Substantial postings about constructed languages and constructed worlds in general. Good place to mention your own or evaluate someone else's. Put quick questions in C&C Quickies instead.
I submit my culture, though I hope I have more time to flesh it out by deadline.
The Hašahkī [ha'ʃa.ʰki] are a group of Ḵsīnesīr [x'si.nɛ.sir] indigenous to the region of Anṛḫal.
Origins
Page 10 of Rahīrd ʾAḵadem wrote:
It is believed by many that the Ḵsīnesīr race all originated from six champions of humaninty (some believed they were kings and queens) who were turned into the original Ḵsīnesīr through a ritual performed by a mad druid named Ṟodijan ['ʀo.dɨ.ʤan]. The exact details of the ritual were unknown but many scholars believed that it involved adorning the bodies with strange markings using blood-presumably human or some perceived godlike creature-and setting the victims alight with fire so as to "burn the physical prison and release the shadow". The six beings are often called the "Original Six" and usually have a variety of names attributed to them, as well as great feats. Many Ḵsīnesīr and some other sentient creatures like humans are adherents of the religion "Karehī Heš" which bases itself on the reverence of the Original Six. Another thing to note was that Ṟodijan conducted many more of these rituals throughout his lifetime, though he died before any secrets of the ritual could be revealed. Many scholars also believed that he also contributed to the creation of Golems and the large Tower. Although, for what reasons, no-one knows.
Geography
Due to the thermophilic nature of the Ḵsīnesīr, the Hašahkī situate themselves in or near volcanoes and other hot regions, Although the territorial range of the Hašahkī spans across the entire desert, most of the population is concentrated around the volcanoes. Those of the Hašahkī that do not reside in the Volcanoes do not build houses, instead, they "melt" into the shadows that appear behind objects like rocks and cacti to avoid the sun during the day.
Philosophy, Religion and Spirituality
The Hašahkī do not believe in the existence of gods, and hold the view that those who worship gods are wasting their lives away in subjugating themselves to things that do not exist. The Hašahkī believe that there should be a balance between the aspects of Good and Evil and accept that there will always be those who are less altruistic. They hold that, in regards to quantities, everything should be in moderation. The Hašahkī do not fear the concept of death, rather, they are curious of it's nature.
Death and Burial
When a Ḵsīnesīr dies, their bodies turn into hard, dense metals. The Hašahkī call these metals Aḵmatal. When a Hašahkī dies their Aḵmat is taken to a special volcano where is it melted with the other Aḵmatal, creating a pool of molten Aḵmat, then the Aḵmatal are scooped up and smelted into small pieces to be used as the currency called Aẕēra.
Family members of the deceased do not hold ceremonies to mourn for their loved one, but rather they take the day to celebrate their lives and achievements.
Sexuality and Marriage
The Hašahkī view sex only as a means of pleasure and reproduction. Male and Female citizens often look for a mate for life. Usually the male will form polyamorous relationships with many females, and sometimes males, these are always temporary.
While homosexual relationships are not encouraged, They are still accepted by the people.
Clothing
The average clothing that the Hašahkī consists mainly of thin leggings overlaid with a thicker kilt. Additionally both males and females wear thin shirts, though the male garments also have cross-sashes and are usually bulkier. They also wear thick hoods while travelling regions other than deserts. Those of high status, such as Gaaten (equivalent to lords) and Vīkīm (equivalent to kings and queens) also wear headgear with additional accessories such as horns or crowns. The kings and queens wear a thorned crown.
Food and Diet
The diet of the Hašahkī includes the consumption mostly of the meat of various medium- and large-sized mammals. They have no qualms eating other sentient creatures and they commonly eat humans, munkees and amphibimorphs whenever they have the chance. They also consume some vegetables such as wheat and some cacti.
The traditional dish of the Hašahkī consists chopped and roasted meat, usually camels or cattle, a pile of bones from the animals, and some cacti with their prickles removed. The meat of Humans and other the other sentient creatures are considered delicacies and are meant to be eaten on special occasions.
Conflicts:
The Hašahkī have a deep hatred for golems, viewing them as vile creatures that desire the destruction of all life. They are especially skilled in the slaying of golems employing many tactics to deal with them effectively.
The main weapons of the Hašakhī are large scimitar like swords that are wielded in pairs. Long-distance fighters use powerful crossbows for hunting and military. They also pioneered special repeating crossbows that can rapidly fire bolts like a sub-machinegun, using bolt racks as the ammunition. These are only used for military purposes.
Last edited by احمکي ارش-ھجن on Fri Feb 28, 2014 8:03 pm, edited 14 times in total.
ʾAšol ḵavad pulqam ʾifbižen lav ʾifšimeḻ lit maseḡrad lav lit n͛ubad. ʾUpulasim ṗal sa-panžun lav sa-ḥadṇ lav ṗal šarmaḵeš lit ʾaẏṭ waẏyadanun wižqanam.
- Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
zompist wrote:Nydwracu was just temp-banned; that's over now.
People can still create cultures after the deadline; they'll just arise after the year 2500.
(No idea what happened in Year 1... that could be a perk of the vote winner to decide!)
To be fair, not every culture submitted has made a major leap toward civilization at year 1. For instance, the ancestors of the Dragolm didn't discover the cave of golems until around 550, and the formation of the Ngoor archaeological culture was a gradual process spanning more than a thousand years.
(h after a vowel means breathy voice until someone gives me a better idea.)
The Č'irah are descended from an offshoot of the same Munkee subspecies who colonised Raepʰɤn. They seem to have crossed over to the Northern Continent by boat before the union with the Humans. Their language is phonologically and morphologically very different from the major language spoken in Raepʰɤn, but both have had something like 8000 years to evolve. Their nearest neighbours are the Finlayan Golems. They call their country Xʷera or Suhɉa-oČirah (Land of the Č'irah).
The Č'irah have had to do everything for themselves which their Apʰɯron brethren could ask their human friends for. They had to find their own way in a strange land without help from anyone else, and develop arts such as pottery and grain farming on their own.
Geography
Xʷera is Mediterranean in climate and surrounded on three sides by sea. It lacks the coastal mountain ranges of Raepʰɤn, but does have high hills in the west.There are more forests here than in Raepʰɤn, although to Munkees just come from the forested Raepʰɤn of the ice ages it must have seemed very open. Very little is now virgin forest. Around the edges, "mixed orchard" might be a better description. Č'irah have explored as far as the NW-SE mountain range in VR7 and W6 by ship.
Farming, Animal Husbandry
Humans were responsible for collecting grain in South Raepʰɤn. The Č'irah preferred to gather their food in the forest and not the grasslands, so as a result they have only two or three grain crops, rye and two inferior types of barley. They mostly feed grain to animals, and only eat it themselves in a poor year, or if their orchards have been destroyed. In the forests they found many more types of fruits, including vine berries. The seeds that were thrown away and germinated around their settlements developed into the temperate crops of Xʷera: leaf vegetables, root vegetables, legumes, seventeen types of fruit tree including the olive, and six types of vine, including wine grapes. The Č'irah will become famous for their orchards but this could make them particularly vulnerable to an enemy who burns their crops (because trees take several years to regrow).
Luckily many of their settlements are coastal, and fish also forms a large part of their diet.
The forests still provide a habitat for deer and other animals which they hunt for food. The Č'irah haven't been so lucky as the Children of Apʰɯron in having a wide variety of animal species to tame, but they have the gʷizbo, or Great Goat, an animal as large as a small horse, which can be saddle-broken. They also have the ox, used for ploughing and pulling carts, and a domestic fowl similar to the chicken, but the current breed lays smaller eggs. They hunt duck, geese and swans, but haven't yet domesticated them.
Clothing
Typically the Č'irah wear a short linen tunic (but nothing else), to protect their sparsely-furred torsos from sun and wind. In winter it may be replaced with one of wool. When swimming, racing, or competing in other sports they go naked. They make leather boots from ox hide, which support the ankle and enable the Munkees to walk further and for longer. Without boots, flexible Munkee ankles would tire after a couple of hours of travel in the plains.
Transport.
Inland, they depend on woods, rivers, or their swinging posts. By 1500 they build the first stone bridges and paved roads, but only between major towns. They are more advanced navigators then the Children of Apʰɯron, having invented the galley with the single sail before they did.
Munkees have some advantage over Humans as sailors. Humans row using the power of their legs, but without a sliding seat they can get blisters. A Munkee can anchor himself to the bench by his tail and a greater proportion of the force comes from his arms.
Culture, Sport, Religion
Marriage and sex are similar enough to the Children of Apʰɯron not to need a detailed analysis here.
Sports such as racing, archery, swimming and wrestlin are favourite pastimes in most Munkee societies, but the Č'irah are the first to organise regular competitions. Most large towns have several festivals a year and they always include games. Swimming, rowing, archery, throwing the javelin and discus are regular favourites. The forest of P'espah has its famous ten-mile race in honour of the goddess K'oloh. The city of S'amro is the origin of the most famous game. This description comes from a treatise written several hundred years later, but we know by archeological and linguistic evidence that it was being played in this period.
A wooden frame as long as a basketball court is built of swinging posts with interconnecting ropes, poles or beams. It looks like a gridiron or a net. Players hang from the beams and swing from one to another, while passing a leather ball to one another by their feet. Team size varies, and so do the rules for scoring, but in general, the ball must be thrown at a target at one end. Players are allowed to catch with their feet or with their tail. They may use their arms to block, but not catch. The attacking player shoots while swinging, to give her shot more speed. Shooting and passing with a foot is easier, but slower, while using the tail allows for faster shots, but takes far more skill. Fouls include knocking an opposing player to the ground, grabbing with hands, feet or tail, punching (slaps are allowed) and using magic in any way whatever.
The legendary hero Gʷoraʤ had to do his Twelve Labours as a penance for a foul in the Ball Game that resulted in the death of a rival player.
Like the Children of Apʰɯron, the Č'irah have a large variety of folk heroes. Gʷoraʤ is even recognisable as one of the Sons of Apʰɯron - or at least Tɤmʰalon resembles Gʷoraʤ in famous rashness, his supermunkee strength and mood swings on heroic scale. The pair have so many adventures in common that it is difficult to believe they are not the same character. Sky and Earth are remote figures. The pantheon varies from place to place: common deities include the generally benevolent harvest, forest and river gods, the sun goddess, the usually kind but bipolar sea god (stormy when he's manic and becalmed when in depression), and the moody and untrustworthy god of the plains, whose attributes include tornadoes and panic fear. Humans have often felt something alien about forests; they are the place of adventures, peril, the pathless wilderness. Munkees often feel the same way about the plains.
The Č'irah build houses very similar to those of the Children of Apʰɯron, which may mean the practice dates from -8000, or that Munkees build the same types of house everywhere. One major difference is that the characteristic art of South Raepʰɤn is clay figures and painting. In Xʷera it is wood carving, and later, stone carving as well.
The town of S'amro is famous for another reason; it is the home of the Oracle. A solitary golem, apparently in a semi-dormant state, gives answers to questions and demands metal ores in sacrifice. The Č'irah already had copper, and they seem to have learnt bronze working from the Golem.
Another town, Nabuɫi is on the site of an abandoned Ḵsīnesīr city, and a cult has grown up around it. Ḵsīnesīr artefacts are regularly dug up and solemnly presented to the temples or to the king for a large reward, or carefully preserved in family shrines (they are thought to be magic). The Č'irah didn't know what to make of the Ḵsīnesīr skeletons. They thought they were human and that the bony plates were helmets or crowns. Now they make bronze helmets of their own in imitation. A complex mythology has developed around the ancient ones, who are said to have godlike powers.
Conflict
The Č'irah have less of a sense of being all one culture than the children of Apʰɯron, ironically. The clan structure is stil strong in rural areas but less so in the towns. City states are all self-governing at this time, but while some are republics, others have kings (or queens). There have been wars between city states and long before the end of the period (2500), naval warfare has started.
In case Zompist is listening: I think now would be a good time to create the voting thread so we can start putting all these descriptions in one place before Friday.
"I'm sorry, when you have all As in every class in every semester, it's not easy to treat the idea that your views are fundamentally incoherent as a serious proposition."
zompist wrote:Nydwracu was just temp-banned; that's over now.
People can still create cultures after the deadline; they'll just arise after the year 2500.
(No idea what happened in Year 1... that could be a perk of the vote winner to decide!)
To be fair, not every culture submitted has made a major leap toward civilization at year 1. For instance, the ancestors of the Dragolm didn't discover the cave of golems until around 550, and the formation of the Ngoor archaeological culture was a gradual process spanning more than a thousand years.
In Etheria, a different collab conworld, year 1 was marked by two eclipses occurring on the same day over the same area caused by Etheria's two moons, something similar could happen here. (Though we seem to have 3 moons, possibly.)
Zain pazitovcor, sio? Sio, tovcor.
You can't read that, right? Yes, it says that.
Shinali Sishi wrote:"Have I spoken unclearly? I meant electric catfish not electric onions."
zompist wrote:Nydwracu was just temp-banned; that's over now.
People can still create cultures after the deadline; they'll just arise after the year 2500.
(No idea what happened in Year 1... that could be a perk of the vote winner to decide!)
To be fair, not every culture submitted has made a major leap toward civilization at year 1. For instance, the ancestors of the Dragolm didn't discover the cave of golems until around 550, and the formation of the Ngoor archaeological culture was a gradual process spanning more than a thousand years.
I'd estimate my dragons to not have developed anything remotely approaching civilisation until c. 1500.
There, I more or less fully fleshed out my conculture.
Could you just imagine being a desert with no apparent signs of civilized life, but that every shadow in the desert is inhabited by a race of carnivorous predator awaiting nightfall?
ʾAšol ḵavad pulqam ʾifbižen lav ʾifšimeḻ lit maseḡrad lav lit n͛ubad. ʾUpulasim ṗal sa-panžun lav sa-ḥadṇ lav ṗal šarmaḵeš lit ʾaẏṭ waẏyadanun wižqanam.
- Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I'm no good at cultures... and damn, forgot to have a go anyway.
For the golem/human hybrid culture, which I will name Nespek, the golems are the ruling class and are essentially viewed as gods by the people, much to their inherent bemusement but ultimate benefit. The humans probably outnumber the golems about ten to one, but a combination of this status and their usual physical advantage means that they're generally not threatened by humans. There are also a few villages where only humans live.
The island they live on has a large flood plain and river in the centre and is flanked by mountains on the south side. There's generally a rainy season, although for much of the year the island is a desert. Rocks for golems to eat are plentiful enough, but during the dry season the humans tend to stick close to the rivers, a need which the golems don't have, but they tend to stick close to the obedient humans, who will do their bidding. In many ways I see it a bit like Egypt with real present gods, who consider the humans their slaves. Human food is made during the harvest season and stored up for the rest of the year. Golem food is found, or mined in the mountains.
Golems are generally honoured by the humans with a monument of some description when they die. These started out as simple shrines, but by the end of the 2500 year period they were building big statues and pillars (think Nelson's column). It came to a head at one point when there were so many human deaths during the construction of one of these statues during a drought, none of whom had any choice at whether they were allowed to work, that there was a revolt, and the ex-slaves who rioted that day managed to take control of the eastern area of the island (traditionally the area where fewest golems lived anyway). Most of the deaths in the revolt were human, but it was the first time that the golems as a group realized how strong the humans are, and how they could easily be defeated. Civil war is still ongoing, especially in the capital. Some suspect that the cause of the revolt was spurred by the covert introduction of a foreign religion which is incompatible with the worship of golems, although publically at least it is claimed that they were simply disillusioned with the whole system.
The capital is Kaikesh, an important trading port for the area. There are a few (NPC) neighbours around who trade with Nespek, and it's possible to find representatives of other cultures and species in the city, and there's a lively port district where you can find sailors docking for a while, plus an entertainment/red light district. There are about three other cities on the island (none have large populations) and the rest of the island is populated by small towns and villages here and there. There is an intellectual class of people on the island, one of the few areas in which golems and humans mix as relative equals, and writing was imported around year 2100.
The island is governed (before the civil war) ultimately by the golems, but day-to-day operations are passed to the upper class of humans. Each city has a mayor and a city hall, appointed democratically by the golems nominally for life, but often either standing down or being forced to stand down because another person has come along who would do a better job (the golems can be fickle and don't often reach consensus before doing things). In the countryside, there is a feudal system, where golems rule, and lords rule over barons, again both appointed by the golems for life, collect rent from the populace.
The golems themselves, when they don't mix with humans, lead an egalitarian lifestyle. Relative importance is only attached to them by humans, on things such as age and perceived spiritual power. The golems are aware of the religious significance that humans place on them but many of them (not all) see humans as little more than slaves. A true friendship between golems and humans is rare, but many stories exist about such relationships. Love between golem and human is completely taboo, however, and how you would even go about such a thing is a mystery to most. The golems appoint a council to run their everyday affairs, and they have an annual meeting in Kaikesh which is more of a social gathering than a parliament most years. Their lifestyle tends to be very luxurious, and they are all very decorated most of the time. Even though they are by-and-large physically stronger than humans, many of them would not know how to use a spear and might not even be able to tell it from a knife, which is basically how the civil uprising was so successful so quickly.
Do I need to write anything else?
As for the square I claimed for dragons in the northwest, I have to go to bed soon so this should be shorter. I will call them Dek'ame. They live in three strata in their corner of the land: sea swimmers, forest foragers and mountain dwellers, reflecting the large variation in altitude over their land. In each case, their diet is omnivorous but contains much more meat than humans (iunno i read the species description and it said carnivorous so maybe change this? don't really care either way). Swimmers tend to eat fish and occasionally whales or dolphins, accompanied by seaweed and farmed food grown on the land. Foragers lead more of a hunter gatherer lifestyle, mainly going for boar and deer, or catching fish in the lakes, and supplementing the diet with berries and leaves. Mountain dwellers eat salmon-like fish when they come up the rivers, and also a kind of giant eagle that lives in the mountains. They also farm yak and supplement the diet with fruit. Outside of the cities the population is generally self-sufficient.
Overall they're a relatively peaceful race. If they fight over anything, it tends to be food. They have two port cities and two mountain cities, and one city in the great forest which is more of a stopover when travelling between the sea and the mountains. None are particularly populous. The religious belief is polytheistic, and it is said that the gods all live on the highest mountain in the region – it is forbidden to climb the mountain. Some say they've seen other species (especially golems, who have no trouble with the extreme cold) climbing from the other side, although others insist that they must have seen the gods themselves. There is a pilgrimage site near the foot of the mountain on the plateau – it is required that all dragons visit four shrines in the area (representing peace, fertility, nourishment, and the sun) at least once every ten years. It's thought that the shrines were not built by dragons, because they are not built in the usual dragon style – they're significantly smaller than other dragon-built shrines, and dragons report feeling very cramped when they walk through them. It is unknown who made them. Other dragon buildings tend to be made of wood in the forests and by the sea, and of stone in the mountains. At this period their houses are generally only one or two rooms, much larger than an equivalent human room would be, and they share an outhouse with their neighbours.
The climate is taiga, and there is a long, cold winter. Dragon feet are generally well-adapted for light snow, but in very deep snow they must use snow shoes or skis to get around. Warm clothes are generally worn only by the mountain dwellers in winter; in other areas they either wear no clothes or hide their genitals with something like a loincloth.
The country is a hereditary monarchy, but this doesn't really affect day-to-day life very much. The biggest problem in the country is the relations with neighbours. The dragons are a bit closed to outsiders, although they relax the rule a bit for port trading, but the presence of valuable minerals in the mountains means that outsiders want in and the dragons often have to defend their homeland (although the presence of dragons in the southern hemisphere has called into question the idea that this is the dragons' "homeland"). They're physically much more imposing than humans, who can be fended off easily with the dragons' traditional archery (developed for hunting, originally), but for golems it is possible that the arrow won't pierce their skin, and spears or claws must be resorted to.
Damn you, real life! I didn’t have time for this this week either...
Still, here are a few notes. It’s really missing a section about religion; and there's too much history, but ah well. It'll be better next time.
EDIT: Oh, so this is not closed yet? Great! Let's have some more details then!
Kingdoms of the Day, kingdom of the Night
Linguistic notes:
Names are given in Cesɔn, the language spoken by nightpeople of the Kingdom of Night slightly after this time period.
Information on the language spoken by nightpeople during this period is scant at best, and provided mostly by reconstructions.
For convenience, I will refer to 'humans' and 'nightpeople' throughout. Naturally, this only applies to humans and nightpeople within this area.
Statements about nightpeople, in particular, should not be taken to apply to the whole of the species.
Climate.
The area is crossed by two mountain ranges: the Naɔshɛ (‘night-side’) to the South-West and the Tsoshɛ to the North-West.
The valley of the Newe, south of the Naɔshɛ range, enjoys a mediterranean climate; comparable to Southern Spain or Northern Morocco. The Naɔqe steppe, between the two ranges is harsher in climate; agriculture can be practiced only in altitude. Beyond the Tsushɛ lie the Qatsu Desert (‘Golem desert’).
Cultivated crops include wheat, olives, citrus fruits, lentils and grapes. They were common to both humans and nightpeople.
Species, people and history.
The area is occupied by humans and nightpeople; both species had very likely been aware of each other, even before agriculture.
Early groups of humans and nightpeople adopted agriculture more or less simultaneously — this transition might have been prompted by climate change; or perhaps one of the species borrowed the other one’s techniques.
Early nightpeople villages were establishes on the slopes of the Naɔshɛ range; the Naɔqe steppe remained occupied by nomadic and pastoralist population. The Qatsu desert was never continuously settled; perhaps the climate proved too harsh even for nightpeople.
Human agriculture, on the other hand, developped along the Newe river valley.
Pastoralists humans were forced out of the valley, and up into the mountains — that is to say, in nightpeople territory.
Some nightpeople communities reacted violently to the intrusion; continuous raids were mounted against human settlements. Others were more accepting - this would have consequences later.
Human polities
Cities were established along the Newe valley. The most prominent ones were Atsi, Deisha, Trilemma, Maneko and Karkaso.
Human cities were originally ruled by a priest-king (atsa-cheti, ‘first speaker’), assisted by a strict priestly hierarchy.
Society was organized along patrilinear clans.
Around 1250, the traditional ruling clans were displaced by nomadic invaders - previously thrown out from the mountains by people raids. This led to a three-way distinction in society, now divided into a priestly class (the demoted ruling class), a warrior class and a commoner class.
City-states started building empires for themselves; by 2500 the Newe valley was controlled by two kingdoms: Taytasi (‘the three directions’ ) to the south, ruled from Karkaso and Atsi.
These called themselves the Kingdoms of the Day, by opposition to the newly formed Kingdom of the Night.
Nightpeople polities
Nightpeople cities were established in the mountains and the steppe of Naɔqe.
They quickly grew into intricate, semi-buried complexes; typically the surface was cultivated, while houses were dug underground.
Recurrent fighting against human nomads led to the construction of intricate fortifications.
A typical nightpeople city was a wide agricultural area, enclosed by stone walls, underneath which a complex, booby-trapped system of warrens were built.
Each of these subterranean mazes was independent. Typically, they were ruled by a ceremonial queen or king, and the heads (male of female) of a dozen related clans.
The largest cities included ɛl-Liyahɔ, ɛl-Qasadate, ɛl-Manasqala and ɛl-Bar.
(‘ɛl’ means ‘night’, a name borrowed from humans. 'Nightpeople' is actually a calque of the Taytasi word. Nightpeople call themselves Feitsu ‘earth-people’, in opposition to Bitsu ‘water-people’, ie humans and Qatsu, golems ‘stone-people’, but readily adopted the ‘Night’ label for their polities)
While human society in the Newe was strictly male-oriented, the outlook of nightpeople society was more egalitarian. (About one city in three was ruled by a queen).
Nightpeople established intricate trade networks; they alone could reach golem territory, and played a large part in the trade networks between the humans to the south, golems to the north-east, and orcs to the distant north-west.
Most trade concentrated around gold and copper, although there was a healthy market for imported clothes and wood among the golems, and a fair amount of wine trading.
The city of ɛl-Eliyahɔ (‘Night-Dragonslayer’) quickly grew rich, some say, due to the quality of its wine, for which human kings would pay a fortune.
More importantly, and unlike other nightpeople cities, it welcomed human settlers with open arms. The leaders of ɛl-Liyahɔ quickly realised that allying the respective strenghts of both humans and nightpeople, it could gain a considerable advantage among its neighbours.
Humans could wield heavy and strong bronze weapons; they organized themselves in strong phalanxes, while nightpeople units enjoyed, as usual, the advantage of strenght, and usually served as archers.
(the horse was not domesticated yet; all combat was conducted by infantry).
Circa 2300, queen Matisa of ɛl-Liyahɔ (who may be a mythologized figure herself) united most nightpeople settlement into the Kingdom of the Night.
By 2500…
Three polities dominate the area; the two kingdoms of the Day, and the kingdom of the Night.
The Nightpeople kingdom enjoy, for now, a relative advantage, mostly because it’s richer, being at the center of the trade network.
Writing is slowly being adopted; mostly, the Golem writing system is being repurposed by the Night administration as an accounting system. The system is still in its infancy, however.
The Night religion
In the beginning, there was nothing but the desert, and no life except for Therda (‘Fox-Mother’), mother of all.
Therda, a half-nightwoman, half-fox (Fennec foxes were ominous animals in Night folklore) goddess gave birth to three heavenly daughters, and three earthly sons, forming the Night pantheon.
Fox-Mother seldom appears in mythology, except occasionnaly as a kind of trickster deity.
More important are her children:
- Earth-Son is the consort of Heaven-Fire. He is associated with nightpeople, nocturnal and desert animals, the more hardy crops and the moons.
- Heaven-Fire herself, is associated with the sun, thunder, and some of the larger predators. She is also associated with dragons.
Earth-Son is responsible for the creation of the fertile lands and the mountains ranges, in cooperation with Desert-Stone
- Desert-Stone is the consort of Heaven-Air. He is, naturally enough, the god of the desert, and associated with the golems. He is, along with Earth-Son, responsible for the mountains.
- Heaven-Air is associated with wind, birds, and the mythological roc bird.
- Running-Water is a celibate god, estranged from his deranged consort Rainfall. He is associated with humans, the more delicate crops and rivers. He is seen as a somewhat clumsy and temperamental god (qualities nightpeople associate with humans), who produced the Newe river in one titanic act of masturbation.
- Rainfall is the closest thing to a demon in Night mythology. She is not evil, per se, merely crazy and destructive. She is associated with the mythical rain demons.
Sentient beings are each neatly attributed an ‘earthly’, male god: humans with Running-Water, nightpeoplewith Earth-Son, golems with Desert-Stone.
What about orcs? Well, Night civilization at the time made no distinction between orcs and humans.
‘Heavenly’ goddesses are each associated mythological beings: dragons, the roc bird, and rain demons.
It is very unclear whether the Night kingdoms ever encountered actual dragons; the ‘dragons’ of Night mythology might have been imaginary creatures, or memories of earlier encounters.
The name of ɛl-Eliyahɔ (Night-Dragonslayer) is intriguing, as the city was name after a folk hero who was supposed to have chased dragons from the Naoshe range.
(Supposedly, once a human king casted doubt on the story, remarking that dragons had never been sighted in the valley or the mountains. ‘Precisely’, answered the then-queen of ɛl-Eliyahɔ)
Nightpeople never prayed to any of these gods; they merely appeared in myths, epics and just-so-stories.
For comfort and prayer, nightpeople turned instead to ancestors and nature spirit, both of which are essentially the same. (The guardian spirit of a city, or a field, or of a particular hilltop was often the mythical ancestor of the people who lived there).
Religion consisted in offering proper respect and sacrifices to one’s ancestor; it was a purely private affair.
The closest thing the kingdom of the Night had to a state religion was the clan rulers’ obligation to sacrifice to the guardian spirits of their clan, and likewise for the king or queens to sacrifice to the guardian spirit of the kingdom.
Human religion
Human religion was, at the same time similar and very different from Night religion.
The basic creation myth was essentially the same, and the pantheon very close to the Night pantheon.
Fox-Mother was reinterprated as the half-wolf, half-human Wolf-Mother, with a bit more gravitas. (She hardly appears in mythology, and - in the human view - would never bring herself to playing tricks with lowly mortals).
The portfolios were reshuffled a bit; the human interpretation pretty much did away with the neat elemental repartition and the mythological beings. Rainfall’s role was a lot more positive in the human pantheon; her unsavory aspects were attributed to Desert-Stone (often called ‘Drought’)
The humans never really believed in the nightpeople’s tales about golems, let alone dragons and roc birds.
For that matter, any humans, except for those living in or near to the Night kingdom, included nightpeople in the supernatural realm as well.
The chief difference with Night religion lie, however, in the fact that the gods were directly prayed to. All human polities kept a distinct priestly caste - which was even, in earlier times, the ruling class - dedicated to revering the gods, and more importantly, interpreting their will.
The chief task of the priests was to interpret the oracular warnings of the gods, and to translate them into law. Priests were indeed called ‘speakers’, that is ‘those who speak to the gods’.
Religion was thus tightly intertwined with the state; the largest building of any human city was its temple, a large pyramidal structure dedicated to the seven gods and the bureaucratic apparatus of the state.
Only later on, as the military caste gained prominence, would the temple’s importance diminish in favour of the king’s palace.
The kingdom of Taytasi was the first to establish that all internal conflict had to be mediated by the law, elaborated and interpreted by a priest-judge. Law and scripture were one and the same, both transmitted by oral tradition.
Additional notes on human social structure
Human kingdoms were divided into strict social classes, themselves divided into clans. Marrying outside one’s class was unthinkable, adultery strictly forbidden. Both were punished by death, as a sacrifice to appease the wrath of ‘Drought’.
Clans were patrilinear and patrilocal.
Marriage was typically monogamous, except for a few high-ranking nobles and priests.
The caste sytem, including at first only priests and commoner soon evolved into a three-tiered structure of warriors, priests, and commoners. By the 25th century, a distinct caste for merchants and craftsmen started to appear, along with an ever-growing slave underclass.
Government was autocratic and monarchical, the ruler being the head of the leading aristocratic faction. It allowed for a certain leeway at first (indeed, there are hints that the original, two-classes regime was a great deal more egalitarian and meritocratic) These strict rules allowed for the period of expansion of the early third millenium, but soon the system was growing too rigid - the 25th century saw the rise of continuous commonner rebellion, along with constant infighting among warrior nobles).
Additional notes on nightpeople social structure
The basic unit of Night society was the clan. Clans were matrilinear and matrilocal; the clan chief being the eldest and more respected clan member. At least in theory, as there was a strong tendancy for chiefdom to run under hereditary lines.
Nightpeople are a bit more congenially monogamous that humans are. Nevertheless, fidelity was not expected, and in fact, rarely practiced in the Night kingdom. Marriage was made to cement the intricate network of alliances between clans; however, the matrilinear structure meant that a child father’s exact identity was unimportant.
There was a certain amount of social stratification, with aristocratic and commoner clans, though nowhere as drastic as among humans.
The king or queen was in theory elected by clan heads; in practice, succession was hereditary in the maternal line. In practice, the monarch had little power - the position was more an honorary one for distinguished and elderly statesmen and women.
The kingdom of the Night was not a ‘kingdom’ in the usual sense of the world. Each city kept its independance, and its own king, the king/queen of the Night being the first among equals.
ɛl-Liyahɔ’s domination resembled, in some respect, the current position of the United States. Its hegemony, while uncontested, depended on its economical power, backed by an overwhelming military advantage if need be.
The continuous threat to the kingdom was civil war - rivalries between clans were strong, and in some cases went on for centuries. The traditional method of conflict resolution, applicable for anything from neighbourhood quarrels to inter-city rivalries to murder consisted of a vendetta between the involved clans, arbitrated - at a safe distance - by the queen/king and the most prominent clan heads.
How about humans living in nightpeople realms? They were never fully integrated in the Night social structure and tended to live in separate settlements, with their own clans and leaders. Indeed, human communities saw themselves as independant nations, selling their military services to the nightpeople.
Social structure, at first patrilinear and patrilocal, approached that of the Nightpeople's matrilinear clans over time.
Attachments
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Last edited by Ars Lande on Fri Feb 28, 2014 11:08 am, edited 4 times in total.
Ahzoh wrote:There, I more or less fully fleshed out my conculture.
Could you just imagine being a desert with no apparent signs of civilized life, but that every shadow in the desert is inhabited by a race of carnivorous predator awaiting nightfall?
No, I'm not sure I could. You don't get large predators in deserts. You certainly don't get lots of large predators in deserts. Predators require prey, and prey requires vegetation, and vegetation requires water. Little water = little vegetation = few herbivores = few and/or small carnivores.
[Well, OK, the wetter 'deserts' with more vegetation may have the occasional jackal or puma wandering around]
But the river tripped on her by and by, lapping
as though her heart was brook: Why, why, why! Weh, O weh
I'se so silly to be flowing but I no canna stay!
I've transliterated the Cesɔn words for Nightperson and Human into Mecongai as the words for those, and they are, amusingly, almost identical: Nightperson is "pheito" [pʰɛːˈto] while Human is "peto" [pɛˈto].
Ahzoh wrote:There, I more or less fully fleshed out my conculture.
Could you just imagine being a desert with no apparent signs of civilized life, but that every shadow in the desert is inhabited by a race of carnivorous predator awaiting nightfall?
No, I'm not sure I could. You don't get large predators in deserts. You certainly don't get lots of large predators in deserts. Predators require prey, and prey requires vegetation, and vegetation requires water. Little water = little vegetation = few herbivores = few and/or small carnivores.
[Well, OK, the wetter 'deserts' with more vegetation may have the occasional jackal or puma wandering around]
That's not what I mean.
But, I suppose they aren't hunters anyways, since they have domesticated animals and farming. But if you're a human wandering the desert, that would be bad for you, for the Ḵsīnesīr are in the shadows and when they see you they will see a tasty meal. Unless you can entertain them/provide a reason you should live that benefits them.
ʾAšol ḵavad pulqam ʾifbižen lav ʾifšimeḻ lit maseḡrad lav lit n͛ubad. ʾUpulasim ṗal sa-panžun lav sa-ḥadṇ lav ṗal šarmaḵeš lit ʾaẏṭ waẏyadanun wižqanam.
- Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
What the dragons actually called themselves is unknown, as the demonyms across the various languages are not cognate. However, we will call them the Zalar (meaning dragonkind in the dominant dragon language of the late period).
Overview
Initially (Yr 0 to Yr ~1000), the Zalar lived on the forested lowlands in the largest river basin in the north of the island. They lived in nomadic matriarchal bands representing a single extended family of 3 or 4 generations. A typical band would have a single matriarch, though sometimes (typically in smaller bands just after the matriarch has died) there would be 2 or 3, all being the daughters of the late matriarch. However, once such a band becomes large enough, it would break up into the constituent families. Mature males are sent out of the band to find a mate from another band, though there are restrictions on who he could mate with. He will also be the inferior in any relationship. A male who cannot find a mate is usually an outcast from any band he has visited, and such males will typically live together, though there are not many of them.
The middle period (Yr ~1000 to Yr ~1700) saw population increase, and multiple bands began to move together, forming a much larger unit with different rules to solitary bands. This period also saw spread into the surrounding plains, beyond the mountains, and the end of the period is marked by mass settlement of the plains. However, the largest bands had already settled about 100 years prior to this, so by the late period, they were already in a position to set up trade with nearby smaller settlements. A typical trade would be a meat animal for a carved figurine or other decorative object. The object would be more valuable if the quality of the carving was higher, and some settlements were renowned for the quality of their produce. Settlements nearer the mountains had a more ready supply of stone for carving, and these also proved prosperous.
The late period (up to Yr 2500) saw larger population increase, and a rise in the number of males unable to find mates. Many of these formed trading bands, who would move from settlement to settlement, enabling more long-distance trading. The traders could easily become wealthy by trading food to a settlement whose carvings were comparatively poor, then spending time improving those carvings. If the trader was particularly skilled, he could increase its trading value to two or three times what it was. The traders also invented boats, allowing the rivers which ran through many settlements to be turned into trading routes. Settlements also became built-up, in the style of the ruins found on the northern slopes of the central mountains.
Beliefs
The Zalar believed in the Ancestors, who were supposedly all dragons who had gone before. When a dragon died, they were believed to become on of the Ancestors. The original Ancestors are believed to have built and lived in the ruins in the mountains, and many believe that is where their spirits still are. They also believe that one can persuade an Ancestor to look favourably on you, and offer you a wish, though there is no guarantee they will grant it.
Mating practices
The Zalar are monogamous, and (in principle) mate for life. If one of a pair dies or leaves for whatever reason, the other is forbidden from mating again. Rape is also forbidden, and punishable by exile, though this only applies to the males, as it is assumed that only males can rape. An exiled male will be killed without second thought if he is seen again. The female is in total control of when sex happens, as if she does not consent, the male will be exiled.
Last edited by KathTheDragon on Sat Mar 01, 2014 6:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ahzoh wrote:There, I more or less fully fleshed out my conculture.
Could you just imagine being a desert with no apparent signs of civilized life, but that every shadow in the desert is inhabited by a race of carnivorous predator awaiting nightfall?
No, I'm not sure I could. You don't get large predators in deserts. You certainly don't get lots of large predators in deserts. Predators require prey, and prey requires vegetation, and vegetation requires water. Little water = little vegetation = few herbivores = few and/or small carnivores.
[Well, OK, the wetter 'deserts' with more vegetation may have the occasional jackal or puma wandering around]
That's not what I mean.
But, I suppose they aren't hunters anyways, since they have domesticated animals and farming. But if you're a human wandering the desert, that would be bad for you, for the Ḵsīnesīr are in the shadows and when they see you they will see a tasty meal. Unless you can entertain them/provide a reason you should live that benefits them.
Zörachok
The Zörachok culture is a nightpeople culture on the island of Dgülorch, more specifically its eastern parts. They descend from a relatively small group of nightpeople that arrived somewhere on the south coast a couple of centuries ago. During the following centuries they spread across the whole island, crafting some golems on their way. Eventually those golems drove the pre-Zörachok away from the western parts of the island, leaving the east for the nightpeople.
Climate
Taiga. That’s all I’m going to say. I’m too lazy to make such beautiful graphs like those Clawgrip made.
Living
The Zörachok live in small villages, which typically consist of a central square surrounded by some (usually about 10-50) underground “houses”, which tend to be connected with tunnels. The village is always built near a river and it is led by a chief, who also serves as a priest and a medicine man. When the chief dies, one of his apprentices becomes the new chief. Over time, some of the villages grew bigger so that some of those became small towns, of which the most important are shown on the map below.
Food
The Zörachok mainly live from hunting and fishing. Many villages however also have some small gardens in which they grow vegetables. Meat and fish are cooked before being eaten, but vegetables are eaten raw.
The men go hunting in the evening and come home a couple of hours later, after which the food is prepared and eaten whenever people get hungry.
Marriage
Marriages always happen between people from different villages. Every year, young men who aren’t married yet but considered old enough to do so travel to other villages to find suitable wives there. As soon as they find one, they go back to their home village, where a wedding ceremony is held.
Religion
The sun and the moons are considered deities. All religious ritual involve making contact with, depending on the ritual, one of these. Making contact is in itself also a rather complicated ritual, and those rituals are different for different deities. Those rituals are also different in different places and have become more and more complex over time.
It is considered necessary to sacrifice food to each of the gods every day. Diseases and natural disasters are explained as the god’s way to express that they’re hungry, so when disasters happen the Zörachok sacrifice more food, and sometimes, although only in extreme cases, other nightpeople.
The world is believed to have been created by the moons. As the moons at a certain moment got tired, they also created the sun who could continue the moons’ work while the moons got some rest.
The sun didn’t have any experience so it often messed things up.
Clothing
The Zörachok wear trousers and long coats made of animal skin.
Language
The Zörachok a single language with several rather divergent dialects. The northern and southern plains both have their own distinctive dialect groups.
I've updated the info on the Ggazzei back on page one.
"I'm sorry, when you have all As in every class in every semester, it's not easy to treat the idea that your views are fundamentally incoherent as a serious proposition."
Neat! You kind of have to respect a culture that uses the title "Mud King" without an ounce of disrespect or sarcasm.
I made some edits to my 1st page entry, too, if anyone's interested. I added some "reproductions" of Ngoor rock art to spice it up a bit; they're mostly modified tracings of real rock paintings from a few different sites here in California, but I've tweaked them and composited them together in what I hope are interesting ways.
If anyone's interested or hasn't already noticed, I made more additions to my post on the Hašahkī, including a section about their death and burial practises.
ʾAšol ḵavad pulqam ʾifbižen lav ʾifšimeḻ lit maseḡrad lav lit n͛ubad. ʾUpulasim ṗal sa-panžun lav sa-ḥadṇ lav ṗal šarmaḵeš lit ʾaẏṭ waẏyadanun wižqanam.
- Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Species
Lulweon is a civilisation of three species: Golem, Human, and Munkee. The Munkee of the region are larger and stronger than average (the Munkee equivalents of Norse), and covered entirely in long fur, except only for their faces, hands, and feet. This fur is pure white, except for red patches on the scalp and at the tip of the tail (non-mature individuals lack these red patches). Mature males develop particularly long hair in a ‘ruff’ or ‘mane’ around their necks. The ‘natural’ design of golems in the area is closer to munkee proportions and shapes than to human ones. Local humans, on the other hand, tend to be relatively short, with tanned and sallow skin, round features and considerable fat deposits.
The Guardians
Around a thousand years ago, golems in the area (golems occur in low densities throughout the northern parts of the continent, largely ignored by other species) decided that it was necessary to protect other sapient lifeforms. It is not known why this was decided: indeed, the golems speak of this not as a decision at all, but as a discovery or awakening to their true purpose. It is not something that requires a reason: it simply is. They believe other golem instincts they observe in their ‘wild’ brethren (such as the creation of walls and towers) are simply degraded, ignorant attempts to follow this unrecognised fundamental law of all golem nature. Lulweon’s golems thus dedicate themselves to the protection of their Munkee and Human brethren.
This protection takes many forms. Most obviously, the golems rapidly mobilise to repel any invading groups - although they seek to assimilate or relocate the invaders rather than kill, the golems believe that the civilisation of Lulweon is ultimately a greater protection than the life of pastoralists or hunter-gatherers, so they protect civilisation, violently if necessary. Golems also provide the brute force for mining - several types of stone are quarried, galena, and a highly useful form of arsenical bronze, which has by now, however, been exhausted - and aid with lumber production. Large predators have been eradicated from the region, as have large herbivores who might injure a sapient.
However, in the last few centuries golem numbers have exploded, not only for normal protective purposes but also as part of a new protection regime: personal protection, or ‘caging’. In this process, golems are constructed, human or munkee in form, but hollow, and into these cavities real humans or munkees are placed. Inside a golem is clearly the safest place for a fleshy sapient - so that is where they are placed, by forced if necessary. Golems do not consider psychological health particularly important, so the golems make no effort to pander to the mental interests of the sapients riding inside them, or to communicate with them - early on, the sapients were periodically removed to be cleaned out, but now this is rarely done, with the cagers designed to facilitate in situ cleaning. Unaccountably, caged sapients often seem to stop eating, so in these cases unpleasantness can arise - torture of the sapient to convince them to keep eating is the first approach, followed where necessary by the insertion of feeding tubes constructed by reeds. Caging does evidently reduce life expectancy, but not as much as might be expected, as the golems appear to have some sort of magical abilities in this area (which appear to be improving), and in any case the golems feel very good about the process, as they get to personally protect their very own sapient (death by ‘natural causes’ is in any case not seen as being as direct an evil as death from the external causes that caging prevents).
Caged sapients now account for around a third of the adult munkee and human population of Lulweon (it would be more if they didn’t keep dying), and cagers are almost the entire golem population.
There are two reasons the fleshy sapients aren’t all caged (or at least caged as soon as they reach adulthood) already: first, because the golems recognise that pushing the fleshy sapients too far will cause violence and emigration; and, second, because of the Law.
The Law
Golems are intelligent, observant, and rational. They have a firm grasp of the principles of cause and effect. Unfortunately, they are also highly risk-averse, and they will avoid repeating dangerous experiences. The result of this is superstition: a small number of striking coincidences can lead to a causal belief that cannot ever be challenged through experiment, due simply to the hazards of going wrong. This is exacerbated by the long memories of golems. Any number of things are thus believed to cause tsunamis, fires, lightning strikes, murderous rampages, war, pestilence, famine and so forth. Many golems do not, of course, actually believe these superstitions - but they do believe it’s not worth pushing their luck by testing them. Some of these superstitions apply only to golems (for instance, it’s forbidden to intentionally touch a fleshy sapient with exactly two missing fingers on one hand - such sapients therefore cannot be caged, so most adult fleshy sapients amputate two fingers from the left hand just in case); others, however, apply to everyone. Golems both ensure the Law is known (they teach the Law to the fleshy ones, actively to children, passively to those seeking clarification, and publically by intoning the Law regularly in public places), and do their best to ensure the Law is obeyed (by killing any who disobey it). This requires, of course, a police state, which is one reason why there are so many golems. However, as the ‘police’ must follow the Law themselves (there are no corrupt golems), the other species make extensive use of the loopholes the Law provides. They also are happy to use the golems as a threat: humans or munkees who make political difficulties or violate human/munkee laws end up caged.
The Hill of Revelation
One particular hill is particularly ‘revered’ by golems, who make regularly pilgrammages to it. This is the hill where a small number of founders, all now inactive, realised the purpose of golem existence. Golems, of course, do not consider that they ‘revere’ this site, or the Founders... rather, they are simply intensely curious about the place. The Revelation, while not in any way supernatural and being purely a matter of logic, is the closest that golems come to a miracle, and they would like to know what caused it. This cause can of course be found in material events and conditions - is it because the exact percentages of different leaf shapes found on that hill one year? Is it because one frog on the hill that year ate the exact right sequence of insects? [As the Law is not in any way moral or divine, but rather purely logical and scientific, the actions of animals are just as important as those of sapients]
The Non-Golems: Clans and Houses
Non-golem society is ruled by Munkees. These form clans, within which individual males, by gathering a harem of females, create a House. The most powerful Houses elect (through complicated mechanisms based on power and wealth) a Speaker for each clan, and the Speakers elect a Great Speaker for all the clans. Theoretically, the foundation of a House is entirely an individual affair - Houses are not hereditary, and indeed there is no hereditary inheritance of anything other than clothing and items worn or carried on the body (land is communal - Houses buy the right to use the land from the clan, but it reverts to the clan on the dissolution of the House). However, in practice, children of powerful Houses are overwhelmingly more likely to found Houses themselves.
Humans have no social structure of their own, and instead are simply attached to a particular clan and House.
Economics
Farming and fishing are both important food-sources - farming is primarily for tubers, although a number of legumes, beans, nuts and berries are also farmed (the local environment is a subpolar rainforest - there is constant fog, the more coastal and exposed regions tend to be bog-infested moorland, and there can be snow even in summer). A number of large rodents are farmed for fur and meat, and there are also some game birds. Seals are sometimes hunted, though the golems greatly restrict this as potentially unsafe. Textiles derive from bark - these fabrics are not comfortable, so fur is preferred for humans (munkees are so furry themselves that this is less of a concern, though they do still use blankets and ponchos).
Money exists, in the form of large bronze cauldrons, more heavy than a single non-golem can lift. These are all kept in a local storehouse, and golems remember who they belong to, though they do not participate in the money economy. Wealth is primarily displayed through ritual exchanges of gifts - to be given a greater gift than one can give is shaming, so the poor perform services for the rich to avoid being given expensive or overly-useful gifts. As nobody really knows how rich anybody is (as this relies on the ability to persuade other people to give money or services), the poor tend to be overly cautious, and the well-connected gain wealth rapidly.
Sex
Dominant male munkees possess harems. There are some restrictions on spousal rape, but in general the male is dominant within the household. Harems are usually mixed-species, munkee and human. Lesser males may have one munkee female and maybe some human females; still-lesser males may only have human females (and the chance at seducing someone else’s wife). Some male humans have human wives, but most are servants of the munkees, and must rely on the hope of seducing someone else's wife. This is not a forlorn hope - indeed, seduction, while theoretically forbidden by the husbands, is actually encouraged. For one thing, it’s necessary to perpetuate the humans (munkees and humans are sufficiently physically compatible to enjoyably mate, but they are not inter-fertile, so human-human pairings are needed to produce human young), and for another a munkee head of household would far prefer his wives to distract themselves with some acceptable unthreatening underling (of either species) he’s tacitly approved of than to leave him, or be driven into the arms of his serious rivals.
Art and Religion
The golems do not approve of wasting valuable resources on useless objects. Art is therefore focused on useable tools, and houses - most items are made of wood, and are heavily ornamented, typically with motifs of living animals, and particularly with animals like wolves and elk that the golems have extirpated. Red paint is widely used for colouration. Song and dance are also important culturally - particularly song, as the organisation of choirs is a key symbol of inter-House alliances.
Munkees and humans worship many gods, typically defined as the gods who enforce the causative processes of the Law. The golems frown on this as superstitious, but permit it on the grounds that the humans and munkees (who are after all stupid fleshy things) need these superstitions to follow the Law correctly.
But the river tripped on her by and by, lapping
as though her heart was brook: Why, why, why! Weh, O weh
I'se so silly to be flowing but I no canna stay!
Yay, speed conworlding! About half of this was made while waiting for a pizza delivery...
The T'ukwu [t'u.kwu] are a race of golems that live on the northern polar continent. They primarily live in the mountains, but have spread onto the icecap itself in recent times.
History:
It is unknown just how long there have been golems in the area, but starting in the year 450, the first evidence of the T'ukwu civilization itself originated. Originally, only small stone structures were built both within and along the side of the mountains, but as time went on, the settlements began to expand down to the ice sheets themselves.
In 1700 the copper age began when the golems discovered both copper and coal, and also discovered that certain ores can be smelted to form copper. Prior to this time they still had copper, but were limited to what they could find natively. Tin was soon found as well in the same manner, but was originally believed to be worthless, as it would quickly fall apart in the cold weather, making it unsuitable for tool usage.
Bronze was first purposefully made around the year 2100, however this bronze was made using arsenic rather than tin, after finding that copper ore with a high arsenic content produced better quality metal than the purer copper ores. Soon, roughly all of the copper used was allowed with arsenic. Unlike with humans or other "living" species, the golems are unaffected by the arsenic fumes released during the smelting process.
Additionally, around the year 2400, writing has begun to develop, but as of 2500, it is still very limited with only a handful of glyphs relating to physical objects such as the sun, moons, buildings, rocks, metals, etc., mainly used to indicate significant events or to mark locations. It is still quite far from being a fully-fledged writing system.
Climate/Geography:
The region is a bunch of ice with mountains sticking out of it.
Food:
The golems mine in the mountains, and whatever that isn't an ore of some sort and that which they don't use for building is set aside for repairing any damage to pre-existing golems, or for the occasional construction of new golems. They try to "eat" the same sort of rock that they were originally made out of, but if none is available they will take whatever is available.
Technology:
The T'ukwu have recently figured out how to create bronze, which is primarily used for tools to carve out the various rocks. Prior to this, plain copper tools or even stone tools were used. Coal is primarily used for generating fire, as wood is in short supply in the frozen wastes. However, they do save on fuel usage due to the lack of needing to warm houses or cook food.
Society:
The T'ukwu continuously build buildings and cities over a gradually expanding area of the mountains and ice sheets, continuously upgrading the buildings as time passes. Thus, the buildings in the center of their civilization are the most decorated and complex, often with gold, silver or even ice decorations, along with various carvings in the stone walls. Some of the oldest areas have carvings covering nearly every available surface. However, once an area is completely carved, often it is partially demolished and new walls put in, so that the process of carving can begin again.
Most golems, unlike in other golem civilizations, often work alone or in pairs instead of large groups, though groups will often form in the case of construction of large buildings or mining projects, only to split up again later once everything is done.
The T'ukwu are also hoarders, and whatever stone they mine out that isn't used in one way or another is stored in various buildings in large piles. The same is also done with various ores or unused metals, though in lesser concentrations. Primarily these deposits consist of either tin, which they currently believe to be useless, or various ores for other metals such as iron which they have been unable to make use of. However, they keep everything around in case they happen to find a way to make use of it. Additionally, the rock and ore is separated by type, in an attempt to prevent mixing.
Reproduction:
For the most part, golems are only created to replace those who have died, however as settlements expand; occasionally new golems are made to make sure that the settlements have enough population to remain fully functional.
Spirituality:
The T'ukwu feel the need to continuously build better and better structures, as well as to automate production if at all possible, but for the most part they are unable to carry out this second objective due to a lack of technology.
Conflict:
For the most part, there is no conflict, and resources are typically shared (taken from one of the storerooms). However, the judging of stone carvings can occasionally result in small outbreaks of violence, though normally this is kept from becoming physical violence.
Zain pazitovcor, sio? Sio, tovcor.
You can't read that, right? Yes, it says that.
Shinali Sishi wrote:"Have I spoken unclearly? I meant electric catfish not electric onions."
Yeah, I was so totally intending to make cultures, but my work schedule and various other commitments meant that I couldn't put anything up by the deadline. I will put something up over the weekend but don't mind if they are not eligible to be voted for. Compliments will be highly welcome but no votes for them is fine.
Ahzoh wrote:There, I more or less fully fleshed out my conculture.
Could you just imagine being a desert with no apparent signs of civilized life, but that every shadow in the desert is inhabited by a race of carnivorous predator awaiting nightfall?
No, I'm not sure I could. You don't get large predators in deserts. You certainly don't get lots of large predators in deserts. Predators require prey, and prey requires vegetation, and vegetation requires water. Little water = little vegetation = few herbivores = few and/or small carnivores.
[Well, OK, the wetter 'deserts' with more vegetation may have the occasional jackal or puma wandering around]
That's not what I mean.
But, I suppose they aren't hunters anyways, since they have domesticated animals and farming. But if you're a human wandering the desert, that would be bad for you, for the Ḵsīnesīr are in the shadows and when they see you they will see a tasty meal. Unless you can entertain them/provide a reason you should live that benefits them.
So wait are they carnivorous predators now or are they omnivorous? Because if you're in a desert no amount of farming technology is going to help you support any sort of population of a carnivorous species.
Ahzoh wrote:There, I more or less fully fleshed out my conculture.
Could you just imagine being a desert with no apparent signs of civilized life, but that every shadow in the desert is inhabited by a race of carnivorous predator awaiting nightfall?
No, I'm not sure I could. You don't get large predators in deserts. You certainly don't get lots of large predators in deserts. Predators require prey, and prey requires vegetation, and vegetation requires water. Little water = little vegetation = few herbivores = few and/or small carnivores.
[Well, OK, the wetter 'deserts' with more vegetation may have the occasional jackal or puma wandering around]
That's not what I mean.
But, I suppose they aren't hunters anyways, since they have domesticated animals and farming. But if you're a human wandering the desert, that would be bad for you, for the Ḵsīnesīr are in the shadows and when they see you they will see a tasty meal. Unless you can entertain them/provide a reason you should live that benefits them.
So wait are they carnivorous predators now or are they omnivorous? Because if you're in a desert no amount of farming technology is going to help you support any sort of population of a carnivorous species.
What if they were mostly carnivorous, but able to sustain themselves on plant matter, say 70-90% meat in their diet, does that still count as omnivorous? or that milk and blood thing, lets go with that. Also consider that they eat every part of the animals, sometimes even the bones, provided they aren't the kind that splinter easily (I'm looking you, poultry!) They have the food conservatism of the Inuit!
