The Symbol of the Nacaal Tribe
The Nacaal Tribe of Shili is the first and oldest In Character group for Togruta on Second Life. They are currently led by Tribal Matron Nasaji Oba.
History[]
The Founding(Pre-Republic Era)[]
Prelude To War[]
The Nacaal have a legend of how they came to be. Untold thousands of years before the Togruta went to the stars, there was the Abayeshta Tribe...one of many tribes that lived in the Great Equatorial Rainforest Region. They were led by a Togruta Warlord named Kulka Singh. He had risen to leadership of the Abayeshta with the help of his right-hand man, Vashtar Nacaal. All was happy for a time and Kulka and Vashtar were good friends. Almost like brothers. But in time, tension developed between the two. Kulka was ambitious and sought to rule over all the other tribes of the region even if it meant war and bloodshed. Vashtar councilled his friend time and again against this course of action and the two friends often quarrelled. Too make matters even more tense, Vashtar had started to develop romantic feelings for a Togruta woman named Saaria Kukirinen...Kulka's love interest. It was not lost on Kulka how Saaria and Vashtar looked at each other. Though Vashtar had no intention of acting on his feelings and betraying his old friend, Kulka started to assume the worst and that Saaria would lose her maidenhood to Vashtar before he could marry her. When Saaria also started criticising Kulka's plans to dominate the Great Rainforest, Kulka's jealousy intensified and his friendship with Vashtar turned into a secret hatred. He swore to have Vashtar removed permanently. He made his plans with some of his other henchmen...
One day, Kulka and his lieutenants called Vashtar to hunt with them in Naaresh Canyon, several hours from the main village. After arriving at the canyon, Kulka and his men surrounded Vashtar and drew their weapons to attack Vashtar. Vashtar broke through the ring of Abayeshta Tribesmen and escaped themand escaped into the jungle but was badly wounded. Kulka gave Vashtar up for dead, knowing full well that hungry akuls can smell blood.
Vashtar's discovery[]
In pain from his wounds, Vashtar made his way through Naaresh Canyon when his echolocation picked up movement. He knew he was being tracked by a fierce akul. He pulled an herbal concotion from one of his pouches and sprinkled it across the trail behind him to confuse the akul's sense of smell but knew this would not throw the beast off the trail for long. He had to find someplace secure to rest because the sun was going down. He plodded on in desperation until he discovered some incredibly ancient stone ruins. Entering them, he explored the passageways until he heard the roar of the akul that had been tracking him. He raced through the maze of passages at last coming to a small oubliette and climbed down it quickly into a dark lower level. Vashtar lit his torch and looked up. The growling akul had stuck it's head down the oublitte but could not fit it's large body through the tiny opening. Vashtar finally had time to bind his wounds and then went off in the darkness hoping to find water and maybe some small game. After a while, Vashtar heard something very strange...other Togruta talking. But he didn't hear it with his ears, he heard it in his mind. He continued until he found a number of mummified Togruta in burial shrouds with the belongings they had been entombed with. Among those belonging were knives, swords, pottery, bows, arrows, and...a strange red stone that seemed to almost glow faintly from within. The stone seemed to be the scource of the voices in his mind calling to him. He touched it and it was warm. Almost seeming alive. As he gazed into the artifact, he was filled with ancient visions. Visions of Togruta hunting, dancing naked around bonfires, making love, giving birth, gathering for festivals, and a rush of other scenes from the distant past when his kind were still a young species. He felt himself seeing all this through they eyes of those who lived it so long ago. It whispered secrets to him. Told him what he needed to do. Vashtar tore himself away from the artifact and took for himself a bow, a quiver of arrows, and a fine sword of ancient workmanship. to thank those who were entombed among him, he cut his palm with his knife and shed some blood on the ground as an offering.
Vashtar waited until morning to kill the akul in the ancient ruin. He went to the oubliette and whistled. The akul came running and thrust his snarling head into the top of the oubliette.Vashtar took aim with the bow and shot an arrow straight through the akul's mouth and out the top of it's skull. He spent the rest of the day field dressing the beast and making a headdress out of it's teeth. Later, he went back to the burial chamber and retrieved the red polished stone artifact.He spent another season in the Naaresh Canyon among the dangerous wildlife, healing himself, getting stronger, and preparing for war.
The Rainforest War[]
During Vashtar's stay in Naaresh Canyon, Kulka's warriors had begun their campaign of conquest and sorrow against the other tribes with the Sureshti and Nel-oca'ssrim taking the brunt of the Abayeshta fury. Saaria and even some of Kulka's own warriors grew distant to him and dissatisfied with the war. This only made him more hateful and filled with bloodlust. He came to be known as "Kulka the Bloody" for his habit of having his enemies publicly executed in the most horrific ways possible.
Then a lone warrior who liked to smear his Togruta eye patches with ashes began stalking and killing Abayeshta warriors. Some whispered that the mysterious fighter was the avenging ghost of Vashtar Nacaal. Kulka dismissed the rumors and sent some of his best men to hunt down the stranger. But one night, an arrow with a note tied to it was fired into Kulka's stronghold. It simply read, "I have returned." And it was signed by none other than Vashtar Nacaal.
Tribal War[]
Some of the men sent to hunt down Vashtar weren't as loyal to Kulka as he thought. Some had been Vashtar's friends before Kulka's war. A number of them hunted him down only to offer their services to him, eager to end the bloodshed. Vashtar told his new confidantes, "Go and find others of the Abayeshta who are weary of this war. Tell them that together we shall form a new tribe. We shall end Kulka's reign of terror." They complied and on the next Hunter's Moon Celebration, the disaffected Abayeshta met with Vashtar and held a ceremony pledging themselves to Vashtar's new tribe...The Nacaal Tribe. Among them was Saaria, who had slipped away from Kulka's sight in secret. After the dedication ceremony, Vashtar and Saaria were wed in a small moonlight ritual by one of the shaman who had joined the Vashtar's tribe. The next morning Vashtar sent emmissaries to the other tribes of the Great Rainforest asking for an alliance. The Sureshti and Nel-oca'ssrim were the first to answer, quickly followed by the Iwasato, Haaran, Seda, and others. They began a campaign of guerilla warfare against the Abayeshta, slowly but surely whittling them down and then quickly fading back into the trees. All the while, Vashtar Nacaal took counsel from the strange stone he had retrieved from the tombs, letting it inform him of where and when to strike. One of the tribal coalition's biggest successes was the capture of Kulka's nephew and heir apparent to the Abayeshta Tribe, Paashtim Singh. This action would lead to the Battle of Ghaan's Maw in the Vadehka Valley and the end of the war.
The Battle of Ghaan's Maw[]
After Paashtim Singh's capture, Kulka flew into a rage and vowed to get his nephew back. Vashtar leaked information on the errant Paashtim's whereabouts in the cave system called Ghaan's Maw, allowing Kulka to think he'd made a "discovery" and that the Vadekha Valley was lightly defended. Nothing could have been further from the truth as the tribal coalition had laid many pit traps, dead falls, trip wires, and other traps in the valley along the routes Kulka's force was likely to take and even a few possible side routes. Kulkka's army had been greatly depleted trying to get Paashtim back from the Nacaal and then the rest of the tribal coalition who had been waiting in reserve came out of the forst at the proper signal-a horn blown by Saaria. At the climax of the fighting, Vashtar and Kulka came face to face. Vashtar taunted Kulka and demanded his surrender but Kulka was so enraged that he attacked Vashtar with his spear. The two fought with their spears until their weapons broke against each other and continued their duel with swords. As the blades flashed furiously, Kulka made a miscalculation and was impaled by Vashtar's sword. Vashtar then pulled his sword out of Kulka and quickly did a reverse spin with the weapon, severing the surprised looking Kulka's head from his body. Many of the abayeshta tried to retreat at that point, realizing the battle was lost. Many were captured or killed during the retreat.
Aftermath[]
Vashtar took Kulka's severed head into the gave and showed it to young Paashtim Singh and said, "You know, we've already prepared a peace treaty. Since you're now the Chieftain of the Abayeshtas, I suggest you order your forces to surrender and then sign it." Paashtim understood the gravity of his situation and quickly agreed. The war ended, Paashtim agreed to pay reparations to the other tribes for ten years in the form of allowing them to hunt on a section of Abayeshta land. He was also required to to marry Navresha, a niece of the Nel-ocassrim tribe. As a final condition, he gave his second cousin Daarise Singh over for marriage to one of Vashtar's subchieftains, Rhan Oba.
Things were quiet again for the Nacaal Tribe for several centuries.
Controversy?[]
And that is the version of events as the Nacaal see it. But the Abayeshta's own writings conflict with those of the Nacaal. According to their version of events Vashtar was a brigand, a terrorist, and an extortionist. They also believe that Saaria was married to Kulka at the time of her defection and carrying Kulka's child. This still causes tension between the two tribes to this very day but the Nacaal cling to their side of events while most of the other tribes have largely forgotten the Great Rainforest War except for a few historians.
Old Republic Era[]
Sethek Kaa[]
The Nacaal were largely quiet during this time period except for an incident where a Nacaal tribesman turned Jedi named Sethek Kaa turned to the Dark Side during a mission to Iridonia in c.3942 BBY. He managed to retrun to the Nacaal city of Darshanna and steal the only surviving original copy of the Nacaal Tribal Holy Scriptures, rumored to contain a prophecy of great magnitude in the apocrypha. The scriptures would remain lost until 220 ABY until Nasaji Oba hired a mysterious Amaran agent to track them down and retrieve them. So far, Nasaji has not publically discussed what was on the scrolls.
Yoda[]
Around 800 BBY, a dispute between the Torukai and Ishtani tribes over some the rights to a Togruta burial ground threatened to plunge Shili into civil war as the other tribes started involving themselves and picking sides. The Vashee Dynasty made an appeal to help from the Jedi Order to mediate the dispute. Instead of sending a Togruta Jedi Knight, they instead sent a newly Knighted Yoda. The Nacaal Chieftain Kaalim Oba wrote of Yoda:
"I saw this strange little green being get off the shuttle. Like the others, I assumed he was some sort of hired servant of the Jedi Knight who was supposed to keep us from civil war. You know...somebody to shine the Jedi's boots and cook his meals. And like the others, I laughed when Yoda informed us that he himself was not an aide but an actual Jedi Knight sent on the mission. The Ishtani Chieftain Braaka Khensu sarcastically said to him, 'oh, I'm sure you're going to be of much help...little fella'. Yoda replied, 'Think you size matters? Take you in a fight I could...and unarmed would I be. Defeat you I could without even striking you.' Well, Braaka laughed again and then aimed a kick at Yoda which was nimbly and acrobatically dodged. We all backed away in a circle as Braaka tried to punch kick and grab the dimunitive Jedi. And he couldn't hit him! The fight ended when an enraged Braaka charged at Yoda who quickly stepped away allowing Braaka to smash himself against a large stone, knocking himself unconscious. My impression of Yoda quickly started to change. I began to see in him the seeds of greatness."
Yoda faced a lot of opposition from the Torukai and Ishtani and even had to ward off some assassination attempts from the more hot-headed members of both tribes. In the end, Yoda shamed them both by using the Force to tame a fierce akul. He then further shamed them by pointing out how both tribes had ancestors buried in the disputed burial grounds. Thus the hostilities ended and civil war was averted.
Before Yoda departed, he and Kaalim Oba had a brief chat. Yoda told Kaalim that the Naacal would one day start sending members out into the galaxy at large "to play out the role fate had assigned to the the Naccal Tribe."
Rise of the Empire Era[]
During the reign of Palpatine/Darth Sidious, Shili was brutally subjegated by the Galactic Empire. The Nacaal were hit particularly hard when Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader personally paid a visit to the Great Equatorial Rainforest to crush a new tribal coalition opposed to Imperial rule. The Nacaal lost thousands of members to Vader's forces before surrendering at the siege of Darshanni. Vader took their holy relic the Nacaal Destiny Stone back to Coruscant where it was placed in one of Palpatine's vaults. They would not see it again until after the Galactic Empire crumbled and it was returned to them by representatives of the New Republic.
New Republic Era[]
The most notable activity of the Nacaal Tribe during this time occured during the Yuuzhan Vong War after the devastation of Ithor. The Nacaal set up refugee camps in and around Darshanni to take in some of the Ithorians fleeing the destruction until they could be resettled.
Legacy Era[]
Most of the Nacaal scattered just prior to an occupation of Shili by the New Galactic Empire of Darth Krayt. Many of them subsisted as pirates, attacking the shipping lanes of Krayt's Empire under the command of Kheb Tyi, one of the Nacaal Shakaari. The other faction led by Chieftain Takar Oba(grandfather of Nasaji Oba, aided the Galactic Alliance Remnant in their campaign against Krayt's forces. This effectively split the tribe in two as Kheb Tyi claimed he had spent more time leading his faction than the absent Takar Oba and that he should be a chieftain in his own right. After the fall of Krayt's Empire, Tyi and Oba were on the verge of war over the issue until Takar's wife Grateysha talked the Chieftain into allowing Tyi to take his followers and start a new tribe, The Tyi Nomadic Tribe.