Tale of an Egg: A Rapa Nui wank (99.9% ASB-free)

Village of Orongo, seabird nesting season of 1539 CE

Everyone held their breath as a head appeared over the cliff. The figure pulled himself above to ground. He reached for his headband, feeling for the egg. Time slowed as he ran to the ivi-attua [1] waiting at the front of the crowd, his hands cupped.

Cautiously, he removed the egg from the pouch sitting on his gleaming forehead, and placed it in the recieving hands. The ivi-attua turned to the awaiting crowd and bellowed "Hopu [2] Atamu has brought us the first manu-tara [3] egg. Hitorangi is now tangata manu [4] for as long as Makemake [5] wishes him to live!"

The gathered crowd parted to allow the ivi-attua to place the headdress on the bald scalp of Chief Hitorangi. As soon as the human hair dangling from the headdress touched his head, wild cheers erupted from the congregation. The holy man then gave the egg to the new monarch, and the mass again parted to allow him through, with his arms outstretched, holding the egg as he led the procession down the gently sloping mountain to the settlement of Anakena.

Standing upon the shore later that afternoon, the king surveyed the moai [6] resting upon the stone platforms. He and the ivi-attua both knew what they meant to the people; they resembled the ancestors who they prayed to. His position existed only because the ancestors failed to help, letting us starve in the famines and destroying our forests, bringing us to war and cannibalism. The first ivi-attua over a decade ago reminded the people that they never returned our prayers, and showed them the truth. He brought peace to the warring clans, without which they would have never allowed him to become king.

If he didn't fulfill his promise to bring prosperity once again, they would kill him for sure and revert back to the old ways. But he could also be overthrown by the zealous chiefs if he didn't destroy the old ways. He came to a conclusion on what was his first order of business. He commanded to the rongorongo [7] master behind him to record the toppling of the moai by the first tanagta manu, Hitorangi.

The next day, he watched over as the statues were destroyed, one by one, but one beautifully crafted caught his eye. Just before the laborers were about to place the lever under it, he commanded "Save that one!" The ivi-attua present gave him a deathly glare before he added "We shall rededicate it to Makemake."





The PoD here is that the ceremonial Birdman position becomes a life-long absolute monarchy instead of the annually-changed religious office IOTL.

1.) A prophet. ITTL, there was originally one, but it expanded to all priests of the new Birdman cult.

2.) A chief's deputy.

3.) Sooty Tern, a sacred animal of the Rapa Nui

4.) Literally, bird-man.

5.) Rapa Nui goddess of fertility.

6.) The famous Easter Island statues.

7.) An Easter Island script. There aren't enough surving glyphs to even tell if it's actually writing or just mmenomic (about 15,000 surving characters) so for our purposes we are assuming it's real.

This is my first attempt at a TL, and constructive criticism is welcome.
 
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You've definitely got my attention. You've set yourself a hard challenge with a POD after the deforestation, but I'm looking forward to seeing how you pull it off.
 

Deleted member 67076

Really enjoying this. No one ever touches upon this part of the world.
 
So Which is the 0.01 ASB percentage? Interesting Start and premise, waiting how this timeline will unfold, will those guys expand to south america or polynesia?
 
What a great idea! Subscribed.
Merci.
You've definitely got my attention. You've set yourself a hard challenge with a POD after the deforestation, but I'm looking forward to seeing how you pull it off.
Het gaat om de Nederlandse.
I like the start of that, I would like to see more.
Merci.
Really enjoying this. No one ever touches upon this part of the world.
I've always been interested in the Polynesians, and overall the rest of the Austronesians.
So Which is the 0.01 ASB percentage? Interesting Start and premise, waiting how this timeline will unfold, will those guys expand to south america or polynesia?
I don't know yet, might change the title later to reflect that. Considering that the POD is after Spanish colonization, I would say Polynesia is more likely. I think I'll have them go for Asia.
 
I can hardly wait for the Chatham Islands-wank which will surely follow. ;)

Seriously, Pacific-based TLs are not a common thing here, and I will be following this with interest.
 
The Fate-Changing War: Part I

1666 CE

Elsewhere in the world, Jean Talon is recording the names and professions of the French inhabitants of Canada, London is burning, and the world's first blood transfusion occurs between two dogs, recorded by the English naval administrator Samuel Pepys.

But in the remote island of Rapa Nui, a war occurs that might just change the fate of the entire Polynesian people.

Despite almost being 150 years after the creation of the tangata-manu cult, the peasantry on the eastern side of the island, especially around the volcanoes Terevaka and Puakatike, despite their proximity, as the lack of wooden tools and boats made the exchange of ideas slow between east and west.

This was furthered by the separation of the eastern side from the western side over the years by the fact that both the ceremonial and political power centers were in the west, and that most of the chiefs who became the tangata manu coming from the center or the west, the journey to Orongo perhaps as tiring as the contest itself. After 150 years of the west enjoying relative prosperity while they stagnated, the east felt as if they were a different people.

ivjo80.jpg


Note that despite the moai being destroyed except for one depicting the manu-tara, symbol of Makemake and the Birdman, which was being held in a temple at Orongo, the moai cult still existed, albeit changed considerably, through worship of smaller idols and a few small, hidden moai hidden in overhangs carved into the mountains.

In late spring of that year, the chief of Terevaka, his name lost to history, died without children, his lowborn hopu becoming chief, unfortunately (at the time) being a moai cultist. This did not happen without catching the eye of the Birdman, who was elected last year and was previously both chief of Tuutapa and an ivi-attua. The strongest eastern chiefdom, one which was also mostly consisted of moai cultists, should be ruled by a member of the tangata-manu cult in the eyes of the central and western chiefs, and especially of the Birdman.

A messenger was sent to the new chief on behalf of the tangata-manu demanding his abdication. Feeling insulted by the failure of the Birdman to personally ask him, he killed the messenger on the spot with an ax. He then ordered the raising of all-able bodied men in his chiefdom in defense of their faith, and the swift death of those who refused.

hawaiian_battle_by_smekeal00-d33orec.jpg

The death of the messenger

As word spread, moai cultists from all over the east flocked in arms to Terevaka, where they joined the rebel army, one taht was of a size never before seen by Rapa Nui, numbering around 800 men, a third of the population of the east. Not long after then, word reached the west that not only had the new chief refused and killed the messenger, but had rallied the heretics in rebellion and had massive army under his control.

Knowing that at least the messenger is dead, the Birdman ordered his chiefs to raise their men, but it was too late in the east, where a third of the peasant men had joined the rebellion. When the chiefs there attempted to raise warriors, what remained of the men rose in rebellion and killed the chiefs, murdering any tangata-manu in the process.

Now, in mid-May, that island east of Te Kahu Mere, along with Terevaka, was under his hands, he had his army march down to Oroi, where the opposition was crushed and the land looted. The army of the West, lead by the chief of Hanga Roa, marched down to Oroi, but the army of the East scattered back to Terevaka. A week later, they returned with a larger force of about 1100 men, outnumbering the West by a ratio of 1.4 : 1. The army of the West was overwhelmed in the Battle of the Pohaku [1], where the dead included the Hanga Roan chief.

The defeated Western Army, now lead by the chief of Orongo, marched to Orito to recieve reinforcements. The Eastern Army continued to raid Oroi before returning to Terevaka to rest.

In July, the Western Army began a campaign to Puakatike. When the Chief [2] of Terevaka heard of this ambitious march, he laughed as if it was a joke, believing it was a ruse.




That, gentlemen, is where I pick up later. The war included more than the major engagements listed here, small raiding parties of a dozen men crossed the front on both sides. Also, does anyone have a term better than 'cultist'?

[1] Hawaiian for Rock. Easter Island has few notable features in many places, so I just made up a field with a big boulder. It's Hawaiian because that's the only Polynesian translator I found that had 'rock'. If you know any East-Central Polynesian words for rock, preferably Marquesan, please PM me.

[2] Chief is unusually capitalized here because the chief of Terevaka is the de facto leader of the rebellion.

Also, sorry that the text goes across the whole width of my MSPaint map. LEFT don't appear to work.​
 
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Post deforestation, post Moai toppling. You've set yourself a great challenge, I'll be watching to see what happens.

6 months ago, it was me subscribing to your TL. Now, it is you subscribing to my TL. Must say something, huh? :p:D

Seriously though, I have hald the talent of a rock next to you.
 
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I guess, then, that the Birdman during the 16th and 17th centuries ITTL was a feudal rather than an absolute monarch. An absolute monarchy would never have let the east become so independent - Easter Island is only 163 sq km, and a centralized government would have been able to keep it under control.

So is it that the Birdman has pretensions of being absolute but is really just the highest-status chief, with his religious role drawing respect but not automatic obedience? Or is the war of 1666 what will make him absolute?
 
I guess, then, that the Birdman during the 16th and 17th centuries ITTL was a feudal rather than an absolute monarch. An absolute monarchy would never have let the east become so independent - Easter Island is only 163 sq km, and a centralized government would have been able to keep it under control.

So is it that the Birdman has pretensions of being absolute but is really just the highest-status chief, with his religious role drawing respect but not automatic obedience? Or is the war of 1666 what will make him absolute?

IOTL, he was what you described in the start of the second paragraph. The POD is that he holds actual sway over the chiefs in the first place (Easter Island and the Pacific is general so obscure I can just change it by writing about it changing) and the original Birdman ends up persecuting the moai cultists, indirectly leading to a war and the position's absolutization. Also, the eastern peasants' perception of discrimination has him play more a role than the Terevakan, so it should be though of as a religious peasant rebellion.
 
IOTL, he was what you described in the start of the second paragraph. The POD is that he holds actual sway over the chiefs in the first place

... which is what enables him to raise an army in response to the rebellion that his repression of the moai cultists provoked. Got it. So if the eastern rebellion is a religious peasant revolt, then is the Birdman's response essentially a crusade against heresy?

This is fascinating stuff, and the fact that it's taking place on such a small island, enabling individual personalities to play a greater role, only makes it more so.
 
... which is what enables him to raise an army in response to the rebellion that his repression of the moai cultists provoked. Got it. So if the eastern rebellion is a religious peasant revolt, then is the Birdman's response essentially a crusade against heresy?

This is fascinating stuff, and the fact that it's taking place on such a small island, enabling individual personalities to play a greater role, only makes it more so.

Some 64 square miles of volcanic island, it's notable at one time it supported a population of about 15,000, over 64 sq mi.

The zealous Birdman certainly takes the oppurtunity to finish off the moai cultists, but his response is probably due more to the threat of being overthrown. For the chiefs, it's both but more of the former, as all the chiefs' relams and even lives are at risk. Apart from his small bodyguard, the Birdman has no directly controlled troops, when he ascends to the position his former chiefdom goes to his heir.
 
I can hardly wait for the Chatham Islands-wank which will surely follow. ;)

Seriously, Pacific-based TLs are not a common thing here, and I will be following this with interest.

Weirdly enough, I was actually working on that for a little while. It involved a bit more than .01% ASB, though.
 
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