Occupations, Shaema

Hunter

For most occupants hunting is the main source of food in the Shaema. Some hunters live in towns, going out to hunt for weeks or months at a time, while others lead a solitary life, visiting villages only for trade. Each hunter has his own style of trap making, leaving their signature in form of unique knots. It happens that two hunters know each other for years only by their traps, never seeing each others faces. It is taboo to disturb an other hunters trap, let alone steal his pray, but special circumstances allow it. A hungry individual or a hunter down on his luck is permitted by custom to take someone else's catch, but he is obligated to leave a token gift in its place. A small bag of salt or some string. Coin is considered a lesser gift. Beside traps, an Shaema hunters' equipment consists of a short bow, hunting knife and trident. The short bow is used for hunting tree dwelling animals, birds and some land animals, while the trident is for fish and other smaller water dwellers. Some of the pray include:

beaver - beaver tail soup is a festival tradition

mud ape - its skin is more prized than its meat

crab - Shaema is rich with a large assortment of these, including the aggresive garos crab.

fish - mud fish is easier to catch than river fish, but is more often poisonous or in other ways dangerous.

salamanders - not the tastiest meat but some are sought after for their slimy extract. A live green papua for instance is paid in silver by shammans if brought to them alive. Their extract is a componant used in important shamanic rituals.

frogs - most hunters ignore all but the especially tasty tamu frog. Traders from far away pay good coin for them.

Toads - unedibble. Mostly poisonus.

Shaman

Vivid dreams are the first sign that a child has the potential to be a shaman. His spirit intuitively recognizes the paths between the material and spirit plane and explores them while his consciousness rests. This can be dangerous because the spirit plane is filled with all kinds of spirits whose intentions are often mysterious and sometimes selfish. In Shaema, the stories of these spirits possessing young dream walkers are often told to children, so they know to be careful if dealing with them. Stories of wise dream walkers tricking the spirits into service are much more popular, but are spareingly told in case they inspire young foolish minds. After years of training, a shaman-to-be goes through an initiation ritual in which he travels to the spirit plane. To get there awake he uses special potions and herbs. There he searches for an ally to be his link with the spirit plane, same as he becomes its link to the material plane. Their spirits become twoago'kapous (two in the same egg).