Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
“What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?”
-William Shakespeare, Hamlet
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Introduction:
Welcome to AFSNES II - Quintessence of Dust.
This stands for Advanced Fresh Start Never Ending Story. This concept was first developed by das, for whom this title will hopefully stand as an homage and a spiritual successor. I have updated the vocabulary slightly, and I hope for a slightly higher realism level, but the base idea remains the same, as it was brilliantly executed the first time. What is an Advanced Fresh Start? The main goal of the NES is to advance quickly from the beginning of recorded history through successive eras, passing through centuries in a few updates and then focusing detail on intense, climactic 'turning points' throughout history.
The updates will be broken into BT’s, a term which here means Broad Turns, and IT’s, which here will mean Intensive Turns.
What do you need to play? A solid mind, the ability to dedicate at least 2-3 hours a week to write, and a post-secondary level of historical understanding. For the early phases of the NES, basic knowledge of cultural anthropology could help.
Spoiler How This NES Works :
Broad Turns and Intensive Turns:
A Broad Turn can last anywhere from 50 to 2500 years, gradually decreasing in length as history proceeds and civilization spreads. An Intensive Turn can last anywhere from 10 years to 1 year, depending on what is happening and where. Broad Turns are times of long-term development, during which the global economy and technology tend to improve and the global balance of power shifts slowly, not dramatically. New states and cultures can emerge and old ones decline during this period, but individual wars, battles, and events are glossed over in favor of the broader narrative.
Once the world reaches a sufficient level of technology and political competition, and the stakes have been raised to a sufficient level, the game enters an IT, an Intensive Turn, in which epic military and political struggles play out in detail, and one or several players achieve eternal glory and hegemony...only to see it evaporate as history fast forwards yet again through another Broad Turn.
Intensive Turns are typically very destructive and exhaustive to the nations concerned, given that they represent rapid change, upheaval and the emergence of a new paradigm.
Ideally, we will repeat this process throughout history, passing through bronze to iron age civilization, the birth of subcontinental empires and oceangoing states, and finally into the modern world with global exploration, mass communication and industrialization. The most important goal is simulating a richly detailed, interconnected world, weighted down with mythology, conviction and competition.
A Broad Turn can last anywhere from 50 to 2500 years, gradually decreasing in length as history proceeds and civilization spreads. An Intensive Turn can last anywhere from 10 years to 1 year, depending on what is happening and where. Broad Turns are times of long-term development, during which the global economy and technology tend to improve and the global balance of power shifts slowly, not dramatically. New states and cultures can emerge and old ones decline during this period, but individual wars, battles, and events are glossed over in favor of the broader narrative.
Once the world reaches a sufficient level of technology and political competition, and the stakes have been raised to a sufficient level, the game enters an IT, an Intensive Turn, in which epic military and political struggles play out in detail, and one or several players achieve eternal glory and hegemony...only to see it evaporate as history fast forwards yet again through another Broad Turn.
Intensive Turns are typically very destructive and exhaustive to the nations concerned, given that they represent rapid change, upheaval and the emergence of a new paradigm.
Ideally, we will repeat this process throughout history, passing through bronze to iron age civilization, the birth of subcontinental empires and oceangoing states, and finally into the modern world with global exploration, mass communication and industrialization. The most important goal is simulating a richly detailed, interconnected world, weighted down with mythology, conviction and competition.
Spoiler How to Play Well :
Disclaimers and Understandings:
Above all, you must understand that while you may come to love your earliest creations, history will not allow them to survive into the modern world unchanged. You must embrace change: Ascendance, hegemony, decline, collapse and rebirth is what will happen to all nations. Especially for the pioneers who create the first civilizations, it is likely that nothing more than your greatest monuments, some political and religious concepts, and a few linguistic roots will survive to be examined by posterity.
As such, I need good players to be willing to tolerate their inevitable and tragic destruction. I encourage great players to spend the course of the game in multiple regions of the world, and not to be dismayed by setbacks, challenges, and the blazing hatred of your neighbors that will stop at nothing to take away everything you have worked so hard to create.
Work together or at odds, work to build or destroy. But do not forget that all are laid low by the Great Leveller. For none can truly escape this quintessence of dust.
On Language:
Those in CZ1 are asked to consider deriving words from Afro-Asiatic (in the southwest) or Proto-Indo-European (in the northwest) roots, where possible. The east is permitted language isolates, as it had in OTL.
Those in CZ2 are asked to use a derivative of Proto-Indo-European or Dravidian for their words.
Those in CZ3 are asked to use a derivative of Sino-Tibetan for their words.
What does this mean? I do not wish to have names in Civilized Zone 1 and Civilized Zone 3 that slavishly adhere to what sounds like OTL Ancient Egyptian, or OTL Chinese. A language family is extremely broad and can be permuted in countless ways. To take a random example, the word ‘two’ in various Sino-Tibetan languages is phoneticized as: ni, nis, gnis, nhac, and njijs. However, I also don’t want everyone making up nonsense vocabularies that ignore the general Paleolithic distributions of human subgroups. If you wish to have an isolate language, the burden weighs much more heavily on you to create a self-contained linguistic aesthetic, and I will only consider it if it sounds realistic.
Nothing in this world will be named what it is named in OTL, but MANY things might be named similarly. This is obviously more difficult than copying names like "Finno-Ugric" and "Huang He," but I believe in the long run it will be more interesting and engaging.
You should assume that pre-NES migration patterns were mostly similar to OTL. Obviously post-start migration patterns will change what language families are spoken where in the future, but we’ll handle that as it comes up.
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 following information is for BT1, but it illustrates how the Two-Hundred Rule should be applied.
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 to 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.
Above all, you must understand that while you may come to love your earliest creations, history will not allow them to survive into the modern world unchanged. You must embrace change: Ascendance, hegemony, decline, collapse and rebirth is what will happen to all nations. Especially for the pioneers who create the first civilizations, it is likely that nothing more than your greatest monuments, some political and religious concepts, and a few linguistic roots will survive to be examined by posterity.
As such, I need good players to be willing to tolerate their inevitable and tragic destruction. I encourage great players to spend the course of the game in multiple regions of the world, and not to be dismayed by setbacks, challenges, and the blazing hatred of your neighbors that will stop at nothing to take away everything you have worked so hard to create.
Work together or at odds, work to build or destroy. But do not forget that all are laid low by the Great Leveller. For none can truly escape this quintessence of dust.
On Language:
Those in CZ1 are asked to consider deriving words from Afro-Asiatic (in the southwest) or Proto-Indo-European (in the northwest) roots, where possible. The east is permitted language isolates, as it had in OTL.
Those in CZ2 are asked to use a derivative of Proto-Indo-European or Dravidian for their words.
Those in CZ3 are asked to use a derivative of Sino-Tibetan for their words.
What does this mean? I do not wish to have names in Civilized Zone 1 and Civilized Zone 3 that slavishly adhere to what sounds like OTL Ancient Egyptian, or OTL Chinese. A language family is extremely broad and can be permuted in countless ways. To take a random example, the word ‘two’ in various Sino-Tibetan languages is phoneticized as: ni, nis, gnis, nhac, and njijs. However, I also don’t want everyone making up nonsense vocabularies that ignore the general Paleolithic distributions of human subgroups. If you wish to have an isolate language, the burden weighs much more heavily on you to create a self-contained linguistic aesthetic, and I will only consider it if it sounds realistic.
Nothing in this world will be named what it is named in OTL, but MANY things might be named similarly. This is obviously more difficult than copying names like "Finno-Ugric" and "Huang He," but I believe in the long run it will be more interesting and engaging.
You should assume that pre-NES migration patterns were mostly similar to OTL. Obviously post-start migration patterns will change what language families are spoken where in the future, but we’ll handle that as it comes up.
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 following information is for BT1, but it illustrates how the Two-Hundred Rule should be applied.
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 to 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.
Spoiler Old CZ Information :
Civilized Zones and Submission Groups:
The upcoming BT 1 will cover approximately 2500 years of history, from roughly 4000 BCE to the technological equivalent of approximately 1500 BCE. Depending on where you begin (near or far from a river,) you will not need to narrate all 2500 years, as it is expected your cultures will migrate into the region or gradually enter the historical record at some point in the middle of the turn. The end of BT 1 will place your cultures well into the era of sophisticated writing systems, bronze working, and the ability to make massive public works projects.
We are beginning with the three traditional cradles of history which were first to develop organized agriculture, urban civilization, and writing. From west to east, these will be identified as Civilized Zone 1, Civilized Zone 2, and Civilized Zone 3 until names can be procured for them.
Civilized Zone 1 has a capacity for 4-6 players.
Civilized Zone 2 has a capacity for 1-2 players. This will increase after the first BT.
Civilized Zone 3 has a capacity for 1-2 players. This will increase after the first BT.
In addition to player capacity, the size of the Civilized Zones themselves will gradually expand after the first update, reflecting the spread of the technology necessary to build a civilization beyond tribal subsistence. After the first or second update a 4th civilized zone will open up on the western two continents.
In further addition to this, after the second update I will begin to solicit input for migratory tribal groups outside of the Civilized Zones. Let's get to that point before we explore that idea any further.
For Cradles 2 and 3, individual submissions will be accepted and I will select the best ones. For Cradle 1, we are going to attempt something slightly more complicated, a Group Template. I am willing to accept accept dual submissions in Cradles 2 and 3, but in those cases, dual submissions should be exploring divergent facets of a single ur-culture, rather than independent cultures in the case of Cradle 1.
The upcoming BT 1 will cover approximately 2500 years of history, from roughly 4000 BCE to the technological equivalent of approximately 1500 BCE. Depending on where you begin (near or far from a river,) you will not need to narrate all 2500 years, as it is expected your cultures will migrate into the region or gradually enter the historical record at some point in the middle of the turn. The end of BT 1 will place your cultures well into the era of sophisticated writing systems, bronze working, and the ability to make massive public works projects.
We are beginning with the three traditional cradles of history which were first to develop organized agriculture, urban civilization, and writing. From west to east, these will be identified as Civilized Zone 1, Civilized Zone 2, and Civilized Zone 3 until names can be procured for them.
Spoiler BT 1 Civilized Zones :
Civilized Zone 1 has a capacity for 4-6 players.
Civilized Zone 2 has a capacity for 1-2 players. This will increase after the first BT.
Civilized Zone 3 has a capacity for 1-2 players. This will increase after the first BT.
In addition to player capacity, the size of the Civilized Zones themselves will gradually expand after the first update, reflecting the spread of the technology necessary to build a civilization beyond tribal subsistence. After the first or second update a 4th civilized zone will open up on the western two continents.
In further addition to this, after the second update I will begin to solicit input for migratory tribal groups outside of the Civilized Zones. Let's get to that point before we explore that idea any further.
For Cradles 2 and 3, individual submissions will be accepted and I will select the best ones. For Cradle 1, we are going to attempt something slightly more complicated, a Group Template. I am willing to accept accept dual submissions in Cradles 2 and 3, but in those cases, dual submissions should be exploring divergent facets of a single ur-culture, rather than independent cultures in the case of Cradle 1.
Templates and Order Formats:
Please ensure you have read ALL of the above sections before proceeding with your template. If you cannot take the time to understand me fully, I cannot make the effort to understand you.
Spoiler FOR OLD PLAYERS :
Historical Narrative:
Cultural Changes:
Military Efforts:
Geographic Errata:
Detailed History: Your people have a solid, documented history at this point and they are recording their deeds reliably. Give me a detailed account of all of the major events that you would like to happen in the next two centuries, keeping in mind that things may go otherwise. Contingencies would be appreciated. Mention a minimum of 4 historical figures and at least one woman. [500 words minimum]
Cultural Changes: Describe how your culture evolves, how your state institutions change, how your religion changes, and if you are Influential, what you export to your neighbors; if you are Influenced, what you absorb. Does your culture fragment into separate ethnicities entirely? If you build anything impressive, put it here too. [400 words minimum]
Military Efforts: This is entirely optional; you don't have to try to conquer anyone if your culture just isn't into that. But if you're not out conquering it's likely you're being conquered, so you should probably prepare for that, too. [Optional]
Geographic Errata: I want more of everything. Names for regions, seas, peninsulas, bays, new cities, old cities, mountain ranges, valleys/passes, individual mountains even. The more names the better. Your people are now inhabiting a living world. [50 words minimum]
Spoiler FOR NEW PLAYERS :
Culture Name:
Mythology:
Society:
Material Culture:
Abbreviated History:
Geographic Errata:
Neighbor Influences:
Culture Name: Include CZ and specific location/proposed distribution in an attached image. Include proposed names on the map for bonus points.
Mythology: What do your people believe in? How do they see the world around them and how do they see themselves? What rituals and practices reinforce their beliefs? Is/are your religion(s) hegemonic or cultic? [300 words min.]
Society: How are your people organized? Are there any sub-cultures? What are the differences between men and women? Who has power? [200 words min.]
Material Culture: Does your society have any distinctive ornaments or dress? What do they build and what is it made from? What symbols does your culture give meaning and authority to? [200 words min.]
Abbreviated History: Give me your people’s history as it passes from the mythological into the documentable. If you have a calendar system (you probably won’t yet,) you can institute it here, otherwise use BCE. How do historical changes percolate into the cultural and religious spheres? Mention great leaders and what they have done. Mention at least one important woman, real or mythological. [500 words min.]
Geographic Errata: Name the major physical features around you. Mountains, rivers, seas. Provide city names, and names of separate dynasties or political entities if you intend to have more than one. If you are part of a group template, ensure that you share or have similar names for certain things with your neighbors. [25 words min.]
Neighbor Influences: Describe at least one point of religious, sociocultural, and political connection with each of your neighbors in the region you're joining in. [150 words per neighbor]
Your completed submission should come to about 4-5 pages [minimum 1225 words] before any additional group information is added. Anything under this will not even be considered.
Mythology:
Society:
Material Culture:
Abbreviated History:
Geographic Errata:
Neighbor Influences:
Culture Name: Include CZ and specific location/proposed distribution in an attached image. Include proposed names on the map for bonus points.
Mythology: What do your people believe in? How do they see the world around them and how do they see themselves? What rituals and practices reinforce their beliefs? Is/are your religion(s) hegemonic or cultic? [300 words min.]
Society: How are your people organized? Are there any sub-cultures? What are the differences between men and women? Who has power? [200 words min.]
Material Culture: Does your society have any distinctive ornaments or dress? What do they build and what is it made from? What symbols does your culture give meaning and authority to? [200 words min.]
Abbreviated History: Give me your people’s history as it passes from the mythological into the documentable. If you have a calendar system (you probably won’t yet,) you can institute it here, otherwise use BCE. How do historical changes percolate into the cultural and religious spheres? Mention great leaders and what they have done. Mention at least one important woman, real or mythological. [500 words min.]
Geographic Errata: Name the major physical features around you. Mountains, rivers, seas. Provide city names, and names of separate dynasties or political entities if you intend to have more than one. If you are part of a group template, ensure that you share or have similar names for certain things with your neighbors. [25 words min.]
Neighbor Influences: Describe at least one point of religious, sociocultural, and political connection with each of your neighbors in the region you're joining in. [150 words per neighbor]
Your completed submission should come to about 4-5 pages [minimum 1225 words] before any additional group information is added. Anything under this will not even be considered.
If You Need More Help:
We’re moving out of the territory of real history, so properly designing a culture requires understandings of the principles behind culture itself. If you wish to make yourself more likely to succeed in this early phase of my NES and improve your knowledge while doing it, please read from:
Collected Essays on the Sociology of Religion, Maximilian Weber
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, Emile Durkheim
The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell
And of course, don’t forget all the great books recommended in The Library Thread. The internet and your imagination should suffice for coming up with decent words and names for your cultures based on common language roots.
Think simultaneously outside and inside of the box and you’ll succeed. It’s a Heisenberg thing.