NES Cultures

[Birdjaguar]

While I have started this thread specifically for potential players of the next BirdNES, it is open to all who want to post ideas about or well developed cultures.

For BirdNES think about including the following for your cultures. Additional information is certainly welcome too. "Current" means at start of game.

Name of Culture:
Place of origin: mountians, forests, steppes, river valley etc.
Gods & Goddesses and related beings:
Any significant past accomplishments:
Current economic base: farming, nomadic, fishing, predatory, mercantile, etc.
Current location: coastal, river valley, forests, mountains, steppe, delta, island, etc.
Lineage: patriarchal, matriarchal, other?
Spoken language:
Written language: alphabet, heiroglyphs & glyphs, pictographs, symbols, etc
Medium for writing: paper, clay, cloth, bark, bone, stone, etc.
Class structure:
Ruling class: nobility, priests, warriors, family,
Key values:
OTL mix:

If turns are generational, family trees will be necessary so changes in leadership can be noted.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I will use this post to track BirdNES cultures and potential groupings.

 

[alex994]

Name of Culture: Kana (Kanese)
Place of origin: Harsh and inhospitable steppes with mountains
Gods & Goddesses and related beings: Numerous Gods and Goddesses for every aspect of living though there is generally no clergymen for these deities outside of their holy sites and cities, religion is generally conducted autonomously by the families with a belief in of Heaven (where the Deities and great ancestors dwell) and a Hell for great sinners. Ancestral worship also plays large role with some aspects of reincarnation and Taoism mixed in.
Any significant past accomplishments: Invented cloth in their cradle(?), named the stars in the Heavens, flew the first kite, made the eating of raw fish sophisticated and the finest coffin makers in the world.
Current economic base: Mainly an agricultural based people though with a few large vibrant cities that are the centers of culture
Current location: River valley with delta nearby
Lineage: Patriarchal though women have almost absolute power over the household and a veto power over who their children marry
Spoken language: Kanese
Written language: Two written languages, an alphabetic one for the non-Elites(Everyone else) and a Chinese-like one for the Elites(Royalty and Scholars)
Medium for writing: Cloth though stone is used for more official and ceremonial purposes with bark in some religious ceremonies
Class structure: Royalty-Scholars-Priests-Merchants-Artisans-Farmers
Ruling class: State is ruled by Royalty in conjunction with the Scholars with regional and village governments controlled by large landowning classes.
Key values: Filial Piety, Compassion, Loyalty, Education, Respect towards Nature and Duty
OTL mix: Chinese-Japanese-Korean with mixed Buddhism-Confucianism-Taoism

I reserve the right to edit this in the future though I will edit this post to show changes and/or write in different colors.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I reserve the right to edit this in the future though I will edit this post to show changes and/or write in different colors.

As is appropriate as we move along.

 

[alex994]

Ah... Since I assume it will start in the Bronze Age, is it appropriate to have paper invented already? So to speak, what are the technological restrictions if any?

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Name of Culture: Yexal
Place of origin: Mountainous, upland rainforest
Gods & Goddesses and related beings: Astral Pantheon, Worship of Sun God, Moon God, Star Gods, etc.
Any significant past accomplishments: Developed Astronomy and Astrology, Master Engineers and Architects.
Current economic base: Farming, Fishing in Streams, Hunting, Using the Wealth of the Rainforest, Trading away Finished Products. Numerous small, compact cities with a handful of large centers.
Current location: The very same upland rainforest.
Lineage: Boys inherit from their fathers, Girls from their mothers.
Spoken language: Yexa
Written language: Hieroglyphs, with symbols combining to create new meanings. Has varying degrees of complexity, with simple symbols for simple conversation, and more complex hybrids and combinations for advanced concepts and literature.
Medium for writing: Stone and Clay
Class structure: Divine Monarchy is above all else, the City Governors are the next level below, Priests govern the faith and can be overstepped only by large groups of other Priests, or the Monarch. Everyone else is theoretically equal, though divided by talent.
Ruling class: The Divine Monarch rules unquestionably.
Key values: Creativity, Ingenuity, Wisdom
OTL mix: Mayan, Incan, Japanese

 

[Birdjaguar]

Ah... Since I assume it will start in the Bronze Age, is it appropriate to have paper invented already? So to speak, what are the technological restrictions if any?

I don't know yet, but paper is probably inappropriate at the start. But papyrus might work.

 

[Swissempire]

Name of Culture:Opulenth
Place of origin: River Valley down river from a Mountain range on a large Alluvial Placer deposit.
Gods & Goddesses and related beings: Monumentalist religion with decked out temples and Cathedrals. Idols are worshipped of the gods of Fertility, Wealth, Prestige etc. etc. Priests of the religion live a life of luxury and opulence.
Any significant past accomplishments:Advances in Placer Mining and Quarrying(for their buildings). Pully and Lever for great projects. Reknowned for their gold-working and jewelry making. If allowed, I would like to have it have built a great wonder by the time the game starts. Like a Temple to the Wealth God.
Current economic base: An Urban people, on the outskirts of the city are farmers who use the fertile alluvial soil. Much income from their vast amounts precious metals and stones.
Current location:Alluvial River Valley
Lineage: Patriarchal, but Women hold much sway because beauty and having children is a commodity and a sign of Prestige, so they can hold out for lots of influence and power if widowed. Men inherit and Women must set out on their own. It's not unheard of for women to rise to power though. The Will to Power...
Spoken language:Oplury
Written language: Perferably Alphabet, adopted from neighboring culture
Medium for writing: Clay Tablets
Class structure:Priests/Aristocrats-----Artists--Urban Inhabitants----------Poor Peasants
Ruling class: Nobility
Key values:Wealth, Prestige, Art, Honor
OTL mix:Chaldean Babylon/Early Ptolemic Alexandria/Decadent Rome

 

[LightFang]

Name of Culture: Rynt (Ryntor)
Place of origin: Island, preferably fairly near a coast.
Gods & Goddesses and related beings: The Five Gods and Goddesses - Strength, Intelligence, Creativity, Charisma, Wealth. They'll get their own names later.
Any significant past accomplishments: Rise of first organized religion (?), First Ships Constructed (?), Master Sailors and Shipbuilders
Current economic base: Fishing, Raiding, Pirating, Trading, Mercenary-ing
Current location: The original island, with perhaps a few settlements on a mainland of some sort.
Lineage: Meritocratic - progeny receive possessions, titles, and things based on worth.
Spoken language: Ryntak
Written language: A boring generic alphabetic one. There is an "index" of sorts of root words, and then stems get added on to determine the part of speech and its meaning.
Medium for writing: Stone for official documents and things, and anything else they can pilfer for everything else. Probably mostly clay.
Class structure: It's a meritocracy to the extreme. The Ryntjin Lynjin (Rynt Leader) rules over all. Society is stratified into ranks for each religious sect, and ranks are equivalent across sects. Social advancement - and degradation - is possible for all except the leader, who is sworn in for life. Lower members are always loyal, faithful, and subservient to higher ranks.
Ruling class: The Leader rules over everybody else, who rules over the others based on their attribute rankings.
Key values: Loyalty, Solidarity, Superiority, Honor
OTL mix: Indo-European. Beyond that, I'm not sure.

Note: I am stupid when it comes to history and realism and making up stuff, so any help would be very nice.

 

[Oruc]

Name of Culture: Dethek
Place of origin: Forests near Mountains with a river.
Gods & Goddesses and related beings: Sun god, Moon god, god of war etc. and Kaaras god of beasts and nature who is your generic evil god.
Any significant past accomplishments: A combination of everyone elses.... nothing really
Current economic base: Farming, Hunting, Fishing Mercenaries and probably lumber
Current location: Forests near Mountains with a river.
Lineage: patriarchal
Spoken language: Dethek
Written language: alphabet probably taken from a more advanced culture
Medium for writing: bark, bone, stone,
Class structure: High Chief - Warriors - Priests - - - - - Peasents
Ruling class: Nobility
Key values: Duty, Loyalty, Unity, Strength
OTL mix: Germanic, don't know really

they should be less advanced then others

 

[Cannae]

Name of Culture: Xochicalco
Place of origin: A Swampy Island with a drier part in the higher elevated part of the island. The island is located in a freshwater lake.
Gods & Goddesses and related beings: The agents of the supreme, shapeless, all knowing god are the stars and various animals. The stars are said to be able to see everything and would report everything to the great unknown. Some animals (such as dogs, some fishes, and crocodiles) are also said to be able to communicate with great unknown. The stars and animals report everything they see. The result is that the people of Xochicalco are very cautions to not do anything that’s seen as sinful. The great unknown is said to have commanded that the people of Xochicalco must leave a percentage of their land indefinitely fallowed and untouched so that things would be balanced. It would be seen as a great insult and crime to tamper with these reserved areas. It also said that if any crime is done to any of the animals that are sacred then they must be punished in a very harsh way and also to give the said animals a proper burial and rituals to prevent being hurt by the great unknown.
Any significant past accomplishments: Building massive tunnels and caves in the more elevated part of the island. These are used for everything from storing fodder and supplies to housing people. They also have managed to build and add upon the amount of land on the island. Their gods and goddess are thought to be in the sky so they find the importance of astronomy to be very important. This also means though that little crime ever happens because of the fact that they know that the gods and goddesses are watching them always. Crime that does happen though is dealt with by an eye for an eye treatment. One of the things that is seen as completely unacceptable in any circumstance is the unwarranted cruelty towards animals. They are punished by the masses quickly. The Xochicalco peoples also see that the preservation of various patches of land important. They see that if the land ever becomes used and developed it will disturb the balance and be seen as unfavorable by the gods.
Current economic base: The Xochicalcoans main proportion of the economy is agriculture in which have managed to create crops that have far more productivity than their wild counterparts. Animal domestication is also very important to the economy because they provide many of the things they depend on. They have even managed to do small scale aquaculture so that they don’t run out of a food resource.
Current location: A Swampy Island with a drier part in the higher elevated part of the island. The island is located in a freshwater lake.
Lineage: The lineage most the time is matriarchal because the female is seen by society as more important than the male. This is not always the case though. The female also tends to be the more aggressive one in Xochicalcoan society and the males to be the ones who are gentler in nature.
Spoken language: Xochica is the spoken language of this culture group and is required that one of the steps to becoming citizen of Xochicalco
Written language: The formal style of writing is hieroglyphs and used for special occasions in which they have to sum up things with a few glyphs. The informal style of writing is the alphabet which is used when in the need to write something less complex for whatever reason.
Medium for writing: The medium for writing tends to be papyrus. However for things of great importance bone is the preferred medium.
Class structure: The Xochicalcoan government is an elected federation in which the people of Xochicalco vote for the group of priests that they want to represent them. Those who are born within the nation of Xochicalco are able to vote once they get older. The nation is divided into various fiefdoms in which are divided yet again if the population ever gets large enough. The state owns a major percentage of the property within the nation. Everyone is to have an education about basic things in
Ruling class: elected officals/priests, commoners
Key values: Equality, religion and the natural world.
OTL mix: Their real life counterparts are a mish-mush of the Aztecs, Southwestern Native American and to a much lesser extent Babylonian influences.

 

[Japanrocks12]

Name of Culture: Amphitheriton
Place of origin: Coast of Mainland
Gods & Goddesses and related beings: Pathfinding - Dedication to finding one's own path in the universe
Any significant past accomplishments: First nation to be ruled by representative body
Current economic base: Fishing, Metalworking, Piracy, Trade
Current location: Coast of Mainland, and a couple of settlements on nearby islands
Lineage: well, it's chosen among nobles with the finest political background
Spoken language: Amphis
Written language: Linear C, sort of a combination of two previous languages, Linear B and Linear A. Heavily phonetic, twenty three characters
Medium for writing: A sort of vellum
Class structure: heavily stratified. The Grand Arbiter is the ultimate legal authority, and the Chief Minister is the ultimate political authority. Below them are noble representatives, and below them the crafts: tradesmen, metalworkers, artisans, farmers, fishermen (in that order). slaves and other captured peoples who are used for labor without wages are at the lowest rung
Ruling class: Prime Minister rules, and his representatives sort of have a check on his power
Key values: Loyalty, Honor, Trust, Integrity
OTL mix: Indo-Asiatic

 

[Lord_Iggy]

@Slavic- What's the bet that we're in the same cradle?

 

[alex994]

I just noticed something swiss. Wealth and honor don't necessarily go hand in hand unless it's honorable to, by any means, gain wealth

And so far, I'm still unique. Wow, what a shock

 

[LightFang]

I think my nation is unique! The fact that nobody has poked any glaring holes through my hastily assembled template is a good thing.

 

[Swissempire]

I just noticed something swiss. Wealth and honor don't necessarily go hand in hand unless it's honorable to, by any means, gain wealth

And so far, I'm still unique. Wow, what a shock

They do in this soceity. If you lose prestige for your family, you dishonor them and in turn, yourself. Suicide is a common solution to that conundrum in Opuleth soceity.

Gaah, I want to write about Pit Fights and Gladatorial matches and Palatial Compounds. Plus, if my soceity gets decadent enough, I plan to have a mini-arch about two families that hire mercenary armies that they lead to see how much territory they can conquer of barbarian culture X. The winner gets all, the loser becomes the slaves of that family.

MUHAHAHAH

Oh and slave wars. Those will be fun to write about.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Man, I'm getting hyped. Even though I might not even be in your cradle.

 

[LightFang]

If you're getting hyped, think about me. I'm going to be next to him, probably. In fact, since he specifically said that his alphabet was probably going to be "borrowed" from a neighbor's...I hope it's mine.

 

[Swissempire]

IC Greed and Power-Hunger!

I hope that, even if Opuleth is swept away by the sands of time, that their effect on the cradle will be so great that huge epic powergrabs happen and big things are built and etc.

*pulls out sword with a gold hilt and encrusted with Precious Gems* FOR GLORY AND PRESTIGE!

 

[LittleBoots]

Name of Culture: Prydda'annwfyn (Pri-thda-ann-ouf'n)
Place of origin: Doesn't matter to me where they are originally from; can decide that later
Gods & Goddesses and related beings: Totemic Animism; the Man is somehow like and equal to the Rock and the Tree in spirit and experience; no understanding of the separation of mental and physical; no recognition of Man as above nature, rather included in nature; heavy identification with certain animals
Any significant past accomplishments: Giving honest city folk night terrors
Current economic base: semi-nomadic, fishing, hunting, very low-level agriculture
Current location: Heavily forested areas... near Swissempire
Lineage: Patriarchal Clans
Spoken language: Annwfyn (not acknowledged as the name for their own language; they don't name their langauge, its what everyone they know speaks); Composed entirely of sentences, no words (the sentence Lleuthigwynneddnothosagh indicates the the boat comes to me, whereas the sentence Aghapgueddwynallwysairaoredh indicates the boat goes away from me. There is no abstract concept of boat-as-such and no word in common between the two sentences. More on the language later.
Written language: Very rudimentary system of line notation used in esoteric rituals
Medium for writing: Normally rocks and trees, but their writing isn't as important as their religious symbols; those are either tattooed onto their own skin or carved into the skin of enemies
Class structure: Autocratic chieftain ruling over his clan, some influence held by the shamans; no developed class structure; the Chief rules and the rest do what they are told; men kill things, women raise children, women and children do sedentary work (rudimentary agriculture, constructing temporary housing, etc)
Ruling class: the Strongest
Key values: Strength, Survival
OTL mix: Welsh with Slavic, African, and Native American influences