Subsistance living in the archipelago is easy – almost every adult can repair his or her own boat and gather enough food to live off of. Of course, there are many reasons to live with others, but it's the highest freedom of the islanders to leave any community that starts acting in disagreeable ways. "Voting with your feet" is arguably the defining feature of archipelago society – some islanders would argue that the ability to freely leave a community defines true civilization!
Most people in the archipelago are subsistance fishers. Almost all adults, or families, will have a small craft (capable of being handled by a single person, and seating perhaps two or three others) that sees daily use, and almost all islanders know how to handle such craft. In the teeming reefs of the archipelago, it's usually possible to fish up a day's worth of food in two to three hours – meaning that a single person can support a spouse and a child or two relatively easily.
Days are hot in the archipelago, so most fishers rise at dawn and fish only until the sun is fairly high in the sky, then retreat to the shore for the mid-day and afternoon periods. Mid-day naps are relatively common, and that time of the day is also used for miscellaneous chores (boat repair, or making rops and nets, for example), and for play. In late afternoon and evening another round of fishing may occur, or more play/socialization. Most islanders go to bed an hour or two after sunset.
If an islander does not fish – for example, the stay-home spouse, or children – the morning time is often used for gardenning or gathering of fruits and other vegetables that rounds out the typical diet of the archipelago. In the case of larger communities which can support professionals of various sorts, other work, from cloth-making to smithing to artistry tends to happen during the morning fishing shift. Morning and noon-time meals are customarily uncooked, so there is little need for extensive food preparation during the morning shift. Evening meals are the largest of the day, and are ideally cooked, so if one is not fishing during the evening, food preparation takes a block of time. It is common for two or more households to have common evening meals, allowing for more elaborate food preparation and a certain consolidation of effort.
Most competent adults in the archipelago can, thus, manage to take care of themselves on a long-term level even if they live totally asocially – but it's a full-time job. For those islanders who live within a reasonably robust community, basic living is easy, taking four to six hours of time a day and leaving the rest for personal advancement, socializing, and recreation.
With most islanders having both the means and physical possessions necessary to pick up and travel someplace else if they are mindful to, and to support themselves on their way to their destination, community living in the islands has become very much a matter of a constantly evolving social contract. Governance, even such primitive governance as a tribal structure, is rare beyond the family level. Would-be petty tyrants find that even if they can summon up enough force to cow their neighbors, their neighbors simply pack up and move on in the night, leaving a potential ruler without subjects.
Gradually, this accepted freedom to move has become a fundamental tenet of the life of the so-called "Free Islanders" – the fifty percent or so of the archipelago's population that does not owe alleigance to Epokavaa, Li'i, or Bukomo, the three major nations of the islands. Free Islanders are famous for up and moving at the drop of a hat, a proclivity which leads them to invest far more effort in maintaining and improving their boats than their houses.
Most Free Islanders live in small communities of a few families ranging from 20 to 100 people (including children and the elderly). These communities are generally fairly transitory in nature, having lifespans of five to fifty years. These villages allow their inhabitants to enjoy the social aspects of living in a community, and some of the basic labour-saving aspects of social life, without becoming hierarchical tribes or nations.
Naturally, there is a downside to the free-spirited Free Islander lifestyle – the lack of an effective police system allows unscrupulous archipelago-dwellers to live by force and take what they want.
Pirates of this sort are certainly a danger in the archipelago, though they are somewhat less prevalent than might be expected – Free Islanders understand the threat of violence that pirates pose, and generally are not easy prey, and habitual criminals generally run up against someone they can't handle in short order, and end up dead or much more wary.
The biggest breakdown in generally orderly living, then, is not so much constant threat of attack as that there is no system for punishment – a thief or murderer may be stopped by his intended victim, but if he gets away with the crime, there is no formal group that will track him down and put him to justice. Therefor, while criminals who seek never to do any honest work generally have short careers, individuals who make good a dishonest act and then leave, are often still at large ten or twenty years later.
In general, Free Islanders regard it as the responsibility of the wronged individual to seek justice, and all but close friends and family will be reluctant to get involved in a feud, no matter how clear it is that one person has been wronged. This disapproval of getting involved has the beneficial effect of tending to prevent escalation and running out of control of "vengence wars," but it also means that a great deal of clearly immoral acts go unpunished.
For this reason as well, communities are often reluctant to take in strangers – particularly young, fit strangers who seem competent around weapons.
Most Free Islanders live in small communities, as has already been discussed. A small minority of highly antisocial Free Islanders live alone, or in small family units divorced from any larger community. The remainder of Free Islanders are wanderers, who don't really live anywhere.
MerchantsThe most common type of wanderer is a merchant. The small community structure of the Free Islanders creates a great deal of opportunity for trade – one community might have two people with strong Metal talents, and thus the capacity to produce a surplus of fine metal goods – if they could get enough raw ore to work. But that same community might lack anyone with the magical talents and/or skills necessary to create good quality cloth, rope, or the like. (For more on the intricacies of islander technology and created items, jump down to industry, on this page.) These kinds of imbalances of supply are endemic to the archipelago, and thus a good trader can easily support himself.
A typical merchant will be either a loner or part of a small group. He will have a larger-than-average boat, to haul his cargo in, and will be a very accomplished sailor. It is usually more important for merchants to maintain a relationship with a community than to get a particular bargain out of that community one time, so great haggling skills are not as valued as you might think. But a decent eye for value is essential, as most of the archipelago is relatively moneyless, and barter is a fact of life for a merchant.
Merchants are likely targets for the less scrupulous, as they have more property than most islanders, and thus it's a good idea for a merchant to be able to defend himself.
Most merchants also carry news with them, as they are the most common visitors to most communities. Merchants are generally some of the most cosmopolitan of the Free Islanders, as most of them deal with the nations of the archipelago and even the mainlanders on occaision.
StorytellersThe line between storytellers and merchants is a hazy one – as mentioned above, most merchants carry news with them, and most storytellers carry some trade items. But it's undeniable that some wanderers are far more interested in relaying both current news and old stories than they are in selling material goods.
Storytellers tend to be much less far-ranging than merchants. Merchants, after all, provide an objective, valuable service that all but the most xenophobic communities can understand the importance of. Storytellers presume much more on the good nature of their hosts for their livelihood – in general, the storyteller is hosted, fed, and the like for free, primarily because the people of the community like him. That means that most storytellers won't range hundreds of miles to communities which have never heard of them before, unless they intend to act more like a merchant.
Storytellers are often older individuals who developed contacts with a number of different communities in their youths.
ItinerantsSome Free Islanders just have wanderlust, or are looking for a place to settle down that they just haven't found yet (and may never find). These itinerants are the wanderers least likely to attempt to visit a community – in general, when they find their supplies running low, they'll take up shop on a small island for a few weeks, lay in stores, make new ropes, and repair their boats.
However, some itinerants get lonely, and some don't have all the skills they need to fully make their own way in the archipelago. Others may see something in a community that calls them and makes them wish to join.
Because of the cautiousness that most communities have towards strangers, itinerants often have a difficult time being accepted into a village, even on the short term. In that case, the accepted way to slowly integrate into a community is to go to a small nearbye island and set up a house and semi-permenant living situation there. Then, come and visit the village you hope to be accepted into, and trade with them. Only after you've managed to strike up a few friendships is the community likely to be willing to allow you to make a house on their own island.
Sometimes itinerants will stop by a community for a week or so for repairs or the like. In some of the larger villages, there's enough need for manual labour and odd jobs that a reasonably skilled itinerant can trade his work for provisions or help.
RaidersIt is rare for the life of a raider to go on too long. The archipelago is too full of people who know how to take care of themselves for someone to be able to easily support himself on the suffering of others. But that doesn't prevent some people from trying. Raiders are rare enough that you can go years and years without running into one, but common enough that everyone takes precautions.
Most succesful raiders are actually merchants who, when the opportunity presents itself, take instead of trading, or itinerants who aren't above a little bit of thuggery when the choice seems right.
OthersNaturally, the above are not an exhaustive list of the reasons Free Islanders would want to travel the archipelago. There are treasure-hunters, religious pilgrims (religion is rare, but not unknown, in the archipelago), people who follow particular fish migrations, and pretty much anything else you can imagine – the Free Islanders are a diverse lot.
Most islanders follow what could be called "unstructured animism." They casually revere, or perhaps appease, the nature spirits that surround them. A belief in either ancestor spirits, reincarnation, or both is farily common, and there are no official priests or the like.
However, as with most things on the archipelago, a variety of opinions exist. Bukomo has a state religion, as does Li'i. Worship of a particular, powerful-and-communicative spirit is fairly common, as are some monotheist cults and ancestor worship. More rare are things like sea serpent cults or complex polytheisms, but they have a few adherents in the archipelago.
Thenza is the dominant religion of the mainland. It recognizes two equal-and-opposing deities, who are supposed to be almost omnipotent within their spheres of influence. It has a relatively organized church structure, and some of its adherents are evangelical. Almost all mainlanders profess at least token belief in Thenza, even if they are functionally agnostic.
The Thenzan "good" deity is generally simply called "God," and the "evil" deity is called "The Adversary." Both of them have other names, but those are generally only used by priests during rituals. Thenzan belief involves serving God and respecting/fearing the Adversary.
There are always a few missionaries and evangelists for Thenza in the archipelago, and such individuals have converted a small number of islanders to the religion. Many of the missionaries from Thenza are out in the isles because they are part of a growing movement, thus far supressed by the Thenzan church hierarchy, that regards the "good" Thenzan deity as the only true God, and the Adversary as his chief helper, the two powers allied to test humanity. This sympathetic view of the Adversary is considered heresy by the main church, though due to the rising popularity of these beliefs, Thenzan Reformists are not persecuted as strongly as they have been in years past.
Certain Thenzan priests may or may not have supernatural abilities beyond those available to normal people. The sympathetic regard this as proof that Thenza is the true religion. The more cynical would suggest that if there is any truth to these rumors, it is simply the case that Thenzan priests know variations of magic that are Church secrets. This is regarded as a mystery of the Edge of the Sea game world, and the truth of the matter is left to each individual GM and gaming group to decide.
The archipelago is loosely matrilineal and patriarchal. That is, families are considered to run through the line of the mother, and the mother of a family is usually thought to be the owner of all common posessions, but, generally speaking, men tend to assert the dominant roles in society, and be the primary providers for families. If two islanders have the same given name, they will generally use their mother's name to distinguish themselves (thus, there might be a La'mi Neema's Daughter, and a La'mi Koo'ek's Daughter, where Neema and Koo'ek are the mothers).
Marriage in the archipelago is a loose convention, without either much in the way of organized religion nor state to bind it to formality. However, most long-term families do involve a single man and single woman who are (at least outwardly) faithful to each other. For conveniance, we will refer to such individuals as husband and wife, though there are a variety of terms for such relationships in the archipelago.
In a traditional family, the husband generally handles fishing, boat-making and repair, and strength-oriented tasks. He will also usually see himself as responsible for the defense of the family. Fathers often bring their sons along in such activities once they're about the age of eight, in informal apprenticeships.
Wives traditional roles are food preparation, gathering edible plants, and much of the cloth-making activities. The younger children and girls are usually put to work by the wife to help with such roles.
Though most families concentrate their activities by gender, it's rare for any islander to be completely unfamiliar with fishing or boat-making.
DissentersThe most important freedom of the islands – if you don't like it, leave and do your own thing – is not gender-constrained. Thus, if a woman feels that she's being mistreated, or simply consigned to boring work, she is generally regarded as well within her rights to go somewhere where she won't be so treated. As such, though there are traditional gender roles in archipelago society, they are loosely applied. There are many women in the archipelago who have taken to traditionally male activities.
While some islanders may find the presence of women who take male roles (fishing, providing for themselves, or the like) threatening or unusual, such women are common enough that nobody finds them unnatural, and, in general, persecution for such a choice is mild: generally consisting of a few upturned noses.
Some communities explicitely reject the notion of gender roles, or are matriarchal either by philosophy or happenstance.
Approximately one half of the population of the archipelago (more or less 30,000 people) are Free Islanders, not beholden to any master. The other half of the population is split between the three big nations of the archipelago, Epokavaa, Li'i, and Bukomo.
There are five large islands right next to each other in rougly the middle of the archipelago (and towards the eastern side). Epokavaa, the largest nation of the isles both in land area and population (roughly 16,000 people), has claim to three of these.
Epokavaa is, in name, a hereditary monarchy. In actuality, the king of Epokavaa (there are no ruling queens) has little independent power, and is simply a front man for the long-standing Royal family. The internal politics of the Epokavaa royal family are a carefully held secret.
Epokavaa is ruled in a relatively decentralized way. The royal family hands out pie-shaped slices of the islands to regional governors, who are responsible for giving "gifts" back to the royal family, or they may find their fiefs removed. Depending on the nature of the governor, life in a Epokavaa fief may be restrictive or relatively free.
Epokavaa's capital city (also called Epokavaa) is perhaps the only population center in the archipelago which could truly be called more than (generously) a small town. It has good sized ports (big enough to dock mainland galleys), shops, a widely used currency, and that sort of thing, making it a very alien environment for most islanders, though mainlanders still find it quaint and provincial. It is the place that mainlanders find easiest and most comfortable to trade in, which partly explains Epokavaa's prosperity.
Epokavaa has a huge military by archipelago standards – it keeps a standing army of over one hundred men, and the various governors keep their own, much smaller forces (generally just a gang of five to ten men) in order to keep order in their provinces. Epokavaa has a continuing rivalry with Li'i that usually is about two steps short of open war – raids on the other nation are frequent, but not often very bloody.
It is officially illegal, but actually winked at by most governors, for the subjects of Epokavaa to sail away and leave the nation. In practice, few do. Epokavaa's life is much more agricultural and less seabound than anywhere else on the archipelago – the volcanic soil of its islands is rich and fertile, and there are even small herds of sheep and cattle raised well inland in the islands. Most of Epokavaa's subjects take pride in the notion that they are islanders, and have boats and such, but find the notion of actually going out and living with the Free Islanders, without the developed social support system they're used to, quite frightening.
The other two big islands in the middle of the archipelago are owned by Li'i. Li'i is neither as populous nor as prosperous as its rival Epokavaa, having a population of approximately 10,000.
Li'i is a strict monarchy, ruled by a very competent, very cruel king, who brooks no challenges to his power. He is chiefly concerned with military matters, wishing to be capable of conquering Epokavaa and adding it to his might. The laws of Li'i are restrictively and mercilessly – though by and large applied evenly and fairly – enforced. Li'i is held in poor regard by most of the rest of the archipelago.
Like Epokavaa, Li'i maintains a large military – usually around one hundred men. Military service is about the only way to get ahead in Li'i, which is otherwise a stratified society. The military is a fairly strict meritocracy.
Li'i does not want its citizens leaving. Anyone who tries will be executed if caught, and if not, their family or friends who are left behind will be killed. As one might imagine, this serves as a farily effective deterrant.
Bukomo is a nation spread across a dozen small islands at the very south end of the archipelago (the part furthest from the mainland). Bukomo claims to be ruled by a powerful spirit that they call Buko. In practice, it is essentially a theocracy, ruled by those magic-users who claim to speak for Buko.
Bukomo is much smaller than Li'i or Epokavaa (having a population of about 4,000), and it is structured much less like a traditional nation. As with most of the archipelago, Bukomo is a smattering of small villages and fishing communities, but each of these communities has pledged their obediance to Buko in return for the protection of the nation. Bukomo, unlike Li'i or Epokavaa, does not particularly attempt to maintain its citizenry – if someone wants to leave, he is not stopped.
The island of Buko himself has one side which faces out to the open ocean, and there you can sometimes see the titanic sea-serpents of the deep waters playing. This reminder of the relatively exposed nature of the end of the archipelago may be what turns the islanders to one of the more organized religions around.
On the face of it, life on the archipelago seems very primitive. Boats, weapons, huts, all look very rustic, and the small communities of the Free Islanders don't seem large enough to support any kind of industry. However, magic both innate and learned lends a suprising sophistication to the produced objects of the archipelago.
An experienced smith with a strong Metal and/or Fire talent can do very-nearly modern grade metalworking with extremely primitive tools – happily, since the marine environment of the islands corrodes away all but the best quality steel in practically no time. There isn't much of a source for raw metal ores in the archipelago (though both Epokavaa and Li'i maintain small mines), but mainland trade brings in a small but steady supply of workable material. Thus, while worked metal is not abundant on the archipelago, what there is of it tends to be good quality.
Where the islanders truly excel is in various wood and plant products. Individuals with a Wood affinity and a reasonable number of assistants can make quite durable cloth (much like cotton) that takes a number of dyes. Rope making techniques are quite advanced in the archipelago, and islanders typically make several different types of line for their boating uses.
Boat-making is a high art in the archipelago. Though small, rough-looking craft are de rigeur, appearances are deceiving. An island boat is almost invariably extremely well-made, stable, nimble, and built to last – a good boat will last a century or more. In addition, the better boatmakers know how to craft larger ships, though that knowledge is not often put to use.
Weaponry in the archipelago tends to be various hunting weapons. Far and away the most common weapons are spears (ranging from light throwing spears to long hand spears) and knives, which most adult males have at least rudimentary training in. Knowledge of thrown nets is also fairly wide-spread, and some people use more exotic weapons, usually weighted ropes, sometimes with blades on the end. Chains are unknown in the archipelago.
Armor is practically unknown in the archipelago, though dedicated warriors may use a shield.
Part of what contributes to the rustic look of the islands is the plain, generally drab clothing that the islanders tend to wear. Hot days and a tendancy to work partially in saltwater makes dying day-to-day clothes a waste of time – sun and salt will quickly weather any color out of one's clothes. In addition, the warmth of the daytime makes elaborate clothing uncomfortable.
But given a ceremonial occaision, or a wild party in the evening, the islanders show a different side. Brightly dyed fabrics and more elaborate costumes, often featuring feathers from tropical birds, or polished shells make an appearance. Jewelry tends to run to necklaces, bracelets, anklets and rings – few islanders pierce themselves – and gold is much prized, as are semi-precious brightly colored stones.
Free Islanders generally have low body-modesties. Adults will usually wear, at a minimum, a loin-cloth, a skirt, or shorts, but shirts and other upper-body covering is generally considered optional during the day. Epokavaa and Li'i are generally a little more repressed, and both men and women there will usually wear some kind of shirt, if a brief or light one.
Vests with pockets are considered a useful, if not stylish, kind of garmant, and otherwise tools are usually hung from a cloth or leather belt with pouches.
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