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After reading the Almeopedia article on Littoral cultures I had a look at the map to see what area outside Eastern Erelae might support a Littoral culture. I've come up with this list:

Belesao (N Arcel) - I hope we'll be hearing more about the Bei soon.
The Hailabai islands
Bohai (on the Lebiscuri Mediterranean)
S Nemuoi
Mnese (S. Arcel)
Tellinor

So, which ones am I totally wrong about?

Well, we know that some of those areas don't have the technology to interconnect coastal towns over any significant amount of water. Some, like Tellinor, have had their maritime aspirations cut short by colonialism. But overall I'd say the problem with those places is that they aren't "littoral" enough.

McEvedy basically spread out a piece of graph paper over a map and marked all the squares that had both water and land in them. Along straight coastlines, you'll have a thin line of marked squares, zero-two squares deep. Along convoluted coastline, you may have a large expanse of marked squares, as in Greece. The Phoenicians, great sea traders that they were, lived along a straight coastline, but lo and behold, they did have extensive connections with their inland neighbors (Phoenicia was a major port region for the Persian Empire).

But having a convoluted coastline only works if the scale is small. a large enough island or peninsula might as well be a continent, and you just get a straight line of squares again. Look at China's coast, and then look at Belsao's. They look pretty similar to me, except China's coast is on an even smaller scale, and it wasn't much of a maritime power (most of the time), considering its position among the nations of the world.

The only region I see as possibly sustaining a littoral culture like you see in Skouras or the Mediterranean would be Haibalai, assuming they have the technology for fast, reliable ocean travel.

brandrinn wrote:The only region I see as possibly sustaining a littoral culture like you see in Skouras or the Mediterranean would be Haibalai, assuming they have the technology for fast, reliable ocean travel.

Which, as their cousins colonised the Island Sea to the east and a large swathe of Arcel to the west, is probably true. The whole Kereminth region pretty much has to be a littoral; the part of it in Curym a narrow strip of mountainous with the zone of fire about 100 miles inland. I can't see how a major inland power could develop.

As brandrinn points out, you really can't tell the littoral-ness of the coastline from a world map. Haibalai is definitely a contender, however.

So are parts of Bohai in Lebiscuri, but the level of material culture there is not high.

* makes note to revisit this in the history of Arcél... *

zompist wrote:* makes note to revisit this in the history of Arcél... *

*innocently* So how's that historical Atlas of Arcél going? Or A Diary of the Prose Wars? I also wouldn't mind seeing more information on some of the religions (Endajué, among others). (For anyone who doesn't follow Mark's work, I think that Virtual Verduria and the Almeopedia are definitely worth a look.)

Mind you, I'm very happy with the information that's been added to the Almeopedia by Mark and others, and I'm glad that it continues to grow. (I'm also still hoping to someday see In the Land of Babblers on sale in the local bookstore... )

p@,
Glenn

Ah well, since you ask... you should see a fair amount of material on Jippirasti soon, which I'll put up on Almeopedia.

I finally got back to Xurnese, which is a prerequisite for both the novel and more information on Endajue.

Arcél moves in fits and starts. There's a lot done, but a lot to do as well.

Well, although northern Arcel may not be a Littoral, I'd bet boats are important, as per Southern China in our world; if the jungle is very thick and most people live in valleys or on the coast then governments and people would prefer to take boats up major rivers or hugging the coast than to put a huge amount of work into clearing jungle and building and maintaining roads.

zompist wrote:Ah well, since you ask... you should see a fair amount of material on Jippirasti soon, which I'll put up on Almeopedia.

Thanks; I've noted the info on Jippirasti that's already begun to appear. Good to hear about your work on Xurnese and Arcel as well.

Gremlins wrote:Well, although northern Arcel may not be a Littoral, I'd bet boats are important, as per Southern China in our world; if the jungle is very thick and most people live in valleys or on the coast then governments and people would prefer to take boats up major rivers or hugging the coast than to put a huge amount of work into clearing jungle and building and maintaining roads.

This also matches the description of Nan and the Little Kingdoms on Erelae, which are primarily coastal nations backed by thick jungle.

p@,
Glenn