Naama Uyataga

Naama Uyataga (also known as Fevor Praté Tungar) was a Dama historian, diplomat, and author who served as the Kingdom of Asidama's first ambassador to Ventora following the end of its isolation. He described Ventora in his eponymous book Ventora, which exists as perhaps the first modern account of a foreign land outside Skephon or Osamia written by a Dama author.

Early life
Naama Uyataga was born in the city of Yan in the spring of 1664, in the thirty-second year of the reign of King Sagainuuci I. At the time, Yan did not serve as the royal capital, which lay at Angadu to the coastal southeast. However, Yan was already a major port city at this time, and would serve as the anchorage of the renovated Dama fleet during the reign of King Icinagi III in 1674. Uyataga's family, including an older and younger sister, lived in the southern quarter of the city. Uyataga's branch of the Naama family were related to those who had passed state examinations and joined the city's local gentry, putting them in a fairly prosperous position. However, Uyataga's father, Naama Maasikumui, had been orphaned at age five and had seen most of his inheritance lost to scheming relatives and pirate raids.

At the time of Uyataga's birth, his father oversaw collection of tax revenues south of the Yan's walls. By the time he was five, his family had hired a tutor to instruct him in matters including mathematics, history, astrology, genealogy, civics, and natural philosophy. At age eight, he was enrolled at a local, state-run academy which existed to prepare students for state exams. It was there where a later hagiographer records him reproaching his classmates who spoke of wanting to use their education for wealth or mystical powder. Instead, it said that he advised, "None of these things are worth consideration. If you wish to speak about the people you are to become, then it should be to establish yourself and to follow the ways of your ancestors.  Bring order to the state and the people.  Do not squander your opportunity to be important." This quote does not appear in any written records until more than a century after Uyataga's death, bringing its veracity into question.

His mother is recorded to have died in the summer of 1694, in the second year of the reign of King Myamunu I. After undertaking the ritual mourning period in her honor, he completed and passed the national state service examination held in Angadu, catapulting him to the national level.

Career
In 1696, Uyataga moved to Angadu with a team of prefects in his service. He quickly achieved a high level of office thanks to his intellect and dedication. By 1697, he had entered the inner circle of King Myamunu I as one of his chief advisors. This meant that he was one of the primary architects for Myamunu's plan to re-open the country to foreign trade, which was formally proclaimed in 1698, in the fifth year of the reign of King Myamunu I. The next year, the first embassy received by the kingdom was that of Ventoran diplomat Ploerio Praté Tomo, sent by King. Asidama and Ventora enjoyed surprisingly warm relations during its period of isolation, explaining why Ventora was the first nation outside the region to send an embassy. Uyataga was assigned by Myamunu to work closely with Praté, both to aid in his functions as a diplomat but also to learn as much about the Ventoran language and culture as possible. Praté, the son of a high-ranking nobleman of the Duchy of, was intrigued by Uyataga's interest and arranged for him to be tutored by one of his retainers, Don Ofe Blasam y Frescia, in how to read and write in Ventoran.

Embassy in Ventora
In 1703, Uyataga was officially commissioned by Myamunu I to establish an embassy in the Ventoran capital of Plenas. In the four years since Praté's arrival, Uyataga had mastered both spoken and written forms of the Ventoran language, devouring any and all Ventoran-language tomes brought along by the diplomats. After a farewell ceremony attended by King Myamunu I himself, he left with a team of diplomats and attaches aboard the vessel Morning Mist and sailed to Ventora. By most accounts, including Uyataga's own, the voyage took just over a month between Angadu and Plenas. Along the way, the vessel stopped in Duomo, wherein Uyataga and his crew made offerings to the local Haksar lords as a sign of respect. Afterwards, the ship was forced to take refuge from a storm in the harbor of the city of Neves, Watan. Following a week of rest and resupply, the Morning Mist left the port of Neves and finished the final leg of the voyage to Plenas.

Uyataga received a generous reception upon their arrival, including an audience with King Afrio I. It is said that the king was impressed by the ambassador's skill with the Ventoran language, a feeling surpassed perhaps only by his surprise at the apparent Kanakan accent that he'd developed in the process of learning it. Many Ventoran writers who record meetings with Uyataga record the same. Certain scholars believe that this may be due to the origins of his tutor, Don Ofe Blasam y Frescia. A native to the Kanakan Steppe of northern Ventora, it is likely that Frescia passed his distinct regional accent to his pupil, either intentionally or unwittingly. Whatever the case, Uyataga quickly found a place in court at Plenas as King Myamunu's personal emissary. When it became clear that the people of Ventora found his name to be too difficult, he adopted the name Fevor Praté Tungar as a substitute. Praté, in particular, he adopted from his colleague still in Arandu as a sign of respect.

During his time in Plenas, Uyataga set about reading and transcribing as many classic Venotran works of writing as possible. Although he favored literature and collections of poems, he also transcribed books of history, natural philosophy, and others. Indeed, most Dama translations of historic Ventoran (and some other Alutran) written works either have their origin with Uyataga, or at least borrow from his work. Although it is recorded that he and his aides constructed ancestral shrines for their homes, he translated many religious works from both Jarader and Sortisist faiths and is recorded to have attended ceremonies of both faiths. He in particular had a fascination with Sortisist cosmology and philosophy, and composed several essays comparing his own culture's faith and rituals with those of Sortisism. Perhaps the most lasting product of Uyataga's is Ventora, a book consisting of the ambassador's observations and opinions on the country, combined with references to native Ventoran writers in matters of culture, faith, and history.

While not working in Plenas, Uyataga underwent several travels across Ventora, even visiting neighboring Esharat and Watan on occasion. However, other than Plenas, the most regular subject of his writings in Ventora was Ascara. He spent a fair amount of time there, often as a guest of Praté's extended family, themselves well-to-do merchants who likely wished to capitalize on new connections.

Return to Asidama
Uyataga remained in Ventora, serving as chief diplomat for Asidama and ambassador to the King, until the year 1745, when he was recalled by Maasikumui III, son of Myamunu I, in the first year of his reign. The ambassador by this point had reached eighty-one years of age, and Maasikumui said in his decree that, "It is time to return to the lands of your ancestors, so you may set your house in order and prepare yourself to join them." Despite this official order, Uyataga lingered in Plenas for another three years, providing different reasons as to why he could not return, before finally assenting to leave in 1748. Leading historians believe that the cause of this delay was most likely the death of Queen in 1744, and the subsequent political tumult that culminated in the coronation of King. He arrived early the next year, finding Asidama to be a very different country than the one he had left. Thanks to the efforts of Myamunu I and now his son, Asidama had rapidly begun to modernize and industrialize following its opening. Foreign merchants and influences could be seen everywhere in the country's big cities and ports. Uyataga wrote, "No longer do my countrymen fear the words and deeds of strangers to our lands. They see the wisdom of our pathfinding ancestors: there are many roads to enlightenment, as many as the currents of the sea." His translations of Ventoran and other authors' works were already popular among the country's intelligentsia, and he was largely able to continue his studies under the regime.

For his work expanding the cultural repertoire of Asidama, Maasikumui III named him "Master of Rites," of the kingdom, overseeing government programs related to culture, education, and foreign affairs, and Deputy Senior Grand Secretary, effectively a deputy premier for the royal cabinet. He excelled in this role for many years, promoting the preservation of ancient rites and traditions while promoting a unique kind of heterodoxy that belied a certain kind of double-think: to strengthen their ties to their ancestors and their customs, they must welcome in and study the ways of foreigners, or so it was argued. Although this radical approach had many detractors, it found general success across the kingdom.

Late life and legacy
According to his biographies, Uyataga suffered a major stroke in 1756, leaving his left side paralyzed. Although he was still able to communicate using hand gestures and by writing, his time in public office had come to an end. He returned to his family manor at Yan and spent most of his time reading, assisted by attendants. Some writings were produced at this time, but many were nearly illegible and were discarded shortly following his death to avoid potential embarrassment. He suffered another stroke in 1758 before passing away in his sleep in 1760. According to Dama custom, his body was preserved and put on display, and extended family from across the kingdom came to take part in key filial rituals. Even King Furuttiibana XIV, grandson of Myamunu the Great, came in the second year of his reign to pay his respects.

Uyataga's tomb can be found among the most prominently displayed in the Naama Ancestral Family Tombs outside Yan. On the thirtieth anniversary of his death in 1790, in the second year of the reign of King Myamunu II, a ceremony was conducted by the King himself celebrating Uyataga's life and accomplishments. At the conclusion of the ceremony, King Myamuni II shocked the attendants by announcing that he had received a vision that Uyataga would be reborn to the Dama people in the next year as a Saint. Some months later, he declared that the reborn Saint had been found in the son of the Sanninudai noble family. King Myamuni II arranged for his eldest daughter to be wed to the young Saint, a move cementing an alliance between two of the kingdom's most powerful and influential families. To Dama today, Uyataga's legacy primarily focuses upon his desire for cultural, technological, and political progress for his land and its effect upon the development and modernization of the kingdom. In Ventora, he is remembered as among the longest-serving ambassadors to that country, serving for a total of forty-four years under four monarchs: Afrio I,, Ámbar I, and Prado I.

Personal life and family
According to filial records, Uyataga wed his wife Tunguta in 1680, in the sixth year of the reign of King Icinagi III. Both were teenagers at the time, meaning that the match was almost certainly arranged by their respective families. Little is written about her, but it is known that she traveled with him following his state examinations to Arandu, and then again on his voyage to Plenas. Uyataga wrote little of her in his works, although it would have almost certainly been inappropriate to do so given Dama cultural standards of their time. They are known to have had three sons, with their eldest Sanninudai born in Arandu, and their younger two Tagauyagi and Udirunuhi born in Plenas. Uyataga wrote of certain special rites conducted after their births to ensure a proper connection to their ancestors after being born in a foreign land, many of which are practiced by Dama families abroad today.