Update 7: 40 000 Years
Northern Continent (Wabana)
Independent of the Tiryat domestication of wolves on the southern continent, the Obo people (of Wab and Wobaoh admixture) of the northwestern interior forests have made a similar alliance with bushy-tailed canids. These northern wolves had been living for many generations as commensal scavengers, but more recently have come to develop a closer relationship with the Obos. This has allowed both to hunt far larger and more dangerous prey than would otherwise be practical for either species on their own (incidentally dramatically reducing the population of northern megafauna), and has allowed the Obos to spread widely. Through indirect networks of trade, these tame wolves have spread across the west, and into the northern reaches of the Wab basin. Roaming far across the northern temperate and boreal Zones, the Obos have even come into contact with the Wabban of the far east, spreading their culture and their animal companions into these farflung riverlands.
The other major breakthrough of the north has been the creation of dugout canoes, which arose in the central river valley of the Wab, but swiftly spread across the continent. These greatly improve the connectivity of the long coastline, as well as the maritime capabilities of those who possess them.
Of all the peoples of the north, the Wabban have become the most numerous. Dominating a large, temperate region rich in wildlife and edible plants, the population density of the Wabban has mushroomed to levels only seen otherwise in the great rivers and inland seas of the southern continent. To maintain such a population, they have had to strive to understand and master their natural environment, developing a particularly keen understanding of the cyclical patterns that enrich their verdant land.
At long last, the isolation between the northern and southern continents has been broken. Wabaha mariners have crossed into the lands of the Wabahn, while a group of Weway have crossed the strait separating them and the Wab. The southerners have found a group speaking languages that are incomprehensible to them, a people with sloping foreheads, bright, strangely-coloured hair, and protruding jaws, but they are clearly recognizable as fellow humans.
Western Continent (Epua)
The Ebe people of the western continent fear the violent waters that carried them from their ancestral homelands. Abandoning the raft-roaming ways of their ancestors, they have migrated inland. Meanwhile, their close cousins, the Oypuao, have spread far further and maintain a stronger presence on the coast, though some Oypuao do migrate inland. A major distinguishing feature between these two groups can be found in their beliefs. The Ebe revere a Sun God, while reviling an evil Storm God, while the Oypuao have a more animist faith, centred around stone cairns and dreamways, physical paths of the non-physical human spirit.
Southern Continent (Apala)
The world is turned on its head as a great drought in the Gero Valley has led to a great exodus of humans (primarily Gero, Querhua and Amalyo), armed with the most advanced cultural toolkits yet to be developed by humanity. This has both radically changed the face of the ancient homeland of humanity, and done a great deal to spread comparatively 'advanced' traits and technologies across this portion of the world. The causes of this drought (which is better described as a series of acute dry periods highlighted in the midst of a general regional drying trend and the equatorial shifting of climate bands) are a complex mixture of periodic climate oscillations and the continued accumulation of material into the antarctic ice cap, which has grown so tall as to have a significant affect on continental climate patterns.
Geros, who had already been pushed into marginalized regions by the Querhua, were the most harshly affected. A major wave of Geros, the Gevera, flooded northwards into the jungles, throwing them into immediate conflict with the mixture of Avenecs, Hwabhwas and Wabahas who called the southeastern jungles their homes. However, armed with fearsome bows and greater levels of social organization, the Geveras were able to back up their migration with force of arms. Across much of the lower reaches of the rivers, the Geveras were able to establish nearly full control, either engulfing the native populations, driving them out, or exterminating them. Further up the rivers, their influence was less absolute, and the Geveras merged into the native milieu, giving rise to the Hwetkas.
To the east of the Gero River, it was the Querhua who migrated in much larger numbers. The Quera spread across the temperate belt and entered the Akger River en masse. The native Akals fought back, but were largely displaced, either further west or to the upper reaches of the river. This had the secondary effect of driving a large number of Akals into the realm of the Kippals, significantly diversifying the area, as well as accelerating the region's technological development.
The Agals, pushed to the brink by the invasion of the Saryaz, survive by dint of their ancient relationship with the southern ungulate herds. By harvesting individuals when needed, and protecting the herds at other times, the Agals have been able to secure their existence. They have also subtly influenced the evolution of their herds: the hoofed beasts are less skittish around humans, and seem to tolerate their presence to a degree.
The Sierhua are a Querhua group who moved south, merging with the Amalyos, who already had more experience in surviving in the new, arid climate system affecting the upper river. The Sierhua themselves gave rise to a new group that set out across the Kicca plains, the Sierda. The furthest Sierda have reached the end of the Long Sea, and the Yakgu Rifts. Here, they have settled next to the Mnalyaba and Daryava, turning this region into an impressively diverse melting pot of cultures, genes and technologies. The Mnalyaba have mixed heavily with the new arrivals, though in far eastern regions they remain relatively distinctive from the Sierda. Further west, the Tharyavs generally are wiped out by conflict with southern Amalyafvs, or come to assimilate into the culture of their Daryava cousins. Meanwhile, the Mnayakgu rift-men keep their heads down and out of the way, opting to continue living largely outside of the influence of the large, clumsy 'walking men'.
In the south, the Amalyafvs remain well-established, enjoying the fruits of regular contact with the hectic north.
At the northern end of the rifts are the Urbala, descended from Wabaha who expanded to this coast many thousands of years ago, from their homelands in distant, northern deltas. Urbalas have a mixed relationship with the inland Saryaz, alternating between trading and warfare from season to season.
The Gierho pursued a westerly migration route, flooding into the Apalo plains. Absorbing the last of the Apalos, the Gierhos warred against the Diafhe, and at times even the Vamalos, until they reached the nigh-legendary Itaro, the sea that the Diafhe referred to as 'Itap'. Here, they found a warring milieu of strange and alien men: terrifying, cannibalistic ogres, mer-folk, wild southerners full of hate and fear, and the embattled Fumos. The Gierho, repulsed and terrified by the Diryaj 'ogres', set themselves to destroying these monster-men, driving the bulk of the survivors to the south and taking the eastern Itaro as the spoils. News of the riches of Itaro, spread by the farflung Vamalos and some mobile Gierhos, drew on a secondary wave of migration. With population pressures rapidly intensifying, the Gierhos surged outwards once again. Saviours against the Diryaj scourge no more, the Gierhos now expanded against the Fumos, Coeh and Goeh. Many Gierhos were similarly shocked by the bizarreness of the Cao, interpreting them as malevolent spirits made flesh and killing them as such. The toehold of the aquatic hominids on the coasts of the Itaro is now minimal indeed, and the proud and ancient Fumos are largely assimilated or gone, a few independent groups hanging on at the eastern frontier of the Gierhos.
In the south, Gierhos warred and mingled with the Tiryaps, producing the hybrid Gierhyep. With knowledge of survival in the colder southern regions of the Itap, the Gierhyep have rapidly overtaken the Tiryaps, while maintaining large portions of Tiryap culture. Purebred Tiryaps are pushed now to the fringes.
Tyumrus, having by now acquired many of the military technologies of the invaders (and having a large river separating them from the Gierhos) were able to hold their lands, also insulating the Ikzils from direct Gierho contact. Meanwhile, in the south, a strange ethnogenesis has occurred between southern Tyumrus, Ziags, and Tiryap/Tiryats displaced by the ascendant Gierhyep. The Zyuzak, as they are named, are as a whole highly hostile to the Gierhyep, and have provided significant resistance to their advance. In spite of this, isolated Gierhyep settlements can still be found in almost all parts of the Itap basin.
Most recently, the Ziags have begun a renewed movement into the Ikzil Vale, ensuring that there are truly no reprieves from the violent history of the cradle of humanity.
Throughout all of this, a growing set of religious beliefs has been spreading throughout the Itaro, influenced by the star-naming of the desert people to the west, and the lunar cycle rituals of the northern Vamalos. Simple marking sticks and placed stones mark sites and symbols of legendary portent.
West of the basin, beyond the alpine Mukta, the Ikyah people of the Great Sand Ocean have diverged in several directions, giving rise to the Ikji and Ixyah. Both people have developed a strong reverence for the stars, whose movements form the basis of their spiritual beliefs. The Immahs, another Ikyah offshoot, have also spread their nocturnal, sun-defying ways to the upper reaches of the Abhwal River, interbreeding with the Vommas.
South of the vast desert, around the Timika Sea, things are becoming somewhat less chaotic, a the Tiryats, the people most well-adapted to and familiar with boreal survival, cement their control over the inland sea. The new rulers of this region are known as Tiriyata, having absorbed many influences from the more populous Timika. Timika culture survives in the north, while the Mkyaph remain a distinct presence in the south, though they are increasingly influenced by the Tiriyatas.
In the far southwest, isolated, coastal Tiryats have diverged into the Kiryaks, who have independently rediscovered the large mammal hunting techniques that their distant cousins once practiced thousands of kilometers away, on the shores of the Long Sea.
Some Timikas, forming close associations with the Ikyah, gradually migrate across the Great Sand Ocean, oasis by oasis, until they reach the Apfal Sea. The Apfals, while numerous, are rather backwards, and the Imikyah people are able to establish a foothold on the far side of the desert.
In the great spine of the continent, rising high out of the equatorial jungles to soaring, glacier-capped peaks, live the Akp, in the fractured land they call the Tzpha Rift. Here, they create religious art, featuring the motif of a black, all-consuming serpent. A northwestern expansion of the Akp people puts them into contact with the coastal Obahos, beginning a long and contentious conflict between the highlands and the lowlands. On the inland slope of the mountains, the Kptp move into the headwaters of the Wabaha River, driving many Apa'nuks deeper into the forest.
At the end of this age, the world is changed in many ways by the great migrations out of the Gero basin- though old familiar faces are still clearly present. Features of anatomical modernity have spread across the home continent, with only the more isolated regions in the far west and far southeast remaining largely unaffected. Along with this have come technologies: new techniques of stone tool manufacture are spreading rapidly, such that much of the world now possesses a mesolithic level of technology. Bows, spear-throwers, harpoons and other such weapons allow for more successful hunting, as well as more successful warring against rival humans. The dog has been domesticated- twice, in fact! The Tiryat Dog can be found across the southern reaches of the home continent, from the Kiryak coast to the Long Sea, and in many places they have spread northwards. The Obo Dog, domesticated from a different species of wolf native to Wabana, can be found from Wabban to Ap. The dog is not the only species making steps towards domestication: the boreal antelopes of the Agal are also making their first, basic steps.
Humanity is advancing now more rapidly than ever. What once took hundreds of thousands of years is now being accomplished in mere thousands. Who can imagine what wonders may lie ahead?
