Kizhva
The Kizhva people of the Manmosu Islands have long been subjugated and oppressed by the Empire of Wamato. The Empire seized the islands shortly after the Mekongga conquest of Lahat, seeking to establish a naval presence in the south as a counter to any Mekonggan ambitions in their direction. In the process, they decimated the indigenous Kizhva, forcing them from the largest of the Manmosu Islands entirely, and restricting their trade with other people. In the days before the conquest, the Kizhva maintained an extensive trade network throughout the Southwestern Region of the Great Ring. The Manmosu Islands are an important waypoint between the larger islands of Lahat and Kojima, located about five hundred miles north of Lahat and about a thousand miles south of the Empire. While the islands are technically a protectorate of Wamato, in practice they are now the southernmost portion of the Imperial domain.
Before the conquest, the Kizhva did not identify themselves as a single people. Instead, they identified by their specific island of origin, and then by their home village. There are eight islands the make up the Manmosu, and each island had multiple villages. The different tribes of the Kizhva existed in a state of friendly rivalry - they traded and competed with each other, and mostly did not resort to violence. When war did threaten, it was constrained to specific rules that all sides adhered to, and that limited the conflict to the warriors who volunteered to fight. Outside observers of Kizhva warfare reported that it resembled a very aggressive game more than an all-out war, where injuries were common, but outright slaughter was fairly rare.
One of the most distinctive features of Kizhva communities was their domestication of the pygmy mammoth native to the Manmosu Islands, which called the Zoyot. These animals are similar to their larger cousins far to the north on Kitlineq, but they stand only six feet high at the shoulder, and typically weigh about 2,000 pounds. The Kizhva used them for all manner of labor before the conquest, and these highly intelligent animals were at the heart of Kizhva folklore.
Since the conquest, the traditional pattern of life on the Manmosu has been disrupted. The Yanjin of Wamato have cleared the largest island, Chowinga, for their own use. They forced the inhabitants of Chowinga to relocate to the other islands, executing any who resisted the move. The displaced Kizhva had to either form new villages or integrate into existing ones. After the relocation, the Yanjin continued to undermine the Kizhva social structure, reorganizing the islands to minimize effective resistance. They broke up villages and families, and organized prison labor camps for anyone who sought to oppose the new regime. They established a figurehead governor as ruler over all the islands, selecting them from one of the smallest and least liked villages, and encouraged them to enforce their authority by the harshest means possible, while claiming the bulk of all agricultural products for trade, primarily with Wamato's southern prefectures. The governor, backed by the Yanjin military, worked to keep the Kizhva villages at a subsistence level of survival, with the intent that they would be too focused on acquiring food to organize a resistance. They denied them the use of the Zoyot, and slaughtered huge numbers of them to prevent them from aiding the Kizhva in their labors. Furthermore, they banned the Kizhva the use of boats, and the Wamato navy will attack and sink any unauthorized boat in the area aroung the Manmosu.
Despite all this, the Kizhva continue to survive, and even to make plans to resist the Yanjin invaders. Their efforts have not yet borne fruit, but they have not surrendered their lives or their culture, and have been seeking support of other small island nations not yet under the control of the great powers.
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