-XXVIII-
"A People of Plains and Cliffs"
In the hottest and driest regions of the Imaru Basin grew up perhaps the most influential culture of Fusanian civilisation. This civilisation, the Aipakhpam people, overcame the parching summer heat, endless scrub, and towering cliffs of the Mid-Imaru and its tributaries to build an enduring civilisation which produced a legacy of innovation and brilliance established the very concept of Fusania. One might see this Aipakpam brilliance in every part of their world from its spiritual and economic center, the great fishing and trading entrepot of Wayam, to villages in the distant reaches of scrublands and canyons. They spiritually compared themselves as inhabitants of the center of the world to river banks and fertile plains, hence the meaning of Aipakhpam, "the People of the Plains".
The Aipakhpam inhabited a rugged land of canyons, coulees, and dry rivers with rich yet easily erodable loess soils on top of basalt and granite. Countless eons of volcanism, flooding, and glaciation shaped their homeland. Their land posed a stark contrast to those lands outside. To the west lay nearly impenetrable mountains on the other side of which lay a land of forests and plentiful water, while to the east lay similarly impenetrable mountains beyond which lay an endless grassland. To the south lay a vast desert with barely any water while to the north their plateau became constricted with mountains and lacked the open landscape they knew. This contributed to Aipakhpam believes considering themselves the people at the center of the universe.
The Aipakhpam culturally fused with some easterly groups of Namals in ancient times at the falls of Wayam. The ancient town of Itsagitkkhoq formed one of the five ancient communities at the Falls of Wayam, alongside Sk'in and Wapaikht on the northern side of the river and Wakhlaitq'ish and Wayam proper on the south side. Unlike the other four communities, Itsagitkkhoq formed itself as a typical Namal community in frequent contact with its western neighbours. Other Aipakhpam communities in the west like Tinainu on the other side of the Imaru from the Namal city of Nikhluidikh similarly inherited this western influence. From the Namals came elements crucial to later Aipakhpam culture, such as their hierarchal society of slaves, commoners, and nobles, their aquatic agriculture, and their ceremonies, although many times the Aipakhpam placed their own spin on this. For instance, an Aipakhpam ruler typically relied far more on his subordinates to enforce his rule, and especially relied on the support on the councils which confirmed his election.
The Aipakhpam identified with their individual communities first and foremost, which typically were villages of 75 to 100 people in a few extended families. The heads of these village clans typically were nobles and formed the village councils who elected the miyuukh, the village headman, typically from amongst the sons, brothers, nephews, or cousins of the previous miyuukh. The miyuukh appointed a senwitla, usually translated as "herald" (but in larger communities as "vizier" or "chancellor"), who acted as a go-between for the miyuukh and his people, especially the nobility. The miyuukh also appointed roles in the community like the fishing chief and chief medicine man, and also organised the community's defense. These villages typically oriented themselves toward one of the Five Cities of the Aipakhpam for their economic self-interest, and with it often ended up adopting the identity of that city although their first identity would be that of their home village.
At key spots in the river, villages tended to aggregate into large villages and town several hundred people or more, thousands in the case of the Five Cities. Occasionally they even crossed rivers, even the large Imaru River, although some cross-river communities like Kw'sis and Chemna remained separate. These communities held multiple miyuukhs as a remnant of their history, and these miyuukhs tended to elect a ruler over the whole community, called a miyawakh. The miyuukhs and a few other nobles formed a council (a legacy that survives into the modern era, as "miyuukh" is the term in Aipakhpam for city council member and "miyawakh" is the term for mayor) who helped govern the town or city albeit unlike in smaller villages, the miyawakh held the functions of appointing the senwitla and other functionaries.
The origin and spread of hierarchial states has been documented globally, but no concrete singular cause ever determined for why they arose. Amongst the Aipakhpam, archaeology shows they once possessed a society structured similarly to the Ancestral Cayuse and Amorera to their south, groups who similarly long lived in the region and spoke languages which while unrelated to Aipakhpam, possessed many shared features. In these societies, hereditary leaders, nobility, and slaves existed, but the powers of the ruler remained limited and largely ceremonial. He could not simply order others around as he pleased, and people who dissented from him might freely leave the community and live at another. A society like this prevailed amongst the Aipakhpam during the Irikyaku period and immediately after.
The 8th century saw consolidation of this model of society and the emergence of a state society amongst the Aipakhpam, starting at Wayam. This occurred for several reasons. First, drought in that century caused less availability of wild and lightly managed plants, forcing an intensification of agriculture to feed the expanding population. This intensification required the devotion of more labour toward building earthworks, which required families to combine their efforts and borrow tools and animals from wealthier families. These families expected something in return for their gifts, which meant labour and tribute.
Second, overhunting of animals, overgrazing of lands, and especially deforestation further required intervention from nobles and other elites to preserve the remaining resources. It made people ever more reliant on gifts and redistribution in the form of animal hides and reindeer to live their daily lives. Third, the dawning of the Copper Age and spread of metallurgy on the Imaru Plateau starting around 750 AD added yet another system which increased the power of the wealthy as they had the most access to the finished goods and tools which were of high value. Fourth, an increase of warfare thanks to the Coastmen raids to the west provided models for these incipient states as well as the need to organise additional defense. Thus, by the end of the 8th century one can speak of organised states in the area possessing the rudimentary bureaucracy necessary to function, models that frequently cross-polinated thanks to exogamy amongst the elites and commoners alike.
Some cities held distinct governance as part of their heritage. The most common was diarchic rule, where cross-river communities merged into one yet retained two miyawakhs, typically brothers or ruler-and-heir. Such rule was practiced at places like Wayam and Chemna until the 13th century. Other communities held a miyawakh for peacetime and a miyawakh for wartime, each miyawakh representing an opposing moiety, this form apparent at Ktlatla and Winacha. Yet others were ruled by a single dominant miyawakh, common in the southern fringe at places like Imatelam.
These larger communities typically gained the support of smaller villages from around, but often themselves fell under the economic domination of the Five Cities of Aipakhpam. In later times, some of these miyuukhs of important cities like Wayam ranked among the most important of Aipakhpam nobles. In many cases, miyawakhs intermarried with the families of miyuukhs to exert greater control over them through kinship bonds. In other cases, the miyawakhs themselves organised the founding of new villages, usually under a lesser relative (including in-laws), in order to gain long-lasting (but not necessarily permanent) allies and new resources to increase community wealth. These communities especially relied on their kin in the initial years for improving the land, defense, and accruing wealth.
As elsewhere, the potlatch ceremony dominated politics. The Aipakhpam held their potlatches in a manner similar to the Namals, holding them to commemorate weddings, births, and deaths. Amongst the Aipakhpam however, these were less important than the seasonal potlatches held which attracted much greater attendance and featured greater displays of wealth. They held three of these seasonal potlatches, the first shortly after the First Salmon ceremony (or in some places, after the First Camas ceremony), the second after the ripening of berries in the autumn, and the last at midwinter, occurring in the days after the frenzied winter spirit dances and signalling a return to normalcy.
Like many Fusanian groups, the Aipakhpam relied heavily on salmon for meat consumption. The Fishing Chief, a position appointed by the village or city-state leader on the basis of spiritual power, controlled the harvest of fish and salmon in particular, being able to forbid fishing in the river on certain occasions. The chief medicine man, the
twati, caught the first fish and ceremonially presented it to the leader of his community. In front of an audience of the notables of the village, he dismembered the fish and separated the blood and bones from the meat in order to manipulate the spiritual force (
taakh) in charge of all salmon. Then he boiled the salmon and offered the first piece to the community's leader and the second to the Fishing Chief, and then offered the rest to the people present. The people danced and sang afterwards while the twati returned to his home with the fish blood and bones to pray over them. Five days later, he (or a proxy) swam into the river to scatter the blood and bones in a ritual fashion to best spiritually manipulate the fish into being easy to catch.
Similar ceremonies (termed
k'awit) accompanied the harvesting of crops. For the Aipakhpam, the most important was the camas ceremony due to its importance to nutrition. The wife of the village leader accompanied by her husband, the twati and his wife, and other nobles ceremonially dug the first camas bulb out of the field and divided it in a similar manner to the salmon ceremony. The remnants of the plant they reburied in the earth to ensure a good harvest. Each important crop was associated with its own ceremony, as well as some wild plants like berries, where the ripening of berries was accompanied with great excitement.
The Aipakhpam believed in similar origin myths to other Imaru Basin peoples. The distant sun god, Anyai, sent the great Transformer Coyote (also called Spilyai) down from the heavens (along with his five sisters) to the future site of Wayam. He slew the great demon Naishtla who had destroyed the world four times before and devoured all of its inhabitants. Afterwards, he granted spiritual names and roles to all the people and spirits freed from Naishtla, and confined Naishtla to a deep pool in the Imaru River at the mouth of the Wanwahi River [1], just upstream from Wayam. Coyote performed many great deeds, establishing spiritual laws, and slaying evil. He created the first
kaapin (foot plow) to destroy a dam built by five evil sisters at Wayam, allowing salmon to return there. With the world prepared for people, Coyote returned to the sky.
The belief in spirits known as
taakh influenced many aspects of Aipakhpam life and thought. Similar in concept to other animistic beliefs in Fusania, taakh inhabited every living creature and many rocks, lakes, mountains, and rivers. The Aipakhpam attempted to gain this taakh as a guardian spirit through completing ritual tasks and meditation at sacred locations which drew the spirits toward them and granted visions. Taakh needed to be maintained and their spiritual demands met, lest they flee and the owner become sick or die. Those with powerful taakh often performed great deeds or were destined to become medicine men, shamans, and priests. The greatest display of taakh occurred at midwinter spirit dances, called by a powerful spiritual leader at the behest of the ruler. Here, taboos were broken and frenzied dancing occurred so to "unchain" the taakh and fulfill their deepest needs.
Often the guardian spirit demanded they not eat the meat of animals that taakh similar to the spirit inhabited--for instance, a man with reindeer power never ate reindeer, even at ceremonies. A rare belief in other Fusanian communities, among the Aipakhpam (and their Tsupnitpelu kin) it was common. As a person might have multiple guardian spirits, this occasionally resulted in many sorts of meat becoming tabooed to the individual. Because of this, the Aipakhpam were known for their creativity in vegetarian cuisine (as common in Fusania, the Aipakhpam believed the spirits of plants and trees never offered themselves to humans as guardian spirits).
The Aipakhpam worshipped entirely outdoors, appealing to powerful gods who held control over the spirits in the world. They held rituals near sacred rocks and atop sacred mountains, although day to day people merely practiced simple rituals to ensure prosperity and success. At these mountain shrines--sacred groves tended to by priests--groups of people met to dance, meditate, and worship and left offerings there. The Aipakhpam believed these mountains themselves were gods. Their shamans however mostly practiced in underground rooms and temples forbidden to all but themselves and those they invited.
The most popular Aipakhpam cults were to Coyote, the ruler of hunting and warfare Eagle (Khwaamayai), the great messenger and doctor Raven (Khukhuuya), the sun god Anyai (who occasionally took the guise of the moon), the gods who lived in the Imaru River, and the gods who lived in the mountains, especially the twin gods Paato, the sister who lived on Mount Mishibato and the brother who lived on Mount Ruchabato [2]. Shrines and altars of piled stones or circles of wooden stakes lay scattered near sacred places to conduct offerings and meditation in an attempt to invoke these deities or spirits who served them to assist in functions of day to day life.
The Aipakhpam lands lacked many natural resources thanks to extensive volcanism 15 million years ago. Similarly, their land lacked extensive forest causing wood to be more precious in their territory. Only the northeastern edge of their territory along the mountains held forests and significant minerals, especially gold, silver, and copper. For this reason, the Aipakhpam relied on farming and especially pastoralism. They traded livestock and great amounts of preserved food in exchange for the necessary metals. Scarcity of these sources kept their craftsmen innovative and often focused on artistic or religious value. The Aipakhpam produced many gilded objects, including their famous mirrors, while Aipakhpam women wove impressive robes, blankets, and carpets of towey goat wool often woven with gold or silver thread. The artisanal focus of the regional economy contributed to the growth of major centers.
The Imaru River formed a natural trade route linking communities for hundreds of kilometers around. Natural rapids created both great fishing sites and sites which required portages, forming points where many people gathered to fish and trade and thus the nucleus of later great cities. The greatest of these lay at the Falls of Wayam, where fishermen, merchants, and others gathered from every corner of the Imaru Basin and beyond. At this place a great trade route called the White Road began, and it stretched all the way to the Central Valley of South Fusania. The Wayamese and others mostly acted as middlemen, buying and selling goods such as gold from the north, shells from the west, bison robes from the east, and slaves from the south to those who met at Wayam for trade. While often eclipsed by the White Road to the west of the mountains in terms of trade volume, the amount of goods carried on this road proved essential for the Wayamese and broadly the Aipakhpam economy as a whole.
Unlike other civilised peoples, all but upper-class Aipakhpam families lived in pithouses dug into the ground. Houseposts supported the roof typically thatched from willow and the walls made from tules or additional rammed earth. While perfectly suitable homes for the harsher climate of the Plateau, these homes attracted derision from other civilised peoples (especially the Chiyatsuru), who considered the poor of the Aipakhpam as the poorest of all peoples and evidence of extreme tyranny and greed on the part of Aipakhpam nobles.
Before the 12th century, the wealthy lived in longhouses of the Namal style built from red cedar. They were distinguished from the Namals due to more extensive use of stone in the interior as well as distinctively Aipakhpam art on the houseposts where the usual depiction of ancestry and mythology was called for. Over the centuries the roofs and exteriors became increasingly elaborate in their curves and protrusions, making the Aipakhpam longhouse further distinct from the homes of nobles elsewhere. Many of these houses they dug into the cliffs, a privilege restricted to the nobility and certain shamans and priests thanks to the many rock formations in the cliffs believed to be people transformed in ancient times.
A significant number of Aipakhpam lived nomadic lives more akin to their distant ancestors, migrating seasonally between winter villages and summer locations where they raised herds of reindeer, towey goats, and smaller animals and hunted game. These pastoralists, led by a miyuukh, usually associated with a greater ruler to whom they carried on vital trade with. Most Aipakhpam believed these pastoralists were Hillmen who had become civilised and tended to look down on them, but often relied on their support in warfare thanks to their skill with the bow and sling. They played a vital role in assisting merchant communities of larger cities, and many migrated to those centers to work as traders and artisans.
Hemmed in between river and cliff, carving terraces became an essential task for the Aipakhpam people to gain additional land for growing food. Starting around 850 at Wayam, they carved out the rocks using a mixture of stone and metal tools to chisel out terrances. Priests supervised the process, picking auspicious days for work and making appropriate offerings so not to disturb the spirits who lived within the rocks, turned to stone in eras past by the Transformer. The Aipakhpam devised a combination of heating and freezing to weaken sections of the cliff to carve. They conducted much of the work during the winter, stoking fires during the day to keep the area warm before letting the night chill freeze the cliff, often with icy water poured on it. This working of water and fire was deeply rooted within the Aipakhpam worldview, as they represented two opposites which combined produced balance, a spiritually powerful balance which let even the solid cliffs be eroded away through human effort. After several nights or more, they cut into cliff, eventually hammering off huge chunks of rock which they used for material for levees or other earthworks.
This process continued until they had solid, level ground, which they covered with smooth stones, soil, and charcoal and allowed hardy plants like sweetvetch or hedges of alders to grow in seasons before planting other crops like camas. They carved channels and niches into the terrace to drain the soil, provide irrigation, and create pools for aquaculture. Some terraces they grazed towey goats on thanks to their steady-footed nature. Terrace construction took up increasing amounts of labour as they became increasingly elaborate by the early 11th century and spread up the cliffs all around major cities. By the 12th century, the earliest qanats--no doubt an outgrowth of terrace construction--appear at Wayam (and soon replicated elsewhere), supplying constant fresh water to the terraces and city.
The tall cliffs and deep canyons around many integral Aipakhpam cities created a unique settlement pattern. The "upper" cities held farming communities bound to the "lower" city by kinship and economic self-interest. These upper cities were linked to the lower city by vast staircases carved into the terraces and cliff and often ropes and simple ladders. Because of the difficulty of constructing the required amount of terracing and the infrastructure needed, these communities was associated with only the greatest Aipakhpam cities, such as Wayam, where the earliest and most elaborate community like this emerged. The spread of these is positively linked to increasing local wealth.
The evolution of terracing and political structures to rule the "upper" and "lower" towns only furthered the political development of the Aipakhpam. As terraces became increasingly complex, the elite of large centers gained yet another tool to coax more labour from the populace and also to dominate smaller towns and villages. By loaning out their livestock, tools, and workers, often in great numbers after a potlatch, the great miyawakhs forced lesser rulers into a dependence on them which they repaid via tribute and especially corvee labour termed
attl'awitpama (literally "asked for"). This process created tightly bound reciprocal trading networks in addition to the kinship networks already present, a process that by the 11th century was spiraling into the formation of city-state led confederations which were growing increasingly tighter and coalescing into something greater than either a city-state or a confederation.
The aforementioned Five Cities of the Aipakhpam and their ruling miyawakhs drove politics in this corner of Fusania. These cities and their immediate hinterlands possessed the largest economies and populations and routinely flexed their wealth against more distant communities both to aggrandise themselves and especially to acquire resources. Typically this brought them into conflict with more independent polities and other major cities be they Aipakhpam or others. To triumph in these conflicts, the Aipakhpam maintained diplomatic relations forged during festivals and ceremonies as well as alliances made through marriage and kinship.
Traditionally (although likely no earlier than the 11th century), the Five Cities of the Aipakhpam represented the strongest and most powerful city-states of the Aipakhpam. The Aipakhpam assigned to each city a cardinal direction, with Winacha in the north, Ktlatla in the west, Kw'sis in the east, Imatelam in the south, and Wayam in the center. Their hegemony emerged early on, since the dawn of the current world in the case of Wayam according to Aipakhpam legend as well as the sheer importance of it as a fishing and trading site. Other cities looked to these Five Cities as ceremonial centers and often as overlords or valuable allies.
Smaller cities existed in the orbit around these greater cities. A ruler styling themselves a miyawakh meant they demanded a degree of independence from other miyawakhs, although in practice these miyawakhs just as often accepted gifts and subservience from stronger leaders. Rulers in small communities who called themselves miyawakhs typically held strong personalities and were very successful at persuasion, hunting, and warfare, but if they had a less successful successor than that man would only call himself a miyuukh.
Wars between Aipakhpam cities and towns occurred often over the allegiance of the miyuukhs and lesser miyawakhs. They usually resolved disputes involving smaller cities through ceremonial combat at pre-arranged sites usually by sacred places with about twenty warriors on either side who fought to the death or surrender. For larger cities, these battles rarely solved the underlying issues and the conflicts turned into full-scale war. War parties of several hundred fought these campaigns, but the size of an army might be as high as 2,000 men. Villages were raided, women and children captured for slavery (or ransom if they might afford it), and livestock and other property taken. Wars might last for several years before one side agreed to peace, usually after the loss of too many allied villages or the defeat of a force of warriors in the field.
Against outsiders, the Aipakhpam cities generally held good relations with the Namals, albeit at times strained. Warfare with cities like Nikhluidikh (Wayam's main competitor immediately downstream) or the Itlkilak-Ninuhltidikh diarchy (often over tolls) always occurred in ceremonial fashion as ritual combats between small groups of warriors intended to limit the damage. Wayam began winning more and more of these battles in the 11th and early 12th century, strengthening their position in the region. The other great interactions with the Namals came from the frequent employment of mercenary bands led by Namals.
Relations with the Chiyatsuru depended on the city. Southerly Aipakhpam cities like Wayam and Imatelam cultivated good relations with Chiyatsuru leaders thanks to Chiyatsuru enmity with cities like Chemna, Ktlatla, and especially Winacha. These cities fought frequent wars with the Chiyatsuru (especially the city-states of Kawakhtchin and T'kuyatum) over control of the Mid-Imaru and especially the sparsely populated areas with vital hunting grounds to the east of the river. Often they attempted to coordinate their attacks with their Aipakhpam allies to varying degrees of success.
The Aipakhpam held a great enmity toward the Hillmen. They detested the Grey Mountains Dena thanks to their control over the mountain passes where they often extorted tolls higher than even the greedy Namals and especially their frequent raids for livestock and slaves. Ktlatla especially fought many wars with them, usually over control of the mixed Dena-Aipakhpam town Tlielam whose dynasty of miyawakhs were notorious for frequent shifts in their allegiance [3].
Yet the worst enemy was the Southern Hillmen, especially the Nama, Ancestral Cayuse, and Nihyoui Dena. Imatelam especially fought extensive wars against these desert-dwellers who frequently raided Imatelam's allies for livestock and slaves. The Southern Hillmen seemed to have endless numbers, capable of taking extensive losses in one war and sending an equal amount of warriors in the next. Still, the Aipakhpam frequently tried to settle in this country thanks to its ample land good for pastoralism and (with improvement) raising crops. The Wayamese especially became interested thanks to the rich trade of the Black Road that ran between Wayam and distant South Fusania. The frontier ebbed and flowed over the years thanks to the skill of the Southern Hillmen at warfare, and many rulers deemed it not worth the effort to promote settlement in the area.
The Five Cities gained their power through being at key sites along the Imaru and its tributaries and expanded to attract migration from the countryside, eventually subduing that countryside through links with said migrants or out of the need for flood control and resources to be found in the countryside. These Five Cities often used their economic or military pull to remove hostile miyuukhs and miyawakhs at will. The senwitla of one of these cities held incredible power as the man who ensured the orders of the miyawakh were heard and respected. Oral history records that no city-state--with one exception--was ever capable of defeating these Five Cities in the long run in terms of gaining influence over smaller centers and villages.
One exception defied this--in 980, the village of Chemna, immediately upstream from Kw'sis, revolted against the miyawakh of Kw'sis, historically claimed to be of Dena origin. With the assistance of several other cities resentful of Kw'sis's influence, the Chemnese sacked the city and took its wealth across the river to Chemna and appointed themselves miyawakhs. From that point on, Chemna supplanted Kw'sis as one of the Five Cities of the Aipakhpam although Kw'sis retained importance locally, with its Chemnese-appointed leader being nearly as important as the miyawakh of Chemna.
Other competitors existed to the Five Cities during the 9th and 10th centuries. Waapnisha [4], located at the southern edge of Aipakhpam lands, was in these years a major trading entrepot on the Black Road, sitting near an important mountain pass over the Grey Mountains leading to the north of the Irame Valley. Yet drought, conflicts within the Irame Valley, and deteriorating relations with the Dena and Amorera brought ruin to this city and forced it to increasingly rely on Wayam. In 1015 the Amorera sacked the city and sold most of its inhabitants as slaves over the mountains.
A brief revival occurred in the mid-11th century thanks to the growing trade on the Black Road, but a new regional rival, Taikh [5], emerged. Seeking to prove their loyalty to Wayam and receive more aid, in 1056 Waapnisha's ruler marched on Taikh and defeated them in battle in yet lost a great number of warriors. Seemingly believing these men to be easily replaced, the miyawakh of Waapnisha conducted ambitious campaigns against the Amorera and Nama the following year and won several victories at significant cost. His men exhausted from a major battle with the Nama, the Grey Mountains Dena attacked them as they returned home from a victory and slaughtered them. With few warriors left and the miyawakh dead, the Dena sacked Waapnisha and destroyed it in 1057. The city was never rebuilt and the site considered cursed--in later centuries it would emerge as one of the finest ruins of this era of Fusania.
The greatest wars in early times occurred over the Tabachiri Valley [6] between shifting alliances of Wayam, Ktlatla, and Kw'sis. Located at the center of the Aipakhpam world, the site of a key trade route over the Grey Mountains, and holding vast amounts of potentially fertile land, each power endeavoured to seize this area for themselves, with the key center of this region, Tsikik [7], attempting to assert its own control. Perhaps the most powerful Aipakhpam city outside the Five Cities, Tsikik reached its heights in the early 10th century as it held sway over numerous cities along the Tabachiri. Tsikik favoured good relations with the cities along the Whulge and also with Imatelam and Winacha and also cultivated good relations with some of the Chiyatsuru in order to strengthen their vital ally Winacha, who along with Ktlatla helped ensure a supply of metals.
Tsikik's chief rivals were Wayam and Kw'sis who sought to occupy parts of the valley but also to keep the area weak and divided. They feared a powerful challenger arising in that area, particularly Wayam who relied on the Satus Pass linking the Tabachiri and Imaru Basin for trade with Ktlatla and Winacha and nearby mountains for wood and grazing areas for their animals in the summer. While Tsikik held the advantage in much of the early 10th century in defeating Wayam and Kw'sis repeatedly their hegemony wouldn't last. Tsikik aggressively pushed their advantage, even killing the miyawakhs of both cities in two separate battles. Domestically, Tsikik extorted high tribute from villages and towns under their rule and demanded more warriors assist them in fighting. Further, they began making war against the Dena of the Grey Mountains and even raided across them to raid Shlpalmish villages.
While Tsikik gained great prosperity during this time, eventually this led to a breaking point. Around the mid-10th century, the Grey Mountains Dena confederated and allied with the Shlpalmish and launched reprisal raids. Worse, this caused the effective closure of many mountain passes, impacting the local economy especially through the essential supply of shells. This started a chain reaction which led to the fall of Tsikik's powers as several formerly allied towns revolted and refused to give tribute or supply warriors. Warfare against Kw'sis and Wayam continued, conflicts which this time Tsikik found itself on the losing side of as bands of warriors and raiders despoiled much of the valley. Villages fell abandoned or consolidated as their men died in conflict and population captured as slaves, irrigation channels became clogged, and earthworks smashed. Much of the population fled northwards to Ktlatla and especially Winacha, which remained mostly neutral in the fighting. Tsikik and other major towns of the Tabachiri Valley continued to fight amongst each for hegemony, never achieving anything more than local dominance. For this reason, Tsikik never became spoken of alongside the Five Cities.
The conflicts with Tsikik and the towns of the Tabachiri led directly to the fall of Kw'sis, one of the five cities of the Aipakhpam. Kw'sis led the charge in fighting the conflicts in the Tabachiri Valley to gain control over the majority of the river and its trade. The miyawakhs of Kw'sis routinely divided their gains of loot with Wayam in order to maintain the alliance with them and keep Tsikik from becoming too powerful. Much of the loot and gains from this war filtered into the village of Chemna located at the mouth of the Tabachiri where it flows into the Imaru leading it to grow quite powerful. Tradition holds that the miyawakh of Kw'sis, supposedly of Dena origin, disrespected Tamanwitkan, the miyuukh of Chemna by treating him as he might treat the miyuukh of a small village. Angered, he allied with Tsikik as well as Imatelam to fulfill his ambitious nature, who feared the enroachment of Kw'sis on its subjects, and in 980 AD declared himself the miyawakh of Chemna and sought tribute from Kw'sis's subjects.
Losing such an important city, the miyawakh of Kw'sis immediately moved to squelch this rebellion, but Tamanwitkan's charismatic speaking and religious appeals in a time of drought led many subject villages to avoid supplying soldiers or food to Kw'sis's force or outright backing the Chemnese. The war ended before it even started. The Chemnese routed a large force from Kw'sis on the battlefield and besieged Kw'sis, where turncoats opened the city gates. Their army sacked the city, supposedly harming only the nobility and merchants of Kw'sis, and the Chemnese installed a subject miyuukh there to ensure their dominance. From that point on, Kw'sis was never again spoken of as one of the Five Cities of the Aipakhpam.
Although this is the traditional Chemnese account of their rise to power, archaeology and later records suggest that the rebellion and conquest was less dramatic. Internal and external conflict weakened Kw'sis as much as the drought, but Kw'sis retained considerable power and likely remained larger than Chemna in terms of economy and demographics for several decades to come. Kw'sis remained the seat of a miyawakh who ruled jointly with the miyawakh of Chemna for centuries later.
By 1000 AD, two blocs emerged in the Mid-Imaru Basin. Downstream lay Wayam, the largest and wealthiest city of the Imaru. It held close relations with Ktlatla which supplied it with metal ores which Wayam lacked. Ktlatla held Winacha as practically a vassal due to Winacha's frequent conflicts against the Chiyatsuru and Dena which often placed Winacha's miyawakhs in debt to Ktlatla's rulers. In the other bloc sat Chemna, militaristic and needing to prove itself and a rich trading center in its own right and Imatelam. Imatelam's leadership faced similar concerns to Winacha's in their fight against the Hillmen and frequently fell into Chemna's debt.
Around 1030, Imatelam started to expand greatly at the expense of the Hillmen in the Nihyoui Mountains [8]. They allied with the Tsupnitpelu clans flowing into the Walawa and Welhiwe valleys who had sparked a full-scale war with the Nihyoui Dena and Ancestral Cayuse over their refusal to pay tribute. For twenty years Imatelam, their Aipakhpam allies, and their Tsupnitpelu allies raided and suffered counter-raids from the Hillmen of the Nihyoui Mountains in a mutually destructive war. Many settlements in the disputed valleys and along the rim of the mountains were sacked and abandoned, and Imatelam itself suffered the murder of many boys who sought guardian spirit power in the mountains.
Continual vigour from Imatelam and constant flow of new Tsupnitpelu settlers into the conflict area led to victory over the Hillmen by 1050 as their numbers became seriously depleted and herds nearly bereft of animals. The Ancestral Cayuse fled the Nihyoui Mountains entirely, migrating to the northern rim of the Great Basin, adapting to the desert life, while the Nihyoui Dena remained in their home in a much weakened state. Imatelam gained little long-term from this conflict. They gained much influence over the villages and pastoralist clans in the upper basin of the Takushibashi River [9] for a short while, but soon after those Aipakhpam once again largely ignored Imatelam's requests. Worse, the Tsupnitpelu communities they aided became competitors to Imatelam in influence in this area, although relations remained mostly friendly in this period.
Wayam also sought southern expansion in this period, especially for further control over the White Road. While they gained many successes over smaller towns, village, and pastoralist clans, they faced a major competitor in the city-state of Taikh. The city constantly shifted alliances, associating with Wayam, the Grey Mountains Dena, the Amorera, and most threateningly, Chemna. Taikh submitted to Wayam from 1040 to 1050, using Wayamese support to defeat the Amorera several times, yet thereafter refused many of Wayam's request barring another brief alliance around 1060.
Around 1080, the Wayamese fought a major war with Taikh and the Dena. Here, Taikh had lost its grip on many smaller villages in the area thanks to constant warfare with the Hillmen and Wayam causing their leaders to turn elsewhere for support. While their new alliance with Chemna distracted Wayam at times, a great force sacked Taikh in 1082, weakening the city for the next generation. This provoked several years of war with Chemna and Taikh's allies who sought vengeance on Wayam.
It was their alliance with Chemna around 1084 that inflicted a major defeat on Wayam at the Battle of Taksasam [10] fought at the banks of the Imaru. Numerically inferior Chemnese warriors ambushed and destroyed a Wayamese force sent to raid Chemna, killing one of the miyawakhs of Wayam and many nobles. This battle's significance reverberated throughout Fusanian history. Firstly, it led to chaos in Wayamese politics and ultimately reoriented them back toward Aipakhpam affairs (as opposed to dealing with the Hillmen in the south). Secondly, this battle is known in large part for the story that the father of Q'mitlwaakutl, a pivotal figure in 12th century Aipakhpam politics, died at this battle shortly before his son's birth. Combined, this led to Wayam dedicating much effort in the coming decades to subduing Chemna and their allies.
In the north, Winacha feared the growing strength of the Skowatsanakh city of Kawakhtchin, who had subdued the entire shore of Lake Chlhan. They fought numerous times with this city-state and allies over the Mimanashi Plateau [11] and the boundary of their land which mostly remained static at the Anchiyatoku River. Winacha came to extensively rely on Ktlatla and to a lesser degree Wayam, as they never trusted the Chiyatsuru people no matter which city-state they came from due to the city's founding in violence between both sides which each party knew well. On the Plateau they clashed with Kawakhtchin, T'kuyatum, and several minor Chiyatsuru city-states, preventing, keeping relations hostile with much of the north and east.
For Ktlatla this state of affairs was perfectly fine. This gained them influence over many towns near Winacha thanks to their rulers devoting so much to war and defense, and it contained the Chiyatsuru, their primary competitors in metalworking. Ktlatla's metalworkers carried out a brisk trade in weapons and armour for their northern ally and the city itself profited immensely from these conflicts. Their own raiding parties followed and accompanied Winacha's, often splitting the plunder after letting them do all the hard work.
The Mimanashi Plateau and adjacent areas to the south around Lake Takushiba [12] served as a great battleground of the Imaru Plateau between Aipakhpam and Chiyatsuru in the 11th and early 12th centuries. While the area needed drastic improvement in the form of irrigation and wells in order for farming to be established, in its natural state it served as a vast land for hunting and pastoralism. Many sacred sites lay in this area to further add to its importance. Several Chiyatsuru city-states (Chemna, Winacha, and Ktlatla) and Aipakhpam city-states (Kawakhtchin, T'kuyatum, and Nkhwemine) competed for control over these lands and their sparse population which each larger city sought to boost by encouraging their kin to lead settlement in the area. Yet so many times these settlements were destroyed in conflicts between almost any combination of these city-states who often held mutually hostile relations.
So devoted were Ktlatla and Winacha to paying back their enemies who raided their kin in these settlements that they could often scarcely devote warriors to other tasks. Several times Kawakhtchin or the Grey Mountains Dena attacked their allied villages, and around 1095 Kawakhtchin even besieged Winacha in a bold yet failed gamble. Kawakhtchin declared a decade-long peace with Winacha shortly thanks to both the defeat and how much the country had been raided. For Winacha, only strong rulers kept the city in a position of prominence, as they expanded mining operations and recruited many artisans from all over to settle while helping allied villages and towns repopulate the area. Winacha's weapons went to arm mostly their own warriors, but became valuable trade goods for nobles elsewhere to own.
Although a seemingly stable cycle of raids, war, and truces, external forces continued to interfere in the form of increasingly powerful outsiders and changed the balance of power not just in Aipakhpam lands but the entire Imaru Plateau. From the south, the Hillmen raids intensified in reprisal to the expansion of settlement in their lands. The Amorera, Ancestral Cayuse, and especially the Nama raided and sacked newer villages in the lands south of Wayam along the Wanwahi River.
In the west, the Atkh warlord Kawadinak of Tinhimha began his destructive raids on the Furuge Coast, combined with civil wars in his homeland and a general resurgence in Coastmen activity. This severely affected the supply of goods, most critically the shells harvested in the Furuge area, flowing east over the mountain passes and thus damaged the regional economy much as it had during the collapse of Tsikik and Kw'sis. The Grey Mountains Dena took full advantage of this and charged exhorbitant tolls to cross, harassing those who continued to trade.
From the north rose an even greater threat thanks to the rise of the powerful Chiyatsuru Shilkh city state of T'kuyatum under its ruler Chelkhalt. T'kuyatum subjugated numerous towns and cities in its immediate vicinity. Most dramatically, they conquered even the powerful city state of Kawakhtchin and incorporated its nobility into the political structure of Chelkhalt's nascent state. Chelkhalt used their long-time enmity with Winacha to unleash withering raids on that city, intent on driving out Winacha's allies from as much land as possible, starting with the Mimanashi Plateau. Most disturbingly, Chelkhalt seemed intent on capturing Winacha, a feat never before done by anyone, and his army held the alliance of many Dena.
Yet prosperity beckoned as well. The Black Road in the west faced crisis thanks to increased warfare and conflict in that region, a situation readily exploited by the Maguraku people to the south on the White Road who used warfare and persuasion to make that road even safer for travelers. This brought more people and goods than ever to Wayam, even those from areas downstream on the Imaru, and greatly increased the prosperity of the city. While always the largest and wealthiest city in Fusania, Wayam's prosperity in the span of only a few years markedly and noticeably increased. Some claimed the wealth of Wayam outweighed that of the other four great Aipakhpam cities combined.
The winds of change began to blow with the repercussions of a battle fought in the south. In the year 1109, a young yet charismatic Wayamese warrior saved his war party from being wiped out by a vastly larger Amorera force by clustering his men together in a tight formation with locked shields to protect against enemy arrows and spears while striking with their own weapons, a tactic supposedly told to him by his guardian spirit. Yet in the midst of battle he received a painful blow to the head (among other wounds) and nearly died, with his men bringing him back to his home in Wayam for his funeral. When he returned from his near-death experience, he vividly described to his medicine man and all present around him a vision he saw where he witnessed the burning sun shattering the cliffs by the Imaru River, from where he arose in the form of a tired warrior. Coyote welcomed him back and told him that his ancient promise would be fulfilled--Wayam would rise to new heights, and he would lead it.
The warrior immediately knew what this meant--he must be Q'mitlwaakutl returned! At a potlatch warrior abandoned his original name and assumed the name of Q'mitlwaakutl, although he'd forever be known by the name posthumously given to him--Shapatukhtla, meaning "he who has been sent back". His rise to power in Wayam and the campaigns he launched during is rule reshaped the entire political landscape of the region as he laid the foundation for the first true empire ever seen in the history of Fusania.
---
Lord Nch'iyaka of Wapaikht, Saga of Wayam (1500, translation 1974) [13]
Thus society fell completely out of balance and with it came the most horrible events seen until this point of the world. The ravages of the Hillmen became unbearable while the civilised peoples of the world chose to fight for the scraps. Great floods and storms and blizzards shook the faith of our people as war was followed by war. So full of greed were the people of this era that they even approached these most violent Hillmen in friendship and alliance. The old happiness of the era before was a balance which might never be restored, even as fleeting as this balance was compared to the grand harmony that existed before creation. Only a new balance might be created to bring peace and prosperity back to the land.
The great leader we called Q'mitlwaakutl Shapatukhtla, arrived to change this and direct our people toward the proper destiny. We did not know at first that the legendary Prince of Wayam from times long forgotten appeared once more in the guise of a young nobleman. We were ignorant of the sign of his reappearance when in 741 [1084] [14] the ground shook and the face of the cliff Coyote transformed the ancient prince into collapsed into the great river. Yet so thoroughly would Q'mitlwaakutl change things that we were to forget so much of this horrible time, even his true name. He became Q'mitlwaakutl, he became Shapatukhla, he became the savior of Wayam and with it the civilised world.
In the previous year Q'mitlwaakutl assumed his name at a grand potlatch, the name of our great ancestor who was turned to stone after the Battle of Endless Blood. It had been only a few months after Q'mitlwaakutl nearly died in battle against the Amorera at the place since called Q'inutash [15] and saw a great vision and alongside it guardian spirit of true radiance. Already Q'mitlwaakutl gained a following for both his victory against all odds and his miraculous survival. When the Prince of Wayam Mekheshkhalish sought to kill him for this blasphemy, Q'mitlwaakutl's radiant guardian spirit communed with the priests and sent a powerful warning. Mekheshkhalish became fearful of this spirit and instead sought to use this man to aggrandize himself and above all, Wayam.
The rise of this Q'mitlwaakutl to the destiny Coyote promised him came in most unusual fashion. A great Hillmen prince of Ewallona in the south, Daslats-Lwelolis, came to Wayam in the year 767 [1110] seeking an alliance to help him defeat the Hillmen plaguing the White Road. Yet neither of the princes, the old and weary Mekheshkhalish and his dissolute nephew Iksikskhalish, took interest in the affairs of that country. "Seek out the men of Taikh or another city, we have enough enemies and need no more," Mekheshkhalish told him.
Iksikskhalish saw it as a chance to rid him of his enemy. "Go to household of the man who calls himself Q'mitlwaakutl. There you shall find warriors who may aid you." Daslats-Lwelolis did follow this advice and met Q'mitlwaakutl where he gifted him a fine bull reindeer. Daslats-Lwelolis asked Q'mitlwaakutl to scour the land of Hillmen in the north of the White Road as his own men scoured the south. The followers of Q'mitlwaakutl became impressed on the sight of this great Hillman prince and thereafter more flocked to his banner. Two hundred men in total followed Q'mitlwaakutl now, and hearing of the glory and wealth to be gained begged of their leader to accept the Hillman prince's offer. Q'mitlwaakutl agreed to this alliance as he sought to gain experience and wisdom, experience and wisdom that might help him in destiny, experience and wisdom that might
Thus Q'mitlwaakutl set out, making his campsite at the place since called Q'inutash. The impetuous Amorera attacked this camp not long after and found it guarded by a multitude. The men of Q'mitlwaakutl repelled this attack and surrounded the Amorera, slaying over one hundred Hillmen warriors. Not long after this battle the village of Simnashu [16] sent out calls for aid to Q'mitlwaakutl. Not far from Simnashu Q'mitlwaakutl and his men met a great force of Dena and Amorera. Q'mitlwaakutl encouraged his men with his words "Stand in your formation, they will be dashed upon our shields and spears as salmon at a weir! The radiance of my spiritual force protects as all!" The fierce Dena and Amorera came at him yet failed to break the ranks of Q'mitlwaakutl's men and even the greatest of the number fell to this shield wall. Q'mitlwaakutl chased them back to their camp and freed many prisoners and took many animals for themselves.
Thereafter Q'mitlwaakutl and his men spread terror into the hearts of the Hillmen. They plundered livestock and slaves at will for three months before they returned to Wayam at the harvest. Q'mitlwaakutl sent out messengers to places far in the south to organise a fabulous potlatch. Here the son of Daslats-Lwelolis, the Hillman prince Wat'ihak, gave Q'mitlwaakutl two of his daughters as wives to further bind him as an ally.
For the next three years Q'mitlwaakutl did continue his attacks on the Hillmen of the White Road and thus further chastened the Amorera and Dena in the west and the Nama and Uereppu in the east and Mowatowa [17] in the south. He lost few men yet killed four hundred enemy warriors of every tribe he battled, two thousand warriors in all. He captured many herds of reindeer and goats and took four hundred slaves to Wayam. The Prince Mekheshkhalish gave Q'mitlwaakutl his finest praise and gave his youngest grand-daughter's hand in marriage to Q'mitlwaakutl's firstborn son [18]. Not long thereafter Q'mitlwaakutl and his twenty finest warriors and their households left for Q'inutash where they built a new village and elected Q'mitlwaakutl as their lord. The traders of the Maguraku, those friends of Q'mitlwaakutl, made many stops in this village on their way north along the White Road and this newborn village became set on a prosperous destiny.
The rising star of Q'mitlwaakutl filled his enemies with envy, not least Prince Iksikskhalish. Iksikskhalish ordered five assassins to slay Q'mitlwaakutl in his sleep, yet Q'mitlwaakutl's spirit warned him of the danger and Q'mitlwaakutl slew all five of these men with his physical strength. Iksikskhalish ordered five shamans to bewitch Q'mitlwaakutl so he may fall ill and die, yet Q'mitlwaakutl's spirit warned him of the danger and Q'mitlwaakutl slew all five of these men with his spiritual might. Thereafter Prince Mekheshkhalish heard of this affair and did confront his nephew.
"My beloved nephew, why do you wish to kill this Lord of Q'inutash? Has he not brought the greatest success for our city in many years?" Iksikskhalish refused to heed the words of Mekheshkhalish. "My dear uncle, he threatens the balance of our community. His great success will bring our people misfortune in time." Yet Mekheshkhalish continued to beseech of his nephew to cease the hostility. "Great benefit may be gained from the Lord of Q'inutash. You fail to kill him for you seek to kill him not out of duty but out of envy."
Thus Mekheshkhalish set about scheming new ways for Q'mitlwaakutl to benefit Wayam. Thereafter in 771 he ordered Q'mitlwaakutl and his followers to secure the allegiance of the treacherous Prince of Takspash [19]. They were to neither return to the city nor to Q'inutash without the Prince of Takspash at their side. Iksikskhalish praised the order of his uncle and said unto him, "You should have spared that man the agony of defeat and had him drowned at Naishtlanmi Ts'ekhas" [20]. Q'mitlwaakutl and his force of four hundred warriors advanced along the north bank of the river, collecting tribute wherever they went for they struck fear in the hearts of these lesser rulers.
The Prince of Takspash requested the aid of the Prince of Imatelam in defeating Q'mitlwaakutl and together they sent out twelve hundred men to stop him. The host of Wayam fell into panic at hearing of the task before them and the forces arrayed against them. But Q'mitlwaakutl calmed his warriors by stating words he heard in a dream. "We will not return to Wayam less in number. Nor will we return to Wayam equal in number. We will return to Wayam greater in number. These are the words the golden eagle spoke to me in my dream."
Q'mitlwaakutl did evade the force from Takspash and approached that city whereupon he convinced the its guards to open the gate, for they believed the host before them was that of their own. The Prince of Takspash greeted Q'mitlwaakutl as a friend whereupon Q'mitlwaakutl revealed to the prince his deceit. So stricken with fear was the Prince of Takspash he cut his throat on his dagger. Yet this deceit impressed the son of the Prince of Takspash, the young warrior Wiyatpakan, who thereafter pledged support to Wayam. The force of Takspash returned not long after and combined they marched against Imatelam's force and scattered them in the field.
With this deed Q'mitlwaakutl shocked the two princes of Wayam. The Prince of Takspash offered tribute to the princes of Wayam as they demanded and Q'mitlwaakutl routed the force of Imatelam in the field. As a reward for this accomplishment Mekheshkhalish named him the vizier of the realm [21]. Many nobles of Wayam and other villages reacted in shock at a man barely thirty years of age reaching such a high rank yet just as many others bathed in the powerful spirit radiating from Q'mitlwaakutl. Prince Mekheshkhalish asked of Q'mitlwaakutl in front of the nobles assembled in ceremony.
"Your deeds magnify and exceedingly grow as ripples in still water. You were but an insignificant noble yet your deeds in life has turned you into a great warrior and now ruler of the nobles of Wayam, the first among equals and with no man your superior besides the two men before you. Should you achieve an even greater success I will be unable to reward you with anything except the rule of Wayam itself."
Q'mitlwaakutl responded thenceforth "Then perhaps I should not achieve an even greater success, for I have no desire to rule Wayam in your place. That ancient prophecy Coyote gave before the battle so long ago [22] is being fulfilled. Is not Wayam greater than before? Am I not ruling it as the first among equals and with no man my superior besides the two men before me? I do not seek to be the Prince of Wayam for the only position and reward I seek is something no man can grant me."
---
Author's notes
Based on the OTL Sahaptin people, the Aipakhpam are my attempt at exploring what a complex "hydraulic civilisation" such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, or especially Xia (or whatever archaeology is attributed to the Xia) and early Shang China would look like in the fertile yet dry Columbia Plateau. The latter is especially relevant in many ways given similar soil, climate (although the wet seasons are inverted), and topography to the heartland of Chinese civilisation on the Loess Plateau. Although of course climate and topography is simply one factor, there are many other factors which make the Aipakhpam their own unique culture with many differences to 4th/3rd millennium cultures in the Old World.
We are temporarily done with this deluge of ethnographies in this TL as of this entry, although there are a few more entries in this style I will do for other peoples (the Tsupnitpelu, the Atkhs, the Ringitsu and other Far Northwest peoples, and probably a few South Fusanian groups). Most of the rest of Part Two will focus on Q'mitlwaakutl's life and legacy. The next chapter in particular will focus specifically on the city of Wayam and include some more backstory on Q'mitlwaakutl.
As always, thanks for reading.
[1] - The Wanwahi River is the Deschutes River of Oregon
[2] - Mount Mishibato is Mount Hood and Mount Ruchabato is Mount Adams, their names filtered through Japanese. "Paato" (or Pahto, Paatu, etc.) is a generic term for very high mountains in Sahaptin ("Takhoma", a Coast Salish loanword, is also encountered). TTL the Sahaptin speakers (the Aipakhpam) distinguish between Mount Adams and Mount Hood by using color symbolism, so "Red" ("North") Paato and "Yellow" (South) Paato
[3] - Tlielam is Cle Elum, WA
[4] - Waapnisha is the Paquet Gulch site in Oregon, an important Plateau archaeological site, just southwest of Wapinitia, OR
[5] - Taikh is Tygh Valley, OR
[6] - The Tabachiri Valley is the Yakima Valley, so named for its indigenous name Taptiil.
[7] - Union Gap, WA
[8] - The Nihyoui Mountains are the Blue Mountains, derived from the name of an important town nearby
[9] - The Takushibashi River is the John Day River of eastern Oregon. In particular I'm referring to the North and Middle Forks of that river, as the main channel to the south is still dominated by Hillmen
[10] - Taksasam is near Roosevelt, WA
[11] - The Mimanashi Plateau is the Waterville Plateau of Douglas County, WA, a portion of the Columbia Plateau. OTL it was sparsely populated and mostly a shared hunting ground. TTL the population densities of the area have turned it into a battlefield, hence it's name meaning "place of owls" in Sahaptin referring to owls as messengers of ill-tidings
[12] - Lake Takushiba is Moses Lake in Washington, it's name TTL derived from a Sahaptin toponym meaning "at the willows".
[13] - I am translating N'chiyaka's title "miyuukh" as "lord" here
[14] - 741 is 1084 AD in the Fusanian calendar. Said calendar would not be in use in this era, as I may have mentioned, but is in use by the time of Nch'iyaka. I'll put the dates in brackets instead of footnotes
[15] - Q'inutash ("place of the sight/vision") is near the Pelton Dam on the Deschutes River between Madras and Warm Springs in Jefferson County, Oregon
[16] - Simnashu is Simnasho, OR (basically a different rendering of the placename)
[17] - Mowatowa is the Japanese exonym for the Natsiwi, coming from their Maguraku exonym Mowatwas
[18] - Both would be infants at this time if you are wondering
[19] - Takspash is at the mouth of the John Day River in-between Rufus, OR and Arlington OR
[20] - Naishtlanmi Ts'ekhas is a cliff opposite the mouth of the Deschutes River above a particularly deep part of the river where TTL the Wayamese drown people sentenced to death. It is believed to be an abode of the demon Naishtla.
[21] - I am translating "senwitla" as "vizier" here
[22] - See Chapter 20 for Coyote's prophecy, the battle, and the "original" Q'mitlwaakutl.
