Nati

The Nati (WIS: naddi [n̻ət̻iː]) are a Wistanian people group that dwell primarily in the southeastern corner of Wistania, closely related to the Katapu.

History
The Nati were originally farmers on a different continent than Wistania, dwelling around a chain of volcanoes and isolated from the oppressive Diwa. A combination of nationalism and democracy allowed the group to expand exponentially in just a couple hundreds of years. At one point, thousands of children were born every year.

After a sudden earthquake, the chain of volcanoes that provided their rich soil suddenly and dramatically exploded, killing hundreds of thousands and forcing the survivors to flee into the ocean on their fishing boats. Joining them, the Katapu provided rudimentary navigation based on their calculations of the stars, and they eventually ran into Wistania, quite by accident.

Upon arriving, they met the Taliv, who were being defeated by the Bwolotil in a war for possession of the island. The Nati quickly made friends with the Taliv and decided to fight beside them, offering their skills with the bow and arrow. During this time, they communicated using a pidgin which consisted mostly of Taliv grammar with many Nati words. After the war, and a number of revisions and records, this pidgin became the Wistanian Language.

Culture
The Nati are a large and powerful people group that occupies most of the southeast part of the central Wistanian island. After arriving in Wistania, they quickly took up arms with the Taliv against the Bwolotil in the war, securing victory and creating a Taliv-Nati pidgin in the process. This pidgin eventually formed the Wistanian language, hence the intense Nati influence on the lexicon, phonology, and morphology of Wistanian. They are also sister cultures with the Katapu and lived near them for most of their existence. Due to some friction and bad history, they do have some deep-seated resentment against the Katapu; however, much of that has dissolved by now and the worst of it has evolved into minor grievances.

Nati people tend to have much smaller and more agile bodies than their Wistanian peers, often covered in freckles, and endowed with bright, colorful eyes. They prefer flowy and loose clothes, such as skirts and shawls for both men and women. Decorative beads, feathers, and other forms of jewelry are also popular, but piercings and tattoos that alter the body are considered taboo. Hair usually is a symbol for someone’s lifestyle, as undercuts are preferred for active athletes and workers while full heads of hair are preferred by people who have non-active lifestyles, such as teachers, homemakers, and governors. People in power straighten their hair and tend to wear it long. It is also common practice that, when a person's hair turns completely gray (which usually isn’t until around the age of 50), they retire their work and positions to become advisors and teachers. Sometimes, however, people can work around this by shaving their heads. They are primarily vegetarians, but will occasionally eat fish and meat on special occasions.

The Nati are known for their music and woodwind instruments, as well as their elaborate carvings and paintings. Every village and city in the Nati region has a gate at its main entrance that is usually massive, colorful, and ornate. The largest gate is in Ddazal, a capital city built beside a waterfall. The gate is about 12 meters (39 feet) high, 28 meters (91 feet) wide and 3 meters (10 feet) deep, shaped as an irregular pentagon with four spires and an observation deck at the top.