Indigeno-Calderan

The Indigeno-Calderans, also known as Volins from their own language, are an ethnic group native to Austro-Caldera.

The Volin language is part of the Iroquoian language group.

Since their settling, the Volin economy has been dominated by fishing and basket weaving, the first of which honors their primary god Mashk.

Name
The name Indigeno-Calderan is a newer word that cropped up around the 18th century, as English speakers moved away from calling the natives Austro-Calderan (now what any citizen of Caldera are called).

The name Volin is a direct loanword from the Volin language, with a slight variation in pronunciation.

Origins
Anthropologists believe that the Volin people migrated from Eastern Crona and were pushed west by a harsh winter. They found Caldera, and praised it to be a gift from the sea. When this occurred is a local debate and likely happened sometime between 100 BC and 100 AD.

Home
The Volins moved into Caldera and took it as paradise, calling it Nuyak, which means "Beautiful land" in Volin. They mostly settled along the shore, and established fishing as the primary source of food. Volins banned emigration, and believed that to leave Caldera would be rejecting the glorious gift of Mashk.

Agriculture
Alongside fishing, many Volins also brought rice, which could not be grown well in the harsh climate of east Crona, but was sewn extraordinarily well in the new tropical climate of Caldera.

17th century: Hendalarsk contact
When the Hendalarsk settlers first came to Caldera, they were in shock of the lack of government and the structures they've built, like temples and huts. As Joeseph Seuber said in a well documented speech to newcoming Hendalarsk migrants: "The Ceuldes (old word for Indigeno-Calderan) are a people of peace. They know not the wonders of civilization, yet they live in houses and live uncollected. I'm glad they accept us as rulers, as I'm not sure if one could stage an offense of them with a conscience." Because the Volin people had escaped all other tribes, they also escaped warfare, and this lack of combat experience over hundreds of years turned the Volin people into a peaceful people that the new Hendalarsk refugees did not want to interfere with.

Volins also accepted Gothic rule, believing that it was better to let the new people do what they want to, while they themselves could focus on other needs.

18th century
During the 18th century, the Volins started to detest the Gothic rulers after seeing how they were taking up space in areas that were once open for just temples, like in Little Caldera city. Without a recent history of warfare, the Volin people had no basis on which how to handle the new threat, so while many tried to negotiate for the protection of land, others simply accepted the change, or prayed to the Sea God to wash away the plague.

19th century
The Volkspartei began to see a growing issue with the natives being a higher population than the Gothics, so the Volkspartei enacted two programs, both of which failed.

Acculturation
The first program was to simply convert the Volins to Gothic speaking Christians by providing incentives such as free tools, materials, and food. This program failed due to the fact that Volins were still independent of the government, and could provide themselves with shelter and food without government oversight.

Removal era
The second program was to remove the Volins from the land, by giving them financial incentives to settle in a new country like Sabnaki, but this failed as well, when the Volins were not interested in money. Soon though, the Volkspartei realized that they didn't need to remove the Volins.

Native Conscription
The Second Great War made the Volkspartei realize that they needed a military, and this created the new ideology of "native conscription". Under the belief that the Volins were perfect cannon-fodder in international conflicts, the Volkspartei began spreading military propaganda in Volin schools, and passed a law that requires all Volins to be in the military for 4 years after graduating from standard education.

This ideology is frowned upon by progressive Volins, but many Volins argue that the military service is reminiscent of the Volin past before migrating to Caldera, and it is the duty of Volins to fight to conquer land for their people.

Volinism
Volin culture is widely defined by their religion of Volinism. It's observed in their art, their music, and their wood sculptures prior to Gothic influence. Volinism is polytheistic and has a wide pantheon of gods.

Mashk, God of Sea
The primary god, the God of the Sea, also called Mashk, is the one who granted the Volin people Caldera. Mashk created the continents, by lowering the sea to the point where humans had an area to live on. Mashk is a loving god, who tries his best to nurture humans by providing them with fish and water, but he is not the only god to help the humans.

Bron, God of Sky
The secondary god, Bron, or the God of the Sky, is also friendly to the humans and created the planet, by flipping his domain of the sky upside down and shaking it, so that water poured out, and aquatic life could form. Volins believe that Bron is visible, and when he's awake, he's the sun. When Bron is sleeping, he is the moon. Bron brought light to the humans through his child, fire.

Martir, Trickster God
Martir is the first of the gods not to be friendly to the humans. Believing that the other gods are foolish, Martir tries to injure humans by creating hostile wildlife like hawks, snakes, and bears. A story goes that Martir is the reason that fire burns. While Bron was sculpting fire, much like a Volin would carve a wood sculpture, Martir snuck up on him and pushed fire to the humans before Bron was finished sanding down the sharp parts, creating a fire that provide light, but burns anyone who tries to touch it.

Sirkup, Goddess of Nature
Sirkup is a goddess who is indifferent to humans, and simply prefers her projects to be separate and protected. She grants the humans small gifts, such as apples, but also creates retaliatory punishments, like thorns on roses for when humans try to destroy her beauty.

Ferris, God of War

While the Volin people had not waged war on a large scale since settling in their beautiful paradise, memories and tales of war were still passed down by elders, and this included blessings by Ferris, who used to be a strong god that could destroy entire populations. After Mashk brought the Volins to Nuyak, Ferris lost much of his power as he was not worshiped as much as Mashk was, and Ferris became an old wise man known for his tactical genius and experience rather than his own combat. Despite his decrease in power, Ferris was a popular figure to worship to and try to receive a blessing from in the form of being able to kill a hostile animal without a weapon during the Second Great War.

Marriage
The Volin people have never had a hard connection to monogamy, and so the closest form of "marriage" that the Volins participate in are when two Volins have a child, they raise the child together until around age 8, then they go separate ways.

Ethnobotany
Volin people have a high belief in ethnobotany, agreeing that there is a magic in certain plants from Sirkup that can be used to cure any illness, it's just a matter of time until humans discover the most efficient cures for everything.

Gender roles
Volin people have an emphasis on gender roles, but aren't very socially strict. Typically, men are the ones who fish, as they must confront the God of the Sea to show their strength in order to reel in the mightiest of his gifts. Because of this, women typically farm by growing rice, which is seen as a beneficial relationship between the Goddess of Nature and humans, as the Goddess gets her creation praised, and humans get to feed. Despite these gender roles, men and women participate in both professions, as sometimes a woman may want to prove her strength, or a man may want to assist the Goddess of Nature.

Slavery
Before the Volin expedition to Caldera in the first century, the ancestors of Volins used slaves that they conquered from warfare with other tribes in order to expand their influence.

This ancient and faded out practice is reflected in some of Volinism's mythology, where Martir enslaved Liton, the son of Mashk, after beating him in a fishing contest that Martir had cheated in, by attaching fish to his rope before he pulled them in. Martir ordered Liton to kill Mashk's fish. Mashk, without knowing why Liton was doing what he was, killed Liton in order to protect his creation and humans. When Martir revealed what he had done, this angered Mashk so much that he summoned a tsunami to punish Martir, but Martir turned into a water snake and swam away. It's said that when Mashk grieves for his lost son, hurricanes occur.

Another example of slavery being used in storytelling is when Penic, the God of Autumn, is enslaved by Martir after Penic accidentally falls into a hole that Martir dug. Martir orders Penic to never move out of the way for the Goddess Pelushk, making winter never come. This causes issues for the pantheon, who have differing issues, like Dirtir's inability to grow anything, Swairtir's inability to hibernate, Brushk's inability to graze, and other problems.

Funeral rites and afterlife
It is believed in Volin culture that the soul is directly tied to the body. When a Volin dies, it's customary to set the body among a boat and set fire to it, then say a prayer to the god Mashk and send the boat off to their place in the afterlife. If this is not done, it's believed that Mashk will never receive the soul, and the dead will inhabit the Earth in the afterlife. The underworld is believed to completely underwater and monitored by Mashk, and, depending on what you did in life, Mashk may treat you differently. Warriors will spend an eternity drinking wine and being awarded for their exploits, while normal farmers will be thanked for their hard work and can relax forever. Criminals and immoral people will instead be punished by Mashk, usually by drowning for an eternity.

Language and writing system
The Volin language was originally developed from the Iroquoian language, and slowly changed overtime as the Indigeno-Calderans grew different from the rest of Crona.

The Volins use a writing system that was developed sometime in the 1400s for recording history of the Gods and the Volin Pantheon. It's based around syllabary and uses a variety of letters not included in other Iroquoian languages, however, the Volin language features many borrowed words.

Example text: ᏂᎦᏓ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ.

Government
The Volin people originally self-governed Caldera through a form of dictatorship in which individuals would be "tested by the Gods" to see if they are fit for the role. This form of contest would occur every time the current leader, called the "Supreme Leader", dies.

When a leader died, the entire nation would rally along the shores and challenge contestants to swim to mainland Crona and back. Whoever made it back first, would be seen as favored by Mashk. Next, contestant would climb the caldera, and try to slide down it. Whoever made it to the bottom of the caldera first would be seen as favored by Bron. Finally, the contestants would have to go through a forest and pick 10 different plants to eat. Whoever found the plants the fastest, eats them the fastest, and doesn't perish within a week, would be seen as favored by Sirkup.

Being favored by a god meant that you were fit for the rule of leader, and so at the end of the three trials, there could only be 1-3 contestants left. If there is only one contestant left, after being favored by all 3 gods, they are immediately given leadership. If there are two contestants left, whoever is favored by 2 gods is given leadership. If there are three contestants left, then whoever was favored by Mashk would be given the authority to pick the winner, with no restrictions on who they could pick (they could pick a different contestant, non-contestant, family, friend, themselves, etc.).

Since the Hendalarsk takeover in the 1600s, Volins stopped the practice of self-rule, and instead participate in the Republic set forth by the Austro-Calderan government. While the trials to become Supreme Leader have been abolished, they are still sometimes practiced as a sport, and if you are proven by at least 3 eyewitnesses that you conducted a trial with 2 others and were favored by a god, then you are seen as a great leader, and usually immediately elected into a subdivision role. Because non-Volin people cannot be elected as Prime Leader of Austro-Caldera, some Volkspartei members have tried to conduct the trials to win the favor of Volin voters, however, no Gothic politicians have been favored by Mashk. The most famous example of a Gothic politician being favored by a god would be the national leader trials of 1924, in which Derrich Lundsteiner won the slide down caldera, thus being favored by Bron, and also the plant eating contest, thus being favored by Sirkup. During the 1924 election, Derrich Lundsteiner won with 99.9% of his votes coming from Volins.