TerraNES2: No Change Necessary

Lord_Herobrine said:

Did you even see the post from m.t.cicero? He said that he wanted to move to the Mesopotamia cradle. Instead of marking him at the mouth of the Danube, I marked him where he wanted to move to

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Oh right. Oops sorry

@ All: Please don’t use accents over much. Some is ok. Overusing it causes hatred. Also, please specify your location as much as possible. Even the choice of east/west/north/south bank of the river may, can, and probably WILL become significant. Also, if you are all by yourself, you’d better contribute and make my effort to supply you and you alone with interesting events and NPC’s worthwhile. This is not only for my sake, but also for making your region more interesting and inticing for others to join you. Similarly, most of you have ideas which can be easily transplanted into a cradle. I won’t force you. Finally, just because an area is blank on the map doesn’t mean nothing is happening. Especially the cradles. Even if no one joins India until turn 17, and no one explores India, someone can join India then, start with a relative large and advanced empire based on backstory, and balanced by various neighboring foes. Final update 0 submissions due in 16 hours or so!

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1: The accents were due to my attempt to translate my nation's name into Chinese, and then re-write it into Latin characters. I probably won't do it again, since it makes little sense for my people to speak Google Translate Chinese.

2: The main City of the Dragon Temple is on the east bank of the river, though there is farmland and fortifications on both sides.

3: Neighbors (to be modified if anyone joins near me)

To the north of our nation, the land is populated by nomads, who worship numerous idols and spirits (all just different manifestations of the evil sorcerer, who still inhabits the wastes of the furthest northwards regions of the world). Some of these nomads are open to learning the ways of the dragon. Others are hostile to us, believing the lies of their false god. All of them became wild during the long winter, and now know farming and no tradecraft, except for the keeping of sheep.

To the South, lies the Dragon's Bay, out of which two other great rivers run. We do not know about the Southern river (Yangtze). The Northern river (yellow river) is populated by farmers, who grow a strange white grain (rice). We have found that this crop grows poorly in the land of the dragon, so is clearly inferior to ours. All of them place great emphasis on worshipping their ancestors, who they believe can influence the world, and live on in the form of sprits or animals. They also view the world in terms of a balance, between life and death, between summer and winter, and between good and evil. Truly, a fatalistic philosophy! We of the dragon know better, that evil can be purged from the world. These farmers of the white grain have three primary cities: On the coast, the city of Tianjin stands. It is a city of traders, with whom we have amicable relations, though they so far refuse to accept the way of the dragon. They wield a powerful navy, but their influence does not go far inland.
Inland lies the free city of Anyang.

Further inland still, lies the Xia dynasty, a state that has pretensions of ruling over all of that river (hah! We were appointed by the great one to rule over the world, and will prove to them the falsity of the sorcerer's lies). They are lead by an absolute monarch, who believes himself to be divine. They have discarded the philosophy of balance that is followed by the other two states, and instead view the world as inherently evil, with the emperor's law and order being needed to allow stability, happiness and cooperation. Obedience to the law, in their mind, is the only thing that could bring prosperity (we agree. But the law must not come from the foolish minds of mortals tricked by the sorcerer. It must come from the Great Dragon, who commands us!).

To the East, there are tribal people, who claim to trade with the state of Asadal, with which we have not made contact. We know that it has large reserves of bronze, but is cursed with agriculturally poor land (OOC: This is an old name for the OTL city of Pyonyang).

Night is cold but the fire inside is warm. The bowl of cabbage in the hand offers the only salvation. Welcome, to the Cabbage Kingdom.


Located in the cold lands of today's Crimea, Cabbage Kingdom is comprised of a single independent city-state and a host of theoretically independent villages all of whom feed food and taxpayer dollar to support a weak and powerless king and corrupt and powerful city council which is intent in preserving its power, no matter the cost. The votes for positions within the city council happens every 4 years under the careful watch of city guards with vague but menacing rights so that no citizen votes incorrectly.

For the vast majority of the people in the Cabbage Kingdom, life is comprised of raising vegetables (such as cabbage), wheat, herding cows and other livestock, and also killing, ing, and stealing from other people in the Cabbage Kingdom for survival and food once the stock of cabbages run low in the winter.

By the vote of the city council by 104:12 10 years ago, past, does not exist in the Cabbage Kingdom. As such, all historical information past 10 years were expunged from all records.

Culture: The Cabbage Kingdom folks live simple lives of farming, raiding other villages and raping their women, and obeying the words of the city council blindly and dumbly. Many people keep axes and other useful weapons of war within their homes, so that they may be able to use them in times of war or to defend themselves from others who may come to steal their cabbages. Traditional family values do not apply to the people of the Cabbage Kingdom, who are known to take concubines and such.

Neighbors: To the north of the Cabbage Kingdom lies the disgustingly barbaric Viscera Kingdom, who worship dark and forbidden gods upon their totem poles made of animal skull and body parts. Beware, for every men of this...horrid... place must be considered armed and dangerous. They have in the past made many raids upon the people of the Cabbage Kingdom, disrupting the flow of wealth to the city council.

To the East lies the Horse Kingdom, named as such for their love of horses. The smell of horse meat can be scented nearly miles away from any of their settlement and they live a nomadic life of leading their horses through pastures so that they can be fattened up and consumed. They do not ride horses.

terrance said:

@ Southern King
Yeah, Dakinsa Raj as it were is definitely not allowed. But variations on a theme are OK with me, as long as it doesn’t get Iggypunched. That said, Amaranth sounds alright, with a plus that your backstory fits Tycho’s. There’s the slight issue the manpower and techniques necessary to piledrive a city foundation isn’t there yet, but I’ll handwave some drier islands and we are good.

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To avoid handwaving, I can just move my city the few dozen miles south to OTL Ravenna then.

That's a lot of players in Europe. I may move into Asia then if that's going to be how it is.

I'd like to join. There must be a few hours left?

Name: Utum
Colour: Red.
Location: Mouth of Euphrates (I suppose Tigirs and Euphrates still both run into the sea? If not then a bit north of the shore, near Ur).

Background:

Utum is a city built by Unuam'Ma, the First King, when Esu, lord of the Flowing Water, ordered him to move north from the seashore along the bank of the Tualmashi river (Euphrates). Esu taught Unuam'Ma how to build canals and use the clear water to bring life to the fields.
Unfortunately, Samat, Lady of the Salt, was displeased by the founding of the city of Utum. There, noone worshipped Her in the way they worshipped Esu, so she sent her waves to sink ships, and salt to poison the lands. As it didn't suffice, she ordered raiders from the southwest to attack the city. Unuam'MA fought the invaders and drove them off, but he was wounded to death in the fight.
His son Bilga built walls around the city with the help of the Divine Bull that Esu sent him, and the city stood better protected from the invaders.
Bilga's son Utanash, and Utanash's son Pishba, reigned after him. But Pishba only had one daughter to succeed him. This caused a lot of strife, but eventually, Ereshat, the First Queen, called upon Samat and her minions to repel her cousins and establish her supremacy.
Since her time, Queens have been reigning in Utum. They worship Samat of the salted waves and supervise the work of fishermen and the difficult trade with the hostile southerners. Meanwhile, the prince consorts worship Esu and the divine bull, tend upon the canals and the fields and trade with the northerners.

Culture:
Most Utumites,both men and women, are worshippers of Esu. A nobility of worshippers of Samat rule over them, and claim priestly powers. The Queen has several consorts. The nobility is matrilinear, with women having several husbands. Among the low people, women have a single husband, and the culture is patriarchal.
Samat is considered a goddess of salt and death, who needs Esu to bring her water and life. Fertilised, she is the lady of the sea and the fish, of bounty. Without Esu, she is the goddess of desert. She is a scary and demanding goddess.

Neighbours:
To the south along the coast and into the desert live those who worship Samat. They are nomadic raiders and fishermen. There may actually be very different people, but to Utumites, they are all Samat people, some of whom invaded them and allied with the queen to become their nobility.
To the north are more cities like Utum, relying on agriculture rather than fishing. They worhip Esu, the divine bull and probably other gods. Since Esu invented agriculture, it's quite likely they worship him under another name.

Mythic Origins of the Jasan Peoples​

The Great Famine and Our Lost Paradise are the two major motifs of the mythos of the peoples that populate upper and lower Jasa. Each new generation is told the oral story of how our people came from the west, beyond the desert, from a place which was fertile and bountiful with life and leisure, Our Lost Paradise. Scholars and priests have debated since our ancestors migrated away from paradise why the gods of that land destroyed themselves, and forced our people out. The land became a barren desert, and our people almost died out on the journey east, in searching for some new place to settle. They found Jasa, and the Nile, a new land more regular and tame, if not a paradise.

The gods are a vicious and unkind race, beings whom, in their jealous and possessive nature, carved up the world into domains in which their particular rule is exclusive. Lower and upper Jasa are ruled by Morpha and Yulia respectively, two usually kind but sometimes unforgiving goddesses.

It was when our people reached Jasa that the Great Famine, decreed jointly by Morpha and Yulia, nearly wiped us out a second time. They hated us for our unwelcome entrance, but we fought and persisted, we wiped out those peoples who settled here before us, and gained acceptance from our two goddesses, whom lifted the Great Famine before this new land became forever barren too.

It is the belief system of the Jasan peoples that gods are mutually incompatible, and only one may exist in a single land, though numerous sub-deities can inhabit smaller spaces, such as houses or temples, and with the affirmation of the reigning gods, may be let in for special purposes. Similarly, the enemies of the gods, commoners who make themselves hated by the gods, may pick up and move to the protection of another deity, in another land.

The most terrifying children’s story of all, told up and down the Nile, is of the possible return of the gods that destroyed Our Lost Paradise. They, in their awesome might, made the most bountiful place on earth an uninhabitable wasteland – and perhaps they’ll come again, first as demons in the night, but eventually, with enough strength to push Morpha and Yulia out, and destroy us once more. It is however, merely a children’s story.


- Usil: a commercial port and major agricultural centre at the western side of the Nile delta, run typically by the wealthiest family in the city, though wealthiest often really means the family with the most mercenaries.

- Irvos: on the eastern bank of the Nile delta, another agricultural centre and the site of a major temple to Morpha, the city of Irvos is constantly shifting governments between priests and warriors, which has guaranteed at least one city-wide revenge-massacre every century.

- Purput: to the immediate south of Jary, on the eastern bank of the Nile, Purput is the first stop for caravans heading south, and is a major centre of knowledge, being between the priestly traditions of Morpha in the north and Yulia in the south. The city’s ruling class often shifts from outside forces, including influences from Jary.

- Torcy: on the western bank of the Nile, with its own artificial lake for extra farming, Torcy is Jary’s most immediate rival, and a city within Yulia’s grasp. Various nobles fight amongst each other for power here.

- Lodo: further south than Torcy, another of Yulia’s cities, and another major trading centre for crop export as well as small boat production. This is perhaps the most stable of all the city-states along the Nile, with a century old dynasty, though members of that family still feud for power after each despot’s death.

Terrance888 said:

@ Ophorian
Looks nice. I'm going to remind you that Marseille is NOT on the Rhone. Looks nice otherwise.

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I was under the impression that the Riviera just refers to the south coast of France, not the Rhone specifically. In any case, you get the point, Marseille. xD

Well. People generally want river starts. Also, 20 minutes until deadline

It's on the coast, pleeeeeeeeeeeenty of water.

I'm sorry if I'm late, but would I still be able to join this?

Name: Xin Guo (Land of the heart, will elaborate more in background)
Colour: Blue (doesn't matter what shade)
Location: On the coast at the mouth of OTL Yellow river

Background:



Beliefs:


Note: will keep adding to the background and stuff.

Well, normally I'd reject this. But since you apologized, this is interesting, and I like it, I'll bend but not break the rules. No late orders no exceptions. See you at update 1.

Edit: also, yours sound more like a culture than a state or collectively acting agent (aka halyrate).

Thanks , I'll try to change it a bit to make it more about the state

Rough Map of the Locations of Jasa's Major Cities:

This is NOT the update.

Anyway, because of stupid real life stuff, I need to change to a Tuesday/Saturday schedule.

Will try to post PC stats by tonight.

Terrance888 said:

Spoiler Map :

This is NOT the update.

Anyway, because of stupid real life stuff, I need to change to a Tuesday/Saturday schedule.

Will try to post PC stats by tonight.

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Skiathos is almost invisible against the sea . I may want to change to a lighter color haha.

OK I made a final decision. Submissions for update 0 will be extended to Friday, 23:59. Update will be Saturday, and we'll procede with a Saturday/Tuesday schedule. That said, progress on current submissions will be released when I finish it. Tuesdays would be much better for me than Thursday, as well as reduce conflict with real life.

If you notice, I'm trying VERY hard to make it a twice-weekly NES. Just because. I want. To do. This.

EDIT: I'll also get to fix Musuru just the way you like it, JK.

Name: Camshur
Color: Gold
Location:


will fill in later

Name: Bhadraa
Color: Royal Purple
Location:

Terrance888 said:

OK I made a final decision. Submissions for update 0 will be extended to Friday, 23:59. Update will be Saturday, and we'll procede with a Saturday/Tuesday schedule. That said, progress on current submissions will be released when I finish it. Tuesdays would be much better for me than Thursday, as well as reduce conflict with real life.

If you notice, I'm trying VERY hard to make it a twice-weekly NES. Just because. I want. To do. This.

EDIT: I'll also get to fix Musuru just the way you like it, JK.

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Should we send in more ideas for neighbors if we have any?