Update 2: 500 000 Years
The Apalo Wanderers, tall, dark of skin and possessed of great endurance, have undergone an explosive expansion, pushing forth the frontiers of the human species. Possessed of little technology beyond simple fire, spears, and simple cutting stone tools, northern Apalo have been able to produce simple rafts of wood and skin. The cultural toolkit of these northern peoples has proven to be most successful in coastal areas. As such, they have not expanded deeply into the dangerous jungles, with the exception of the bold Apa'nuk, who have taken well to hunting and gathering in the steamy interior. In both cases, not only have their simple rafts allowed them to tap into resources unavailable to other peoples, they have also enabled steady expansion, both inland and up the long coast of the great outer sea. From this expansion have come the Abhwal who live across much of the western coastal jungles and river mouths, and the Oebhwaho, who reside even further distant from the homelands of humanity. One particular branch of the Oebhwaho, in an astoundingly unlikely chance, survived an accidental rafting into the open ocean. Washing up on an arid shoreline, these Oebhwaho were able to use their talents as fishermen to survive, and ultimately established themselves along this new coastline, stretching from an ancestrally-familiar jungle in the southeast to a vast, fertile delta in the northwest.
Another group, traveling inland, are the Apa'nuk, who have become quite adept at surviving in these steamy, equatorial jungles.
In the interior, further Apalo expansions have diverged into the Apfal of the far east, while the Apalle people are an intermediate people, bearing influence and ancestry from both the southern Fummes and the Apalo Wanderers.
The Apa'al are yet another offshoot of the expansive Apalo people. Brawnier, though less verbal, than their lightly-built cousins, they have successfully expanded across the temperate regions of the east.
Just to the south, the stout Amalyap continue their expansion. The Mnalyaba have moved into a rocky, coastal region hemmed in by mountainsunlike anything seen in the rest of the world: deep fissures and rift valleys, long fingery lakes and regular earthquakes typify this land. So to does its distinctive fauna, much of which is quite naive about the dangers of human hunters. At the same time, the Amalyafv move steadily southwards, adapting to the colder and colder climates as they go. The furthest of these folk have entered a chilly boreal realm which tests them to the utmost of their physical abilities.
The Swimming People, the Cao, Ku and Coeh, continue to thrive around the Itar Sea and surrounding rivers. To their terrestrial cousins, they seem as alien monsters, with a strange and disconcerting mixture of features: the largely-hairless skin of a newborn, long and large hands and feet, rough-textured fingers for gripping things in water, and an awkward, loping gait. However, as their populatios grow, they are pushed inevitably into conflict with their close neighbours.
The Fumo also remain largely confined to the western coast of the Itar Sea. Competition for hunting and gathering land is fierce, especially with the contraction of the fertile zone in which they live. Population pressures have put their generally tendency towards peace among their own kind under heavy strain: the main release has been emigration, or warfare against the Kuku (Swimmers). This war has steadily contracted the range of their enemies, particularly the Cao people.
However, this period of general warfare was not universal. In many areas particularly the south, Fumos and 'Kuku' have come to cooperate, expanding their clan system to include the Kuku. By 'de-othering' their neighbours, the Fumos are able to gain access to resources that would otherwise be inaccessible to their kind. Conversely, the 'Kuku' gain a much needed ally, and better access to resources rarely found on the water. Over time, these cooperative organizations have proven to be surprisingly stable.
The northern Fumo emigrants, the Fumme, have trekked across the scrublands, ultimately reaching a great river. Their lands are shared, for now, with the Apalle people, and both cultures have significantly influenced one another. Meanwhile, the southern emigrants, the Fumori have come into renewed conflict with the Muku (Myukyap), further pressuring their embattled cousins.
Driven to desperation, and the aggression of their neighbours, some of the Myukyap have become nomadic to a greater degree, dispersing in pursuit of the great ungulate herds that roam the steppes of the far southwest. Here, the Myakap have become skilled mammal hunters.
The Tiryap, after becoming firmly established in the Ypta Mountains, have spawned several divergent cultures in their own wave of migration. The Taryab moved steadily east, coming into conflict with the Amalyafv, in many cases pushing the outsiders out of prime territories. The Temekyap, conversely, moved east. Their territory overlaps with that of their distant Myakap cousins, though the herd-chasers are fairly adept at staying away from the aggressive and territorial 'Bony Men'. Finally, the Tiryat followed the waterways of their old lands south, generation after generation pushing deeper into the cold lands. Here, they find huge, hairy beasts, and terrible, slumbering things, and an endless, cold crystal sea: a primal nightmare at the end of the world.
