Spirit Runner Chapter 1 – Este

Let’s get this out of the way up front.

The Este of Tallu are not intended to be a historical representation of Eastern Woodland Native Americans. This is fiction, not history.

However, the culture, customs, clans, names, and language of the Este in Path of the Spirit Runner were inspired by the Muskogee (Creek Indian) people who inhabited what is now the Southeastern U.S. until Europeans began encroaching on their land and diluting their way of life in the 1700’s.

Having grown up in Georgia, surrounded by historic sites and place names from the Muskogee language, I’ve held a lifelong interest in and appreciation for those who walked this ground first. When conceptualizing the Rootstock Saga fantasy as a future echo of our own history, I knew the Este were the compelling matriarchal, non-materialistic culture I wanted reflected in Tallu.

Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muskogee, and Seminole history influenced this fictional portrayal, but the Este of Rootstock Saga are an amalgamation of research and my imaginings of what might have been if smallpox and colonialism had not swept the continent as it did in our cycle.

This has been a lifelong interest, but some settings, customs, and words come from deeper research done while writing. Some of the research that influenced depicting the Este included William Bartram, Kenneth W. McIntosh, Kathryn E. Holland Braund, The Moscogee (Creek) Nation Historical pages, The Poarch Band of Creek Indians official site, Michael D. Green, Creek (MVSKOKE) history at the Oklahoma Historical Society, Creek Indians in the New Georgia Encyclopedia, and Colin G. Calloway.

And dozens more I didn’t note as bookmarks.

As you read Path of the Spirit Runner, please keep in mind Rootstock Saga depicts a future incarnation of ourselves. Who we were, and who we are now, are shadows reaching across the web of time, seeping through the collective consciousness of our future selves like watercolor memories.

Some of those echoes may appear recognizable. But most of what you read of the Este is unique to their struggle and their cycle.

The message… don’t project today’s reality on tomorrow’s fictional setting. And respect the culture and history of the people who inspired the story.