Ni'Mushi

The Ni’Mushi

The Ni’Mushi (adj. – mushan), meaning “The People,” are an ethnic group indigenous to the largely undefined shared border regions of Teton, North Teton and Alkali. Concentrated in high elevations in the Tokamak range, the Ni’Mushi have retained the animist beliefs which were once shared by the entire region. Mushan settlements are to be found throughout the tri-border region.

Culture

While anthropologists and travelogues often portray the Ni’Mushi as “noble savages;” a proud but reclusive culture of hunter-gatherers, surrounding populations have a much less positive view of the group. This mythology became a useful defense against expropriation of Mushan territory after the Berzerka. The Ni’Mushi are one of the last surviving populations in which the hunter-gatherer lifestyle is still a major economic factor, but, the Ni’Mushi also practiced subsistence agriculture well before the time of the Berzerka.

The Ni’Mushi speak a dialect of Tokamaki, the common language of the region, but retains a large number of terms from Namushan, the original indigenous language. While unconfirmed, Namushan is believed to survive for use in religious ritual and warfare.

Traditionally, Ni’Mushi society was primarily patriarchal though given the contributions made to survival by women in the harsh environment, especially since retreating to the mountains during the Berzerka, women have gained a degree of respect, honor and independence.

Religion

Despite having adopted much of the benefits of modern culture, Ni’Mushi religion closely follows the typical bear cults which survived from the Paleolithic. The Ni’Mushi retreated to their present-day mountain lands while fighting a losing battle against invading peoples bringing the Berzerka. They are the only surviving population in the region to maintain their traditional beliefs.

Bears are treated with great reverence and are claimed as ancestors of the group. Ni’Mushi shamans are believed transform themselves into bears when they drum themselves into a trance state. The Great White Bear, ancestor to the Ni’Mushi is believed to have emerged from the snows atop sacred Mt. Talka (12,662 ft) (real world Mt. Borah), located in what is now North Teton.

The Great Bear god is associated with the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). The Bear Dance at the time of the winter solstice is the primary religious ceremony. The return of the sun symbolizes rebirth. A hunter who can acquire a bear cub in the spring considered to be very lucky and will be held in high esteem for the year. Cubs are kept for 2-3 years until they become hard to handle and are then released. Most often, lacking the introduction to survival in their environment acquired from the adult sow, cubs die shortly after release.

Syncretism is evident in some areas where Ni’Mushi clans have adopted elements of Ursideanism.

Economy

The most common occupations for Ni’Mushi are in natural resource extraction –logging, mining – and subsistence farming. Ni’Mushi lands, remote, mountainous, and suffering from a lack of roads and electrical power, is generally not suitable to industrial development. The problem of economic development is made more intractable as the borders are not well defined.

Mushan Militia

The Ni’Mushan have fought guerrilla wars, intermittently, against all three of the tri-border states n order to maintain their independence, religion and culture. They have become adept at playing Teton, North Teton and Alkali off against each other to Mushan advantage.

Fearing increased interference and pressure to choose sides and/or pressure to assimilate by the dominant surrounding cultures, after several find of exploitable ores were found, the Mushan Militia was formed in 1998. The Alkali civil war