Update 25 (Years 2400-2500 Post-K7)
The
Shadb Trasque civilization proves its resilience even at the face of adversity, while the foreign onslaught against its holdings continues being a major threat. The Choroque Wars, as the Chorok Enaman incursions are known in Roque-Esh and its allied cities, rage throughout the century, with their key event being captured in runic writings on walls of several Shadb Trakkan temples. After some hope-raising victories against the invaders, the armies of Roque-Esh finally move the war zone back into Masque-Una-Eshal, but there the campaigns descend back into a bloody stalemate. Still, it buys the besieged civilization some breathing room, during which the cooperation between the cave megapolises of the First Tall Ridge reaches new heights. Intercity barter reaches new heights, and with it spiritual ideas spread and mature. The existential threat experienced by the Shadb Trasque gives birth to the first version of primitive polytheism, outlining that people’s isolationist, self-centric worldview. The Underworld deity (and past spirit) of death, peace, time, and wisdom Da-Zhadn becomes the head of the emerging Shadb Trakkan pantheon, which is populated with godlings that contain an interesting combination of corporeal (some would say monstrous) presence and wide-ranging, highly diverse or even paradoxical portfolios. Sacrifices to them become common, and different cave cities start developing cults of particular deities associated with specific cave complexes. Sacrifices to these symbolic patrons of cave cities become another driver of local barter and commerce, as a single city rarely has all materials or gifts their deity would desire.
(Shadb Trasque: +1 Mercantilism, +1 Spiritualism)
Eshan-Ro League: Perhaps, counter-intuitively, the sense of shared threat and not the proto-imperialistic glamor provides what it takes to cement Roque-Esh as the leader of a major Shadb Trakkan city league. Under the violent pressure from the Shaln Trasque and Chorok Enaman people, many cave cities gather around the still powerful city-state and accept it as a semi-formal leader of this first true state in the history of the Land of the Shining Skies. The century of victories and occasional defeats forges a new form of loyalty among the citizens of the Eshan-Ro League, which is based not only on the familial bonds or one’s place of residence, but also on a shared sense of unity before external threat. While the cave cities within the league retain a great degree of autonomy, Roque-Esh is indeed accepted as the first among equals, which is reflected in the spiritual changes taking place within the Shaln Trakkan spirituality. Da-Zhadn is the patron deity of Roque-Esh, and so every member town of the Eshan-Ro League features a small sacrificial chamber of Da-Zhadn next to their main one, dedicated to their own patron spirit.
(Bonus: Conformity +10%, Centralization +20%, MP +2; Attribute Demand: Comity 2/2, Conquest 1/1 (Completed); Length: 6 turns)
Despite some military successes, the Eshan-Ro League can’t win everywhere. The cave city Shlanathaln cements its reputation among the people of
Shaln Trasque by defeating the Roque-Eshan push into the Second Tall Ridge, aiming to liberate the Shadb Trakkan cities conquered by the Shaln Trasque earlier. Closer to the end of the century, the Shlanathaln hosts are even led into a conquering campaign in the First Tall Ridge by a warrior-prince Roodzhod, who takes advantage of the Eshan-Ro League’s forces being distracted by the war in Masque-Una-Eshal. Roodzhod’s success firmly crushes the last hope for the Shadb Trasque settlers in the Path-Shan valley of the Second Tall Ridge to be liberated, and after several decades of oppression many of them accept the Shaln Trakkan ways, contributing greatly to the development of the Shaln Trakkan oral and intellectual tradition. However, this absorbance comes short of a complete assimilation, as the settlers of
Path-Shan do posses a significantly different culture and worldview. Their language being a mix of the Shaln and Shadb dialects, the Path-Shan take upon the Shadb Trakkan communal spirituality and tie it to their valley’s local geologic phenomenon: geysers. Their cult of Ga-Choque, the Spitting Mother, emphasizes the retreat of the People of the Ridge from their underground dwelling and embracing a peaceful, idyllic existence under “one sun, one moon” - although their splinter civilization remains but a small peculiarity in the Trakkan world. Meanwhile, continuous victories over the Shadb Trasque force greater cooperation among the Shaln Trasque, and the size and complexity of their cities in the Second Tall Ridge keeps growing through the century. Meanwhile, in Astinanana (or Ash-Ina-Unal, as it’s called in the Trakkan languages) the domination over the Hazo tribes slowly vanishes when many of them locally migrate further into the lowlands in response to overhunting. The Shaln Trasque people react to this by finding even more habitable places in higher mountains - something that doesn’t solve the overhunting problem completely, but makes it less urgent.
(Shaln Trasque: +1 Intellectualism, 1 Population Center of Shadb Trasque is oppressed; 1 Population Center of Shadb Trasque is occupied by Shaln Trasque for 1 turn (occupying player has the first choice of Demographic or Economic Power Point to use); Region 24: +1 Max Capacity, -1 Wilderness, Region 25: +1 Urbanization; Shaln Trasque civilization splinters into Shaln Trasque and Path-Shan (1 Population Center) (friendly to Shadb Trasque))
Despite the changing fortunes of their wars with the Shadb Trasque, the
Chorok Enaman people find their civilization’s heart shifting from the pampas of Chorokpan to the forests of Mask ui Sha. There, their wooden cities grow in size and number, and logging and mining activities expand to support their hunger for building materials. These changes are enabled by generations of Shadb Trasque workers from the previously conquered cities of Mask ui Sha. Totem temples and mixed stone-wood constructions become commonplace, and this century leaves a prominent Chorok Enamani mark on the regional landscape.
(Chorok Enaman: +1 Prominence, -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Centers in Region 26; player must choose type of new Power Point; Region 26: +1 Deposits, +1 Urbanization)
This shift of Chorok Enamani civilizational focus leaves the overpopulated pampas (especially on the left bank of the Chorok river) to another century of internecine warfare between the relative newcomers. The unsophisticated
Lowland Ankarne find themselves hunted once again by the genocidal bands of the
Highland Ankarne, spearheaded by the horrifying (for the disorganized tribals, at least) chariots.
(Lowland Ankarne: -1 Population Center in Region 27)
This plethora of human suffering and growing anxiety of overpopulation makes the Ankarne people prime targets for proselytization by the merchant-priests of Mona. The
Monite Enaman people of that century find themselves under pressure from the Hill Enamans, and many of them have to look for better trade deals at the far end of their caravan network, in the pampas rimmed with the high slopes of the Nue Tyekye mountains. The relatively successful highlanders predictably resist the conversion, but many lowlanders, brutalized and desperate, seek refuge in the increasingly sophisticated stories of Forebearer Mona and her promised Sweet Rest. They have little to trade to the Monite Enamans, but their mass conversion does grow a bigger society of Mona-worshippers at the fringes of the Enaman world.
(Monite Enaman: +1 Intellectualism; 1 Population Center of Lowland Ankarne convert to Monite Ankarne)
With their numbers swelling with the new converts, the
Monite Ankarne clans continue spreading across Chorokpan (or the Chokye Pue plain, as they call it). Ironically, their attempts to escape the perpetual violence of raids between the lowlanders and the highlanders actually brings the pampas to the brink of overpopulation.
(Monite Ankarne: -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Centers in Region 27; player must choose type of new Power Point)
Back in the hills rimming the savanna of Mona yi Hu, the
Hill Enaman people take advantage of their dominance over the fringe Monite Enamani settlements and learn from them their bartering styles. They also find new grazing lands in the high ground bordering a vast western desert, as the population density in Mona’s Rest keeps on exhausting the good pastures for the moa herds.
(Hill Enaman: +1 Mercantilism; Region 29: +1 Max Capacity, -1 Grazing)
What forces the Hill Enamans seek better pastures at the edge of the desert is yet another population boom experienced by the
Lakeshore Enaman people in the lowlands. Some signs point out at the growing contact (both spiritual and mercantile) between the lakeshore dwellers and their Choroki kin, but these contacts don’t lead to any developments either within the lakeshore culture or among their neighbors.
(Lakeshore Enaman: -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Centers in Region 29; player must choose type of new Power Point)
The Mission of Mother Mona: However, a true transformation does occur in an earthhouse city of Ai ta Loda located on a peninsula in the southern edge of Mona’s Lake. There, an exalted woman named Mona shi Mahu (Mona’s 25th Vision) uses her spiritual influence to maneuver herself into the council of elders and eventually shift the most of the political authority to Mother Mona’s mound temple located near a large seasonal fairground. Various versions exist about the exact nature of her rise to power (some demonizing her and some praising), but soon her authority spreads beyond the city of Ai ta Loda. Similar temple mounds start being erected in many earthhouse cities of Mona yi Hu, probably acting as seasons residences of the travelling avatar-ruler. This marks the emergence of the Mound Realm among the Lakeshore Enaman people, marked by the presence of Vision Rulers as authority figures among the lakeshore tribes. These figureheads act as primitive priest-queens, but their power is more informal and grounded on shared spirituality rather than loyalty to a single political entity or location.
(Bonus: +20% Conformity, +20% Centralization; Attribute Demand: Spiritualism 1/1, Comity 1/1 (Completed); Length: 5 turns)
The marshes of Syo-Ke Ao, in the meantime, are haunted by the same problem as the rest of the Enaman world: looming overpopulation. To escape from this, the
Saltmarsh Enaman tribes continue showing miracles of ingenuity by building floating villages out of reed closer to the Chorok river delta and using some of these mobile islands for fishing in the salty waters.
(Saltmarsh Enaman: Region 28: +1 Max Capacity, -1 Wilderness)
Far in the highlands of Pulete, the
Nekenee civilization seemingly reaches its peak. Propelled by the growing knowledge of mathematics and other related exact sciences, the Nekeni philosophy and intellectualism flourish, and the end of the centuries-long rivalry with Dyesynil (combined with repopulation of the ruins of the hated city) increase population density in the highlands and grow the local cities to a previously unseen size, when even a regional small town would easily outshine the vast majority of Enamani, Syrisilian, Nari, or Happataran cities. The booming of trade also allows the glorious civilization gain outsized influence in many lowland cities of Fee Shenete, and this expansion of the trade network to the floodplains necessitates the development of primitive canoe boats to transfer the goods. At the height of their power, the merchant princes of
Kineka even outfit massive expeditions of well-armed retainers into the wild shore of Zahnenee, where they loot and destroy the Wiet-yrisi Syrisilian colony centered around the local copper and gem mines. This relatively insignificant event gets disproportionate coverage in various stellas and bas-reliefs, as the merchant princes of that age seek to cement their legacy by funneling their growing wealth into megaprojects that would leave their name in history alongside the unquestionable heroes of the Dyesynilian wars, such as Merchant Prince Lekinam himself. Dangerously for the Nekenee, however, this glorious facade hides a power structure that is soon to come under attack from within and without.
(Nekenee: +1 Intellectualism, +1 Seafaring, -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Centers in Region 12; player must choose type of new Power Point; 1 Population Center of Sheneti Syrisil is influenced by Nekenee for 1 turn (influencing player has the first choice of Cultural or Military Power Point to use); Region 12: +1 Urbanization)
It’s tempting to look at the period of the Nekeni history known as the Rivalry of the Moon and the Sun from a much dramatized pseudohistorical accounts of the Wiet-yrisi Syrisilian chronologists. However, the fact is that the events building up to the split within the Nekeni society was long in the making and has a big internal component. The power of merchant princes (and, above all, the Great Princes of Kineka) has been long tied to the spiritual authority of Xamaneha the Sun Spirit. Often, the steep pyramids of Xamaneha are built on the merchant princes’ money (as they tried to outdo each other architecturally), and this not only cements the alliance between the Sung Spirit’s priesthood and the plutocrats, but also alienates other primitive cults. In the highly advanced, but spiritually poor urban society of the Nekenee, these spirit cults mostly act as primitive corporations of mutually aligned people, often based on their shared profession (such porters, masons, irrigators, etc.). With the advent of golden coinage, the element of financial wealth is added to that measure of identity, which coincides with a growing wealth gap between the haves and have-not’s. Naturally, the less fortunate members of the Nekeni society who lack the connection to the strictly pyramidal social hierarchy of the merchant houses find their faith more firmly associated with the Moon Spirit, Nakaxu. With the months-long polar night and day, the Xamaneha-Nakaxu spiritual faith is strongly dualistic in the Nekeni tradition, but the social changes brought by the rise of the merchant princes breaks this equilibrium, turning the Sun priests into de-facto administrators serving the merchant princes, while the Moon faith remains widely shared, but rather proletarian in nature.
Into that stage, come the people of
Wiet-yrisi Syrisil. Already rather cultural and sophisticated, they enter the Pulete highlands as a result of natural migration (although some arrive as merchants and start living in dedicated merchant quarters centered around Wiet-yrisi Syrisilian emporiums). Their spiritually and politically developed culture quickly takes root among the Nekeni underclass, and the head of the Wiet-yrisi Syrisilian pantheon, the Moon goddess Alignak quickly grows to be associated with Nakaxu the Moon Spirit. Importantly, the Wiet-yrisi Syrisilian society is much less pyramidal and more egalitarian (outside of the witch covens, anyway), and it’s another attractive factor for the urban proletariat of the Nekenee. Thus, the end of the century sees a series of events dubbed by later historians the Moon Revolution or described in the Syrisilian chronicles as the Rivalry of the Moon and the Sun. In fact, it’s a series of popular rebellions and political misalignments that originally have very little to do with religion. Instead, some populist leaders (or opportunist merchants) align themselves to the moon temples of Nakaxu-Alignak. Most of these realignments are intracity events, although some of them escalate, when entire towns (with the most prominent of them being the massive
Tenankan) cast away their merchant princes, redistribute the sun temples’ property, and instead build equally massive (but much less elevated and steep) temple complexes of the moon spirit, often featuring the ever-present Wiet-yrisi Syrisilian emporiums in them.
(Wiet-yrisi Syrisil: -1 Population Center in Region 11; -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Centers in Region 12; player must choose type of new Power Point; 1 Population Center of Nekenee is influenced by Wiet-yrisi Syrisil for 1 turn (influencing player has the first choice of Cultural or Military Power Point to use); Nekenee civilization splinters into Kineka and Tenankan (3 Population Centers) (friendly to Wiet-yrisi Syrisil))
Tapestry of the Moon and Sea: The importing of elements of the Wiet-yrisi Syrisilian faith to the Nekenee takes place hand in hand with a development of a new spiritual tradition inside the Wiet-yrisi Syrisilian culture as well. The rise of the authority of witches’ covens naturally necessitates a greater spiritual role they would play in addition to herding knowledge and power. This sees the old elemental spirits being elevated to the level of deities, the most prominent of which are the Goddess of the Moon, Tide, Pearls, and Fertility Alignak (the head of the pantheon), the deity of Cinder, Ash, Fire, and Ores Av'sil'nik, the deity of Dreams, Forest, Hallucinations, and Mushrooms Mon'dyvi, and, finally the Mud God and protector of healers Vas’ylis. To behaviorally cement their power, the coven matriarchs instill upon their flock a tradition to travel to the arbitrarily chosen (usually, elementally impressive) sights, such as the volcanic mountains of Ash-han-aut (Zehnenee) or the mushroom-rich fern forest of Cysid-is-siv.
(Bonus: +2 Prominence, +2 Culture Points, +10% Conformity, -20% Centralization; Attribute Demand: Spiritualism 0/2, Migration 0/2, Seafaring 0/2; Length: 9 turns)
Down in the Fee Shenete lowlands, the
Sheneti Syrisil people remain nested between the rising civilizations to their south-east and north-west. Local textile manufacturing expands further, as new fishskin caps and jackets start being produced, and the Sheneti Syrisilian wooden vases of that period are particularly priced.
(Sheneti Syrisil: +2 Prominence)
The remnants of
Dyesynil continue rebuilding in the Fee’nak river delta in the lowlands. Despite the Nekeni attempts to re-establish trade contacts with the exodites and open emporiums in their lands, Dyesynil aLytu and its satellite towns keep their gates closed to the “Nykenil” highlanders.
(Dyesynil: -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Centers in Region 9; player must choose type of new Power Point)
Off the continent, the
Nadelis Turape people go through a period of peaceful prosperity and cooperation. The fragmentary chiefdoms of Nadelis-Sagulan during that century enjoy a period of particular political amiability, and dynastic marriages propel greater cultural unity among their subjects. On the more ominous side, the rainforests of Nadelis mountains are starting to exhaust their wildlife, as overhunting becomes a problem, and many villages shift to partially sustaining themselves through primitive agriculture - also to the rainforest’s detriment.
(Nadelis Turape: +20% Conformity; Region 6: -1 Wilderness)
The less developed kin civilization of
Sagulan Turape on the other side of the island also uses that peaceful century to grow close to their Nadelis cousins. While still far from developing their own rope script, the Sagulan Turape do start catching up on the oral telling tradition and develop their own brand of practical engineering and slash-and-burn forest clearing (so far, not very transformative on the regional scale). This sets them well to economically dominate the relative isolated fishing colonies of the Wiet-yrisi Syrisil on the shores of Nadelis.
(Sagulan Turape: +1 Intellectualism, +1 Innovation, 1 Population Center of Wiet-yrisi Syrisil is influenced by Sagulan Turape for 1 turn (influencing player has the first choice of Cultural or Military Power Point to use))
A similar development of the oral telling and intellectual tradition takes place among the
Bolevel Turape people - partially thanks to their intermingling with the Wiet-yrisi Syrisilian colonists. Simultaneously, their basketweaving operations expand during that period of time, most likely to fit the needs of the growing population in Asagan (as the Bolevel Turape call the north-eastern part of the island, or Es’al-jat as the Wiet-yrisi Syrisil know it).
(Bolevel Turape: +1 Prominence, +1 Intellectualism, -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Centers in Region 2; player must choose type of new Power Point)
In the Maranmapa archipelago, little change takes place, except the population boom among the
Maramapi natives.
(Maramapi: -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Centers in Region 4; player must choose type of new Power Point)
A population boom occurs also among the
Continental Aghak people of Obarer, following an expansion in their proto-herding of local short-snouted kangaroos. This also provides them with material for primitive leatherwork. Meanwhile, the
Insular Aghak people experience little change over the century.
(Continental Aghak: +1 Prominence, -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Centers in Region 37; player must choose type of new Power Point)
In Nantara, a new dynasty is rising - a
Tantanari dynasty. Its founder is the famed mercenary warchief of the previous century, named Andikan, who claimed and took control of a city-state of Xosa. With the city’s growing influence among the Tantanari tribes, the Andikanid dynasty quickly gains importance and starts collecting loyal allies around itself, much like the Padatid dynasty of Tahtarapa did among the Happatara people.
(Tantanari: +10% Centralization)
The Epic of the Nariyaga: In the meantime, the cultural influence of the Nariyaga epic keeps growing, as the oral tellers start agreeing on the canon of the heroic and mythological past of the Nari people. It’s believed that ruler of Xosa Andikan and his successors are the ones to contribute to it the most, by hiring poets and musicians to sing the early versions of Nariyaga at their court, simultaneously hoping to cement their legacy as some of the Tantanari heroes.
(Bonus: +2 CP, +20% Conformity; Attribute Demand: Intellectualism 2/4; Length: 12 turns)
Farther east, the
Happatanari elites secure their role as indispensable intellectuals and facilitators among the urban civilizations of Happatara. Their growing influence as scribes, administrators, and diplomats naturally helps them accumulate wealth and become the profiteering middlemen in the blossoming urban trade. Meanwhile, they also are believed to be the main contributors to the growth of the irrigation canal network across the alluvial plains of Nantara, just when the soils start showing signs of degradation.
(Happatanari: +1 Mercantilism, Region 23: +1 Max Capacity, -1 Soil Fertility)
The
Left-bank Happatara civilization keeps on moving toward the dominance of the city of Tahtarapa. During this period, a distant branch of the once powerful Pahdatids experiences a brief resurgence in influence, partially thanks to the other city-states gathering to their banner against the Tantanari and right-banker onslaught. The overseers behind the Happatanari irrigation projects, the Pahdatids found many village and town communities in the previously unarable patches of the Nantaran ocean shore.
(Left-bank Happatara: +5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Centers in Region 23; player must choose type of new Power Point)
The triarchy of city-states of Jaratta, Tartapad, and Gattaka doesn’t lead to a similar type of centralization among the
Right-bank Happatara cities. Some might argue that this lack of exploitation of their victories in the Water Wars may be related to the said cities’ overreliance on the Hazoan mercenary bands, letting the native urban militias degrade and lose military tradition. Instead, the cities of Tartapad and Gattaka try to outdo each other in improving and reinforcing their colony towns in the mountain country of Hattara.
(Right-bank Happatara: Region 33: +1 Urbanization)
The Tartapadi and Gattakan reinforcement of the Hattaran frontier could be explained by the growth of the Hazoan settlements in that mountain country. Besides, the
Hazo demonstrate that they’re no longer a disorganized constellation of clans, but a powerful and surprisingly centralized tribal kingdom. This becomes particularly obvious when Laholona Nakalora III organizes a series of campaigns against the Shaln Trakkan colony towns in Astinanana, notably defeating a levy of Shlanathaln’s allied city-state after luring it into the low valleys.
(Hazo: -5% Centralization, -5% Conformity, +1 Population Centers in Region 33; player must choose type of new Power Point; 1 Population Center of Shaln Trasque is occupied by Hazo for 1 turn (occupying player has the first choice of Demographic or Economic Power Point to use))
Cult of Mother Nany and the Second Laholona Dynasty: A different development takes place in the cultural plane of the Hazoan world. Despite Laholona Nakalora III’s morale-boosting success, the 25th century post-KT can be seen as a low point of the Hazoan civilization, with the male population much reduced due to centuries of mercenary warfare in Nantara, simmering conflict with the Bashtunari natives, and incursions from the Shaln Trasque. This eventually sees degeneration of the First Laholona dynasty as well, as the Laholonas are being blamed for the perceived imbalance between the male and the female “elements” among the Hazo. While the First Dynasty keeps holding its own, a new demand is put forward to rethink and reorganize the leadership of the vast tribal realm. Valaohani priests of Nany, the Fertility (and Forest Nature) goddess represent that movement the most, with the forces of settled villages using them as the voice of the new social contract.
(Bonus: +1 Prominence, +1 DP, +10% Conformity; Attribute Demand: Spiritualism 0/1, Comity 0/1; Length: 9 turns)
The temporary exhaustion of the Hazoan manpower gives a chance for the
Bashtunari natives to rebound and find more alpine woodland clearings for establishing self-sustainable settlements.
(Bashtunari: Region 21: +1 Max Capacity)
Farther west, the
Agomai civilization shows signs of a primitive craftsmanship boom, as tributary
Yonike villagers are extorted for food and precious craft materials. The Yonike also contribute to the greater spread of the Agomai settlements through Agoru, helping them build villages in previously unreachable places (much like some canyon settlements of Aoni-chehek) when the local wildlife seems to be shrinking due to overhunting.
(Agomai: +2 Prominence; Region 17: +1 Max Capacity, -1 Wilderness)
GM's notes:
- The stats are still being updated.
- The map update is well behind the schedule - I do realize that. Thanks for your patience.
