Post by thenephew on Mar 16, 2007 5:19:08 GMT
The Emporla are famed for being difficult to find when they don't want
to be, but instantly locateable at the drop of a Martian crown.
Tribal representatives at trade gatherings, or wandering tinkers at the forest's edge, will refer to their mother tribe as one of merchants, or enterprising craftsmen.
The Emporla are vendors of many forest porducts, from meganberries to mercenaries, and as such are one of the more open tribes of Footfall's continent-spanning forest. The most striking example of this is in the makeup of the tribe itself - estimates made by various sources within the tribe count adopted tribesmen at between one tenth and one quarterof the tribe's total size, including several of the Imperial officials who have attempted to take a census. They will induct anyone into the tribe, provided the applicant has several trusted acquaintances who can reliably confirm that the member-to-be is trustworthy, not an oathbreaker or liar. Bar those few among the other tribes who are not honest, the Emporla will accept new members of any mother-tribe. Only the pride of other tribes, and the lack of trusted referees prevents their numbers eclipsing the populations of all the other tribes combined.
This is a truly striking difference to nearly all other tribes, for example the mekayaa, who will segregate those blood relatives born at the wrong time, or indeed the Lyssaya, who appear to skin anyone not related them through blood or tribe - this extends even to Imperial census recorders and the chosen representatives of other tribes. 'Appear' is used most calculatedly - there are skinned bodies in areas the Lyssaya are known to roam, but no-one has yet survived an encounter with a Lyssayan to confirm the tales. Needless to say the Lyssaya do not attend the meeting of the tribal leaders, known as the Circle of Councils.
The Emporla on the other hand, certainly do, though generally with little political agenda. The tribe is too disparate and nebulous to have any coherent views on any matter, too thinly distributed to allow an attack by another tribe, concentrating on selling to the visiting tribes, brokering deals, promising services, arranging future trade-points.
It is unknown if, at this point in time, or indeed any other, the Emporla have an official head of the tribe, or any functioning ruling body. This lack of a central authority for the tribe forfeits the tribe their place in the Circle, though this hardly bothers the busy traders who come to do business.
This presence at the Circle of Councils appears to be the main, most necessary, reason for the attendance of many of the smaller tribes, providing much needed regular supplies to those living in the most hostile of hbitats. As well as the indigenous tribes, several of those few groups of Imperial citizens who have, for whatever reason, left the safety of the Hivebergs or cityports, attend the meeting, though not the Circle. It is known that [suitably noble sounding Imperial name] is attempting to inegrate his gruop of runaways, escapees and outcasts into a new society, that of the tribes. The Emporla are key to this attempt and others like it, providing expert trappers, foragers, weavers and lumberjacks to teach these growing tribes self sufficiency. Equally important are the public displays of trustworthyness the Emporla allow these groups to show, the respect gained as a functioning part of the ecosystem more valuable to the ex-Imperials than any amount of tribute payed to other tribes.
Those Crowns in the first line are Mart-ian, not marshan, obviously.
to be, but instantly locateable at the drop of a Martian crown.
Tribal representatives at trade gatherings, or wandering tinkers at the forest's edge, will refer to their mother tribe as one of merchants, or enterprising craftsmen.
The Emporla are vendors of many forest porducts, from meganberries to mercenaries, and as such are one of the more open tribes of Footfall's continent-spanning forest. The most striking example of this is in the makeup of the tribe itself - estimates made by various sources within the tribe count adopted tribesmen at between one tenth and one quarterof the tribe's total size, including several of the Imperial officials who have attempted to take a census. They will induct anyone into the tribe, provided the applicant has several trusted acquaintances who can reliably confirm that the member-to-be is trustworthy, not an oathbreaker or liar. Bar those few among the other tribes who are not honest, the Emporla will accept new members of any mother-tribe. Only the pride of other tribes, and the lack of trusted referees prevents their numbers eclipsing the populations of all the other tribes combined.
This is a truly striking difference to nearly all other tribes, for example the mekayaa, who will segregate those blood relatives born at the wrong time, or indeed the Lyssaya, who appear to skin anyone not related them through blood or tribe - this extends even to Imperial census recorders and the chosen representatives of other tribes. 'Appear' is used most calculatedly - there are skinned bodies in areas the Lyssaya are known to roam, but no-one has yet survived an encounter with a Lyssayan to confirm the tales. Needless to say the Lyssaya do not attend the meeting of the tribal leaders, known as the Circle of Councils.
The Emporla on the other hand, certainly do, though generally with little political agenda. The tribe is too disparate and nebulous to have any coherent views on any matter, too thinly distributed to allow an attack by another tribe, concentrating on selling to the visiting tribes, brokering deals, promising services, arranging future trade-points.
It is unknown if, at this point in time, or indeed any other, the Emporla have an official head of the tribe, or any functioning ruling body. This lack of a central authority for the tribe forfeits the tribe their place in the Circle, though this hardly bothers the busy traders who come to do business.
This presence at the Circle of Councils appears to be the main, most necessary, reason for the attendance of many of the smaller tribes, providing much needed regular supplies to those living in the most hostile of hbitats. As well as the indigenous tribes, several of those few groups of Imperial citizens who have, for whatever reason, left the safety of the Hivebergs or cityports, attend the meeting, though not the Circle. It is known that [suitably noble sounding Imperial name] is attempting to inegrate his gruop of runaways, escapees and outcasts into a new society, that of the tribes. The Emporla are key to this attempt and others like it, providing expert trappers, foragers, weavers and lumberjacks to teach these growing tribes self sufficiency. Equally important are the public displays of trustworthyness the Emporla allow these groups to show, the respect gained as a functioning part of the ecosystem more valuable to the ex-Imperials than any amount of tribute payed to other tribes.
Those Crowns in the first line are Mart-ian, not marshan, obviously.