Driakana people

The Driakana people are an ethnic group found in Daolin, in the Beygir Empire. They are not native to Daolin, but have been present for centuries. They are concentrated along the upper course of the Heijing river, known to them as the Onyeta, just north of the Hai region. To their south in the lower course of the river, along the stretch known as the Nahiro, live the Rhamara people.

History
They came to Daolin after the Sovereign Company of the Dragon conquered the region surrounding Gaohra, brought back as workers to construct the walls of the Hai. Meanwhile, their homeland in Gaohra became more and more like Daolin. Local customs were supplanted by new Daolese ones, and local populations mingled with colonial ones and became creoles.

After the Hai region's completion, the emperor of Lónghai deemed that they were no longer needed. However to return them to the colonies would have been costly. Instead, he expelled them from his kingdom into the unclaimed borderlands between he and his neighbour, the Kingdom of Haikan. Here their cultural practices endured, whereas in their homeland the Driakana were assimilated into a new Hamaj-Daolese culture.

The land around the Onyeta is swampy and flat, except for directly on the riverbanks where the land is better drained. The Driakana do not have large cities or settlements, living in small villages along the river. However one major exception is Yara, which swelled from trade is often considered the Driakana's capital. It is built of wood and it's foundations sit in the river's muddy bed. It is the fifth largest settlement in Daolin (after Jinsi, the Haikei, Shidon and Laofeng).

During the Gonshu period in Daolese history, the Hai was surrounded by a hostile state and so lost control of much of the trade that once passed through the Mailu. During this period goods from the north instead passed down the Heijing, and therefore through Driakana territory and the city of Yara. During this period the Driakana thrived and Yara became known as Vaoder Hakke (New Haikei).

Religion
The Driakana are ruled by hundreds of nismu queens, who are local rulers of individual villages and kinship groups. Nismu is the faith they follow, a mixture of old beliefs from their homeland and new ones imported from the Suka faith. It focuses on the river and water spirits, rather than on major gods. However major gods do appear in their cosmology, with figures such as the Mud Queen (Erima) and Father Alligator (Osidu), as well as the Frog daughter (Awiah). Lesser spirits and the souls of the dead communicate through the nismu queens, and their guidance is key to the rule of the people. The nismu queens engage in meditation over time, as well as mediation through water and blood.

Nismu imports the ideals of contentment in poverty and the breakdown of the ruling class from the Suka faith, as well as their own interpretation of astiram and reincarnation, lehiku, which operates in much the same way. In some regions the Mud Queen is conflated with the Suka, and statues of this hybrid are erected in Yara. The nismu queens, as well as communicating with spirits and the dead, make potions and talismans to give luck and fortune to their people. Legends speak of them mastering water magic, raising the swamps to drown invaders. On top of this, the curse of a nismu queen is much feared within Driakana communities.

Brother Mirute
Brother Mirute is one of the major Nismu spirits. He is the brother of Father Alligator, and one of the Frog Daughter's ten fathers, but unlike the rest of them he is not looked upon favourably. Brother Mirute is the spirit of mediation, of meeting points and communication, of deals and bargaining. It is he that watches the gateway between living and dead, and it is through him that the nismu queens must broker a deal to contact the other spirits. He is treacherous and demands high prices, and to fail to meet them is to bring the most inhuman suffering.

He is mostly contacted at estuaries and crossroads and other meeting points. It is generally agreed that he manifests as a great hulking catfish with arms and legs like a salamander. He has several tied beards on his chin, much like the traditional Daolese ruling class, and huge feelers that act as a moustache. He generally wears hemp clothing tangled with seaweed and soaked with the dark water of the river.

Culture
Yara occupies a unique niche of Driakana culture. As the only urban centre, it is very much a city like no other. Built of planks torn from ships, its stilts sink through the shallow water and into the mud. Despite the watery surroundings however, there is a lack of drinking water in this stagnant stretch of the Oroya. Waste must be taken away in boats, for the river cannot carry it. People collect rainwater to drink and bathe in the alligator-infested water. Great purifying rituals take place every year, headed by granny nismu the greatest of the nismu queens, in the hopes of fresh floodwater. It is the centre of the cult of the Mud Queen.