“They continued to come, these people from across the great water. A few here and there, not enough to be a threat. Some nations made them welcome while others fought them. But more and more came, and they built more forts and brought more weapons and their sicknesses. They traded with the Indians, and fought with them, but always they claimed more land. Soon the Intruders were a tide that couldn’t be stemmed. And as their strength grew, so did their arrogance. They couldn’t understand the Indian, so they tried to make him like themselves. If that didn’t work, they made war - whatever it took to clear the land for more settlement.” W,p/qE&& Wars qENubu “Wyrmbringers love to make war. The pure nations warred as well, but for the most part they had honest reasons, like defense and hunger. Because everyone was more or less the same, taking more than you needed in war would only tire you out, kill your warriors, so you couldn’t defend against someone else. The Wyrmbringers usually wrap their true reasons in ideology, fighting and dying for false gods and virtues written on pieces of paper. They claim to make war on a people in order to help them, when really the Wyrmbringers just want to help themselves. “The Europeans even fought each other, backing up claims for land they didn’t live on anyway. The English and French both made allies among the Indian nations, goading them to fight rival Europeans and old enemies among the nations. Some nations rebelled against their white allies. Some remained neutral. These wars continued for nearly a hundred years. By that point, the English Intruders who had settled in the eastern end of Turtle Island began calling themselves Americans and made war on their people across the sea. Again, they drew in the nations, though this time more sided with the distant enemy than the one that cut down the forests and hunted Indians. But when the English gave up, they forgot about their old allies, who now felt the vengeance of the colonists. Fighting continued off and on, but in the end it was always the Indians who gave ground, either by musket or by treaty. “Soon most of the east was under Intruder control, and they moved west. The Intruders once again fought among themselves, drawing their soldiers back east and giving the Indians more room. As there were very few Indians in the east anymore, the Intruders didn’t bother trying to sway them to either side, though some Indians fought regardless the Confederacy promised the return of lands to those who fought, but since they lost, the Indians who helped them were punished. When that war was decided, the Intruders turned their eyes westward once more, and the push began again. Iron rails and copper wires, the tools of Grandfather Spider, snaked across valley and plain. Grass was overturned and farmers planted crops in straight lines. Forests disappeared; game disappeared. Many millions of buffalo died for their hides, leaving to rot enough meat to Chapfer One: Smoke Twlk OfiYh0q Eyes-of-Night, Uktena Half-Moon, teaches: Owning other people wasn’t invented by the Wyrmbringers. Fact is, the nations of the Pure Lands had slaves long before the Intruders came here. But the Intruders institutionalized slavery as was never seen before in these lands. From the beginning, the Spanish, Dutch, English, French, Portuguese - they all rounded up the locals to work for them. But the Indians weren’t very cooperative; they revolted or escaped, and made themselves more trouble than they were worth. So the Wyrmbringers went to another source, Africa. To plantations in the West Indies and all along the Atlantic coast, slave ships carried my people in darkness and squalor, and more than a few died from sickness or fear before they ever set foot on land. Those that lived labored to grow rice, tobacco, sugar cane, cotton, or coffee -cash crops that needed many hands to grow and harvest. They toiled for their master’s benefit, and were deemed only as useful as the work they could do. Near as I can figure it, my own blood kin were some of the last to come over before the trade was closed. Not even my spirit guides know just where in Africa they called home. Lots of folks thought it was wrong to own other people, but money will always be a strong justification for evil. When up north they started making machines to do the work of hands, it got easier to look down upon slavery and slave owners. In the south, where all money was grown and not mined or built, you better believe they justified themselves and their heinous acts. Some slaves rose against their masters; they suffered for it. Some escaped, looking for refuge in the anti-slave movement in the north or, like my ancestor, hiding among the Seminole in Florida. But running was risky, and beatings were the least a runaway could expect if caught. After the war and a couple of amendments, slavery was declared illegal. But that didn’t make life for four million ex-slaves much easier. Being paid next to nothing is still getting paid, so even if you couldn’t make a living, it technically wasn’t slavery. Black folks, Mexicans, Indians, Chinese, they all got used by the Wyrmbringers. Though things ain’t so bad as they were, they’re still getting used. I’m not bitter. Okay, I guess I am. I want to know the land where my grandfathers lived, and the Wyrmbringers took that away from me. There’s a small part of my heart that will always hold that theft against them. But I’m also part Pure Lander, and I have the lore of those ancestors to give me strength. I know who I am, and that is the most important thing of all. feed the world. The Intruders were truly the servants of Weaver and Wyrm, for they knew nothing of harmony with the world or with other peoples. They spoke only lies and wanted only to change the world to their own design.
Uktena · Werewolf