O Tau
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History
O Tau (pronounced "O(r) Tah-oo") was a Pacific Islander who, if he truly existed, lived around the year 1,000 BC. He is considered, in Indigenous Ariddian oral history, to have been the first human being to spot and settle the Ariddian Isles.
The origin of Ariddia's first inhabitants is unknown, as historians, archeologists and anthropologists (many of them Wymgani) are still trying to determine which islands in the Pacific Ocean the first Ariddians may have set sail from. O Tau is thought to have been the leader of the intrepid explorers who sailed the vast ocean three thousand years ago and discovered Ariddia. The reasons for their voyage are unknown, and could have been due to escaping warfare, overpopulation, or simply a human urge to explore the unknown.
O Tau himself may have been a chief of some sort, or merely a skilled navigator. Or he may not have existed at all, and have been conjured up in oral tales over the centuries, as Wymgani preserved some of the stories of their origins. Some Wymgani today still trace their genealogy all the way back to O Tau or to some of his fellow explorers, but some Indigenous scholars have expressed the opinion that he may have been a figure of myth rather than factual history.
Very little is known of O Tau's settlement, although he is believed to have lived and died in Ariddia. (Some accounts, however, state that he continued his voyages of exploration and ultimately disappeared at sea.) Early Wymgani society may not have ressembled what it later became - peaceful, atheistic and egalitarian. Some oral histories suggest that O Tau was, at times, a harsh ruler who edicted strict rules in an attempt to ensure the settlers' survival. He is thought to have had two wives, Awu and Tii, although whether simultaneously or one after the other is unknown.
Legacy
O Tau's name is one of the best known in Ariddian history, and some refer to him as the "father of Ariddia". In 1,000 BC, of course, there was no concept of an Ariddian nation, and by far the greater part of the Ariddian Isles remained undiscovered, unexplored and uninhabited. But his name symbolises the original settlement of the islands.
In this sense, whether or not he genuinely existed is sometimes considered immaterial. If he did not, there were unquestionably skilled and intrepid sea-faring Pacific Islanders who set out across vast stretches of water, sailed beyond the horizon, discovered the Ariddian Isles and made their home there; O Tau's name symbolises these first Ariddians, the ancestors of Wymgani culture and civilisation.
O Tau is one of the most famous people from pre-colonial Ariddian history, his legacy on a par with those of fourteenth century explorer Wa We and fifteenth century artist and philosopher Sho Ea.
