The world is filled with creatures, sea monsters and gods, but in their midst, the Humans make their realms and empires. Some small, some large, they spread wide and far, the humans have been Tangaroa's greatest creation. Small, resilient, and incredibly intelligent, but they have also been some of the gods' undoing. As these creatures developed, grew and thundered forward in their boats, many grew jealous of the gods and some, soon, sought the powers of the gods, it was at that moment that Tangaroa was sorry he gave them an insatiable hunger for power, mimicking like his cousin, brother and sister gods.
Humans, however, are not the only sentient races that inhabit the world. While less successful, the dense forests of some of the islands are filled Patupaiarehe, spirit beings, sometimes hostile to humans. The man and Woman are no taller than 50 cm tall. Ethereal flute music and singing sometimes reveals their presence. Despite seeming idyllic, the Patupaiarehe are warlike and bloodthirsty creatures, living in smaller tribes, less technologically advanced by humans but wielding arcane magic and frequently used as assassins due to their knowledge and connection to the forest. They rarely have great empires, but when one arises it is a power to be reckoned with.
The other big sentient race are the taniwha, the massive lone serpentine, dragon-like , crocodile-like, and megalania - like creatures that live in deep pools in rivers, dark caves, or in the sea, especially in places with dangerous currents or deceptive breakers. This race is ancient, intelligent, but also incredibly lonesome, they never travel together or in packs, they rarely form bonds and those that do rarely spend more then a decade or two with the group they are bonded to. In ages past they were worshiped by humans, but nowadays they are accepted as part of life and while some nations still use them in combat and as valuable allies, others look upon them with distrust.
As mentioned, while the setting is Polynesian inspired, the nations are not necessarily such. So any culture you can think of is fine, you want to make a ancient egypt inspired civilization, that's fair game. Obviously, be creative, I will give priority to good stuff to players who are creative with their nations, and make fun cultures with fascinating stories.
Also, when you are sending me a PM with the nation, you are just pitching the nation, so a paragraph is the limit! You will be free to develop it more once i've created the world and you've started. I encourage players to send me two or three nations, so that I can distribute claims. I also want three good things about your nation and three massive flaws, and I don't mean "we are just too good so everyone hates us", I mean obvious social, historical or whatever flaws that may eventually bring and end to your empire.
I am not opposed to players talking about it, but to avoid speculation, I want y'all to send your shit to me only and do it secretively.
