Aztec Eternals

"In the beginning, the world was an endless sea and a vast swamp in the sea. There was no solid land, only a swamp that swallowed everything... The chaotic swamp and the sea were equally chaotic, with thunder and dark clouds shining like thunderclouds... And the first god of creation, Kotan-kar-kamuy, the 'God of Creation', was born in the endless thunder clouds!

The snowflakes are flying, not falling from the sky, but blown up from the rolling mountains and hills by the howling north wind. The snow on the Kamchatka Peninsula always persists for years, covering the mountains and forests with silver. The sky is a clear blue and white, and even a little white is dazzling under the reflection of the snow. The sea is a shimmering ice, with not a trace of dust or grayish-yellow to be seen, let alone a gray-brown mire.

Exploration captain Zuvalo, holding the Ainu girl's Thousand Island Shell in his arms, stared at this cold white and bright world of ice and snow, and imagined the warmer and richer southern mountain islands. He pursed his lips and listened to the Ainu tribe's myth told by the girl, while his eyes flashed with thought.

"Shell, is this great god of creation, Kotan Ka, the main god that you usually worship and worship?..."

"Ah? Zu, what is the 'Lord God'?..."

"He is the supreme god who dominates everything!"

"Ah! Well... the creator Kamui god, Kotan Ka, is the highest god. But he doesn't care about anything except creating the world. He has no emotions, never speaks, just looks from the sky We...very few tribes will sacrifice to Him, but the ones we actually sacrifice are the guardian spirits sent by the three gods..."

"Huh? The three guardian spirits? Are they subordinate gods sent by the gods to manage human affairs?..."

"Yeah? What is 'from God'?..."

"It is a spirit that is subordinate to the main god, accepts the jurisdiction of the main god, and regards the main god as the master..."

"Ah! Zu, what you said is so complicated, I can't understand it... Gods have no emotions, and they don't have human bodies. But guardian spirits do exist, and they are incarnated in various animals, accompanying tribes and guarding villages... And These guardian spirits were also the original partners of the gods in creating the world!…”

"Huh? The invisible main god, and his companions who take the form of animals?"

Hearing such a simple image of the myth, Zuvalo was thoughtful. The belief of the Ainu Island tribe seems to be still in a very primitive stage, which is far more primitive than that of Kazuto, Koreans, and even Yamabe and Shikabe. And if such a tribe slightly changes its mythology and beliefs, if the "main god" becomes the "Kotanka God" of the Ainu people...perhaps, these island tribes with ignorant beliefs can become the first tribe on the West Sea Continent. Devout believers of the Lord God…

"Hiss!... Shell, why are you biting me?"

"Ah, Zu! I am telling the tribe's mythology, which is the most important thing for a tribe. If you don't listen carefully, I...I will bite you!..."

"Uh... Then keep talking, I will listen carefully!..."

The two changed positions and sat on the big rock by the sea. Thousand Island Shell raised his head, looked seriously into Zuvalo's eyes, and gestured seriously. She used her clear voice to sing the folk songs that had been passed down by her tribe for thousands of years, making a tinkling sound like the collision of shells.

"The God of Heaven was born from the thunder clouds and saw the vast swamp and sea! He sent the first bird spirit, the fishing owl that could fly and swim... The fishing owl flew over the water, hitting the swamp with its tail, Pressing hard with his feet, the water in the mire finally dispersed and turned into dry land, floating on the sea! And this is Moshiri, where we live! The big island, the land of the Ainu!…”

"Huh? Birds dive and create land? This is very similar to the creation myths of the fishing and hunting tribes on the far north coast of the east! Do these tribes also have ancient blood connections with the Ainu Island tribe? Well, The common Jiao people ancestors indeed have ancient connections..."

"Ancestor!..."

"Ah! Hiss!... Shell, keep talking..."

Zuvalo rubbed the bitten neck and smiled helplessly. He pinched Thousand Island Shell's plump cheeks lovingly and continued to listen to the girl's beautiful singing voice that tried hard to imitate the vicissitudes of life but could not hide her tenderness, just like seeing the first mountain spring melting from the snow-capped mountains.

"The fishing owl fell from the sky and pressed the land out of the swamp and the sea! However, such land was floating, and the sea water would come in again, turning the island back into a swamp. So the god sent a second fish The spirit is the strong orca that spits water... The orca rises from the bottom of the sea, carrying the earth on its back, completely separating the island from the sea. Then, the orca takes a deep breath of sea water, singing loudly, as the sun and moon alternate. spit out, this is the tide on the seaside!…"

"Huh? There are also whales carrying islands on their backs and spitting out tides? This is very similar to the myth of the Markash Whale Tribe... Shell, you said that there are three guardian spirits. Where is the other one?..."

"Well, there is another one, the ancestor of our Ainu people. He is the most important guardian of a tribe, and he is also the 'Aohou' that many tribes can domesticate. Black bear...ah! Zu, listen to me singing!..."

The girl Qiandao Shell put her hands up to her ears, playfully imitated the roar of a bear in the forest, and then sang seriously.

"The whale rose from the sea, carried the heavy island on its back, and spit out the surging tide! But the sky above the island was empty, with only birds and animals, but no people. So, the god sent a third bear spirit to walk out of the mountain forest, The ancestors of the tribe, the original couple, father Okikurumi and mother Turesh were born!…”

"What? A bear gave birth to an Ainu? This...such an ancestral legend is like the Bomo people of the West Coast Bear Hunting Tribe. Ah, God bless me, I understand! The Ainu tribes and the West Coast tribes, Sure enough, they all originated from the same family thousands of years ago!…”

The sea breeze blows, and the ancient songs float far away in the wind. The hundreds of Ainu tribesmen who heard the singing stopped their work unconsciously and sang the desolate song together. They have almost no writing and few drawing boards. The only way they can pass on their tribal history is through songs passed down from generation to generation.

"Okulumi, the moon father, and Turesh, the sun mother! They exchange places, just like a couple alternating day and night!... When the first child is born, the guardian spirit bear will come and teach him how to hunt! Guardian! The fish spirit will come and teach him how to fish! ...and until the sun rises and sets, and the year passes, and the child turns into an old man, and the old man closes his eyes...the last bird spirit will come! , take his soul back to heaven where the God of Heaven is!…”

"May the old man's soul be carried into the sky by the fishing owl, to the clouds of God! May the soul of the patriarch float on the clouds, and then land in the settled village, drink a glass of our newly brewed fruit wine, and eat A bite of our freshly caught trout... Awaaka, Amiruru..."

"Huh? Shell, in your mythology, the moon is the father and the sun is the mother? This?..."

Hearing the role of husband and wife, Zuvalo touched his chin with one hand and the girl's face with the other, vaguely aware of the remnants of the matrilineal clan. He suddenly moved and felt the wetness on his fingers. And he lowered his head and saw that the girl Qiandao Shell's eyes were red and she was crying silently. Those tears fell on Zuvalo's hand, which made the devout exploration captain feel a pain in his heart and couldn't help but talk about the newly learned foreign language.

"O Lord God!... Shell, you... why are you crying?..."

"Woooo! The clan leader...father...he took us to migrate north last year...and was killed by the tribe!..."

"Ah? Who killed him? Shell, I will avenge you!..."

"Really? Zu?...Their tribe is very powerful..."

"Haha! Shell, tell me, tell you the powerful Okulumi, tell me the names of those tribes! Also, I want to know the situation on the southern island, the distribution and strength of those tribes, so that I can avenge you and the tribes …”

Qiandao Shell raised her head with tears in her eyes and looked at her husband's confident face, which was neither burly nor beard. This kind of appearance is actually not in line with the aesthetics of the Ainu people. Only men as strong and hairy as bears are the most popular among women in the tribe.

However, she saw that the tribal warriors under her husband were all carrying bows and armor, with fierce indifference on their faces. They are simply more elite and stronger than the ferocious Kazuto warriors in the South Island... The girl's eyes couldn't help but become brighter, with a glimmer of hope.

"Zu, I believe you... The one who attacked our tribe is the Ishikari, the leader of the three most powerful tribes in the South Island!..."

"The three major tribes of the South Island?..."

"Yes! On the big island of the Ainu land in the south, there are five Ainu tribes. They are the five fingers left by the ancient ancestors... They are the 'Ishikari tribe' (Ishikari tribe), 'Nishihara tribe' Sumunkur, Menasunkur, Yoichi, and Uchiura, which have gradually become subordinate to Kazuto! It belongs to the distant branch of the Beiyu tribes and is closer to the Beidao tribes..."

As the clan leader's daughter, the Ezo girl Chishima Kaikai, told the story with tears in her eyes, a chaotic scene of the Ainu tribes finally unfolded before Zuwaro's eyes. And the large island of Hokkaido that Kazuto had just established, the Ezo land where coal and iron were hidden, and the tens of thousands of Ainu tribesmen who fished and hunted, all fell under the gaze of the Lord God! …

Note: The Easter Egg Chapter is the distribution map of the Ainu tribes in Hokkaido. I checked a lot of Ainu information for this chapter, so I posted it a little late. Orz.