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ALL FEATURES
Long before there was the island of Uji, there were The Mother Isles.
Situated on the opposite side of the planet, The Mother Isles formed an ecologically diverse archipelago where Korainians lived across territories shaped by radically different environments. Three isles are particularly important to the history of modern Uji:
These landscapes influenced the customs, livelihoods and identities of the Korainians who inhabited them. Then, in approximately 111 BL, a series of natural disasters made life across The Mother Isles increasingly unstable. So much so, Korainians were forced to flee.
Around 100 BL, the displaced tribes arrived on the sloped, rocky island of Uji. The first settlements were established within territories that became known as The Colony Outlands. These settlements were broadly divided according to scale and ancestral island:
Each colony retained the name of its respective Mother Isle. Their chosen territories on Uji also reflected, as closely as the unfamiliar landscape allowed, the terrain and environmental traditions of the homelands they had lost. Mountu settlers favoured fertile, cultivatable land, while Sandya tribes maintained their established traditions. Meanwhile, Volcanis settlers adapted to Uji’s rockier, more industrially useful environments.
Thus, the Colony Outlands were not distant additions to Ujian civilisation — they were its first settlements, entirely predating The Mainland.
The cycles Before Law (BL) are not well documented. Much of what remains has survived through oral history, tribal accounts and the occasional Government-approved record. What is known is that conflict broke out between Uji’s competing colony settlements. The fighting culminated in The Last Battle for Uji in 72 BL.
It was Ino Taka, later known as Chief Taka I, who brokered the peace that brought the conflict to an end. Taka’s tribe established a neutral settlement between the Colony territories, cultivating land upon which the island’s competing tribes could trade and interact. It is that neutral territory which eventually became known as The Mainland.
The Battle for Uji ended in 72 BL, but peace did not immediately bring prosperity. For approximately 60 cycles afterwards, Korainians experienced mass infertility during a period remembered as The Barren Times. The population declined, successful births became increasingly rare, and the future of Korainian civilisation was placed at risk.
During this crisis, the tribe led by the Taka clan consolidated The Mainland settlement. For cycles, the Taka-led territory sought to improve life on Uji through wise practices and shrewd stewardship. It was during the reign of Chief Taka III that the first couples within The Mainland settlement were reported to have experienced glowing hair and an extraordinary restoration of fertility.
The phenomenon became known as the glow phenomenon. The Mainland Government declared these pairings to be Universe-designated Soulmates and codified the phenomenon through The Soulmate Law.
Following the end of The Barren Times, The Government no longer presented itself as a neutral territory, but as the authority that had saved Korainian-kind. Operating from The Ovum in City Korai, The Mainland Government came to oversee law, trade, peacekeeping, entertainment, public institutions, birthing and Adulthood Initiations. The Colony Outlands, meanwhile, kept their distance.
Every Ujian child is taught about The Waves of Confirmation.
The modern Colony Outlands are inhabited by the descendants of tribes that resisted, declined or otherwise avoided absorption into The Mainland. However, a tribe’s relationship with The Mainland Government depends greatly on where it is located.
Borderland tribes
Tribes near the marshes and borders of The Mainland tend to have the most frequent contact with Government institutions. They rely on Mainland trade arrangements for tools, medical supplies, processed goods and medical assistance with birthing. It's an uncomfortable arrangement for everyone involved...
Shoreline tribes
Tribes situated farther from The Mainland, particularly those living along Uji’s outer shoreline, tend to be more self-sufficient. These communities fish, cultivate land and exchange goods through intertribal systems. Their distance from Mainland borders allows them to operate with no Government involvement; which has resulted in concerning rumours about the activities of such supposedly 'unguided' folk.
At fifteen cycles, Colony-born Korainians are invited (or instructed) to travel to The Mainland for their Adulthood Initiation and Inauguration, often their first crossing of the Border Marshes and first exposure to City Korai, The Ovum, and Mainland life.
They join Mainland peers for The Jump, receive their ‘A’ marks, and attend the Maturity Ball in The Ovum Hall. Unlike Mainlanders — already shaped by Adulthood Prep, media, and social expectations — Colony new-adults like Thaya Mashou arrive from a very different cultural world.
The experience is often overwhelming. While they may encounter Soulmates, work opportunities, and a broader society beyond their tribe, they also experience tension: as staying in The Mainland can mean betraying the very kin who raised them to resist it.
The Mainland and The Colony Outlands share the same history, descend from the same displaced islanders and occupy the same 70-mile-long island. Nevertheless, they experience Uji very differently. For a Colony-born new-adult crossing into City Korai, these differences are not something discussed in Geography classes. They are a harsh reality, and a difficult choice between two sides of the same world.
