Oobee Basics

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The Oobee are a horticultural nonviolent people. As horticulturalists, we use simple non-mechanical methods to cultivate crops. The Oobee’s main staples are fruits and vegetables grown in our extensive garden network. Overall, the tribe lacks protein; the little that we do have comes from insects and small mammalian creatures.

We typically live along the outskirts of a forested or wooded area.  The Oobee fear the unknowns of the forest; it is seen as the dangerous wilderness full of the mother goddess’s creatures. If we do hunt, it is usually squirrels or other small rodents. Any other “big” game is not sought after. The only time we will kill an animal, let’s say a deer, is if it wonders to the edge of the tree line. This is seen as a gift from the goddess.

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The tribe seeks collective agreement on situations and has a specific hierarchical structure amongst members. To make decisions all the adult males (15 years and older) and females (any woman that is about to or has children) convene in a gathering pit. A variety of topics may be up for discussion, but a majority of the topics have to deal with the crops and the campground.

The Oobee employ a slash-and-burn method. Members of the tribe that are widows or orphans enter the forest and gather fallen foliage to bring to the campground. We send in people that don’t have strong familial ties into the dangerous forest; in case anything should happen to them, they won’t have anyone that will directly mourn them (we call these people the Collectors). The able men of the tribe till the garden, burn the foliage, and then mix the soil. The women are responsible for everything afterwards until the harvest.

In a few years, the soil becomes exhausted, so our tribe moves on to another campground. The Oobee campgrounds are easy to distinguish because of a special feature which is a gathering pit. The pit has a few steps dug into the ground. It is round or oval in shape and has a fire pit in the middle. It is usually has a radius of around 50 ft., but it varies from pit to pit.

The tribe has several hierarchies. At the top are the elder males usually ages 40 and up. The elders usually have a leader that guides the topics of discussion, but to most members of the tribe the council of elders are a group of decision makers not ruled by one person. Next comes the younger adult males, (15 to about 30 years old) their duty is to take care of manual labor, such as chopping wood, clearing a garden, and hunting (rarely).  Adult females are next in line; their duty is to the gardens and their families. Children ages 15 and younger are seen as mischievous and somewhat untrustworthy. They have yet to pull their weight in the tribe and are scolded several times a day.

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If the Oobee tribe was a pyramid with the council of elders on top and children on the bottom, then the Collectors would be a shape of to the side. We do not really fit into the hierarchy. The Collectors are made up of orphans and widows. We are the only members that can enter the forest. The Collectors are respected for their braveness, but are also simultaneously stigmatized. For instance during a gathering at the pit, we stand at the top away from other members. We rarely have any physical contact with other members of the tribe; apparently, this is due to us being in favor with the forest sprits. It is like we carry a small amount of divine power that allows us to enter the realm of the wild beasts and coming in contact with the other members of the tribe would cause that power to fade away or to become unfavorable (like a mass crop failure).

The Oobee have a very interesting belief system. In essence, it has two levels - the outermost is similar to animism. Every animal, plant, or inanimate object has a spiritual essence. These all collectively make up a mother goddess. The mother goddess cares greatly for the creatures and objects that make up her existence. The Oobee believe that you cannot rule above her or be ruled by her; instead, you must learn to live with her. It is similar to homeostasis, the Oobee and mother goddess balance each other out and should this balance be tipped in any way, then disaster would follow. For example, if the Oobee were to destroy the forest, the mother goddess would punish them with natural disasters. On the flip side, if the Oobee are no longer around, the mother goddess’s domain would become over run by darkness (darkness is a term for a tribe that long ago destroyed a forest that was once a part of the goddess’s domain).

The Oobee have a unique language structure. Every letter is placed in a box. For example, the word “cat” would have three boxes. There are exceptions though; if there is a double “e” or “o” then the letter is written twice in the same box. The name “Oobee” would have three boxes instead of five. One thing that is very interesting about the letters themselves are the shapes they take on. They are for the most part either very fluid (swirls, circles, etc.), solid (box-like, straight lines, and sharp corners), or a combination of both. The Oobbe have a tendency to group together the solid letters and the more fluid letters into another. The double “o” in Oobee is fluid, the “b” is a mixture of both, and the double “e” is solid. I do not know if this was done on purpose or if it has some kind of higher meaning. If the elders know why then they do not wish to share with the rest of the tribe. I believe it was something the founders of our tribe did long ago, but we will most likely never know for sure.