Ailuttorutto - Bronze Age
By the early Middle Bronze Age, Ailuttorutto society was increasingly urbanethe natural extension of the cities of Rutto, which were cleverly and sometimes brutally brought under the domination of the city of Lutto by the Iltattittoretti[1], no longer being under the threat of the ambitions of each other and feared little but the slaves. The lives of the well-off upper classaristocrats and wealthy merchants mostlyrevolved around the intellectual pursuits of the finding of meaning, the study of history, the interest in the ancient cultures of the south and the esoteric cultures of the north, debates on the nature of the gods, the arts of speaking and rhetoric, and so on and so forth. The middle class of middling merchants, lesser nobility, craftsmen and artists, though sometimes dabbling in the interests of the upper class, had more a penchant towards music stories, taking much pleasure from both public and private performances and narrations, either as part of a religious service, a form of entertainment, or both. The lower class of laborers and farmers also had a liking for the arts, much as the middle did, though they had a rural taste and therefore added a rural flavor to Ailuttorutto art,
It was not uncommon for the wealthy to create "intellectual gatherings," great displays of both personal wealth and erudition where the intellectuals (of the middle and upper classes) of Rutto were invited, in the largest cities of Rutto. The Issitti aristocracy, whose pride was legendary even after their submission to Lutto, were known to have built entire baths built for this purpose, inviting their peers to bathe, dine, and drink the finest their money could buy as they and their guests talked of things that were of little interest to the common man. Those in Lutto, who were of a tougher and a more down-to-earth breed by nature of their history and location, were known to be less extravagant with objects but very open-handed with entertainmentthis was something that their counterparts in Ritti disdained, for they claimed that the merry-making and distractions would diminish the entire experience. Such rivalry between the people of Itticco (to which the City of Gold was renamed upon conquest) and those of Lutto were not uncommon, in all classes and walks of life, for pride was strong in both places by virtue of their histories and (former, in the case of the Issitti) influence.
Politics of the time were defined by the battles between the Occittorette and the Iccittorette, sometimes literally but often in the fields of reasoning, debates, policy-making, and the subsequent popularity. The former was what remained of the old oligarchy of Lutto, from whose ranks rose Aittos of Klettos[2], while the latter was a body created by Aittos himself. In his campaigns against the Issitti centuries before the period described here, Aittos feared that his position of influence was to be usurped by his fellow Occittoretteti[3], so he created a regulatory power against the Occittorette. The Iccittorette was a large body of two hundred to five hundred men, made up of elected representatives of the middle and lower class of Lutto and a few loyal towns and cities, with whom Aittos was popular with. The Occittorette, whose ten to fifty-man membership included members of powerful families and whose positions were often inherited, by then had to contend with the Iccittorette with any decision they make. That would be continued even after the death of the Iltattittoretti, for the size and power imbued upon the Iccittorette had made it impossible to dissolve. Though this sometimes led to partisanship, the Lutto-centered nature of the government prevented much inefficiency when it came to decision-making. This would not last, however, but later reincarnations of the Rutto government was not to be without the vestiges and influences of this era.
The religious landscape of Rutto became, as previously implied, increasingly intertwined with entertainment. Though still a hub of those searching for a purpose in life, philosophies, and other such doctrines, no self-respecting priest of any god would be caught without skills in story-telling and, sometimes, music, nor would any self-respecting temple be caught without a story hall or a music hall or, sometimes, both. It became customary for the great and not-so-great artists of the time to dedicate entire poems to single gods or the entire convoluted pantheon of the Ailuttorutto and those touched by their influence. Temples became hubs for lyricists, musicians, poets, painters, carvers, sculptors, and so on, and gods and myths became topics of greatest works of artart upon art, it was, for the written and oral myths' were often judged by an amalgam of not only their spiritual and intellectual values, but their artistic values as well. Indeed, revisions were not uncommon, and some revisions even replaced standing canon for simply being a better retelling than what was.
As can be construed from that, it can be seen that the Ailuttorutto of the time (and the Ailuttorutto of any other peaceful time afterwards) were not bound by what was traditional. An Ailuttorutto proverb goes, "Tradition works." This was to be interpreted by various generations as different things, but at the time it was seen as a warning against being attached to the past. It works, but as with any tool tradition was something to change when better things came. Of course, for other generations, especially those struck by great disaster as those hit by the famine that nearly toppled Ailuttorutto society in the middle of the Bronze Age, this was to be interpreted as a warning against new things and the danger of pulling away from the past. The original message of the man who first spoke those words may never be known, but this odd little saying was to remain unchanged and current Ailuttorutto society over the generations.
As with any other society, soil fertility ceremonies were not uncommon in the farms. The richer farmers would host dancing, feasting, and drinking over a few nights, calling out to the gods of the land, while the poorer farmers would be content with dances. Being highly religious in nature, these ceremonies were not complete without priests or the local holy man, who would be performing the more arcane parts of the ceremonies as well as directing most of the ceremonies in general. As can be surmised from the festive nature of these ceremonies, music was integral in their carrying out; bands of ilsatti[4] players, drum-beaters, and horn-blowers, usually musicians and musician servants from the lower to middle class, would be hired in these instances. Sometimes, however, the priests themselves were responsible for the music, though these were reserved performances with little to no festivity, often for more solemn or ritualistic dances.
The Ailuttorutto religion was a constantly-changing realm of gods and goddesses, whose worship was conducted by their priests and holy men. By the time described here, the gods worshipped by most of the inhabitants of Rutto were Occoton, chief god and god of the seas and skies; Iccoron, god of the land and earthquakes; Sattoron, the god-figure of their heroic ancestor Sattoros and god of valor; Izaron, god of the dead and the land of the dead; Iltaron, god of war and slavery; and many others. Names would change, but functions will notoften, elements of old or even foreign gods' stories will be mixed in with new ones, and the new ones will take the place of the old ones with little difficulty. The syncretic nature of the Ailuttorutto belief system often led to confusion with regards to old recordsnot only old scripture or other such religious texts, but of documents invoking one god or other that were not extant in the mainstream of whatever other time period they were being read in. This trouble was partly mollified by a dim, collective awareness of the problem; nonetheless, it was one of the favorite topics of the educated elite, and several notable figures would write books on the topicglossaries of who's who, analyses, and so on and so forth.
Warfare was a popular topic in visual art. Artists would often make entire series of fine clay pots etched and painted depicting scenes from the great, battle-filled epics. Others used simpler medium, like leather or cloth. Of course, real battles were scarce in Ailuttorutto history, though battles against the barbaric westerners, the wars of conquest by Aittos of Klettos, slave revolts, battles against the most notorious of brigands and pirates, and the old days of warring with each other were all that was needed for inspiration in this regard. The artists, of course, would not have much in the sense of reality, giving the ancients bronze weapons and armor simply unavailable in those timesof course, few really knew and even fewer really cared.
The most popular and easily-accessible weapon of the time was the bronze spear, upon which the mantle of keeping the peace was placed. Its partner, the bronze shield, was of equal, if not greater importancethe shield, after all, had its value not only in itself but in the life it preserved. This, of course, had been argued by others who say that the spear is of greater value, for you must take into consideration the number of lives it took. Besides these two, the oft-forgotten bronze breastplate was also in the mainstream of Rutto war-making equipment. Given the smallness of the populations of Rutto, it was customary to make the heaviest armor possible, though this had been mostly out of style since the conquests of Aittos. The heavier and more numerous Issitti warriors were defeated soundly by Aittos army of mercenaries and soldier-citizens, who wore lighter armor, shorter weapons, and was made up of more conventional light troops (like archers, slingers, and javelin-throwers who had little more than thick cloth rags and the occasional skull cap on them) out of necessityafter all, Lutto was poorer than the City of Gold, and the Lutto ships can only carry so much equipment, supplies, and men. The Issitti warriors were quick to exhaust and easily outmaneuvered in the strategic and tactical level, which, compounded with the brilliance of Aittos and the complacency of their leaders, was to spell their doom.
As with other parts of Ailuttorutto culture, music was integral in the military. Drums and horns provided inspiration against the gritty prospects of being killed in the battlefield. Music used in public narrations of great epics were often borrowed by military leaders, to be played in the heat of battle by loud horns and drums, if only for moral support. Before charges, battles, or marches, soldiers would often beat their spears against their shields (or arrows or stones or javelins against each other or wooden shields), singing along with the music in their rhythmic Stutto[6] as to escalate the effect. In the practical level, the music help keep units move in synch, march in form, and allowed operations over great distances through loud sounds.
By the time Lutto had spread its dominion over and beyond the Rutto Peninsula under the de facto single-handed leadership of Aittos, the old system of citizen-soldiery and mercenaries changed ever so slightly. Mercenaries were still free for hire, but the raising of citizen soldiery was limited by the extension of the Lutto government in the individual citiesthe Ittittorette, they were called. The Ittittorette were mainly military and policing arms of the central Lutto-based government, assigned every year by the decree of the Occittorette and the Iccittorette[5]. This was to be abolished in later times, earlier in some cities than in others, when the Ailuttorutto identity became clear and defined around the Ailettissi[7].
We must not forget that warfare in Rutto started with the need for survival and was refined with the rise of slavery. The peoples to the west were, for the history of Rutto, kept ignorant by constant and controlled warfare. One tribe will be pitted against another, while the borders were kept safe by the smaller but superior Rutto soldiery. When there was a demand for slaves, as when disease, hunger, or old age came in to take the old, these same troopseither as part of an official function or as hands for hire under a slaverwould come in and negotiate the acquisition of the young, the fit, and the strong, usually at sword-point. There would be grand campaigns for the sole purpose of acquiring slaves. Sometimes the leaders of the slave-peopleas the still-free potential slaves were calledwould give up their own slave in exchange for gold, goods, or their continued survival. Of course, these escapades were infrequent, sometimes occurring only a few times a generationmost slaves actually came from the indebted, the bankrupt, and other criminals.
Slaves in Rutto were treated as property, naturally, and their children became property of the owners. The indebted who became slaves would often become free after they paid off whatever debt they owed their debtorhowever, some people become slaves exactly because they have nowhere else to go, and those tend to become part of the family as prized possessions. Similarly, foreigner slaves from the barbaric west often became integrated with families as prized possessions. Very few of those kind were freed, and those who were freed became part of the lowest rung in society or became part of the militaryindeed, it was mostly among the rural laboring class and the soldiery where much plurality and tolerance was experienced, for the latter was trained to work with those who were willing, and the former have that kindness bestowed by a combination of slight poverty and rustic innocence.
Artists also found the topic of nature to be of great interest, which exemplifies the rural-urban dichotomy of Ailuttorutto society. Though both sides value art and learning as part of their cultural ethos, one sidethose who lived with the tall walls and bustling activity of Lutto citieswas clearly more interested in what was, what will be, what never was, people, and society. The other sidethose who lived with the pastoral countryside of Ruttos vast expanses of farmlandwas clearly more interested in what is and the natural. The pastoral artists often wrote, sang, painted, etched, carved, and so on about trees, animals, farmers, the weather, the sea, lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, and so on. Although those from the urban centers often disregarded pastoralist designs as overly simplistic, schools of thought on the beauty of simplicity, the complications brought by city-life, and other such things were spawned by the imports of this rustic art from the countryside.
This essay does not paint a complete picture of the Ailuttorutto during the early part of the middle of the bronze age.
[1] A title of reverence for Aittos, the Great Statesman, whose generalship turned Rutto from a motley bunch of city-states into a united republic under the leadership of the city of Lutto.
[2] A small island with a fishing village of the same name; one of the first possessions of Lutto beyond the city walls and the farming estates beyond.
[3] Members of the Occittorette.
[4] An Ailuttorutto stringed instrument with variations playing five, seven, ten, and thirteen notes.
[5] They were collectively known as the Altittorette.
[6] The language of the Ailuttorutto, based on Ritti and other local languages.
[7] The part of the Nittilettissi[*] between the Rutto Peninsula and the islands of Ritti, Vitti, and Arutto.
[*] The big body of water between the pass south of the Ederru and the narrow strait held by the Trilui.
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Rutto: Heavily influenced by the urban and southernized Issitti, Rutto is more or less uniform with a north-west dichotomy between the cities of Iccotto and Lutto. The unifying ethos are romantic, selfish, and self-improvement streaks, with the south tending towards pretentious sophistication and erudition, while the north tend towards a down-to-earth approach with things and a nigh-barbaric militarism. Due to its relative security, music and the visual arts have flourished here (both with leanings towards the extravagant and the fantastic), while architecture remains true to its functional roots though some have made an art of buidings, especially in the case of government offices and religious complexes. Religious life revolves around the various gods that pervade Ailuttorutto religion, culminating in great festivities and ceremonies. Politics, meanwhile, revolves around the interaction between the populist ideals of the large, elected "lower government" and the aristocratic tendencies of the hereditary "upper government."