History Myth / BetiPahuinMythology

* Engouang Ondo is the general of Engong’s forces. He is called the battle bull and wields unimaginable magic powers, but oddly enough is the most peace loving of the Ekang. He has the most powerful evus (complicated, but in short: a spirit that facilitates magic) in the world.

* Angone Zok is the warrior with a ghost mother. He interacts with the dead as casually as he interacts with the living. Out of everyone in both Engong and Oku he is the most feared of all: In Oku he is the great instigator, who is always figuring out ways to incite wars. He is feared in Engong because Akoma Mba rarely denies him his wishes.

* Ntoutoume Mfoulou is called the storm, and the fearless one. Nothing takes him by surprise. He is the rage of Engong and the great terror of Oku. He is the hammer and daredevil of the Ekang. The first volunteer for any dangerous mission.

* Medang Boro is the close companion of Akoma Mba. He is known as the bravest of braves.

The central conflict of the “Mvet Ekang” cycle is between the men of the Yendzok tribe in Engong (better known as the Ekang for their progenitor) and Oku is over the jealously guarded secret of immortality which the Ekang are able to exploit, making them the most powerful tribe in the world. The Ekang are giants who call themselves the Iron Men. The tribes of Oku are highly diverse but share the aim of wrestling control of immortality from Engong through sorcery, trickery, and champions capable of challenging the immortals.

The central conflict between the men of Ekang and Oku is over the jealously guarded secret of immortality which the Ekang are able to exploit, making them the most powerful tribe in the world. The Ekang are giants who call themselves the Iron Men. The tribes of Oku are highly diverse but share the aim of wrestling control of immortality from Engong through sorcery, trickery, and champions capable of challenging the immortals.

* Nze Medang who is likened to a leopard that spices the eyes of children. He torments his opponents mercilessly and flips mountains.

* Medza Metougou is the wealthiest man who ever lived. He has over 900,000 wives and business connections everywhere in the world.

* Ntoutoume Mfoulou is called the storm, and the fearless one. Nothing takes him by surprise. He is rage of Engong and the great terror Oku. He is the hammer and daredevil of the Ekang. The first volunteer for any dangerous mission.

* SeriousBusiness: Card games in one modern tale. Such games became all the rage in Engong to the point that one priest considered it a corrupting influence, so he tried to have it banned. This snowballed into an argument between immortals that would be decided by an ultimate card game. The winner would get the final say in who may play or not.

* Teleportation: Sometimes the Ekang and Oku tribesmen prefer to break themselves down into smaller particles and fly to another place, then put themselves back together.

* UnusualAmmo: The giant warrior Nloutangmba wielded the famous crossbow named Ngorkmimbang. It launches boulders to crush enemies to death instead of arrows.

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Akoma Mba could be the page image.
* BaldOfAwesome: Akoma Mba. His baldness just makes his title "Biyang" all the more fitting.
** Ayangoum certainly qualifies as well.

* FlyingOnACloud: Engouang Ondo sat on a black stormcloud where he grabbed a chunk of cloud and threw it at the earth. The cloud-ball exploded into an avalanche massive drops of water which doused the apocalyptic flames created by Obame Andome's cannon.

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** Elone Kam Afe visited his father Kam Afe in the underworld by following a tunnel through his grave when feeling overwhelmed by loss after Amanessigha and Efoutame were taken from him. He hugged his father's spirit and told him all about how his uncle Bikuékué-bi-Loroto lied in order to get two brides to sell to his buddies. The Yemendzang were told that their daughters would marry Elone after helping him finish initiation. Kam Afe was very angry his little brother was spending all his money, cheating his son, and disgracing his family's name. So he gave Elone Kam Afe permission to kill Oyame and Beka in order to humiliate Bikuékué-bi-Loroto (it would be a massive violation of tradition for a nephew to murder his own uncle and for a man to sanction the murder of his own brother).

** Nseng Ondo was blessed with beauty during initiation by her grandfather. Her skin was shiny like palm oil or the fruit of the Adzap tree, colored like the branches of a raffia palm. Her cheeks were round when she smiled, and her smile became one with her words. Nseng Ondo was radiant like the sun. She had thick thighs and calves, round knees, and an outie bellybutton (the Fang-Beti find this highly attactive). Her hair shimmered and the space between her breasts shimmered as well.

** Elone Kam Afe created thick white mist to conceal his special initiation. He slapped his hand against his sword flat and created a defeaning roar which caused a raging thunderstorm to begin. Elone then stripped off his leopardskin loincloth and jumped into the tornado and swallowed a magical gecko which was caught up in it. He then went back to his house, put on his loincloth, folded his arms, and made a sharp noise which made the storm vanish into a bright sunny day.

** Elone Kam Afe created thick white mist to conceal his special initiation. He slapped his hand against his sword flat and created a defeaning roar which caused a raging thunderstorm to begin. Elone then stripped off his leopardskin loincloth and jumped into the tornado and swallowed a gecko which was caught up in it. He then went back to his house, put on his loincloth, folded his arms, and made a sharp noise which made the storm vanish into a bright sunny day.

* TheBeastmaster: The entire Foumazok tribe was this. They spoke in a mysterious language with the elephants and rode them. Chief Mefoumou Mba Foumou would summon them with his whistle. He became good friends with his mount on the way to the Melole river.

* BFG: Obame Andome produced an iron tower from the earth which he ascended in a whirlwind. At the top of the tower was a swiveling turret, more like a heavy artillery cannon than anything. The entrance to the tower was a huge underground rock. Obame Andome unleashed mayhem and destruction in every direction with it, pissing off chief Ekouma Ngoumou of the Yebibam tribe.

* Geas: Ekang Nna had a taboo that said he could not have sex with a woman who'd had sex with any man except him. He could also only have sex with the most beautiful ladies in a region.

* GoodOldFisticuffs: Medza Me Mfoulou told Mefoumou Mba Foumou he was there to punish him before engaging in an earth-shaking brawl with him after Nguema Nsing Bere left with Mefoumou's pot of souls.

* MemeticLoser: Anvame Eyegue was a joke among the Ekang. Nobody recalls heroic feats from him. When his sister Obono was “kidnapped” by a mortal man he spent two weeks battling her lover before realizing she had taken the opportunity to run away again. He decided to cut his losses there. Then later he got beaten up by his wife after demanding a snack meant for their children. He defended himself from the teasing by saying he tripped and got tangled in a pile of ropes. According to the others she was sitting on top of him and pounding his face in before Emamemouhou Engoang walked in and saved him.
* MixandMatchCreatures:

* ArbitaryScepticism: Medang Endong REFUSED to believe that Angone Zok saw a bird-man in a world utterly teeming with magic. Turns out Medang Endong was right to be doubtful. The "bird-man" Afab Owono was revealed to be an Evus, not a man at all.

The Beti-Pahuin or Fang-Beti peoples are a Central African group of Bantu speakers with mutually intelligible languages, a common culture, and shared ethnic origin. They historically spanned an area from the Republic of the Congo in the south through Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Cameroon in the north. Since the time of Portuguese rule there has been a population in São Tomé & Principe as well. Traditionally they lived as patrilineal farmers organized into clans led by paramount chiefs. Their heavily stylized artwork was brought to France and created a major influence on the avant garde primitivist and modernist art movements. One notable admirer of Fang artwork was Pablo Picasso during his time in Paris.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Angone Zok one of the nicest guys in Engong. He is actually quite good-natured unless he has been angered or is faced with a crocodile man from Oku. Then all bets are off. He flips a switch and becomes an utterly blood-crazed psychopath.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Some storytellers present Andome Ella as a sadistic bastard who gleefully raped and/or seduced the wives of the Ekang and utterly disrespected them with his boorish entourage of powerful chiefs who tried to run off with the secret of immortality, and wiped shit on Medang Boro's knee. Others portray Andome Ella as a victim of Akoma Mba's jealousy, ego, and bad temmperment. Yet others say a young Engouang Ondo raped and/or carried on an affair with his wife, forcing Akoma Mba to defend his nephew.
* AlwaysNight: Ngame Ekang cast a spell on the village of Mboulamiame to make it enveloped in an endless silent night. The spell was broken by Evine Ekang who slapped his stomach and coughed out an owl's eye, which he mashed on the ground. A massive bolt of lightning came down and all of Mboulamiame rumbled before the night sky disappeared and the sunny day was revealed.
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Everything and everyone in the land of the Blue Tribe is blue.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Played with. Akoma Mba's obsession with power didn't begin with his uncle Nnang Ndong giving him the fetish of power, he sought it out himself. The Beti-Pahuin were a ProudWarriorRace and idolized strong leaders like Akoma Mba. However Akoma Mba's obsession with power no matter who suffers eventually causes him grief.

** Class 4: Planetary Species Extinction
*** Nkeg Afane Mye from the Doubt tribe tried to dry up the rivers of the world to punish humanity for their sins.
** Class 0: Regional Scale, Societal Disruption or Collapse
*** Obame Andome nearly destroyed Engong entirely during his battle with Engouang Ondo and Efoua Medang.
** Class X: Planetary Scale, Physical Annihilation
*** Obame Andome's Abi Zalang was a rapidly expanding power crystal that would've swallowed the earth and vaporized it.
* ArbitarySkepticism: Medang Endong REFUSED to believe that Angone Zok saw a bird-man in a world utterly teeming with magic. Turns out Medang Endong was right to be doubtful. The "bird-man" Afab Owono was revealed to be an Evus, not a man at all.

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: The only Ekang who averted this was Engouang Ondo. It proves to be an advantage for the Oku tribes, being constantly underestimated.

* AssholeVictim: One can imagine the grins the people of Oku must have had on their faces when the Ekang were terrorized by the Mississim Spirits of Mt. Nkol Bizezam and nearly crushed before they begged for peace.

* BackUpFromOtherworld: Angone Zok’s mother is a ghost. When he’s losing a fight he asks her for an amulet to give him the edge he needs.

* BadassArmy: The Ekang have almost never been defeated and boast a long record of elaborate victories.

* BadassDecay: In some modern performances Akoma Mba is a retired geriatric layabout who has to ask his nephew to steal magic fish for him since the vendor refuses to take credit or coupons.