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*The efforts to remove Asranism from the Mikaean population have been abyssmal, largely due to the fact that too many Mikaeans believe it to have validity and many highly-placed officials and church leaders are adherents of Asranism themselves
*Believed that life must be taken to extend the lives of others around them as based on the Mikaean tradition that all members are equal in all things, and thus any inequality in life must be repaid for in death for all adherents
*Suicide cults known as ''livspakter'' or "life pacts", exist as a means of transferring the life force of the Asranist from the physical realm to the spiritual one, allowing her to become one with god in exchange for sacrificing her body to him
*''Livspakt'' ceremonies are conducted in the forests during a full moon with an Asranist coven convening to commit mass suicide by cutting their wrists and presenting their minne dolls as a sign of their commitment to die to join god in heaven
===Notes===
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Those Mikaeans who follow Asranism provide ritualistic offerings in secluded areas, often wooded and at night, giving offerings of flesh, blood, prayers, and song to their god. Special occasions are marked by a gathering of hundreds of practitioners in the forests of Mikaea, near large stone edifices hidden away from the general public, where they can freely practice their faith without fear of persecution. It should be noted that many of the locations where the Asranists are known to gather are already documented by both the government of Mikaea and the Mikaean Church, though given the knowledge that nearly a third of the population belongs to the pagan faith, the government and church have been reluctant to act on this information and focus their efforts on reducing active membership within Asranism as a more viable alternative to direct persecution.
===History===
*The Great Asranist Witch Hunts are brought to a conclusion by a unanimous vote from the Circle of Fathers, who grow weary of the Mikaean Family Church's extension executions of perceived Asranist practioners throughout Mikaea; many of the hierarchs express their disdain for the church killing hundreds of their daughters in an attempt to root out a major heresy within the population while the ranks of the church clergy are filled with those known to hold sympathies for Asranism, with many being closeted members of the pagan faith themselves
*Reverend Mistress TBD is directly ordered to stand down by the Circle of Fathers, along with the teeming ranks of her paramilitary force, the Church Militant of Faithful Sisters, which are numbered to be some 12,000-strong amongst a population counted as being no more than 300,000 by 1150; approximately 5,700 Mikaeans are believed to have been burnt at the stake during the twenty year-long witch hunt, while another 1,000 imprisoned and slated for execution by the church are released from their bonds; modern estimates count that no more than 10-20% of the actual condemned were actively-practicing Asranists, a number the Mikaean Church disputes, though it admits many of the dead were likely not affiliated with the Asranist religious movement
*As a direct consequence of the great witch hunts, the Circle of Fathers resolves to establish the post of the Highfather as a counterweight of the increasing influence of the Mikaean Church; this decision stems from the acknowledgement of the Circle of Fathers slowness to act against the excesses of the church, and the Allkin's inability to act as a purely advisory legislative institution and extension of the Circle of Fathers' administrative wing
*The new Highfather of the Mikaeans, TBD, orders the Mikaean Church to disband its Church Militant, with many of its members being absorbed into the ranks of their various clade ''stridsjomfru'' ("battle maiden") forces; the ability of the Reverend Mistress to unilaterally declare witch hunts is revoked by the Highfather, who mandates that any judicial action authorized by the church not expressly approved by the office of the Highfather, the Allkin, or the Circle of Fathers, has no legal bearing within Mikaea, ensuring the senseless bloodshed of the expansive and poorly-directed witch hunts never take place again
=Fashion and grooming=
==Hairstyles==
'''''Hårveving''''' (lit., "hair weaving") is the term used to describe the various number of traditional hairstyles commonly worn by the Mikaeans. Most forms of ''hårveving'' have endured into the modern-day, though nearly all of them are known to be common types of hair-styling outside of Mikaea; thus ''hårveving'' simply refers to the types of hairstyles which are most commonly associated with the Mikaeans as an integral part of their cultural identity.
Traditionally, the hairstyles that were worn by the Mikaeans were those most likely to have been found in their native lands of West Africa that best accommodated their as afro-textured hair. However, near the end of their migration out of the continent, the Mikaeans slowly shifted toward the adoption of
===History===
====Early period====
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*Physical characteristics such as the rows of sharp teeth all females are known to possess, their notable physical strength, and ability to digest sections of animals most humans would find inedible. While all members of their race possess poor eyesight, it is believed that this was sacrificed during their evolution for superior hearing senses and the ability to broadcast their speech via radio-waves to one another, allowing them silent communication during hunts and raids.
*Psychological inured against the subject of death and violence throughout the entirety of the species. While the Mikaeans are known to mourn their dead and remember their lives, they do not appear to care about the bodies of the death, speaking ill of their memory, or any other superstitions associated with the state of the deceased, and find human concerns about the treatment of the dead bizarre and unnecessary.
==Timeline of migration==
*'''4th century CE'''
**The Mikaeans are expelled from the region of northern Nigeria by a combined force of Bura, Nok, and Sahelian tribes for reasons that remain poorly understood. It is commonly-held that the Mikaeans were noted as being a predatory culture that oppressed many of the surrounding tribes, leading to an alliance that sought and successfully ousted the Mikaeans from the region. Most archeological research and evidence passed down through West African oral traditions and Mikaean records, state that approximately 90-95% of the Mikaean population was deliberately exterminated with the goal of preventing them from returning.
**The surviving Mikaeans fled the region of northern Nigeria for the Sahel in the north, settling along the Niger river within the borders of the Ghana Empire sometime between 320 and 340 CE. They are welcomed as guests by the state's rulers, taking on the role of mercenaries to pay for their lands and repay the locals for their provisioning of food and shelter. This arrangement lasts for approximately eighty years, during which time the number of Mikaeans grows from a few hundred to more than fifty thousand under the careful management of the remaining patriarchs.
*'''5th century CE'''
**Around 430 CE, the Mikaeans begin to face opposition within Ghana from the local inhabitants, who report many of their neighbors going missing and criminal behavior from the Mikaean population, who attack and maim many Ghanian subjects with impunity. While it is often cited that this may have had more to do with the warrior-status held by the Mikaeans as a form of taxation to the rulers, much of the same behavior that likely led to their expulsion from the Niger Delta region had returned in Ghana. This ultimately led to an edict from Ghana's ruler in 433 CE expelling the Mikaeans from the empire, and a series of battles the Mikaeans ultimately lose due to support from the surrounding Sahelian kingdoms to Ghana.
**In 437 CE, the remaining 30,000 Mikaeans living in the Ghana Empire flee West Africa for good after the Battle of Diabaly the year before, where a 25,000-strong Mikaean army is wiped out by a Sahelian force nearly 70,000-men strong, forcing the Mikaeans to concede defeat and retreat from the empire entirely. The Mikaeans assemble near modern-day Nara, Mali, and begin their year-long trek through the Sahara toward North Africa, beginning the first stage of the Mikaean Exodus. Approximately a third of the Mikaeans would perish during the journey from a combination of heatstroke, fatigue, and dehydration, as well as attacks from the Tuareg and Berber natives who had attained knowledge of the Mikaeans previous actions, and reacted to the migrating population out of fear.
**By late-438 CE, the Mikaeans arrive in the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitia (northern Morocco), where the formally request refuge in the Roman Empire. Their request is granted by Emperor Theodosius II, who authorizes the Mikaeans to settle in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis between modern-day Burgos and Palencia, with the hope that they could help forstall the expansion of the Visigothic Kingdom before they crossed the Pyrenees. This did not come to pass as the Mikaeans refused to resist Visigothic expansion into Iberia, and remained its subjects for some four decades.
**The Mikaeans adopt Arian Christianity initially to placate the Visigoths, but soon begin to blend many aspects of it with their own faith, forming the hybrid religion of Mikaeanism that would come to dominate Mikaean culture and spirituality for centuries to come. The Mikaeans would migrate north before the Council of Nicaea, and rebuke the revised version accepted by the Romans as a heresy of Christianity.
**The increasingly hostile nature of the Visigoths and the burden of high taxation drives the Mikaeans to migrate north opposite of the incoming Germanic tribes, with the ultimate goal of settling the original homelands of the Germanic people to escape the wars and instability of the collapsing Roman Empire in western Europe. The Mikaean population by 475 CE was in excess of 125,000, and was deemed too large to confront by any of the Germanic kingdoms in the region, who opted to allow the Mikaeans to depart from the land for their desired destination. The Mikaeans slowly move across Spain and into France, where they gradually continue north collecting tomes, foodstuffs, wears and livestock over a four year period known.
**In 479 CE, the Mikaeans gather near Argentoratum (modern-day Strasbourg) and cross the Rhine River into Germania, and begin their twelve-year trek across the region toward West Pomerania. The Germanic tribes in the region who initially opposed the migration of the Mikaeans into their former lands attempt to stop them, but by this point, half of the Mikaean population is under arms and have adapted to the fighting styles of the Europeans, successfully fending off their attacks and continuing on with their migration unopposed.
**In 491 CE, the Mikaean arrive in West Pomerania, a region which by this point in history has been all but abandoned by it original inhabitants who migrated south to join the invasions into the crumbling Roman Empire. The Mikaeans would settle down here and establish themselves for the next century and a half, adopting many of the local customs and languages, and slowly abandoning many of their West African customs and traditions.
*'''6th century CE'''
**Many of the pagan rituals of the German inhabitants, as well as several Celtic customs picked up during their time in France, make their way into Mikaean religion, leading to the forming of proto-Asranism within their society as a "secret" faith into which only a handful are indoctrinated. These hidden rituals and practices are not formalized, and remain unorganized gatherings formed to supplement or replace many of the old religious customs the Mikaeans held during their time in Africa. Few Mikaean authorities know of these pagan gatherings or care little to suppress them, allowing the faith to spread among their subjects.
**The first documented instance of a ''vederlag'' wicker man being used takes place in 535 CE; though no human sacrifice is provided according to text, pigs, goats, and donkeys are recorded as having been submitted for the occasion. Knowledge of the event remains concealed for centuries until the documents related to the event are uncovered in 1692, indicating that the ceremony took place somewhere near modern-day Dobbin-Linstow in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, at a time when the area was still heavily-forested, providing enough protection from outsiders seeking to view the ritual.
=Military=
==Gun culture==
*Every Mikaean of legal age and status, that being all Mikaeans who have graduated from ward status, are legally-required to bear arms, possessing a firearm on their person at all times for personal defense, and a state-provisioned combat rifle and field uniform in their home for duty in the local paramilitary forces of the Obsidian Guard
*Firearms, ammunition, and accessories to all sorts of weaponry can be readily-found throughout Mikaea; likewise, a weapons license can be easily-attained upon completely the training necessary to handle whichever weapon one seeks to purchased; there are no limitations on the types of weaponry permitted for private ownership within Mikaea, with heavy and fully-automatic weapons available for sale to Mikaean citizens
*The gun culture of the Mikaeans is highly-advanced, with a healthy respect for weapons and their proper usage and handling; gun-related crimes within Mikaea are exceedingly rare in spite of a gun ownership rate in excess of 70-75% of the population, largely due to the extensive education Mikaeans are given throughout their lives on how to use and respect the role of firearms in their society
*Having a holstered weapon is both a sign of acknowledging adherence to the laws of the state, as well as indicating the legal status of the Mikaean in question as a maiden no longer a ward of a matronic coterie; Mikaeans will frequently refuse to travel to countries which do not respect the right to keep and bear arms, and are thus more commonly found in nations such as the United States, Switzerland, and even many parts of the Middle East where open-carry laws are protected
==Military service==
*All Mikaeans are required to serve in the paramilitary forces known as the Obsidian Guard; this force provides regular and standardized training for all Mikaean citizens on military-grade weaponry, ensuring that most of the population is capable of utilizing existing military equipment in the event of a major conflict
*Mikaean citizens are cycled into and out of the professional military forces every two to three years to provide a more extensive level of military training for advanced weapon systems and combat operation practices
*Approximately 36,000 Mikaeans serve in the Mikaean Defense Forces on two-year tours of duty, while another 600,000 serve as part-time volunteers in the Obsidian Guard paramilitary forces on six-month tours of duty; upon completing a two-year tour of duty, the Mikaeans that are phased out of the active forces are replaced by Mikaeans who have completed a full six-month tour of duty in the Obsidian Guard; volunteers from the Obsidian Guard take precedence over Mikaean civilians volunteering to join the military as professional combat personnel
=Education=
==Structure==
The Mikaean education system is rigidly-built to streamline the process of integrating a newly-spawned Mikaean into the wider population of their homeland from the moment they are able to walk. Covering a period of about eight years, the ''hyrde'', or "shepherding" phase, is the most important period in a Mikaean's life, as they are molded to enter into the Mikaegeny as functioning and contributing members of society. During this time, a Mikaean will be classified as a "ward" under the care of a matronic coterie, which is responsible for the care and housing the youth, along with the maintenance of their physical, mental, and emotional needs.
*'''''Skilja''''' – 1 year; ''Skilja'', or "understanding", is the six months following a Mikaean's six-month long growth period in their creche of spawning. Though they learn little during their gestation, the half-year long period is included into the ''skilja'' as part of their entry into the world and the time for which they will be prepared for introduction into the wider family of the Mikaegeny. It can best be described as a form of preschooling that includes learning the alphabet, verbal and subsonic communication, and basic interactions with fellow Mikaeans. Upon completing the ''skilja'', a Mikaean youth will be handed over into the care of a matronic coterie for the next eight years under the status of "ward", and will remain there until they complete their ''hyrde'' phase.
*'''Gymnasium''' – 3 years; Gymnasium in the Mikaean schooling system is a three-year long period of comprehensive study and education provided to all newborn Mikaeans to give them a deeper grasp on the basics of reading and writing, mathematics and history, all of which would be most analogous to primary schooling overseas. Unlike their human peers of similar age, Mikaeans at this point are physically and somewhat mentally mature enough to understand more advanced topics, shortening the schooling period to half that a human would need to go through for primary school.
*'''Finishing school''' – 2 years; Finishing school is the Mikaean equivalent of secondary school, and covers more advanced topics such as physics, computer science, chemistry, biology, geography, civics and social sciences, and music. There is a strong focus on academic learning, and helping the students digest and make use of the advanced learning they are receiving. Likewise, as the name implies, a strong focus on proper etiquette within Mikaean society is impressed upon all Mikaeans who go through the courses at the school.
*'''Academy''' – 2 to 4 years; Academy is the final stage of schooling within the Mikaean educational system, and covers most of the fields that would be provided within a tertiary school such as a college or university. The academy period of education is purely focused on providing a practical education in terms of the degrees offered; there are no liberal arts degrees offered in any accredited academy in Mikaea, and any Mikaeans seeking to attain such a degree will need to search overseas to do so. Mikaeans will learn a trade or vocation in a STEM field while in academy, which which they will then use to enter into a field that they will remain in for practically the rest of their lives.
=Cuisine=
==Dessert==
*'''TBD''' – Jelly tart
**'''TBD''' – Citrus-flavored tart
**'''TBD''' – Mint-flavored tart
**'''TBD''' –
**'''TBD''' –
**'''TBD''' –
=Other=
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===Structure===
'''THE MIKAEGENY'''
*'''Clade''' —
**'''
***'''Commune''' — Matronic council (seven council members)
****'''Circuit''' — Vestal assembly (all cadre representatives)
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*During conflicts, Mikaean soldiers would commonly make minne dolls in the image of all of the enemy combatants that they killed during a battle, and keep the dolls as trophies which would be moved around the battlefield as both a way of remembering victories, the valorous dead, and serve as a means of indicating the capabilities of the unit in question by broadcasting to others all the dead they have claimed during their period of combat service at the front
*Many Mikaeans believe that the soul of a deceased Mikaean can be linked to their minne doll so long as a piece of them has been preserved within the doll; to that end, the head of the doll is designed with a special cavity that can be accessed from the rear of the head, and a piece of the dead Mikaean, usually a finger-bone, ashes, or piece of preserved flesh, inserted into the cavity to keep a physical link to the Mikaean in question within for the doll's caretakers
*Asranists will usually make a minne doll of themselves as a precaution, as many are members of illegal suicide cults that exist in the forests of Mikaea; unlike other minne dolls, these self-made dolls will contain a lock of the Mikaean's own hair rather than a
*Mikaeans do not believe in an afterlife, instead believing that the life force which animates them returns to God, leaving behind nothing more than a lifeless, inanimate object no different than the dolls produced by their people; consequently, they view minne dolls as a continuation of their physical form, placing some piece their cremated remains within the doll as a shell that will not decay as their fleshly body ultimately does upon their death
==''Sinnets hage''==
A '''''sinnets hage''''' ({{w|Norwegian language|Norwegian}}: "garden of the mind") is a Mikaean library specifically designed and built to include elements from nature within its floor-plan and aesthetic. Large trees dominate reading areas, grass floors are carefully laid down so as to complement the interior design of the library, while not compromising the integrity of the books within due to moisture content. A ''sinnets hage'' is frequently cited as having more in common with an arboretum than a common library due to these features, and are universally-associated with Mikaean culture and identity. The first ''sinnets hage'' constructed within Mikaea was built in 1273 by Patriarch TBD, who sought to encourage reading and learning among his offspring, while also establishing a place for peace and cooperative behavior during a time of strife throughout the general population. This development was wildly-popular within the clade, and soon took off across the rest of Mikaea as other patriarchs sought to replicate TBD's success.
==''Leseglede''==
'''''Leseglede''''' ({{w|Norwegian language|Norwegian}}: "pleasure of reading") is the Mikaean tradition of literary societies formed by coteries and cadres to read and discuss literature of all sorts as a community. Originating in the 1600s following the introduction of the printing press in Mikaea, the first ''leseglede'' literary societies were established in the cities of Family Pride, TBD, and TBD, which were home to large European trading enclaves that imported books from Europe to sell to the local population. These literary societies would digest these new and intriguing foreign texts and discuss them with fellow Mikaeans to learn more about a world they had left behind more than six centuries prior. Though the Mikaeans had a long history of seeking and devouring any knowledge that they encountered centuries before arriving in North America, as well as forming reading circles around literate individuals for religious education, the practice of ''leseglede'' would only grow into an important aspect of Mikaean culture during the early modern period. This behavior soon spread across the island as literacy rates among the Mikaeans grew, and later developed into a major social and cultural tradition that would form an important part of the Mikaean identity. Today, more than 80% of the Mikaean population belongs to a literary society seeking to advance the principals of ''leseglede'', by taking pleasure in the act of reading and learning, and sharing what they learn with their sisters for the sake of accumulation information that will help them grow into a more cultured and balanced individual.
==Anthem==
{{Verse translation
|{{Mikaean|My father, tis' of thee,
Thy wish of unity,
Of thee I pray;
Land where my father died,
Land my family's pride,
From every mountain side,
Let peace ring free!
My father blessed be,
Land of his myriad seed,
Thy way I love;
Honey'd lips teach his will,
With words that give me thrills,
A hope I seek fulfilled,
To gain his love.
Let holy praise resound,
And faith from all be found,
In all our halls;
Let every son partake;
Let all our sisters wake;
May even heaven quake,
For our great song!
Our fathers' God to Thee,
Sovereign of unity,
To Thee we pray.
Long may our hearth be bright,
And land be free from blight,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King!}}
|My father, tis' of thee,
Thy wish of unity,
Of thee I pray;
Land where my father died,
Land my family's pride,
From every mountain side,
Let peace ring free!
My father blessed be,
Land of his myriad seed,
Thy way I love;
Honey'd lips teach his will,
With words that give me thrills,
A hope I seek fulfilled,
To gain his love.
Let holy praise resound,
And faith from all be found,
In all our halls;
Let every son partake;
Let all our sisters wake;
May even heaven quake,
For our great song!
Our fathers' God to Thee,
Sovereign of unity,
To Thee we pray.
Long may our hearth be bright,
And land be free from blight,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King!}}
[[Category:Vivaporius/Sandbox]]
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