AFSNES II - Quintessence of Dust

Isn't that the point of #NES?

Subbing. (I'm willing to pretty much go anywhere right now so if anyone else wants to form something in CZ2 or CZ3 I'm here)

Likewise, with the understanding that I'd need some linguistic help.

If anything, subbing, of course I'm not sure I have the capacity to participate. I'll see to it.

Just as a note, I'm not requiring that people design entire languages whole cloth. I just need enough words for geography, some names, and a few other elements to get by.

Assuming you're not going to make your own isolate language, look at the language families, pick a member of the family that's closely related to an area you see yourself starting in, and twist some of the words around. Experiment with it until you have something that sounds coherent, if not pretty.

Luckily I already know an Afro-asiatic language
I know it is not very good, but I'm hoping to build upon that.


Culture Name: Ha Gedolm – CZ1 approximately upper Egypt -

Mythology: The faiths of the Gedolm vary slightly between locations but the religion is wholly united with a rather obvious priestly order called the Sfutim with even more obvious influence over the matters of private lives and the state. Ha Gedolm are mostly spiritual in nature, giving names and vast honor in the form of sacrifice – called Zebich and ritualistic spells – called kasaf and tulul to all sorts of natural occurrences. In RL they would seem extremely superstitious for every patch of grass, every tree, every rock must be attended in the correct way, failing to do so will bring closer the end of life as we know it. Which leads to the key and highest paradigm of their faith – the end is always as near as a single mistake in their rituals. While most natural things have names and rituals, from passing through a rocky area to waking up in the morning, some major natural occurrences have become so central and important to the Gedolm that they have in a way been promoted to a higher level, the level at which society and state as a whole must worship them as greater beings. The first is obviously the great river that crosses their entire culture, brings life and death, the Chaiai River, from which the world for life comes from, Chai. Chaiai is the creator of all things living. It is the being that taught the Gedolm agriculture countless eras ago before it fell into the earth to live among humans for all eternity. Other than the river there are the sun, the moon and the stars. They are called Nurus as a whole, the sources of light other than fire, the natural light that is so important for life. Each of the light sources has its own unique name the sun being the Nurus Elil, the moon being the Nurus Elon, and starts commonly bunched together as the Nurus Kat. There are of course other major natural things that are more highly worshiped but there is not much difference in the way of worshiping each natural thing – all are worshipped by sacrifices and spells, the major deities receiving larger and more complicated scarifies and spells then the rest and much more communal ones being forces that influence civilization as a whole.
The Gedolm see the world as a flat infinite disc, where they are in the center surrounded by endless deserts and rumored endless seas. They see humanity as animals, flesh and life, given gifts from the spirits and deities to make them greater than other animals and to make them rulers of the rest of life. They are here on the world to worship and work for the great powers around them, even when they hunt deer, the deer are in fact spirits that need to be hunted in order to be made happy. Everything is done for the forces of nature and nature itself responds, if treated correctly, with gifts to the humans to make them better and stronger. The first such gift was agriculture.

Society: With the advent of agriculture larger and larger farming settlements took over the view as hunting and gathering became things only those of lesser luck must do to survive, although hunting and gathering still are large sources of food for the Gedolm (hunters and gatherers would trade with farmers for their extras). Large cities are already seen developing with much more central governments usually ruled by the priestly orders of each settlement, the Sfutim. The culture is rather united, thought spells and rituals can change from place to place, as well as the image of the powers of nature. Men are the rulers and masters, women are there as not much more then servants of men to make children and work where the master cannot, as commanded by the river Chaiai. Men form all of the higher levels of society, including priests, warriors etc.
While each settlement is technically free the nation as a whole does worship the major deities forcing some sort of unity, managed by the Sfutim, the priests whose knowledge is far greater than common men and they know the true rituals for the deities and spirits. Sfutim are a closed caste where a Sufut can only be born to another Sufut. Marrying your daughters to a Sufut is considered an extreme honor to a common men, even as a second or third wife but normally Sfutim will marry among themselves. There are no other organized castes but warriors may become an emerging caste as wars become more and more important, and trained none-peasant forces become more and more important.

Material Culture: The Sfutim have a unique white garment made from the richest of fabrics (usually high quality linen) (black at funerals) that they wear when they are outside of their own homes, that covers their entire body in bandages, not unlike a mummy, including their entire face. Only their eyes are seen. The dead are bandaged in the same way, except for Sfutim whose bodies are burned as there is a belief their bodies contain powers that are against nature after they die. Warriors tend to wear very little clothing and paint their bodies in different colors that give them powers from the forces of nature (blue and white being considered the most powerful combination, only used by the most skilled, or by those blessed by the Sfutim). Other than that people wear completely unspecial cloth, usually made from leather or cotton, depending on the person’s riches.
Build techniques are rudimentary at best. Houses outside of cities are made from plant material while in cities they are made from mud bricks. Sfutim houses are usually colored in white from the outside. Nothing larger or more massive exists as of yet.
The written language of the Gedolm is considered sacred, different letter combinations recognized as symbols for certain powers. Only the Sfutim are allowed to study the written language and use it for anything other than pure rituals. Most people are completely illiterate, and tend to depend on the Sfutim for any writing they need for religious matters, this makes the Sfutim very influential over private lives of normal people. Women are forbidden to use the written language. The languages name for the Gedolm is sodon, but outsiders may tend to call it Gedolet.

Abbreviated History: In the beginning spirits roamed endless land. It is then that Chaiai first created life, he created a single tree – Tze. He tried to look at his creation in the eternal darkness that surrounded him, as other spirits came to look as well. Being unable to see anything Elon created the first light in its own image, the Nurus Elon was formed above the endless land, stationary. Chaiai thanked Elon and gifted him a new creation, an enormous grey flower – Prai. Elon picked the flower layered it on the moon surface, making it grey. But Elon’s light was not enough and so Chaiai and Elon held their hands from Nurus Elon to endless land and together formed Nurus Elil. It was brighter than Nurus Elon and both gods enjoyed the warmth of their new creation. To their surprise Tze begun growing larger and then let go endless numbers of tiny things, seeds – Zerg. The seeds flew around and landed on many spots, giving rise to more Tze. Chaiai enjoyed his creation’s growth, but Elon was fearful of its powers and so he entered Nurus Elil and gave it half of all its power. Elil became brighter than ever, and the extreme warmth and light begun to kill the Tze forests. Very few were left and Chaiai wanted more green, and so he created grass that spread across the land and in order to appease Elon he created animals that fed upon the grass and did not allow it to grow uncontrollably.

Geographic Errata: Well first and foremost we have Chaiai – the great river that flows in the center of all things. In the sunrise side we have a great desert called Elil and on the sunset side we have Elon. Other than that there isn’t really much to name. Major cities are Kedem (where Kaden begun his uprising, right at the center and not far from the Chai hill where the Chai ceremony is held every 21 years, marked by a small mud brick temple). Other major cities are Lifat, Taiti and Chor, most other towns are probably too small to be of any importance. The city names also give the dynasty names and are actually based on the Melich’s name, a city can change its name easily, and some Malichs (like Chor) have changed their city name to their own name – that is practically the only power Malichs hold these days.

That's a pretty interesting history, erez. I'll give you my critiques this evening, but overall I think this can work with some changes.

I would encourage you to talk to azale and wrymouth who are working on applications to your immediate north. And anyone else who wants to be in this region as well.

My comments here shouldn't deter anyone else from applying in this region, or be construed as a pre-approval per-se. This is just constructive criticism to help erez improve his submission.

erez87 said:

Culture Name: Ha Gedolm – CZ1 approximately upper Egypt -

Mythology: The faiths of the Gedolm vary slightly between locations but the religion is wholly united with a rather obvious priestly order called the Sfutim with even more obvious influence over the matters of private lives and the state. Ha Gedolm are mostly spiritual in nature, giving names and vast honor in the form of sacrifice – called Zebich and ritualistic spells – called kasaf and tulul to all sorts of natural occurrences. In RL they would seem extremely superstitious for every patch of grass, every tree, every rock must be attended in the correct way, failing to do so will bring closer the end of life as we know it. Which leads to the key and highest paradigm of their faith – the end is always as near as a single mistake in their rituals. While most natural things have names and rituals, from passing through a rocky area to waking up in the morning, some major natural occurrences have become so central and important to the Gedolm that they have in a way been promoted to a higher level, the level at which society and state as a whole must worship them as greater beings. The first is obviously the great river that crosses their entire culture, brings life and death, the Chaiai River, from which the world for life comes from, Chai. Chaiai is the creator of all things living. It is the being that taught the Gedolm agriculture countless eras ago before it fell into the earth to live among humans for all eternity. Other than the river there are the sun, the moon and the stars. They are called Nurus as a whole, the sources of light other than fire, the natural light that is so important for life. Each of the light sources has its own unique name the sun being the Nurus Elil, the moon being the Nurus Elon, and starts commonly bunched together as the Nurus Kat. There are of course other major natural things that are more highly worshiped but there is not much difference in the way of worshiping each natural thing – all are worshipped by sacrifices and spells, the major deities receiving larger and more complicated scarifies and spells then the rest and much more communal ones being forces that influence civilization as a whole.
The Gedolm see the world as a flat infinite disc, where they are in the center surrounded by endless deserts and rumored endless seas. They see humanity as animals, flesh and life, given gifts from the spirits and deities to make them greater than other animals and to make them rulers of the rest of life. They are here on the world to worship and work for the great powers around them, even when they hunt deer, the deer are in fact spirits that need to be hunted in order to be made happy. Everything is done for the forces of nature and nature itself responds, if treated correctly, with gifts to the humans to make them better and stronger. The first such gift was agriculture.

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Generally speaking, I think this is okay. I think that giving the geographical features the same name as the gods is a little kitschy, and I would prefer you to give them separate names. Even if the river *is* the embodiment of the god, the god clearly has multiple aspects, and God-as-river could be different from God-as-heavenly-creator. That's why I prefer separate names.

For example, even though Apollo was the sun-god, the sun itself was still called Helios. I'm fine with Chaiai being the god and the river, but I would prefer for the river and the god to have different names.

erez87 said:

Society: With the advent of agriculture larger and larger farming settlements took over the view as hunting and gathering became things only those of lesser luck must do to survive, although hunting and gathering still are large sources of food for the Gedolm (hunters and gatherers would trade with farmers for their extras). Large cities are already seen developing with much more central governments usually ruled by the priestly orders of each settlement, the Sfutim. The culture is rather united, thought spells and rituals can change from place to place, as well as the image of the powers of nature. Men are the rulers and masters, women are there as not much more then servants of men to make children and work where the master cannot, as commanded by the river Chaiai. Men form all of the higher levels of society, including priests, warriors etc.

While each settlement is technically free the nation as a whole does worship the major deities forcing some sort of unity, managed by the Sfutim, the priests whose knowledge is far greater than common men and they know the true rituals for the deities and spirits. Sfutim are a closed caste where a Sufut can only be born to another Sufut. Marrying your daughters to a Sufut is considered an extreme honor to a common men, even as a second or third wife but normally Sfutim will marry among themselves. There are no other organized castes but warriors may become an emerging caste as wars become more and more important, and trained none-peasant forces become more and more important.

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This is good, but you should talk more about how the warrior caste evolves. By the end of the period the great civilizations will be fielding large, professional armies, masses of chariots and armored warriors.

erez87 said:

Material Culture: The Sfutim have a unique white garment made from the richest of fabrics (usually high quality linen) (black at funerals) that they wear when they are outside of their own homes, that covers their entire body in bandages, not unlike a mummy, including their entire face. Only their eyes are seen. The dead are bandaged in the same way, except for Sfutim whose bodies are burned as there is a belief their bodies contain powers that are against nature after they die. Warriors tend to wear very little clothing and paint their bodies in different colors that give them powers from the forces of nature (blue and white being considered the most powerful combination, only used by the most skilled, or by those blessed by the Sfutim). Other than that people wear completely unspecial cloth, usually made from leather or cotton, depending on the person’s riches.

Build techniques are rudimentary at best. Houses outside of cities are made from plant material while in cities they are made from mud bricks. Sfutim houses are usually colored in white from the outside. Nothing larger or more massive exists as of yet.

The written language of the Gedolm is considered sacred, different letter combinations recognized as symbols for certain powers. Only the Sfutim are allowed to study the written language and use it for anything other than pure rituals. Most people are completely illiterate, and tend to depend on the Sfutim for any writing they need for religious matters, this makes the Sfutim very influential over private lives of normal people. Women are forbidden to use the written language. The languages name for the Gedolm is sodon, but outsiders may tend to call it Gedolet.

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This is fine, except for the fact that the Sfutim can have much more elaborate and impressive dwellings and temple complexes. Your location means that you have one of the largest pools of available labor in the world thus far, and the Sfutim will be required to organize the masses to accomplish large irrigation projects to keep them all from starving. The power they hold over the common people gives them the ability to conscript the farmers as builders during the off-season, and I encourage you to consider what you can accomplish with that.

erez87 said:

Abbreviated History: In the beginning spirits roamed endless land. It is then that Chaiai first created life, he created a single tree – Tze. He tried to look at his creation in the eternal darkness that surrounded him, as other spirits came to look as well. Being unable to see anything Elon created the first light in its own image, the Nurus Elon was formed above the endless land, stationary. Chaiai thanked Elon and gifted him a new creation, an enormous grey flower – Prai. Elon picked the flower layered it on the moon surface, making it grey. But Elon’s light was not enough and so Chaiai and Elon held their hands from Nurus Elon to endless land and together formed Nurus Elil. It was brighter than Nurus Elon and both gods enjoyed the warmth of their new creation. To their surprise Tze begun growing larger and then let go endless numbers of tiny things, seeds – Zerg. The seeds flew around and landed on many spots, giving rise to more Tze. Chaiai enjoyed his creation’s growth, but Elon was fearful of its powers and so he entered Nurus Elil and gave it half of all its power. Elil became brighter than ever, and the extreme warmth and light begun to kill the Tze forests. Very few were left and Chaiai wanted more green, and so he created grass that spread across the land and in order to appease Elon he created animals that fed upon the grass and did not allow it to grow uncontrollably.

Many more myths and legends since have made the Gedolm curious and fearful of the future. Their culture must have existed for a very long time as they have always known themselves to be farmers. Chaiai have seen lied down on the earth to give its blue flowing life to everything around it, in particular the Gedolm. He gifted them agriculture ages ago and Nurus Elil had gifted them fire. Every child knew the myths and histories of the deities and spirits, and all knew that they must always be appeased or their anger will destroy everything.

The year was 2600 (3455bc). The counting is done from the day Chaiai have come down to the land to live among the life he created. Small towns appeared everywhere, farming was highly successful for the Gedolm around Chaiai and they flourished for countless eras. But in 2600 Chaiai was angry. He was not correctly appeased and a great famine and disease was brought upon the Gedolm. For twenty years Chaiai has given the Gedolm so little to eat, and have continued to poison them with disease. It was then that a Sfut named Mirom have called upon the Sfutim and told them of his discovery. He found an ancient text, claiming it must have been written by Chaiai himself. The text contained an ancient and bizarre ceremony, said to be able to appease Chaiai. Mirom went through the Gedolm lands and collected a thousand bulls for the sacrifice. Many who had little, have lost all they have, but after four years of Chai ceremony the water returned to flood the farmlands and the disease was all but gone. The Sfutim after Mirom have died said the ceremony must be held near Chaiai every 21 years, or else death will come again. For a 105 years the ceremony worked, but then, at the time for the 9th Chai ceremony many of the people were hard pressed to give their bulls to the Sfutim, even while the Sfutim gave nothing. An uproar begun among the peasants and the Sfutim attempted to calm the people by force. It was Sfut Malik who first killed peasants who refused to give him their bulls. He was burned alive that day. The peasant revolution grew bigger and stronger and the Sfutim had to hurry and find a solution, even more than that, the disease and famine they promised have not yet appeared. It was then, 2709 years since Chaiai have come, that a Sfut named Mair helped a peasant named Jor uncover a new scroll. The scrolls was a continuation of the Chai scrolls of the past, and in it were ancient regulations of the Chai ceremony. It was said to have been written by Elil, giver of fire and birth. The regulation commanded that the bulls must be taken only from those who can give it, but that no more than half can come from Sfutim. Before the end of the year a famine had struck in the south of the Gedolm lands, warning all that Chaiai’s punishment is coming. On the next year the Chai ceremony was held, and no famine came and no disease.

Gedolm’s history is rather simplistic, at least until 3382 (2673bc). That was the year of the second uprising but this time it was different. A Sfut named Kadem have called upon the people of his city to rise against the other Sfutim. He claimed they have been mismanaging their rule over the heavens and claimed that in the latest Chai ceremony they did not sacrifice a thousand bulls, but only 500, the 500 they got from the peasants. At first very few joined him but when on the next year a famine have fallen upon the Gedolm again many begun to believe him. Vast numbers joined his cry, among them Sfutim as well. A great army was formed, the warrior’s clan first appearance as a united force, under leadership from several peasants, Yosu, Jeor and a third man named Mirom. Together the force was unstoppable and the Sfutim who did not join quickly fell to Kadem’s forces. Kadem died three years into the uprising and his son, a young man named Mair, risen up to take control over the uprising. After another 4 years of fighting the old order was defeated and a new one had risen. The Sfutim who sided with Mair became the new leadership, and Mair was made their head in an ancient and newly discovered ceremony. He was made into the first Melich, a royal title of the one who was one with Chaiai’s word. Mair ruled over all of the Gedolm for 30 years and on his death several groups of Sfutim made Melich of a man of their own, causing the sort-of kingdom to fracture into several fighting sects where a single rather weak Melich officially control the religion with his Sfutim under him controlling every tiny bit of private lives of the peasants. Warrior sects have also grown since the uprising of Kadem, they are called Yadi Kidim, hands of Kadem, and they are practically mercenaries that roam the land.

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I don't really have many problems with this, though I balk at the term 'revolution' for what is a new Sfut leading armies against the discredited members of the formerly ruling Sfutim, implying no change in government whatsoever but a simple return to 'proper' ritualistic practice. That's just a nitpick though.

Elaborating a bit more on different varieties of the Sfutim would be helpful. Do different groups in different cities tend to venerate different gods more or less? You've shown a lot of intra-Sfutim rivalry but more information on what drives that would be helpful. I know you're an ESL speaker but clean up the grammar a bit if you can. Also, you've only marked off a fairly small area on the map. I don't know if anyone is planning to work in Lower Egypt but some details on your neighbors (northern and southern) would be helpful just in case. Would they ever intervene in your people's history or would your people seek to intervene in their affairs?

Obviously you have a lot more time to cover, since you focused on a fairly small slice of your history. I can gladly fill up the remaining 1000 years you left blank, but it will probably end up with you getting conquered and enslaved.

erez87 said:

Geographic Errata: Well first and foremost we have Chaiai – the great river that flows in the center of all things. In the sunrise side we have a great desert called Elil and on the sunset side we have Elon. Other than that there isn’t really much to name. Major cities are Kedem (where Kaden begun his uprising, right at the center and not far from the Chai hill where the Chai ceremony is held every 21 years, marked by a small mud brick temple). Other major cities are Lifat, Taiti and Chor, most other towns are probably too small to be of any importance. The city names also give the dynasty names and are actually based on the Melich’s name, a city can change its name easily, and some Malichs (like Chor) have changed their city name to their own name – that is practically the only power Malichs hold these days.

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You recycled the name of the sun and the moon for the deserts, too? Your people must get seriously confused in conversations. Rename those as well.

EDIT: Just to clarify, the way you handled the early half of your history is fine for detail; I just need a few more major events like that occurring throughout the centuries. The burden on you is higher because your history starts 'earlier' due to your location, but you also have more opportunity for greatness.

Azale said:

Any of you COOL CATS have online resources that would be useful for Thy's NES? I'm thinking something smaller than a book of several hundred pages, but if that's all you got then that's fine too

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In addition to the www.ancient.eu site I linked in WWW, I can also give a shout out to http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/asbook.asp. My alma mater conveniently has one of the best collections of historical primary source documents on the internet.

Obviously since we're diverging very early in human history, you wouldn't want to base your stuff off of or copy any of this, but it's great for getting you thinking in the right direction, since your alternate societies and these real societies share a hypothetical common ancestor somewhere. The legal texts in particular might be very useful.

One more small note: I'm relaxing the requirement on the group template folks. You only need to write 150 words each for your nearest 2 neighbors, though if you wish to write about most or all of them that's fine.

People in large groups were potentially having to write almost twice as much and I don't want people to get overwhelmed.

I strongly encourage you to PM me, or post your draft templates in thread, if you want feedback before the deadline this Sunday.

Might lurk/submit something....maybe.

Nice to see you back, Kal. I love drawing old players out of their hidey-holes.

In all seriousness though, there will be plenty of additional space for more players after the first turn if you need time to think, though those brave stalwarts who go first will receive all sorts of intangible, unusable bonus points in my book.

Wasn't Helios a titan? I know in Greek mythology that major things were usually titans, rather then gods, like Gaia was the earth itself and Oceanus the oceans. The river is Chaiai itself, the river is life after all.

As for the names in the end, yeah that was out of laziness.

About the land of lower Egypt, I was waiting for someone to write something for it, to write about it myself, but I can easily stretch my culture to both lower and upper Egypt.

I will reform the history too soon, probably a few more power switches that end up changing nothing. As for the BIG structures you suggested I construct. Considering the first RL Pyramid (something that isn't a mud brick structure) was built a few years before the end of the BT I was thinking such structures will evolve in the culture as it becomes more despotic and less shamanistic. It will be part of the reformed history.

Then keep Chaiai as the name for the river, but give the god an additional name before it becomes Chaiai. Gods in ancient eras tend to take a variety of forms, names, and titles, with the consolidated aspect a later development of religious reform. This is true in both Abrahamic religions and Eastern ones.

Yeah, you don't have to do something pyramid-scale if you don't want to, but even large mastabas were done fairly early and the necessary social structure of almost any Nilotic society makes it easy to do.

As for Lower Egypt, I actually have some decent ideas for that. I'm going to collaborate with azale on designing a progenitor culture, during which his Cypriots Alashiyans enter the historical record as a subject tribe of theirs. I'm leaning towards the name Ashylam or something similar, so feel free to use some permutation thereof to refer to your northern neighbors.

Edit: I also know I'm breaking my own rule about not referring to places by their historical names. As soon as we have appropriate replacements we'll be going with those.

Please read the following sections and guidelines, especially if you're interested in a CZ1 submission. This post came out of a conversation with Dachs, who was interested in getting a more detailed framework for player actions. [Thanks Dachs! ] I'll be adding this to the first post.

On Determinism

Moderating and playing in a "realistic" fresh start NES comes with a unique set of challenges, because "realism" often means "being guided by what happened in real history," but being guided too closely by what happened in real history risks railroading players into predetermined outcomes, effectively making them non-participants in a recreation of our own Earth's history by any other name. The NES I aim to create will hopefully occupy a middle ground between total historical determinism and totally unrealistic outcomes, the ideal nirvana of "interestingly different but plausible."

Most of these choices are my battle to fight, but obviously as good players you want to help. By this point, you're probably asking the question, "What can and can't I do?" You already know the language-family rule seen in the On Language section of the rules, so continue to follow that. One of the other main ways in which we *are* being deterministic, at least for BT 1 and BT 2, is by following the spread of civilization at the same pace it spread in OTL, to +/- 200 years. We will be calling this the Two Hundred Rule.

"Well, what does that really mean?" you probably reply. "And can you give me a handy rule of thumb to help?" you also think, if you're smart.

Civilizational Spread During BT 1



The best way to measure civilizational spread is by the spread of writing. There are *civilizations* all over Eurasia by this point in time if we define civilizations as "organized tool-using humans living in collective habitations of hundreds or more," but for the purposes of this game, a tree hasn't fallen in the forest if nobody can hear it, and a civilization hasn't existed if it can't leave a written recording for posterity. Also, with writing comes the ability to administer distant settlements through written orders, create a bureaucracy and etc. You know all this already.

CZ 1a invented writing first. Players in this region will be responsible for between 1500 and 2000 years of recorded history. [Pseudo-recorded near the beginning is fine.] This means you'll be passing through multiple iterations of centralization and collapse, with at least 2 or 3 hegemonic/dynastic cycles passing, assuming that's the political model you follow. Near the end of your history, CZ1b neighbors and migrants will be able to challenge your regional dominance with increasing success. Your culture is extremely powerful and influential, and your economic resources are unparalleled until near the end of BT 1.

CZ 1b exists on the periphery of 1a, and writing will most likely spread here from 1a's scripts. You will be responsible for approximately 1000 years of history, though you are not obligated to chronicle it as coherently as 1a is. You will come into existence influenced economically and culturally by your forerunners in CZ 1a. These regions are less supportive of massive cities and populations, but are key lynchpins of trade and important resources like metals, allowing expansionist states to easily challenge the older CZ 1a hegemons. Regression into tribalism is possible during a collapse.

CZ 1c exists on the true periphery of civilization. You will be responsible for 100-500 years of true history, as your regions are but the first stabs of a people very close to tribalism at creating an organized society. Regression/fragmentation back into tribalism is quite likely. Large, organized polities may not even emerge in this region by the very end of BT1, but they still can. If they do emerge (especially on the fringes of CZ 1a and 1b) organized states can be extremely powerful and potentially quite large, but are extremely unstable.

To take one example, the oldest discovered Mycenaean writings date back to around 1450 BC, just a *little* bit after the end of BT 1. So, if you wanted to run a culture in OTL Greece, you'd probably be able to squeeze in a writing system using the Two Hundred Rule.

For players in CZ2 and CZ3, use the Two Hundred Rule to determine how much history you have to chronicle.

Very handy even for those outsize CZ 1, thanks Thlayli

Np.

It's recommended that you at least touch on your writing system in the Material Culture section of the submission template, though not required. It's very possible that at some point you'll be using someone else's writing system, if not their language.

Culture Name: The Suniwotr (Roughly: The Water Children)
Mythology: The Suniwotr believe in three forces: that of water, called wotr (also sometimes mehan, or moon, due to its position as an anti-sun and also because of the moon’s connection to the tides); balance, named doǵhum, or land (also sometimes literally wodrshen, or “water-sun” and the sun, called shzin. Wotr, signifying the river and its life giving properties, is the main focus of the religion. They worship it as a god, and claim that once all the land was water, until the doǵhum created land for humans to live on. While the humans thank the doǵhum for allowing them to live, they still revere wotr as the original force, and the being that actually created the humans on the land doǵhum brought forth. In the beginning, claim the Suniwotr, they lived in harmony with the river, requiring only water to survive. It was not until the sun came into being that men were forced to work at the plow and till the field. Many men starved, until the wotr brought forth plants for the humans to eat from the doghum, and the doghum gave the humans animals. Over the years, doghum moved from a force associated with water to a neutral one, flooding with water as often as cracking under the sun, and bringing forth food which is required by the sun but provided by the water. However, while the sun is seen often as something which is not in harmony with humans, it also has an aspect in which the humans recognize that it brings light for them to see and is an essential part of agriculture. This aspect, a more beneficial one than shzin, is named makhyzar, or big star, and the two united are known as leuk, or light. However, the term leuk is rarely used, and instead often one of its forms are stretched to mean both.
Society: The society of the Suniwotr is organized into a descending hierarchy: the direct royal family (though not extended family -- those are considered equal to priests of dogum, at best), the priests of wotr, the priests of doghum, the public officials, the priests of makhyzar, the farmers, slaves and finally foreigners. The royal family, at the top, includes only those of the direct royal line: paternal grandparents, parents, siblings and children of the king. The lack of inclusion of the extended family is intended to prevent them from becoming too powerful in the government and eventually usurping power from the king. Next is the priests of wotr, who are revered second only to the royals in power and prestige. They are chosen from the most intelligent boys in the capital and trained from a young age to revere and worship wotr. The boys seen as unfit to do this are pushed down to the next level, that of the priests of doghum. The doghum priests are not seen in nearly as favorable a light as those of wotr, and are nearly equal to the more powerful officials in the government. However, due to the little overlap between priesthood and public officials in everyday matters, conflicts are rare. The public officials handle, mostly,day to day activities. They, themselves, have a hierarchy that is very complicated among themselves, but it is far too complex to document here. Below them are the priests of makhyzar (never shzin), who are not all that well liked, and only praised on the festival days for the sun. Farmers have very little power in day to day activities, due primarily to their low education level and their disunity. Slaves are very rarely permanent slaves, instead working off debts or criminals serving a sentence. Foreigners are seen as the lowest of the low, above only women, due to they primarily only being seen during war. Women are at the bottom. While there are some female priests, they are mostly only kept as concubines for the male priests, but also advise the queen. The only women with only real power are the mother of the king, as she oversees her child’s education and often rules as regent, the chief concubine of the king, and the wife of the king. These rankings are rarely concrete, and there is often overlap. For example, a particularly skilled treasurer or trusted adviser of the king may be seen as above the priests of wotr. Soldiers are outside the ranking system, but when discharged are seen as equal to farmers.
Material Culture: The most readily available source of building material is the clay block, which is seen as almost holy due to its perfect melding of the three forces: dirt from doghum, water from wotr and heat from hyztar. Most buildings and monuments are made out of this, and other materials (stone, wood, metal) are rarely seen in architecture. The main clothing is cotton, because it is grown nearly everywhere. However, leather is also often worn, being taken from cattle, and wool is sheared from goats. The main source of ornamentation are crystals, due to the way the light plays off them resembling water. Gold, surprisingly, is not seen as an extraordinarily beautiful thing, due both to its resemblance to the shzin and sand. However, it is often used by priests of the makhyztar, due to the aforementioned similarities. The main religious symbol is the interlocking of a curved line (wotr) with a square (doghum) and a smaller circle (makhyztar). However, any one of those symbols is likewise considered holy. Monuments, when made, are almost always of people and rarely portray animals, due to the belief that animals, while stemming from doghum, only exist because of the discord with shzin. The same applies to food, though to a lesser extent, because it is seen as coming directly from wotr. The color blue (water) and black (silt) are seen as good, while yellow (sand and sun) and red (blood and sand) are seen in a less favorable light. Green and brown are associated strongly with doghum.
Abbreviated History: In the beginning, the Suniwotr were little more than a wandering tribe, hunting and gathering. However, when farming was discovered, they settled near the Selim river (Which very roughly translates to seed river) and set up a small community. As with most prehistoric civilizations, at first they were little more than a single town, a settlement on the banks of a river. However, their organization and tremendous skill at working together helped them survive the early year, and soon they were flourishing. It was then that they encountered other similar settlements, and at first they were not terribly open to assimilation. Generations of trade and interbreeding between villages, though, led to closer ties, and eventually the two cultures merged. Early Suniwotr religion (the idyllic state of belief in unity with the river referenced earlier) was very different from the religion after the merge, as at first they worshipped only the water. However, once they were forced to combine religions with other early cultures in the area, it was formed into something similar to the current one. It was around the time of this religious reform that the many “Suniwotr” communities began identifying as such, as opposed to the “foreign” communities beyond the culture’s bounds. Closer ties were made to other villages of similar religious and cultural practices, and those communities who held different beliefs were seen as bad or lesser. Once this distinction was made, between Suniwotr and non-Suniwotr, a sort of xenophobia arose, in which the wotr-worshippers saw others as lower than even slaves in the social hierarchy. Around 3500 BCE, the change from a heterogenous mix of cultures to a homogenous Suniwotr bloc surrounded by other groups was finished. Nearly 500 years later, around 3050 BCE, the first major cities arose, amalgamations of small villages grouped together. Numbering over five thousand people on occasion, these were little more than large villages. However, around another 300 years from that point, many were reformed to be more orderly. Rudimentary sewage, irrigation and city planning could be seen here, along with a basic bureaucracy. At the same time, beliefs for the Suniwotr religion were laid out, in the most basic sense possible. Three festival days, one for each force, were created, along with priesthoods and burial practices. After the priesthoods were created, another 100 years or so elapsed until the beginnings of the hierarchy system was put in place, and at around 2700 BCE it began to permeate all levels of society. Also near 2700 BCE, the first real overarching political power was created. The king Hyenpehn, a man about which little is known, is said to have united many of the villages and been the first Suniwotr “king”. However, he left only one daughter, a woman named Filipehn, and she was unable to keep his kingdom together after his death. However, since then, the Suniwotr have had a ruler. Very few have tried to exert their power over the commoners, and if they have, it was either ineffective or in small ways. For the most part, it was heriditary, but more than one succession has seen bloodshed and political maneuvering, most notably after the death of the heirless Sneigwedore. The most recent event was the creation of the Mehdom, which is the largest temple yet for the Suniwotr populace, constructed using mostly farmers in the offseason and slaves. It was the first real display of royal power, and was met with resistance as much as positive reactions. Some see it as not the right of the royals to exert their power in such a way, and many officials are against such a thing, but the priests, obviously, support it heartily.
Geographic Errata: The river is named the Selim River, and most smaller rivers are named after their defining features (e.g. Tree River or Rock River). The mountains to the north are named the Meguper. The plains are called the Meli plains, which the ocean (which few have seen) is the salmeg.
Group Template [Optional]: If someone joins near me, I’ll fill this out. In general, the Suniwotr are isolationist.

Total Word Count: 1668

I just wanted to showcase some of the good work that <nuke> has done for CZ3. He's been putting in a lot of work on preparing his submission for this region and is well on his way to modifying the general opinion of him being an incompetent layabout.



I'm showing off his work because I don't think this map will make it as-is into the NES if his submission is accepted, but it's definitely a very useful point of reference and I will probably use some of it. He also has some interesting government proposals, which I'm sure you'll see when he posts his submission.

I'd encourage other CZ3 applicants to talk to him and see what he's been doing, for a potential collaboration.

I guess I can feel free to enlarge my submission in accordance with that map. It will just shrink in accordance to your decisions.