The Hirokoa are the people of Survival. The Root Chakra – centered in the crotch and legs and represented by the color red – is the energy source related to the survival instinct, security, and to basic human potentiality. Sensuality – experience of the physical world – and stability are the attributes associated with the Root Chakra.
Physically, Hirokoa are, in general, the shortest folk on Erde, although some Bayakan tribes are shorter and a tall Hirokoa is not uncommon. Most Hirokoa are about ten or eleven hands tall, of stout and sturdy build, with skin that ranges from coppery red to nutty brown. Hirokoa have thick black hair that is worn in a variety of styles, depending on the region, and little or no facial hair on men. Most Hirokoa wear rawhide or plain broadcloth, with bright splashes of color in the form of body paint and feather or bead ornamentation.
The Hirokoa Lands lie in far moonward Erde, separated from Central Erde by the Fog Range, the mightiest mountain range on Erde. Hirokoa peoples extend from the harsh and snowy mountward heights to the mild sunward coast, but the region is predominately a temperate forested plain with several large river valleys.
Small villages dot the Hirokoa lands; most of the people live close to land, in hunter-gatherer groups or communities with subsistence agriculture. A few villages with trading posts have grown to the extent of being called towns, and the southward Hirokoa have some major cities and more complex economies. The regions between settlements remain wild and not full explored. While all the Hirokoa Lands are united into The Confederacy of Nations, each individual Hirokoa nation maintains autonomy, and the political structures vary quite a bit, with some chiefdoms and kingdoms, and many hereditary meritocracies with intricate rituals for the transfer of power. Most nations have a fairly flat social hierarchy, with no nobility or privileged class beyond the political leaders and medicine men. Slaves taken from enemies were common in the past, but with the confederacy this custom is vanishing.
While the Hirokoa civilization encompasses many societies with some great divergence and diversity, the overriding values of the culture rise from their Root energy and are manifest in the Hirokoa living well within the natural environment and being in touch with their surroundings; even in the large cities built by the seaward Hirokoa, sustainability and ecological awareness are paramount in design and customs. Hirokoa tend to value not strength, but toughness, and not cleverness, but sagacity. Perceiving the true order of things while simultaneously accepting chaos as part of the natural world is the end of Hirokoa philosophy. Being physically prepared to move through the world in harmony is the practical trait most valued. Root energy also governs sexuality, and Hirokoa have an open and unencumbered attitude toward sexual relations of all kinds. Above all, the Hirokoa protect – themselves, their loved ones, and their lands.
The understanding of Chakras manifests in Hirokoa religions, which are all variations of personified animism. For example, Hirokoa will refer to Father Wind or Mother Rain when speaking of the elements. The seven energies – which Hirokoa call medicine – are similarly represented by animal spirits or totems. The Crown Medicine forces are carried by Turtle; Third Eye Medicine energy is from Firefly; Throat Medicine appears as Frog and Heart Medicine as Eagle; Snake holds the energy of Solar Plexus Medicine and Salmon that of Sacral Medicine; and the most sacred animal spirit is Bison, the avatar of Root Medicine. Most Hirokoa engage in ritual and prayer knowing that these totems are merely metaphors for the natural and energetic worlds, but the existence of the seven sources of energy within each person is accepted.
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