Project Lemuria

SouthernKing · Dec 7, 2017

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Welcome to Project Lemuria!

I unironically adore flowery introductions to things, but I'm going to forgo one here, since this is rather unorthodox as far as games in this subforum traditionally go (but something that I, in running this, hope to make more familiar).

Project Lemuria is what some familiar with the term would consider a “fresh start” game. It is set on a world that is quite similar to Earth, almost identical in all aspects. The exception, then, is where we are playing: a landmass that I will refer to out-of-character as Lemuria. Lemuria is a lush, tropical land, located in the heart of what we would call the central Indian Ocean. The map will be limited to our sole little continent; it is like a "cradle" game in that respect, only that the map is unlikely to expand.

This game - this project, really, there is a reason I call it that - is about trying to create the story of Lemuria from near the dawn. We will start at - or perhaps slightly before - the beginning of recorded history, and hopefully progress through eras as states rise and fall and as culture flourishes and as technology builds into the sky. (My ultimate goal is to reach some equivalent to the twentieth century.) Since this is in a world much like ours, and since the history of the world outside Lemuria will unfold identically to real life (unless, of course, you change that), we may find ourselves facing the entrance of familiar peoples and things - or, possibly, not so familiar peoples and things. The setting will drastically change with the passage of time, as will the gameplay itself.

This is inspired by some old NESes, especially this experiment run by Daftpanzer many years ago - although on a much smaller scale, and hopefully with far more detail. Closer to the new, a few people helped set this up, but most of all, a huge reptilian curry thanks to Double A for invaluable help with the geography/climate.

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This game is rather more serious than some games on this subforum, as well as previous games I've run. If you have played some of my previous games, I'm going to be a bit harsher with quality control, etc., for this one.

All that being said, I am not an anthropologist. I am also not a historian. The extent of my post-high school history education consists of one class on the medieval Islamic world, plus two art history classes, all of which I took to fulfil obnoxious course requirements. The reason I am saying this is I am aware others here know more than I do, so if you are one of them, I welcome feedback from from you.

If you are new, don't let this scare you away. I'm honoured you're looking at this game, and I'm always happy to answer any questions you may have! I encourage you to hop over to the IOT Discord, where we have our own channel - #lemuria. Disclaimer that I'm not a very serious person on Discord, even in regards to this game; don't let that reflect on this thread itself.

My incredibly erratic real life schedule means that I can't really promise any particular update schedule. I will say, however, that especially in the early stages, I don't expect this to be too high-maintenance.

Please keep SRSBSNS drama, forum politics, or actual politics well out of the game or the Discord channel. I have very little patience for any of these (especially the last of the three) and continuing to bring them up to the point where it annoys me will result in me trying to have you kicked from the game. Also, please don't be a [fun word] to other players. This will also result in me trying to have you kicked from the game. My goal above all else is for everyone to have fun with this game, I'm simply trying to help with that as much as I can.

SouthernKing · Dec 7, 2017

Credit to North King/Thlayli(?) for the original map this was taken from

Map:

Each pixel on the full-size map is about 3 km (1.9 mi) to a side, and thus 9 km^2 (3.5 mi^2) in area. This means that the continent, at its maximum, is about 3790 km (2350 mi) long (east-west), and 2350 km (1460 mi) wide (north-south)

Climate Map:

Darkest green: Equatorial tropical rainforest
Slightly less dark green: Cloud forest
Darker medium green: Seasonal tropical rainforest
Lighter medium green: Tropical savanna
Lime green: Subtropical rainforest
Turquoise: Subtropical highlands
Blue: Alpine
Orange: Semi-arid
Tan: Arid

Description:

Spoiler :

Let’s go on a little tour, shall we?

Brushing the equator, the northern rainforest-laden coast and its adjoining mountains are tropical and extremely wet, northerly winds carrying heavy rain the whole year round. Those mountains, about the height of the Appalachians, are home to lush and spectacular cloud forests, seemingly impenetrable to those in the flatlands. Some of the more inland highlands are cooler and more subtropical. Moving east, the northeast coast and flatlands are equally wet and forested, the prevailing winds becoming more easterly.

Now, as we turn south, meandering further from the equator, the forest becomes thinner and its seasons more pronounced. Eventually, the forest breaks and gives way to vast grasslands, made very fertile by the rivers. The southern peninsula has a more subtropical tip to the southeast and mangrove-ornamented coast and islands to the southwest. This entire region’s weather is defined by a monsoon cycle; during the wet season, heavy rain comes from the southeast. The monsoon is even more pronounced in the drier, savanna-like regions.

Moving northwest, we come to the shores of an inland sea, somewhat like a smaller version of our world’s Caspian. This valley is the eastern cradle. While warmer than most mountain valleys, it is still slightly cooler than its tropical latitude might suggest. The same monsoon cycle that defines the southeast’s weather defines this cradle’s weather also; the southeasterly rains are what drive agriculture.

Another basin lies to the west, a semi-arid plateau - the western cradle. The rivers here are fed partly by the snow-capped volcanic peaks to the west and partly by the same monsoon from the southeast. It is not nearly as pronounced as elsewhere in Lemuria; still, it swells the rivers enough to create seasonal flooding. The floodplains these rivers leave behind are excellent for agriculture.

Crossing those western peaks, the highest in Lemuria, we come to the vast, gentle plains of the west. A separate monsoon cycle defines this region’s weather, bringing rains in from the north. Across the western mountains, we reach an extremely arid coast - shielded from both monsoon and prevailing trade winds, this is what passes for a desert in Lemuria. Moving through the shores of the southwestern bay, we cross the slightly dry but grassy coast of the western plains to reach some arid peninsulae, rugged and created by volcanism.

Finally, we reach the flat, south-central coastal region. Largely covered by a somewhat damp subtropical forest, there are few major surface bodies of water; this is because the ground is karst, made of porous limestone. As a result - much like the Yucatan Peninsula elsewhere on Earth - the landscape here is dotted by watery sinkholes and carved by underground streams.

Lemuria is surrounded entirely by a clockwise, fast-paced gyre, fed by other ocean currents originating from around the Indian Ocean. This means that, especially after storms elsewhere, a lot of detritus from beyond the horizon - from East Africa, Arabia, India, Indonesia, Australia - washes up on Lemurian shores.

On an OOC note, I am very well aware that Lemuria’s position would drastically affect ocean currents, weather/climate patterns elsewhere, and certain human events (for instance, the Austronesian migration to Madagascar) but for the sake of my sanity and for most everyone else’s sanity, we are going to collectively ignore and handwave all that.

SouthernKing · Dec 7, 2017

Spoiler ＰＨＡＳＥ００ :

We are currently in ＰＨＡＳＥ０１:

Signups

In this initial phase, this game is going to be a little weird. Due to the rather constrained space and the fact that I have to quality control this more than I usually like, I'm unfortunately going to have to (sort of) cap signups. If this turns you off, I understand, I apologise, and don't worry! The rules and even how the game feels will change dramatically as we progress through eras. Eventually we will get to a stage where I can accept as many people as I can, so keep paying attention to the thread. For now, though, I don’t really have a choice. This also applies if you're not comfortable with fresh starts as a concept; the game will evolve from that.

Cradle map

For now, I’m accepting a total of 3 cradle signups: 2 signups for the western cradle (yellow #1) and 1 signup for the eastern cradle (green #2). (Ignore red #3 for now - this was an error). More than three people can apply for these, of course, but if that happens I’m only accepting the three I’ve talked about, unless some extraneous circumstance pops up.

The cradles are where civilisation - in terms of “advanced cultures who may (but very well may not) have the capability of writing” - will exist at the start of this game. These are “traditional” fresh starts; in other words, these are where cities have formed, where unified states have risen, where technology is at its most advanced, and so forth. In time, they may even give rise to the earliest empires.

You can most definitely start outside the cradles - this also applies if I don’t accept your application for the cradles. You will then start as a far more tribal culture (or cultures), with less complex social structure and limited access to material technology; the sort that one of a more xenophobic disposition might label “barbarians.” Of course, even if you are outside the boundaries of recorded history, you can still act; you can migrate into civilisation (or, to put it less tactfully, invade), or the trappings of civilisation may come to you.
(For what it’s worth, if I were playing in the game, I’d start as one of these)

The year is 2000 BCE, and we are in the equivalent of a Bronze Age. There were no advanced civilisations before this (although your people can certainly believe there were). If it makes any difference, we are about 200 years after a global drought.

Culture Name
Location: The size of a cradle is probably a good idea of the maximum. Also, you can overlap claims.
Values: In a few short words, what are the ideals that your society venerates (or, on the flipside, denigrates?)
Society: How is your culture organised on a large scale? Who has authority, and how is that authority derived? What classes/castes exist? Are you united as one overarching polity, or divided? How is lineage traced? Cultures starting away from the cradles are generally going to have less hierarchical and less "complex" social structures.
Lifestyle: What is day-to-day life like for your people? What are gender roles like? What sort of ceremonial practises are important, and what do your people like to do recreationally? What sort of settlements (or lack of settlements) do your people live in?
Religion: Tell me a bit about your culture’s mythology - what deities, if any, do they worship, and how are they worshipped? How and in what do they find spiritual comfort, and how do they see themselves in relation to their surroundings? Keep in mind that we are far before the days of any sort of organised, large-scale faith.
Economy: How do your people make a living? What sort of materials do you have access to and make and build from? This is a good place to tell me what crops and animals you have domesticated (or whatnot), if any.
History: We are far enough in the past that I don’t really need too much detail, but if there is anything you want me to know about how your people got to where they are now, this is the place. This can verge into the realm of folklore and fantasy, and can include a “founding myth,” if one exists. Your people can have migrated here recently from elsewhere, as long as it is of course within reason.
Language: What language do your people speak? While conlangs are pretty cool, and I love you forever if you make one, you don’t have to go into full detail on every phoneme in your language - I’m not a linguist, either. The most important thing I want to know is what your language’s relation is to others around you. This is partly so I can get a picture of what language families exist in Lemuria.
Person Names: Give me some sample names as well as their gender. (If you want to describe how your naming system works that’s also cool, but not necessary)
City Names: Give me some sample names. A meaning/geographical location would be helpful.
Nation Names: Give me some sample names. A meaning/geographical location would be helpful.
Geographical Names: Feel free to give names for features (mountains, bodies of water, etc) that surround your location. I may adopt these for my purposes.

That aside, the most important thing to keep in mind is that I smile upon people who cooperate. Joint submissions make me a happy snake. Cultures near each other may and will mingle and trade in harmony, or on the flipside live in conflict and mutual distrust, or be in both simultaneously. Even though I may have given this impression from the above, this game is not a competition.

After Signups

This phase will resemble what in the old NES dialect was known as a “boring time” or BT. Each turn will be very broad-strokes, and last several centuries. There will be around three turns total in this phase; we will end sometime around 1200-1100 BCE, at which point we'll transition to ＰＨＡＳＥ０２

I’ll provide some sample orders in time. What you should know is that, rather than a single polity (as may be the case in other IOTs), you are managing a culture that may include multiple polities or groups. You can simulate migrations and conflicts, amongst yourself or with others. On the flipside, you can simulate peace and prosperity.

I’ll expand the “civilised” areas through each turn; how exactly this will work is a bridge I will cross when we get there. People can continue to join as new cultures (or breakaway cultures) throughout. You can also join as migratory groups in this phase from off-Lemuria; in fact, I encourage this. Talk to me about arranging this.

My final note of this section: Things do not last forever, and certainly not in this era. There is the definite possibility (and more likely than you think) that your culture and everything you have done may be wiped out or overrun in a single turn. (This is indeed likely what will happen if you miss orders.) Equally, you may choose to leave everything everything behind and start anew elsewhere. If you’re not willing to accept this, this may not be the game (or at least not the phase) for you.

Signups for this will close Saturday, 23 December 2017

SouthernKing · Dec 7, 2017

Lemurian Wildlife

Spoiler :

SouthernKing · Dec 7, 2017

Reserved

SouthernKing · Dec 7, 2017

Reserved

SouthernKing · Dec 7, 2017

Feel free to post.

Feel free to both submit wildlife and culture submissions - 00 and the signups for 01 will run simultaneously. I'm not going to set deadlines at the moment, not until I can get a better picture of how much interest there is. That being said, you'll have at least a week in this current situation.

I know this, especially the long blocks of text that I'm about to edit in, may come off as daunting and a bit overwhelming. In some ways I'm pleased it gives that impression because I want players who are willing to accept that seriousness. At the same time, I don't want to make people lost. I'm always happy to help out and/or give pointers.

Double A · Dec 7, 2017

giant jungle snakes live in limestonesylvania

gay_Aleks · Dec 7, 2017

trust noone

thomas.berubeg · Dec 7, 2017

Monkeys:

NOTE: MOST NONE-APE Primates share common ancestors with the modern Colobus monkeys of Africa. Modern primate biologists assume that they all descend from a colony that rafted over from Africa on a fallen tree.

Name: Cloud-Monkey (Colobus Nubea)

Habitat: The Cloud Forests

Description: The Cloud-Monkey is an omnivorous primate, recognizable by its mottled pale-grey fur and similarly colored eyes. The live in colonies of 9-10, but are social creatures, with different colonies often coming together to mate. The rarely adopt a territory, but travel in groups.

Name: Trumpetter Monkey (Colobus raucisonum )

Habitat: The rainforests

Description: The rainforests often echo with the clarion-like call of this ape, which has developed methods of conflict resolution that center on powerful lungs instead of physical conflict, since the tse-tse fly likes to lay it’s eggs in open wounds. They live in colonies of 50+, and are rigidly territorial, only exchanging mates on occasion.

Name: Standing Ape (Colobus Vir) - NOT ACTUALLY AN APE!

Habitat: The Savannahs of the west

Description: Unlike the vast majority of other primates, the Standing-Ape has adapted to the vast savannahs, able to run at long distances to escape predators on two legs, and even stand upright, using it’s short tail to balance a still awkward gait. The live in colonies of 50+, and often engage in “warfare” stealing mates from rival colonies.

Name: Drowned-Monkey (Colobus Neptuni )

Habitat: On the coast and many of the waterways

Description: The Drowned-Monkey has very slick, short fur, similar to that of the otter, and a developed subcutaneous fat layer providing insulation. It lives in and around waterways and coasts of most of lemuria, especially the sinkholes of the south, in colonies consisting of a large family group. Generally speaking, they make their homes in cliff side caves or trees, and live off of shellfish and fish which they catch through relatively complex tool use.

/me doesn't know latin, so if someone who DOES wants to give better names.

Sniiperman456 · Dec 7, 2017

Name: Cattle snakes
(Sniipers Laetus)
Habitat: flat lands, grass lands, forests
Description: Wildlife and undomesticated cows, horses, and buffalo hate this. This loves to hunt and kill wildlife. Its venom is deadly but humans are immune to it, thankfully.

Name: Wind Horses (equus venti)
Habitat: savannahs, grasslands, prairies,
Description: Wind horses can run very fast, so fast that it seems they run like the wind, therefore the name. They can run very fast from predators and other animals that want to eat them. (They look like a cross between an antelope and a deer but people on this continent don't know better so they call them horses)

Gurra09 · Dec 7, 2017

Name: Man-Eating Tree (Droseragigantes gurrinea)
Habitat: Subtropical forest
Description: The Man-Eating Tree is a large carnivorous plant found in the south-central coastal region of Lemuria. It is actually neither man-eating or a tree but can grow up to 5 meters tall, although it rarely exceeds 3 meters, and has snap traps for leaves in which it catches insects to consume for nutrients, similar to a Venus fly trap.

Lord_Iggy · Dec 7, 2017

So is Lemuria a fragment of what had once been Gondwana (the continent made up of Africa, South America, Antarctica, India, Madagascar and Australia)? I would absolutely love to help you develop the biology of this island, this is the kind of project I'd dreamed of doing and I just finished marking final exams today.

Incidentally, if it is a fragment of the old southern half of Pangaea, most of the animals on it will be marsupials (kangaroos, koalas, opossums), xenarthrans (armadillos, sloths), and a variety of weird ungulates that look superficially like tapirs or strange trunked hippos, or Nesodon. There might be some very large land birds and crocodiles occupying major predatory roles.

Depending on how close we are to Africa and Asia, we might have also gotten some island-hopping or rafting species like rodents, small primates, bats and the like. Big carnivores like bears, as Immaculate described, would be more or less likely depending on where exactly we are, although I could imagine a bear-like niche being filled by a big omnivorous ground sloth.

Immaculate · Dec 7, 2017

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.

thomas.berubeg · Dec 7, 2017

Name: Cloud People (Homo Nebulae)

Habitat: The Cloud Mountains

Description: The only survivors of the the Homo-erectus population that colonized Lemuria hundreds of thousands of years prior to the Advent of AMH to the continent, the Cloud People live in the relatively inaccessible cloud mountains, very well suited to the area in a way modern humans find hardpressed to match. Diverging through isolation both from Homo Sapiens AND from Homo Erectus, the average Cloud person stands at 4 feet tall. They possess long, dextrous fingers and toes, allowing them to perform complex manual tasks, an ability that makes them favored slaves of Human societies.

Intelligence wise, Cloud People are not quite on par with humans, though an exceptional Cloud-person would match an average human on most cognitive tests.

The material culture of the Cloud people limits itself to relatively simple lithics, though they do have a mastery of fire, and build their own shelters. They have very simple ornamentation, a pretty pebble, perhaps, or a feather woven into hair.

Mating between a Cloud Person and an AMH is exceedingly rare, and a viable child produced by these unions is even rarer.

Omega124 · Dec 7, 2017

33a2cabca1cd61d692f520c5795eea52--living-fossil-endangered-species.jpg

Name: Lemurian Coelacanth (Latimeria lemuria)
Habitat: They live in the deep ocean, about 150 meters away from the coastline, and prefer to live in rocky canyons and caves where they can easily find shelter in natural labyrinths
Description: The Lemurian Coelacanth is a living fossil, having undergone relatively little evolutionary processes in 400 million years. Because of this, they have extremely unique physological properties that set them apart from not just other fish, but all living vertebrae. For example, they have a "rostal organ" in their snout which is connected to their electrosensory system, and a hinge in their skull which literally allows them to lift up their skull, allowing their mouth to truly reach a wide gape. Their spinal fins are uniquely hollow (thus leading to their name; literally translates to hollow spine), while their bones are supported by a tube filled with oils, known as a "Notochord". They are also unique among fish its size and shape for having live birth, rather than laying eggs.

These fish are solitary predators, perfecting to feast on cephalopods such as octopus and squid. They are nocturnal, and due to their unique biology, they are extremely fast swimmers that can turn at a moment's notice. Their blistering speed is, in fact, their main form of avoiding their predators

Name: Lemurian honeybee (Apis aculei)
Habitat: Found practically across all of Lemuria's tropical and subtropical areas. Wherever there is ample supply of flowering plants, the honeybees will follow
Description: The Lemurian honeybee is hypothesised to be an offshoot of the Eastern Honeybee, and physically quite resembles it. Like most bees of the Apis genus, the Lemurian honeybee is extremely eusocial, organizing themselves into hives that have one fertile queen, a few males, and a vast majority of unfertile female "workers". They create hives out of wax, and collect pollen to create honey.

The most fascinating feature of the Apis aculei, and what gives it its name, is that its stinger is quite different from all other known honeybees. Given the prevalence of large mammalian fauna on Lemuria, that often hunts for its honey, barbed stingers are often more of a liability than an asset. While useful to signal the hive to attack a particular threat, colonies would often lose a large portion of its workers simply due to the suicidal nature of a honeybee sting on mammals. Therefore, there was evolutionary pressure towards mutations in which the barbs on the honeybee became less pronounced, thus making it more stable and less likely to tear off after an attack on a mammal. Therefore, a Lemurian honeybee can sting mammals multiple times without dooming itself. The ability for the stinger to deattach from a bee is still there, but the bee is more readily able to control herself to only deattach if she finds its nessecary to alert her hive (or, in more unfortunate cases, if she merely stings at a poor angle and the barb gets caught)

Name: Brown junglefowl (Gallus ingens)
Habitat: The jungle/tropical rainforest found in the north of Lemuria
Description: The Brown junglefowl, like most junglefowl species, named after the primary color of its plumage, which is a browish color not entirely dissimilar to a female Grey Junglefowl in mainland India. For this, they are typical regarded as being less colorful than the average Junglefowl, which is a genus known for its male's colorful plumage. The selection towards less colorful plumage may be linked to an overall larger size of the bird (in which its taxanomical name comes from), where a male junglefowl in the prime of its life can grow to the size of a small child! The larger size of the junglefowl means the less colorful plumage allows it to remain better hidden from predators, allowing them to continue to benefit from camouflage while enjoying the ability to grow to larger sizes.

Like all junglefowl, the Brown junglefowl is an omnivore; it prefers a plant-based diet of seeds, but can and will eat insects to supplement its diet. The Brown junglefowl is extremely territorial; male junglefowl, as part of their courting rituals, will often engage in lethal combat with their spurs. Very rarely will both birds walk away alive. The brown junglefowl in general are extremely feisty and aggressive, and the population of humans on Lemuria would likely want to leave them alone, if their meat and eggs weren't so goddamn delicious

Name: Dwarf Elephant (Elephas Pumillo)
Habitat: Off the coast of Lemuria, on the south/southeast islands
Description: Dwarf Elephants are a prime example of the island effect. Their once large, majestic ancestors wandered onto areas of land, which were eventually cut off due to the rising sea levels from the glacial retreat. With the supply of food low, the trapped elephants recieved a major evolutionary push to favor smaller elephants, who required less caloric intake in order to survive. Now roughly the size of a horse, these extremly intelligent herbivores are not much different socially from their mainland Lemurian counterparts; even with their reduced size, they don't have much predators around that could take advantage of their smaller size, and the average herd may even be larger due to individual elephants requiring less food.

NinjaCow64 · Dec 7, 2017

I'll be keeping an eye on this. Not sure I'll do anything for the animal phase, but I'll do something eventually.

thomas.berubeg · Dec 7, 2017

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.

Seon · Dec 7, 2017

Name: Murder Birds
Habitat: Southern Arid Plains, equatorial forest, and central Savannah.
Description: The so called 'murder' birds are a species of vicious apex predators that lurk among the tall grass of the arid plains and the equatorial forest of Southern Lemuria and the central Savannah. Descending from a species of dinosaurs, the Murder Birds have managed to maintain their ecological niche as a predatory animal thanks in due to relative lack of a large population of mammalian predators as competition in the continent.

Omnivorous and displaying pack behavior, the Murder Birds move and live as a flock, traveling along the continent for better feeding and hunting grounds. Nearly 3 meters tall when standing on its full height, the birds intimidate their target prey with their size before crushing bones and limbs with their kicks and axe-like beaks. The subspecies found in the equatorial forest, while slightly diminished in muscle capacity and size, have also evolved to eat fruits.

inthesomeday · Dec 7, 2017

Name/Scientific Name: Trin/to be developed when languages develop

Habitat: Originally descendant from taller, wild grasses in the temperate grassland fields, most efficiently cultivated along the central river systems

Description: A hardy grain brought to the central river systems of [Lemuria] by the influx of populations to these regions as the continent cooled down. It requires a long growing period, restricting it to one harvest per year, but it can be preserved and provides many calories, rich also in proteins and other nutrients.

Project Lemuria

crickety cricket

crickety cricket

crickety cricket

crickety cricket

crickety cricket

crickety cricket

crickety cricket

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