 Ainu, creating an Ainu based character |
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 Aug 22 2004, 05:30 AM
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#1
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Target  Group: Members Posts: 5 Joined: 7-August 04 From: Georgia Member No.: 6,548  |
Hello!
I was wondering if there was any SR info on the Ainu people, and how the effects of the returning magic affected them? Being an aboriginal culture similar to the Native American,(i.e. the Great Ghost Dance type of magic) I am curious if anything has been done on how it might effect their relationships with the Japanese? I think a character based on the Ainu would be very interesting. Especially say for a shaman...Comments? |
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Aug 22 2004, 07:33 PM
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#2
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Beetle Eater Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 4,797 Joined: 3-June 02 From: Oblivion City Member No.: 2,826 |
Nothing I can recall from the very limited information we have about Japan. The rise of the Japanese military and its dominance over large area like the Philippines suggests they would have crushed any resurgence of the Ainu mercilessly, but I could see some groups remaining hidden, keeping their identity secret, and trying to rebuild a Ainu society. Ainu totems may also call out to those who have lost their heritage, which might be interesting as a character conflicted by the calling and life in 2060 Japan.
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Aug 22 2004, 09:52 PM
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#3
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 118 Joined: 20-June 04 Member No.: 6,423 |
That's one theory. I prefer using the puppet nation of the Ainu Moshiri Republic, or the Hokkaido Republic if you will, from Fatcat's JIS Project page.
Hokkaido has always been somewhat of a frontier area of Japan, as it's the largest prefecture in Japan but least densely populated. It's the homeland of the Ainu and has been the site of a seperatist movement during the Meiji when Tokagawa loyalists proclaimed the island's independence as the Republic of Ezo. According to the JIS Project, Ainu and the other decendents of the Emishi, inspired by the Great Ghost Dance and the NAN, form an independence movement, fight JIS counterinsurgency forces in what is called the Donan War 2021-2022, and succed in seperating from the JIS. The JIS is too busy in the Phillipines to reinforce, so the JIS ends up negotiating with the Hokkaido Republic. The Hokkaido Republic establishes normal trade relations with the JIS through the Snow Star Corporation, who handle argiculture and the armed fishing fleets that scour the Okhotsk and the Aleutian seas. The Hokkaido Republic, backed by the JIS (and this is were I call them a puppet nation), also invade the Sakahlin islands and fight a border skirmish with the Russians in the Karafuto War. The Sakahlin islands evenutally are divided in half and maintained like Berlin following WW2. Ainu Shamans would be relatively easy to run. They tend to trend toward animal and nature totems. Remember, Ainu men have animal names and Ainu women have elemental names. |
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Aug 22 2004, 10:18 PM
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#4
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Target Group: Members Posts: 5 Joined: 7-August 04 From: Georgia Member No.: 6,548 |
wow thats cool ty for the info!!
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Aug 23 2004, 07:36 PM
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#5
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 112 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Württemberg, AGS Member No.: 2,068 |
Personally I think that's highly unlikely. Japan as an island and nation hasn't been separated for over thousand years, and I can't imagine any conservative government giving up such an unity that easily. Even Okinawa, that hasn't been part of Japan as long as Hokkaido (IIRC), is fiercely defended from any claim of independence. The numbers of the Ainu are dwindling even today, and their culture almost lost (I don't remember if their language is even still known today, especially since it's a spoken language only). I'm not sure if that's enough to start a successful uprising (even with pulling off a trick like the Great Ghost Dance, which would have been mentioned in canon material if something similar had happened anywhere else on the world). Nonetheless I also think that at least some remainder of Ainu culture will persist until 2060, even though in small quantities. Shadows of Asia will tell the truth... |
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Aug 23 2004, 10:20 PM
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#6
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Deus Absconditus Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,742 Joined: 1-September 03 From: Downtown Seattle, UCAS Member No.: 5,566 |
If you accept the idea that Japan hasn't been 'separated as an island and nation' for over 1000 years, you're buying the Japanese party line, which has had a vested interest in portraying a particular national identity since the Meiji Revolution. Admittedly, this is changing is scholarly circles (and has been since the 1950s), but the NDP is still firmly committed to the idea of saying Japan has remained unified and unbroken as a nation since the Kamakura period. Which is true on one hand - the idea of the imperial nation-state 'Japan' was mostly codified in just post-Heian Japan - but by another standard, it's totally false. The vast majority of what we now call 'Japan' was taken and held during the Imperialist efforts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hokkaido was taken very early during this period, Okinawa and the Ryukyus later - yet not so much later as to say that Okinawa's been part of any kind of Japanese nation appreciably longer. Hell, until the Edo period, even Kyushu had regular rebellions that had to be messily put down. While I think you're right that the JIS would never give up so easily to what they'd consider upstart rebels, bear in mind that the Japanese 'nation' as it exists today has existed for an extremely small period of time; prior to the Edo period, the nation was quite often in flux, with regards to borders. Even if a given Emperor or Shogun saw fit to retake a rebellious prefecture, a number of times those prefectures had been free of imperial control for a number of years, which is what I'd count as a country in flux. |
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Aug 24 2004, 04:12 AM
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#7
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 112 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Württemberg, AGS Member No.: 2,068 |
I meant "one" nation mostly in terms of having no rival nations around your immediate borders. Hokkaido and Okinawa were just the growing ends of an expanding Japanese nation (even if it came late). Of course this unity was often disturbed, i.e. by the Sengoku wars - but as we agree, most Japanese see their country as being united for over thousand years (after all this depends of the Japanese' opinion about their unity, not mine ;)). Therefore, and because of the conservative government, I think Hokkaido's separation wouldn't be accepted by the Japanese people and government that easily - I don't know much about their business with the Philipines at that time, but I don't think they'd give up Hokkaido simply for that.
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