Partition of The Oan Isles

[The_Oan_Isles]

“Watch the clouds Mauia. They wax and wane and rise and fall and come and go and move and stop. This is the nature of the universe and all the things that exist within it. Love and hatred, light and darkness, pride and humility and weakness and strength, move from one place to the other, from one class to the other, from one people to the other. You see there?”

“What father?”

“The Oatunu. They pray to their God, eat their food, have their things, that are different from us even though we live in the same country, follow and are subject to the same laws and have the same ancestry. We are not like them. We can never be like them. We can tolerate each other. We can talk to each other. We can eat with each other, but be vigilant. They are not your people. They know that. Their wealth is horded up for themselves. They rule this nation - and us - for themselves. They will decide your dreams and your place. Just like the clouds they will be moved out of our land. Do you understand that?”

“Yes papa”.

“Good. You must be the wind that moves them out”.

[The_Oan_Isles]

A decade later Mauia Uweleye was a young preparing to go to varsity for a long time. After living in the tiny Konoan village of Tamatinoatawawiyaeni on the island of Paradise in Harmony Province for his entire life, the city of La Rochelle was staggering. The people were focused, affluent, formidable and fast. He struggled to get from point A to B without being shoved or pushed. His train finally arrived at the Teatatamanile Campus of the renowned university of La Rochelle. It was a sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of the great city. It was like a village of knowledge, buildings dotted in between massive and elegant gardens.

His father had shaped his view of the Oatunu (Oans in Codexian) for a very long time. He had provided Mauia with a small keyhole through which to experience and judge the supposedly self-righteous Oan people. Although the city was full of them, he had never really experienced or been around them long enough to know what they were really like. The university would provide that opportunity, an opportunity he dreaded.

He had expected the worst. Oans had always been portrayed as the oppressors of his people: full of spite and iniquity. In response he disdained them. He struggled to peal through their warm smiles and courteous bows as he walked past them. He struggled to discern whether it was a facade or whether they were genuinely nice people.

He knew that the real litmus test would be his encounter his roommate. She was Alia Toaye, the daughter of a rich cocoa baron, Tamatea Toaye. He had already formed an idea about her, a bad one, because not only was she Oan, but she was rich. He expected a pompous, self-righteous rich kid, who would probably expected him to kiss her feet, he mused.

He knocked, opened the door and went inside. She was reading a book and listening to music on her earphones. When he walked in, she smiled, and greeted. He grunted a “hello”. He went to his room and unpacked his belongings. She knocked and said, “Hi. My name is…”

He interrupted, “Alia Toaye the daughter of the great Tamatea Toaye”.

“Have we met?”

“Only by reputation”.

“Good things, I hope”.

“Somewhat”.

“I’m glad you get to meet the real me”.

“Doubt it”.

“Well, now that you have met the real Alia Toaye, what do you think?”

“Meh”.

“Okay, I can see you want to be by yourself”.

“Yeah”.

“Kay, um, bye”.

“Rude!”, she whispered to herself as she walked back to the living room. Mauia sat on his own and read a book. After some time he heard Alia and two other masculine voices laughing. She knocked ok his door, opening it slightly.

She said, “A couple friends o’ mine are here. Wanna join us?”

“Nah, thanks”.

“Well, if you do, we’re having a fruit cook-out. We’d enjoy it if you joined us”.

She closed the door and left. He wanted to join them especially since fruit was hard to come by in La Rochelle. He eventually acquiesced to her request and joined them in the living room. Her friends, Iohane and Sana, stood up and introduced themselves. He was unable to distinguish people of different clans and classes so it was difficult for him to decide which gesture or greeting was appropriate. This made the situation awkward. Alia lightened the mood by offering Mauia some of the fruits she had prepared.

Mauia was impressed by her selection. Fruit was an expensive commodity in the city of La Rochelle. Although basic foodstuffs were affordable and easily accessible, the tropical exotic fruits she offered him, were not. Star fruit and passion fruit garnished with chilli and salt, pineapple and green mango sorbet dessert, a delicacy in the Oan Isles. It was clear that she was rich. Although the fruits were common in Konoa, they were expensive and luxuries in the Oan Isles.

“We have this all the time in Konoa”, he says.

“That’s really cool. Meanwhile we are struggling to find good food”, Sana said.

Alia concurred, “Even fish is a little problematic these days. When I go to Konoa everything is different. The food is just amazing and it’s a lot more green”.

“There’s something about Konoa you like?”

“Yeah, of course Mauia. It’s a lovely place, I’m sure you must have liked living there”.

“I did. It was fun; a lot different from the actual Oan Isles. The people aren’t as rich though”.

“Whaddya mean?”, Iohane asked.

“I mean, people don’t earn as much money or work in fancy jobs like you guys do, or even get the chance to”.

“But at least you live in a beautiful country”.

“It’s not enough though. I’m one of the few people in my family who went to university, not my mom, not my dad, not my granparents, just me, my sister, and a cousin”.

“Well varsity isn’t for everyone”, Alia said.

“Why shouldn’t it be? So you Oans can get all the fancy jobs?”

Alia, Sana and Iohane looked at him in shock.

“Mauia, do you think that someone just went out of their way to limit the Konoan people?”

“Yes!”

“Have you travelled before, overseas I mean”, Alia asked.

“No.”

"Did you know that in South Hills, it’s almost impossible to find work without a university degree?

“Really?”

"Yeah. Here, we dont have that problem. For all the status that varsity has, is it something we want to be forced to live with? In the Oan Isles, you can be a mechanic without going to a university.

“Yeah, but, but, that means that the Oan people get all the resources and leave people in Konoa, and the territories poor”.

“Really now”, Iohane asked. " I assume you’ve never been to Bielarus".

“No”.

“It’s the poorest country in Aurora. I went there as a part of a mission by Oanaid to give the people food, shelter and other supplies. The people lined up behind our truck. Their clothes were torn, they were dirty, sickly and thin. One woman’s child was sick, but she could barely afford transport to go to hospital, let alone the medicine and the doctor’s fee”.

“I didn’t know that”.

“We have free housing, free food, free medical care, free education, free water, things that people are begging for in other countries. Have you ever gone to sleep hungry?”

“No, never”.

“Yeah. I thought so. Our country may have flaws, but there’s a lot worse going on elsewhere”.

They sat in silence. When they finished eating, her friends stood up and bowed to her and she nodded in acknowledgement. She embraced them and they touched her hand on their foreheads and left.

Mauia started walking to his room and Alia said, “Mauia, don’t let whatever bad experiences you’ve had cloud your judgement”.

[The_Oan_Isles]

Mauia was having a head rush. His mind and body were adjusting to the events that happened. He was trying to bridge the gap between what he was taught and what he encountered. It was difficult to accept the possibility that the people that he had disdained for so long were not as bad as he had thought. The words “maybe” and “perhaps” floated around in his mind, but there was enough doubt to stop them from turning into a definitive opinion.

He had a lot to think about, but that would have to wait. Education was the reason he came and it would be reason he defied the challenges that life threw at him. His education would be the wings with which he soared and the platform from which he launched.

Languages. He was fascinated by languages. He studied how words transformed and gained or lost coherence depending on the context and arrangement. Unfortunately he did not have the opportunity to apprentice under a linguist during high school. He chose to apprentice under a blacksmith. Although he was adept at handling the forge, he was equally (if not better able) to forge words. After his exchange with Alia and her friends, he lost all of his words, approaching each syllable with trepidation.

He was able to speak Unonian, Codexian, Oan and Wayanalanu - languages from opposite ends of the language spectrum. There was a commonality in how they were written, even though their scripts were different. Sound. Each symbol represented a sound or change of sound. That was the basis on which we spoke and the basis of what we read. But could language be approached, understood and effectively used without ever having known sound? It was a mystery, a mystery that filled his textbooks, notes and question - a mystery he would need answer for tomorrow’s test.

As these ideas swirled in his head, he bumped into the cleaning lady, Sonatasulo or Mama Sona, as the students affectionately called her. The others saw an amicable older lady, but he saw a grandmother telling stories by the fire or scolding the children. There was a certain immaterial, but powerful and discernible bond between people of the same origins. This bond only existed with himself and his people. He guarded it jealously and allowed it to prejudice his opinion or create bias for them.

He apologised for knocking her bucket over and helped her clean up. She was grateful for his help. They parted ways. They saw each other every so often and as they continued doing so he came to confide in her and seek her wisdom. Eventually he came to express his disdain of the Oan Clan System, expecting to find sympathy in her ear. None was forthcoming.

Instead she asked, *"Look at this school. Is it not beautiful?

“Yes. I guess it is”.

“Is the drinking fountain not clean?”

“Yes. It is”.

“Is the floor not clean?”

“Yes. It is”.

“Is the wood on the furniture not polished?”

“Yes. It is”.

“Does it not bring you pleasure to study in a school that is clean?”

“Yes. It does”.

“Do you think that this school is maintained so well of its own accord?”

“No. I don’t”.

“That is right! It needs hands, diligence and dedication”.

“I see”.

“You see, my child. The Oan Clan System accounts for everyone. Everyone! It accounts for every vagabond and villain, for every businessman and every baron. It takes stock of everyone and everything, great and small, and gives value to eveything. It gives dignity to every small thing. Every act, profession and person has a place and a person. Every person has a purpose and a plan. Every person affects others in some small or large way. It is not the measure of the effect that is great. It is the fact that there is an effect at all! Even though you see me as a simple cleaner, doing little and amounting to little, these Oan children that you dislike so much don’t see me that way”.

“I don’t”.

“You do! You see an old women scrubbing floors and think, ‘How pathetic! She has been robbed! She has been left to do the bad work! This is because she is Konoan’. These Oan children see a woman who beautifies and edifies. That is why they hold me in high regard and lift me up. This so-called Oan Clan System gives everyone a place. We may not all agree with our place. There may be flaws and errors. What can man do that is not flawed? But each place has value”.

“I’ve never thought about it like that before”.

“My child, you are young. You will learn many things. Even though the Oan Clan System gives power to the rich, who have not earned it, it has merit. May I tell you the secret of my old age and good health?”

“What is that?”

“Always look for light, for even when you are in darkness you shall not be blind because the light shall dwell within you”.*

[The_Oan_Isles]

After three years of rigorous study, Mauia Uweleye left the hallowed halls of the La Rochelle university victorious, distinguished in his own right. He had attained a Bachelor of Letters degree in Languages. He worked for the Polynesian Language and Culture Institution. Although he held on firmly to his belief of the liberation of the Konoan people and his disdain of the Oan Clan System, his politicisation and hatred were significantly diluted. He was no longer the same child who believed that life was in black and white. He understood that - in the words of the South Hill songstress Regina Belle - “there’s so much more in between”. He understood that it was better to Weiterleitungshinweis. His new passion was to pass on his skills and knowledge of languages and how they come to unite rather than divide people. His pursuit of knowledge allowed him to advance his studies in languages and he was awarded a Master’s degree for his paper on how contemporary circumstances, tastes and flaws can politicise languages. A bigger platform to teach was availed to him: the lecture rooms in which he, himself, had once sat as an eager young(er) student.

On this particular day, he was discussing the paradox that Codexian posed i.e. was it a Romantic or Germanic language?. He was discussing the two major schools of thought on the origin of Codexian.

“Did the Morstic languages (Staynish etc.) evolved first and encounter the Atlantic languages (namely Latin) to create Codexian? Did the Paxo-Veikayun languages (Arabic and Unonian) evolve first, spread what today makes up the Free Pacific States to from the so-called Germanic branch from which Codexian was spawned? The history of the East Pacific was murky at best. Did the vulpine in Veikayu and felines in Packilvania develop language and pass it on to the recently evolving humans who supposedly originated from Arcturia, who eventually moved to what today forms FPS and spread to Atlantia and Aurora. How did the four extant branches of the Romantic languages (the Latin, Leganic, Iasathic and Fortuno-Axdelic branches), come about? How does Codexian, and other Codexic languages, relate with them. Can the current definition and division of the language families be authoritarive and if not has all study of the origin of Codexian been rendered null and void - and by extension the study of the origin of language?”

Ring, ring went the bell! His head was spinning. A friend popped by for a visit.
“Oaloanu! The one thing I hate most about linguistics is how one question leads to a million more. In this vast world there are few answers for any of them”

“It seems so. Shan’t you be in the Tunamositaeni Parlour?”

“I wish. I need to mark tests and assessments”.

“Have you thought about my proposal?”

“To join your club? I would accept it if you told me what it was about”.

“I already told you. It’s the Order of Heaven”.

“That’s all you said. Not much else. I did a bit of research. In the deep underbelly of the conspiracy theory world, apparently there’s an organisation called the Order of Heaven that runs all of Polynesia from the shadows. That can’t possibly be what your talking about. Right?”

From the grave expression on Oaloanu’s face, his greatest fear was confirmed.

[The_Oan_Isles]

The people of the Oan Isles regarded their capital, La Rochelle as a jewel. Its tall skyscrapers radiated light that filled the sky and illuminated the darkness. It was the centerpiece of a crown of political and economic power. It was regarded as the most important of the major cities of the Oan Isles and by extension Polynesia and the south Pacific as a whole. Although shaken by Urthquakes and storms, it remained unmoved. After every knock that nature presented, it rebuilt and edified itself - more beautiful. Futuristic buildings pierced the sky. Metal, concrete and glass were bent and stretched in the most fantastic features of post modern architecture. People were fascinated by the aesthetic and engineering prowess of this global city.

It was the older buildings that housed the true power of the nation and gave small but powerful glimpses into the world of the wealthy. Styles broadly classified into the three Polynesian styles: Late, Middle and Early, adorned buildings that were repositories of intellectual and monetary treasures. The ancient palaces and villas were nestled within lush gardens of dense trees and foliage that were reminiscent of the great forests that once covered the Oan Isles. Saddle roofs thatched with grass, wooden and stone walls carved with tantalising symbols and figures of animals and spiritual beings told stories and held secrets that were old and deep.

Mauia Uweleye, having accepted Prince Oaloanu’s invitation to the Tomaoaeni Palace, was contemplating the mastery over stone and wood that prevailed in Oan traditional architecture over the metal, concrete and glass of the new pan global style. He was trying to keep his mind from the events that would unfold.

Although Prince Oaloanu was his peer, today he would be master. He would oversee the long, arduous and complex process of preparing Mauia for entry into the Order of Heaven. He was an anomaly among its members. Unlike the vast majority of them, he was a common man. The Order was a secret club for incalculably rich men who made decisions behind the scenes. They held the strings that controlled politicians and moved economic and social events.

Mauia finally got to the palace, nestled in the deep forestry. Mauia had travelled in style. A private limousine had ferried him from his humble townhouse through private roads that were used by the great and rich alone had the privilege to use. They were like secret passageways connecting mansions and palaces and secret places known to a few.

When he arrived at fhe palace. He was taken aback. Unlike western palaces, it was a complex of buildings linked by arcades and colonnades. They were intricately decorated with friezes of heroes and villains, rulers and subjects, allegorised as macaws, dragons and other terrifying things. It was sublime.
He was escorted by the guards. They were large, even by Oan standards; they were massive, covered in moko tattoos from head to toe, wearing kiwi mantles and loin-cloth-like skirts and holding terrifying weapons.

When he reached a quiet part of the palace, he met his host, whose dress and markings suggested the beginning of an ancient and mystical journey, one that provided few answers an an abundance of questions. It was also the beginning of his propulsion to power; to sit among the great as an equal.

[The_Oan_Isles]

Mauia’s rise through the Order of Heaven was surprisingly fast. He knew that although he had merits of his own, being Oaloanu’s closest friend was the wood that fueled the fire. He had expected the Order to be full of frightening meetings about mind control and mass hypnosis and other such absurb ideas. The Order had secrets, many of them. Ironically it was a brotherhood of enlightened people who protected deeper truths. Like the Freemasons, it was villified. It ascribed to beliefs and had access to knowledge that amazed the common man and threatened the establishment. It was cloaked in mystery, but had made itself public through symbols that many people forgot such as the Unfinished Pyramid of Palamanuwohe Palace, the seat of the National Assembly.

The people were right, however, in one way. The Order shaped the Polynesias in remarkable ways and its hand was present in many ways, not nearly as malevolent as its critics speculated. Though the Order, Ese Ulua and his son Oaloanu Ulua, mononymously known as Oaloanu, hoped to make the most stunning change of all: redraw the borders of Polynesia.

Oaloanu explained: “Our country [The Oan Isles] is vast and diverse. Our people have different views and needs, yet we have a common core, together with the people of the Asian Pacific Islands and the Procyon nations. We believe that the individual exists for and through the whole, that ones existence transcends individual needs and beliefs. Our identity is defined by our people. This ideal has been villified and contorted by the New Agists, the Modernists and the Progessives, who have done more to demolish progress than the so called Anachronists and Conservatives. We are our people and our people are us. We should be free live freely with our people, not forced to dilute our beliefs or compromise on our practices, just not to offend others. We are our people not our country. Our view of borders is that they are mercurial. Whereas the Aurorans draw their borders in sand, we draw them in water. We can move them as we need to; changing naturally and unhurriedly. The time is coming when we will shift the borders and reassert the power of the people over the country”

[The_Oan_Isles]

Mauia had been a member of the Order of Heaven for a decade. He was also a journalist for the Critic Online Newspaper and occasionally wrote and edited articles for other publications, most notably The La Rochelle Times.

He was blunt in his writing. He wrote scathing articles that criticised the Oan government. He was refreshing. Having been accustomed to the politeness with which journalists approached political and social issues, a man who was willing to insult the Defender himself was refreshing. The people naturally gravitated towards him and he had a large following.

He joined the Konoa People’s Party. He was propelled through its ranks until he became its leader in 2015. Ironically, he remained away from politics, and instead chose to govern from the shadows and lead through the Press. He naturally used his influential votes to shed light on issues affecting Konoans, with the aim of fomenting disdain for the current political arrangements and precipitate Konoan independence.

When the wars in Yor and Aurora broke out and relations broke down with Stratarin, the road to independence was shortened. Mauia Uweleye campaigned throughout Konoa, establishing himself as a leading figure and the voice of the Konoan people. After two years of talking and rallying, Oaloanu called him one night and simply said, “It’s time”.

The Konoan People’s Party began exploring the subject of independence. Although it was a hard one to digest, over time more people began consuming it. In a move of tactical genius, Konoan independence was portrayed as a part of a bigger movement around the idea of Polynesian identity. With Konoan independence being seeing within the context of a unified civilisation, independence began to seem like the ability to direct the Konoan future rather than removing ties with The Oan Isles.

The same ideas were proliferated in The Oan Pacific and Gondwana Territories. Having never been fully incorporated into The Oan Isles, they had a more distant relationship with La Rochelle. They were never truly part of the country. It was not difficult to incline people towards the idea of independence.

With all the pieces set, an opening was needed to put the wheels into motion.