Yucopia Project (Massive, Collaborative, and Recruiting New)

[Lukas Kelly]

Disregard the animals map. If you want to use generic herbivores, go ahead. But it'd be awesome if you make your own animals developed to that area.

[Cockroach]

I'm going to keep on using (mostly) Earth flora and fauna. I can't speak for the others, but I think its enough work coming up with my people's language, culture, etc. without having to worry about thinking up an entirely new ecosystem.

[Lukas Kelly]

Well then, now that I think about, it'd be more interesting that way. Later on, we will have a mix of earthly and unearthly creatures and goods.

Also, we need a name for this project. I'll be making a wikia when we get one. Also, we need someone who knows how to do stuff like craft templates. For anyone that doesn't know how to make pages on wikipedia, wikias have an easier interface.

[Torco]

I vote for migration plan #2, for purely selfish reasons.

I second migration plan #2, which happens to make my guys [and everyone else, I reckon] descendant from Roach's guys. The alternative plan means we don't know a thing about the proto-world culture... which might be a good thing after all... On second thought, I abstain.

[EDIT] I got it all mixed up; I was thinking about the first one. I still abstain, as in not caring... and considering the Chalmean island gets populated from Roach's lands either way, I don't care.

** The Chálmè Bêwísto **

The Chalmeans, [endonym Chálmè Bêwísto, lit. the Civilized Folk, the Orderly Folk] are the most numerous and technologically advanced of the human groups that inhabit the Chalmean island. They are concentrated along the south-eastern coast of the landmass, mainly in coastal or fluvial areas. The Chalmean islands are mostly covered in thick tropical rainforest, but the southernmost regions of it have been deforestated as a consequence of human activities, either intentionally or as a consequence of accidental forest fires. They are semisedentary and inhabit relatively large (100~300 people) settlements that are not really dense and organized along family-based barrios, but they have a significant migratory population of young men. The women, girls and young boys live in longhouses made out of stone and woven branches, generally more than one family per longhouse, while adult men reside alone in small workshop-houses called Lesâc. Around 15% of men are polyginous. Political power is shared between two headmen; the Málakû and the Seblécû, which translate roughly as Great Hunter and Great General. A woman may be Seblécii (masc. Seblécû), but the Málacû is always a man. They have semi-inherited slavery, but slaves are owned by the community and not by individuals.

There are three prominent sub-groups of Chalmean peoples along the east coast of the landmass; those from the southern regions, the main group which inhabits the Chìwílco and Tûla river basins, and the northerners. Economy-wise, they mostly gather fruits and shellfish, although hunting, particularly marine hunting, is significant both economically and culturally.

** Available Resources **

Biodiversity

The sea is rich in coral reef fish, but poor in marine mammals and there are no whales. There is a reasonable amount of shellfish. The jungle is full of animals; tigers, lions, tapirs, small elephants, monkeys, caymans, and a myriad of small frogs, lizards, birds, and mostly insects. Plenty of poisonous creepy-crawlers, and even more weird chemicals in the jungle... so yeah, drugs and medicine.

What mineral resources are available can only be obtained in limited locations, since the soil and vegetation layer is so thick. Also, the ground of much of the jungle, and the savanna that was once jungle, is very poor in nutrients. Large game are few and apart; elusive elephants, cunning apes and dangerous reptiles [anaconda, crocs, etc].

* Weapons *

The bow and arrow, as well as the blowgun, are rendered especially practical because of the abundance of poisons, and so, they are primary weapons in both human conflict and hunting. The largely selvatic environment also makes tactical dependence on mélee weaponry largely impractical, so while bone and flint daggers are in use, they are largely secondary weapons used in case an animal, or a foe, closes in. Short, flexible but heavy rods of wood are very much used in clearing folliage when hiking through the dense rainforest, and their use in a kala-like fashion is rather widespread amongst the bands that inhabit near the jungle or in it.

* Clothing *

Very little clothing is used, other than a sort of leathery thong for men and short pant-like garments for women. And blankets for the few times it's actually cold, of course. The abundance of rain makes clothing rather impractical, as it easily becomes wet... [emic] plus, why bother? it's not like people haven't seen genitalia before[/emic]

* Proto-Language *

flat tone aeiou
high tone áéíóú
falling tone àèìòù
rising-falling âêîôû
flat rising aá eé ií oó uú
flat long aa ee ii oo uu

m n n: m n nn
p t t: k tS b d g p t tt k ch b d g
f s~S s: h f s ss h
j w l 4 y w l r

[Lukas Kelly]

Untitled People


The People
The people are tan skinned, amber eyed, and have tall wiry builds with fast-twitch muscle. They have a flat nose, long limbs, and straight thin hair that goes down to the bottom of the neck, giving shade. They aren't overly strong, but are very fast and have flexible hips(from running from predators, and stalking prey, respectively). Men tend to have an evenly built body, and grow hair on their chin, but not anywhere else usually. Women are slightly shorter than men, and tend to have smaller breasts.
Clothes
Men and women both wear a thin hide (that isn't as tight as leather) that goes from the waist to above the knee. It is still somewhat loose to allow for running though. Aside from that, they don't wear any other daily clothes. Hunters usually wears bones strapped to them with cord, and anyone who has killed a very strong beast, may wear the skull as a helmet.
Weapons and Tools
The weapons they use are a combination between bone and the stem of Ganuv flowers, which act as a very sturdy cane. The first major weapon is a spear, usually with a disk of bone to stop a charging animal from running itself up to the user's hands. Almost all men and many women have these. The next weapon is a simple harpoon, a short throwing spear with a hooked edge so it stays in the animal. The other two weapons are examples of ingenuity. One, is a throwing knife with a sharp, ax-like bone spade at the front end of a long, sharp bone knife, and the back has another blade of a bone knife sticking up at an angle at the back. This deadly combination of blades is used as a throwing knife which flies fairly straight for short distances, but has a great chance of sticking at least one implement into the animal. The other is a trap set in the fields, which consists of a stake on a pivoting branch. It is set next to rocks(all stacked on one side), and is tied down with sinew, so it points away from the rock. It is then tied with a weaker, but still strong, sinew on the other side. It is placed in grass, and when a heard is close, the tendon away from the rocks is cut, and the other sinew pulls it up, with the rocks stopping it at an upwards angle. The result is a surprise set of stacks that the animals crash into.
Tribal Structure
The tribe is made up of many families, with grandparents and immediate family in a home. The tribe is run by two men, the first is the Ziez, or the judge. He is the oldest and wisest of the village and settles disputes within the settlement. The other ruler is the Iwaz, or king. This position is not hereditary and is a man willing to give his life. The king leads hunts, and is expected to give his life fending off an animal to give the others time to escape when needed. On top of that, they lay the corner stone for any new house, and do jobs around the village, from construction to helping someone cook. The Iwaz's main principle is self-sacrifice and the kings are expected to hold their lives and interests as things to be sacrificed for everyone else.
Home Life
The typical home is two stories and surrounded by a wall, with everything being made of large clay and root bricks. The entrance, is cut diagonally into the corner, so it is big enough for humans, but not for animals(who the wall is meant to keep out). Inside the wall contains any assorted plants that the family grows, and the house. The first floor is just an empty room with a ladder, a feature from before there were walls to keep the animal from killing while everyone slept. The second, is where everyone is. One half has hide sacks filled with grass, that act as beds. The other side has a stove(More like an enclosed fire pit that leads the smoke out through the roof), and a pit where everyone sits to eat and socialize.
Proto-Lang
Their proto-lang is being worked on. It seems to be having noun-classes and synthetic word building.
Flora and Fauna
The plains of the savanna is filled with animals, with the ones in the region of the people being described. The first is the Γaddum a large herbivore with a long, bulky body covered in rough, grey skin. It has two short tusks coming up from it's lower jaw, and has two ax-like implements coming from the sides of their head at an angle. The Γaddum will climb up the side of the tree(with its back legs on the grouns), and swing the axe-shaped bone growths to hack off branches. The main grazing animal of the region is the otherworldly Vüm. It looks like one of our grazing animals, but it has one powerful leg behind the back two. Its gait is altered because of this. It springs off of the back, and then propels with the other four before landing the back leg again. The final is the Zavum, the dominant predator of the savanna. It has four legs that are almost like a spider's in how they are positioned away from the body. It has a long nose, with a good sense of smell, and it's snout can open up to reveal razor sharp teeth. It hunts by stalking, as it is usually shorter than the waist high grass where it lives.
Con-Religion
There are already several parts, but I am still fleshing out some proto-mythology.
Early Philosophies
Being Worked on

[Torco]

@finla: I dunno, but from cartographical equivalences I reckon my little island is the size of britain... the original cartographer should release a scale

Oh, and of course, a hi-res map of the Chalmean Island.

[Lukas Kelly]

So, any names?

[Cockroach]

So far we only need to hear back from rickardspaghetti and Christoper Schroeder.

A taste of Ancient Tll-Fusyn

The Ancient Tll-Ikish is the ancestor to most of the modern. It was first written down in the bronze age, and is the Classical tongue of the Tll-Ikish civilization. Ancient Tll-Ikish is related to other Ikishan languages in the temperate zone to the north. It is a weakly inflecting language.

Phonology:
Nasals: m n
Stops: p t k q '-(/ʔ/)
b d g c-(/ɢ/)
Fricatives: ph-(/ɸ/) f th-(/θ/) s sh-(/ʃ/) kh-(/x/) qh-(/χ/) hh-(/ħ/) h
bh-(/β/) v dh-(/ð/) z zh-(/ʒ/) gh-(/ɣ/)
Lateral fricative: l-
Trill: r rh-

Vowels: i u y-(ɪ) e u o

Voiced fricatives are quite rare

Phonotactics: (C)+anything except a stop+(C)

Phunm kaysh mu myl
phun-m kaysh mu myl
help-pl. next 1Pplu. 3Pplu.
We will help them.

Nevs i shilghu as tll fusyn
Nev-s i shil-ghu as tll fusyn
can-neg speak-ger. 3Psin. with Tll tongue
He can't speak Tll-ikish language

Glps hsh!
glp-s hsh
steal-neg emph.
Do not steal!

[Nannalu]

Once I get back from work I wanna post up a little bit about Inywak.

Oh my, I'm excited.

[*Ceresz]

Religion
There is a Mevian saying which goes something like this:


Dvelvoeta anyínn vichicéṣ nal maḷvoeta hal
Fadvoeta anyínn ghemcéṣ nal maḷvoeta droṣ
[dvəl.ˈvɔi.ta a.ˈɲinː vi.xiˈkɛɕ naːl maɬ.ˈvɔi.ta ha:l]
[fad.ˈvɔi.ta a.ˈɲinː ɣɛm.ˈkɛɕ naːl maɬ.ˈvɔi.ta drɔɕ]

We dance under the moonlight
in celebration of life
We hunt under the sunlight
in celebration of death

Code: Select all

Dvel     -voe -ta anyínn vichi -céṣ nal  
to dance -1   P   under  moon  -GEN light

maḷ          -voe -ta hal
to celebrate -1   -P  life

Fad     -voe -ta anyínn ghem -céṣ nal
to hunt -1   -P  under  sun  -GEN light

maḷ          -voe -ta droṣ
to celebrate -1   -P  death

What this basically means is that they respect death and life equally.

The Mevian people believe in a god known as Nalceṣ, which translates to "of light". Nalceṣ is neither male nor female, and is represented by the sun during the day, and by the moon during the night. Nalceṣ is considered to be the god of all life, since s/he is the bringer of light -- and the Mevian people believe strongly that one can not survive without a light source. They (the southern tribes) also believe that the river Halceṣ was a gift from Nalceṣ, and therefore s/he is also the bringer of life.

The northern tribe has another god called Svayudircéṣ, the god of rain. S/he is seen as partner of Nalceṣ by the northern tribe. The southern tribes doesn't worship this god, since they rarely see rain.

Mevians believe that life is a ceremony in it self, but more official ceremonies or rituals do occur. One of them includes feasting in a circle under the moonlight in celebration of Nalceṣ. There are also a lot of people that mate directly under the sunlight or the moonlight in celebration of Nalceṣ.

More to come later today

[Torco]

I just made a wiki for this thing. The name is provisional; since we don't have one I called it Yet Unnamed Collaborative Proyect

http://yucop.wikia.com/wiki/Home

[*Ceresz]

Oh, goodie .

[Lyhoko Leaci]

Map with scale... due to it being in Equirectangular projection (because Celestia uses that, making it easy to map the map onto a planet to check the pinching at the poles) I have listed 3 scales, for 0 degrees, 30 degrees, and 60 degrees. North-south distances used the equatorial scale. The planet has roughly the same circumference as Earth. Not much change between 0 and 30 degrees, though.

[rickardspaghetti]

Yet unnamed people

Appearence:
They're tall(1,80 is the average length for men), have broad shoulders, an overall thick build, dark or grey eyes with epicanthic folds and long lashes. Their hair is straight or, in some cases, wavy with colours ranging from black, to brown, and dark red. They have thick bodyhair and the men like to have big sideburns rather than beards. They have long, thick noses, thin lips, and broad jaws. Their skin colour is like that of East Asians.

Clothing:
Their clothes are mostly made from hide and fur. They have pants, shirts, shoes, gloves, underwear, hats, and big furs when they really need to keep the cold out. Their hats look like conical Asian hats and are made out of either straw, leaves or thin hide.

Weapons and tools:
Their tools are mostly clubs, knives, and axes made of stone(or obsidian, if that's possible). They use wood for shafts and tie the stoneheads to place with rope made of fiber or tendons.
Their weapons are clubs, axes, spears, knives, and bows.

Society:
They live in tribes of up to 20 families each. Each family has their own house and in the center of the village they have the big community house where the tribe's respected elders and representatives from every family meet and discuss matters concerning the tribe. Mostly men are present at these meetings, but it is not uncommon for women to participate. Many tribes have female elders. The community house also serves as a school where the children are taught by the elders. The tribe is supplied with food from hunting, gathering, and primitive agriculture. They mostly hunt deer, elk, wild boar, and big, furry, kangaroo-like marsupials that live on the plains and near the mountains. I have no name for these yet. They also catch fish, clams, and crayfish that live in the rivers, lakes, and the sea. They use small boats made of wood and hide. The gather mostly berries, fruits, herbs, roots, and mushrooms. They really love mushrooms. As for agriculture, they only grow wheat for now. All food is split evenly among the families. Even those who've not been successful in gathering food will still be fed.

Home life:
Their houses are like the trulli in Apulia, Italy. Round, conical, and made of stone. Each family has about 4 - 8 members. The leader of the household is typically the father. If the father is dead, his wife or eldest son take his place. Most people get married between the ages of 15-20. They then leave their old house and build a new one with their partner and the help of their families. A newly wed couple is expected to have their first child within five years. The men of the family go out and hunt or fish during the day. The women either go out to gather food or they stay at home and handle the crops, take care of their children, or make tools, clothes, and prepare food.

Language:
Not finished yet. I have more than 30 words and I'm making it either synthetic or polysynthetic.

Flora and fauna:
I've already mentioned many animals. When it comes to animals my people don't usually hunt, there are birds(many species of Phasianidae), rodents, wolves, bears, foxes, some small marsupials, and less than ten species of snake, only two of which are lethal.
Most of the forests are coniferous, but in the south there are also some deciduous. I can summarise it by saying plant life is like that of Scandinavia or North America.

Religion:
EDITED
They have no theistic religion. Instead they are animists and worship nature and animals. They believe every living thing has an eternal soul(or spirit) which does not disappear when you die, but is reborn in a new body. No new souls are created nor are they ever destroyed. It's almost like the zeroth law of thermodynamics when you think about it. They believe there are many different kinds of souls. The highest group of souls is what we humans have. The lowest kind of soul is that of spiders, myriapods, and most insects. In between these two kinds there are many others, these are pretty much equal to eachother.
I'll have to work this out a bit more.

Philosophy:
Not done yet.

[Torco]

So Chalmea is something like 700 x 1.000 kilometers... that's (very roughly) 700.000 km2 of land; of those, what... 20% is savanna? so like 140.000 square clicks of savanna and some 520.000 of rainforest, with say 40.000 making up a kind of transition tropical woodland. Neat!

Nice to know. If I decide that their neolithic farming techniques allow for some 200 people per square kilometer, considering fallow and all that, and if agriculture accounts for 50% of their diet, and the other 50% is from hunting-gathering (which in a jungle, let's say, is 30 times less productive per km2 of ground used, fields in agriculture and hunting grounds for hunting) it means that... fuck it, I need to make a dynamic table on Excel

[Lukas Kelly]

I just made a wiki for this thing. The name is provisional; since we don't have one I called it Yet Unnamed Collaborative Proyect

http://yucop.wikia.com/wiki/Home

Thanks

Yet unnamed people

Appearence:
They're tall(1,80 is the average length for men), have broad shoulders, an overall thick build, dark or grey eyes with epicanthic folds and long lashes. Their hair is straight or, in some cases, wavy with colours ranging from black, to brown, and dark red. They have thick bodyhair and the men like to have big sideburns rather than beards. They have long, thick noses, thin lips, and broad jaws. Their skin colour is like that of East Asians.

Clothing:
Their clothes are mostly made from hide and fur. They have pants, shirts, shoes, gloves, underwear, hats, and big furs when they really need to keep the cold out. Their hats look like conical Asian hats and are made out of either straw, leaves or thin hide.

Weapons and tools:
Their tools are mostly clubs, knives, and axes made of stone(or obsidian, if that's possible). They use wood for shafts and tie the stoneheads to place with rope made of fiber or tendons.
Their weapons are clubs, axes, spears, knives, and bows.

Society:
They live in tribes of up to 20 families each. Each family has their own house and in the center of the village they have the big community house where the tribe's respected elders and representatives from every family meet and discuss matters concerning the tribe. Mostly men are present at these meetings, but it is not uncommon for women to participate. Many tribes have female elders. The community house also serves as a school where the children are taught by the elders. The tribe is supplied with food from hunting, gathering, and primitive agriculture. They mostly hunt deer, elk, wild boar, and big, furry, kangaroo-like marsupials that live on the plains and near the mountains. I have no name for these yet. They also catch fish, clams, and crayfish that live in the rivers, lakes, and the sea. They use small boats made of wood and hide. The gather mostly berries, fruits, herbs, roots, and mushrooms. They really love mushrooms. As for agriculture, they only grow wheat for now. All food is split evenly among the families. Even those who've not been successful in gathering food will still be fed.

Home life:
Their houses are like the trulli in Apulia, Italy. Round, conical, and made of stone. Each family has about 4 - 8 members. The leader of the household is typically the father. If the father is dead, his wife or eldest son take his place. Most people get married between the ages of 15-20. They then leave their old house and build a new one with their partner and the help of their families. A newly wed couple is expected to have their first child within five years. The men of the family go out and hunt or fish during the day. The women either go out to gather food or they stay at home and handle the crops, take care of their children, or make tools, clothes, and prepare food.

Language:
Not finished yet. I have more than 30 words and I'm making it either synthetic or polysynthetic.

Flora and fauna:
I've already mentioned many animals. When it comes to animals my people don't usually hunt, there are birds(many species of Phasianidae), rodents, wolves, bears, foxes, some small marsupials, and less than ten species of snake, only two of which are lethal.
Most of the forests are coniferous, but in the south there are also some deciduous. I can summarise it by saying plant life is like that of Scandinavia or North America.

Religion:
They have no beliefs in gods, spirits or anything supernatural. They are pantheists and believe everything has a natural origin. They have no afterlife but do believe in reincarnation.
I'll have to work more on this.

Philosophy:
Not done yet.

Are you sure they'd be pantheists? Proto-people tend to have no idea of science and natural origins, and come up with stories about them. It's your people, you can create a new trend if you want to make it less like earth, but I'm just pointing out that it's a pattern in all earth peoples if that is what your going to shoot for.


So, Tarco, do you have a template for the proto-peoples yet?

[roninbodhisattva]

Annndddd as soon as I begun, I'm gonna have to drop. Too much work. Oh well.

[Lukas Kelly]

no problem

[rickardspaghetti]

Are you sure they'd be pantheists? Proto-people tend to have no idea of science and natural origins, and come up with stories about them. It's your people, you can create a new trend if you want to make it less like earth, but I'm just pointing out that it's a pattern in all earth peoples if that is what your going to shoot for.

I'm aware of that. They just revere nature as the greatest and most powerful thing there is. I guess you could also say they are nature worshipers to some extent. But if you think this seems too odd, I could make them animists instead and let them become pantheists later on. OK?

[Lukas Kelly]

Are you sure they'd be pantheists? Proto-people tend to have no idea of science and natural origins, and come up with stories about them. It's your people, you can create a new trend if you want to make it less like earth, but I'm just pointing out that it's a pattern in all earth peoples if that is what your going to shoot for.

I'm aware of that. They just revere nature as the greatest and most powerful thing there is. I guess you could also say they are nature worshipers to some extent. But if you think this seems too odd, I could make them animists instead and let them become pantheists later on. OK?

It's all up to you, not me. But I think if you want to do more with the pantheist thing, have the later guys you do more with be pantheists and these guys be animists, because they'll be likely to change in a thousand years.

[rickardspaghetti]

I shall edit my post then.

[Torco]

Okay, just made it work. this here table should help you determine the amount of land you need to sustain a certain population based on land yield and proportion of agriculture vs. HG

land.7z

(69 Bytes) Downloaded 130 times

It's in xlsx, so you'd need Excel 2007 to run it, tho' earlier versions can be updated to work with the thing, and I imagine openoffice can open it too.

[Lukas Kelly]

Now, for an added twist, you need to find the person whose name is next in alphabetical order from yours. When they are done(ask them), read their stuff and cause some kind of schism. It can be a large polarizing divide, a violent shattering, peacefully splitting into clans, or a large migration. Make sure that whatever you do makes sense and isn't a break from the people's current canon (If they are peace-loving, they won't break into warring factions).

[Lyhoko Leaci]

I think it's a bit early for that, not everyone is even ready (or started in at least one case)... maybe later on?

And what is a .7z file?

[Torco]

Now, for an added twist, you need to find the person whose name is next in alphabetical order from yours. When they are done(ask them), read their stuff and cause some kind of schism. It can be a large polarizing divide, a violent shattering, peacefully splitting into clans, or a large migration. Make sure that whatever you do makes sense and isn't a break from the people's current canon (If they are peace-loving, they won't break into warring factions).

Hey! that's a nice idea! But certainly Ebba is right, it's kind of early for that. What we could do is something similar; maybe A reads B's stuff and asks an interesting question that A then answers in relative detail or something. Also, it would be neat if stuff was in the wiki for easier access, so we can read each other's stuff without having to navigate the already 9 pages of the thread. EDIT2: 8, whatever =P

EDIT: It's the compressed file format that all the cool kids are using these days. you can open it with 7zip, which in turn you can download from here