Mul Mag
More actions
 | The information in this article is out of date. If you are responsible for this domain of the Attu Project, please update it. |
Mul Mag (StDe:"Eastern Island") is an island in the Eastern Ocean which, due to little-understood tidal mechanics, has an unnaturally high number of shipwrecks. It was discovered by the YBS Sarrhu on 23-8 42 PC, and was partially occupied by Modhes Millitaria from 50 PC to 58 PC. Information on the island is scarce, coming only from the Sarrhu expedition and interviews with the Chif natives.
| Mul Mag | |
|---|---|
| Chific: Ziaxhame-Imoore ("The Sea's Heart") Mzunic: Txoschnlp Raax (meaning unknown) | |
 a map of the island | |
| Location | Eastern Ocean |
| Highest Point | Mzun's Peak |
| Largest Settlement | Puusza |
| Population | 1,000~2,000 |
| Ethnic groups | Chifs, Mzun, Grgs |
History
Pre-contact
It is unknown when the first humans, the ancestors of the Grgs, arrived on Mul Mag, as no archeological work has yet been done. The Chifs believe that the Grgs have lived on the island forever, though that they were at one point fully human rather semihominoid as they currently are. Whenever it was they arrived however, they lived on the island for untold generations, slowly devolving into feral creatures, with successive shipwrecks infrequent enough that they could diverge into a separate species.
The ancestors of the first Mzun arrived on the island "Hundreds, if not thousands of years ago", according to a Chif wiseman. It is unknown how their society arose, but it is theorized that it began with a particularly large shipwrecked population, who were the first to make use of the Grgs as beasts of burden, and proceeded to either absorb or subjugate the rest of the humans on the island on the time, possibly forming the Chifs. If this event was not the genesis of the Chifs, it was with a future arrival of shipwrecked peoples, which split among those who joined the Mzun and those who did not.
On 17-3 16 PC, The Kelelemite passenger ship The Fortuitous disappeared in the waters south of Ananela. According to the survivors, the ship had suffered some sort of mechanical error which forced it to drift into the Storm Wall and, after three days lost as sea, it crashed into the southern banks of Mul Mag. The survivors of the crash were welcomed by the Chifs, with whom they lived for the next 26 years.
Deysachni Contact and Interaction
On 23-8 42 PC, the YBS Sarrhu made what to date is the only known intentional landing on Mul Mag, and made contact with the Chifs, including the Kelelemites. They proceeded to stay on the island for several months, studying it and the people there, before departing, taking some of the Kelelemites back with them.
On 10-12 50 PC Modhes Millitaria deployed a ship to Mul Mag to moniter the island. Upon making landfall, Modhes Millitaria declared the island to be under the dominion of Deysachin and protection of the army of Modhes Ywl. Modhes Ywl made a sudden and abrupt warning against attempting to control Mul Mag, saying that the island "Harbors an unfathomable evil", and "Is of a natural order wholly its own in ways yet to be explainable; Deysachin may need not apply." In the following months, a base was built on the coastal edge near Puusza, the largest Chif settlement, and the Deysachni interacted lightly with the Chifs.
✱ On xx-xx 55 PC, The Sxallasche Schueonne was slain by his son, who replaced him as the Sxallasche Sxouraoll. Sxuoraoll had for some time been preaching that the time had come, that escape from the island would soon be available, and that it was time to begin rounding up the Chifs to come with them as livestock. After taking power as Grgtotmleip, Sxouraoll began attempting to sway other Grgtotmleips to his cause. ✱
On xx-xx 55 PC, A transmission of unknown origin was detected emanated from the center of Mul Mag, detectable only on long range, low frequency transmissions, typically unused for communication. the transmission consisted of a series of long and short pulses, which are unknown to correspond to any code.
✱ Soon after Sxouraoll's ascension, Schueonne's brothercousin (and thus Sxuoraoll's second-cousin-uncle) Aencxaleonn, a man with much sway due to owning some of the only horse-descended Grgs on the island, began contesting his legitimacy, claiming that Sxuoraoll's plans would lead to famines. A war would ensure, with various pseudoclans and independent masters taking sides. ✱
In mid 55 PC, Chifs began fleeing in large number towards the area around the Deysachni base. They reported that the Mzun had begun attacking far into the coast, in unusually high numbers. Rumors spread of fighting all across the fields of the central island, between two factions of Mzun, one of whom was led by "Shalhacsi Shorahl" and one of whom was led by "Enkh'lyun", the latter of which supposedly owned a horse, or a horse-grg hybrid. This continued for several months, during which it is thought that almost the whole of the Chif population of the island had come to settle in the area around Puusza.
✱ Sxouraoll's faction ended up winning the war and, in xx-xx 57 PC, Aencxaleonn was beheaded on the plains. Sxuoraoll, now having the majority of the Mzun on his side, made quick work of convincing the others, and set into motion his plot. ✱
In 57 PC, After a prolonged quiet period, the Mzun began conducting nightly hit and run raids on the Chif communities near the Deysachni base. In contrast to historical Mzun raids, which typically ceased after the capturing a small number of slaves, these raids were seemingly aimed in taking as many people as possible in as short a period of time, and consisted of far larger hunting parties. The Deysachni began to attempt to convince the Chif elders to evacuate the island, which they eventually agreed to. The last Chif to step foot off of Mul Mag vowed that his people shall return. On xx-xx 57 PC, for the first time in unknown ages, there were no longer any Chifs on Mul Mag. Modhes Millitaria withdrew soon after.
A second signal was emitted on xx-xx 58 PC.
✱ This was following the appearance of a swarm of Locusts seen flying over the island, which was seen as a sign that the forces of evil were in fact coming to liberate the Mzun just as Sxouraoll said. The second signal was to welcome whoever their ally is to come join them, and to bring food while they're at it. ✱
Peoples
Chifs
Genetic analysis supposedly showed the Chifs to be an indistinct mix of a number of ethnicities, only some of whom are of relation to those in the known world. According to their testimonies, they are descended from the survivors of the various wrecks which landed on the island, intermixing over the years. They primarily live on the coasts small fishing-based communities, however some inhabit stone ruins of unknown origin found further inland. The term "Chif" supposedly came from the Mzun, who refer to them as such. It is unknown what the term means in the Mzun language.
The Chifs have a sort of religion, wherein they believe Mul Mag to be not just a physical location but a spiritual world, the midpoint of the universe, existing outside of the cycle of time. They believe that their struggle to survive on the island is a supernatural conflict between the forces of good, represented by themselves, and the forces of evil, represented by the Mzun. They seemed to have idols dedicated to gods from across Attu, as well as some that the researchers did not recognize, implying that this island faith is not a unified force but a syncretism between numerous sources. They did however speak of a deity native to the island, an immortal man named Kalchuk, who has wandered it as its protector since the dawn of time, and who appears on rare occasions to provide wisdom.
Mzun
The Mzun (StDe: "The Black") live inland, and are also descended from the survivors of shipwrecks, but far more ancient ones, surviving through generations of inbreeding, and occasional Chif admixture. It is theorized that they may even interbreed with the Grgs, though this was presented as mere rumor. The Mzun are visually very pale and slightly deformed, with overly smooth skin, slightly enlarged craniums, miscolored eyes, and balding among both men and women. Mzun have universally been seen to dress in many-layered robes of black dyed hides, giving them the appearance of having large bat wings. Little is known of their culture, as the only interactions between them and the Sarrhuites were hostile, but according to the Chifs, they subsist off of the labor of enslaved Grgs, whom they use for purposes of hunting, livestock, sport, war, and possibly also agriculture. Every Mzun owns (though for many ownership is partial) Grgs as property, from the moment of their birth, and their position with their society is dictated primarily upon the quality and quantity of slaves. As well as the Grgs, they regularly attack Chif settlements with the intention of taking them as slaves. Unlike the Grgs however, Chif slaves can rise in status, though they can never be considered equal to Mzun. It is not unknown for Chifs to willingly leave to join the Mzun. The Mzun population is unknown, but it is speculated that the majority of them live in the unknown settlement on Mzun's Peak.
The beliefs of the Mzun are not clear, as almost every account given by the Chifs varied dramatically and conflicted with the other accounts. Descriptions include all of the following:
- The Mzun worship a lord of darkness, buried within the island, who they seek to free so they can destroy the world.
- The Mzun are trapped on the island by Kalchuk, and wish to be free so they can enslave all of humanity.
- The Mzun know that the heart of the universe is located on the island, and wish to destroy it and unmake the world.
- The Mzun are just evil and have no intentions beyond terrorizing the Chifs.
- The Mzun believe there is a whole continent populated by Mzun and Grgs on the other side of the eastern ocean, larger than the whole of Attu, where darkness reigns supreme, and Mul Mag is merely the westernmost edge of their empire.
- The Mzun believe that Mul Mag is the afterlife, and that their existence is punishment for sin in a past life.
- The Mzun have a giant library which contains all the information of history, and they are awaiting the optimal point in the cycle to leave and return to wherever they came from.
- The Mzun follow Kalchuk's evil counterpart, who is their king, and who wants to destroy the island.
- They're just a bunch of freaky-ass weirdos and they just want to keep inbreeding and holding slave fights forever.
According to testimony from escaped Chif slaves, Mzun society is organized into Grgtotms, a term translated roughly as Pseudoclans. In contrast to a clan system found elsewhere, membership within the clan is loose, with the only defined member being the head of the pseudoclan, the Grgtotmleip, who owns all slaves that belong to the clan. Below the Grgtotmleip are "Masters", Mzun who own slaves as private property separate from the clan, but who can at times use the slaves of the clan in exchange for their personal slaves being temporarily within the clan's property. Below the Masters are the Servants, those who do not own their own slaves are personal property, but instead are granted partial ownership and use of the clan's slaves, in exchange for a portion of all that the slaves are used for (typically 1/3rd) being given to the Grgtotmleip. The only Grgtotmleips currently known by name are the Xhootldra,Ttaxngduesko, Rlntouodko, and Sxallasche, the latter three of which were the most frequent raiders of Chif encampments. The Sxallasche Pseudoclan, according to accounts by former slaves, is the currently the largest and strongest Pseudoclan, controlling the area around Mzun's Peak, and acting as the de facto hegemons of the Pseudoclans.
There are three groups of "untouchable" within Mzun society:
- The first are the aforementioned Grgtotmleips, who dictate law, and as such have universally deigned it to be that any attack on them befits execution. There is an exception to this however: there is an explicit rule that no revenge is allowed for any killing done by the Grgtotmleip, and that includes the usurpation of the prior. As such, one who successful kills a Grgtotmleip replaces them.
- This rule also means that it is quite common for someone looking to kill someone else for their property (a common practice) will cut in the Grgtotmleip, so as to bar from revenge.
- The second are children, who are able to be beaten, but only to a certain extent. It is claimed that one who kills a child is made into a slave, even if they themselves are a child. This however was never witnessed, and if it is true then it is the only method by which a Mzun can be enslaved by another Mzun.
- The final are pregnant women, considered the "true" untouchables, being that it is not allowed for someone to hurt them in any way. Hitting a pregnant woman even on accident can lead to severe punishment.
✱ The Mzun believe that the universe consists of a dualistic nature, split between the natural world (Txo), which is moral but weak and divided, and the force of Hxuyow, anathema to the world. untold thousands of years ago, they joined to the side of Hxuyow, following a lord they call Dxohkkess, god of the sky, and brought ruin to the land they originated in. In reward for their effort, the Mzun were given the island, which was to be their paradise, where time would never flow, and where they would be able to idyllically hunt the Grgs (the disfigured souls of those who opposed Dxohkkess) forever, or at least until they were needed again by their lord. Eventually, it was believed that Dxohkkess would spread Hxuyow across the world, and islands such as Mul Mag would all join together into a new utopic world, called Hengngohe. Soon after arriving on Mul Mag however, the two brothers who led the Mzun, Gnraattuoxg and Kxaossoolnk, began to butt heads, as the latter began to hold doubt in Dxohkkess's promises. Kxaossoolnk eventually betrayed the mzun, sacrificing his mortal form to seal the island away from Hxuyow forever, and allowing time to pass into it. Gnraattuoxg forsook his brother, and promised his people that there would be a time of freedom, and a returning to Hengngohe, before then sacrificing his own soul to create the great attractor, bringing in endless slaves from afar. and reducing the effects of time, such that Mul Mag is said to "act as the center of a wheel with regards to the outer ring". Even the Mzun disagree on what precisely that means. Mzun's peak has a tomb within containing all of this information, as well as lists of every single Grgtotmleip, the supposed tomb of Gnraattuoxg, and a giant collection of petrified Grgs (one from each litter, as is tradition), who are said to reawaken along with Gnraattuoxg when the Mzun are free. ✱
Grgs
The Grgs are semi-humanoid feral creatures found in large number throughout the island. There are two varieties of Grg: the Grg-Sl, who are small gremlin-like creatures that live in the wild, and the Grg-Mof, large hulking beasts owned and bred by the Mzun.The two varieties are not distinct species, and are able to freely reproduce with one another, which the Mzun often do to boost their number. The intelligence of the Grgs is similar to that of a gorilla. The Grg-Sl reproduce too rapidly for the island's flora to sustain, and as such their population rises and falls in cycles of famine. They are primarily herbivorous, though do eat small rodents and bugs when they can find them. The Term "Grg" is of unknown origin, as the Sarrhuites forgot whether they made it up or if it was what the Chifs already called them.
Geography
Mul Mag is mostly covered by tropical foliage, in the form of rainforests or flat plainsland. The central valley however is "blighted", being sparse of life, and what life there is is tainted in ways that the notes of the researchers struggled to explain. It was theorized that this "blight" is either the result of Grg overfeeding, or "a corruption by some form of dark magics due to the Mzun".
On the peak of the highest mountain lies something entitled Mzun's Peak. It is unknown what exactly the peak is, as it could only be observed from afar, but it did not appear to be natural. According to the Chifs, the site is a Mzun city, the center of their society.