Sēna Amīzuye
Nestled within the safe confines of Nīwulā Valley, the Amīzuye people began as simple herders, fishermen and hunter-gatherers at the dawn of the First Age. Besides the regional differences in lifestyle, they were one people united in language and tradition.
For a large part of their history, Sēna Amīzuye considered themselves Chosen of the Stars, a concept developed in the early days of Yuiwian faith, when the religion was still spreading and organizing.
History
Little knowledge remained of the Amīzuye before the arrival of Soyaewa and his conquest of Nīwulā Valley. After his founding of Wīzoha Empire, a new era began to the people.
The story of the Empire was long, but not everlasting. By the third millennium of the First Age, internal strife had begun to corrode the very foundations of the nation. By the end of that same millennium, Nīwulā Valley flooded, drowning all things beneath the waves.
The flooding was not foreseen, and it was not prepared for. The shattering event happened near the end of the usual rains, when the normal flooding of Nīwulā River would have began to subside. Magic was suspected, though there was no opportunity for confirmation as survival quickly became the people's only concern.
Those who survived the initial destruction fled to surrounding lands in search for aid or mercy. Few were willing to give it to inhabitants of the very nation they saw as their only enemy, even coloring the people as something wholly evil in nature.
Many Amīzuye died either as a direct result of the flood, or the circumstances which followed. Those who survived did so by hiding themselves among crowds and assimilating themselves into other cultures as best they could.
The traditions and languages of the Amīzuye lived on behind closed doors and hidden corners of the world. They relived and told forward stories of their glory, of a time they stood at the top of the world and reached for the stars. Their belief of being the Chosen People of the Stars remained, though never spoken within the earshot of outsiders in fear of persecution.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Amīzuye spoke Old Saehyuwe at least when the story of Soyaewa's conquest was carved onto the walls of Na Yuo Ni-Aebomē early in the lifespan of the religion and surrounding nation alike. By the time of the Great Flood the language had evolved and split a few times.
Even before any actual split in the language, regional dialects were heavily influenced by languages around them, a trait which often made them judged as primitive or uneducated particularly by people in and around Mēhayui, capital of Wīzoha Empire.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
A new birth was plenty of reason for a celebration within any Amīzuye clan. As the newborn member of a clan was introduced to the rest of them, the mother was given all the food and rest she could desire until her recovery. Beyond her rest, the rest of the clan celebrated with a feast among themselves, with dance and lit fires.
Part of the feast was also given as gifts to their ancestors by throwing it into the fire. It was said the dead could consume the smoke drifting into the air, which was why the flames had to be strong.
Funerary and Memorial customs
It was the belief of the old Amīzuye that their body came from the earth, and had to be returned after death. As such, burial remained a common practice of the Amīzuye for a long time even after the introduction of funeral pyres—an alternative introduced by Soyaewa, whose home in the rocky foothills at the edge of the Valley often lacked opportunities for an earthly burial.
After the rise of Wīzoha Empire, tradition for a funeral pyre instead of a burial began to spread. Even at the height of the Empire, however, some Amīzuye far removed from the nation's heartlands continued burying their dead, though this was rarely discussed with anyone they did not know.
People of the Valley
Religion
Yuiwian faith became the prominent religion at the beginning of the First Age, replacing or assimilating whatever old beliefs the Amīzuye held.
The faith revolved around the belief that Sun and Moon were the only gods, while dismissing divinity of the rest, such as that of earth and sky.
Though Yuiwia was spread to surrounding lands and people, it became a core part of Amīzuye culture in a way it never managed with other people.
After the flooding destroyed Nīwulā Valley, the religion had already spread far beyond its confines. The temples in surrounding lands were among the few willing to take in surviving Amīzuye.
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