The Baz’aku
🔈 (bahz-ah-KOO)
The Baz’aku are a Deno’qai tribe living on the edges of the Elderwood, near the Chasa River Valley. Historically, they were traders and merchants and middlemen, acting as intermediaries between the Chardonian Empire and the Bek’eni, Te’kula, and other forest tribes, trading furs, rare herbs, and other forest products. Under Grimbaskal’s influence, the Baz’aku increasingly turned to raiding, targeting merchant caravans and Chardonian forester camps, and prompting Chardonian military buildup. Now, following Grimbaskal’s defeat, the tribe has fallen into conflict. While many Baz’aku wish to return to a peaceful coexistence with Chardon, a vocal faction sees profit in continuing to raid.
Territory and Settlements
The Baz’aku live on the edges of the Elderwood, south and west of the Kayan, stretching to the edges of the Chasa.
Like other Elderwood tribes, Baz’aku villages cluster around a central gathering hall and a green or clearing, with a scattering of buildings dispersed among cleared land and the nearby forest, which is tended with care to provide food, shelter, and defenses. The Baz’aku have stronger river connections than other Elderwood tribes, and settlements along the Kayan and the Chasa keep docks for boats and rafts, including large dugout canoes hewn from single trees.
The Baz’aku are among the larger of the Elderwood tribes, and historically the most prosperous. There are at least ten large villages of a few hundred people each, and numerous smaller villages that consider themselves part of the Baz’aku tribe.
Local Culture
Older Chardonian accounts describe the tribe as traders and intermediaries: gatherers of forest wealth, including timber, crafted wood, rare herbs, and the products of hunting, who exchange what the Elderwood provides for metalwork and goods from the river towns.
More recently, under Grimbaskal’s influence, the Baz’aku began to see themselves primarily as warriors, fighting against the encroachment of Chardonian interests into the Elderwood. While a vocal minority of the tribe still believes in this warrior ethos, others push for a return to peaceful coexistence with Chardonians.
Recent history
In 1748 DR, Grimbaskal was slain in the depths of the Elderwood by the Dunmar Fellowship. Among the Baz’aku, the end of Grimbaskal’s influence has sharpened the debate over raiding and war, and strengthened those who argue for a return to trade and diplomacy along the Chasa River Valley.