Project Lemuria

[Lord_Iggy]

Ah, so it's more of a holarctic distribution than a strictly North America one. It's still a tricky jump, especially as large insects are way worse at propagating than small ones.

 

[Radagandruman]

They did manage to cross either the Atlantic or the Pacific.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Usually things getting across the Pacific are crossing the Bering land bridge between Siberia and Alaska.

 

[SouthernKing]

I'll give some feedback on everything tomorrow.

 

[Grandkhan]

Correct me if I'm wrong because I'm far from a paleontologist, but since Lemuria split off Gondwanaland in the Cretaceous and has been isolated ever since, wouldn't most of the mammalian population be marsupials like in Australia? Unless there's been a collision or land bridge to Asia or Africa. When and where did Placental mammals evolve?

Minus rafting species (and it's a long way to raft) which may have outcompeted native marsupial fauna (see Australia, where imported animals are doing serious damage to native wildlife) unless humans brought a ton of animals to Lemuria then most fauna should be marsupials though very, very different to Australian ones.

Terror birds are right in though. There's no real apex predator, they would probably own that niche. Flightless pigeon relatives (like the dodo or vitu Levi pigeon) might also be a possibility though things like rats would wipe them out.

It's also worth noting that megafauna might not survive human contact. I've been coming up with marsupial stuff but then thinking "hunted to extinction, hunted to extinction, couldn't coexist with dogs, hunted to extinction..."

 

[Lord_Iggy]

I'm actually just writing up a summary of the native mammals (not including the ones that would later be able to raft over from Afro-Eurasia). There are loads of marsupials, but also plenty of species that would have been common in South America and pre-freeze Antarctica. This includes all sort of weird ungulates, resembling equivalents to everything from camels to gazelles to rhinos, and xenarthrans such as sloths, anteaters and armadillos. Those would make up the native population of mammals, but then you'd also probably get a random smattering of small invaders, who get washed over the ocean or island-hop their way in. You'll also get plenty of bats, who, like birds, are great at dispersing. Seals will be the only members of the order carnivora to arrive early, and they will probably be exclusively coastal, though I could imagine some migrating inland to the inland sea.

Beyond mammals, you'll have all sorts of birds, plus plenty of reptiles: crocodilians will be major water predators, and you'll have diverse lizards, snakes and chelonians. Plants will be a mixture of distinctive Gondwanan species like southern beech, podocarps, and kauris, with plenty of coniferous trees, along with basically anything that has floating seeds (palms) or wind-blown seeds.

 

[thomas.berubeg]

couldn't coexist with dogs"

I'm 90% sure there are no dogs here, yet, until they're introduced by later people. SO, that aspect of megafauna can still stick around until later.

 

[TheGryphonPrince]

Saravanid Peoples

Location:

Values: The Saravanids are strong believers in keeping their word and highly value loyalty among their tribemembers. In fact, if two rivals fight eachother in what they consider an honorable manner, the survivors of the defeated tribe are allowed to join the victorious tribe. In addition, the Saravanid society is quite accepting of women taking on certain roles. Also, they believe that the Ejjanysra that are used as mounts are almost as important as the men riding them, and these Ejjanysra are usually buried as people are normally are.

Society: The Saravanids generally live in tribes of no more than fifty men each. They only tend to unite in larger confederacies under an external threat, or under a charismatic leader, known as an Efarh, that can promise loot from the north.

Lifestyle: As there are no major rivers flowing through the region with the exception of a handful of streams, the Saravanid homeland has almost no permanent settlements. Therefore, the Saravanids are steppesmen and are rarely seen walking outside their . When they do have to settle down, they generally set up large tents consisting of a mixture of cloth and leather. Their weapons of preference are bows and bronze spears; this early in history swords are rare.

Religion: According to their mythology, Tharan, the deity of the Saravanids, is in every place and everything that happens in the world does so according to its will. However, the Saravanids still believe that their shamans can communicate with him, in hopes that Tharan will bring forth either good omens, like a good hunt, or curses down their enemies. In spite of this, it must be noted that the Saravanids are not as religiously devoted as their neighbours, only summoning Tharan if they deem it necessary, and influences from the Gwonhelods are slowly creeping into their society (to be more specific, a few Saravanids actually admire the temples they usually loot, and some Saravanid shamans are trying to use Gwonhelod-inspired spirals to help their intercesion with Tharan.

Economy: The Saravanids are either sheepherders or hunt and gather what little their territory generally produces. Their most valuable product is murder bird food, which is deemed this way because of the difficulty to properly hunt murder birds, even while using ranged weaponry. As with foreign relations, the Saravanids often launch incursions into Gwonhelod territory. They usually come to loot the rural areas for their abundant food, bronze/iron, weapons, and riches that may be hidden behind those strange temples, and if the Gwonhelods are particularily weak, the Saravanids will often try to keep some territory for themselves, at least until they are kicked out. However, the Saravanids aren’t entirely parasitic. If paid enough tribute, the Gwonhelods may end up recruiting Saravanid tribes as mercenaries. In addition, if the Gwonhelods are under a particularily strong regime, the Saravanids would then much rather trade their wears and livestock with their otherwise enemy.

History: Although hardly anything is known about Saravanid history, other than the fact that they might have migrated into the region about 3000 B.C, the Saravanids were the first Lemurians to tame the Ejjanysra into the mounts as they are known today. Prior to that, the Ejjanysra have largely been used as cattle by the original tribes living in the Saravanid steppes.

Language: Although frequent raids and some Helod migrants into their homeland gave the the Saravanids certain elements of their language, the Saravanids share more in common with the northeastern foresters.

Person Names: The tribesmen have personal names, but they generally take the name of the tribe they're currently living on as their surname, regardless of the original tribe they came from. Efarhs, therefore, have no surnames since they are generally considered above their tribes, but if the Efarh has inherited his position from a line of Efarhs, the current Efarh can take the name of the first Efarh in this line, but again, this is optional and solely done to grant a certain degree of legitimacy.

City Names: One of the few semi-permanent settlements is located on the north. Although it is consistently abandoned, it is nevertheless often used when the Gwonhelods decide to be nice and hand over their due tribute.

Nation Names: Although there are no permanent nation-states either, tribes are known by a generic name (tribe of the Red Steppes, or Tasara in their language, for instance). However, several tribes under one Efarh are known as Efarhat of (name of the Efarh)

Geographical Names:
Eastern mountains: Forest Mountains (Korinisiran)
Eastern forest: Forest (Korini)
Eastern arid lands: Hotland (Apasan)
Homeland: Steppe (Sara)
Southwestern desert: Desert (Hatuc)
Western mountains: Dry Mountains (Ihesiran)
Northern mountains: Sand Mountains (Hatasiran)
Gwonhelod territory: Great Rivers (Tahbatunur)

 

[thomas.berubeg]

Stared Seal (Neophoca inlustris)
Habitat: Both Inland Seas and many of the rivers.
Description: Subsisting on a diet of fish and shellfish, and the occasional unlucky rodent or bird, the Star Sea Lion inhabits the freshwater network of Lemuria. A mottled grey color, with a distinctive yellow star patterning on their heads and back, these seals are relatively small, with a full grown adult at only about a meter long.

Lemurian Fur Seal (Arctocephalus lemuria)
Habitat: Southern coastline
Description: The Lemurian Fur seal has thick coat with two distinct layers, the undercoat a rusty brown color, while the guard hairs veer to grey. The Lemurian Fur seal gathers on the southern shores of Lemuria in rookeries of thousands, where males compete over harems of females. They are able to move about on all fours on land, though not gracefully, as they are larger than most Fur Seals, with pronounced sexual dimorphism. Adult Males can reach nearly 2.5-3 meters long, while females generally are 1-1.5 meters.

Chisel Seal (Neomonachus vectis)
Habitat: Most of the coastlines
Description: The Chisel seal is a true seal, and is endemic to most of the salt-water coastlines, though some colonies have been spotted in the rivers and inland seas of the continent. It is named for the odd shape of its snout, the tip of which has hard, protective Keratin outgrowths and powerful muscles, which it uses to pry open shellfish.


Lemurian Sea Lion (Neophoca lemuria)
Habitat: The coastline of that network of islands in the south.
Description: One of the smaller Sea-Lion Species, the Lemurian Sea Lion subsists on the islands to the south of lemuria, with the occasional mainland colony (though, generally speaking, mainland colonies make their offspring vulnerable to predators.) Their coats tend towards a pale grey, almost blue color on their backs, and a pale white stomach, allowing them to stay hidden in the waters they hunt.

 

[inthesomeday]

Can I design multiple cultures? If I'm unable to "play" more than one in the game phase, they could become NPCs.

 

[thomas.berubeg]

Regent Penguin/(Aptenodytes lemuria)
Habitat: The Southern Coasts of Lemuria
Description: This penguin is very similar to the King penguin of the sub-antarctic regions, adapted to warmer climates. It is more of a subspecies than an actually differentiated species, but the geographic differences are enough for biologists to give it a different name.


Brigadier Penguin/(Aptenodytes tropicalis)
Habitat: Northern Coasts of Lemuria, and perhaps even Sri Lanka
Description: Even larger than its cousin, the Emperor penguin of antarctica, the Lemurian brigadier penguin’s orange coloring has spread to cover it’s stomach, relegating white to a series of splotches on its shoulders. They subsists on a diet of fish and shellfish, and live in smaller colonies than most other penguings.

 

[SouthernKing]

So I'm tentatively going to set a deadline for cultures as Tuesday, 19 December (as in a week from this post). We're still missing people in the cradles. I do have plans for if no one starts in there, but it would be far more interesting if those were occupied by PCs I don't need super doorstopper levels of detail, what has been posted thus far is perfect. As always, ask me if you have questions on this. There's a lot of good discussion happening in discord if you want ideas/etc.

I absolutely love how intricate and developed the wildlife/ecosystem stuff has become, but I know it has become a bit on the elaborate side for some. So, in the meantime, I'm going to try to condense all of it into a concise post. Watch this space (or more accurately the space in post #4ish on the front page)

I'm more or less going to accept the cultures so far.

Kupi
Location

North-eastern slope of alpine mountains north-east of western cradle (eastern arm of the major western mountains)
Values: Family, Spiritualism/Faith, Artisanry/Aestheticism (in crafted things), Story-telling, Music, Minimalism/Simplicity,
Society: The tribes meet on a bi-annual basis. Each tribe is led by an elected chief and these all hold a ‘seat’ at the ‘tribal council’. Tribal leaders are assisted in spiritual matters by a shaman (usually an older woman).

Lifestyle: Live in stone and wooden buildings in the dense forest and survive through limited agriculture (terraced rice paddies is okay?), fishing of rivers and streams, hunting and trapping. They weave natural fabrics but have little access to dyes. They are particularly expert bee-keepers and honey is a common ingredient in many Kupi dishes. They engage in extensive stone working but only limited surface metal mining.

Men and women are generally equal though women are more associated with the home and child-rearing while men are more associated with hunting.

No warrior or soldier caste- the men and all work together in a fairly disorganized way in the event of conflict.

The people spend a lot of time in crating goods from wood, stone or animals and create giant wood or stone monuments simply but evocatively carved, often in out of the way places in the natural spaces- these become sites of pilgrimage. Almost all their tools and goods are carved or decorated- usually with animal motifs. They also add candles made from bee’s wax to these sites and so it is not uncommon to stumble into a hidden highland area with a towering stone statue of a reclining wildcat draped in thousands and thousands of candles.

They are story-tellers and singers. They play drums and wood instruments. They weave and embroider and if they can get dye, wear bright clothes.
Religion: They are shamanists and medicine-women (or more rarely men) intercede in spiritual matters alongside them. They believe in reincarnation and in everlasting spiritual cycling and believe that they can be reborn as vast natural areas as the highest form of rebirth. They believe that the Ursa medicus are holy animals and guardians of other spirits and make offerings of honey to these animals.

They believe they appease the spirits of the natural world by creating things of beauty and visiting them.

They believe violence and anger disrupts their spirit and that beauty, simplicity, and wisdom pleases it.
Economy: Domesticated goats and sheep and dogs. Plants- whatever is appropriate for the area- i'd love terraced rice paddies if its okay...
History: TBD
Language: TBD
Person Names: TBD
City Names: N/A – no cities yet.
Nation Names: NA- no nations yet.
Geographical Names: Meh- creativity fail- I’ll edit if I think of anything.

Looks great. Terraced rice paddies are perfect for that part of the continent.

THE GWONHELOD

Locations: the Rivers at the western edge of the western cradle (1).

Mythology:

The world the Gwonhelod inhabit is a living one. The world and the spirit world have existed forever in their current state. The material world is mundane and solid and what humans inhabit. The Spirit world is very different, though it exists as a reflection of the material one. Physical things, events, strong emotions, and metaphysical concepts spawn spirits (Ensha), who inhabit the spirit world.

Most of these spirits cannot cross the boundaries of reality unassisted, unless they have help from a shaman (Sekemns). Great and powerful spirits can cross over without a problem, though very rarely do so. Instead, their effects tend to be felt in the material world even when they remain in the spirit world.

The Shape an Ensha may take is defined greatly by what kind of Ensha it is, though power is a limiting factor. A Very minor fire Ensha, for example, can be only a spark or small flame, while a Great Fire Ensha can be anything even vaguely connected to fire. The Truly Powerful Ensha, gods, some might say, have no restriction on shape. Additionally, Sekemns can throw themselves over into the spirit world, at least mentally, and exist to build alliances and relationships with spirits, ensuring their people are safe. Ensha are bound by specific rules that govern their existence. Though with power and strength, some of the greater ensha are able to interpret the rules of existence quite liberally, they are still bound by them. An ensha that manages to break the rules is a truly terrifying thing, threatening to consume both the spirit world and the material world in their entirety.

The Gwonhelod believe themselves to be patronized as a people by a Great Spirit, or Great Ensha, known as Migwon. Migwon is the great hound, born of the friendship between Gwonhelod and Dog. As such, the dog plays an important part in the symbolism of the Gwonhelod, representing both Strength and Trust. Additionally, Theran and Jenashak, the Ensha of the great rivers, Teu, the Ensha of the sun, and Ahmo, one of the greater embodiments of love, are are believed to be spirits friendly to humanity.

The Gwonhelod believe that humans and dogs are the only creatures with souls. In death, their souls (and that of dogs) makes a perilous journey through the spirit world, travelling northwards, until finally arriving and joining with the “Mawr Ansa,” the Sea of Souls, an ocean comprised of the souls of the unborn, where they are washed of their sins and memories, and sent back into life as a newborn child or puppy. The Soul, when it enters the Mawr Ansa is burdened by the weight of the sins committed in life, which drags souls of sinners deeper into the depths of sea, thus taking longer to return to the surface to be reborn. All agree, however, that for a soul to make the journey from death to the Mawr Ansa alone is to court complete destruction. As such, Sekemns are meant to petition friendly minor Ensha to protect and accompany the souls of the recent dead in the village or city, and some even sacrifice a loyal dog upon the death of its owner, so that their souls may safely travel together and be reborn together. Dead bodies are buried, usually with a sacrificed (or recently dead) Pirgwon, and a pitcher of water is poured over the grave to remind the soul of the dead where it needs to go.

With regards to the faith of other people, the Gwonhelod simply believe that the “gods” of others are simply great Ensha who have demanded a specific kind of worship from humans. Gwonhelod do not approve of this, as the stories have always said that spirits of that kind are generally not friendly to humans, but know better than to try to actively offend them. A Gwonhelod travelling to lands ruled by gods will generally carry with them a metal spiral, a token of a friendly Ensha, for protection.

Gwonhelod believe that the spiral is a difficult shape for Ensha to understand, and only those invited in are easily able to travel a spiral unhindered.


Society:

All Gwonhelod are led by a balance of secular and spiritual power. Whether greater power in a Gwonhelod City or tribe resides in a King (Known as Krek) or a Mesekem depends entirely on the group, and likely shifts depending on the charisma and strength of the individual.

The Spiritual guardians of the Gwonhelod are the Sekem, who are drawn up from the ranks of the people of the city based on prophetic dreams they or an already ordained Sekem may have at any age between five and fifteen. Traditionally, Sekem were trained in an apprenticeship system with an older Sekem teaching a younger Sekem everything they know (writing, lore, history, medicine, etc), and, theoretically, passing along the relationships that he has with local spirits. This still tends to happen in smaller Gwonhelod villages. However, the advent of larger cities, and especially of writing, has shifted the focus of Sekem training from a one-on-one practice to a more academic institutionalized one, though students are still selected through the traditional methods. In cities, Sekem also serve as historians, bureaucrats, and record keepers. Often, in these cases, though Sekem may have Alliances with individual spirits, the city as a whole also has it’s own network of relationships, especially with the spirit of the city.

The Krek is a hereditary position, and is meant to lead the people in all manners secular. Some evidence suggests that this position was originally a “chief-diplomat,” in charge of interacting with other groups of people. However, be that as it may be, the Krek now is ostensibly the one in charge of the military, trade, and development. Beneath the Krek, and there to assist them, are the noble families.

Also powerful, though not nearly as much as the Nobility are the Brewers, who hold a special place in society, as they produce beer and wines (Fruit and honey.) These products are seen by the Gwonhelod as key to nearly all formal social interactions.

Subservient to them are craftsmen, farmers, and artisans, who generally live on the outskirts of cities and come in to sell their products.

Gender roles within Gwonhelod society are segregated at the lowest levels, and completly open at within the higher ranks. A Krek can be a woman, and as Sekems are discovered through spiritual means, there are as many men as women.


Material Culture:

At the heart of any great Gwonhelod city or meanest village is the Enshasal, or Spirit Hall, the place used by a Sekem to commune with spirits. This building is circular with paths in a reversing spiral towards a central chamber, which holds at it’s heart a slightly recessed ritual pit, where a Sekem will attempt to intercede with spirits. Lining the hallways to the ritual chamber are images of the spirits that the Sekems know to inhabit the corresponding area in the spirit world, with images of the greatest Ensha (Usually some combination of Migwon, Jenashak, Theran, Shul, Aymo, and the spirit of the city)

The Enshasal itself is a dome with a hole in the roof at the top of the dome, above the ritual pit.


http://i.imgur.com/bRrbmoH.png


While small villages will have nothing more for the Sekem than the Enshasal, great cities will boast immense walled complexes housing sleeping quarters, classrooms, kitchens, libraries, kennels, etc, around truly massive Enshasal, which always must be in their own open courtyard at heart of the complex.

The Gwonhelod Temple complexes are also inhabited by a breed of dog called Pirgwon. These dogs have been bred by Sekems for generations for small size, friendliness, loyalty, and intelligence, and are allowed to roam freely throughout the temple complex, and sometimes even the city. Pirgwon are easily recognizable by their small size, flattened face, curled tail, and short red and black mottled fur. Pirgwon, when they age, are sacrificed and buried with the dead, so that both the soul of the Pirgwon and that of the human may travel together to the Mawr Ansa.

As with the Shanalash of the south, the spiral is not important only in ritual architecture, but also in secular architecture. The homes of the richest individuals tend to be large complexes of interconnecting spiral hallways, with rooms juxtaposed in unexpected manners. The complexity of these homes decreases with lower economic status, until the poor must make do with a simple circular home, a paltry protection against hostile spirits: And indeed, the poorer people are often sicklier than the rich.

Gwonhelod bath regularly, believing that doing so brings them closer to their original state near the Mawr Ansa. Every affluent house has a bathing room, but poorer Gwonhelod must make do with bathing less often, and usually in the rivers.

The current calendar of the Gwonhelod was directly learned from the Shalanash, as it is much more efficient for agriculture and trade, while the older lunar calendar is now only used for ritual purposes by Sekems. The Gwonhelod know that the seasons are caused by the regular migrations of two spirits so great their impact on the physical world lasts months: Gyerm the Witherer and Hawan of the Sighs, who legend says are lovers constantly looking for each other, but always missing each other and cursed for some ancient transgression to do so for all eternity.

Gwonhelod historically were not hugely keen on wearable jewelry, though obviously with outside influence, modern Gwonhelod do. Traditionally, Gwonhelod adorned themselves with tattoos in intricate interwoven spiral and dot patterns. Sekems tend to wear thin robes and sport shaved heads tattooed with the aforementioned spirals.


Abbreviated History:

Human and dog were born on the shores of the Mawr Ansa ages ago, both creatures of the material world and endowed with the inner light of the spirit world. In those days, death was not an obstacle, as the souls of the death had only to travel from the shores of the lake into the water itself, and back out. Deva, an Ensha of death, watched over the people, warding hostile Ensha away.

But, one day in the darkness of night, the foul Ensha Sova the Brackish, who had long been jealous of mankind, attacked, and with him came a great wave of dark water which poured into the Mawr Ansa, forever tainting the souls of the dead. Nemor, an Ensha of memory, sacrificed himself for a human friend, melting into the Sea itself, causing the Mawr Ansa to make the dead forget the impurities and giving individuals a choice between good and evil. Sova and Deva engaged in a combat that still occasionally shakes the earth to this day. Humanity was forced to leave the spirit world by the rising water, travelling in a myriad of direction, and becoming all the people of the earth.

The Gwonhelod travelled south, guided out of the spirit world by Migwon. For forty years and forty days, the Gwonhelod roamed, until the Sekem Elel spoke to the Ensha Enamo who taught the Gwonhelod ship building, and to Theran and Jenashak, who both gave the Gwonhelod leave to settle on the shores of their respective river and taught them irrigation and farming, and gave them the bounties of the earth as gifts, in exchange for honoring them.

And so, over the next thousand years, the Gwonhelod built a number of walled cities, the greatest being the twin cities of Ther and Jen, on their respective rivers. A series of petty kingdoms and Sekem-doms rose and fell, and never were the Gwonhelod truly united.

Economy:

The Ensha gave the Gwonhelod wheat, barley, trin, mangos, pomegranates, and a myriad of other foods and spices. The Gwonhelod are a predominantly agricultural society, living in sedentary societies, though, naturally, on the edges of the Gwonhelod culture, this rule breaks down. The Gwonhelod have also introduced Bovine Cattle to Lemuria


Important Ensha:

Migwon: The Great Dog. While not an incredibly powerful Ensha, the Gwonhelod are directly patronized by him, providing him with a position of significance in their psyche.

Theran and Jenashak: Divine twins, rivals, but the greatest of friends, Ensha of the rivers on which the Gwonhelod make their homes.

Teu: The (or AN) Ensha of the sun,

Ahmo: One of the greater embodiments of love

Nepat: One of the enshas of the Ocean, more specifically, the great inland sea the rivers feed into.

She who is Three: The Watcher of time, she looks at the past, the present, and the future, all at once, with her three heads.

Names: To come

Lexicon: To come

Geographic Errata:

The four great Cities: Ther, Jen, Tusendakru, Penkdem

Smaller cities: Mergis, Nerfir, Megther, Huius

Northern Mountains: Rawsno



HUGELY IMPORTANT NOTE: THE GWONHELOD, and other members of their migration, are the only ones in Lemuria with the Lactase persistance gene.



THIS WILL BE An end of TURN 1, beginning of TURN 2 culture, which will syncretize the local natives with an Indo-European migration.

Here is a map, assuming it doesn't impede someone else's application, of the spread of the larger Helod Culture group. the Gwonhelod themselves are on the shores of the inland sea.

I'm going to accept this with the caveat that some of it might be overwritten by other people's stuff and I'm going to treat it as I would orders for the first few turns. (Bair, if you're reading this, the same applies to the thing I know you were planning) You may also want to change the geographical names to correspond to this map.

Culture Name
The name they give themselves: Herachel (The Flower People)
The Name they are referred to by outsiders: The Hut People
Location: The mountainous region to the west of the western lake

Spoiler :

Values: Family, connection with nature, mobility and a sense of location

Society: The Herachel are a migrating people living in the higher parts of the alpine regions. They gained their name as the hut people through the drystone huts that they inhabit on the mountain tops. Though the people move around the huts do not and those who ascend from the basin to the east up into the mountains for whatever reason have often noted the stone dwellings lying empty and looking like they are abandoned. However they are not abandoned and each season when a tribe of Herachel people returns to a location their first task is always to see about repairs to the huts. Through this continual cycle the huts that the tribespeople dwell in are known to have stood in the same place for generations. The Huts themselves form the basis for the societal hierarchy. Every family has their own hut and if a new family emerges then it moves into an abandoned one or builds a new one. From this the oldest huts take on more central positions in society with the idea that its dwellers can trace back their family roots further than the others in that particular group. This oldest family will take on the leadership position and delegate tasks to other members of the tribe. When there are meetings of more than one tribe the tribe with the family who has an older claim takes precedence, however in practice since family records go back too far to be in memory and their is no written word this precedence is usually decided by size of tribe or size of the central hut.

Outside of the family hierarchical structure are the Irn - the Storytellers and guides of the tribe. A tribe's Irn live in a separate hut often as old or perhaps older than that of the leading family. Due to the importance of storytelling to the migrational traditions of the Herachel the Irn are treated with a great deal of reverence and respect.

Lifestyle: Living a migrating life the Herachel find most of their food from hunting and gathering. As such there is a significant gender divide between the women whose primary job is the gathering and the men who perform the hunting. Most hunting is confined to the alpine regions looking for the populations of Sonito Marmot or larger mountain rodent although there are sometimes expeditions further into the valleys and planes below.

The drystone dwellings that the Herachel occupy are not usually decorated but mats are often laid out to perform duty as a floor. Traditionally light is gained through the open door by day and then at night when a blanket is thrown over the opening a small fire is often lit using dry broom in stone basins.

An important element in both ritual and recreation is a Soure infusion which is prepared by those wise enough to be able to differentiate between the Soure and the Seroji. The infusion is made by boiling the water and adding the petals of the Soure plant to it. It has an initially bitter taste but a lingering sweet aftertaste and the ritualistic drinking of it forms an important part of Herachel culture.

Another key part of the ritualistic tea drinking is the recitation of the oral history of that particular tribe. The tales of past exploits are often imbued with a strong sense of place as the story serve not only as an oral history and entertainment but also as a guide for the migrational routes of that particular tribe. It is very common for the stories to be embellished with very minute details for the benefit of describing a particular valley or peak which is on the migration path.

Religion: The deities of the Herachel people are woven into their oral histories as characters that appear to aid the tribes in times of need. They are often associated with a particular natural object or place and reinforce the culture's belief in the importance of place to the extend that some places are viewed as particularly holy. For example in one story a certain valley may have been the site in which the tribe was almost wiped out by an especially cold season and their survival is attributed to the appearance of one of their gods bringing dry firewood or such. Since this place is recorded in such detail in the story it becomes a well known site of collective trauma and divine salvation and so is the perceived as a place of significant closeness to their gods.

Economy: They have a hunter gatherer economy making tools and other objects mostly out of stone and wood. They are particularity adept at the use of dry stone techniques in construction and the huts for which they get there name are this way constructed.

History: The various tribes have lived in the huts for longer than remembered and though the oral histories of the families stretches back generations there is no record in their culture of their arrival to the mountains. Since their arrival there has also been little interaction with the lowlanders by virtue of their nomadic lifestyle and the hard to reach location in which they reside. Due to this fact there has been little intermingling of their culture with their neighbours and their language and society has continued to develop independently to the surrounding lowland cultures.

Language: Though also reaching back to the root language that encompasses most Lemurian languages due to the isolated nature of Herachel society the language spoken by the Herachel remains similarly isolated. With very few interactions with lowlander culture it has developed significantly on its own and though there may be deep level grammatical similarities it would not be easy for Herachel and lowlanders to understand each other.

Person Names: In the Herachel culture there are three important parts of a name the family name, the given name, the earned name. Family names are carried down through the families and are recorded in the oral histories. Children are traditional brought into the family of their mothers as the mothers are considered the primary factor in looking after the child so the child will reside in the mother's hut. This the children are also raised by the men of the mother's family.
A given name is chosen by the tribe's chief Irn - the most high ranked of the storytellers. As the child grown into adolescence they can begin to work towards a particular role in the society in something like an apprenticeship. Upon reaching their 17th year they are given the name of their profession.

Given names are usually made of two syllables with a soft ending and gender can not determined by name. Examples include:
Hena, Kallu, Jamir, Frolleh, Maswer, Lamber, Matti, Ahgo, Barly

Family names are often much more varied ranging from single syllable to multisyllabic names:
Ava, Bresyr, Harwyd, Brandwyse, Roiwyn, Kardyl, Crayven, Quernwyr, Wolliwil, Far, Cloya, Daryd, Yll

The earned names are very uniform across and are derived solely from the job which the youth devoted themselves to:
et Irn - the storyteller
et Wyn - the builder
et Por - the gatherer
et Gnal - the hunter
et Dosum - the tracker
et Vayl - the Firestarter
and there are many others related to various other specialised professions that are required by the tribe

In an informal setting often just the given name is used or the given name and earned name if differenitation is needed. When talking to someone of a higher position in the hierarchy in a formal setting it is customary to use their full name in the order of given-earned-family fore example Manswer et Por a Nyll (Manswer the gatherer of Nyill). If speaking down the hierarchy in a formal setting the family name is normally omitted for example Kallu et Vayl. One exception to the rules is those tribespeople who earned the title of et Irn. Such people should always be referred to be their given and earned names regardless of formality or hierarchical concerns as the Irn are viewed with a reverence due to their position as tellers of the stories and keepers of the knowledge of the migrational routes.

City/Nation Names: The various tribes of the Herachel culture take their names from the name of the leader of the family highest up in the hierarchy.

Geographical Names: WILL DO THIS LATER

Looks great! Exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. I don't really have much specific to comment. You'll be in a cool position to interact with thomas's people and whoever is in the western cradle.

Spoiler :

PROTO-LEMURIANS

Location: on the map, the dark circle-ish

Values: It is unknown what values were cherished by the Proto-Lemurians. Although mostly conjecture, the Proto-Lemurians appear to have been fascinated by the cycle of life and death and have worshipped it at every opportunity.

Society: Proto-Lemurian government seems to have been a form of democratic theocracy, which elected a high priest and tender of the hypogeum as a leader. Other major roles are unknown. Proto-Lemurian society seems to not have been highly warlike, but recent discoveries of pits full of human bones seem to dispute this.

Lifestyle: Other than the burial practises of Proto-Lemurians, which appear to have been elaborate burials involving metalworking and agriculture, very little is known of the people themselves. What is more known is their construction: the central burial/temple complex being the largest building, with various houses established in circles around it. It is believed dirt walls made up the earliest form of defences for Proto-Lemurian settlements.

Religion: Proto-Lemurian religion organized itself around the concept of ancestor worship - few settlements have been found without what appears to be a meticulously organized hypogeum - as well as what seems to be some form of either fertility or water god.

Economy: The barter economy of the Proto-Lemurians seems to have been based heavily around hunting. Some agriculture has been found, however it seems very little agricultural material was eaten - most of it was meant for the purpose of ritual.

History: Proto-Lemurians were far from the first hominids on the island. It is assumed that they arrived on the island around 50000BC. The culture so typically Proto-Lemurian is dated back at its earliest to 3000BC, however.

Language: Proto-Lemurians speak, as can be insinuated from the name, Proto-Lemurian, or at least a language very similar to it. However, there seems to be some discussion as to whether this is truly Proto-Lemurian - some have instead suggested the language be called “Choely”, after the primary settlement of this culture that has been discovered.

Person Names: If Proto-Lemurian names were anything like the names we have eventually learned of for other Riverine Lemurian settlements, then they are for the most part gender neutral names.

Some names established include: Khoes, Jywoel, Ychatyl, Pys, and Wotpyp.

City Names: So far, 6 major settlements have been discovered within the area controlled by the Proto-Lemurians:

Choely, meaning “Red”

Lop, meaning “Orange”

Wakhych, meaning “Yellow”

Sosto, meaning “Green”

Lykhu, meaning “Blue”

Wopokhys, meaning “Purple”

Nation Names: It isn’t known whether any established nations existed, and if they did, they were most likely named after the chief settlement.

Geographical Names: Only one thing remains known of Proto-Lemurian when it comes to geography, and that is the name of the river they settled called “Chalu Sysoej”, or “White River.”

I'm going to ask that you change your name from "Lemurian" as there are a good number of other Lemurians. Everything else looks great. I love what you've done with language.

The Eidan culture

Location: The alpine at the conflagration of the green and red cradles

Values: The Eidan, forged by their harsh environment, value those skills that contribute to physical survival: strength, endurance, and cunning. Steadfast loyalty and honesty are seen as foolish traits, and the most fierce or rough-edged are elevated socially above the rest. However, devotion to one's family is important, and larger factions can develop from the family; generally, tribalistic and militaristic, but honorable to the extent of reason within their clans.

Society: Not much social organization yet, no clans or factions exceeding the size of a few hundred people. Within each clan is a tyrannical hierarchy that places the strongest or most cunning in charge. Meritocratic rather than hereditary.

Lifestyle: People live in family groups within larger clans or tribes, which are gradually growing larger as the continent thaws. The day-to-day lifestyle is dominated by foraging or, sometimes, hunting or herding. They sleep long hours in the cold, bundled up with one another in valuable animal skins. They have a strong competitive spirit, and when idle or in periods of recreation they might be found playing simple games or competing athletically. There are some occasional celebrations or ceremonies, mostly related to very successful hunts, and mostly involving mass... fertilization, in which the strongest males and females, or most successful in food gathering, mate with one another publicly. Modesty is material, forced by the cold conditions, and when the conditions enable the creation of warm environments or some level of excess, they are exploited and celebrated.

Religion: The Eidan are a materialistic culture, and apply spirituality to what they can see in a very practical way. That being said, there are some early roots of polytheistic nature worship, and the cultural thought generally separates the world structurally through direct physical observations. In the future, there may be a god of stone, or a god of the tree, or dirt, or the stars.

Economy: As noted, the Eidan still live a mostly nomadic life, and as such lack any serious agricultural development.The most valuable or useful materials available to the Eidan are obsidian, which is relatively easy to find in many areas of their native region, and animal skin, which is rare and used for many things, from tenting to clothing. There is a developing base of herded animals; they have long since domesticated and selectively bred a species of wolf-dogs, but as far as food animals are still in the process of bringing certain species of mountain goat and deer under their control. They are advanced in terms of trade, with some of the more diverse mineral wealth in all of Lemuria allowing the different tribes primitive forms of bartering and proto-currency. Shiny stones and minerals, such as gold and gemstones, are becoming more and more valuable as the cultural ideas about the material world advance. Finally, their access to mineral wealth, as well as proto-ovens developed from the stone walls needed to protect fires from the harsh winds, creates the proper conditions to create primitive metal alloys and molds.

History: The Eidan are not the type to ponder the past, but their origin is that they came to settle in their native region during the Ice Age, very early in the history of humanity on Lemuria. They migrated towards the alpine as the tall peaks and dark, warm caves were a place of refuge and hosted a diverse set of animal and plant life, with some of the densest nutrients on the continent before the thawing. Since then they have begun to gradually spread out from the highest peaks, and are just starting to turn their eyes outwards from the mountains.

Language: (There doesn't appear to be a language in this area, the closest is fairly far south) The Eidan language is relatively complex for the period, enriched by the diversity of their surroundings in structure. In keeping with the categorization-central form of their spirituality and lifestyle, the language's rapidly developing grammatical and dictionary conventions construct vocabulary as a series of increasingly specific sounds that identify nouns, adjectives, or (more and more as time goes on) ideas.
For example:
Eidan (Ei-dan): from "ei" (people) and "dan" (mountain). People of the mountain-- distinguishable from people in general as those that come from or live in the mountains.
Verbs are primitive yet, as are prepositions or articles, and so there are no conventions for their tense. This will probably come from synthesis with more developed languages.

Person Names: Family names do not yet exist; each tribe has not yet developed a distinct identity, and the classes and occupations change too much to be reliably assigned to families. Specific naming conventions are developing wherein each individual has two personal names, one describing the place of their birth and one describing the environmental and astrological conditions of their birth. Someone born near a tree may be named "Nakura" (from "na", for start/birth, and "kura" for tree, which itself comes from "tall leaf"-- "ku" for leaf and "ra" for tall) as their first personal name, and as a second personal name "Nahalodistira" ("halo" (rain) from "ha", wind, and "lo", water; and "distira" (the house of a particular star) from "Disti", one star in the sky, and "ra", tall, or in this case elevated.)
Naturally, "Nakura Nahalodistira" is a very wordy phrase, and generally full names are only used in formal settings or to identify people outside of one's family or tribe, with diminutives and nicknames used in intimate relationships. What nicknames are used in particular varies, sometimes shortened from someone's full name and sometimes based on some physical or personal aspect about them that is noteworthy. Additionally, "na" is being dropped more and more from the naming custom, instead being used more and more as a prefix reserved for children and young people. In the future, Nakura might only be referred to as Nakura in their youth, and once they become older as "Kura Halodistira" or with some professional or honorific prefix.

City Names: No cities yet.

Nation Names: Tribe names will come when tribes develop unique cultural identities, and may be the basis of nation names later.

Geographical Names: Specific tall peaks may be named similarly to stars, with sentimental rather than dictionary meaning, but the mountains from which the Eidan originate are coming to be known as the Idonia/Edunia/Edonia (from "Dunnea", for home mountains). Individual tribes and clans are starting to name other places around them, such as rivers and plains, but so far these places have too many names to give one for each.

Looks great! This is more or less perfect for non-cradle cultures. The highlands you're starting in are not as cold as I think you're thinking they are (the climate there is more akin to a place like Mexico City) but everything still works.

Saravanid Peoples

(here's how the app is going so far)

Location:
View attachment 482637
Values: The Saravanids are strong believers in keeping their word and highly value loyalty among their tribemembers. However,

Society: The Saravanids generally live in tribes of no more than fifty men each. They only tend to unite in larger khanates under an external threat, or under a charismatic leader.

Lifestyle: As there are no major rivers flowing through the region with the exception of a handful of streams, the Saravanid homeland has almost no permanent settlements. Therefore, the Saravanids are steppesmen and are hardly seen walking outside their horses. When they do have to settle down, they generally set up large tents consisting of a mixture of cloth and leather. Their weapons of preference are

Religion: According to their mythology, the Saravanid deity is in every place.

Economy: The Saravanids are either sheepherders or hunt and gather what little their territory generally produces. Their most valuable product is murder bird food, which is deemed this way because of the difficulty to properly hunt murder birds, even while using ranged weaponry. As with foreign relations, the Saravanids often launch incursions into Gwonhelod territory. They usually come to loot the rural areas for their abundant food, iron, weapons, and riches that may be hidden behind those strange temples, and if the Gwonhelods are particularily weak, the Saravanids will often try to keep some territory for themselves, at least until they are kicked out. However, the Saravanids aren’t entirely parasitic. If paid enough tribute, the Gwonhelods may end up recruiting Saravanid tribes to wage war against other Gwonhelods, or even against other Saravanids. In addition, if the Gwonhelods are under a particularily strong regime, the Saravanids would then much rather trade their wears and livestock with their otherwise enemy.

History: TBD

Language: TBD

Person Names: TBD

City Names: One of the few semi-permanent settlements is located on the north. Although it is consistently abandoned, it is nevertheless often used when the Gwonhelods decide to be nice and hand over their due tribute.

Nation Names: TBD

Geographical Names: TBD

I know this isn't finished, but I don't believe horses exist in Lemuria (yet). You could probably get away with replacing it with a zebra-like animal or something. The rest of it works fine and looks great, I'm pretty excited you chose that location.

Can I design multiple cultures? If I'm unable to "play" more than one in the game phase, they could become NPCs.

I'm not opposed to it - really, the more things to possibly fill in the map, the better. Your secondary cultures might be overwritten by other people's though.

 

[thomas.berubeg]

These are general rules of thumb for Cultures within the Elot cultural group.

Location: Red splotch, Orange Splotch, Yellow Splotches

Values: Most Elot cultures believe in a dualistic, binary and opposing worldview. Things have an equal and opposite, whether it’s a concept (Love/Hate) or a Divine being. There is often a choice between good and evil to be made.

Society: Generally the Elot cultures are patriarchal, organized around either a preistly cast or specific blood lineages. They tend towards agricultural and sedentary societies, though by no means is this a rule. Most tend towards a rough caste system, with a warrior caste of young single men, a priestly caste of older men, and a lower class of peasants, though, again, this is by no means set in stone. They are likely using bronze tools, though smelting is likely very new, or not yet there. I IMAGINE they have a penchant for monumental architecture.

Lifestyle: As pastoral/agriculturalists, the vast majority of the Elot cultures’ lives are centered around farming, and the regular ritual of that. Warfare would be not uncommon, but likely has some form of ritual ceremony to it. Slavery is common, though never on industrial scales, and it would be rare for a culture to have slavery from birth. Instead, it’d be prisoners of war, and often they could work themselves out. They DEFINITELY have the wheel

Religion:

• All Elot cultures have a few traits in common, including the above Binary distinction between good and evil. Most Elot cultures will have the variations on the following powerful dieties (or equivalents
• A powerful Sky god (Teubader or simply Teu, or some variation thereof), usually paternalistic king of the gods. Often times He, or another important/power diety will have slain a multi-headed water serpent/demon. This Demon is often an antagonistic figure to humanity.
• A dawn goddess with a name that is a variant on Ostra.
• A goddess of society with a variant on Arhena
• A Storm God with a variant on Parhuna
• A three headed diety/three dieties that tell/keep fate.
• Twins who are occasionally rivals, but serve in either the creation of cities, or the founding of the first human cities.
• A binding of evil (see the Gwonhelod’s myth of the binding of Shova the Brackish, or the Norse myth of Fenris being bound, or Ahriman in persian myths)
• Cows will play a central role in mythical life, often being associated with/being a giver of prosperity.
• A patron of warfare associated with (wolves, originally, but likely now being some local wolf-like pack predator. Be kind of funny if it Murder Birds, but that doesn’t seem like an easy logical jump as, say… something that looks kinda wolflike.)
• Oral History that includes long epic poetry and repetition of “stock phrases” (I can’t remember the literature term for this. Things like “Wine-dark seas.”
• All Elot cultures will have a flood myth, and all Elot cultures will have a bargain with a divine entity of some sort. Often times, these are combined such that the bargain saved the Elot from the flood.
• The Sun (Sahel) and Moon (Menot) are ferried by Divine siblings on either a ship or a chariot, but are hunted by predators. Often times, stellar phenomenon such as eclipses are explained by them being caught.
• A parallel world, often the world of the dead or the afterlife. The Gwonhelod, however, have syncretized it with local myths about spirits, and have mythologized the spirit world.
• A myth about a long journey, or a migration

Economy: See Society

History: We’ve talked about this

Language: Indo European

 

[TheGryphonPrince]

Name:
Saravanid: Singular: Ejjanys. Plural: Ejjanysra (this is the name I'll be using for this app).
Elodian: Yekows.
Generic: Desert Horse (although they're not horses, but it's the closest equivalent).
Habitat: They inhabit the southern savannas and deserts.
Description: Ejjanysra have feets that are adequate for flat and desert areas and semi-adequate for mountains. They can be fast in flat areas, especially so in the deserts, but they have a hard time getting around in forested areas and in mountainous areas (although this is mitigated if they have a clear path). They prefer to travel in groups of at least twenty Ejjanysra. Races of Ejjanysra living in the deserts have also developed short fur and can survive slightly longer without water than their savanna counterparts. They generally are 1,60 m high. They are used either as mounts the Saravanids and the Elods, but they are worn down by having to carry too much, so they don't tend to be good pack animals, nor do they tend to carry heavy-armored soldiers. When used as cattle, they are a valuable source of milk, meat and leather.

(thanks Iggy for the pic)

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Geography



Being in the Indian Ocean, Lemuria was once an integral part of the southern supercontinent of Gondwana. While famous Pangaea began to break apart over 200 million years ago in the Triassic, Gondwana was later to fragment. The continent's breakup began in the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous. Africa, Madagascar and India were the first to diverge, losing biological contact with their neighbours by 100 million years before present, while Australia, Antarctica, Lemuria and South America did not lose touch until the early Eocene, shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs.



Lemuria diverged from a rifting event that separated a large fragment of East Antarctica from the rest of its continental mass. It is composed of the area that in our world would be known as Queen Maud Land.



Since its divorce from the rest of Gondwana, Lemuria has steadily rotated clockwise and drifted north. At the present, it lies due south of India. The nearest major landmasses are India, which lies 800 km due north and the island of Sumatra, which is 900 km off of the eastern shore. More distant are Madagascar, which lies 1500 km to the southwest, and the Somali coast on the African mainland, which is 1800 km clear of the eastern reaches of Lemuria.



The lush northern extreme of the continent brushes the equator, while the southern coast flirts with the Tropic of Capricorn.





Initial Fauna



Prior to any arrivals of invasive species from the outside, the continent's biology is classically Gondwanan, bearing a rich mixture of families shared in common with South America and the Antipodes, bearing the purest legacy of pre-freeze Antarctica's biology. Crocodilians (some of whom have taken to running and hunting on land), turtles, snakes and all manner of reptiles are common, as are a rich assemblage of birds, who have little difficulty reaching this otherwise isolated continent. While there are many flying birds, there is also a disproportionately large number of flightless paleognaths, land birds and cousins of the rhea, the tinamou, the moa, emu and kiwi. Many of them are grazers or hunters of small prey, but some are larger than a human being, and fill an apex predatory role in many Lemurian ecosystems.



Amphibians also play a significant role. While many of them are frogs, toads, salamanders and caecelians that would look quite familiar to us, there are also relict populations of temnospondyls, the last survivors of their branch after the freezing of Antarctica. Similar in appearance to some of the first amphibians to have crawled out of the oceans hundreds of millions of years ago, these large amphibians occupy a crocodile-like niche, although they are in the terminal stages of a long decline, as Lemuria's steady northward drift and warming climate have granted advantages to the crocodilians, and seen the temnospondyl chigutisaurs gradually confined to only the coldest lakes and mountain waterways.

The last lonely remnants of a ancient branch of amphibians.



Among the mammals, many would be familiar to us, but others would be quite alien. There are marsupials, which also survive in diversity in Australia, and as the opossum in the Americas, and sparassodonts, their catlike cousins. Beyond familiar marsupials resembling kangaroos and koalas, there are also huge beasts similar to Diprotodon, the giant wombat, or Palorchestes, the marsupial tapir-bear. However, these organisms are increasingly marginalized by the success and diversity of the placental mammals.

Ain't she a cutie.

At least they have each other.

A sparassodont, with grazing xenarthran glyptodonts in the background.



Lemuria also has a rich assemblage of xenarthrans, including the famous giant ground sloths, armoured armadillos and glyptodonts, anteaters, and the like.

The xenarthrans, including sloths (both giant ground and small tree-dwelling), armadillos and anteaters.



The majority of herding animals are ungulates, or hoofed mammals. The largest order is the notoungulates, a group with stupendous diversity, being as small as rabbits or as large as rhinoceroses.

Some are like horses.

Others like pigs and peccaries.

Some are huge grazers.

And others small.

And some look like... uh, you do you man.



Other ungulates include the litopterns.

Some horselike.

And others resembling trunked camels.



The astrapotheres and pyrotheres superficially resemble rhinos and hippos, and with trunks, tusks and column-like legs, some even resemble the early ancestors of elephants.

You could make an animated film about him.

It's a good look, I think he should go for it!



Down on the ground, many of the niches for small animals are taken up by a mixture of amphibians, reptiles and non-placental mammals. While such organisms have gone extinct elsewhere in the world, here they survive due to a lack of competition from more recently derived groups- just another one of Lemuria's many living fossils.

Laying eggs... if it ain't broke, don't fix it.





Summary



The megafauna of the island is dominated by a diverse group of herbivorous ungulates, many of whom have trunks as feeding and sensory adaptations, and many of whom live in large herds. Top predators include carnivorous cousins of these ungulates, huge birds, predatory marsupials and land crocodiles. Xenarthrans fill mixed variety of niches, using either their armour or their size as defence against predators. The largest of these organisms are very vulnerable to invasion by anatomically modern humans, although if early humans arrive beforehand, they will have many generations to adapt to these potent superpredators.



Smaller animals, living underfoot, are generally lizards, amphibians or non-placental egg-laying mammals. These groups are very vulnerable to invasion by small eutherian mammals, like treeshrews or rodents.



Insects, bats, birds, and other flying animals are incredibly good at dispersing, so we should expect to see a wide variety of flying animals spreading to Lemuria, from all across the Indian Ocean.

 

[Grandkhan]

I'm not a biologist nor do I speak Latin, but if we've got diprotodons outside Australia then it's not unreasonable to have carnivorous ones given Thylacoleo and nimbator existed. Also I don't know if Thylapardi are too different to be in the same genus or not or if those Latin names make sense. Tl;dr wombats are great.

Lemurian Leopard (Thylapardus Carnifex)
Habitat: Forests and jungles of mainland Lemuria.
Description: the Lemurian Leopard or Lemurian Jungle Cat (despite the name, not a leopard or a felid) is an arboreal marsupial carnivore that is highly specialised for arboreal life and eating meat. Growing to approximately a metre and a half in length, the Lemurian Leopard is an ambush predator which is known to drop into large mammals from trees. It's fur is dappled to provide camoflauge, which alongside it's tendency to live in trees gives it it's name. The Lemurian Leopard is an accomplished climber and an apex predator in its areas of forest and jungle that are too dense for larger predators to penetrate.

Drop Bear (Arborvombilis Vombilis) or Arboreal Wombat
Habitat: Forests and jungles of mainland Lemuria.
Description: the Drop Bear (not a bear or a koala) is a peaceful arboretum grazer which is closely related to wombats. It gets its name from its occasional tendency to fall asleep and drop from low trees due to its low energy diet of plants other and more successful arboreal mammals (such as monkeys and sloths) avoid.

Hunter Wombat (Thylapardus Vombator)
Habitat: Savannahs of Lemuria
Description: Roughly a metre long and 60 centimetres at the shoulder, the hunter wombat is a large wombat adapted to endurance hunting in the Savannah. The hunter wombat will stalk it's prey for days until it eventually collapses or slows, at which point it will leap for the throat of the helpless animal using its powerful hind legs. The Hunter wombat is omnivorous but has a well developed jaw and teeth for a carnivorous diet.

Pack Wombat (Thylapardus Sociensis)
Habitat: Arid regions of Lemuria
Description: like it's cousins in the Thylapardus genus, the Pack Wombat is a carnivorous wombat, though this species is smaller though more agile. Sharing the powerful hind legs of the Hunter Wombat, it is also more mobile, which it uses to position itself along with members of its pack to ambush prey and herd it. The Pack Wombat lives in family groups of four to eight, and is the only member of Thylapardus to dig burrows to hide in during the day.

 

[SouthernKing]

Due to some things that have come up in my personal life, I'm changing the timetable a few days. I will close wildlife submissions with a post tomorrow (probably in like 24 hours of this post) and then I'll give a few days after that for cultural submissions. Apologies for the lack of involvement or comments on my part - I assure everyone that I am still very much interested in this, I have just been preoccupied.

In the meantime, if I have liked your wildlife post, that means I give it my approval. The post tomorrow I hope should reconcile everything that has been posted, especially with the incredible help that Lord Iggy has been.

 

[Grandkhan]

Dwarf Pakicetid (Pakicetus Lemuria)
Habitat: Coasts of southern and western Lemuria.

Description: a small amphibious animal approximately the size of a dog, the Pakicetid is a close relative of whales and cetaceans, and presents the missing link between cetaceans and other terrestrial ungulates. The Pakicetid is a living fossil, endemic to Lemuria and ekes out a living feeding off fish and smaller mammals along the cooler coasts of Lemuria.

 

[Omega124]

Southern Red Panda (Ailurus meridionali)
Habitat: The Subtropical forests of Lemuria, particularly in the more hilly, even mountainous regions
Description: Recent arrivals from India, the Red Panda has rafted over to find itself in an important niche in the Lemurian ecosystem. They are primarily herbivorious, but are known to eat small animals such as tree shrews and small birds whenever the opportunity arises. Red Pandas will raid bird nests, but considering their prime habitat is generally away from ground-laying birds, there is not as much pressure from the Southern Red Panda on these native populations as one would expect. A mutation endemic to Lemuria has caused the red panda on the island to develop fur that is a lighter shade of red than on Eurasia, particularly prevalent on cubs.

 

[Immaculate]

CUTE!