The Five Nations

[1889]

26) Iatekwah found himself surrounded by a disappointing sense of familiarity even in this alien environment. The sweet stench of the place made him as nauseous as had the stink of sweat. He hated the sharp shrill cries of the birds as much as he had despised the rasping sadahosiuohsda. He detested the dew that dripped in thick drops off the trees in the morning and the rain that came every afternoon as much as he had loathed the sweat that had kept him perpetually soaked. He disdained the monotonous green that was as ubiquitous as the bleached desert sand had been, besides the color reminded him of what had oozed out of the scorpions he smashed as a child playing at being a lawgiver.

The food was something different however. While he hated the food he had to eat in the desert, it was filling, whereas the fare here was unpalatable. When he could no longer stand the ach of his empty stomach he reached into the bowl of little red berries that was refreshed every day. As soon as he tasted the saccharine juice he had to spit them out. He had left strict orders that the berries were to be picked before they had fully ripened. The rumble in his bowl was now added to the one in his belly. He cursed at a group of Oneidas the happened to walk near, but it helped very little.

27) Eventually the Seneca and Oneida learned new techniques and life in Ensehsahtenti became quite pleasant. Then the Cayugas began to move there in large numbers. They could not believe what they found, all manner of new material and innumerable ideas. It was an incredible period of invention that followed. Within a single generation the people were introduced to sticks which developed into rod’s, refined into canes, were improved into poles and finally they were able to look upon the newest incarnation of the staff. Incredible innovation such as this occurred in every facet of Haudenosaunee life. Many saw it as the culmination of a life long dream.

In Ensehsahtenti Iatekwah was no longer the resolute warrior inspired by the vision of a vast empire built up by his own hands. Unlike the others he alone never did adapt to the fruits and berries that abound. Diarrhea and malnutrition made him a weak and frail shadow.

Iatekwah was buried with his prayer-muffs just in case Hodenyedakwa had been right about the afterlife. Tekwahtekwah was recalled from his explorations to don the feathered crown of the Mohawks. The people found it hard to trust a man that had spent most of his life wandering though; he was little better than ioiatanekherent to them. It was the Cayugas, with their dazzling array of inventions, who grew richer and so more powerful. They began to resent the authority they had once surrendered to Iatekwah and the Mohawks and so through clever re-discovery of the sacred scrolls they won back the respect that they had once been to lazy to assert.

END CHAPTER ONE

[Paddy]

Originally posted by 1889
Thanks Paddy. I'm enjoying it to. Haven't written very far ahead so it keeps surprising me. I hope Iatekwah can find a place he likes though.

indeed

it is a very treacherous land to be living in

keep up this great journal though

[1889]

28) Under the Cayuga’s reign nearly every day saw some new technique or invention. This was true in the arts as much as in the sciences. One of the period’s greatest minds was Aknohwe. His stories “Your First Million Wampum” and “Managing Your Bead Flow” set the standard for literature for thousands of years. Many of his stories were made into info-plays and performed by traveling bands of Onondagas that had forsaken the Sky Spirit for Aknohwe. These traveling bands of Ehedogehs, named for the directness of their marketing strategy, would stop wherever they could find a crowd and perform their shows known as Homuwypafwatim, a contraction formed by Aknohwe’s favorite phrases “How much would you pay for…” and “Wait there is more”.

29) The ready availability of wood ignited a revolution in architecture as well. The new material impressed the sandstone masons with its sturdiness. No longer would a ganohsesgeh be a dark hole that men squeezed into. Structures as tall and even taller than a man could now be built with ease. The soaring heights of these new buildings captured the mood of the Haudenosaunee at this exciting time. This style became the foundation for the Hugeism school of architecture, a new style just in time for the Cayuga leadership that sought to separate them selves from the previous domination of Mohawk influence.

30) While these innovations were known in Phoenix they failed to make any impact there. As the population moved away, there was no one left to complain about the raspy sadahosiuohsda so the Onondagas came out of the desert to occupy the abandoned dwellings of the capitol city along with a few Oneidas and Senecas. Messengers would carry the unheeded advice of the priests to the other chiefs and return with news of the outside world. They came back with a feeling the gaedinowahe of Ensehsahtenti would describe as sadness, but to the true believers who remained in Phoenix there was only duty. Left alone they adhered to the strictest interpretation of tradition, because in the pristine and chaste environment Hodenayedakwa lived to tremendous age as Chief of the Onondagas.

31) Mean while in Ensehsahtenti the people were happy and excited about the prospects of the future. Each day the Homuwypawatim attracted new members to the Ehedogehs. Aknohwe's ideas of personal financial freedom transcended tribal divisions. Even Seneca and Oneida began to join the orders of traveling salesmen going door to door with new tools for keeping homes clean or some device to save time at meal preparation.

32) As the Ehedogeh movement grew and its members achieved financial freedom in their spare time from home, the people became ready and eager to try new things and think new thoughts. It was only a mater of time until people began to wonder why a Cayuga had to be the big chief. The Cayuga’s especially feared the Mohawk’s influence in Ensesetanti and realized it would never do as a capitol. Likewise nobody could stomach the idea of ruling from Phoenix. Chief Sahwihsdaegeh III had few choices the Cayugas needed a city where their power would be unchallenged.

It was a difficult decision for the young chief. Not only would the journey be difficult uncomfortable and probably very filthy, but it gave the appearance of cowardice. While the expedition was gone Aknohwe and Tekwahtekwah would only grow more powerful.

33) Sahwihsdaegeh let his advisers complain, but unlike them he had none of the attributes they secretly accused him of. He did not give into the cowardice of defeatism but made note of those that did. Their time would come, but for now the Cayuga’s position was too week to endure a civil war. Before he set out he asked Tekwahtekwah to be the guardian that the Great Sky Spirit expected him to be. He tried his best to make it seem like a king giving an order to a loyal soldier, but he knew that to leave the city under Mohawk control was little more than acknowledging the obvious.


34) Iatekwah would have been so disappointed if he knew how much his son respected Hodenayedakwa and the old ways. He had been gone during the great exodus from Phoenix, and he had missed the difficult first years of Ensehsahtenti’s founding. He had spent all that time perusing the Haudenosaunee’s most ancient tradition. Now he found himself appointed protector of a city that offended those traditions. Even among other Mohawks he was considered an outsider, but the great respect that his father had held overshadowed any other contenders and the Mohawks clung to Tekwahtekwah as the only one who could rally the city to challenge Cayuga authority.

35) Aknohwe did not have political ambitions. The Ehedogehs had brought him all the wealth and fame he could ever want. Now the power that his position afforded seamed more like a burden. As the Ehedogehs movement grew he deftly avoided the complications of authority by developing a competent staff. The staffers had neither wealth nor fame, position and power were all they craved. They encouraged, cajoled and almost pleaded for Aknohwe to seek political office, but what finally impress him was that they needed him. This was true, they needed him to become entangled in the political system that would give his movement and in turn its leaders some control over him. Aknohwe was to trusting to see this.

36) Once again the Haudenosaune started from scratch, relearning how to pile the material they could find into crude shelters, relearning how to turn unusual fruits into bland meals, and for Sahwihsdaegeh relearning how to lead his people. In a settlement that was little more than a clearing in the jungle there was no Mohawk and no Cayuga, only Haudenosaunee.

37) He called his new settlement Sanohgwadrae’ which means Strong Medicine. It is from this sanctuary that he would heal the five nations into the one great vision that Sky Spirit had laid before his grandfather. Here there was no time for politics. Sahwihsdegeh had not brought a great exodus with him, every hand was needed.

38) He had a crude great hall fashioned just in time for the powwow. His Cayuga relatives came from each settlement to discuss the state of the nations. The news was grim. They began by drinking his beer and told of how expensive home repairs had become now that the Seneca had decided to charge for the services that they owed the nations. They finished the beer and drank the juice of apples and oranges. They recalled how strange foreign dishes had replaced tsohnohskwennrie. While none of them minded this, the fact that it was the Oneidas themselves that had created these delicious new recipes showed just how far society had broken down. The juices where finished so they drank his milk, all the milk. There was not much milk and nobody wanted to drink the last bit, so the telling of Mohawk indiscretion was brief. Law Givers ruling a city, it made them chuckle despite its seriousness. There was nothing left to drink and all the food had quietly been consumed as well. In keeping with Haudenosaunee custom this is when the powwow ends and so the guests left.


39) Sahwihsdaegeh was glad to have silence again; he had much to think over. He took a walk into the woods away from the camp fires to consider his predicament. A pack of wolves howled in the distance as if to highlight his vulnerability. He could see no solution to the many problems that his people faced. At the edge of the settlement he ran into a returning scout, a Mohawk who had been exploring for so long he was unaware of the rift growing between Cayuga and Mohawk. So he was quite happy and indeed honored to make a full report to the Cayuga Chief. His tale was so fascinating that Sahwihsdaegeh almost began to believe that there was a Sky Spirit gently leading the chosen people toward a great destiny.

40) The scout had met other nations. This news initially darkened Sahwihsdaegeh’s countenance, but they where eager for Haudenosaunee knowledge. Despite the doubtful look he received from his Chief, the scout insisted it was true. Then he brought a carefully wrapped bundle from his pack. He unwrapped it and handed it to Sahwihsdegeh. He didn’t know what to make of it. It was the most amazing thing he had ever seen. “The people that gave this to me call it ‘Brick’ and they use it in all their constructions.” The scout said proudly. Then he whispered conspiratorially “They say that even wolves can not blow it down.” “Not even wolves…” marveled Sahwihsdegeh.

He called for his sedan chair.

41) Hodenayedakwa had been ready for death for quite some time, but probably not as long as most of the Onondagas that remained with him had been. While some had run off to Ensehsahtenti they were never very successful there. When they finally returned they would be accepted back without much explanation. The only thing worse then being in Phoenix is being in Phoenix alone. So while the sound of feet shuffling back into town was not unknown the sound of many feet running into town was. Even Hodenayedakwa stopped his devout rasping and tried to peer through the painful sunlight.

It seemed to be a sand tornado heading straight for them. But as it grew nearer they could make out that it was sand kicked up by men running with a sedan chair.

The meeting between Sahwihsdaegeh and Hodenayedakwa was awkward. Hodenayedakwa had never forgotten that it was Sahwihsdaegeh’s grandfather that had refused to assert Cayuga authority and so brought the people to this state. At first Sahwihsdaegeh held his tongue, he needed Hodenayedakwa’s help and did not think the old man would be around for much longer. But when the priest noticed that the others had stopped the sadahosiuohsda and was about to lead them in another prayer he finally lost his patience.

He upbraided the old man for taking such an attitude with his Chief. How dare he disrespect his grandfather for failing in his duties when clearly Hodenayedakwa had forgotten his own place, Sahwihsdaegeh III was Chief now and Hodenayedakwa had better be ready to carry out his orders.

42) The Seneca that remained in Phoenix where the lame and sick. They stayed because their condition meant they could expect little welcome in the fast paced world of Ensehsahtenti and because they hoped to find long life just as Hodenayedakwa had under in the sterile desert air. But if Sahwihsdaegeh was asking the impossible he could not tell. They heard his orders and began their joyless labor stomping water, sand and tsohnohskwennrie shavings together in large pits. The slurry was then placed into rectangular molds and left to bake under the furnace that floated overhead.

For weeks then for months they made bricks until the pile cast more shade than the Great Hall itself. Then they were told how they should be stacked. It was to be a palace but even by the standards of hugism it would be massive. The laborers continued without so much as a glimpse at the thing of wonder they were building.

43) The entire structure was polished smooth with smaller and smaller grains of sand until the near perfect surface reflected the brilliant desert sun. As it passed across the horizon a piercing beam of light would arc across the land in the opposite direction. In Ensehsahtent its heat could burn flesh, in Sanohgwadrae’ its intensity could blind. The Haudenosaunee were once again linked to their roots. It was all Hodenayedakwa had ever wanted. He was pleased with Sahwihsdaegeh’s leadership and with his last breath he commanded the Onondagas to remain true to the old order and serve the Cayuga Chief.

44) Hodenayedakwa was laid to rest and the palace was sealed. Sahwihsdaegeh had done what he came to do. He called for his sedan chair and went to Ensehsahtent to build his residence. He left at the head of a procession. It was not a great exodus, but with the blessing of their chief the Onondagas began to take their message throughout the kingdom.

END CHAPTER TWO

[Paddy]

well done matey

[1889]

You've glanced at the story, now play the civ.

Can you stand the glare of the baking sun without going completely gaedinowahe? Then don the Feathered Crown and hear sadahosiuohsda in your name when you replace me in Rumble in the Jungle.

[Paddy]

Hope all is well for you and yours in the wilds of the North - hope one day you again get net access and write some more

[1889]

How about I’ll finish this when you finish 5th Destroyer Squadron.

Alaska has been quite a change from the desert and lots of work too. Its hard just getting out of bed when it’s so cold and dark out, then shoveling snow and unfreezing pipes takes up a big chunk of time. By the time I finally get a moment to sit at the computer I just end up playing Civ. The dog is having the time of his life though.

[Paddy]

Originally posted by 1889
How about I’ll finish this when you finish 5th Destroyer Squadron.

Alaska has been quite a change from the desert and lots of work too. Its hard just getting out of bed when it’s so cold and dark out, then shoveling snow and unfreezing pipes takes up a big chunk of time. By the time I finally get a moment to sit at the computer I just end up playing Civ. The dog is having the time of his life though.

Glad all is well mate and that the dog is enjoying

Yeah you got me on 5th Destroyer ahh I slack

Be well and stay safe