Watuanata

The Watuanata were a mining, mountaineering people of the east of Region A during the Early Bronze Age.

Description
The Watuanata peoples are a tribal peoples who are subsistence farmers and are strongly polygamist. Animals like goats and some cattle are herded too, but there is more a focus on farming. The culture is strongly matriarchal, with each child taking on a family name from the mother, and the father's wives each keep their family names, passing them on to their offspring. Their houses are very long wooden and mud based longhouses with thatch roofs, for communal living with extended families, more than one family may live in a longhouse and the entire household is headed by the eldest mother, men farm, herd and hunt. Material wealth is owned by the women and is passed on matrilineally to their daughters, so because of that it is not advisable for men to use their wealth to gain brides, it is the job of their mother to pay for their sons betrothal usually from a very young age and such marriages are a strong diplomatic tool. A man should have at least 2 wives, many can have up to 5, the brides may only choose men who have been given enough land and herds by their mothers or sisters to provide for the wives, but it's almost always the brides who share their property and herds with the man, who works on them with his sons and provides for the daughters and wives, who in turn watch the household and arrange the marriages for their sons to rich brides. The chief of the tribe can be male or female, and is hereditary, a female chief can appoint her own daughter or son as the heir, or a male chief can pick a daughter or son of his wives he likes best, which can create jealousy amongst wives and all the children, and has led to assassinations in the past of heirs to be. However the position of one ruling family dynasty is not set in stone, with dynasties falling out of grace and taken over by prominent women or men by violent coups or convincing the chief to give up the position.

The religion of the Watuanata is monotheistic to a degree, with only one creator god, Shangtuna, a sun god who is considered to reside in the heavens, and takes the form of sun and fire. Fire is considered to be a form of Shangtuna due to people noticing how the hot sun can cause bush fires. The most sacred gemstone to these people is the sunstone, which they hold in a high position due to their belief that sunstone is actually crystallized fire, and is a representation of Shangtuna. They make many complex jewelry and votive offerings to their god Shangtuna with sunstone, and it is invariably a feature of all tribal regalia of the Watuanata tribes. Their warriors are armed with leather or wooden shield and atlatls or bows and arrows. Their main melee weapon is the heavy stone club, or the wooden club with many small metal blades on the side which can eviscerate any person, it looks like the Aztec macuahuitl. But war is not too common amongst the Watuanata. Shangtuna the creator god, took the form of the sun after he created all matter and life from water, and before that there was nothing but an endless ocean, until Shangtuna built all life and land from the water, therefore Watuanata people believe water the base element, and the antithesis of Shangtuna.

Shangtuna is believed to eschew war in favor of peaceful farming lives to gain resources, therefore providing his nurturing rays to help grow along crops, along with the base of all matter in the Watuanata's eyes, water. Their folk beliefs hold that seeds with the help of water to form plant and Shangtuna's rays to grow are sacred, and thus seeds are considered a sacrifice to Shangtuna and is believed will help crops in the future to flourish. Water has no spiritual properties, only Shangtuna made all matter from water, and therefore water is absolutely essential for all life to exist, and thus bodies of water don't have any spiritual or religious properties to the Watuanata. Because it was Shangtuna's idea to make water essential in his quest of creation, water was not essential to begin with. Funerals entail the burning of the body which shows Shangtuna consuming the soul and returning it to the pool of souls that reside in the heavens and take the form of sun rays in the day, helping life to exist, the ashes represent the physical material and is usually dispersed from mountains or dispersed into bodies of water to represent it returning to the pool of all matter to be reused by Shangtuna. In the night, it is believed the moon is Shangtuna's collection of souls, along with the stars, which send light rays more faintly due to them resting. It is thought that the moon is the souls of humans and especially the ancestors of the Watuanata and the stars to be those of lesser creatures who have individual stars for individuals, their souls not allowing for them to be close in the heavens, while humans have the intelligence and willpower to.

Mountaineering is done to mine or trade. Elephants are considered an evil creature, irritable and extremely destructive. Elephants are only hunted and their meat shared by entire villages to celebrate one less of these terrible creatures on the earth. The meat is roasted in a central location and shared in a feast along with other staples, the remaining meat is dried with salt and herbs is a sort of biltong. Stews and soups of meat are also very common. Killing an elephant is a great show of bravery and a man will likely attract more wives as maternal elders notice a good and responsible man who could take care of their daughter's property. Ivory is also collected and is used to make very elaborate decoration pieces or tribal regalia by the women.