The above watercolor, which does not appear in the Fernie Brae show, depicts a male and female member of the Nakurit region, an archipelago of islands in the remote tropics of Mirico. The Nakurit are among the most proficient Plantspeakers in the world, and often grow mobile gardens on their bodies as a form of veneration to the land.
The tribes believe the islands they call home are the former shells of ancient, giant turtles who swam into shallow water, hence became lodged, and died. The word 'Onepalipan', which is both their tribal name and the language they speak, means 'turtle child', which is also a reference to Chimaquatka the Universal Mother, who is often depicted as a cosmic turtle.
The Onepalipans of the Naku are an integral group of characters in the Miriconian realm. Their islands teem with fertile earth and endemic species, and yet their island homes are among the most threatened in the world. Their land, in many places, is at or below sea level, and thus it is steadily disappearing due to sea level rise.
Song of the Nakurit People
Moss and rock and shell and wave
and sand and we a'singing
Sky and cloud and thunder loud
and rain fall down a'winging
Fish and crab and whale and snail
and weed of sea a'weaving
Tide and krill and coral frill
a'never from us leaving
Star and moon and sun come soon
now thanks to all we've sung to
Mount and fount and fruit and root
and Nakurit among you
Thank you cave and spring and reed
and shore upon we'standing
Thanks to Mother, blue at Heart
Blue Father Sky expanding
Be yours we all of Nakurit
as to you givers giving
Gift back our own, our feathered bone
to Ones who gave us living
Now same as blossom mist and bay
and sinew, flesh and feather
Same we all, as same we call
in thanks to you together
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