Capitol: Otzchana
Official Religion: Pagan;
The Samolians follow a set of beliefs that all animals are higher than man, and that each one represents forms of teaching and wisdom that man can glean through study, communion and meditation. They have a huge pantheon of Animal-headed deities, each representing different lessons, traits or warnings that the practitioner must learn to heed. A few of the more important are: Serpent (Amduat), Scarab (Boz), Ibis (Toth), Zebra (Zaxi), Lion (Sakhmet), Elephant (Durga), Falcon (Horus), Crocodile (Sobek) and Jackal (Anubis). They often are called by different names in different areas within Samolia, but those listed in brackets are the most common titles for them.
Major Cities: Moatize, Beiret, Tuecala, Zaxixe, Chicualacuala and Lichambane.
Citizens: Samolians, Samols;
They are iconically dark-skinned, blue-black skin; short and robust builds; full-featured; russet to rust coloured hair and eyes. They also typically wear a good deal of body modification, including piercings, ritual tattoing, scarring, and animal motifs.
Culture: It is said that the gods of the Samolians are some of the oldest of humanity's deities. Sculpture, jewellery and pottery inscribe with their likenesses date back over 4000 years, making them one of the oldest known cultures in Uphelios. Despite their long history, Samolia has largely kept to itself and its old ways. Their Nilus River is one of the largest and longest in the world, and this southern delta transforms the desert sands into a shimmering oasis every rainy season. This marriage of opposites fully defines their people - strong but small, a barren desert half the year yet teeming with life the other half, and ancient culture but technologically simple. Many believe that the Samolians have kept their old ways out of xenoophobic stubbornness against new inventions and the access to imports. But they have done well with their old chariots and bronze weapons for centuries, and their empires, whilst rarely expanding the borders of Samolia, have been some of the longest standing dynasties in Uphelios. They claim their simple and honest way of life is all they need. Their communal sense of owenership, and the even distribution of work is to them a peaceful way of life. They firmly believe in reincarnation, and that the soul can be guided by worshipping and respecting the animals around them, and so they life willfully in harmony with the circle of life.
There is a darker side to this desire to be one with the animal kingdom, including sacrificing the old or infirm to certain predator animals, allowing certain scavenger animals to take wounded limbs as a means of medical operation, and many times going hungry due to the signs of the world. In some smaller tribes, cannabalism is occasionally practised as a method of exorcism, and still others where the humans attempt to live as the beasts do, creating wild men who have little more 'humanity' to them than a wild animal.
Historical notes:
(Influences: Egypt, Mozambique, Central Africa, Old World Cults)