Let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest; they will then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world. In this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought. A thousand motives will excite them thereto; the strength of one man is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united would be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness, but one man might labour out the common period of life without accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber he could not remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in the mean time would urge him to quit his work, and every different want would call him a different way. Disease, nay even misfortune, would be death; for, though neither might be mortal, yet either would disable him from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might rather be said to perish than to die.
Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which would supersede, and render the obligations of law and government unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each other; but as nothing but Heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably happen that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties of emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, they will begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each other: and this remissness will point out the necessity of establishing some form of government to supply the defect of moral virtue.
Some convenient tree will afford them a State House, under the branches of which the whole Colony may assemble to deliberate on public matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will have the title only of Regulations and be enforced by no other penalty than public disesteem. In this first parliament every man by natural right will have a seat.
But as the Colony encreases, the public concerns will encrease likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated, will render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every occasion as at first, when their number was small, their habitations near, and the public concerns few and trifling. This will point out the convenience of their consenting to leave the legislative part to be managed by a select number chosen from the whole body, who are supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those have who appointed them, and who will act in the same manner as the whole body would act were they present. If the colony continue encreasing, it will become necessary to augment the number of representatives, and that the interest of every part of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number: and that the ELECTED might never form to themselves an interest separate from the ELECTORS, prudence will point out the propriety of having elections often: because as the ELECTED might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the ELECTORS in a few months, their fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflection of not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this, (not on the unmeaning name of king,) depends the STRENGTH OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE HAPPINESS OF THE GOVERNED.
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776.
Manarites
Early Period:
The Manar [1] of the Isle of Mana [2] were an organized agricultural culture that would rise to prominence with the widespread use of metals in the Mikulu [3] chain of islands. The initial settlement of Mana itself outside the river valleys would be impeded by a hard backed layer of ash and stone left by an ancient volcanic eruption. The layer – Punghar Paru [4] – it formed was impenetrable to wood which was the predominant material for tools. Agriculture was thus spatially confined to land near rivers which had carried away the layer, exposing rich soil underneath.
Limited to a small area of land, centralisation of Manarite [5] society would grow rapidly as power – land – was concentrated in the hands of the few who were awarded significant amounts of land in the initial settlement. These landholders would eventually form a separate caste, ruling as high chiefs who with time became empowered to dismiss chiefs, appoint new chiefs, adjudicate on land disputes and levy labour distribute new land, remove existing landholders and appoint new ones. The majority of the land itself was held in common but the high chiefs through their own personal land grants – always hereditary – held a virtual monopoly over land. With the power to starve opposition out or kill it they were virtually unchallenged in their mastery over the population. Their legitimacy rested on their ability to keep the population growing and well fed, not all altogether easy considering the limited fixed stock of land.
Manarite society would of necessity come to rely on metal initially for weapons and decoration but increasingly for tools which could hack through Punghar Paru. Mana itself was geologically impaired and would need to import most of its metal. This would represent the first significant inter-island trade in the region, most with the big island – Whakauh [6] – of the chain. The ore would be carried in outriggers of some four tonnes of capacity with the ore melted on the beach with payment based on the metal that could be extracted with no more than two attempts. The initial trade was both dangerous on two counts, by virtue of the nature of the crossing itself – reefs, rocks and strong currents being the norm – and the endemic warfare which plagued the islands as the high chiefs vied for domination over land. Culture was also a net export for Mana as metal and agricultural goods were on-sold to the smaller islands in the east which in effect came to function as somewhat backwards appendages of Mana. Direct colonisation also occurred as the poorest parts of the population of Mana itself periodically were forced to emigrate as famine set in normally to the east which welcomed the addition of the realitively skilled settlers who bought for instance the knowledge of how to extract metal from the ore. This allowed the smaller islands to instead purchase the raw ore itself which was substantially cheaper and extract the ore on Mana beaches (with predictably bloody consequences at times from the circumvented warlike middlemen).
A far more common means of doing away with surplus labour was to organise periodic moves colonisation forays away from the river valleys. These forays would be organised by the high chiefs, equipped by their metal tools and told very politely to hack themselves a living through Punghar Paru. Most predictably starved, it was quite simply to time consuming, uncertain and expensive both literally and in favours for a single farmer to handle.
Favours were a culturally specific institution which effectively functioned as an alternative means of barter, instead of physical goods or services changing hands or being preformed the right to either a good or service was exchanged. These rights could effectively be then traded on to others, allowing for greater efficiencies in barter. It had its problems mostly with honesty, but Manarite culture adapted accordingly and institutionalised increasingly stringent safeguards including for instance requiring a number of witnesses in the presence of whom a favour was to be granted. A typical exchange might include a neighbour helping a neighbour with planting and in turn using the accrued favour at a later date to compel assistance for harvesting.
A solution to the problem posed by Punghar Paru aside from trying to cover it with decomposing bodies would be developed. Periodic intense tropical rains would fall, which would in turn soften the hard Punghar Paru. Working parties would wait in preparation for the rains and then once they began to fall make all haste for the Punghar Paru covered hills. They would then begin to dig deep channels into the hills running parallel to the hills face. With each passing rain, Punghar Paru would weaken further and more of it would slough off revealing the fertile soil beneath. This would of course be organised by the high chiefs who alone had the financial resources both literal and promised to carry out significant public works.
They would then use this newly freed up land to further secure their own power. This would be achieved by distributing the land to family who would then become chiefs in their own right loyal to the high chief only and not to their constituents. Existing social conventions could also be thrown out the window, the starving poor were not about to quibble over the land that was reserved for them to work provided they were being fed. Initially this would work, but as more land in the highlands was opened up, the number of close worthy familial candidates would decline, in turn this necessitated an expansion of the candidates circle, which in turn often reflected a growth in distance from the high chiefs – literally and in blood – not an altogether solid proposition from which to base oneself. Settlers would also decline proportionately; this can be linked to a general period of population decline in the highlands as families had fewer children – infanticide being common especially of females. The land would be run by the high chief’s increasingly distant relatives, but it would largely be populated not by poor lowlanders but by the aspirational younger sons and daughters for existing highlanders – closer to the core regions – who had little regard for distant high chiefs. This process of ‘highlandisation’ was aided by the inevitable outbreaks of disease for which long time residents had far greater resistance to.
Middle Period:
What would follow would be a gradual process of decentralisation, further enhanced by a separate growing identity in the highlands and the arrogance of the lowlands. The interests of the chiefs and the general populace aligned as the chiefs came to see themselves as highlanders in part because of increased fiscal demands as the revenues of the lowlands agriculture declined due to population decline and overworking of the land. These increase demands would increasingly grow as the high chiefs became dependant on the income of the highlands their own holdings in the lowlands – which they not controlled completely – having declined in value. This period would be characterised by period of intense warfare as the decentralised, under populated, far larger and wealthier per capita periphery fought the centralised, significantly more populated (even if it was declining), smaller and significantly poor per capita centre. The irony would be that the greatest heroes of the highlands and lowlands would all be related quite often fairly closely. Later epics would frame it as fight between freedom – or at least Manarite freedom – vs. tyranny with both sides making their own respective cases. The lowlander’s case required acts of mental contortion that were previously thought quite impossible. Nevertheless they managed to frame the high chiefs as the defenders of tradition and the good old days standing up to their own traitorous kin and their oppressive barbarism (what was oppressive about it was seldom enumerated).
The high chiefs would managed periodically to crush the rebellions, but in the words of a popular oral tradition;
One can stamp out a fire, but one cannot stop the embers from lighting anew.
Serious attempts at occupying the highlands or removing their wayward kin from control wholesale were seldom undertaken owing to the distance, the lack of a standing army and a mentality that can perhaps be bested summed up as ‘better the devil you know’. The high chiefs would build up the means to retaliate slowly. They would trade their monopoly control over land including crucially setting in stone inheritance rights in exchange for increase military favours from some of the less loyal chiefs. The compromise would take the form of a presumption by the high chiefs when settling inheritance: land would preferentially be passed to the wives of the deceased. Prior to this even loyal chiefs children could be disenfranchised on the whims of their high chief, something which was a major point of contention for both the lowlands and highlands chiefs. It would have a duel effect of curtailing rebellion in the highlands and reducing the number of grievances in the lowlands. It would also allow the high chiefs to maintain a permanent standing force to deal with rebellion.
It would however weaken the high chiefs. In reality it represented a dangerous opening in the high chief’s power, something that would be readily used by the lowland chiefs who would steadily build up their own power bases. It was only when families died out that the high chiefs got to appoint their own men (something which was common). Realising that loyalty was more important than blood, the high chiefs began to ‘ike’ [7] for candidates outside their own ancestral unit. These ‘hui’hui’tua’ [8] (also derogatively referred to as ike) were placed on land of families which had died out. This would arrest the decline of the high chiefs for a short period. The relative shortage of land and the pressing requirements of the high chiefs to regain their standing necessitated the formalisation of the colony status of the smaller east islands. Culturally similar and all but distinguishable from the mainland, with their own chiefs and parallel political structure they were nevertheless enslaved and subjugated by their own kin from Mana. Few attempts were made by the high chiefs to moderate their creations actions; they simply could not if they expected to retain control.
High Period:
As the ike became entrenched as the generations passed and their children and their children’s children intermarried with the traditional ancestral elite and they became attached to their land and came to view it as part of their familial rights – instead of as a gift from the high chiefs – their loyalty and reliance on the high chiefs would fall. The scheme which had aided in keeping the high chiefs in power in the intervening years had begun to stagnate as bloodlines began to deepen (due to the long period of relative peace) and families stopped dying out.
The high chiefs themselves would continue to adopt ike into their households and soon found a use for this surplus of loyal followers. They would utilise these men to form a new military elite, kawu mao [9] also know as taumatka-hi [10]. They would be a step up from merely having a standing force to use, to having a loyal professional standing force to use. They would arise out of the ashes of the next series of wars with the highlands. Which would be won by the lowland high chiefs mostly on the backs of their kawu mao. Ironically this victory would weaken the high chiefs yet again, as their major source of recruitment – the conflict itself – dried up. To make up for this shortfall kawu mao would essentially become hereditary. The high chiefs would have their undying loyalty, so long as they were denied land of their own and were therefore forced to rely on high chiefs for their upkeep in its entirety. They would be instrumental in reasserting the power of the high chiefs back to near its old level by providing a critical edge in professionalism which their competitors did not have.
It would not be a one way street, the kawu mao relied on the high chiefs and the high chiefs relied on the kawu mao. The one could not exist without the other. This influence would manifest in growing instability as the kawu mao began to intermarry with the high chiefs and on occasion rise to the position themselves. These ikie-kawu mao [11] would initially rule as old style high chiefs and were only ever in the minority and barely tolerated at that. But even these bloodline links would become irrelevant as groups of kawu mao would begin to overthrow the high chiefs and rule effectively as a taumatka-hi dictatorship. This would trigger another series of wars as bloodline contenders and their supporter’s elsewhere – mostly fellow traditional elites – would clash with the taumatka-hi dictatorships.
Improvements in naval technology and the corresponding increase in safety coincided with this period. This would tip the colonisation balance as large numbers of people would begin to flee the violence – not just the poor – would begin to flee to found new colonies on the main island of the chain, Mokin [12].
The taumatka-hi would generally succeed in their wars, putting into the grave the notion of the ancestral unit – and the role of the chiefs and high chiefs – as purely blood creations. From then on the values of the taumatka-hi would become the values of the regions they ruled, honour, conduct and loyalty to the taumatka-hi. Those faithful to those ideals and abiding the rules would therefore by default become members of the group and thus have a say in the running of things. This principle would extend quite broadly; people put forward candidates to act on their behalf – always out of the taunmatka-hi to represent them – and thus gained a voice albeit it a weak one in the affairs of the region. The high chiefs who held on would continue under the old system; their personal blood right to rule. While the highlands would decisively break away from the rivers and maintain their independence till the end of the period, the path they choose was somewhat between the two. The chiefs of the highlands did not exert the same level of power as the high chiefs and were to a large degree reliant on the major other landholders to rule effectively. The economic balance would also shift decisively towards the highlands, which had remained peaceful and avoided the devastated lowlands; they would largely retain their population something the lowlands now had little off. This shift would really have more to do with the population collapse of the lowlands than any real economic advantage the highlands had.
The old system of the high chiefs would be best preserved in the colonies in the east. They had begun as mere extensions of the tribes at home but with the collapse of the situation at home and the collapse in trade they would gain their own independence. The occupiers from Mana would however suffer from the lack of colonists associated with a population collapse, they could no longer be sure they could maintain their control over those they occupied (who far outnumbered them in most of the islands). Modelling themselves on the old systems for which they had sprung from they appointed their own high chiefs. Crucially faced with significant hostility from their subject populations no shift towards decentralisation would occur as the chiefs would become reliant on the high chiefs due to omnipresent threat of raids and rebellion. The kawu mao would develop along the same lines as the mainland but would never have a chance to settle down and provide a viable counter to the high chiefs and would with time become a fully fledged military organization rushing from flashpoint to flashpoint.
It would be in the eastern colonies that the greatest military innovations would occur, as they would diversify their arms and tactics to suit the environments they fought in. Particularly gifted kawu mao might gain a marriage tie to their high chief forming an upper echelon of taunmatka-hi which was often entrusted to advise to the high chiefs and lead their armies into battle.
Trade would develop between the colonies to a much greater level than anywhere else in the chain. This trade would help foster a common identity in the face of adversity, something which would eventually translate into a shared military responsibility between islands. The trade would grow away from the low volume, high value goods of old to bulk trade goods including livestock, grain and suitors (which were constant to prevent interbreeding).
* * * * * * * * * * * *
It would be on the main island of the chain Mokin that the colonies of the Manarites would be given their greatest test. Initial expansion had been quick, with the docile natives [13] derogatively referred to as ponin [14] succumbing to the militaristic invaders. Colonists were however to few and far between to deal a killing blow – if that were in-fact possible in the first place – and as time went on and manpower began to decline due to the constant fighting the original massive gains would be snuffed out. Only superior military abilities would stave off total defeat and it would increasingly become apparent that the colonies would probably not last much longer.
The natives themselves would rapidly adopt many Manarite institutions in part aided by the ease with which they learnt the enemy tongue. They would learn the enemy tongue from the enemies own distant cousins [15] who were likewise subject to invasion and in many cases assimilation as time went on which helped partially alleviate the shortage of manpower.
Significant changes would begin to manifest in the natives, as they abandoned indefensible settlements in favour of more defensible ones. With time a gap would develop between the warring parties, approximating to the distance the invaders were willing to travel inland. This concentration of the population into ‘oasis’ sites – those sites inland which could support significant populations – which destroyed the notion of land, tribe and chief as the identifying factors of oneself. This would allow multi tribal proto-kingdoms to form around the most competent military leaders. The first true King was Mori-Kine [16] was the first of these military leaders to become a King by virtue of his inheritance of his position from his father. His son in turn was placed on the throne as a young man with his fathers death, cementing the position in the family, they would become the Kings of Mik-Min [17] the first kingdom on the chain.
The colonies which survived Mori-Kine were faced with a choice, fight or flee.
[1] Holder of Honour also Honourable Man
[2] Honour
[3] Mountain Island also High Honour Peaks
[4] Ash Mud also Ash Soil
[5] Holders of Honour also Honourable Men
[6] Big Mouth also Big Island
[7] fish
[8] pull up, drag up by the gut (gold digger: for similar negative connotations) also new family (for a more positive spin)
[9] Champion in battle also a military tactic which aims to form a wedge and split the enemy’s line (not for this context)
[10] The honourable rank in society for all of the champions also combat between champions
[11] high champions also high near chiefs
[12] Mok Home also Dry Millet Home also Home of the Mok (Mok being the name of the people)
[13] Language Group C speakers
[14] collared dogs also bound dogs
[15] Other Language Group A speakers who while of the same group as Manarites who have built up their own distinct identity
[16] Hill-Father [Group C]
[17] Mountain-Home [Group C]
