Update 10 (Years 900-1000 Post-K7)
The Sagulan Turape tribes keeps on its centuries-old slumber. Meanwhile, the Nadelis Turape culture does show signs of increasing familiarity with woodworking, resulting in more complex constructions, houseware and tools, as well as better boats made out of hollowed-out tree trunks. (Nadelis Turape: +1 Prominence, +1 Seafaring)
Some Nadelis Turape groups take these primitive vessels to the open sea in hopes of discovering new and better lands. They do land on a large island and explore the south-western half of it. They call it Bolevel, but fail to form lasting communities there, returning home with the knowledge of the land they acquired. It’s a tropical steamhouse seasonally hit by monsoon rains and occasionally devastated by hurricanes. Despite the temperamental winds, the climate supports a great quantity of wildlife in the sprawling, firn-dominated rainforest, dotted with swampy lakes and seasonally flooded glades, and intersected by some slow-moving rivers. Mangrove forests can also be found in many areas, populated during rainy seasons by water-loving dwarf elephants and frequented by manatees and killer-dolphins. The biggest predators are giant constrictor snakes and monitor lizards, while carnivorous lemur monkeys cull the incredibly rich bird realm. The insect life, however, beats all other types of animals in diversity, extravagance, and sheer numbers. During the dry season that coincides with the polar night (just three-weeks-long in this region), “ant wars” devastate entire areas of the forest, as the swarms of carnivorous ants maraude the glades for food and fight against each other for the right to occupy the more elevated spots that are less likely to flood. Unfortunately, decent grazing grounds are almost non-existent, and the rich soil is regularly washed away into the ocean. Out of construction material, only the tropical timber is plentiful.
The Shaln Trasque keeps on facing the risk of gradual degradation of the volcanic traps they call their home. Some of them seek solution to the problem in introspection and homogenization of their culture, but all for nothing. Others attempt to migrate to the recently discovered valley they call Masque-Una-Eshal. While these migrants fail to establish lasting settlements, they do accumulate valuable experience of long-range treks across the forested mountain lands. (Shaln Trasque: +1 Migration)
Meanwhile, in the homeland of the Trakkan civilization, the Shadb Trasque are having a much easier time. They start experimenting with softer metal ores, but their most prominent examples of material culture of that period come from processing semi-precious gemstones into multicolored jewelery. Their hunting and gathering operations are also growing extensively across the ridge. (Shadb Trasque: +1 Prominence, -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Center in Region 34; player must choose type of new Power Point)
The Aboriginal Enaman civilizations continue their prolific, yet turbulent spread through the savannas and pampas of Mana yi Hu and Chorokpan. The more peaceful Lakeshore Enaman moa herders first face success populating the Chorokpan river valley, but they soon find themselves under attacks from the more pushy Hill Enamans that also spill into the Emerald Fields in great numbers. A series of intercommunal conflicts over good pastures devolves into a tribal subjugation war led by a particularly charismatic Hill Enaman chief-shaman. The conquered ones soon are forced to adopt the hillmen’s ways (given that they’re not too different from their own), and the resulting tribal proto-league lasts another generation before falling apart. However, the imprint it leaves is significant, and from that point the nomadic and combative Enaman people of the Chorokpan plains are known as their own sub-civilization of Chorok Enamans. (Lakeshore Enaman: -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Center in Region 27; player must choose type of new Power Point; 1 Population Center of Lakeshore Enaman is occupied by Hill Enaman and oppressed; Hill Enaman: -10% Centralization, -10% Conformity, +2 Population Centers in Region 27; Hill Enaman civilization splits into Hill Enaman and Chorok Enaman)
The Wiet-yrisi Syrisil people continued to expand their fishing and water mammal-hunting operations across the mangrove forests of their homeland. (Wiet-yrisi Syrisil: -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Center in Region 5; player must choose type of new Power Point)
Meanwhile, their floodplain kin of the Sheneti Syrisil culture were much more successful in improving their dye-producing techniques. (Sheneti Syrisil: +1 Material Culture)
The blossoming Nekenee civilization balances on the verge of losing its integrity, but so far manages to stay within the limits allowed by the prominence of its cultural baggage. Its cultural uniformity rises, as the cities of the Pulete highlands keep growing in complexity and number and act as beacons of art and communal unity for the less sophisticated Nekenee tribal groups on the fringes of the civilization. (Nekenee: +10% Conformity; Region 12: +1 Urbanization)
The Hazo culture keeps on dealing with the looming crisis of overpopulation of the Tantara woods. The so-called Voalohany Games (“Voalohany Lalao”) become the necessary pressure valve for the growing demographic pressure: these are instances of highly ritualized warfare, in which tribal warriors duel each other for honor and glory, cementing the grip the Voalohany shamans have on the Hazo society. Meanwhile, some of the more pragmatic tribes respond to the crisis by merely migrating to the cooler Astinanana forest valley and staying there for good. (Hazo: +10% Conformity; 1 Population Center migrates from Region 22 to Region 24)
The Happatara civilization continued its path toward greater urbanization, erecting ever more sprawling loam house cities. This evolution of the city life, however, coincides with the reclamation of some arable lands previously abandoned due to the Hazo raids. This repopulation of the left bank of the Nantara river effectively establishes a divergence point between the two different urban cultures. The Right-bank Happatara form peaceful and idyllic urban communities dominated by the class of professional craftsmen, spiritual leaders, and ameliorators. Meanwhile, the Left-bank Happatara sub-civilization still bears the scars of the devastation of the previous centuries: its cities feature more defensive ramparts and towers and are led by military leaders. (Happatara: -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Centers in Region 23; Happatara civilization splits into Left-bank Happatara and Right-bank Happatara; Region 23: +1 Urbanization)
The Nari civilization also experiences a population boom after the settlers of the Tantara woods discover a medicinal plant they call hak, which they, after being prepared in different ways, can be used as a simple disinfection bandage or an immunity-boosting potion. Interestingly, the Tantara people of Nari descent also start borrowing some elements of ritualistic warfare from their Hazo neighbors. However, this expansion also cements the mentality split between the dwellers of the two vastly different regions. The Bashtunari, grim survivors of the frigid, seasonal Bashtun woodland, develop a rather fatalistic spiritist faith. Meanwhile, the Tantanari of the milder northern forests are opportunistic polyglots and glory-seekers. (Nari: +1 Conventional Warfare, -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Centers in Region 22; player must choose type of new Power Point; Nari civilization splits into Bashtunari and Tantanari)
