PREVIEW: SymNES II

[das]

I suggest you all refocus on the business of arguing over the more general details of the languages (such as its representation)

We'll adapt someone else's alphabet later. It's situational.

your mythologies

Too early to develop anything overtly complex, so let's take a basic polytheism with particular reverence for the gods of the Sun (Dilaca) and the Moon (Biaga). Chthonic deities are curiously insignificant/absent in everyday worship (in polite society, anyway), though some of their attributes have gradually moved to the other gods.

The cosmogony and theogony is pretty basic as well: Bul Muduri, the ancient chthonic deity, had spawned the Uda Sebe, the main gods of the Pegi Rente, who eventually slew it, made the world out of its body and retired to the upper level of the world after creating the humans to feed and serve them in the mortal world. They did not at all completely withdraw from the world, though; as per the principle of "as below, so above", they still move around to herd their mythical flock, hunt equally mythical beasts (including leftover chthonic children of Bul Muduri that hide out in the dark corners of the world) and punish humans for all kinds of things, as is only proper. There will likely be retcons, but that's okay, Babylonians did that too.

what kind of terrain you're interested in

We did that already, didn't we?

who you think is most likely similar.

Samas of erez87 sound pretty similar, while the Arozi of SwissEmpire are totally the leftover chthonic spawn of Bul Muduri whom all the good humans are obliged to enslave and generally abuse. Okay, that last bit is purely hypothetical, but if he's anywhere near we should keep that convenient association of Bul Muduri with water in mind.

Why would I assist you in figuring out how big the planet is to any capacity?.

Well, giving us some idea of how big a given area is supposed to be might be useful (if only for comparison with real world equivalents), though probably more so later on.

 

[Symphony D.]

Retroactive deletion.

 

[das]

For example, whether the chief diety is the Sun God, the Lightning God, the God of Wisdom, so on.

The Sun God in my case, obviously enough. Although that might change in the future and so on.

 

[Symphony D.]

Retroactive deletion.

 

[Swissempire]

Origin Location: 2
Societal Name: Arozi
Language Family: Proto-Asonic
Descent Rights: Patrilineal
Inheritance Rights: Patrilineal
Climate Distribution: Tropical/subtropical savanna near bodies of water
Writing: Everyone Elses
Mythology: The chief dieties are the Sun and the Earth. The Sun is Masculine and the Earth is Feminine. Earth is weak(a simple child can break its skin) but it is compassionate and gives so much. And it is resilient. Like women in their culture. The Sun is like a man, leaving each night to fight the enemies of the Earth and to gather nourishment that the Earth cannot grow herself.

The Earth created Life, and attempted to raise it in caves so the sun would not see, but in these caves evil infected Life. Earth tried to give it the antidote Good but nothing came of it. When the sun found out about Life, he tried to destroy it with a giant stone he cast at it, and the stone hit and split Life into millions of pieces, who became the different species, who could all be good or evil.

OOC: Will do names later.

 

[das]

Bump. How difficult could it possibly be for the people who signed up for this to post some simple information? Now, there probably are other factors as well, but I think that if we were to work out those basic cultural details this would be launched faster.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I'm happy to, but I am not really clear on what, beyond posting our "stats" we are supposed to agree on.

 

[das]

I suggest you all refocus on the business of arguing over the more general details of the languages (such as its representation), or even something actually somewhat productive, like your mythologies or what kind of terrain you're interested in and who you think is most likely similar.

Those things. Though you have most of them done, other than mythology. Still, many people don't seem to have even noticed that post, so I want to call attention to it.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Those things. Though you have most of them done, other than mythology. Still, many people don't seem to have even noticed that post, so I want to call attention to it.

I guess i could post a mythology, but I would not be too inclined to argue over it with someone else. Perhaps though, I could list three or four key events that are part of my people's mythology and we (area 1 players) could try to agree on those elements.

 

[LightFang]

Blargh. I have realized that I have too many projects to work on, so rather than drop a NES in session I'll drop one that is still in the preview stage.

Looks like fun time with Symphy will have to wait.

Take me out of consideration for the lineup, Symphony D.!

 

[Chandrasekhar]

Despite my lack of posting activity, I am working on my society here. One of the reasons I made the ChaNES deadline somewhat generous was so that I could finish my concept before starting work on the update for my NES. However, I'd rather not post at all until I've gotten everything I want to include listed. I hope that the other players' apparent inactivity is due to similar reasons.

 

[das]

Bumpity-bump. Is there anything in particular (other than additional player input) that we are waiting for here?

 

[Symphony D.]

Retroactive deletion.

 

[jalapeno_dude]

Though to be really quite honest, I don't see how me supplying you with a few additional maps is going to inspire you terribly much more than you already are(n't).

I believe it might act as a stimulus of sorts. Having an actual placement, especially relative to the others in our starting area, will inspire at least me to start talking the neighboring players. I'm assuming that at least for the first few turns there isn't really much point in actual competition or secret orders, so we can all post our goals/orders and work out the interactions between societies collaboratively.

That said, the primary object of worship of the Shaituhu will be the River Goddess, Tsaina. Still trying to come up with a semi-logical theogeny.

 

[Birdjaguar]

There is a chance that things will occur within the next week, as my Spring Break just started, but I again refer to the above terms and conditions. Though to be really quite honest, I don't see how me supplying you with a few additional maps is going to inspire you terribly much more than you already are(n't).

I believe it might act as a stimulus of sorts. Having an actual placement, especially relative to the others in our starting area, will inspire at least me to start talking the neighboring players. I'm assuming that at least for the first few turns there isn't really much point in actual competition or secret orders, so we can all post our goals/orders and work out the interactions between societies collaboratively.

He is right. ^^^ Something concrete is always helpful for thinking about; It would show progress that this is actually moving forward and raise the excitement level.

 

[Fuschia]

Leadership, Expansion, and Travel

The leadership of the Alarkiens was limited to small villages, ruled by a single person, generally male: the Alark'tangat. However, leadership did its best not to stagnate regardless. When a child was given the Hakamei of Alark'tangat it would, after having passed all of its apprenticeships, be given food, water, and other supplies and banished from the village, never to return. The child would also be given records of the villages customs and any new discoveries, expansions, or other important events that had occurred since the last Alark'tangat was banished.

This child would wander until it found another Alarkien village or until it died. Upon finding another village, the child would find its Alark'tangat and make a gift to him or her of the recordings in return for further apprenticeship, which could last many years. This apprenticeship included extensive training in customs, conflict resolution, and the Alarkien's reading and writing system, which generally remained a mystery to all but the Alark'tangat.

Once such an apprenticeship was completed, one of two things would occur. The first, and more common, result was that the mentor would die or commit suicide so as to leave the village to his or her apprentice. In this case, the village would continue in much the way it had before, but with a new Alark'tangat.

The other result is that the older leader will decide to leave and found a new village elsewhere. In this method, the mentor would take one half of the people, provisions, and tools of the village and leave to found a new village elsewhere, with the hopes that the wisdom and stabilizing influence of an older leader and great amounts of resources would allow the new village to take root without many problems.

These various customs helped to prevent stagnation in leadership, as a sort of communication was constantly carried on; the changing leadership also assisted the Alark'tangat in remaining neutral arbiters in all disputes, as they would know not a one of those in the village they ruled from their childhood or earlier days.

Finally, we shall touch upon travel. Travel is generally only allowed in these very controlled settings, as it is considered an upsetting of the Alark, the Balance. In a great emergency or in the destruction of one village, a single man, generally the swiftest runner with great knowledge of the surrounding terrain, was given an additional Hakamei of Rabaer'tangat, or runner person. This honor was generally given to a hunter, and the purpose of this Hakamei was to move as quickly as possible in an attempt to spread word of disaster to other villages before it reached them.


Hopefully my posts as to various pieces of my society will be more frequent now. On an even more hopeful note, it should encourage other people to post more frequently about their own societies. Right, people?

 

[Thlayli]

Well, I'm trying to figure out how communal distribution of property (in a non-idiotic, non-Marxist way) would work for a post-tribal society with growing semi-urban environments and a developing political and religious structure.

As soon as I do that, you'll get your posts.

 

[Fuschia]

Feasts and Gifts

Hei were ritual feasts that played an enormous part in Alarkien society. There purposes were many the greatest of which was, to many Alarkienae, the avoidance of both wealth and poverty among the various members of the community. Although private property was respected until death by the customs of the Alarkienae, the Hei often functioned as an early form of charity, ensuring that all would have food.

Another, more subtle, aspect to the feasts was the gaining of respect among those of the hosts village. A large, grand feast would be remembered for many years, possibly even recorded by the Alark'tangat; also, one who traditionally gave large feasts would receive more favorable seating at other's feasts.

Hoka, or gifts, often served a similar purpose to Hei and were given, great or small, at any meeting with someone not of your family. Often small gifts would be given, as meetings in the small villages were somewhat common and unavoidable. Often, the giving of gifts set the tone for the meeting, with the more powerful, wealthier person giving the other an extravagant gift, while the less powerful would give smaller gifts. Some gifts were even symbolic in their meanings, from aggression to affection.

The Hoka assisted in maintaining a fairly even distribution of wealth among the Alarkiens, as it was considered a grave offense to give a small gift when one was capable of giving a larger one; if someone weaker than oneself offered a more extravagant gift than your own, you would suffer great humiliation as the story spread. They were commonly presented at Hei's as well, making the feasts even larger and more important.

The Hoka were also used as a sort of payment to the Alark'tangat for his services. Alone of the Alarkienae, the Alark'tangat was capable of receiving gifts while giving none. However, a gift given by an Alark'tangat was considered the greatest of treasures, regardless of the actual value of the gift. The occasional Alark'tangat did, of course, corrupt his impartiality by this practice, but the mentality of the Alarkienae generally kept this corruption to a minimum and, even when it occurred, the corrupted generally measured all gifts based upon the wealth of the giver, ensuring a sort of fairness even within corruption.

 

[Symphony D.]

Retroactive deletion.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Very cool maps, but I must go to work.