Ushirikiano Kisiwa is the mysterious island headquarters for the East African Axis of the Ahadi.
When the Ahadi was formed in 2000, the Eastern Axis initially took up it's headquarters in Ngorongoro Crater, the former court of the Ajaba. Unfortunately, this arrangement did not sit well with many. Strategists were not happy with having their central position in a low, ambushable position below the surrounding plains of the Serengeti. For the Simba and Ajaba, many of the wounds have not healed well enough to reside in a place with such negative history. Even as early as 2001, various factions were looking for a new place to relocate the headquarters of the axis.
When Ushirikiano Kisiwa was discovered, it was a re-christening of the Ahadi, filling the participants with the same sense of cooperation and 'ubuntu' that they had felt when Blacktooth was destroyed.
Remembering
When the covenant was formed, Mfalme Remembers the Future awoke from the Sleep of the Dragon within the basin of the Congo. Gifted with uncanny prophetic ability, his Mnesis stretches forward in time as well as backwards. In one of his Mnesis Dreams, he dreamt of an island that existed in the past and the future, but not his present (the 1400s). This island, steeped in cooperation dating back millenia, would have implications that only his Mnesis (at the time) contained. Convinced of his role in the matter, he put himself into the Sleep of the Dragon, conditioning his wake up to correspond to an event that would be auspicious to the rediscovery of the island.
When he awoke, Mfalme met with Swims-in-Mbembe's-Wake and then Sand's-Last-King, to spread the news and discover if there were any other Mokole with fragments of the Mnesis. With sufficient knowledge, they were able to track its location to a pair of islands in the center of Lake Victoria where an elder Mokole woman named Clutches-the-Concept currently resided.
When they arrived there, they were slightly disappointed. Two islands, just a few miles across, were hardly the grand island Mfalme had seen in his visions. However, what they did find in the fishing villages there, were Mokole Kin in the Luo population. They also found clues which led them to seek Kisasi and Kiva, as well as the Bon Bhat Mchaji for her extensive rites knowledge.
The clues on the island formed a puzzle, pieces that only specific Changing Breeds could solve, and even then, only with time and quests of their own. Some pieces, it was determined, involved lost breeds, and only through Mnesis Quests were the Mokole able to salvage some of the rite. With much of it in place in late 2003, Mchaji led a rite including many of the newest members of the Ahadi, as well as many of its revered and veterans. What happened is still talked about by those who witnessed it.
For all present were members of the Ahadi, and all of them saw through the Gauntlet into a realm that rippled from the two islands, forming one larger Umbral island mass. To the Bastet, it was one of the largest Den Realms they had ever seen, stretching 80 kilometers into the Umbra. Visions aside, it also felt like one thing to all those present, Home. Mfalme, Mchaji, Kiva, Kisasi and the others all discussed the ramifications of the island in closed door exchanges. After surveying the landscapes and features, they consented that this would be the new headquarters for the Eastern Axis and construction began on the lodge in 2004.
The Lodge
Early in 2005, contruction by kinfolk and Fera laborers was complete, supplied by both real-world and island materials. Mystics and Technophiles insured that the facilities were both comfortable, capable, and appropriate to manage operations of the Eastern Axis, and the entire Ahadi if necessary. There are several hundred apartments and rooms for residents and guests, including a few suites for high ranking members or to be shared by active timus.
In addition to lodging, the lodge also has a pair of armories for the storing of weapons and fetishes. In Mashidano Hall, the Council deals with the tedium administrative and high level decisions. Two restaurants serve food at all hours for the island occupants. On hand is also a medical facility for the animals, kinfolk, and Fera (not everything is worthy of Gifts), a library for research, and a great ceremonial area for rituals and moots. For more information, see the full descriptions on the lodge page.
Geography
The island is composed of several terrains within its perimeter representative of East Africa, where native flora and fauna exist in balance.
The northern and northeast portions of the island, including those that border the real world island remnants, are temperate and tropical forested, much like the rolling hills of Uganda.
To the west, the island is populated with dense jungle and the hills giving way to mountains, like Uganda and Rwanda.
Extending in a diagonal band across the island is a savanna area rich like the Serengeti and the Masai Mara. Here, wildebeast and zebra herds migrate across the island like their counterparts make the annual seasonal Great Migration. In the wet season, they live on the eastern side of the island, where the drier climate provides a better balance of the weather. But in the dry season, the hot winds off the southern desert parch the land and the beasts travel to the southwest, through the great river, to feed on the lush grasses of the south.
The southern region of the island is of rougher terrain. In the east, the savanna becomes a rough plateau that then descends into a desert reminiscent of the Kalahari. The rest of the southern part of the island is rough and rugged terrain, treacherous to most except to those that take to the air or who follow the single path to the discovered Cave of Glyphs. The terrain is much like the Great Rift Valley in northern Kenya.
In addition to many rivers and the main Bay, the island also has several lakes.
For information on the various regions and places of note on the Island, visit the following pages:
- Savanna (Lodge, Valley of Kings )
- Rift Zone (Glyph Caverns, Painted Crater, Aviary)
- Jungle and Mountains (Chui Sanctuary, Kuakisi Wallow, Mzrururaji Falls, Great Baobob)
- Desert (Messenger's Run)
- Forest (Boat Launch /Fishermen's Villages, Makunguru Treetops)
Future
To date, there have been no other islands or strongholds discovered in the other Axes. Whether this is because they are still unfound, never were, or because Ushirikiano Kisiwa has a deeper meaning, is still unclear. Even to Remembers-the-Future, the future is uncertain and clouded.
A Note on the Imagery and the Island
The layout of the island was meant to be a microcosm of Africa. The island was rendered in a fractal program for the coastline. Then, it was mapped to real African satellite info from different areas of Africa in Google Earth. The Island, or the references to the 'real' physical island markers, do not actually exist in Lake Victoria, although there are many islands there that could match their description. The island is about 50 miles from Kenya on the eastern shore. For a better idea of its placement, you can see the island located on the Distance Map PDF
