OVERVIEW

Jamaa is a Pacific Island nation located in the northern hemisphere. It has long been a safe haven for animals around the world, as it has been shrouded from humans for thousands of years and homosapiens are not allowed to set foot on the island.

history
who is a jamaasian?
religion
holidays
threats to jamaa + aapi aid

HISTORY

Ancient Jamaasian society began around two million years ago when the first animals began to populate the large island during the last ice age. Thought to be a direct response to when early humans began the practice of destructively hunting and killing animals, many tribes of species vowed never to do the same to eachother and fled from North America and East Asia to Jamaa.
Jamaa as we know it today did not exist until many thousands of years later, though, and mostly consisted of isolated tribes until they began to form a common identity about 20,000 years ago, merging their cultures and coming together as one Jamaasian nation. Each tribe was given a heartstone that contained the essence of their species, and it was that heartstone that made it possible and safe for Jamaasians to be in Jamaa, as the veil that disguised the island from the naked eye would only lift for animals whose heartstones lay in Jamaa.
Ancient Jamaa was a very wise, environmentally conscious, and technologically advanced society that suffered major tragedy at the end of its time. The First Phantom War was one of the most extensive tragedies of Jamaasian history; monstrous beings known to Jamaasians as phantoms (or Nyche) invaded the land, polluted it, desecrated it, slaughtered thousands of animals, and stole all but six of their heartstones. The war eventually ended in a Jamaasian victory, but this event created the Jamaasian Diaspora when animals' heartstones were stolen or destroyed and they were forced to flee—and Jamaa has yet to recover completely. Though many heartstones have been found over the last few centuries, there are still thousands of tribes waiting in the diaspora.
More recently was the Second Phantom War, which entailed the phantoms' return on a much less devastating scale and ended in a Jamaasian victory and the destruction of the Phantom Fortress, the presumed heart of Phantom society. The trauma that Jamaasians suffered at the hands of the Nyche has bled heavily into their culture and ways of life, and the resistance against them has become akin to religious imagery.

WHO IS A JAMAASIAN?

Jamaasians are the indigenous animals of Jamaa who have a rich, vibrant culture.
Not all animals who live in Jamaa are Jamaasians—only the ones native to the land. After the First Phantom War, millions of Jamaasians were displaced from their land all over the diaspora and many died without ever returning to Jamaa. As more heartstones have been found in the following centuries, more animals have been able to return to Jamaa under protection by the Jamaasian government. This is called the Right of Return, or Fanhuí, and it only applies to animals who are native Jamaasians. Non-Jamaasians, or Wilde, who come to Jamaa must have had their species' heartstone returned to the land as well, but their travel is not protected by the Jamaasian government and they have to make it to Jamaa alone.

RELIGION

The indigenous + national religion of Jamaa is Mirizim, or the bitheistic belief in the two gods Mira, The Sky Mother; and Zios, The Sky Father. Zios is said to have created the universe and Mira to have created life.
Each species also has its own minor deity who is seen as the spiritual guide of the tribe. They are known as Alphas: Liza, the Panda Alpha, for example, and Greely, the Wolf Alpha.
The holy book of Mirizim is the Zira, and it is divided into three scrolls: The Book of Creation, the first scroll, discusses how Jamaa came to be. The Book of the Ancients, the second scroll, discusses the lives and stories of the animals of Ancient Jamaa. Finally, The Book of the Phantoms, the third scroll, chronicles the First Phantom War.

HOLIDAYS

SAISEI - The Spring Equinox, Jamaasian New Year (Mina 1-16)
KUKO - The First of Summer (Aprelila 12)
AWATEA - The Summer Solstice (Lune 1)
LANAKILA - Victory Day (Lune 21)
ILMOL - The First Harvest (Lulai 13)
HAUHAKE - The Autumn Equinox, The Second Harvest (Hepetema 1)
YAMI - Day of the Nyche, The Third Harvest (Okakopa 12)
CHANGJO - Creation Day, Zios' Day (Nowemapa 1-7)
JEOJODO - The Winter Solstice, Mira's Day (Hakihea 1)
ANAHANA - Ancestors' Day (Hakihea 13)
HOA - The Festival of Love (Lanuali 13-27)
TOROTORO - Fanhuí Day (Pepeluali 10-27)

Jamaasians have been extremely in tune with the seasons throughout history, and our holidays reflect this. The Jamaasian calendar has twelve months like Gregorian calendar; however, the year begins in March, at the Spring Equinox. The concept of months was not actually introduced until much later, as ancients did not apply months to their days.

The Jamaasian Calendar
Mina - March 20-April 19
Aprelila - April 20-May 19
Mei - May 20-June 19
Lune - June 20-July 19
Lulai - July 20-August 19
Aukake - August 20-September 19
Hepetema - September 20-October 19
Okakopa - October 20-November 19
Nowemapa - November 20-December 19
Hakihea - December 20-January 19
Lanuali - January 20-February 19
Pepeluali - February 20-March 19