Puhi people

Puhi
Puhi Maohi

Regions with significant populations
Sublustria	c. 150,000
Languages
Puhi, Sublustrian pidgin
Religion
Wairua
Related ethnic groups
Sublustrians

The Puhi (Puhi Maohi), or the Moray tribe, are an itinerant population of Sublustrian origin. Also known as Oceanic Savaders or Sublustrian Savaders, the Puhi are famous for their nomadic, seaborne lifestyle, traveling between Sublustrian archipelagos in flotillas and docking in permanent settlements across the ocean. The Puhi build stilt villages in shallows and reefs as communal anchorage and mooring points, however they are also known to dock in settlements outside of their communities as well.

The origins of the Puhi are uncertain, but they were an established caste at least by the Early Modern Era. The relative scarcity of Ronorono texts prior to this era make a scholarly evaluation of their origins difficult. It is most commonly believed that the Puhi were originally fishermen and merchants who, with the rise of the Celestial Empire and its tributary network, began to engage in long-distance trade. Whether this was inspired by the various tribute ceremonies of imperial subject states or if they are both representative of older Sublustrian traditions predating both is unclear, but comparative analysis in related non-Sublustrian groups favors the latter theory.

The distinctive lifestyle of the Puhi has lent itself to a unique tradition of certain crafts, most famously their house-boats and stilt-villages. Their oceanic lifestyle also lends itself to the common use of marine materials for everyday purposes, including instruments of sharpened fish bone, aquatic leathers, and a unique body paint for the purpose of protecting from the sun. The intricacy and uniqueness of Puhi crafts has been traditionally popular in Sublustria, and holds a market in the region's tourism industry today.

Ethnonym

The word Puhi in both Yocatullic and Puhi means "Moray eel", hence the alternative translation, the Moray tribe, provided in some contexts. While it is uncertain when this name came to be the dominant form of reference to the Puhi, it carries significant symbolic weight in Sublustrian society, and has been a point of contention. The Puhi people are traditionally rivals of the Shark Clan prevalent throughout Sublustria, with totemism sometimes being offered as an explanation or origin myth for this relationship. The Shark Clan and the Puhi themselves offer competing narratives of the origin of the name, and with their debate carries several other questions such as the potentially derogatory nature of the name and a lack of alternatives offered.

According to the Puhi narrative, the name originates from a simple observance. While they claim the Moray as their totemic animal, they claim it was the similarities between their lifestyles that gave rise to the name and identification. The Puhi claim that, as the Moray lives in shallows and then retreats to the deep sea to breed, they anchor and dwell amidst reefs and shorelines between periods of long marine voyages. This explanation, though often considered probable as an origin of self-identification, fails to consider the possibility that the name was already present before such a lifestyle was adopted, and assumes that the totemic identification only began after this point.

The Shark Clan claims a different origin of the Puhi, stating that the name had always been known to them and their ancestors, even in a time when they were land-dwellers. According to the Shark narrative, the name was applied to them in a derogatory fashion. The derogatory intent supposedly stems from their reputation as 'slimy', 'slippery', 'predatory', and in some tellings 'parasitic', although this would align better with a lamprey than a moray. While the Puhi have faced a level of discrimination historically and held such a reputation at times, this etymology is generally considered unlikely, and fails to explain the aspect of self-identification despite explaining a longer history behind the name.

A third theory has been proposed by Sublustrologists and is reported to have been held by third parties historically, stating that the name's origin is simple totemic identification and nothing more. In the same way that the Shark Clan is referred to on occasion as the Shark Tribe, or how the imperial family has the moon prefixed to their names, this explanation is considered to explain the widest range of factors and has precedent elsewhere in Sublustrian society. According to this theory, the Shark Clan's derogatory use stems from their rivalry, and is parallel to slurs derived from common usage elsewhere in the world, while the incidence of the lifestyle explanation by the Puhi may be either of imitative origin or simply coincidental. If imitative, it would also provide an explanation for the origin of their nomadic habits when proto-Sublustrian society was agrarian.

History

The first external records of the Puhi come from 1492, on the second Sublustrian expedition of Euclean explorer Théodore de Beaulieu. Beaulieu wrote about a people he called Aquatic Savaders, describing a tribe that never spent more than two weeks at a time on land, but instead had flotillas and stilt-villages in shallows. The Puhi played a crucial role in Beaulieau's continued exploration of Sublustria, guiding him safely between archipelagos and informing him of the various trade goods seen across the region. From this point on, Puhi history is recorded in limited degree by foreign observers and native texts.

Pre-Civil-War

During the 16th and early 17th centuries, the Puhi acted as a vital network of merchants and informants, carrying goods and information between archipelagos and often bearing messages as well. When Euclean and Coian merchants began to appear, the Puhi were brought into rivalry with them. Foreign merchants brought new technologies, but the Puhi maintained pan-Sublustrian trade lanes and effectively blocked the spread of firearms beyond their initial adoption in the Celestial Isles. As demand for Euclean goods increased, the Puhi turned increasingly to forms of piracy.

The Puhi pirates were motivated in part by the profit, with Euclean goods in high demand, but also by the traditional raiding and warrior culture that was dominant across Sublustria. The Puhi were known as excellent marines, and sometimes served as mercenaries in raiding parties. The practice of boarding ships was not common in Sublustria before the Euclean arrival, but the Eucleans provided a uniquely rewarding target from a mixture of the size and shape of their ships making them easy to board, the value of their cargo, their unfamiliarity and distance from Sublustrian society, and the lack of Euclean power projection in the South Vehemens. Many Puhi did not engage in piracy, but instead bartered with Euclean merchants and sold their goods to other Sublustrian peoples.

Civil War and aftermath

The Yocatullic Civil War was the most devastating conflict in Sublustrian history, with several hundred thousand dead in a span of seven years. This was due partly to the unique mixture of newly introduced firearms and a culture of battle that was not used to as immediately lethal weaponry or able to treat the injuries it caused. With these new weapons, the confidence of individual chieftains was significantly raised, and they were willing to take bolder actions throughout the war. The instability caused by the conflict led to greater discord in the region as pirates exploited the chaos and peaked in activity around this time. As tribes competed in an arms race, revived feuds, and avenged wrongs, the Puhi pirates and traders fed the cycle of violence with new supplies of Euclean weaponry.

When the war ended in 1630, foreign influence was blamed for the greater part of the devastation faced. Euclean goods were cursed, and the Puhi faced a wave of persecutions for several decades due to their participation in the arms trade and their closer contacts with the Eucleans. Records from this time seem to hint at the negative reputation and stigma that the Puhi have been associated with traditionally, though they are mixed whether this has been established because of their role in the war, or whether these attitudes predate the war. Beaulieu did not mention a stigma against the Puhi in his writings, but his view necessarily has limitations and biases that might alter his records and perceptions of what he witnessed. His comparison of the Puhi to the Savaders is often thought to imply a negative initial attitude.

Relations between the Puhi and landed Sublustrians began to stabilize about three generations after the Yocatullic Civil War. Despite persecutions, the Puhi did not suffer as strongly as other Yocatullic populations. The reintegration of the Puhi is believed to be connected to the reestablishment of the Celestial Empire's dominion over other Sublustrian groups, and their participation in this effort. Whether they served as soldiers, collected tribute, or reestablished contact with any groups is unclear, but they are credited as contributors to the imperial restoration. In a document dated C. 1705, the Puhi are granted special privileges within the imperial system and their ties to the Celestial Isles are recognized, and they are further officially granted an imperially-sanctioned monopoly on their unique cultural products.

Modern Era

In the mid-18th century up to the 20th century, the Puhi draw the interest of visiters to Sublustria due to their unique habits and lifestyle, even among the indigenous Sublustrians who already present a curiosity to foreign scholars. Their freediving adaptations are first recorded in this time from an anonymous text dated 1787, alongside sketches of their famous woodcarving and recipes acquired from various sources. Puhi mooring points and stilt-villages offered resupply stations to foreign visitors, and Puhi navigators and boatmen were among the Sublustrians temporarily acquired by outsiders and praised for their skillfull seamanship.

The 19th century saw the first systematic attempt to document Puhi culture and society in 1824, with poems and songs transcribed and collected, several artifacts purchased, and a dictionary compiled. Over the next decade, more research into their traditions, history, and origins would turn up in museums and collections across the Euclosphere, and anthropologists would attempt to determine their particular origins and potential relation to primitive human behaviors. By 1879, over a hundred photographs of Puhi had been taken, and by 1901 several dozen songs had been recorded; some of these songs were identical to the ones collected in the previous century.

The Sublustrian Anthropology Rush began to slow in the 20th century, and is considered to have ended by the 20s. As the world prepared for the Great War, the participation of the Celestial Empire was hotly debated among native leaders. When participation had been decided, the imperial government commissioned from Puhi craftsmen a full fleet of new boats to bring warriors en masse to spaces for enlistment in foreign armies, or direct deployment to certain fields. The reputation of the Puhi remained high throughout the war, and they were occasionally able to contact deployed Yocatullic warriors and provide trades and carry messages or trophies back to the warriors' families. Following the war, the Puhi had their privileges and monopolies reinforced, and many notable chiefs, storytellers, and shamans were bestowed with imperial prestige gifts and honors.

Culture

The Puhi are known throughout Sublustria for their distinctive culture and lifestyle. They have traditionally been revered as master navigators and artists, building a lifestyle on traditions essential to the Sublustrian way of life, and connecting distant islands to one another. However, they are also considered outsiders to every settled community, and are socially isolated accordingly. As a result of these unique factors, the Puhi have developed a relatively insular and tightly knit community with strong emphasis on self-reliance and solidarity. It is uncertain to the degree their treatment by outsiders influenced their way of life, or their lifestyle influenced their treatment by outsiders.

Oral tradition

Although the Puhi generally lack written records, several mythological ethnogeneses and a long oral history are present. While the historical basis of the Puhi oral history and genealogies has often been called into question by outside scholarship, it is just as often recognized as an important intangible cultural artifact that helps to define the Puhi from other Sublustrian groups. Each Puhi clan has members dedicated to memorizing their genealogy and the history, but some events are shared across all Puhi narratives. According to the common denominator, the Puhi originated from Matuwahine as a cousin branch of the Yocatullic dynasty. It is said that their legendary founder, Tehepuhi, had a daughter who was one day swept out to sea. Tehepuhi built a boat and sailed from island to island searching for her, praying to the ocean, his ancestor, for help in recovering her. The Puhi, according to legend, are his descendants, continuing his search and his lifestyle.

Every Puhi genealogy traces ultimately back to Tehepuhi as a founding figure. The specific date in which he lived is uncertain, and while he is mentioned as being related to the Yocatul dynasty, no specific names nor an imperial generation are mentioned in any oral tradition. Some versions of this legend claim that Tehepuhi's daughter became the first moray eel, though others clarify a belief unstated in some versions that she holds the status of an ocean spirit that merely assumed the form of an eel. Other clans are silent on the matter entirely, but hold pan-Puhi religious practices implying such an outcome from the original story regardless of their specific telling of the story.

The character of Tehepuhi is hotly debated, and his narrative is generally considered doubtful by outside secular sholarship. Apart from supernatural elements, the name "Tehepuhi" is of Puhi origin, and translates as "Navigates-the-water-like-an-eel". Such a name would be possible at the supposed time of the story, but is considered to be too convenient contextually. Moreover, he could not have been named such before the existence of morays, and so is considered to be a retroactive epithet applied to a possibly historical but highly mythologized individual. The first component of his name, "Tehe", functions as a pun, as it can translate as either "swim" or "sail", referring broadly to smooth and comfortable navigation of water contrasted with the swimming of terrestrial animals and humans.

Religion

The Puhi practice a distinctive form of Wairua similar to the cult of Lady Wai on Matuwahine. Puhi worship centers around the goddess of the moon, stars, and sea, who is considered to be the matron goddess of the Yocatul dynasty, and whose domain is central to traditional Sublustrian navigational methods. Some have regarded the Puhi cult variant as a form of monolatry, as other deities are frequently neglected in favor of the sole worship of Lady Wai, whose domain is expanded to encompass essentially all aspects of life for the seaborne nomads. Aspects of ancestor and nature worship are also known among the Puhi, which makes the monolatristic classification difficult.

Puhi ancestor worship is broadly similar to that found in other Sublustrian societies, with a strong emphasis on individual clans and their histories. One unique aspect of Puhi ancestor worship is the figure of Tehepuhi, said to be the ancestor of all Puhi and serving as a figure to unify clan identities and reaffirm the coherency of the Puhi caste. Tehepuhi is frequently invoked in inter-clan negotiations, during the ending of feuds, and during marriage ceremonies. The worship of prestigious clan ancestors is regular, though this has often been characterized as asking teaching or guidance from experienced and notable family members who have passed, rather than true worship. Puhi storyteller apprentices are expected to know their paternal and maternal ancestors of 6 generations each, for a total of twelve, while journeymen must know twelve each, and to become recognized as venerable must know them until both lines reach Tehepuhi. Storytellers play an important part in Puhi marriages, helping to avoid close incest and telling the story of each clan up to the point of the wedding in question.

Natural spirits are also worshiped by the Puhi, with animistic attitudes towards specific tides, swell patterns, currents, and cloud formations. These spirits are largely considered benign, although some are treated as malicious. Malicious spirits are said to need occasional offerings to stave them away, or otherwise the fate of Tehepuhi's daughter would befall his descendants once more - this blood-curse typically attributed as the cause of rip currents, rogue waves, and meteorological phenomena. The fact of the ocean's non-potability is sometimes attributed to these spirits, although its salt is also harvested and used for many purposes both functional and ceremonial.

Aside from storytellers, the Puhi also have a distinct tradition of shamans. Whereas storytellers play a critical role in ancestor worship and veneration and the oral records of clans, shamans dedicate themselves instead to memorizing the names of the many natural spirits, their legends and myths, modes of offering and sacrifice, and rituals involving the christening of new vessels, the blessing of voyages, and rituals surrounding the ocean and weather.

Social structure

Unlike most Sublustrian groups, Puhi society lacks a rigid caste system, and emphasizes egalitarian clans and individual families as the predominant social unit. For this reason, and the decentralization of Puhi society generally, some historians have characterized Puhi mooring points as autonomous Sublustrian republics with a distinct Sublustrian republican-democratic tradition. Others have criticized this categorization as romantic or loaded, stating that Puhi organization not coherent and consistent enough to qualify as a form of government, or that the mooring points are more similar to storehouses or village communes than republics.

There are several theories as to why the Puhi lack the castes that are generally assumed to be a key feature of proto-Sublustrian society. From a sociological perspective, the basic organizational unit of the Puhi is too small and closely related to allow significant institutional differences and lineage gaps. Instead, particular individuals within a clan may gain particular prestige, but lack sufficient organization and population density to establish a lasting lineage. Some anthropologists suggest that the Puhi lifestyle is similarly demanding on all members of the family, and so the excesses that allow the development of specialized castes and more rigid divisions of labor do not form. Under this theory, the egalitarian distribution of both type and amount of labor is itself semi-institutionalized as a replacement for specialist warring, priestly, productive, and subservient castes. In the context of broader Sublustrian society, the Puhi are treated as a distinct caste of their own, recognized for their distinctive lifestyle specialization similar to the specializations undertaken by other castes. Under this logic, the Puhi would be viewed as a Matuwahinean class or subculture, rather than a distinct tribe or people.

Traditional arts

The Puhi are renowned throughout Sublustria for their cultural displays and items, particularly their specialized rituals and their wood carving. They are famed for songs detailing epic voyages and clan histories, which landed Sublustrians view as a form of exotic entertainment as well as an integral part of pan-Sublustrian traditions. The Puhi are also known for a distinct culinary style reliant upon their steady, but dependent, access to sea life, particularly in deeper waters between archipelagos. Despite being stigmatized in landed society, Puhi artists are frequent entertainers at traditional cultural events, and play a key role in traditional landed Sublustrian seafaring culture.

Puhi shamans are sought after by landed Sublustrians for various rituals pertaining to the safe travel of the oceans. When a new boat is constructed, it is customary for a Puhi shaman to bless the vessel and consecrate it before the ocean spirits. This can be done periodically as well, such as with new sails, renewed wood, or for particular occasions such as holidays. While there is no standardized price for such a blessing, it is customary to offer tribute to the shaman in question, or otherwise offer a sacrifice for him to conduct to the ocean spirits. Poorer navigators may rely on the collective wealth of a lodge or guild, while wealthier ones may be able to provide their own and personally own a significant amount of boats.

The Puhi are famous for their intricate wood carving, both for the decoration of ships and the production of idols. While wooden idols are not unique to the Puhi, the Puhi are the only known producers of idols relating to the array of oceanic and atmospheric spirits particular to their mythology, thus making the production of such idols an esoteric communal practice of the Puhi in conjunction with their storytellers and shamans despite the figures represented by the idols being respected and feared by Sublustrian cultures broadly. Puhi woodcarving on boats is believed to provide good luck or magical protection of superior quality to that which could be derived from land-based carvers, whose art is frequently considered to be primarily secular or decorative.

Traditional Puhi singers and dancers are well sought after as forms of entertainment across Sublustria. Puhi song is largely based on voyage narratives and encounters with the supernatural, as well as others detailing clan histories. The singers of the Puhi are an institution very closely related and intertwined with the storytellers, with venerable storytellers often able to recite full epic poems in song form from memory. Puhi dancers most often accompany singers, though they can exist independently. Puhi dance is generally considered to be a form of Sublustrian Theater, telling stories primarily through costumes, motion, and symbolism. Both Puhi song and dance are considered distinctive for their particular rhythm, which mimics the moving waves and swells of the ocean.

Cuisine among the Puhi is a refined, though specialty, craft. Centuries of seaborne life have emphasized the role of plants and animals pulled from the water as dietary staples, compared to landed Sublustrians who traditionally subsist on hunting, foraging, and agriculture. The rarity of deep-water foodstuffs has made Puhi cuisine prized as a delicacy, and it is traditional for Puhi and landed peoples to exchange food items when the former takes to shore. Through this, landed Sublustrians gain access to exotic delicacies, and the Puhi gain access to a wider nutritional range involving meats, fruits, and grains. Puhi cuisine is defined by sea salt, deep-water fish, and algae (Puhi: himu) in various combinations and states of preparation.

Apart from algae and fish, the Puhi also collect shells and coral from the water for trade. Due to the frequency and length of their dives, the Puhi develop adaptations from early life to aid underwater sight and lung capacity. Due to these adaptations, Puhi divers are able to collect far more abundant resources than others, and are considered remarkable swimmers. This is also a point of interest in the scientific community, who have studied the rapid adjustment to underwater environments and successfully replicated the adaptations with Euclean subjects over several weeks of training.