I'm convinced by the Koromandol location. Sea of fog is perfect, and the current anti-seafaring schtick in Kralorela will have lead to a great population explosion. Too bad it's so out of the way, but you just gotta live with that sometimes.
Stone as opposed to wood totems is perfect. Huge pillars of basalt chewed in assorted horrifying shapes (with equally horrifying spirits boud to them, so the effect is the same with Second Sight) leaning at odd angles in the mists... very cool.
As far as enemies go... I think that life should be pretty good for these uz. The Puget Sound is about as non-threatening an environment as can be found in the RW (if you don't mind moss...) Mild temps, no poisonous animals, plenty of edible plants, LOTS of great seafood. I don't see any particular need for a Cultural Enemy. These be happy uz.
re: Orca -- my apologies to David Cake for preempting his thoughts on Orca... I do think we can find a common ground though. If we just take Korasting as mother of the toothed whales, instead of a storm god, I think the rest of your thoughts still hold. There's no reason for the Uz and Orca to LIKE each other (except as food ;-) just 'cause they're cousins... and I'm afraid that the Sperm Whale - Orca - dolphin progression "proves" their connection to Korasting in my mind. Anything you can contribute beyond that in no way contradicts any thoughts I have... I do think that Dolphin hsunchen are incompatible with my current views, but I could still be convinced if someone had a suitably nifty myth (of course, we could have Tuna hsunchen... who would suffer horribly by being mistaken for dolphins... leading to popular demand for "tuna-safe" dolphin meat and all that).
Ian also raises good counter-points regarding my belief that PNW Native culture has been "wiped out." There are many brave people working very hard to prove me wrong, and they deserve all the respect in the world... I just have the personal misfortune to be the kind of cynical prick who thinks that it's a lost cause...
danm
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