Dromosker Premise

[Emir of Raspur]

Official Name: Askerr. Dromosker ('Slave Island') is a pejorative label given to the island by outsiders

Government: Tribal Theocracy

Flag: n/a. A pig's head mounted on a pole and adorned with brightly coloured feathers is believed to serve as a rallying point during moments of violent crisis such as inter-village skirmishes, bladder-ball games and weddings.

Area: 384 km2 (148 sq mi) Larger than previously anticipated.

Population: Unknown. 54,000 persons+ distributed across 47 'village-like structures' (unofficial estimate)

Ethnicity: Askerr Tribe [100%] (Primary tribal sub-divisions Askerr-Jal & Askerr-Qem, numerous other village clans form a subset of these tribes)

Head of State:

• The En Lugal (Paramount High Priest)
• En Lugal Enis (Y-50 - Y4)
• En Lugal Lek (Y4 - )
• En Lugal Eggel (Y4 - )

Senator: Chief Barowa of Jashamba

Capital: Calēkhōpraksis (Religious & Cult Centre)

Synopsis: The Askerr ("Hunters of the Long-Pig") are a primitive bronze-tech race which subsists on the remarkably fruitful harvests yielded from the marginal land of seven inter-connected 'swamp valleys' which lead back to a central lake at the heart of the island on which the 'floating city' of Calēkhōpraksis rests, a jumble of priest huts built on stilts projecting out into the lake all of which surround a small 'wizard isle' with a solitary stone building at it's peak. No other sign of human activity on the isle itself is discernible - suggesting that there may be some form of strong taboo associated with the location, hence the religious-cultic significance of the settlement and its subsequent impact on the political system of the Askerr tribe.

The geological conditions of Dromosker renders it an atypical 'isolate' that is resistant to communication and contact with the outside world. It would appear that the island was formed by volcanic action over unknown millennia which formed its infamous shoreline of twenty metre high columnar jointed basalt cliffs.

At some point in the pre-history of the Dromosker Isle it seems that there occurred a caldera collapse which was fundamental in the development of its insular inward looking geography and ecology which descends from the basalt rim through the swamp valleys to the lake itself.

There is speculation that the entire island is in fact a dormant stratovolcano, which if confirmed could have ominous implications for the future.

The En Lugal Enis is responsible for the regulation of the 'mana' (spiritual essence) of the island which is harvested in the form of prayers and supplications in much the same way that canoeloads of yam taro, banana, sago are brought into the capital to feed the En Lugal Enis, his acolytes and their families. The mana derived from the faith of the islanders is harnessed and applied by the priesthood to placate the 'Angry God of the Depths'. The residue mana is generously returned to the community through the production and distribution of fetish items imbued with spiritual power which is entrusted to the headmen of the surrounding villages as a mark of the gratitude and esteem in which they are held by the placaters of the Angry God for their regular and prompt food deliveries.

[Funky Wombat]

Cannibals, yes or no?

[Scott Alexander]

I look forward to being your inevitable nemesis, and will set the tech fields to ensure that sailors stranded in your newest dystopia end up in the cooking-pot.

[Emir of Raspur]

Cannibals, yes or no?

In the dark times when the world turned on itself and the light of the sun failed the Askerr hunted the long pork and with the mana so gained rekindled the light.

Cannibalism between the Askerr in subsequent ages however is largely taboo for the eating of kin brings shame. However there are two exceptions:

Heroic Cannibalism

The heart is the seat of the mana-lode. When an enemy falls in a spear fight or game of clubs it is to the slayer that the victor's portion is presented so that he might thereby inherit the courage, insight and mana essence of the vanquished. Only a warrior killed in honourable combat may be consumed in this way to restore his mana to the community.


The Raskol

The Raskol are the male youths who are expelled from villages when they are deemed a challenge to the headman or else there is a lack of brides. The Raskols live a desperate life in the jungle as outcasts from Askerr society, where they subsist by foraging, hunting and acts of theft from the settlements they have been expelled from. The Raskol aggregate together into desperate outlaw bands where a kind of feral instinct controls their actions. The Raskol gangs have a dreadful aspiration, to swarm a vulnerable village and slay the headman and the menfolk. In villages where this horror has occurred, after the slaughter the Raskol butcher all those children who have failed to flee into the bush and hold a cannibal feast whereby the seed of the slain headman is exterminated. Women of child-bearing age are kept as slaves so that the Raskol might begin their own bloodlines. Villages which befall this fate are shunned as places accursed. Often the survivors of Raskol massacres, especially the young, are themselves inducted into other Raskol gangs - often as the only means of survival available - where they are locked into the same cycle of slaughter and despair.

Those Raskol who do not achieve success in conquering a village - as indeed most do not - resort to cannibalism as a means of obtaining nourishment, and they are noted for the low stratagems by which they obtain their victims - they often elect to torture the youngest boy in their group and leave him by the stretch of water used by the washerwomen so that the sobbing might prick the maternal instinct of one so that a meal might readily fall into their trap.

The En Lugal has a sacred obligation to eradicate the Raskol, or at least to keep their numbers in check so that the problem is manageable.

Three Gifts of the Jungle We Fear
The Beak of the Wagga Bird
The Club of the Raskol
The Tear of the Child of Woe

I look forward to being your inevitable nemesis, and will set the tech fields to ensure that sailors stranded in your newest dystopia end up in the cooking-pot.

The intention here is for the dystopia to be something that will be overcome rather than a steady end-state... that is not to say that marooned sailors will not be eaten. New mana is a precious commodity.