Julius Gandi
The Foreign Disease
Ooooo Looks like a crowded Perso-Indian area. Indus Valley Cradle for me, near the sea. A little more East than I was thinking but it makes sense.
pre-MjMNES4: A Fresh Start
- Thread starter MjM
- Start date
MjM
Deity
I've got you on the interior on the red zone, fc on the coast, Azash is in the East. Is this what you wanted?
Julius Gandi
The Foreign Disease
Sounds good to me.
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Lurking with interest.
MjM
Deity
More people are still welcome to join after this point.
What I want from you guys as players are descriptions of your nation. Not actual play-by-plays of them up to 500 BC, but general cultural descriptions, as well as goals of your nation. These are meant to be broad, and give me something to work with to write the BT update. Remember, I am writing the BT Update, so I don't need to know what your nation does until 500 BC, but I do need to know what it wants to do, a general cultural description, an outline of what your nation is going to do during the BT, and some names of capital cities and such.
Also, this kind of goes without saying, however, I want civilizations in similar areas to have similar cultures. For instance, for those of you in America, you're all going to be semi-similar. Resource and species distribution is the same as OTL at this point, so no horses in North America, for instance. People in India shouldn't have European cultures, and vice versa.
What I want from you guys as players are descriptions of your nation. Not actual play-by-plays of them up to 500 BC, but general cultural descriptions, as well as goals of your nation. These are meant to be broad, and give me something to work with to write the BT update. Remember, I am writing the BT Update, so I don't need to know what your nation does until 500 BC, but I do need to know what it wants to do, a general cultural description, an outline of what your nation is going to do during the BT, and some names of capital cities and such.
Also, this kind of goes without saying, however, I want civilizations in similar areas to have similar cultures. For instance, for those of you in America, you're all going to be semi-similar. Resource and species distribution is the same as OTL at this point, so no horses in North America, for instance. People in India shouldn't have European cultures, and vice versa.
Abaddon
Deity
Cairo
MjM
Deity
Cool. I've updated your position, and since you've chosen, Agent 89's as well.
I will probably launch the main thread tomorrow, at this rate.
Julius Gandi
The Foreign Disease
MjM
Deity
I will be making the main thread tomorrow. So, Tuesday is what I'm thinking.
JosefStalinator
Я буду снова здесь
I'll join, as Beardania, wherever in Europe/Mediterranean is most convenient for you.
We worship beards, and the King is the only one permitted to have a beard beyond his stomach, which he must maintain. Should he fail at this, he will immediately be executed and new King chosen among the bearded nobles. The beards of fallen enemies are taken as trophies, and worn about one's beard/body as a sign of power.
We worship beards, and the King is the only one permitted to have a beard beyond his stomach, which he must maintain. Should he fail at this, he will immediately be executed and new King chosen among the bearded nobles. The beards of fallen enemies are taken as trophies, and worn about one's beard/body as a sign of power.
MjM
Deity
JosefStalinator
Я буду снова здесь
Julius Gandi
The Foreign Disease
I will name my little nation. From hence forth Ranshasska shall reign over the the mouth of the Indus River from their capitol city of the same name.
erez87
Lord of Random
- Joined
- May 16, 2002
- Messages
- 13,500
Sademoni is a peaceful trading tribe on the coast of Sicily. They tend to much agriculture but a few also create luxurious goods that are sold to great ships that sometimes come and stop by for trade in return for other things, like wisdom and materials not common on Sicily.
The Sademoni are a very open minded tribe, they worship home spirits, each dedicated to a family, but tend to merge their mythologies with other people's mythologies. They are highly influenced and it is not unheard of when a family sends their second born male child to study in far away countries on the trading ships, those one day return and receive much respect and usually begin a new industry, or a special school in the Sademoni village.
This high ability to mend other cultures into themselves makes the Sademoni quickly evolve to match their trading partners and so even while being a small village, they rushed to build a well developed port, one of the first stone structures in the whole of Sicily.
Although they cherish the sea for trade, they do not excel at using ships. They have a large amount of fishing with boats going on, but they tend to hire other nations ships for defending themselves against pirates.
The government is mostly a tribal union of family elders, but this is quickly varying under influence of outsiders and already a council of chosen men begins to be seen, also some families have become very rich, merchant families, that also tend to pick up most control over the tribe.
The Sademoni are a very open minded tribe, they worship home spirits, each dedicated to a family, but tend to merge their mythologies with other people's mythologies. They are highly influenced and it is not unheard of when a family sends their second born male child to study in far away countries on the trading ships, those one day return and receive much respect and usually begin a new industry, or a special school in the Sademoni village.
This high ability to mend other cultures into themselves makes the Sademoni quickly evolve to match their trading partners and so even while being a small village, they rushed to build a well developed port, one of the first stone structures in the whole of Sicily.
Although they cherish the sea for trade, they do not excel at using ships. They have a large amount of fishing with boats going on, but they tend to hire other nations ships for defending themselves against pirates.
The government is mostly a tribal union of family elders, but this is quickly varying under influence of outsiders and already a council of chosen men begins to be seen, also some families have become very rich, merchant families, that also tend to pick up most control over the tribe.
nutranurse
Unlikeliest of Slash Fics
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2009
- Messages
- 2,077
The Tuntun
Culture
Above all the Tuntun values its culture, its art, its Gods. Any 'city' the early Tuntun peoples could have claimed to possess was not a city in the sense that it was filled with urban dwellers, but instead a gathering place where artwork could be shown off and sold, great feasts and events celebrated, and Gods invoked during dire times through mass rituals conducted by the Tuntun community. Community, in fact, is also paramount, for without it the Tuntun may as well be barbarians.
Though they live in separate tribes, in small villages surrounding their ceremonial 'capital', the Tuntun see themselves as a people who have been set above the rest by the Gods. How one Tuntun recognizes another is a two-step process. First, any Tuntun carries some small piece of artwork on his person, something he or his father or his father's father made that bears the Tuntun 'essence'. Next, one Tuntun will challenge the other to a friendly game of Tizia, a game derived from the far more important Tizikin and adapted to allow for impromptu play between a few individuals. Tizia sees two opposing parties aiming to launch a small ball made from various materials across the opponent's left shoulder (left specifically due to a Tuntun belief that all ill-spirits hover on a person's left side) using only their forearms, elbows, or hips. Depending on how a person players--or if they play at all--one Tuntun can recognize another (and the more skilled players can even figure out the individual's tribe due to various strategies passed from generation to generation). Tizia is a friendly game, often played during greetings between two tribes and at the beginning of any major event; Tizikin, however, sees far more at stake and occupies an important place in Tuntun mysticism.
Tizikin is always played in a decorated ball court and always played with an equally decorated rubber ball. The ball itself is often heavy and the game's players are always young men who are at the pinnacle of their strength. Tizikin is played only three times a year during the Tuntun's most important rituals: Xolxi (Year's End), Xuli (Year's Birth), and Cuetlu (Womb-Month). Each village provides a team of five players and a tournament is held to determine a 'winner'. The goal of the game is to launch the rubber ball through a hoop (signifying, simultaneously, the ending/beginning of a new year and the act of copulation) or keep the ball in the air for roughly half an hour. Should the ball hit the ground, as it often does, before the time is up the team that let the ball fall loses and they are beaten by Tuntun priests. Any blood spilled is collected and offered to the Gods. Once two teams remain the game's length is doubled to an hour and the losing team is sacrificed to the Tuntun Gods by the winning team. Understandably, things get fierce during the last match and many teams opt to lose early, but both the winning and losing teams are held in high esteem by the Tuntun and both tribes with the teams belong to earn special rights and privileges.
Society
The Tuntun live in familial clusters around their ceremonial and religious capital. No one man can truly say he leads the tribes, but one woman each generation is raised above the staunchly patriarchal system to become the Cuettempthal, literally 'The One Womb of the World'. This woman leads all Tuntun rituals and acts as the Tuntun face to outsiders. In truth her authority is only maintained by a council of older male priests called the Itltec, of which there are seven, one for each of the major Tuntun Gods.
On a tribal level this model is mimicked by the dual-leadership of tribes. Each tribe has a 'Headman' (Itlopa) and 'Headwoman' (Cuetopa) who see to the efficient ordering of the 'Man's World' (hunting, farming, animal rearing) and the 'Woman's World' (trading, weaving, child rearing). Oftentimes these two individuals are married, though this need not be so. Regardless of any egalitarian pretenses these dual-leaderships may suggest, men rule the villages and it is to the Itlopa that the tribe looks to for guidance.
The Tuntun are very much based in agriculture and taking their yield from the land. They have domesticated a few animals, such as ducks and dogs, and spend a great deal of their time plowing the land to grow corn. Corn is the staple in Tuntun diet and most meals consist of corn-based creations that are vaguely flavored with whatever else the Tuntun find and kill.
When the Tuntun are not working they are creating their art, which ranges from small carvings into clay tablets or the sides of their mud huts, to intricate body tattoos and the monolithic sculptures housed in Tuntun cities. Artists hold a special place in Tuntun society and are regarded as priestly. In fact, most priests are or were artists at one point due to the fact that the best Tuntun artists are housed in the ceremonial cities. These artists work with stone, a feat that many regard as divine and supernatural.
Culture
Above all the Tuntun values its culture, its art, its Gods. Any 'city' the early Tuntun peoples could have claimed to possess was not a city in the sense that it was filled with urban dwellers, but instead a gathering place where artwork could be shown off and sold, great feasts and events celebrated, and Gods invoked during dire times through mass rituals conducted by the Tuntun community. Community, in fact, is also paramount, for without it the Tuntun may as well be barbarians.
Though they live in separate tribes, in small villages surrounding their ceremonial 'capital', the Tuntun see themselves as a people who have been set above the rest by the Gods. How one Tuntun recognizes another is a two-step process. First, any Tuntun carries some small piece of artwork on his person, something he or his father or his father's father made that bears the Tuntun 'essence'. Next, one Tuntun will challenge the other to a friendly game of Tizia, a game derived from the far more important Tizikin and adapted to allow for impromptu play between a few individuals. Tizia sees two opposing parties aiming to launch a small ball made from various materials across the opponent's left shoulder (left specifically due to a Tuntun belief that all ill-spirits hover on a person's left side) using only their forearms, elbows, or hips. Depending on how a person players--or if they play at all--one Tuntun can recognize another (and the more skilled players can even figure out the individual's tribe due to various strategies passed from generation to generation). Tizia is a friendly game, often played during greetings between two tribes and at the beginning of any major event; Tizikin, however, sees far more at stake and occupies an important place in Tuntun mysticism.
Tizikin is always played in a decorated ball court and always played with an equally decorated rubber ball. The ball itself is often heavy and the game's players are always young men who are at the pinnacle of their strength. Tizikin is played only three times a year during the Tuntun's most important rituals: Xolxi (Year's End), Xuli (Year's Birth), and Cuetlu (Womb-Month). Each village provides a team of five players and a tournament is held to determine a 'winner'. The goal of the game is to launch the rubber ball through a hoop (signifying, simultaneously, the ending/beginning of a new year and the act of copulation) or keep the ball in the air for roughly half an hour. Should the ball hit the ground, as it often does, before the time is up the team that let the ball fall loses and they are beaten by Tuntun priests. Any blood spilled is collected and offered to the Gods. Once two teams remain the game's length is doubled to an hour and the losing team is sacrificed to the Tuntun Gods by the winning team. Understandably, things get fierce during the last match and many teams opt to lose early, but both the winning and losing teams are held in high esteem by the Tuntun and both tribes with the teams belong to earn special rights and privileges.
Society
The Tuntun live in familial clusters around their ceremonial and religious capital. No one man can truly say he leads the tribes, but one woman each generation is raised above the staunchly patriarchal system to become the Cuettempthal, literally 'The One Womb of the World'. This woman leads all Tuntun rituals and acts as the Tuntun face to outsiders. In truth her authority is only maintained by a council of older male priests called the Itltec, of which there are seven, one for each of the major Tuntun Gods.
On a tribal level this model is mimicked by the dual-leadership of tribes. Each tribe has a 'Headman' (Itlopa) and 'Headwoman' (Cuetopa) who see to the efficient ordering of the 'Man's World' (hunting, farming, animal rearing) and the 'Woman's World' (trading, weaving, child rearing). Oftentimes these two individuals are married, though this need not be so. Regardless of any egalitarian pretenses these dual-leaderships may suggest, men rule the villages and it is to the Itlopa that the tribe looks to for guidance.
The Tuntun are very much based in agriculture and taking their yield from the land. They have domesticated a few animals, such as ducks and dogs, and spend a great deal of their time plowing the land to grow corn. Corn is the staple in Tuntun diet and most meals consist of corn-based creations that are vaguely flavored with whatever else the Tuntun find and kill.
When the Tuntun are not working they are creating their art, which ranges from small carvings into clay tablets or the sides of their mud huts, to intricate body tattoos and the monolithic sculptures housed in Tuntun cities. Artists hold a special place in Tuntun society and are regarded as priestly. In fact, most priests are or were artists at one point due to the fact that the best Tuntun artists are housed in the ceremonial cities. These artists work with stone, a feat that many regard as divine and supernatural.
SouthernKing
crickety cricket
I can take something in the Indus Valley, if it is still open.
MjM
Deity
Where would you like? In between the other two starting players?
SouthernKing
crickety cricket
MjM
Deity
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