The Akwasesne (ä-kwä-ses-nay) people live in a huge forest that is populated with all manner of animal life and fresh water lakes, rivers and springs. They dwell in bark covered wigwams, or large long houses built of logs and insulated with reeds, grass, and mud. Both are sturdy and comfortable in winter cold and summer heat. Their primary transportation is by foot or on the rivers in birch bark or hollowed log canoes. It was the Akwasesne people that the first settlers of the State of New Bloodstone encountered when they landed on the Continent of Apsis. The settling of these more technologically advanced people among the Akwasesne has resulted in the betterment of the surrounding tribes. They have profited greatly from their presence, such as gaining higher quality tools, weapons, armor, medicines, and agrarian knowledge. In turn, the people of New Bloodstone have attained new techniques in herbal healing and curative medicines, food acquisition and resisting the elements, especially the strong wind and rain storms that occur during the hot summer months.
The State of New Bloodstone lies within the borders of the Akwasesne nation. They were accepted and adopted, over two-hundred years ago, as members of their nation. Each community within the State of New Bloodstone is recognized as an individual sister tribe to the other tribes of the Akwasesne people, with their mayors serving as tribal chieftains, the Captains of the guard as warlords, and city wizards or high priests serving as the elected wiseman or shaman. Most notable among these leaders are Lord Governor Ebon Firehand and Onyx Firehand of Stormhaven. Lord Ebon Firehand and his grandfather Onyx, who are honorable drow were hand picked to replace the former Lord Governor and Shaman Derrobane, who retired to his hidden abbey secluded somewhere within the vast Vale of Akwasé. Legends among the Akwasesne have continued to circulate over the decades of Stormhaven’s short but powerful founding shaman and his companion warlord known as Champion Slayer, the great walking bull. Now, new legends have begun to be told of the Stormhaven black skinned chieftain and shaman who rules and protects the city and his fellow people of the nation.
Real World Association: Eastern Woodland Tribes (Algonquian, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Iroquois, Seminole, and Shawnee)
Capital: Akwasesnia (Village of Trees) about 2500 people, permanent longhouses
Regional Population: 18,510
Government: Confederacy (tribes from entire region, governed by council of 7 Tribal Chiefs), Tribe (various villages within one of the 7 Tribal regions, governed by a Tribal Chief and Council of Village Chiefs), Village (multiple families consisting of a village, matrilineal lineage, governed by a Village Chief, War Chief, and Shaman)
Religion: A-llän
Tribal Informaton
Sister Tribes: Abanaki (a-bä-nä’-kee), Akwasé*(ä-kwä’-say), Anakaron (a-na’-kōr-än), Apanuus (a’-pa-noos), Ashapee (a-shä’-pee), Ashunté (a-shoon’-tay), Ataho (ä-tay-hō)
Tribal Beasts: Black bear, brown bear, beaver, boar, deer, elk, hawk, owl, raven, wolf, wolverine
Tribal Dwellings: Primarily wigwams (single family); longhouses (multiple families) in more permanent settlement
Tribal Arms: Hand axes (stone and copper), short bows and arrows (flint and copper), knives (flint and copper), spears (flint and copper tips), longspears (flint and copper tips), war clubs (wood, stone, and copper; paupee-omy, paupee-sloupea), blowgun and darts (quills); leather armor (leather shirts, buckskin pants), hide shields, bone armor (breastplate)
Tribal Apparel: Buckskin pants, skirts, dresses, leggings, breechcloths, and coats, moccasins, fur mittens, fur robes, feather headdresses
Tribal Transportation: Birch bark canoes (summer water travel), walking, toboggans (winter), snowshoes (winter)
Tribal Food: Agriculture (corn, beans, squash, tobacco), hunting (bear, beaver, caribou, deer, moose, racoon, squirrel, water fowl), fishing (eels, molluscs, clams, crayfish, crab, trout, salmon, and other freshwater fish), gathering (wild berries, tubers, nuts, wild rice), maple sugar,
Tribal Myths/Creatures: Wendigo, Stone Coats (Stone Giant), Drum Dancer (Brownie), Doonongaes (Goldpebble river snake), Dry Fingers (Crawling Hand), Naked Bear (Buggane), Flying Head (Large Beheaded, Screaming), Thunderbird, The Three Sisters (corn Fastachee, beans altered Harvest Haunt, squash Gourd Leshy), The Great Elk (Megaloceros)
Imports: Metal weapons, iron wares
Exports: Dried meat, smoked fish, woven baskets, furs, canoes, leather robes, copper, beads, shells, mittens, wampum belts, moccasins, dreamcatchers, quill boxes, skin coats, blankets, clay pottery, turtle shell bowls
Alignment: CG, NG, CN
Allies: The Pompuusné (steady), The Sousesné (steady), The State of New Bloodstone (perpetual)
Area: The Vale of Akwasé
Environment: Temperate to warm forest