Hi, this is Mongrel's wife usurping his computer again...
I have a question for Joxam and/or Malikial.
It's kinda funny coincidence that you mention the Hochunk because I'm building an
Age of Empires III custom RPG adventure campaign about the northern migration of the
Isanyati (a Siouan people living in South Carolina, considered the progenitors of the Santee in Minnesota). This migration probably took place in around 1200-1500 AD and is attested in many tribes' oral traditions, according to Yankton historian Ella Deloria and some others.
In short, the Isanyati folks numbered about 5000 families and went from the area around the Santee River, SC (near Charleston) westward to the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys, mostly northwards to the Ohio valley at about the Kanawha River junction. From there they continued west along the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri rivers. Many undoubtedly stayed put once they reached a large settlement or town, either through illness or as migrant workers or through fosterage. Others won land grants and settlement rights through skirmishes or good faith pledges. A number disappeared from living memory through captivity or bloodshed.
At last about 2-3000 folks made it to settle in southern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and parts of Wisconsin and Illinois.
Along the way some of the families
may have split off and gone east along the St. Croix and the western shore of Lake Michigan. It's thought this is where these families stayed, establishing the community of Hocangara long before European contact, giving rise to the Ho-Chunk people. Their language is closer to Dakota than it is to the neighbouring languages.
In the scenario this is essentially what happens - although the focus of the game is on escorting your Hero and his family to the end point of Isanyati (Scimitar Lake) or Tintitonwan (modern Minneapolis), one of the players will have
two hero units, and the "extra" hero will split off and found Hocangara, but I wanted to check the sources on what actually happened.
It would be nice if the adventure campaign had some historical accuracy to it. What do you think actually happened? What's the "official" Ho-Chunk tradition about the origin of their people and culture? I know that while anthropologists stress a lot of "migration of the peoples", many tribes maintain they have been on a particular site for practical purposes forever. If you guys have any input that would be great.
The foundation of Hocangara is one of the primary objectives, but it can be changed if it appears the "adventure" version is far enough from truth or accepted tradition to be disruptive. FYI there's going to be a fair bit of other truth-stretching and artistic license with the scenario: for instance, the heroes meet and make alliances with friendly NPC rulers of Kado Hadacho (a mound building civ in the mid south that probably predates the Isanyati migration by 300 years), the Aztecs, and the Wendat in eastern Ohio; they fight to stop the ambitious sun chief of Cahokia, who is damming the entire Mississippi (never actually happened). I'm hoping the scenario can be fun
and educational, and learn something myself along the way.