The Unreached Duchy

Chapter 3

Once again, the races all met to come to an accord among themselves that would help keep the peace between all of the races. The Jentil and the Antero Vipunen both made their wishes to not encroach on the lands of the other races quite clear at the meetings. The established races in Makara found it quite agreeable. The legend states that the assembled race representatives decided to send out a search party made up of members from each race to find suitable lands for the council to discuss before amending the accord to include the two new races.

The ending result of the search party was the discovery of another island large enough to support the kingdom along with Skirophorion along with the discovery of several smaller islands that could support a single race if that was agreed upon by the council. At the end of the council meeting, it was decided that the Jentil would be given the ability to live wherever rocks were in abundance and the Antero Vipunen would inhabit the caves at the base of the mountain range, near the shores, and wherever caves were located. The rest of the races retained the lands they already had acquired in the previous accord; the council also decided that if any humans decided to move to Makara that they would have limitations on where they would be allowed to go.

No one knows what was done on Skirophorion Day when Makara was first inhabited by people; but what the legend does tell us is that after Avesta and Arausio were announced as the main deities of our realm, celebrations to them were created and added to what everyone was already doing.

Like our mainland neighbor kingdoms, we have festivals celebrating our Goddess Avesta, the Goddess of Family, and our God Arausio, the God of Water. The legend does not say when the first humans arrived in Makara or how they came to be in the kingdom. There is also no mention in the legend of how the realm decided to pick Avesta and Arausio as our main deities. Avesta lives in the volcano on our island while Arausio, her brother, lives in the sea. They usually get along as well as most siblings do. We have a celebration for each one, Cassini for Arausio and Alaiceaus for Avesta.

Makara uses a calendar with 18 months in it and 20 days in each month based on our star constellations. The constellations are named after things that exist in Makara’s realm or that are now extinct but could be found in the realm at one time. There’s Pisces the Fish, Pegasus the Horse, Cetus the Whale, Aries the Ram, Eridanus the River, Taurus the Bull, Perseus the human, Orion the Hunter, Gemini the Twins, Cancer the Crab, Hydra the Monster, Leo the Lion, Virgo the Just, Libra the Scales, Serpens the Serpent, Scorpius the Scorpion, Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer, Sagittarius the Centaur, Capricornus the Fish-Tailed Sea Goat, and Aquarius the Water Carrier.

Our months all start off with a Cassini Festival on the first and have an Alaiceaus Festival on the tenth; except for our fourth month, Zotz, because we have Skirophorion Day on the last day of the month with the Cassini and Alaiceaus Festivals then. The other months have the Cassini and the Alaiceaus Festivals on the first and tenth; Pop, Wo, Zip, Tzek, Xul, Yazk’in, Mol, Ch’en, Yax, Zak, Keh, Mak, K’ank’in, Mulwan, Pax, K’ayab, and Kumk’u.

For example, if a human is rescued from a ship wreck in the month of Wo and they’re in the Infirmary at Caserma until sometime in Zotz. They would have to be considered completely fine by the doctors at the Infirmary before they would be allowed to leave the Infirmary.

A human may be overwhelmed the first time they are at a Festival in Makara. There’s all sorts of music playing, dancing in the streets and waterways, there’s different types of contests, and the Temples and Shrines are in each city are decorated according to which Festival is happening and if the city is hosting the Royal Family. Each major city in Makara takes turns hosting the Royal Family each month for the Festivals; except for the month of Zotz. The Royal Family hosts the Cassini Festival in Skirophorion, which is also the capital city of Makara.

The Royal Family is the Huns. They’re a big part of why there’s peace between the three kingdoms. The Huns are peace loving rulers who would rather spend time promoting opening trade in goods, games, and music rather than waging a war. The Huns have ruled over Makara for as long as written record can remember.

Each race brought with it an instrument unique to them and part of the known world that they came to Makara from. Some instruments are quite simple to play, like the ocarina, while others take more practice and skill to master.

Each instrument can be decorated with designs that are important to the musician who owns it. Sometimes the chosen designs are based on their ancestry, others chose designs based on how the came to Makara, and others still pick designs that have no meaning but they simply like. The musicians lucky enough to play in the Royal Orchestra all have some Royal symbol placed on their instrument; wither it is a large design or if it is small and hidden away, it is on the instrument somewhere for it is a Royal Decree.