The Ardwmus

Setting assumptions: Generic fantasy world.

Rejiggering: Details about the size of the
desert and the number of Ardwmus tribes in it
are left vague so that they can be adjusted for a
small desert as easily as for a desert taking up
half of an entire continent.
While there doesnt appear to be room in the
world for the Ardwmus to fit into a
contemporary setting, they could easily be
adapted to, say, a post-apocalyptic setting. The
American Southwest would probably require
the least amount of adaptation, but cacti, great
horned owls, and other species are found
elsewhere in the world now (cacti are common
in India and Australia, for example), so it isnt
the only option.
Contents:
The Ancestors
Funeral Rites
Gender Roles and Hierarchy
Children
Domesticated Animals
Diet
Clothing
Stories
The Ardwmus tribes are a matriarchal society
situated in a desert environment featuring
primarily barren, rocky plains. In the east of the
desert, forming the eastern boundary between
the desert and the rest of the world, is the Elzitir,
or field of dunes. The Elzitir lies downwind
from what had once been a great river.
The Ancestors
Ardwmus religion centers around the worship
of ones ancestors, specifically ones earliest
female ancestor. This individual, called the
lineage-mother, is traced through the matrilineal
line. An Ardwmus tribe generally shares the
same lineage-mother. While there are cases
where two lineages are in the same tribe, lineages
are never spread out among multiple tribes.

On w and u
In writing down words from the Ardwmus
language, vowels which appear twice in a row
are repeated separately rather than turned
into a different sound.
This is troublesome when it comes to the
ooh sound, which under other
circumstances would be written as oo or
uu. As the Ardwmus language does not use
a w sound (the closest equivalent is closer
to r), this letter has been used to substitute
in place of oo or uu. In this case it is quite
literally a double-u.
All of ones ancestors are venerated, especially
those who have done something particularly
noteworthy, but it is believed that only the
lineage-mother possesses any supernatural
ability to help her descendants. Requests are not
made of her directly, however, except in the
rarest of cases. They are instead directed toward
ones other ancestors, who are viewed as
intermediaries. Invariably they will prove to be
more effective than if one were to ask for
something on ones own.
In order to gain anything from the ancestors, a
sacrifice must be made. The greater the sacrifice
the more likely that the request will be fulfilled,
and the greater the gain from its fulfillment.
Funeral Rites
The body is considered to be of little value after
death; the thing which made it a person is now
gone and all that is left is the inanimate shell.
The Ardwmus waste nothing which they do not
have to waste, and so the corpses possessions
are taken. A womans possessions are usually
given to her children, and a mans possessions
are given to his nieces and nephews. The body
is then left for the scavengers.

The soul is believed to be separate from the

intelligence housed in ones body, and upon
death it has nowhere to rest. The world looks
very different to those whose eyes are not
clouded by flesh, and without a means of finding
direction the dead are doomed to be lost
forever.
Luckily, there is a means to prevent this fate: by
placing a part of ones soul in another object, the
greater part of the soul will be able to find its
way. It will know its own location relative to the
shard, and thereby know the location of all other
things relative to the shard. Even when the
shard is carried by the tribe, the dead will
remember the paths which their tribe takes and
know its location according to the date.
After she becomes a full member of the tribe a
woman is given a newly-made bone knife. She
uses this to cut herself in order to coat it with a
portion of her soul, which is contained in the
blood. The knife will remain with her for all her
life. It will be used only in emergencies, so that
the risk of breaking it is minimized. A man is
similarly cut, but place some of his blood on the
jar which contains the soul-knife of his lineagemother.
The soul-knife of a woman is kept safe until the
tribes nomadic path brings it to the Elzitir.
Each tribe keeps vast collections of soul-knives
here, hidden deep beneath the sands and away
from outsiders. Because each member of the
tribe knows the location of this burying place, a
dead woman is capable of divining her location
by way of knowing where she is in relation to it,
until she has grown used to the way that the
world looks to her new perceptions.
The souls of men, however, use the container of
the lineage-mothers soul-knife in order to get
their bearings, as this is where their own soul
fragment lies. In this way do the warriors of the
lineage protect its greatest treasure even after
their deaths.
In order to provide time for the newly-dead to
find their way, requests are not made of the

deceased until the tribe has passed by the soulknife field two times.
Gender Roles and Hierarchy
It can be put most simply like this: the men
control matters which take place outside of the
tribe, and the women control matters inside the
tribe.
Hunting and conducting warfare, for example,
are matters for the men. They are more
expendable from a reproductive point of view,
and equally so from the point of view of the
tribe. More domestic matters, including the dayto-day running of the tribe, are handled by the
women.
While hunting and warfare may take place
outside of the tribe, it has not been lost to the
Ardwmus that the initial conception of the idea
to go on a particular attack or hunt is made
within the tribe. It is for this reason that the
women must first approve any such venture; it
is the women who decide when to go to war and
when to hunt. After the decision is made,
however, the men have control of the situation.
Among men, rank is determined by marriage.
Those who are married have authority over
those who are not married. Those who have
more wives have authority over those who have
fewer. Those who married their first wife earlier
have authority over those who married their first
wife later, if they have the same number of
wives. For this reason, marriages do not occur
on the same day.
Among the women, rank is determined by
children. Those who have children have
authority over those who do not. Those who
have more children have authority over those
who have fewer. Those who have grandchildren
have authority over those who do not.
Grandmothers of the tribe are equal to each
other in authority, and the majority rules when
they are at odds with each other. This qualifier
is rarely relevant, however. The Ardwmus prefer
to debate for long periods of time until one side

or the other has been convinced, rather than

force everyone to submit to the will of the
majority.

of an outsider, and a good number of a tribes

unmarried males will be killed by each other in
war as they try to earn their manhood.

It should be noted that for the matter of female

authority, only children who have been given
their second name count.

Two other matters also accompany the rite of

passage for a woman: firstly, the grandmothers
of the tribe tattoo her back in the sacred symbols
of that tribe, with carmine dye harvested from
cactus parasites. Secondly

Children
It is not guaranteed that children will survive.
For this reason they are given birth names, or
simple placeholder names such as Nyayen (First
Daughter), or Dezhw (Second Son). These act
as a way to play an amount of emotional
distance between parent and child in the all-toolikely event that the child dies. Only once the
parents decide that the child will likely survive
will she be given her growing name. This
name usually relates to an animal, like Toaz
(vulture) or Hugina (mouse), and is not genderspecific.
When a boy is of fifteen years old, or when a girl
has had her first menstrual period (which may
not be well until fourteen or even later), they are
deemed ready to begin preparing to become
adults. A boy will henceforth be ready to
participate in raids and more dangerous hunts
and girl will be ready for marriage. To become a
man, one must kill someone from outside the
tribe, while womanhood is earned by
successfully giving birth to a child. At this point
ze is given their soul-knife or zir blood is coated
on the lineage-mothers jar, and they are given
the last name by which they will be known, their
living name.
Men who wish to marry a girl must offer a bride
price to her mother. This usually takes the form
of the spoils of the hunt or valuables taken in
war. The mother is then free to accept the price,
reject it out of hand and deny the right to further
negotiation, or demand that a higher offer be
made. Ardwmus society is polygamous, not least
in order to allow the best men to thus father
more children, but also because the
requirements for manhood are not restricted to
a single tribe. All of the tribes demand the death

Children are of the utmost importance to the

Ardwmus. The tribes will do anything at all to
keep them safe, but they are also all too aware
of the necessities of life in their harsh
environment. No single thing is more valuable
than a firstborn child, but more valuable than
the firstborn alone are all of the children that
will be born in the future. The greater the
sacrifice, the greater the reward and so, in order
to receive the greatest reward possible, the
firstborn will be left behind on the sands when
the tribe next moves on. No lesser sacrifice is fit
to be given to the lineage-mother. To find such
a child, called a zol if it is found, is extremely
lucky for both the child and the finder. The zol
is considered to be exceptionally blessed and
possessed of a great fortune.
Domesticated Animals
The Ardwmus do not have any animals serving
as livestock, which is partially due to their
rigorous, if complex, system of hospitality laws.
It is normally alright to kill an enemy, or even a
bystander who stumbles into camp. There is no
dishonor in this. But anyone who the tribe
extends compassion and aid toward, the same
has been adopted by the tribe and cannot be
harmed any more than the tribe can harm one
of its native-born members.
The Ardwmus follow this law without regard for
species. If they cared for goats then the goats
would be members of the tribe. Then they could
not be killed, to say nothing of being eaten.
Nevertheless, the Ardwmus have other reasons
to rear animals.

The Many Uses of the Cactus

Depending on species, a cactus will have seeds that can be ground and eaten. Most edible cactus fruits
are described as tasting something like strawberry, fig, or watermelon, depending on species. The
fruits can be eaten as is or processed to make jam, jelly, or juice. The roots of some cactus species can
be eaten. Edible cacti are usually high in calcium and Vitamin C (in fact, cacti were one of the first
cures for scurvy).
Some cacti attract insects which can be processed to produce a red dye, as mentioned elsewhere. Most
often, artificial nests are hung over the side of the cactus, creating an inviting home for local parasites.
Once the insects inside, the nest can easily be capped off and the insects recovered.
The saguaro cactus, after being parasitized by the small birds which commonly nest in it, can be
harvested to get a saguaro boot, for use in water storage. The needles of most cacti, but especially
the saguaro, can be used for sewing. Large cacti can be used in the production of furniture or tent
stakes, or and the fiber of many species of cacti can be used for weaving.
The most useful cactus genus may be the prickly pear, or Opuntia. They grow well enough to be
considered a weed in some places and can grow up to twenty feet high. The pads and fruits of the
prickly pear may be removed of their needles and eaten. This may be done most efficiently by rotating
them over a fire or rolling them in sand or gravel.
The pads are high in various vitamins, protein, and fiber. They also aid water retention in the body.
In addition to being eaten raw or cooked, they can also be pickled for long-term preservation. They
taste most like string beans.
The pulp can be used to treat inflammation. Other medicinal uses include treating constipation,
alleviating drunkenness, and treating minor wounds and insect bites. Alcoholic drinks or
hallucinogens can be made from the fluids of the pads and stem. The mucilage can be used in water
purification.
Most tribes keep a small flock of ostriches,
which are used for their eggs and also to carry
supplies. The birds can be ornery, but they are
well-adapted to the local environment and
suited to their tasks. Less common are
ichneumons, or mongooses. These are trained
to keep the camps clear of rodents, snakes, and
other pests, and to steal away the eggs of birds.
Great horned owls (or tiger owls, as the
Ardwmus know them) are trained as hunting
birds and sentries. They can seize rabbits,
lizards, and most local birds, and can be used to
flush out or distract larger animals. Tiger owls
not on the hunt are trained to circle the camp
and raise a ruckus when large animals approach.

Diet
The Ardwmus obtain their food from hunting
game and from wild plants. There are no taboo
sources of meat in their culture (except humans,
anyway), so they will readily set upon anything
which they are able catch. Bows are primarily
used for hunting, although traps will also be
placed whenever the tribe is expecting to remain
in the same place for a few days.
Slightly more than half of the Ardwmus diet
consists of plant matter. It is mainly nuts and
legumes gathered from the many hardy varieties
of plant which grow in the desert. Also of the
importance are the various species of cactus in
the desert and the yazqwr, a kind of tuber.

Many of the other food-producing plants of the

desert have secondary uses, most often usable in
cloth production. It is the cactus which has the
most uses, however. The majority of cactus
species produce an edible fruit of one size or
another, and most of these fruits are extremely
juicy. The main body of the cactus is often
edible as well after the spines are dealt with, and
in some species the skin can be used as a
container. Finally, certain insects parasitize the
cactus and can be used to produce a carmine
dye, the principal source of ink for the
Ardwmus. In addition to tattoos, this ink is used
to decorate the tribes tents.
After the cactus, the yazqwr is possibly the most
important plant in the desert. It is able to deal
with minimal hydration, is extremely nutritious,
and preserves well. The plant is also hard to
come across simply by accident and only a small
amount of it grows aboveground. Most tribes
know of several places where there are large
amounts of yazqwr. These locations act as a sort
of storehouse, capable of keeping the tribe from
starvation even if all else fails.
Clothing
The Ardwmus wear loose clothing made from
leather or woven from one of the various plants
which exist in their desert homeland. Strong
gloves are used as well. The head is protected by
a hat, woven from plant matter, which bears a
resemblance to an extremely flat chupalla. A
scarf is usually wrapped around the head in
order to protect the ears and neck.
The face is usually protected from the winds and
sand by a veils of tiny bone beads strung along
threads. These veils are time-consuming and
difficult to create, and so they are carefully
passed down from generation to generation. In
times of war, raiding parties will don larger
masks. These are made by taking the skull of a
large animal, sans the lower jaw, and mounting
it against a leather or cloth base. Hyenas,
coyotes, caracals, and

Stories
Storytelling among the Ardwmus is, as with
most societies, an important part of the culture.
Lessons, rules of life, and advice are all
contained in poetic form and wrapped in mythic
narrative.
The story of Uyin the Rabbit, which exists in
one form or another across most of the tribes,
contains almost step-by-step instructions of
how to hunt rabbits, and also of the many
mistakes which can be made. Those are, of
course, the very first thing which The Fool
Hunter does. It even manages to include lessons
on proper behavior with regard to ones
ancestors. There are few stories which do not
contain some sort of lesson.
(Spoiler: the story of Uyin the Rabbit is
ultimately about how to hunt rabbits. The ending
doesnt treat him well.)
Much importance is put on stories of other
kinds as well. Once the days duties are done
with, the tribe often partakes in uligir. It is a kind
of improvisational theater which starts and ends
spontaneously. It can even take place during
periods of work.
Different members enter and leave the uligir of
their own accord. In this way a single session can
last an entire day but begin and end with entirely
different collections of members. Players take
on new personas and refine them throughout
the uligir before ultimately casting them off as
they cease to participate. A particular persona
can, after being cast off, be seen by another to
be interesting and worth picking up in a future
session. If this happens often enough, the
persona will eventually acquire a traditional
status and likely be used by various players for
generations to come, being refined and altered
all the while.