Žrŋaa

The Žrŋaa is a long staff that was a common weapon and source of sustenance in the Maðúšýï Tribe. It was an evolution from the Mëyanup-Zïó , a staple weapon of the Ïlýrhonid Tribe, but reconstructed using the crude materials, most prominently the rocks and string of the Arbin Watershed , to result in a spade-like weapon. Throughout the Ýmor-Maðúšýï , it was synonymous with Maðúšýïan culture and representative of the tribe's mantra of sustenance through sustained, repeated violence.

Etymology

The Žrŋaa is one of the most complex terms whose meanings still survive to the present day. It is a result of the widespread cultural shift that occurred in the Maðúšýï Tribe, the centerpiece of which was a dramatic change in how language was treated. In addition to a severe warping of words, the Maðúšýïan culture saw an extensive and extreme use of the Ïwë-Khólteð 's 'shortening system' (e.g. the word 'Ïwë' is a shortening of Ïfon-Wë , the prefix of which is itself a shortening of 'Ïlrúfon', which is the Ïwë-Ïrhïd word for 'sound').

The name 'Žrŋaa' is thus a severe condensing of three separate words: Zïó (corrupted as Žió), Šrüðŋ, and Úðahaš.

Žió, of course, references the weapon that the Žrŋaa was based on. In its original context, Zïó referred to the shape of the weapon (roughly translated as 'pole-like' or 'upright'). The prefix Mëyanup was a word that meant 'One that changes', which is innately tied to the Mëyanup-Zïó's ability to come apart into distinct pieces if struck hard enough, each of which could be used as weapons in their own right. It is likely that this prefix was removed in Žrŋaa's name because the Maðúšýïan variant does not exhibit this behavior.

Šrüðŋ is a new word entirely made up by the Maðúšýïans. It is itself an amalgamation of the affix rules of Ïwë-Khólteð, being a combination of the Š- prefix, the shortened form of the word Rëhüð, and the suffix -ŋ. The word Rëhüð is a verb that refers to the action of cutting or piercing, often within the context of an attack, while the Š- prefix denotes a transformation of a verb into a progressive adjective (akin to adding an -ing to the end), while the -ŋ suffix generally denotes a noun associated with the word (whether a result or the action itself; this is subject to variability). However, there are a number of inconsistencies here. The -ŋ would only be as such if the last phoneme of the word was a Tonal action, but in Rëhüð it is an Affect action. In addition, the Š and ŋ were never used together, as the former turned the word into an adjective and the latter turned it into a noun. Ignoring these inconsistencies (which were present at large within the Maðúšýïan culture sphere), the word Šrüðŋ can roughly be translated as 'That which is cutting/piercing', almost certainly referring to its use as a glaive, with the main motions being a side attack (the 'cut') and a thrust (the 'pierce').

Üðahaš, whose two a's are that which have been translated over to the shortened form, is a similarly new word that is most likely derived from Üðal, a verb that does not have a suitable translation in human languages. It denotes the action of serving an integral part of something in a way that is inextricable from its identity yet hardly thought of. It is almost always used in a heroic context, in that it is glory enough to contribute to a cause without the superficial motivation of recognition. Throughout the latter part of the Ýmor-Maðúšýï and Ýmor-Yarmurïŋ , this word would become a byword for the Maðúšýï and Ðú-Üdarr Tribe, particularly their near-fanatical emphasis on raiding and a tribe-wide engagement in that respect. Much like an individual's greatest goal in these tribes was to commit to the Üðahaš (that is, to put their all into raiding and benefiting tribal interests), the Žrŋaa would put its entire self in service of the individual wielding it, whether through sustenance or through combat.

History

Note that this page does refer to the inhabitants of the southern Amoŋot Desert as the Maðúšýï, although that term, and the tribe that most often bears that name, did not arise until 25019 AYM with the Úrisic Expedition. Although the term Hýyó-Hayïd is more accurate as a geographic-based term, it is not used here for the sake of comprehension.

The Mëyanup-Zïó

The Žrŋaa's immediate predecessor, the Mëyanup-Zïó , was one of the most common weapons in the Ïlýrhonid Tribe. It was, in essence, the simple staff of the Ïlýrhonid Tribe. This staff was made of plant stalks, primarily the stems and Žawrü (tubules) of the Vëtam-Wëðašïŋ and Žawrülhë Plants. Given the sheer abundance of these flowers, which connected themselves to other flowers through the intertwining of their tubules, it became relatively easy to gather these knotted tubules and fill them with pebbles, packed sand, and other small rocks. A number of these packed tubules, typically ranging between 8 and 15 of them, were then tied together from end to end and enclosed in a sheathe of some material. This sheathe would finally be packed in the same way that the individual tubules were, resulting in a sturdy, roughly-homogenous staff that served a variety of purposes, including in construction, mobility, and the occasional combat setting. Moreover, upon sustaining enough damage, the tubules within it could still be used as a whip-like weapon in its own right, and the occasional pebbles or stone could be used as throwing projectiles. The multitude of uses and identities contained within it thus gave it the name 'Mëyanup', roughly meaning 'metamorph' or 'shapeshifter'. The Zïó suffix, meaning 'pole-like', was added on later to specify the exact shape of the object.

The Maðúšýï Tribe's Founding

The Maðúšýï Tribe, who were themselves recent emigrants from the Ïlýrhonid Tribe, would not have been total strangers to the Mëyanup-Zïó. However, they found the experience of living in southern Amoŋot Desert excruciatingly straining, owing mostly to the lack of resources available to them. While the Ïlýrhonidians had access to the small pebbles of the Kairn River System , the flowers that grew along its banks, and the rich, dense ground beneath their feet, the Maðúšýï territory was so windswept that the ground was rendered lifeless and brittle, and the main sources of materials (the Nuzowli Mountain Range and Volain Forest to the east and the Arbin Watershed to the west) were located more than 3000 kilometers away from each other. As such, not only did they not have the resources to make the Mëyanup-Zïó, they were too busy mining and storing up food to even care about making weapons. By 25020 AYM, a vast transportation system centered at Tý-hayïd would distribute over 500 kilograms of rock every day from the Arbin Watershed, by far the largest and most efficient of its time.

Such efficiency would prove essential in the advent of the First Ýlëntukian War , in which the newly-formed tribe of Varhoŋïð-Khalúš captured the lifeline city of Óm-hayïd and expelled its native population. Óm-Hayïd had been the Maðúšýïans' only settlement with easy access to the Nuzowli Mountain Range and the Volain Forest, and all of a sudden, the 80% of the population that had depended on these two natural sources were left without any reliable means of sustenance. Mere months later, the Úrïsic Expedition would be sent out by the Ïlýrhonid Tribe, aiming to gather allies to fight against the Khalúšians. In addition to fueling their feelings of vengeance (thus playing an effect into the Maðúšýïan ethos), the Expedition members provided the Maðúšýï with Mëyanup-Zïó, which saw limited combat before becoming too worn out by around 25015 AYM. With these tangible specimens to study, and the expansion of the Arbin distribution system to reach these eastern cities, the Maðúšýïans would build more suitable replacements for the Mëyanup-Zïó, which would eventually become the Žrŋaa.

The Emergence of the Žrŋaa

The Žrŋaa of these early years was a crude invention, made of rocks of the Arbin Watershed held together through tighly-bound vines. These rocks were unlike those of the Nuzowli Mountain Range in that, due to the motions of the water flowing atop it, the fracture lines were parallel and unusually smooth, making each piece of rock have the consistency and shape of glass. This included the sharp edges of the glass, which needed to sanded down if they were going to be part of the handle (although this was not always done).

The handle itself consisted of smaller pieces of rock, evenly sized or roughly so, that were layered on each other as a set of three or four. Each layer was around 0.75-1.0 meter long and offset by those under or over it, much like the offsetting of bricks. The middle layer's topmost rock was specially chosen such that it protruded above the two other layers. The more fanciful Žrŋaa had a capping stone at the base to keep these layers from shifting around within the bounds of the vine.

The tip's structural integrity depended on this protruding rock, as this was what effectively bound the tip and the shaft together. It consisted of two large slabs of rock, barely sanded, with roughened (sometimes even sharpened) edges bared on all exposed sides. These two pieces, as well as the linking stone, had to be very specifically sanded; each of these three had grooves marked into them through which the vines would wrap around these three pieces and render them secure. At the very tip, to fill in the gap above the linking stone, was a final capstone that was often rendered pointed.

This weapon, being made of rocks, served an additional purpose of sustenance and nourishment, thus symbolizing the individual's competence in survival and defense both in his own lifeless territory and in the chaos of battle. One could very often deduce where someone had been in a raid or battle by how injured the Žrŋaa was, with more injured Žrŋaa being a sign of heroic acts and patriotism.

Further Evolution

As more and more raids occurred, the Maðúšýï would incorporate their pilfered resources into their weapons. This was almost always done at the individual level, as the Maðúšýïans' sheer dependence on raiding necessitated that a very slim margin of these resources would be allocated towards such responsibilities like nourishment, construction, and storekeeping. Given their external sources, these rocks came either from the Hýyó-Wýðúr or the Nuzowli Mountain Range, both of whose composition was defined by extremely dense, coarse rock that had the special quality of being carvable.

These later specimens of Žrŋaa are thus characterized by the greater and greater incorporation of these pillaged rocks, which were decorated with the name of the wielder or the Maðúšýï name. Being so different in composition from the smooth Arbin rock, the coarse Nuzowlian/Wýðúrian rocks would be nestled and framed within the Arbinian rock, and bound with vines. In a manner very similar to the Žömëp-Fýtaŋ manner of thinking, this inscribed rock (and the weapon as a whole) was a representation of the owner as an inseparable part of their identity (refer above to the word 'Üðahaš', which conveyed a similar virtue). It became a symbolic necessity to never part with this rock, and enemies of the Maðúšýï would often crush these rocks that were strewn all across a battlefield to symbolize a victory on their side.

Decline

The Žrŋaa, which was briefly carried forth from the Maðúšýï to the breakaway tribe of Ðú-Üdarr following the Matousian Civil War , would see a drastic decline in use in both tribes. The Ðú-Üdarr, having held control over land to the north of the Maðúšýï, could rely on both their extensive raiding and their more resilient ground rock for nourishment. However, they predominantly made their weapons out of wood from the Volain Forest , finding that material sturdier and easier to handle, and so, they gradually diverted from the Žrŋaa's sharp-edged formation in favor of a more blunt and simple club-like weapon.

The Žrŋaa also fell into decline following the conversion of Maðúšýï into the tribe of Týmðúr . This conversion, motivated by the discovery of a rich and extensive deposit of silicon beneath the city of Yuževhït , turned the once-warlike tribe into a primarily trade-based nation. As such, their trade partners became their military guardians, and Týmðúr found itself with little to no need of any sort of military of their own. As for their trade partners (that is, the Ïlýrhonid and Rottol Tribes and fragmentary groups of the Khalúšians), they rarely if ever used the Žrŋaa themselves, choosing instead to use materials specific to their own locations. The Rottol Tribe especially diverted from the Žrŋaa and all other polearm weapons, choosing instead to focus on the use of the body itself as a means of attack and defense.

By 24700 AYM, the Žrŋaa was almost certainly extinct.