Zile

Insinsis who draw from the pleasures of the islands. Pronounced zee-LAY.

Basics

• Taxonomic Order: Insinsi

• Alignment: Poioumenonic

• Energy: Stagma

• Lifespan: 1,000 years

• Diet: Alcohol and fish

• Habitat: Tropical islands

Origins

Zile evolved from shemir who dwelled in the tropical islands of the Reever Sea, developing into beings of stagma by using it constantly as part of their culture.

Description

Zile appear to be anthropomorphic beings with high foreheads and a variety of color skin hues (deep violet, light blue, merry green, rich tan, garish orange, or a combination thereof). They have fingers that are proportionately longer than one might expect from the size of their hands. They have hair on the fringes of their heads but not on top.

Procreation

Zile reproduce sexually with one another. They sometimes reproduce with other insinsis, where the species of the offspring follows that of the mother. Reproduction with any other species requires supernatural intervention.

Powers

A zile’s laugh is infectious.

Drink

Zile gain strength from alcoholic drinks with a certain amount of sugar in them. Rum is best. Though the drink does inebriate them, they recover more quickly. During their inebriation, they are physically stronger and faster.

Weaknesses

Mollesse will weaken them.

Nations

There is but one nation of zile, synonymous to their species name.

Culture

On the island of Fani’i, a group of shemir settled many eons ago, developing into the zile species as they evolved. They grew to be able to survive on pure, fermented sugarcane juice, eventually technologically advancing into distilled rum, due to massive famines that hit the area long ago. Now, they have a more complex diet, but the only required element is alcohol of some kind. As island-dwellers, fish is a common part of their cuisine.

At the end of the famine times, the zile gathered to celebrate, bringing all surviving members of their species together. This event, known as the Soulajman, is repeated every year. It is a vast feast, party, and parade happening toward the end of winter. After the Soulajman, zile rest for forty days, engaging only in necessary work, before engaging in the hard work of spring and summer’s planting and fishing times. During these months, they build a stockpile of food and drink that will last them through the storm season, which technically starts in the summer, but intensifies so much during the final months of summer and the early autumn that it is impossible to farm or fish.

During the stormy season, they leave their coastal dwellings entirely, living in the island highlands. During the rest of the year, they live in coastal fishing villages or on massive sugar farms. After the inevitable annual flooding, they migrate back to the coasts and rebuild. Because of this, they build houses on the coasts that are elevated, but designed to be disposable. Far more important to them are their boats, which they drag into the highlands each year to preserve.

Most zile communities have been colonized, usually by Jesenyan powers, and their sugarcane fields have been turned into slave-worked plantations. The zile exist almost entirely as a slave “race”. Though other species are enslaved alongside them, they are the local population and the most numerous in the islands. Previous to enslavement, there were multiple tribes and potentially nations among them, but these have been long lost, their culture syncretized to a blend of their past cultures and some features of their oppressors’ cultures.

Because they are dependent on alcohol to survive, they are dependent on the local owners of the fields and distilleries. This leads to some zile selling out to their oppressors and antagonisms between them. Some zile live outside the plantation system, dwelling in fishing communities and living as subsistence fishers who trade or purchase alcohol from the plantation owners or from trading ships. In these communities, they are subject to the laws of the colonizing forces still.

The remnants of zile culture focus on re-creating Soulajman and retaining the cycle of work, leisure, and restoration. This is limited by the demands of the colonizers, however, and the enslaved often do not get to engage with it at all. This leaves them much weaker, as the stagma shared during Soulajman empowered the whole community. It also means many die during the stormy season if they cannot move inland. The colonizers do not care - more slaves can always be bought, after all.

Esoterica

Zile are beings of stagma and were once its greatest wielders. As an enslaved nation, they do not get to practice it as often. In secret, they also wield other poioumenonic and aetherial powers, and some dare to wield celestial powers in resistance.

Religion

The zile worship Diven, the Divine who gave them wine and rum to survive the famine times. They have a syncretic religion that takes figures such as saints and spirits from Jesenyan faiths and mixes them with their own faiths, which were strongly influenced by western Taggaran religions that influenced the Reever Sea for many Ages. They see Diven as a protector and provider, one who gives them happiness even in the harshest times. Diven is said to dwell on Letènite, the Island of Eternity, where zile go after they die. They are allowed to remain there or return as reborn children. Most return, as they cannot live in eternity until all other zile are free.

Gender

Zile are subject to colonial rule and therefore adopt the gender binary enforced upon them. In their own traditions, there were nine genders, and people could move between them throughout their lives. This tradition was heavily suppressed and is now nearly forgotten.

Economy

Zile are an enslaved species / nation living under capitalist-colonial rule.

Military

There is a zile resistance. Among them are guerrilla fighters, saboteurs, terrorists, and spies that fight against colonial rule. They are not very organized at this time, however, though the potential is there.

Language

Their language is based on Haitian.

Trade

The sugar, rum, and fish the zile farm and gather are traded with the world by the colonizers who steal it from them.

Occupations

Common occupations among the zile:

• Plantation slave

• Fisher

Outside View

Zile are seen as inferior drunkards ripe for enslavement by the ruling classes, worthy of scorn by the indoctrinated, and as heroes seeking freedom by those who see them clearly.

Notables

• Kontan Fèyri, Zile Manifest, Aeonian

Estimated Populations

• Enslaved: 5 million

• Free on Fani’i: 1 million

• Other: 2 million

Sample Stats

PRO 8
ATH 8
STR 9
AWA 8
WIL 8
PRS 11
STH 8