The People of Boricubos
Ethnicities of Boricubos
So long as the people of Boricubos have existed, there were many cultural differences between them, but also a deep understanding that each played an important role in the natural ecosystem that was the archipelago. This of course changed with the civil war that is brewing on the islands of Boricubos, but there are many who remembered the harmony that existed before the conflict between the gods. The anabaguas and coquían served as protectors of the jungle, making sure no one race desecrated the lands. The iguacas advanced magical studies beyond what was thought imaginable. The baracúden protected the borders from the invading adaro and sahuagins. The taínem, hurákani, and wolákani all made the coasts and cities a lively place, building where they were permitted by their brethren and increasing not only in technological prowess but in culture as well, as heroes and priests alike were remembered through story. But now that peace and harmony is broken. The races of Boricubos seem more fractured than ever before, and it is unknown if things can ever go back to the way they were.
Ancestries of Boricubos
Taínem
There are seven primary races of people within Boricubos, with each playing an important role in the cycle of life on the island as well as their roles in The Civil War that has recently broken out. The first and most common of these races are a tribe of humans called the Taínem Ancestry. Before the war, their expansive populace made them the de facto leaders on the island of Boricubos, with many towns being structured around their priests known as Behiques as a council that advises the Cacique (chief) of each community. Though other races are allowed to be behiques and caciques, however the position is traditionally filled by a taínem except in communities deep in the forest and underwater. This is because the taínem sustain their way of life by growing crops and fishing by the coasts of each island on the archipelago, with trade happening between villages of different races in order to gain materials and crops that a singular village could not get by themselves.
Wolákani
The main ally of the taínem in the war and before the war are the Wolákani Ancestry, hybrids between earth and fire elementals given a greater sense of sentience by the gods. Whereas the Taínem Ancestry mainly provide for each of their villages by producing food through crops, fishing, and occasionally hunting, the wolákani are builders and craftspeople, aiding in their own way by creating homes, weapons, and jewelry, even teaching the other races on the archipelago how to tattoo themselves using superheated bits of wood or bone. The opposite of the wolákani are the Hurákani Ancestry, who were made up of the gods fusing water and air elementals and giving them a soul. The hurákani were primarily magic users on Boricubos, helping out whenever mundane methods were ineffective and especially adamant in aiding the defense of the archipelago’s borders. Before the civil war, they were fun loving people, laid back and attempted to ease the burdensof other people by helping with miscellaneous tasks wherever they could so that they too could live a fulfilling life. This changed with the war, and now the hurákani and wolákani are at each other’s throats, and though they were once the greatest of allies, they are now the bitterest of enemies.
Hurákani
Ever since the war started the Hurákani Ancestry have found fast allies with the Baracúden Ancestry, the primary warriors on the island and defenders of Boricubosan shores. Boricubos has always been at threat from the Adaro Ancestry and Sahuagin Ancestry peoples, who each come from foreign waters. Lately they have settled in nearby waters, waiting to attack the people of Boricubos whenever they can in order to steal resources and make the archipelago their own, however, the baracúden have pushed them back at nearly every turn, defending the archipelago to the best of their ability. This resilience and bravery is not to be forgotten however, the baracúden have been less and less able to defend the borders from the adaro and sahuagin invaders as the civil war moves on as they now have to worry about threats from the land as well as the sea.
Iguacas
Meanwhile on the mainland, honing their skills as warriors are the Iguacas Ancestry, avian humanoids who are self-proclaimed masters of magic. According to Boricubosan legend, they were the ones who originally invented magic, but the gods found it far too powerful a gift to leave in the hands of one race, and so distributed it amongst the other races of Boricubos. The iguacas meanwhile were soon forgotten as the original creators and never given the proper respect that they deserve; as such they grew jealous of the other races and before the war were rather introverted. Once the civil war began, however, they were quick to offer up their services as mercenaries to both sides of the war in an attempt to prove themselves as worthy warriors and mages and climb the social ladder of Boricubos so that when the war is over, the other races will respect them and perhaps even see them as the new leaders of the island rather than the Taínem Ancestry.
Anabaguas
But there are two races who want nothing to do with the war: the Anabagua Ancestry and the Coquían Ancestry. The anabaguas are a race of flower-like people who are the oldest race on the island, and though they often refuse positions of leadership, they are happy to offer their ancient advice to the other races whenever possible. Recently, however, they have begun to suffer a disease known only as The Blight, which is killing off all the elders. Though they keep this a secret such that only the coquían know the extent of the devastation caused by The Blight, around twenty-five percent of the anabagua population has been wiped out by this mysterious disease. Anabaguas who have survived The Blight have attributed the war on Boricubos as the cause of the disease, stating that as the first race on the archipelago, so long as things in Boricubos are out of balance, they will continue to die off. As such, they try their best to negotiate peace wherever possible and keep themselves safe by isolating themselves in Boricubos’ massive jungles.
Coquían
Finally, there is the main ally of the Anabagua Ancestry, the Coquían Ancestry. Though they are also neutral in the war, they are heavily sought out by all races on the island as behiques who deal with spirits of the dead who can deal with aiding the passage of the dead onto the afterlife and the creation of Zemi, idols which host the spirits of the dead. These zemi are necessary to appease powerful people who have died in life and do not want to be forgotten by the family and friends they left alive. Not all zemi are beneficial however, with some becoming malicious constructs that attack those who leave them neglected for too long. Whenever this happens a coquían Behique is called to talk down the zemi, or in the worst-case scenario, destroy it completely.
Adaro and Sahuagin
These races once lived in harmony, but The Civil War changed all of that. Boricubos’ borders are now ripe for the picking by the Adaro Ancestry and Sahuagin Ancestry, and recent developments show that dragons once lived in or near Boricubos making them a potential threat for the future; will they rise again, and if so, what does the oldest race on Boricubos, the Anabagua Ancestry, know about them? They claim nothing, but the anabagua elders are all dead from The Blight, so there is no telling what is the truth.
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