Mamurat

Mamurat running-wave design

The Mamurat (pronounced MAH-moo-raht) are an isolated group of elves living on the remains of the Ucrisla Tidewall. Believed to be descended from inhabitants of Ucrisla who remained behind during the contraction of Eita back to the Cradle millennia ago, the Mamurat have developed many unique traditions and practices after thousands of years of refusing contact with the broader world. Though they have become somewhat more accepting of outsiders in recent years, they remain culturally quite distinct.

History

In the stories told by their elders and wave-soothers, the Mamurat were forced to leave their former homes on the mainland to the east many thousands of years ago. Their lives of their ancestors were thrown in turmoil after the arrival of a sun demon (or alternatively, demon sun) that even Satres as the moon could not keep at bay. Fleeing west, they found new homes on the remains of the Ucrisla Tidewall, now separated into a great many barrier islands.

The few outside scholars and historians who have researched the history of the Mamurat have found evidence corroborating this account. The Mamurat are thought to be descended from a small group of the former inhabitants of Ucrisla who left during Eita's decline as the elven population outside the Cradle rapidly departed for their homeland. What caused the Mamurat to remain on the Tidewall is unknown, as is the nature of the supposed sun demon. The Mamurat know more of the demon than they are willing to share with outsiders, including even a name, but they do not share such information out of a belief that doing so will draw it closer to them.

Only after a diplomatic mission from Taisnica met with a number of Mamurat elders in Y9902^* have the elves on the Ucrisla Tidewall begun to open up more to those from outside their islands. Most Mamurat retain a skepticism and wariness towards visitors from across the sea, but their communities are generally no longer outright hostile to outsiders. Some bands continue to isolate themselves, however, and are best avoided by non-Mamurat.

Demographics

The Mamurat are entirely elven.

Culture

Religion

Though they believe in all of the gods of the Elven pantheon, the Mamurat consider Satres to be the most important deity. They ascribe great significance to the moon and its cycles, praying to the god for beneficial outcomes in both the mundane and spiritual worlds. Mamurata faith is decentralized with few priests.

Wave-soothers, druids who specialize in influencing the activity of the sea, also occupy a semi-religious role to the Mamurat.

Society

Mamurat children are raised from a very young age to be comfortable around the water, and are often taught to swim at the same time that they are learning to walk. As they are almost entirely reliant on the sea for food and resources, the ability to thrive in the water is critical to their lives.

Migration, settlements, and architecture

The Mamurat are a nomadic people, traveling in small bands up and down the length of the Ucrisla Tidewall. They do not have the notion of possessing a territory, though most bands have a small area they know well that they typically stay within. The only two semi-permanent settlements maintained by the Mamurat are at Sar Pacha and Prumathe. These sites are central gathering locations for the elves, places where groups can meet for a time, particularly during special occasions and for ceremonial purposes.

Mamurat shelters are made out of a number of materials. For short-term encampments, driftwood and seaweed-fiber cloth are commonly used for tents. When a more permanent structure is desired, however, the Mamurat have two different approaches. The first is to use the shells of massive shellfish that dwell offshore from their islands. Hauling these back to the islands is a challenging undertaking, and it is therefore typically only done for places or people of significance. The second approach is to build out of a form of concrete, made from broken shells, sand, water, and ash. This material is durable, though it does require regular maintenance to prevent decay. Structures are almost always built inland, as far from the water as possible, to better avoid damage and flooding during storms.

Food and cuisine

The diet of the Mamurat is heavily based on food from the sea. Seaweed, fish, crabs, and mollusks are core parts of Mamurata cuisine. Other ingredients, like sea cucumbers, sharks, and fish eggs are eaten less commonly. Almost all food the Mamurat consume is acquired through hunting and foraging. Some bands engage in small-scale agricultural practices, mostly around penning fish and tending to seaweed plants, but this is not typical.

Fashion

Mamurat clothing is traditionally made of materials from the sea, and in particular treated fish skin and leather from rays and sharks. Outfits are generally designed to prioritize freedom of movement - even ceremonial garb tends to be relatively spartan and straightforward.

Unlike the elves of Hinthial and Brightmarch, Mamurat elves do not engage in tattooing. They do, however, commonly use body paint mixed to be strongly water-resistant. This paint is applied in intersecting patterns of two solid colors, most typically white and gray or white and blue, that covers the entire body.

Boats

For a people that lives entirely very close to the water, the Mamurat place relatively little importance on the construction of large ocean-going vessels. Instead, they design small craft to ferry themselves between the islands of the Ucrisla Tidewall. The most common design of these boats involves two narrow hulls connected via a flat but flexible platform. Each of the hulls has its own mast, upon which rectangular sails are hoisted, much taller than they are wide. This design is intended to be easily disassembled and secured after each use.

Burial practices

The Mamurata practice a form of burial at sea in which the deceased are placed on small rafts and allowed to drift out with the tides. In Mamurata tradition, these burials can only be performed at night under the light of the moon. The particular phase of the moon during which the deceased are returned to the sea is believed to be important. Each individual must be cast back to the waves during the same phase of the moon as they were born under - to do otherwise is thought to slow or even halt the soul's journey to judgement, as they would not have a familiar light to guide their way.

Names

Mamurata personal names are, by tradition, only used when conversing with other members of their band. In other contexts, whether speaking to non-Mamurat or with individuals from other groups of Mamurat, the name of their elder is used to refer to any person within the band. Personal names tend to be in the format of an imperative verb paired with a noun, for example Walk-Wave.

Languages

See also: Mamurata Elven

The Mamurat speak a language that has diverged so heavily from Elven that many consider it a different tongue entirely. Mamurata Elven uses a vocabulary that is distinctly Elven in origin, though it is rather archaic compared to the dialects spoken by the elves of Hinthial and Brightmarch, with many words that have long since fallen out of use elsewhere. This shared lexicon is not nearly enough to obscure the differences between Elven and the language spoken by the Mamurat, however. For one, Mamurata Elven has only around half the phonemes used in Elven, resulting in many words whose meaning is highly context-dependent. Even more strikingly is that the Mamurat have developed a wholly new grammar. In Mamurata Elven, word order is completely arbitrary, determined only by the importance the speaker places on each word relative to the others in a sentence.

Government

The Mamurat are led by tribal elders, figures in their communities who have proven their abilities and wisdom through time. These elders then delegate more specific roles to others who have expertise in the tasks at hand. A particularly good sailor or navigator, for example, might be chosen to lead an expedition at sea, given authority to lead the others accompanying them. When intra-tribal groups meet, their elders collectively make decisions but otherwise continue to function in the same capacity.