Anacanoa Antiyabey
Across the islands of the Carneman, the name Anacanoa inspires a complex mix of awe, unease and righteous anger. To some, she is a radical zealot and warmonger, while others view her as a fierce and unwavering defender bent on avenging a lifetime of wrongs suffered by the islanders.
Anacanoa Antiyabey was born on the small island of Quisa in the Guetoya Archipelago, the eldest daughter of a fishing family in the village of Zui. She grew up with her parents, grandparents and siblings under the same roof, a humble life and the prospects of a humble future ahead of her. She did not begrudge this but was content with her lot, happy and willing to contribute in whatever small way she could to her family, community and cacique.
Unfortunately, her life was to be irrevocably changed. When she was seventeen years of age, the village of Zui was attacked in a vicious raid by a warshoal of sea devils. All Carneman islanders grow up to beware of the brutal and cruel fish-folk that dwell in the deeper waters of the Carneman Sea, who attack fishing boats and coastal villages, plundering and stealing victims away to be sacrificed in their sunken temples. The animosity between the islanders and the sea devils had persisted for generations, but the attack on Zui was something different. Rarely do the sea devils so utterly desolate a surface settlement, preferring to come and go in a swift attack before retreating, leaving perhaps a dozen dead or kidnapped. Zui on the other hand was left a broken and deserted ruin, and only five villagers were able to escape.
Anacanoa was one of those survivors, along with only one of her siblings, her six-year-old brother Bohio. Every other member of their family had been slain or were now missing, and with Zui razed, they were forced to make a dangerous journey through the wilderness before they reached safety in a larger village. Over the following years, Anacanoa and Bohio did their best to recover and go on with their lives, though the memory of that terrible day never left them, and within Anacanoa in particular, a gnawing and bitter seed of resentment had taken root. Daily she would dwell on the memory of that terrible day, the savagery the sea devils had done to her family and tribe, and in her solitary moments she wished and prayed to see a vengeance worthy of the gods brought down on the accursed foe of all who breathed air above the sea.
At first, she devoted herself to Ranguajoa, the Carneman deity of battle. She took lessons in the art of combat and war from his wandering battle priests and warriors, and while she excelled, something about Anacanoa disquieted them. She made no secret of her hatred of the sea devils, and her wish to see them suffer and pay for generations of shed blood, and perhaps it was this that made most of the Ranguajoan faithful turn her away, refusing to induct her into their faith completely. Anacanoa grew despondent, feeling as lost and helpless as she had on the day her village was destroyed. Her brother Bohio seemed to have healed and come out the other side, growing up to be a confident and admired member of their adoptive community, yet all Anacanoa could feel was the sense that she had failed everyone they had lost.
Perhaps in time she might have succeeded in putting it all behind her if Ku'pui had not found her.
Ku'pui is a ceti, an ascended spirit of Nawaquivoan legend. Appearing as an eerily beautiful yet menacing stingray, Ku'pui is a spirit of retribution and cruel vengeance, and she came to Anacanoa one night as Anacanoa lingered near the shore, her thoughts as dark as the ink-black waters before her. With honeyed words, Ku'pui told Anacanoa that she had seen what was in her heart and swore that it could be achieved. Ku'pui vowed to lend her aid to Anacanoa's quest but told her that she could not hope to prevail against the sea devils in their underwater realms alone. She would need to prepare and to rally others to her side, others who had lost family and friends and been denied their vengeance by the gods. That night, Anacanoa bound herself to Ku'pui and to her purpose.
Anacanoa returned home to her brother and told him what had happened. She had expected him to be as galvanised and eager as she was, once he had heard that the revenge they had dreamed about for so long was in fact attainable. Instead, Bohio shook his head and in sadness rejected her proposal. He told her that he had long ago chosen to leave behind his anger at what had happened, and he did not share the anger and bitterness that so drove her. He had a family of his own now, a wife and children and a new community that needed him, whom he would not abandon to chase a dream that would lead only to death. He begged Anacanoa to give up this crusade she seemed intent on starting, to try and find peace as he had.
But Anacanoa couldn't. Despite the hurt at her brother's rejection and the outrage she felt at him seemingly having abandoned the memory of their parents, siblings and community, she loved him still. But she knew also in that moment, looking at her little brother and his new family, that she could never have what he had found. Her destiny was down a darker road than his, but she would not hide from it any longer. After a final, tear-filled goodbye to Bohio, Anacanoa left, her heart steeled and her course set before her.
Since then, Anacanoa has travelled widely among the islands and shores of Nawaquivo, visiting many of the settlements and towns of the Tanigua, Siroken and all the other tribes. She has even spent time within the bustling port city of Porto del Paradiso and the foggy harbours of Mayuna. Wherever she goes, she seeks out those who have suffered and lost at the webbed hands of the sea devils, and to them she preaches of a coming reckoning, swearing that together they will discover the means to rid the world of the vile fish-folk once and for all. Through some strange yet fortuitous portent, she and her followers have repeatedly arrived in time to aid some coastal settlement or seabound vessel just as they come under attack by a sea devil warshoal, fighting with a furious zeal that has carried her and her followers to victory again and again. With each battle her legend has spread and those who swear themselves to her cause increase. Her name has become a watchword across Nawaquivo for furious, righteous anger, a call to crusade that gathers strength with every town she visits. While many view her fervour and bellicosity as dangerous fanaticism, there are always others who find themselves swept up by her passion and unwavering commitment to seeing their ancestral enemy pay for generations of suffering.
Anacanoa now leads a widespread faction of committed fighters, calling themselves the Voices of the Drowned, in memory of all those whom have been carried off beneath the waves by the sea devils. Anacanoa herself has acquired her own vessel of Cassamoran design, the Ghost of Zui, and she sails the waters of Nawaquivo, keeping counsel with a hand-picked selection of her most committed followers, as well as secret communions with Ku'pui. Soon, she promises, the final day of reckoning approaches.
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