I, Caleb Ordelin, scribe of Arundel, counselor to Lord Marshton McAnthol, now aged and infirm, desire to set down for generations to come the sum of my journeys and studies. In this first volume I will expound on the people and places of Areth, information culled from years of traveling the lands, watching and listening. My hope is that better understanding among the races will lead to greater peace and harmony for all. The light of knowledge chases the darkness of ignorance. I dictate this in the 51st Day of the Cycle of Ash, the year 1586.
Anyone looking at a map can see that Okima is made up of islands; there are nine major ones and some forty-seven smaller ones worth counting. There are also the two northern isles, Shima and Oosan, but more of them later. This geography has had a profound effect on the people of the east. Not only did they learn to excel in sailing, ship building, and fishing from an early time, they also found creative ways to make do with the limited resources they possess. It seems to me that this has had great benefits (such as the advanced learning and magic found there), but it has also led to a thirst for land and resources at times. The two wars with Alhadim in the last three hundred years bear witness to this.
In Okima, family bonds are the highest loyalties. Devotion to family is expected and demanded. While most races value respect of family and elders, in Okima this is extreme. Family heads may order ritual suicide for one who breaks the family honor. (In the few times when this is not carried out speedily, the person in question is quickly hunted down and slain.) The large families have one head, which may be male or female, although seven in eight are male. Each family bears a loyalty to its clan. There are five clans in Okima, although the Emperor's House is sometimes called the "Sixth Clan." The Emperor Shiniana Ryoko has reigned over relative peace since taking the throne in 1565, at the age of twenty-one. Here is a description of the five clans.
Aiwasa - Best known for its military elite and its small group of infamous assassins, the Kuragari. While warriors vary greatly, the traditional weapons include the twin short swords, daggers and other small weapons, as well as a host of thrown weapons. Some soldiers wear full armor, traditionally of bamboo or wood, but recently young warriors are seen in metal armor. The Emperor's personal bodyguards are traditionally drawn from the Aiwasa. The Aiwasa are known for strict discipline, hard training and bravery.
Jentung - Shamen of renown, as well as painters, sculptors and musicians are most prominent from this clan. But while the Jentung clan is centered on the islands of Baso and Tanso, members are found easily on all the islands. Known for their amiable and gentle ways, Jentung are accepted warmly through the nation. Many diplomats are of Jentung descent for this reason.
Mikawa - Known for its seers, shipwrights, sailors and traders, and its namesake island, the Mikawa have forged some of the greatest trading alliances in Areth. It was a contingent of Mikawa who made the great trading alliances with Alhadim. Some members of the clan boast that it was they who are responsible for the prosperity Okima enjoys. They are shrewd negotiators, but have a reputation for being fair in the long run. Since Mikawa is also the name largest Okiman island, which is home to people of all clans, an open attitude toward different ideas is more common among the Mikawa. Their seers have had prominent places in the courts of emperors for hundreds of years.
Shinon - The largest clan, and famous for its wizards of all sorts, Shinon is the other clan to have an island named for it. The mages of Shinon clan run the great Dojo Shinon in the city of Orawu. Here students are taught by Shinon the ways of mana and how to use it properly. The Shinon way is to avoid being showy, never to use more magic or force than necessary, and to keep one's balance. The training is rigorous, and competition to be accepted as an apprentice is stiff. It seems all Shinon parents hope their sons and daughters will grow to be mages, although not all do, of course.
Tsujan - Greatest farmers and honored for humbly providing food for the nation. Called the "Quiet Clan" in jest, Okimen know that if it was not for the skill of Tsujan farmers, starvation would rule the land. And while they are not often masters of magic or weapons, their importance is rarely ignored. Tsujan are mostly found in the islands of Ro, Baso and Mikawa. The Phoenix Sect is made up largely of Tsujan members. Little is known of their secretive ways than that they delve into the secrets of magic.
There is also a group in Okima called the "Shadow Clan." They are not a true, family and they are not spoken of in more than a whisper too often. Whether the connection is to the underworld or the veiled services of the Emperor was not something to which I was privy. When, as a scholar, I inquired, I was told it was in my best interest to drop the subject.
While it is rare to find an Okiman who does not respect their family, many pay little consideration to traditions when it comes to dress and lifestyle. Yet a large minority do wear traditional garb, including kimono, sandals, or the conical straw hats. Matching the diversity of clothing in Okima is the diversity of skills and trades practiced. Their seers and shamen are equaled by their wizards and warriors, and so on.
The wisdom of Okima is known throughout Areth. I have collected some of their sayings here:
This sense of personal, family, clan and national honor keep most people from acting dishonorably. However there are exceptions. When crimes are found out, criminals usually accept the option for ritual suicide. Occasionally individuals are commanded to commit suicide by their family or clan leader for some error. All this saves money: there are no jails in Okima. No criminal courts are needed. Things are handled simply: if a criminal is found out, their fate is in the hands of their family leader. If an apology is not sufficient, suicide is expected. Occasionally the criminal will flee the land; at that point they are considered dead by all who know them, and their name is no longer spoken.
Yet this is not to say there is no crime. The notion of crime is different in Okima than in the west. If a crime is done honorably, it is respected. I have heard tell of clever thefts, which brought great losses to merchants, and the thieves were known to all around. The fact that the thieves were able to complete their action without detection or disruption brought shame not to them and their families, but to the victims. The victims were seen as weak and foolish. This seems typical. Yet something like a violent robbery would be seen as low and uncivil, bringing dishonor on the thieves. As such, there is an underground of criminals who make a living through theft, murder and the like. They are rarely spoken of.
The Geography of Okima. See map at end of book for locations. Note that Oosan and Shima are not part of the nation of Okima& they are the Dragon Isles, but no one speaks of this above a whisper. When they do, they spin wild yams of incomprehensible flying creatures, some breathing fire, all cunning and magical. -But most who speak of such things have clearly lost their minds.
The Nine Islands, in alphabetical order: Asamaru, Baso, Goji, Kanji, Mikawa, Ro, Shinon, Tanso, and Yessima.
Asamaru It is northeastern-most and mountainous in its center. Many of the Mikawa and Tsujan clans dwell there. Great shipwrights and farms that grow things not found elsewhere in the East are located there. It is yet somewhat more isolated than other islands; some say they have "backwards" ways there. Cities include Ho-Apko, Ko-Kowa and Ko-Lin. Ko-Kowa is home to the Emperor's Summer Palace, where he and his court often spend the hotter months.
Baso Home of the greatest shamen, largely from Clan Jentung, but all shamen are welcome, even non-Okiman (more so than in other parts of Okima). There are two great graveyards on Baso; it is whispered that there are necromantic leagues on the island, but as this is rarely spoken of; it is hard to verify. It is known that there is a quiet organization known as the Devoted of Nature who fight necromancy and are based in Baso. The only real city there is Sokata, but the trading towns of Peshue and Gersomi draw people from the surrounding farmlands together.
Goji Not only is Goji a fairly tropical and hot island, it is also where the Emperor's Winter Palace has been since the year 1239. The Palace is a great fortress, where many Clan Aiwasa warriors are housed in the cooler seasons. It was here, in the city of Shendo, that the Alhadim made their great assault of 1386. When the attack was over, it is said that only two boats were needed to carry the invaders home - they had arrived in nearly two hundred. There is a great pillar near the northwest tip of Goji carved of basalt. It is known to be magical, and its powers are said to have helped repel the invaders. On the milder side, there are banana farms on Goji, and I have seen mangos there the size of my head.
Kanji This small island is actually the largest in a cluster of many smaller ones. The population is fairly low, and the land open and rural, with hills and cliffs running right up to the ocean. Some hermits are said to live on the small islands around Kanji, and some say fantastical creatures dwell in the thick forests there as well.
Mikawa As well as home of great harbors and ship builders, Mikawa is home to Okima's greatest Seers. Many aspiring youth are sent off to the Kentaki Monastery in the city of Mato where they can train. The great library of Soo, named for the tenth century scholar, is found in Mato as well. It is an internationally known center for scholarship where sages and seers may study the tomes and scrolls of generations. Mikawa was named for the clan that is said to have settled the island. Forests are few in Mikawa, having long since been cut to build ships and homes. Mato is found on the east side of the island, on a river which runs out of the great mountains which dominate the center of the island. Many hermits are known to spend years in solitude in those mountains.
Ro This flat island is also known as the "bread basket Okima" for all its farms, including rice farms, for rice is a national staple. With its central location and low, easily floodable land, it was almost made to be the farming capital of the nation. The island is dominated by people of Clan Tsujan, but all clans mingle freely here in this place of quiet and discipline where the winters are mild and the typhoons don't hit too hard. The trading city of Dado in the south is a very busy port, and it is said to be located in the dead center of the nation.
Shinon A southerly trade wind blows to Shinon so as to facilitate easy sailing to and from the second biggest island in Okima. The rival port cites of Tamoragu in the northeast and Wei-Kan in the northwest are international trading ports. From there, Okiman fleets sail west to Alhadim, east to the Tors, and northeast to Aknor. On the eastern shore of the island is the city of Orawu. Here the greatest mages of Okima teach students the ways of magic at the Dojo Shinon. From the hallowed wooden halls of the school have come some of the most famous Wizards in Okiman history.
Tanso Home of the city of Ninesu, where warriors train by running on rocky beaches and scaling the high cliffs overlooking the ocean to the east. This city holds the Imperial Military Academy, the home of the Okiman army. Tanso is the seat of Clan Aiwasa, and the military nature of the clan permeates the culture of the island. Devotion and loyalty are held up with bravery and discipline as the highest values, here more so even than the rest of Okima. Yet it is on Tanso, where the greatest celebrations occur. In Ninesu and Wi the New Year's and Mid-summer celebrations each bring three straight days of reveling and debauchery in this otherwise strict island. People sail in from all over the nation for the celebrations in Tanso; in the last twenty or thirty years, foreigners have begun to join in as well.
Yessima The tiny island, just over ten miles across, is home of the complex of caves, tunnels and buildings which are home to the official spies and assassins of Okima. Here initiates are brought up in the ways of stealth. Secrets of generations past are handed down in ways not spoken of to others. What is known is that the best and brightest teens are often sent off by their parents with a quiet celebration and seen rarely if ever again.