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Professor Knuthausen's guide to the Fukarwi PART
1 The
Fukarwi who are our main subjects of our foundling colony at Lumbago are a
colourful people full of strange customs and traditions.
They are ruled over by the Great He Elephant, the current King
being Bugga-Ul who succeeded his father Soddom-Ul when the latter died.
Bugga-Ul is surrounded at all times by women.
His three senior wives The Lioness, She Elephant and Jackal are the
only ones allowed to touch his person in public or prepare his food and
his Amazon bodyguard the only armed warriors allowed to come into his
presence. This is due to his
fortune being told by the Fukarwi
witchdoctors Doktor Quaki and She Who Dances With Slimy Things that
Bugga-Ul would die at the hands of a man.
This also means that male prisoners taken by the Fukarwi normally
have their hands amputated if they are to be kept for something other than
slaves. The
great event of the Fukarwi Year is the Miranda Rites which coincides with
the mating cycle of the Yellow Banded Tree Frog, or as it is known to the
Fukarwi, the Miranda. During
this period the male yellow banded tree frogs venom is at its most potent
and although not deadly is used to put its users into a trance like state
when they will talk quite freely. Each
Fukarwi is tested by the Witch Hunters by being administered the Miranda
and then questioned any that utter treasonous thoughts after being given
their Miranda Rites are put to death.
The bodies are later disposed of at the ritual dinner held each
night for two weeks. Each Fukarwi is tested once and the first to be tested are
from the elite regiments of which few are selected for death. The
rites also include selecting young males for military service and marriage
ceremonies. During this
period young males who have reached eleven years and are deemed worthy are
selected for one of the three elite units,
The Come At Night, The
Fukarwi Lions and The Fukarwi Rhinos.
At the same time the most eligible girls are selected for the Royal
Amazon Bodyguard. The Come at
Night never reveal their faces thereafter and always go masked.
Their main duty is to police the Fukarwi nation but at times of war
are deployed in the vanguard of the army or behind enemy lines. Each face mask is made in the image of a Fukarwi Death God
and these inject horror into all. The
Fukarwi Lions are an elite Impi, as are the Rhinos. The Lions have white shields with reddish brown patches and
the Rhinos, white with black. Boys
not selected for the elite units remain with their families and are sent
to tend the herds; women tend
crops. These boys are known
as The Come Together, and receive periodic training in the use of spear,
bow or musket. In times of
war they are formed into a number of The Come Together units and make up
the majority of the Fukarwi army. Many
of these are not from the Fukarwi, but are subjected peoples who have been
assimilated into the tribe.
The boys selected for the
elite regiments undertake 7 years of training in training Kraals.
A warrior who excels in battle in The Come Together may be elevated
to the Rhinos. The
main enemy of the Fukarwi are the Lobotomi whom the Fukarwi have fought
since the beginning of time. Despite attempts of missionaries to convert the Fukarwi, all have failed, mainly due to the work of Father Seamus Malony. Father Seamus was at first accepted by the Fukarwi but the temptations of the flesh and millet beer proved to much. The good Father fell for a Fukarwi Princess daughter to Soddom-Ul and got her pregnant. In a moment of anger the King killed him and had him dished up for dinner. The Princess later gave birth to his child who was accepted into the tribe, the child was named O-Sheah Maloni and he is now a war chief. Unfortunately no missionaries dare set foot on Fukarwi soil.
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