The Gospel According to Ayenwatha (Jesus is born to the Iroquois)

I checked the wiki on Cherokees and their first bullet under origins basically sums up what I heard.

Reading that, it does jar my memory a little. Maybe it was reverse, where certain clans stayed behind, just remembered it differently. I'll have to ask my friend again.

I do know we were all one people once. I can tell the story on here; but we have a belief you can't tell stories like this when its not winter, you offend their spirits and the spirits of the current season. I know it sounds superstitious to most people on here, but that's my culture; I have to do a ceremony first and then I can tell it.
 
Reading that, it does jar my memory a little. Maybe it was reverse, where certain clans stayed behind, just remembered it differently. I'll have to ask my friend again.

I do know we were all one people once. I can tell the story on here; but we have a belief you can't tell stories like this when its not winter, you offend their spirits and the spirits of the current season. I know it sounds superstitious to most people on here, but that's my culture; I have to do a ceremony first and then I can tell it.

Well, if it's against your culture, it can't be helped, but if not, please do...
 
From "The Call of Hado'ih," the Book of Hiawatha

"As the peoples of the world came to dominate the earth, Iosheka appeared before one Ethisoda, a sachem (chief) of the Ongwehonweh in a dream. 'Get up and leave these lands, Ethisoda, and take your tribe, the Onundagaono and your five children, and travel to the East. The Great Spirit has not forgotten your people, the Ongwehonweh, and he knows of your plight. He has made a land for you, one where you and your children will be prosperous and numerous. Your children will be like the buffalo of the plains--endless and without number. Be not afraid, for I will be with you always." After consulting his clan mother and gaining her approval, Ethisoda, his brother Taltsuska, and his five children left his mother's tribe.."

"...now, Ethisoda was a hunter, a brave war-chief and a warrior. Taltsuska, on the other hand, was also a great warrior, but above all a farmer and a man of peace. Taltsuska's clan, the Aniyvwiyai (the Cherokee) complained that they could not grow their Maize. One day, the two clans came upon a river. Taltsuska saw that the land was good, with fertile soil and many fish and turtles. After consulting with his family, he approached Ethisoda. 'Look, my brother,' he said, 'My family and your family have been bickering for months now. Why should we depart as enemies? I will settle here with my family, and we will part as Brothers.' Ethisoda saw that the two families could not be reconciled. 'What you say is good.' That night, the two Ongwehonweh families feasted. In the morning, the rest of the Ongwehonweh departed from this land, while the Aniyvwiyai began to build their settlement in honor of the Earth Mother, Atahensic, naming it Kituwa. To this day, the Aniyvwiyai (The Cherokee) inhabit Kituwa and the surrounding lands to this day with the blessing of Selu, another of the Great Spirit's Jogah."


"...When they finally reached the East, Ethisoda saw the lesser peoples inhabiting the lakes, men whose homes were made of stone[1] and whom stood a head taller than any of the Ongwehonweh, and he was afraid. He had the tribe douse their fires, and he lay prostrate on his mat in mourning, as if for a funeral. One night, The Great Spirit appeared before him in a dream. 'What is troubling you, Ethisoda?' 'Taryenyawagon, holder of the heavens,' Ethisoda said, 'Why have you sent your children to these lands only to have them die by the War Club? If it is the will of the Great Spirit for me and my clan to die, may you smite us now and at least prevent your name from being sullied by our deaths. May our enemies not say 'he brought them to this land only to bring them to their graves'!' Taryenyawagon was angered, and he spoke in a voice like the winds. 'Ethisoda, do you possess so little faith? You, the Ongwehonweh, are my children. I will never leave you or forsake you. Those stone fortresses of the gentiles, can they hold up he who must hold up the heavens? Now, Ethisoda, drive these gentiles out from before you and take ownership of the land I have promised to you, for I will be with you always.' 'Great Spirit,' Ethisoda said, 'Forgive my impudence, but I have not the strength to move those stones. If my lack of faith may be forgiven, I ask that you show me a sign.' 'It will be done,' the Great Spirit said, and departed in a burst of flame. Two nights later, Ethisoda was walking from his tribe's camp when he came upon a man, his face concealed in the shadow. The man challenged Ethisoda to a challenge of strength. Now, being a warrior, Ethisoda could not refuse a challenge. The two agreed on a method of displaying their strength--by seeing who could move a boulder. Ethisoda began first. The boulder quaked and moved but a small amount, and Ethisoda sat down, exhausted. The stranger asked that Ethisoda not turn around. Presently, Ethisoda heard the quake and groaning of the boulder, and he turned--just as the stranger turned with the boulder, smashing Ethisoda into the face. 'I am truly weak, and you truly strong' Ethisoda conceded as he nursed his wrecked face--but the stranger shook his head as he put the boulder down--where it changed into a mountain. 'Oh, Ethisoda, you of little faith...you claim to be unable to move the stones when you can make the mountains quake!" The Great Spirit (for that was who the stranger was) said. "Now, Ethisoda, you can move the mountains--do you not doubt the ability to move a few pebbles? Now go, and take the land you have been promised.[2]" In the darkness, Ethisoda did not realize the damage to his face, and so when he came back to his tribe, he was greeted with cries of shock. By the time he realized, it was too late, and he came to be known as Gagohsa (Face)."


"...The next day, Ethisoda gathered his five sons (Kahnianke/Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, Nundawa/Seneca and Onayoteka/Oneida) and the men of his clan and led them against the gentiles. Fleeing before Ethisoda's disfigured face, the gentiles were slaughtered, and the mocking name hurled upon Ethisoda in private (Hado'ih/Old Broken Nose) became a battle cry and a second, respectable name. Finally, the Ongwehonweh had a home."

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Notes
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[1]: The Bluff Point Stoneworks were stone structures dated to pre-Iroquois times that exist today, albeit as ruins. The reasons for their existence vary from the Celts and Vikings to the predecessors of the Iroquois, the Hopewell culture.
[2]: This is a reworking of a traditional Onondaga tale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_Face_Society), though it has been altered to put in a situation more reminiscent of a mix of the biblical figures Gideon (who asked for a sign from god), Joshua (who delivered the promised land through war), Jacob (who fought with God and gained the name Israel) and Abraham.

On Fusang

In 501 BD, a Buddhist Monk and missionary named Hui Shen (慧深) appeared in front of the emperor of the short-lived Liang Dynasty (梁), claiming to have returned from an Eastern land known as Fusang (扶桑). 20,000 Li to the East, (about 8,700 km by the Han and Chin measurement), an event recorded in the Annals of the History of the Liang (梁書•諸夷列傳). He had discovered a thriving Empire reminiscent of the Old Han[1]. In less than 60 years, the Liang Dynasty fell, and the knowledge of Fusang fell to the backburner, remembered only by a few old men and scholars. Yet, Fusang (as the nation came to be known) existed--and its existence in the East would eventually eclipse the Middle Kingdom itself. Xu Fu's greatest fortune was that he did not sail straight. Had he sailed the 20,000 li he had been told to sail correctly, he would have found himself in our timeline's British Colombia--not inhospitable, but just a little chilly. However, a mix of limited navigational data, bad weather and bad luck (Up until the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese could not accurately chart Latitude[2]) led to the serendipitous deposition of Xu Fu's fleet not in British Colombia, but in Oregon, at the mouth of the Colombia River. Fertile and blessed by multiple rivers, the Chinese settlers found themselves at home in this new land that they named Five Rivers (五江) after the five intial rivers that empty into the Columbia, and Fusang, (扶桑) after a legendary paradise in Chinese Mythology. With deer aplenty and fertile ground, the Chinese settlers could hardly be blamed. Yet, in this time and place, neither the children of Xu Fu nor the children of Ethisoda could have guessed the confrontation that would eventually ensue between the two nations.

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Notes and junk...
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[1]: This is a second POD...in the actual text, Hui Shen in fact finds an idyllic, utopian and (assuming that Hui Shen reached the Americas, given that Japan was already at war, having been organized into daimyo by this point) tribal community.
[2]: Requesting a check on this one...I read in 1492 that the Chinese didn't have a system for Latitude/Longtitude, one of the two, but I can't quite remember which.
 
The Development of Fusang/Wujiang

From "中國及扶桑:二龍鬥爭 (China and Fusang - Two Dragons at War)" by Lei Mun, Styled Onxing - Li Min in Wujiangese, Styled Anxing in Chinese (李民 字 安勝)[1], 1992

"In 1221 BD, a Fusangese and a Chinese would have been completely identical. By the time of the late Qing dynasty, the two nation's differences were already irreconciliable. The differences lie in the time of departure. When Xu Fu left port, he took with him all the knowledge of Pre-han China, not the many things seen as distinctively Chinese. Confucianism, which had been propagated after the failure of Legalism and the reign of Han Emperor Han Wudi (漢武帝) and instated as the state religion in 1121 BD, had not been a major force on the captured Yue and Liao who had been press-ganged on board Xu Fu's ships, and so no coherent political view was imported by Xu Fu to Fusang. Buddhism had not become popular until the end of the Jin Dynasty, and had not even reached china in the time that Xu Fu (an ardent Taoist at any rate) left China. And, given the lack of real organized religion, it was not difficult in later years for the Taiping Religion / The Kaianerekowa to find its own niche. Moreover, the natives of Fusang did not speak or write Chinese, something that the dynasties of China could usually rely on. As such, part of the phonetic simplification of the Chinese Language into the Wujiang/五江 (M'gong in Wujiang) dialect lies in the need by the Fusangese to transfer their dialect of Chinese to nearby natives. The primarily demographic of the new immigrants being from Yue (Guangdong) and Liao (Northern China), the language used was seperate from either the court dialect of the Imperial Court (as used by Xu Fu) or the early precursors to Mandarin that was Ancient Chinese. The 600 period between the landing of Xu Fu and the arrival of Hui Shen into Wujiang provided a sufficient incubation period for the Fusangese to distinguish itself from China. One of the main differentiations between the Fusangese and Iroquois journeys into the Barbarian Kingdoms that resulted from the dissipation of Daqin [2] was that Xu Fu's settlers had arrived without knowledge of how to return. As such, the motivation to survive was far stronger. The riverland environment of Wujiang was well-suited to the growth of rice, and so early Wujiang thrived, with favorable relations with the nearby Klamath, who referred to the early Fusangese as the Walled People. Xu Fu, as a Taoist scholar, was the obvious leader of the early community, the Sage who brought the fusangese from the decadent, warring lands of the West to the land of the Sunrise. Xu Fu's children formed the early aristocracy of Fusang/Wujiang, setting in place what initially seemed to be a microcosm of the Qin empire that Xu Fu had left.

Native - Wujiang Relations

Despite the fertility of the Colombia river, the climate of Yue was markedly different from the cooler and somewhat rainier Wujiang[3] region. The arrival of the Fusangese in the Winter could well have spelled doom had not a timely trade with the nearby klamath secure a new staple crop to augment rice--Corn, the staple food of the East[4] and the secondary staple food of Wujiang. Like Rice, Corn's high yield and adaptation to warm, relatively dry environments made it a far more economically viable crop in the future, outside of the Wujiang region (where rice production to this day primarily dominates). The early interactions between the Klamath, Chinook and Fusangese were not unlike those between the Warring States of China in the Spring and Autumn Period and the northern Hun--cautious trade, but little else. As has been true of Chinese culture, the Klamath gained much more culturally than they gave economically through such viable grain crops such as corn. The klamath began to adopt chinese dress and live in chinese housing--yet, at the same time, they influenced Fusangese architecture through the use of maize husks in construction, a facet of architecture that has remained constant in the rural countrysides of Fusang. Yet, already the Fusangese had begun to instate their own cultural superiority, designating the Klamath as the Donghu 東胡 (a corruption of Donghu 東湖, the Eastern Lake people, after the Klamath's self-reference as ewksiknii, the People of the Lake). Until the Chiloquin Civil Rights Movement, the Klamath would never again stand on equal ground with Fusang.

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Notes and junk...
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[1]: The use of styles, outdated in modern China, was the common style of name (The name being similar to our family name, while the style being the Given name). Given the early seperation in Fusang, i believed it'd be more realistic to use the old styling name system in Fusang.
[2]: Daqin (大秦) - the Roman Empire, as named by the Han Chinese.
[3]: The reader may be slightly confused by my referral of Fusang also as Wujiang. Wujiang denotes the Five Rivers region around the Colombia river, not the nation of Fusang (similar to how Guangzhou is the region in China, not the whole of China). Since Fusang has yet to develop out of Wujiang, Wujiang remains a name fot the chinese settlers of the region.
[4]: The East, in this case, is the Americas because Xu Fu travelled East to Fusang (whereas Columbus in our timeline would have travelled west).
 
Really good TL so far with some interesting ideas and well done research. As someone with a bit of a soft spot for Native American cultures, it'll be interesting to see how this goes. Also, you mentioned the Iroquis conlonising Europe at some point. Even with the collapse of Rome, shouldn't the natives at least have Iron Age levels of technology and much harder to push around?
 
Really great so far, I'm especially enjoying the updates on Fusang, although I know that's not really the main focus of the TL. I'm woefully ignorant of the Iroquis, being British I've got basically no exposure to native American culture asides from Disney and Avatar :eek:.
Didn't the Iroquis carry out mournign raids, where they'd replace a dead member of the tribe with a kidnapped child? It sound sweird when I write it but I read it somewhere . . . anyone lend a hand here?
 
DAv, you're correct--the Byzantine Empire and the Persian Empire isolate the East from the West, and so most of Western Europe retains fairly advanced Iron Age technology. But, given the lack of any real uniting religious authority (the role the Pope Innocent III played in uniting all of Europe under Christendom), the Celts, Franks, Slavs and Saxons are going to remain very much steeped in the middle ages. Once in a while, someone will come close to uniting them, but their empires will die soon after their birth (i.e. Charlemagne, others). The Western Europe of this timeline is closer to a large version of Feudal Japan than the America of our timeline.

Saepe, it's true. One of the main reasons the Iroquois could expand and adapt so quickly was that they rapidly integrated captives of other tribes into their ranks. This was a well-accepted practice for teh iroquois.
 

Note: While I will continue using the actual pronunciations of names (Ongwehonweh, the tribe names) for a few chapters, the limits of our timeline means that I will try to move to addressing tribes by their common names (Iroquois instead of Ongwehonweh), even though these names are inaccurate and also come from other clans. I am running out of real Iroquois names, and the reader will only be confused if I continually use names with more than ten letters. I apologize, since this will detract from historical accuracy, but in this situation I must resort to this measure.

From "The Grand Sachems", the Book of Hiawatha

"...After years of war, the Ongwehonweh took possession of the land that Taryenyawagon had granted them. By then, Hado'ih had become an old man, tired after years of war. The ongwehonweh had also been wearied. Many tents now sat with doused fires, in mourning following the deaths of their sons. Hado'ih consulted Taryenyawagon. 'Upholder of the Heavens, your people have taken possession of the land that you have bequeathed them. Yet your children are not numerous to defend us from our enemies around us. Many of our men have fallen. Will you simply allow your children to perish under the clubs of our enemies?' 'Do not fear,' replied Taryenyawagon, 'for I am with you. Take the aliens and the young captives among you, and put them under your mothers. Teach them the ways of the Ongwehonweh, and they will become your brothers and sisters. In this way, the tribes that I will have you destroy will leave a remnant, so that their names shall not disappear from the earth.' From then on, after wars, a Mourning War was carried out so that the Ongwehonweh could look for agille young men and women, skilled in mind, body and spirit, making them brothers and sisters under Taryenyawagon..."

"...All men must grow old and perish, and even Ethisoda, the Grandfather of the Ongwehonweh was no exception. The time eventually came for Ethisoda, son of Kateri[1], to depart from this world, to return to Taryenyawagon and The Sky World. Knowing his time was short, Ethisoda called his daughters and sons to a grand council at Caughnawaga. Now, his wife, Onatah, had died, and so it was left up to him to determine his successor. Now, Ethisoda's two eldest sons, Kahnianke (founder of the Mohawk) and Nundawa (founder of the Seneca) frequently bickered and fought with each other. Cayuga, the second youngest, sided with Nundawa, whereas Onayoteka, the youngest, sided with Kahnianke. Only Onondaga, the middle child, lived above this feud. Ethisoda called his five sons together to give them their final blessing, beginning with the eldest. 'Kahnianke, my son, you are the eldest and bravest of my children--yet you are also the most impetuous and argumentative. You are wise in the ways of agriculture, but you do not allow much space for flexibility. I leave to you the lands of the East, where our enemies lurk. May you always be the defender of your brothers in times of war, and a loyal sentinel in times of peace. May you be as the flint--the source of warmth and tools in peace, but the sources of Flame and Arrows in times of war." And so, Kahnianke and his clan came to become known as the Kahniankeaka/Mohawk[2], People of the Flint and also the Ganiengehaka, the Keepers of the Eastern Door. After Kahnianke had left, Ethisoda called in his second son, Nundawa. "Nundawa, you and Kahnianke are both sons whom I love--but neither of you harbor much love for each other. Yet, you are like the water to Kahnianke's flame - where he is rude, you are polite. Where he is brash, you are softspoken, yet your strenght is no less. Your conduct and manners to men, women and children are models for all the tribe. You will inherit from me the Western Gate of our lands, where our sisters the Aniyvwiyai (the Cherokee) and my mother's tribe in the West meet us. May you be like a Great Hill, a Great Hill that our clan can always look to, for pride, strength and dignity. May you be a shield for all your brothers - yes, Kahnianke also, and so show all the gentiles that the Ongwehonweh do not fight their own." From that day on, Nundawa and his clan came to be known as the Nundawaono/Seneca, the people of the Great Hill, though others called them Onondowahgah, the keepers of the Western Door. After Nundawa had left, Ethisoda called in Cayuga. "Cayuga, you love the animals and men that Taryenwagon had put into the world, and you are the most kindhearted of my children, the haven of those who have been rejected by all others. You are also a great hunter, one without equal. May you be like the Great Swamp where I will deposit you--a people that are forever in tune with nature, a preserver of the way of the heavens." Cayuga's children henceforth were known as the Guyohohnyoh/Cayuga, The People of the Great Swamp. Next, Ethisoda called in Onayoteka, his youngest son. "Onayoteka, you are a thinker, a dreamer, a contemplator who has always helped to calm down your eldest brother, Kahnianke. Your morals and beliefs are like stones, never changing in the face of fire, water, earth or wind. May you always be like stones--steadfast, loyal, and unwavering in your resolve." Onayoteka's tribe, the Oneida, came to be known as Onayotekaono, the People of the Standing Stone. Finally, Ethisoda called in all his sons. By now, his strength had begun to fail, and he could only reach out feebly for his middle son, Onondaga. "Onondaga, you have no great strengths. You are not an avid warrior like Kahnianke, nor are you as polite as Nundawa, as compassionate as Cayuga, or as stubborn as Onayoteka. Yet, you have all of these inside you--and, above all, a heart of peace. Though your brothers reject your overtures, you continue fighting for peace. Each of your brothers looks up to you in some respects, and you are above all the disputes that have threatened to tear all of you apart. You, Onondaga, my son, will lead the Ongwehonweh in my death. I have given you the land between your four feuding brothers--may you always be a voice of moderation, a voice of reason for your brothers. May you be a beacon, a fire of peace that will never dim, forever and ever." And thus, Onondaga came to be known as the Onundagaono - The Keepers of the Fire. Ethisoda, who now knew his time had come and propped himself up. "All of you, remember that you are brothers of one flesh, united by one tribal mothers, all the way back to our great ancestor, Atahensic. Now I must depart to the land of my mothers. May you always remember and be remembered by Taryenyawagon." and with that, Ethisoda's spirit was carried into the heavens by Taryenyaw, guardian of the Ongwehonweh/Iroquois."

"...and so began the days of the First of the Grand Sachems, Onondaga, father of the Iroquois. His wife was Nohankee, of the Mohawk [3]. After the period of mourning had ended, Onondaga gathered his brothers. "Our father, Ethisoda, has left us, and now our enemies, the Huron, now move against us. Though we may not be of one mind, we are of one flesh. Let us drive these invaders from our midst!" Oneida, though, suggested, 'let us first consult Taryenyawagon first.' Thus, Onondoga found the False Faces, the medicine men of the tribe. 'Inquire of the Holder of the Heavens for me.' At once, the spirit of Taryenwagon came upon one of the False Faces. 'Go, Onondaga son of Onatah, with your brothers. Subdue the Huron and drive them from your land. Do not doubt the strength of the hand that holds your war tomahawk--for that hand will be mine. Now go and be victorious.' And so, gathering the men of the tribe, Onondaga led the Iroquois in battle against the Huron on the banks of the Ontario. There, Onondoga struck down over fifty warriors, and the Iroquois were victorious. At Canandaigua, Kahnianke and Nundawa also defeated an invading Huron band, inflicting many casualties. The huron were forced to pay tribute equal to 400 men's worth of corn for the next five summers. A wave of fear paralyzed the neighboring nations as they realized taht Taryenyawagon was with the Iroquois..."

"...three summers after the defeat of the Huron, Onondaga and the Iroquois subdued the Northern Algonquin, the Mohicans, Pocumtucs and Sokoki, and the southern Lenni Lenape [4]. By this time, the lands of the Ongwehonweh had grown to twice the size of the land that Ethisoda left his sons. At teh early onset of autumn, a small band of braves arrived at Caughnawaga. "We bring tidings from Kanyenke, son of Taltsuska. Our chief has heard of your great victories. We, the Aniyvwiyai/Cherokee are now beset by enemies, the Susquehannock. We are of your flesh and your blood...can you not assist us?" Onondaga consulted with his brothers. 'Tell your chief that he is our brother. We will march to war with you.' he said to Kanyenke. At once, Onondaga gathered the clan mothers and elders of the tribe. "Iroquois, as you have heard, help has been requested from oru blood relatives, the CHerokee. I will bring my own tribe, the Onondaga, but I do not require that you, my brothers and sisters, follow me. Will you accompany us?" "We are with you body and soul," his brothers replied. And so, leaving some of the young men and most of the young men in the village, Onondaga led the young men of the village to Kituwa, city of the Cherokee, where they were welcomed by Kanyenke, son of Taltsuska and chief of the Cherokee. "My brother, let us make a pact of mutual friendship," Kanyenke proposed--and, then and there, Onondaga and Kanyenke made a blood pact of mutual assistance. The Iroquois and the Cherokee defeated their enemies on the banks of the Kituwa, and, after days of feasting, the Iroquois returned to their lands..."

"...these were the days of the Grand Sachems, when all of the Iroquois were led by the descendants of Onondaga. Every other Grand Sachem was an Onondaga, the others (depending on his spouse) from the other tribes [5]. In those days, the Iroquois were a great nation, spanning from the lands of the Cherokee to the lands of the Huron across the Great Lakes. For more than 120 summers, the Iroquois prospered.”

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Notes and junk...
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[1] The iroquois are Matrilinear in family line, and so Kateri is Ethisoda's mother and thus the clan mother. I will try to clear up the Iroquois family line system as I go.
[2] This is technically incorrect. The Mohawk were in fact considered to be excellent farmers and wise men, but not really men of war. This is mainly because Tadohado, who will be illustrated in other chapters, was a Mohawk, and because the Mohawk were one of the last in the story of Hiawatha to go over to the Confederacy.
[3] Because the Iroquois are matrilinear, the husband actually moves into the wife's household, and the children are born to the clan of the mother. Thus, it is important to track both (for the line of the Grand Sachems) the clan mothers and also (in general) the tribe's descent into another tribe.
[4] The Algonquins, the traditional enemies of the Iroquois (alongside the Huron), lived in the North and allied with the French during the Seven Years War. The Lenni Lenape inhabited what is today Long Island, New York.
[5] Because of the matrilinear system of the family line, the children of two tribe members was part of the mother’s tribe. Since the chief was a male, each child of an Onondaga isn’t an Onondaga (generally, clans couldn’t marry within), but with a marriage back into the Onondaga, it was possible to assure that every other generation would be Onondaga. This system is still a little warped in this case (generally, inheritance of rank doesn’t go to the son, but to the next of kin on the mother’s side—brother, cousin, etc.)
 
Note: from this point on, names are going to be written by their meanings instead of their actual pronunciation, since I don’t know any of the Iroquoian dialects.



From “The Kinslaying,” The Book of Hiawatha


“…The end of the Grand Sachems came like a sudden storm. In the Thirteenth summer of the Thirteenth grand sachem, Two Rivers, the chief of the Cherokee, Red Sky, sent an emissary to Two Rivers. “My brother, I am marching up against my enemy, the Cree. Will you march with me?” Now, Red Sky was the brother of his predecessor, Three Stones, and had gained power by killing his other brothers. However, Two Rivers was a man of good faith. Upholding the ancient agreement that their forefathers had made, Two Rivers replied, “Your enemy is my enemy.” Two Rivers, who by then was an old man, sent his younger brother, Black Clouds, with some of the young men. The Iroquois and Cherokee were unflinching in their resolve, and they fought with all their might. Yet, the Cree were not cowards, and in each defeat, they inflicted a heavy price on both the Iroquois and Cherokee. Finally, though, Black Clouds and Red Sky claimed victory on the battlefield. In victory, the Cherokee and Iroquois began to divide the spoils. Among the captured was a woman whom Black Clouds loved—but also one whom Red Sky wanted. The two men argued. In anger, Red Sky devised a plan to get rid of Black Clouds. Inviting him to a ceremonial hunt in order to reconcile with each other, Red Sky had sent his own men, disguised as Cree survivors, in the woods. The two men split up—and, alone, Black Clouds was ambushed and killed. Yet, one of the Iroquois had witnessed the ‘Cree’ Return to the Cherokee and notified Black Cloud’s braves. Immediately, they went to find Red Sky. Red Sky appealed to his countrymen. ‘Look, these fellows come onto our land, eat our food, but now come to kill us! Let us put an end to these oathbreakers!” And so, the men fo the Cherokee wreaked slaughter against the Iroquois. None were to be left alive—but one brave, the youngest, managed to escape and report of the treachery to Two Rivers. In a rage, Two Rivers summoned all the men of the Iroquois to war. As one man, the hearts of the Iroquois were united under Two Rivers—the last time for many moons that this would happen.

The rage of the Iroquois was great, and the Cherokee fell before them like corn husks in the wind. Two Rivers, already seventy, personally led the Iroquois braves to the very gates of Kituwa. In fear, the Cherokee bound Red Sky and sent him, bound, to the Iroquois, where Two Rivers, praising Taryenwagon, slowly carved him apart in front of the Cherokee and Iroquois before eating him—a practice detestable in the eyes of Taryenwagon. That night, Two Rivers prepared to mustered his braves again to destroy Kituwa utterly – against the advice of the rest of the sachems. White Moon, sachem of the Oneida, counseled, “Your debt of blood to Black Clouds has been fulfilled with the death of Red Sky. Let us not continue war against our brothers.” “My brothers are not those men, but Black Clouds, who still lies unavenged,” replied Two Rivers in anger. “All the Cherokee have helped in killing Black Clouds and the men of our tribe—no one man can repay that!” “Then let us consult Taryenwagon,” White Moon suggested, to the assent of the other sachems. Two Rivers could only grudgingly agree, and so they approached the False Face Society. “Inquire of the holder of the Heavens for me,” Two Rivers asked. The False faces inquired to the lord. The spirit of the lord came upon one of them. “…This is what the Upholder of the Heavens says. Do not go against your blood brothers, the Cherokee—they have been chastised enough. You have already sinned against me through your cannibalism, and I will turn my face from you if you pursue this grudge. Therefore, pack your belongings and return to Caughnawaga to the funeral of your brother.” Yet, Two Rivers looked to heaven. “Taryenyawagon, I cannot allow the killers of my brothers to live. Even if you will not stand by me, I must fight this battle.” With that, he mustered the braves and, the next morning, launched an attack on Kituwa. Two Rivers, a formidable warrior, led the braves as they charged towards the walls. Yet the Lord’s hand was against Two Rivers, and an Aenna (archer) of the Cherokee let fly at random and hit Two Rivers in the forehead. He fell and died on the spot, the last Grand Sachem of the Iroquois. White Moon ordered Two Rivers’ corpse recovered. That day, he retreated back to the lands of the Iroquois, chased by the Cherokee. From then on, there was bad blood between the Cherokee and the Iroquois.

The whole of the Iroquois doused their fires for the funeral of Grand Sachem Two Rivers. With the Clan Mother, Silver Deer (of the Onondaga) dead, the next Grand Sachem could not be chosen. And so, at the funeral, the twin sons of Two Rivers arrived—Five Hills, who had married into the Seneca, and Five Flames, who had married into the Mohawk. Both sides were escorted by their tribe’s braves. Five Flames, a Great Warrior, had shown valor at Kituwa, but Five Hills, an expert orator, could move mountains with his tongue. Fearful that Five Hill’s speaking would sway the Grand Council of Sachems, the Mohawk arranged to have Five Hills assassinated.

On the day of the Grand Council, Five Hills, guarded by seven of the Seneca’s greatest warriors, arrived at Caughnawaga. The Mohawk assassins, hidden at the top of the Longhouse, could not shoot through the wall of men. Five Hills entered the council Longhouse, still heavily guarded. Yet, when he was called to speak, Five Hills walked towards the fire alone. The seven Seneca Braves assented reluctantly, and Five Hills began to speak—just as, finally isolated from his bodyguards, he was shot in the heart by a Mohawk Assassin. Even as he fell, the Seneca braves, crying ‘Treachery’, hurled their Tomahawks at the Mohawk elders and clan mothers (most of whom in fact had no knowledge of the plot). At this, the Mohawk braves stood up as well and fought back, until all of Caughnawaga was consumed in the flames of war…

Thus began the Kinslaying, when brother turned upon brother, Iroquois upon Iroquois. The survivors of each tribe returned to their lands and mustered their men, and the Iroquois fell into civil war. The Onondaga, who lacked the military strength to stop both tribes, was trampled into the process. The Iroquois fought their enemies, but they also fought among themselves, each clan and tribe for their own. And the people cried out to false gods, the gods of the tribes whom they had themselves decimated. They turned to cannibalism and other detestable practices, while the Clan Mother’s instructions were ignored. At this time, Taryenyawagon turned his face away from the Iroquois. In those days, there was no Grand Sachem in the land of the Iroquois, and every Tribe did as they saw fit.

Yet, Taryenyawagon had not forgotten the Ongwehonweh. In the fourth summer of the Kinslaying, word came upon the Oracles of the False Face Society. ‘Let the Ongwehonweh remember that I have not abandoned you. I will send before you a man who will bring all the world into the family of the Ongwehonweh. He will bring peace to the Iroquois and the World, so that all men and women will know that I, Taryenyawagon, am God.’”
 
Really good update here with some nice parralels between the Religions. This is all taking place within the Great Lakes Mid-West region am I right?
 
The Xinyang Reforms


From “The Rise of Modern Fusang (現代扶桑的興起)” by Yun Lang (styled Gohtoi) / Yuan Liang (Styled Gaotai) (袁梁 高泰)

The early days of Fusang were dominated by the Xu family. Enoffed the Lord of Wujiang (supposedly by the edict of the Qin Emperor), Xu Fu’s son, Xu Li, styled Antai (徐裡 安泰) ruled over Wujiang from Yangkou (洋口). As the population of Fusang continued to expand, walled cities were built further and further down the Tianjiang (天江), the Colombia River. By the 8th century BD, the Fusangese had become almost half a million, including locals tribes who spoke Fusangese. Wujiang Trading networks also expanded rapidly. The Wujiangese had much to offer to the natives. The Natives knew little about iron, and generally a slice of an iron sword through the beaten copper shields of local chiefs was more than enough to both cow and amaze the natives. Moreover, the natives had never seen a horse (for a long time referred to as Naked Deer), and the Fusangese trader’s horses (who neither shied away nor fled from humans) amazed the native merchants. The mass-agriculture systems of the Wujiang peasantry also led to immense surpluses that amazed the nearby Barbarians. Gradually, nearby tribes slowly began to settle into the sedentary lifestyles of the Fusangese. Rapidly, a large population of natives who neither spoke nor wrote Chinese were incorporated into Fusang. The Hieroglyphically Complex Chinese language was difficult to learn, and so many Fusangese traders were reduced to speaking the language of their Barbarian Counterparts—something that the ethnocentric Fusangese resented immensely. The lack of a written language medium also meant miscommunication came often, leading to scuffles. This problem would not be addressed for more than a century.

In 987 BD, Tsui Hing styled Teen’duk / Xu Xing styled Tiande (徐興 字田德) became lord () of Wujiang in the new capital, Xinyang (新陽). Having spent a large part of his life on the borders, Xu Xing had met many types of people. Some called him insane, other called him enlightened—but whatever anyone thought of Xu Xing, he certainly had ideas. One of his first measures was to unify the money system. Having been built oriented to survival, the Fusangese had no standard system of money, ranging from basic bartering to coins taken from the old World. Xu Xing established many bureaucratic institutions to control the flow of Taels (), the Fusangese standard of currency. Regular drilling and training of the local peasants (and indeed the establishment of a small permanent military class in the lower nobility) began in many of the fortified cities. The establishment of the Imperial Princes’ Academy (帝國王公學院) also began to curtail the power of the initially ascendant nobility that, like the China they had left, carved out small enclaves for themselves. In requiring that all the children of Peerage be educated at the Academy in Xinyang, Xu Xing essentially attained the double purpose of ensuring at least semi-competent rulers and ensuring the obedience of the nobility by essentially holding their heir apparents hostage. All these measures irked the Conservatives in Xinyang and the nobility in the outlying cities, who saw many of these measures as a departure from tradition and an infringement of their own power. Yet, they may have allowed Xu Xing to live had he not secretly unveiled his last plan—for a complete revamp of the Chinese Language. Secretly assembled by several of the scholars, the new language, referred to as Wujiangese, was a radical departure from traditional Chinese. Most proper nouns (such as city names) retained their old names—but traditional grammar (while the same when spoken) had been radically rewritten into a system of simplified phonetics that could be combined to form one character. This new system made individual Chinese words far easier to learn, read and write. Though the shotgun marriage of traditional writing and new grammar seemed unwieldy, it was a great improvement to the pure-memorization hieroglyphics of the old World. Yet, the conservatives, led by Prime Minister Tse Hong Styled Wanlin (謝雄 灣林) reacted explosively to this new measure by their upstart ruler, and they revolted in 983 BD with what they claimed was a mandate from the emperor himself (perhaps unknowing that the Qin dynasty had barely survived Shi Huangdi). While they had only intended to capture Xu Xing, they in fact killed him during an attack on the Xinyang palace. Yet, Xu Xing had commanded the support of most of the population, and so they were forced to head off public discontent by instating Xu Xing’s 16-year old son, Tsui Ling styled Heem’de/ Xu Ling styled Qiande (徐靈 謙德) as what they hoped would be a willing puppet ruler. And, for some time, this was true. Tse Hong was a skilled politician, and he managed to play loyalists against each other until his death two years later. Xu Ling, however, had not forgotten—and, with his greatest obstacle now dead, he launched a countercoup in the April of 981 BD (19 AD). Rejecting the edict of the Qin Emperor (which was forged at any rate), Xu Ling openly separated from the Emperor, a largely symbolic gesture given the complete lack of interaction and executed most of the nobles who had rebelled against his father. Yet, in separating from the long since nonexistent empire in the Middle Kingdom, Xu Ling openly announced his departure from the old ways that had ruled China since the Shang. Some historians argue that this was the moment when the inhabitants of Wujang ceased to be Chinese and instead became Fusangese. Declaring himself Emperor Taiyuan of Wujiang and his father the August Emperor of Wujiang, Xu Ling began the first dynasty of Fusang.

Fusang - 900 BD


Government: Fusang’s intial government had been an extension of the Feudal Governments that had just barely been replaced by Qin. A Lord ruled above all, with a few nobles and a prime minister. No military existed outside of wartime with the exception of the royal guard. The main industry was (as with most of the world) farming. Each city taxed the farmlands in its immediate vicinity, and thus derived the means to maintain itself. Each city had its own ruler, though all of them ultimately owed their allegiance to the Xu and ultimately, the Dragon Emperor Twenty Thosuand Li in the west. The reforms enacted by Xu Xing, though, ultimately began the early loose but strong connections between each city-state. Whereas each of Xu Xing’s family relatives ruling the other cities had initially had much leeway, Xu Xing’s establishment of the Imperial Princes’ Academy, each Feudal Lord’s heir was thus bound to the Government in Xinyang, ensuring (at the very least) some tact and respect to the capital. Not unlike the Han across the ocean, the Wujiang Dynasty maintained (unlike its citizen army) a standing navy on the Wujiang—the five rivers connected each city (which, due to their early rice dependency, always grew near rivers), and in controlling the river, the Ministry of Public Revenue could regulate trade and derive customs duties and other sources of money. Unlike the introverted nation they had left (not long after the fall of the Qin, the Han Wudi established Confucianism as the primary religion/ideology, officially turning its back on the merchants who, in Confucius’s opinion, were lower than even the soldiers for their inability to create anything for society), Fusang’s roots lay in trade and in the constant expansion of their trading network. From the onset, Fusang’s call for Unity lay in Trade, just as in China the call of Unity lay in the threat of the Barbarians all around. Across an ocean, both Fusang and China had developed ideas of unity—but they came to see unity in two vastly different ways. Chinese unity, like its cities, began from its walls in. Within the stone walls of the Great Wall, everything within needed to be united, and that was all that mattered as long as the most civilized nation in the world was concerned. For the Fusangese, unity began from its walls out. Around a core of Fusangese Culture, unity, like the typical Fusangese city, started from the inside out.

Religion: Without any dominant religious or social outlook, Fusang lacked the introverted but cohesive establishment of the Confucian system that had allowed the Han to maintain its empire. Schools of thought existed, whether it be the (long-dead in China) Legalism of Han Feizi, the Relatively obscure Ascetic Taoism of Zhuangzhi or otherwise. Without a dominant religion, most of the Chinese Fusangese remained true to the folk animism they had brought from China (these fall into the category of Taoism in China due to the later blend of the two. In Fusang, though, this did not occur, thus the distinction between Ascetic Taoism, Taoism and Animism). The religious plurality prevented the Fusangese from becoming completely homogenous, and also left a vast opening for the influx of the Taiping Religion from Iroquois medicine men after the death of the Great Peacemaker.

Education: No state-run system of education existed, and the lack of any cohesive religious or political ideology impeded the early establishment of education. The writings that had come over from China were few and sparse, and it fell upon those who could read to maintain these precious manuscripts. Without the national Confucian Examinations of the Han, most farmers had no motivation to learn the (somewhat difficult) early Chinese, and so language initially remained only with the nobility and the literati. The later establishment of Wujiangese established at least a basic written language accessible to the farmers and (primarily) the merchants. Old Chinese, though, remained the writing language of the Elite, taught and spoken within the confines of the palaces and taught to the Princes in the Imperial Princes’ Academy. To conclude, literacy was not extended to the famers until the 5th century BD (around 500 AD)

Military: Prior to his last trip east, Xu Fu had explained to Shi Huangdi that his first voyage had failed due to a sea monster. He requested and was granted a company of Archers and soldiers for the purpose. All aspects of Chinese Society had left Qin China, and that included the Military. To be sure, most of these archers were conscripted, and they did not remain soldiers long. The initial friendliness of the Klamath did not seem to require any military force, and so the early militaries of Fusang were not unlike those of the Feudal Kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn Period. While a small warrior class stood as officers and defended the palace, the vast majority of a Fusang City’s army lay in its citizenry. Prior to the Xinyang reforms, these militia were poorly trained and poorly equipped, making them a very temperamental army that could well flee the field at the slightest problem. Compared to the warrior societies of the Olmecs in the South and the splintered Iroquois tribes, these soldiers surely would not have fared well. Yet, even these initial armies had advantages. For example, cavalry (primary limited to the permanent Warrior Class) had never been seen before by the natives, and most cowered before these “Naked Deer” and their armored riders. Fusangese Crossbows had far greater range than most native bows (save for the Klamath, whose reputations as master Archers remained with them), and they required far less training. Fusangese soldiers were armed with Bronze and (for the prosperous) Iron, something that few of the natives could match. Moreover, the Fusangese had both the population and communal mindset to make use of Formations against the natives (who fought as individuals). All these advantages gave the Fusangese early ascendancy and the leeway to expand itself rapidly from the Five Rivers. With the Xinyang reforms to the early military and the establishment of regular training drills, the Xinyang Dynasty began to establish its position along the Fusang coast.
 
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