'A Sre'án

General introduction

When the Duiniken were pushed out of their homeland by the Messellat Mdûlûn and the Tarrabaenians, not all of them fled into the East to Nuat Duinis Talou. Some smaller groups made the arduous way into the Ipindi and Hruzk Mountains south of the Moiyeli Swamplands. They founded small settlements there, mostly of a few dozen individuals, which they called taiken faken (Duinis 'Éch for 'small villages'; sg.: taihh fahh).

The biggest of these settlements is 'A Sre'án,which lies sheltered in a narrow valley just south of the Moiyeli Swamplands. It has become kind of a centre of Duiniken culture among the many small societies in the mountains there.

History and culture

'A Sre'án was not the first Duiniken settlement in the Hruzk and Ipindi Mountains. When the place was discovered, there were already six or seven small villages around. The place lended itself to become a larger, albeit not too large settlement, though. A constant fear of the Duiniken is the attention of the Umoyaleyn of the Moiyeli Swamplands, which they want to avoid at any cost. Thus only about 300 people are allowed to live there at any one time. Some families are established and have their family seats in the valley. Their family members move out when the number of inhabitants grows to much and move back in, when older family members die.

With this setup, there is always a flow of information to and from the settlement. It has thus become a place of conservation of Duiniken culture. This conservational effort is not centralised, though, since they Duiniken still heed their old dynasty and since no aristocats have joined the few Duiniken moving to the South, their society is quite egalitarian. Thus all conservation that takes place does so in the hands of the individual families. Many members of these small societies can read and a few less can even write, which has proven an important skill, especially considering the small settlements are tightly connected to one another and work together for defense, education and economy. Written accounts on numerous topics are kept within the more well off families, keeping track of trades, debts, marriages, but also more casual things like travels, visitors, notes on agriculture and forms of trivial literature endemic to these small communities. While innovation has taken place in the field of literature, the local form of Duinis 'Éch is still remarkably similar to Proto-Duinis 'Éch.

'A Sre'án is connected to the other faken taiken through mountain passes. The opening of the valley to the Moiyeli Swamplands is never traversed for safety reasons. There are two small outlooks at the opening, to keep watch for the Umoyaleyn. Even though the situation would be hopeless in case of an attack, due to their small numbers, 'A Sre'án has a small security force, armed with knives and axes. The weapons are kept in a storage room in the settlements centre and are available for everyone at any given time. Also young Men and women come and get training in 'A Sre'án to be able to defend their own small taihh fahh as best they can.

Role in current history and relationship to Nuat Duinis Talou

Since the Moiyeli Swamplands are a most inhospitable place and the local Umoyaleyn only add to the places natural state of being unwelcoming and unforgiving, there is no contact the North, where there would be only the Umoyaleyn and the Tarrabaenians, which are both either feared or shunned by the Duiniken. To the East there are the Andaperna people, who almost never travel so far into the western mountains as to actually encounter the Duiniken. If they do, they do so for only very rare and exclusive trading goods. Further to the South are only the Messellat Mdûlûn, arch-enemies of the Duiniken, who prefer to stay out of the mountains because of an old peace treaty with the Umoyaleyn and are thus unaware of the Duinikens presence there.

This makes the Duiniken of 'A Sre'án and the other taiken faken an isolated and closed society, which is not even aware of their fellow Duinikens rise in the East. Likewise, the Duiniken of Nuat Duinis Talou are unaware of them.

Type

Village