Early the next morning, with nothing better to do, courtesy of Cisse having some things to deal with, Arthur found himself walking around the Fort Kante, taking in the subtle norms of the Asante military.
The night before, after having a lengthy discussion with Cisse concerning the potential reasons for Dinga's decision. Both Arthur and Cisse arrived at the conclusion that the Dinga must have had something planned for the Ntoqua. Depending on what he had planned, the best course of actions can be decided then. Although unsaid, both very much had an idea of what would happen; they just weren't sure the why.
Nonetheless, walking through the base, with the Ntoqua taking place tomorrow, although very peaceful, the atmosphere of the base had a bit of tension to it, and as if to distract themselves from it, the tribe's members were busying themselves with various tasks.
Using this brief moment of downtime, Arthur took his time as he observed the tribe. Although Arthur understood that the Asante didn't look down on their women, especially concerning military matters. He was still pleasantly surprised by the amount of women present.
It should be known that courtesy of paths, most sexual dimorphisms could be ignored. However, that's on a case-by-case basis. For example, most males of most races typically had larger masses than their females, and biologically more mass typically correlates with more strength. Using Terrest's as a basis, their RE, for the most part, rests in the body; the bigger they are, the more RE they can actively store and output. Hence why, most physical tasks, such as combat, are relegated to the men. Of course, such discrepancies have led certain groups that value traits like strength to develop a sex hierarchy or gates to certain things.
This isn't to say that the Asante are blatantly disregarding this fact and sending their women to war. From what Arthur could see, the Asante seemed to operate on a requirement basis. As long as one was qualified, they could be careless if one had three legs or not.
This, in turn, has led to gradients. More men made up the more heavy troops like heavy infantry while more women made up more light troops like archery.
'Exactly how I would do i-'
"You know, if you're just going to be walking around like you have nothing better to do, I might as well make use of you. Come over here." Came a feminine voice from the side of Arthur.
Pausing, Arthur turned his head to find a pair of brown eyes fixed on him. Holding on those pair of brown eyes was a young woman with a head-sized hammer in hand.
Taking her in full detail, the young woman had warm pecan brown skin and short curly black hair that reached just below her ears. Almond-shaped eyes that held her brown orbs, while her high cheekbones gently contoured in symmetry with a delicate nose and full heart-shaped lips.
She wore a slightly loose sleeveless but strapped white crop top that exposed her well-toned arms and midriff. Coupling her were pair of black slim-fitting thick leather pants along with a diagonally hanging tool belt. Or at least what Arthur could assume as a tool belt, Although there was no tool to be seen hanging. It was black in color and segmented into alternating small verticle rectangles and long horizontal rectangles adorned with blue runes.
[Name: Ogun's Gift (Domain Suppressed)]
[Type: Tool]
[Grade: Unique (Domain Limit)]
[Boons: Strenght, Perception, Mental Acuity, Stamina]
[Affinity Boons: Metal, Fire, Spirit]
[Abilities: >Void Space – stores non-living things, purifies stored objects (time varies)
>Form Change – can shrink and grow to great sizes, only limited by the amount of energy fed to it.
>World Forge – creates a forging workshop whenever and wherever, containing life-sustaining items (food, etc.)
>Ogun's Legacy – Contains unlockable knowledge acquired by Ogun up to the point of this item's creation. ]
[Description: A spatial device crafted by a master forger in a time long forgotten as a gift to a group of people who aided him in his time of need.]
[Remarks: Throwing his toys around like usual, tsk tsk tsk.]
'Well, this is new. But, then again, I hadn't thought to try….'
"Catch."
Reacting in time, Arthur caught the simple-looking head-sized hammer.
[Name: Iron Hammer]
[Type: Tool]
[Grade: Normal]
[Boons: None]
[Affinity Boons: None]
[Abilities: Very good for hammering any metal with the same strength as iron and below.]
[Description: A hammer made out of purified iron ore]
[Remarks: What do you want me to say, it's just a normal hammer.]
…
Stripping leather from metal, Arthur worked methodically as he went through various dismantling weapons and armor processes alongside a few others.
Off to the side polishing a finished sword, Iriisan, the young woman from earlier, taking note of Arthur's skill, asked, "So what's your story?"
Pausing, Arthur looked up from his work to Iriisan, who was staring back at him.
"The markings," continued Iriisan. "Those related by blood to the tribe have them; the rest like me are adopted."
Understanding now why not everyone in the tribe had white tattoo-like markings, surveying Iriisan again, Arthur noted that there were true to white tattoo markings.
"Well," began Arthur." I sorta just fell out of the sky…."
And with that, Arthur regaled his story thus far from that point and a short summary of his life prior.
Feeling it, appropriate Arthur asked in turn, "What's yours?"
Letting out a light chuckle, Iriisan began, "I came from a fallen state from another continent. "After invaders raided by my state, two things happen to the people, death, and captivity."
"For the captured, their fates laid in the hands of their captors. That was our situation."
"Our?" Interrupted Arthur.
"You've met Amina and Karami, no?" We are from the same fallen state, Hausa."
Nodding, Arthur beckoned for Iriisan to continue.
"On one of Dinga's off continent trips, the raiders that held us captive to be sold later tried to increase the gains of their trip set their eyes of Dinga's ship…."
"There weren't many survivors when Dinga was done with them..."
…
Working with Iriisan well into the evening, Arthur learned a few more things about Iriisan. One of those things was why members of the tribe avoided her workshop like the plague. Had Arthur paid more attention to his surroundings earlier, he would have noticed members of the tribe making beelines around the workshop. But, alas, he learned the hard way, though not physical or mental, the exhaustion he felt was almost spiritual.
That aside, he also learned about how Iriisan's tool belt was passed down through her family of blacksmiths, and before the fall of Hausa, her father had shrunken it to the size of a strand of hair and hidden it in her hair. But, unfortunately, due to how young she was then, she didn't remember much about her father or family.
Nonetheless, while wiping his hands of some grease, a familiar voice reached Arthur.
"So this is where you've been!"
Before anyone could react, Arthur felt a firm hand grab him, and in a split second, he was in the air.
[Tibit 1: Ogun is the god of iron, metal, and metalwork. He is also a warrior and is associated with war, truth, and justice in his various manifestations. He is found in the Yoruba Pantheon. The Yoruba are a native West African ethnic group that inhabit western Africa, found mainly in parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo.]
[Tibit 2: Iriisan's name is a creation from iron (iron in Yoruba) and idol/goddess (oriṣa in Yoruba).]
[Tidbit 3: The Hausa are the largest ethnic group in sub-Saharan Africa with the second most spoken language after Arabic in the Afro-Asiatic language family. They are diverse but culturally homogeneous people based primarily in southern Niger and northern Nigeria - this has more to do with Amina and Karami, their tidbit will come later, this chapter felt a bit long.]