Moku

The Moku, a term in their language which simply means “island man,” appear to be seven-to-eight foot tall humanoids with monochromatic skin. Unfortunately, the native inhabitants cannot bask in the natural beauty of their moon because of a bacterial symbiote shared by their race called Helioschosis, which turns them to stone whenever exposed to direct sunlight.
A deeply religious people who worship a Sun Goddess, the Moku came into conflict with the Homyn Kingdom when the latter sought to annex their moon and incorporate the Moku people into their society. While the cultural exchange brought some benefits to the Moku, such as a cure for Helioschosis and the invention of an artificial Cloudhead that could be controlled using alchemy to provide shade over their holy sites, ultimately the two people came to blows when the Lunar Brigade declared martial law on the moon and attempted to exterminate the Moku religion. Thankfully, with the help of the Party, the Moku successfully rebelled and the Party's good friend, Tempi, ascended to become the high priest of the Moku people.

Politics

Prior to the Homyn annexation of Nimbus, leadership of the Moku's main tribe, Hopaku City, was divided among three tribal elders. The high priest ruled whenever the city rested on holy land or during times of scarce clouds; the high fisherman ruled whenever the city moved onto fertile fishing ground or into leviathan territory; and the high warrior whenever the city moved through hostile territory. The city’s permanent settlement on holy land during the Homyn annexation unintentionally shifted the power dynamic of the Moku people to a theocratic monarchy. With the tribe no longer mobile, the high priest controlled the city’s day-to-day affairs and continued in his role as the conduit between his people and the Goddess.
During the annexation the Homyn Kingdom held authority above the local rulers. Alyn Arkades, a count of a venerable line who was always more interested in academics than rule, took the job under the belief that he could elevate the Moku people using the three edicts of the Homyn scientific method. His work with the Moku began during his tenure at the academy when he invented the cloudheads that protect the Moku from the sun. Now he aims to find a cure for Helioschosis to give them true freedom from the control of outsiders; be they homyn or Goddess.

Culture

Religion, particularly when on holy ground, is the dominant force of Moku culture. Their people worship an unnamed sun Goddess who they believe to be their creator and protector. One of the primary tenets of this religion is the prohibition against the crime of hubris; a general term for using the products of metallurgy or similar advanced technology. The Moku believe that their condition is a punishment from the Goddess meted out long ago by wielding fire that did not come from the sun.
The Altar of the Goddess, a massive chunk of sea coral that appears to bend The Dream World around it, is the center of Moku culture. They believe that the altar is where the Goddess first created the Moku and it is where the high priest communes with her. The altar itself seems to have an unstable relationship with space. It has no entrances yet some can enter it simply by walking through a wall. Those Homyn who have glimpsed the inside of the tower report that it is bigger on this inside than on the outside.
Outside of religion, the Moku people enjoy both fishing and recreational martial arts. When times are good, the divide between work and leisure is almost nonexistent among Moku, with individual members of the tribe free to move between the warrior and fishing tribes to enjoy sports and fishing for the benefit and defnese of the city or go into the monastery to pray and study ancient texts.

Military

Moku settlements guarded by the high priest’s monks; a group of martial artists who practice Kapu Lua; a form of fighting that leverages sunlight to strike when the Moku’s body becomes stone and then quickly pulling away before the petrified Helioschosis takes a permanent hold of them . The monks act as a sort of police and military force throughout the city, but they are generally benevolent toward the population. In addition to traditional Kapu Lua fighting techniques, the Moku Goddess imparted an even more powerful martial art to her chosen monks. However, these techniques are kept secret and only revealed during times of great danger. They are hidden in plain sight as the Goddess's prayer forms are actually slowed down versions of these techniques, ensuring that only the Goddess's most faithful will have access to them.
On the seas, the Moku enjoy the protection of a Stone Shark navy. Only the Moku fishermen know the secrets to domesticating these animals, and they can harry even large ships by punching holes into them with their petrified heads.
Despite having few advanced defenses, the Moku face many threats. Pirate Queen Agni, the lover of a disgraced High Warrior founded a crew of pirates known as the Salamanders who abandoned the ways of the Goddess. However, she has stopped interfering with the Moku now that they are no longer beholden to her Homyn enemies. Cultists who worship an ancient kraken named Keli Ki also occasionally pose a threat to

History

The Moku first arose on Nimbus following the clouds to shield themselves from frequent solar flares that plagued Nimbus. Eventually, they settled in the smog clouds of the moon's great active volcanoes--founding their first city on Mount Laho and a second on Gargoyle Peak. With reliable cloud cover, the Moku rose to become an industrial society with advanced metallurgical techniques that could be used to forge metals as well as the flesh and spirit. From the outset the Moku placed a high value on religion, and in their early days their Goddess would walk among the people to share her wisdom directly. She even took a lover in their King Laho, imparting the secrets of The Dream World and spirit forging to him.
However, in his lust to see his people spread across Nimbus, Laho used the Goddess's techniques for forbidden purposes. He looked upon the wildlife on Nimbus and coveted their ability to shield themselves from solar flares by temporarily turning their skin to stone. Using his forging techniques, he tried to graft this power onto the Moku to calamitous results. The Helioschosis bacteria he extracted from the animals became virulent, attaching to the entire Moku civilization. The lucky ones survived the outbreak, cursed with skin that would petrify them permanently with prolonged exposure to sunlight. Those that were not so lucky had their brains infected by Helioschosis, turning them into the rabid, zombie-like Haole.
The Moku took this event as a sign and punishment from the Goddess against their hubris. With her encouragement, they chose to abandon their technology and return to a simple and humble life. They swore off technology and wandered the moon following the clouds. Over time, they adopted religious codes that would ensure their culture and technology would remain forever fixed, so that the hubris of technology would never bring them so close to extinction again.
They continued under this system for centuries, living simply and content but often dangerous lives following the clouds. However, their ossified society came to a breaking point when Alyn Arkades took notice of them. A former lover of the Goddess himself, he sought to uplift the Moku people using the Homyn Kingdom's technology. First, he provided them with an artificial cloud called a Cloudhead that would allow them to settle permanently over their holy sites. The Moku High Fisher, Mano, as the person charged with ensuring his people did not starve, saw great benefit in this technology and agreed to let the moon be annexed by the Homyn in order to spread its proliferation.
Now Count of the moon, Alyn Arkades next moved on to seeking a cure for Helioschosis. He encountered more resistance on this front both because of the idea's blasphemous implications as well as the shift in leadership toward the priesthood that occured when the tribe moved to the Goddess's altar. Alyn found himself increasingly coming into conflict with the Moku, all while receiving more and more pressure from the Homyn Kingdom to develop his cure so that able bodied Moku soldiers could be used for the Kingdom's military.
Things quickly spiraled out of control when Alyn was taken into captivity by Moku pirates. Seeing an imminent threat to the annexation (or perhaps an opportunity in the sympathetic Count's absence), the presiding member of the Lunar Brigade, Brigadier General Howe declared martial law in the city and began executing monks. Luckily, Alyn Arkades and the Party returned to the city just in time to stop the Moku's religion from being eradicated and together they helped the Moku defeat Howe.
Now that the Moku are free from Homyn rule, they wander once more, shifting the burdens of leadership to those most skilled at handling their current environment. However, the coup and rebellion also saw a shift within the Moku's own hierarchy when Alyn Arkades' bodyguard, Tempi, ascended to the high priesthood. Tempi oversees a much more permissive view of Moku religion, allowing Moku to choose whether to follow the Goddess's path and even visit foreign worlds should they so choose now that a cure for Helioschosis is available. However, Tempi is young and inexperienced, and whether he will see his vision for the Moku people take hold in the long term remains to be seen.