To fully understand Makoyepuk's frustration, we have to go back in time, to the year 1850. Thirty-six years before present day and five years before Makoyepuk would even be born. Chief Red Sky had entered the Snake Tribe into an alliance with other tribes. The goal was to join forces and fight off the advancing Union, who had been trying to set a foothold into the West. Though the tribes were full of many diverse and powerful warriors, they knew the strength of the Union was great and that they needed an advantage. The Chiefs of each tribe, Red Sky included, sought the power of a sacred mushroom known as the "Mother's Cap." This white mushroom was known to sprout or "birth" out several tinier mushrooms from around it. These mushrooms were known to be incredibly poisonous, its spores even known to cause death when inhaled. Tribal legends tell of a time lost to history when giants ruled the continent and their ancestors ate of the Mother's Cap. Those that withstood the poison were gifted with supernatural strength that helped them defeat the giants and settle the land. It was this myth that led the Chiefs to seek the mushroom, as they faced a different, more fierce kind of giant, and were willing to risk death for the chance to defend their homes.
The legends turned out to be true. Six Chiefs ate of the Mother's Cap, only one succumbed to the poison. The surviving chiefs had spread the fifty offspring of the Mother's Cap among themselves, each as many as they were able to stomach. Some ate more than others as Red Sky had finished with only five before his body would eat no more due to the pain. Those five were enough to multiply Red Sky's strength immensely, with the other chiefs who ate more, gaining even greater strength.
This extra strength, however, was not enough to defeat the Union. The upstart nation's military might, advanced weaponry, and supernatural tools were all enough to counter and thwart the native uprising in a bloody war that left both sides completely devastated. But the Union, less so.
The defeat and subsequent surrender of the native alliance led to what would be known as the "Treaty of Tears." Each tribe was given different terms of surrender, some harsher than others, but all were designed to ensure the tribes could never organize together again. The Snake Tribe's punishment was to relocate their entire people away from their land to a reservation designed by the Union. Red Sky grabbed his then five year old son, Ura'oan, his wife, Isi, his brother in-law, Sitting Duck, and all the surviving snake tribesmen and they were forced through a grueling journey by foot several hundreds of miles away. Red Sky begged his people to endure, but the difficulty of the journey would take many lives, leaving the Snake Tribe with a fraction of their original members by the time they got to their reservation.
It didn't take long for Red Sky to realize that the "Reservation" was no more than a prison for him and his people, with Stonewall Jackson, a major at the time, as their warden. The hard stone flooring leading to the castle that overlooked them all was clearly designed to demoralize them. Despite the Chief's fears, he urged his tribe to endure this strife. If they were to survive this war, they would have to appease their conquerors. Red Sky even gave his son, Ura, over to them as a peace offering, and they took him in as a soldier despite his mother's objections. All these sacrifices were necessary to Red Sky in order for the tribe to survive, and he knew in his bones that they could survive this.
Makoyepuk would be born five years later. Isi had endured a harsh pregnancy due to the hostile nature of their situation, and the grief of giving her first son up. The labor was full of complications that ended with Mako's mother dying shortly after delivering him. Mako would grow up to be a very outspoken boy, always questioning the unfair conditions he was growing up in, which would really piss off the rangers. By age five, he had already invited the wrath of Stonewall Jackson, who was ready to beat him to death with his stone hands. Red Sky would always offer himself up to take every punishment that Mako had earned, and Stonewall, not missing a chance to beat on the chief in front of his children, would always oblige. Thus, began a tradition of Mako acting out rebelliously, and Red Sky taking the beating for him, with Ura having to watch.
When Ura was first forced to watch his Father take Mako's punishment, it had enraged the then fifteen year old boy to the point where he left his post to confront his brother. Ura said nothing when he approached his brother, only letting loose a punch that floored Mako instantly. Even at five, Mako didn't take this lying down. He quickly retaliated by throwing dirt in his older brother's eyes and tried to punch back, but the ten-year gap in strength was apparent, and Ura quickly regained control, holding him down and hitting Mako repeatedly.
"You don't care about Father. If you did, you'd shut up and behave like the rest of us," Ura said at the time.
"I'm not doing anything wrong," Mako had cried through blood and tears.
"Ura'oan!" The boys' fight was interrupted by the loud and angry voice of the Chief. "You dare attack your brother after I just took a beating for him? You dishonor my sacrifice!"
Ura could only look back at his father with a guilty face before letting Mako go.
"We should be fighting them! Not each other." Mako yelled out.
"Shut up already!" Ura ordered. Ready to pounce on his brother again.
"Enough! Both of you!" Red Sky yelled before separating his two sons.
Ura angrily left back to his post as Red Sky embraced Mako.
"I'm sorry they beat you." Mako said with tears in his eyes.
"Don't be. Thanks to the Mother's Cap, I can take a few hits."
"But why? Why must they attack us? How they treat us is unfair, can't they see that?" Mako cried.
Chief Red Sky could only look proudly at his son. Despite this terrible life being the only one Mako knew, he still somehow could feel that something was wrong, that this isn't how life was supposed to be. Nothing could break that resolve from him.
"Listen to me, son. You are right. Everything you said. But these people don't care about being right, they only care about winning. The only way to beat them is to not play. And that means enduring their cruelty. Enduring everything they throw at us, and outlasting them. We are a resilient people. We can do this, but we must endure."
Mako never understood what his father meant. Why endure this? Is life even worth living under such conditions? Under the thumb of cruel men? These questions had always plagued Mako, and the most frustrating part was nobody could answer him.
The only silver lining for Mako was his uncle, Sitting Duck. Isi's family had come from a long line of medicine men, with Sitting Duck being the last surviving practitioner for the Snake Tribe. Sitting Duck had always taken a liking to Mako, he could tell the boy was a genius as soon as he started talking. Despite spiritual and supernatural practices being banned, thanks to the Treaty of Tears, Sitting Duck knew that Mako could made a decent medicine man. While he couldn't teach him outright, Sitting Duck would make little songs for Mako and him to sing that were just instructions for exorcisms, recipes for medicine, or lists of ingredients for talismans and tools. Mako was a quick study but careful not to get caught actually practicing what he learned. As rebellious as he was, he didn't want to implicate his uncle in anything.
The Civil war started shortly after Mako turned six. General Stonewall and his men had all sided with the Dixies and had taken Ura with them to fight the Union, abandoning their post to guard the tribesmen very suddenly. By then, the Union's Commander in Chief at the time, Ernest Abraham, had visited the reservation, and upon seeing the conditions, promised that after the war, they would be treated fairly. And for four years as the Civil War raged on, the Snake Tribe was able to live in peace. Able to resume their practices, dressing in traditional clothing, and even going into towns and buying supplies, all with zero military oversight. For the first time in Mako's life, he was able to experience what life in his tribe was supposed to feel like. This freedom was short lived, as the Union brought about a quick defeat of the Dixies, but the Commander in Chief was assassinated soon after. His successor, Anders Johnson, was a known Dixie sympathizer. He assigned Stonewall his old job back. It didn't take long for it to be business as usual in the Snake Tribes reservation, and the oppression to resume.
One fateful winter would test their endurance directly. As heavy snowfall poured in, the open cobblestone floor that the tribe was forced to live in would prove susceptible to trapping water and freezing the ground which became hazardous to walk on, as well as interfering with the insulation of the tepees, causing everyone to huddle together in order to not freeze to death. Seeing an opportunity in their desperation, General Stonewall would order his men to hand out heavy wool blankets to the freezing tribesmen. Unbeknownst to the snake tribe, these blankets were covered in disease ridden fleas. A deadly plague spread among the tribe like wildfire, threatening to wipe out a majority of the Snake Tribe unless something was done.
Sitting Duck took it upon himself to deconstruct all of the tepees and fashion all the sticks and cloth together to make a large sweat lodge. Using fire, stone, water, herbs and prayers, Sitting Duck was able to heal his tribe by having them sweat the disease out. This would seem like a miracle to the average man, but it was just a powerful medicine man technique. While Stonewall allowed this to happen, Sitting Duck still committed a crime by constructing the sweat lodge and performing the ceremony.
Ura took it upon himself to hold down the then thirteen year old Mako, who could only cry and scream from afar as Sitting Duck was unceremoniously shot. Red Sky had tried to bargain and take the punishment for him, But Stonewall was in no bargaining mood. Mako didn't understand why they were just allowing this to happen. Nobody stood up for his uncle. There was no outrage besides himself. It was like the human spirit was drained from everyone but him. Mako felt as if he were going crazy.
"Endure." Ura parroted to him as he held him down. "We have to endure. For the tribe." Tears were streaming down Ura's face as well, but he knew he had to be strong for Mako. "We will endure."
That was Mako's pacifying moment. With his Uncle dead, the thing he cared the most about in the world was gone. Sitting Duck would always have a smile on his face, no matter how terrible things got. It was that smile that taught Mako that the world wasn't supposed to be this dark and gloomy prison, but a bright warm haven of hope and possibility, because Mako saw that world in his uncle's smile. But now it was gone, as well as the hope that such a world existed, as well as any motivation to fight for it.