OOC: Well, at least I got best stories, even if I thought my expectations were realistic. I'll do my best to keep it up. Also, as I am going to begin using a great number of Alarkien words, here is a pronunciation guide; any letters without pronunciation can be considered the same as in English. My apologies to anyone who does not speak English.
Pronunciation Guide
B
F
D
G
K
P
L
J
M
Z
S
N
R
W
Sd Sh
Pr Trilled R
A Short a
O Short o
I Short i
Ae Long a
Oe Long o
Ie Long e
Ei Yay
' Glottal stop
As you can see, plenty of missing and a single added sound from English. Hopefully it makes my last story more understandable. And this next one, of course.
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An Interlude of Voyage
Alarkiens have a great distaste for other society, whom they consider uncivilized. Their constant movement between communities or even lack of communities disturbed the deepest sentiments of Alarkien culture, which is based upon the community.
Other societies tended to meet only the Alark'boranae, or soldiers, of Alarkien society, as they were the only Hakamei permitted to travel between various communities and, if necessary, into areas controlled mostly by other societies. While trade between other societies picked up, the Alark'boranae were very careful to not allow traders of other societies very far within Alarkien territory, as the influx of new cultural ideas was believed to be harmful by the Alark'tangat.
This is not to say, however, that new ideas pertaining to technology were not shared. Any idea that the Alark'boranae found to be intriguing or useful they brought to a nearby Alark'tangat to judge; if the Alark'tangat found it to be worthy, he would introduce it into his own village as a sort of test case. If it proved to be useful and not damaging to Alarkien culture, he would support its dissemination and the Alark'boranae would begin to carry it to other villages along their normal routes. This allowed for quick and simple dissemination of information that was both beneficial to and not harmful towards Alarkien society.
Anyways, our main topic here is the further expansion of Alarkien society. Because of their distaste towards other societies, their fairly limited sphere of, influence, and a growing population which required additional living space, the Alarkien peoples had two ways through which to expand. The first was internal and the other external.
The internal method involved communities supporting larger populations, which required increased food production, and was used by the great majority of Alarkiens. This proved to be a difficult process, as the Alarkiens followed a hunter-gatherer method of food production. Slash-and-burn agriculture, as well as farms in general, were considered poor treatment of the land, the most important member of the communities upon which Alarkien society was founded.
They did, however, discover ways to produce more food without disrupting the general ecosystem of the area. The discovery of new sources of food was the main method, in which they discovered how to make food out of many things that other societies found distasteful, including insects, tree bark, and even the bones of the animals which they hunted; they also began to hunt many more types of animals.
The other method involved the slow conversion of ecosystems into ones that supported more of the types of food that they preferred. From planting fruit trees when they were required to chop some down for construction to the seeding of hardy and edible shrubs in unused areas of the forest to the breeding and release of animals so as to increase their population. All were used to increase food production without drastically altering the land and ecosystems of the area.
The second method of expansion, that of external expansion, was used by those Alarkien communities which lived near other societies and the coast. Those near other societies inserted a great number of well prepared and well supplied communities into relatively unsettled border regions, displacing those who lived there through force. While this was not a quick expansion of military force, it was a slow expansion that maintained the cultural homogenity of Alarkien society that occurred in virtually every possible direction but towards the north, where the Latyrans were bent on the instant destruction of any Alarkien settlement they could find.
Those near the coast began to experiment with ships and sailing and found new ways of expanding through the foundation of some of the world's earliest colonies. Generally, these consisted of a single community and would hardly ever grow beyond this size. Upon arriving in a number of small ships, the Alarkiens would disembark, build their community, and displace any natives in the area.
The colonies generally constructed a great number of ships to move back and forth between the larger, original Alarkien areas and the colonies to gather supplies and gift them with any new ideas or goods found in the colonized lands. This assistance through supplies from the more established Alarkien communities helped greatly to ensure the stability and continuation of the colonies.
The trade, however, created a problem, one of travel. As travel was generally forbidden the majority of Alarkiens, a new Hakamei was created, one specifically for the operation of sea vessels, be they merchant or military: the Tarie'tangatae, or People of the Sea. An immediate rivalry sprang up between the Tarie'tangatae and the Alark'boranae, as they were the only Hakamei allowed to travel between communities, and this rivalry persists to this day.
Early Alarkien ships were generally canoes, although they were generally lashed together by boards to ensure stability and the ability to carry a great deal of goods. Paddlers would take their positions upon the wing canoes and paddle the entire convoy, sometimes up to twenty canoes. Cargo was stored in the middle canoes, allowing for a great deal more to be shipped than would be with only a single canoe.
Many of these early ships were devastated through storms and other disasters, and often lost their way without navigational tools. Maps of the coast were created by a few of the more successful Alark'boranae, but these were poorly made and did little to assist in navigation. Alarkien colonial expansion was hindered due to this obvious problem, restricting them from long voyages until more complicated and accurate equipment could be devised.
Darn, you had it easy. I'll have to work harder to bring up my count.
