This misrepresentation may now be quietly set aside. A new era has begun, as some Mau extend the hand of friendship to us, and we begin to work together towards a common goal.
Just as our relationship with these brave and trustworthy Mau has changed, so too do we now need to re-evaluate our traditional understanding of Zemurru, and come to a new appreciation of his life.
My special thanks go to Borvo, who is a Mau shaman and a close personal friend.
Oneir, Mau Researcher.
As most heroes are, Zemurru was extraordinary even in the days of his childhood.
While he was playing in the forest with the other Mau children, Zemurru would often attract attention because of his intelligence and strength. He seemed a changeling, a creature unlike the others.
Although he was only a child, he handled all weapons with skill, as if he had practiced with them for years. His eyes, which were bright blue and penetrating, captivated the other Mau. Even the Taiga, fierce and wild, would whimper like the puppies and lie down before him.
As he grew towards maturity, his genius with weapons became more obvious. Everyone in his home village knew about it. Some were afraid; others were jealous. Eventually, he turned his back on his home town. The world was calling, and Zemurru needed to go out and experience it.
Zemurru Awakens
After leaving home without giving any assurance that he would return, Zemurru set out upon the wanderer’s path. In his travels, he encountered many other Mau of various tribes, and formed close friendships with them.
His nomadic life, far from being the mere wanderlust of a footloose adolescent, was eventually to shape his future.
It is a well-attested theory that in Zemurru’s time, the Mau were a dispersed people. They lived in scattered nomadic tribes, having no organized structure or permanent territory. Most of them lived under Balaur dominion as little more than slaves.
Zemurru must have witnessed terrible suffering in his travels, as his proud people groveled under the Balaur’s rule. We can only imagine how he must have clenched his teeth in his anger, knowing that the time to strike was not yet ripe.
When his wanderings finally came to an end, Zemurru had a new purpose. He would fight to unify the tribes of the Mau.
Zemurru Seeks His Own Path to Unity
Zemurru clearly believed that drawing the tribes of the Mau together in a united confederacy was the only way to restore his race’s lost pride and strength. However, there was a long path to walk before this could be achieved.
He began by setting out to win the confidence of other tribes. Acting as a go-between and mediator, he instigated and maintained inter-Mau exchanges and sharing of skills, contributing his own enormous knowledge to the task. His wanderings had left him with knowledge of multiple arts and crafts, all of which he passed on to his people. He taught the secrets of cultivating the Aether plants and domesticating the Taiga. At the same time, he trained Mau warriors in secret, teaching them the arts of combat.
His work eventually bore fruit, with the birth of the Mau Tribal Confederation. This marked a new chapter in Mau history.
We Asmodians might think such a development inconsequential. What difference does it make, in the light of the Asmodian-Elyos War? However, knowing what we do about the characteristics of Mau tribes, we should not diminish Zemurru’s success. It deserves our attention.
The Mau are solitary by nature. They prefer to live alone, or in small nomadic groups. Zemurru’s greatest achievement was to make these individualistic creatures regard themselves as a single collective, united under one flag. The work he must have had to do, to overcome not just the mistrust between tribes but the basic urges of the Mau spirit, would have been unimaginable.
On An Equal Footing With The Balaur
Once the Mau Tribal Confederation was established, Zemurru did what he had lived his life to do. He rose up against the Balaur and defied them.
Some Mau were free nomads, but many of them were still under the Balaur yoke. Zemurru was able to draw some of them to his side. Tales of the blue-eyed wanderer who had united the tribes spread from one slave camp the next, borne by roaming Mau; many slaves were inspired by the stories, and fled en masse in the night, determined to reach their hero’s growing army or die in the attempt.
Zemurru himself had by now come into his full power. His prowess in combat was equal to any of the Balaur, and the personally trained Mau warriors under his command had evolved into the only force that could stand against them.
The Mau under Zemurru’s leadership were no longer mere puppets of the Balaur. They insisted on negotiation rather than submission: Balaur and Mau would now work together, for mutual benefit and on equal terms.
Living With The Skurv
One of Zemurru’s most commonly overlooked achievements was his establishment of cohabitation with the Skurv.
The reader will surely know already that the Skurv live by gathering a plant with medical properties, rich in Aether energy. The Mau people find this plant indispensible.
The Skurv, being physically weak, had struggled for many years to survive upon ginseng gathering alone. They could not put up a proper defense, and were easily exploited by stronger races.
Zemurru convinced both the Mau and Skurv that it was in their best interest to live together in a symbiotic relationship. The Mau would act as defenders, benefiting from the plants harvested by the Skurv. The Mau-Skurv cohabitation arrangement instigated by Zemurru persists to this day, as we see in their villages.
The Star Fades
For many years, the Mau Tribal Confederation prospered under Zemurru’s leadership. The Mau enjoyed not only physical benefits, but found a new sense of pride.
However, prosperity opened the doors to new conflicts. Zemurru’s achievements aroused jealousy in others, just as they had in the days of his childhood, and some of the other Mau chieftains became discontented with him. Some may have had even darker motives; I am personally convinced that several of the Mau tribes joined Zemurru’s cause as fifth columnists, pretending to stand with him against the Balaur, but secretly plotting with their true masters to betray him.
To this day, we do not know whether Zemurru died in combat against the Balaur, or while sleeping alone in his tent.
Whichever version of the story is true, one thing is certain: Zemurru died suddenly. The Mau Tribal Confederation quickly unraveled after his death. The voice that had united the tribes was now silent forever.
