#founding february

1. Are there non-human sentient species? Describe them.

Legend holds that sentient dragons exist, but no one believes in them.

2. Did the people evolve on this planet or come from elsewhere? Do they still know they come from some different planet/realm?

The people evolved from this planet.

3. What is the relationship between the different species? Are there any myths/legends about where they come from?

The islands of the world exist in a vast ocean. They are clustered together and are surrounded by extreme biodiversity, but the people are bound to the lands. Legends tell of the price for people’s gift of habitable soil is stewardship of the relentlessly growing herds of ungulates. After the collapse, art and literature are still valued, but consolidation of power is viewed fearfully by most, and clandestinely done by few.

4. Where and when did civilization begin? Are there historical records?

Civilization began at the ancient city where the wide fresh river runs from mountain to sea and the plains give way to the foothills. Records of clay tablets baked in fires and carved inscriptions resemble the glyphs still in use today, though not all of the words in the inscriptions continue to bear meaning.

5. What is the total population (of the planet / the country / the city, etc.) How is it made up?

Homesteads are multigenerational and often range from 15-30 people at any time. These tend to be ¼ children and young teens, ¼ young unpartnered adults, ¼ mature adults, and ¼ elderly adults. About 2/5 of people are men, 2/5 women, and 1/5 are other gendered. Towns serve as regional hubs and tend to have 200-300 full time residents. Across all of the islands, the total population of people is not more than 5 million.

6. What is the level of technology (stone age, hi tech)? Is there any forbidden technology?

Technology for producing iron is well known. Wind power is used for simple machines including sail boats. Water wheels are also used where possible. The people are able to manage some refined pyrotechnology, making stoneware pottery, lime kilns, and some frits and glazing. Wood is extremely rare and too precious for most construction, though ships and carts are an exception. Structural basketry woven from river reeds and canes is common for furniture, architecture, and small vehicles like wheelchairs and wheelbarrows. Magic eases the way to accomplishing many things that technology might otherwise. Taboo technology relates most to the consolidation of power. Advanced weaponry beyond that needed for hunting is regarded with extreme revulsion.

7. Is there any formal education? At what age do children start school? And how long?

Formal education is largely absent. Instead, those who wish and have aptitude can learn a trade via an apprenticeship, where they join the trade house at 14 or 15 to live and learn. Mastery of that trade takes 10-15 years. All children learn to read and write basic glyphs, which is necessary in a world where trade is the norm and people often switch homesteads as they form partnerships. All children are taught the hunting language as well, a silent communication with the hands. As children learn to control their magical aptitude, their elders teach them the knowledge they need.

8. Is education available to all or only certain groups? Are different groups of people educated separately?

There aren’t systemic or bias-based barriers to education for the most part, though apprenticeships are granted entirely at the discretion of the trade house elders. As a result, personalities, preferences, and actual biases can be factors. Education is not offered separately based on universal distinctions, as it is almost entirely ad-hoc.

9. Is there a written language? Or more than one? Are most people literate or illiterate?

Nearly everyone is literate to a basic level. The glyphs are used fairly universally and are generally intelligible regardless of dialect of the speaker. Rather than many languages with widely divergent roots, difference in language is mostly as dialects, which are regionally based.

10. What are schools like? What are the different types of school for?

Formal schooling is largely absent. Childhood lasts until 14 or 15 and then youth begins. Play learning is set by a child’s elders and they are also given household tasks to master and complete.

11. What languages to people speak? Or do they speak more than one language? Is there a common language? For trade?

People have their mother dialect, the trade tongue, and then their use dialect, learned if they form a partnership in a different dialectical region or complete an apprenticeship and settle in a different dialectical region.

12. How do people greet each other? What is a gesture of respect (bowing, saluting)?

The words “Well come” and “well met” are included within other phrases in greeting. In interactions, one tilts the head forward and slightly to the right, a sort of bowed head of deference.

13. What is considered a rude gesture?

Spitting at someone’s feet is disrespectful, rude, and confrontational.

14. How do they curse? Gods? Body parts?

Curses relate to the availability of ambient magic.

15. What titles / formalities are used? Are there any in use? When are they used?

Rigid titles are not used in general, as part of a power-seeking taboo. Within groups, like homesteads, trade houses, and so forth, honorifics are used relating to the person’s place within the group’s functional hierarchy.

16. How long has the system of government been in place?

The administration has existed in some form since the early rebuilding following the collapse.

17. Is there a class system? Different levels of citizenship? What is the privilege of each?

Society is fairly egalitarian, with each ‘house’, whether a trade house, homestead, ship, or mine gang selecting a ‘voice’ who is entrusted with pursuing the house’s needs and desires in administrative matters. The voice is held in high esteem, but there are no universal or expected characteristics which are requisite for nomination as voice.

18. Is there a neutral person who leaders got to for guiding? How does this person come into place?

Most matters are dealt with within a house. If there is a conflict between houses, then a third house will often be consulted, an equal rather than a ‘leader’. Guidance tends to be sought from people occupying comparable positions, and this type of consultations builds strong and lasting trust networks.

19. Is there a form of police? Is there a formal army? Who can join? At what age?

No, justice is left to mediation between parties. There is no formal army.

20. How are wrongdoers tried and punished?

Wrongdoers are judged by the trade of mediators, who provide rotating mediators to communities.

21. How does the legal court look like? Does the death penalty exist?

Mediation is done in private but records are kept for 5 years and reviewed by subsequent mediators periodically to ensure their fairness in judgement at the time, and fairness of repercussions afterward.

22. Does the government provide social assistance? In which form? Does it vary from country to country?

Struggling homesteaders are granted guidance and mentorship. New trade houses are given easy access to needed raw materials and favorable initial trade conditions, and so forth. When they are habitually struggling, then their peers may advocate for drastic action such as forced reorganization, though.

23. Is there any centralized healthcare? Free doctors? Public baths? How does the medicine look like? (Magic/herbs/modern chemical medicine)

One of principal foci of the high mages is training for healing. The high mages are supported by the community, and in exchange medical care is freely available. Everyday health, preventative care, palliative care, and reproductive care are often sought from younger or newer health magic apprentices, or within the community from folk knowledge of magic practice.

24. What is the average age at which people die? How old do people can become?

Infant mortality is very low thanks to the high level of preventative care. Once a child lives to young adulthood they can expect to live to their eighties or nineties.

25. Is there public transport? Who uses what typically? How does it look?

There are no beasts of burden and no combustion/steam engines. Carts and sail/row boats are the main long distance transport means, especially for heavy or bulky goods. Foot travel is the standard means of transport, however. Disabled people with mobility issues might use wheelchairs.

26. Are there publicly run communications systems? Postal service? Pigeons? Other ways?

Fast communication between towns is done with pigeons, but this is usually for emergencies. There are postal packets which travel with itinerant crafters as well, which are delivered to the town hearth.

27. Do public parks exist? Can anyone enjoy them?

Aside from the walled compounds of individual homesteads, land is held in common and can be visited and enjoyed by most anyone.

28. Do community centers exist? Who cares for them? What do they offer/do?

Each town has a hearth, a small compound of buildings and shelters where post is received/sent, council/trade meetings are held, judicial matters and mediation are conducted, and other meetings are held.

29. How do they get clean water? Aqueducts? Sewer systems?

Towns are universally established on (at least seasonal) riverbanks to take advantage of the water source as well as to allow for transportation for at least part of the year. Homesteads are only viable if they are able to establish wells, which are aided by water finding magic.

30. Do people trust the government? If not, why? If yes, why? Did it change recently?

People are generally extremely busy with balancing survival and subsistence. The priorities of the administration are viewed very skeptically.

31. Do the majority of people approve of or disapprove of the government?

With such small scale localized government, most people have cautious approval of its administrative decisions and capabilities. Existence for most people is full of small, community interconnections, but changes and innovation are not driving social forces.

32. Does the government spy on its enemies? Its people? Through which measures?

The high mages make use of collectors to capture and retrieve ambient magic from the herds. The collectors serve as eyes and ears for the high mages.

33. What is the monetary system? Are there multiple currencies?

The monetary system is generally based upon bartering and trade. Counters are used, the first vertebra of a mature ungulate. These are only robust enough to survive 5 or so years of use, especially if they change hands many times.

34. Is there widespread trade? What do each of the areas are known for to export? What are the most cherished export/import goods?

There is extensive trade throughout the islands, and a fair amount between them. Interaction between islands is largely driven by craft contact, with craft guilds maintaining rich communication links through teaching exchanges.

35. What are common warfare weapons? Are there any rules of war everyone follows?

Warfare is virtually unknown between people. Common tactics for hunting include game driving, slingshots, and blunt weapons. Projectiles are not used as wood is too rare and precious, though paintings on the walls of the ancient cities show such weapons. Killing other people is one of the strongest taboos, as every person is expected to contribute to the Duty.

36. What was the longest time of peace? What caused it?

The most important calendar events mark when the satellite closest to the gas giant brushes its atmosphere, and when the satellite furthest from the gas giant faces away from it and into deep space. The former event causes the nearest satellite to be filled with light, and anyone caught outdoors (especially psychics, who are naturally drawn to the gas giant) runs the risk of going blind. The latter event sees the thinning of the atmosphere around the farthest satellite due to its proximity to outer space, and also exposes psychics to the mad whisperings of the creatures that reside there.

The dangers caused by these events is a major driver of cara tourism. Rather than deal with the annoyance of preparing for the next interruption, why not take the portal to the planet and enjoy a holiday that is actually fun?

Awkward transition to unrelated subject.

Bura evolved from herbivores, but early in their evolution they started to incorporate more animal proteins into their diets and became omnivores. Unlike humans, though, they were never pack hunters who took down big game, nor have they domesticated large animals to eat. Instead, they focus their efforts on small, bite-size creatures like rodents, insects, and fish. Over millennia, Bura farmers have worked wonders on their livestock, producing crickets the size of mice and mice the size of rabbits. Bura still subsist on a mainly plant-based diet, though, and meat is something of a specialty item.

Caras, having much more phenotypic variety than the Bura, have a correspondingly greater variety in diet. They can be obligate vegetarians, resolute carnivores, or anywhere in between. Some caras, particularly those grown for specific purposes, have more specialized diets that need to be administered to them via specially formulated ration packs. However, such individuals only exist in the military forces in the caras’ home system. Most cara colonies are centered around crop farms, and some are surrounded by pastures where livestock are raised. The caras’ livestock are the same animals domesticated by the Bura, but the crops were brought over from their home system and are adapted to arid climates.

In addition to technology, the caras also brought with them their cultural traditions, which were quickly adopted by the Bura (who at the time were just starting to develop civilizations of their own). These include a dualistic religion, revolving around forces of light and darkness eternally locked in battle. This has become the dominant religious paradigm for the Bura as well as the caras. However, in modern times, religion has taken more of a backseat in Bura culture. The battle between light and darkness, while still pervasive in nearly all branches of philosophy, is no longer taken literally by most Bura. The caras, on the other hand, especially those in contact with their home system, take it very literally. This is probably due to their proximity to the effects of aforementioned battle (which is in fact quite real and very literal, but has little to do with the planet of the Bura).

Despite living alongside one another for many millennia, not everything has carried over between the societies of the caras and the Bura. The planet, which has a sun and moon, and the cara’s home system, which is itself made of artificial satellites and is many light-years away from any star, naturally use very different ways of keeping time. On the planet, the days start at dawn and are divided into sixteen “hours” (I haven’t done the math to figure out how they compare to our own hours yet). Various holidays mark the passage of time throughout the year, based on solstices and equinoxes, agricultural schedules, and historical events. The caras’ homeworlds all have different orbits around the central gas giant, and have no concept of years, because there is nothing to tell whether or how fast they revolve. Instead, the caras measure conjunctions and eclipses, and have very long, very slow “days” where the various satellites face toward or away from the gas giant.

Another area in which Bura and caras differ is family structure. Bura live, reproduce, and socialize in ways that would be familiar to us Earthlings. The modern standard for a Bura family centers around a group of adults, usually two to four, and their children (which share one or both parents). Single-sex sets are not unusual, but might get bothered by members of the opposite sex at social venues who are looking for a set with room for one more. Children are raised by all their parents, no matter who actually contributed to their genes. Caras, while they do come in several different (morphs? types? varieties? I have no clue what the correct term would be), they do not have biological sexes. All reproduction takes place ex vivo, newborns reach adult maturity in a matter of months, and individuals can reach ages of many centuries. (In contrast, a seventy-year-old Bura is considered very old indeed.) Therefore, caras tend to live alone or with a loose group of friends.

The concept of gender is one of the few things that the caras borrowed from the Bura rather than the other way around. Most Bura cultures have a male-female gender binary, and many individual caras identify as male or female (or a nonbinary gender). However, the Masang language has stubbornly resisted gender. It has three noun classes that correspond not to male-female-neuter, but animate-intangible-inanimate. (I used to call the “intangible” class “construct”, which is a bit more accurate, but also potentially confusing because a construct form is already something else in linguistics. The slight misnomer will have to do for now.)

The cities of the Bura tend to look smaller than the ones we humans are familiar with. For one thing, Bura houses are mostly underground, with only a small aboveground portion that acts as a foyer for the main hidden structure. Also, they do not have the technology to build skyscrapers, and the caras are no help in this area, as mentioned in the previous post. However, also as mentioned in the previous post, the cara homeworlds are practically nothing but cities. Enormous physics-defying dodecahedral(ish) bundles of skyscrapers held together with enormous chains, artificial gravity, and the strange cloud of breathable atmosphere that surrounds the entire system like a bubble.

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Because innovation is driven by historical events, the technological level of the societies on this planet is difficult to compare against that of humanity. They are far more advanced than we are in genetic manipulation and agricultural engineering, less advanced in architecture and communication, and about the same in transportation and mechanical automation. In most of their “developed” societies, it averages out to something similar to the US in the 1960s. The caras were instrumental in the technological progress of the Bura. They brought with them tools and machines for cloning, teleportation, small-scale manipulation of spacetime, and other things that we humans can only dream of. However, they had to learn from the Bura all medicine beyond first aid and field surgery, as well as the principles of architecture as they apply on a planet with Earthlike gravity. To this day, cara colonies are mostly comprised of low, flat buildings - a far cry from the soaring spires that are possible in their homeworlds’ microgravity.

The caras’ home system is divided into two warring kingdoms, with one capital asteroid each and the rest of the asteroids being used as neutral ground. The governments of both kingdoms are composed of a king (who acts as the commander-in-chief), a queen (who enacts legislation and handles administrative affairs), and a cabinet of advisors (who are also the judiciary authority). This is the way the government there has always been, and the caras who live in their home system accept it as a fact of existence. The caras on the planet, on the other hand, are VERY politically-minded for people who don’t form political entities. They are essentially one large nation, with regional councils overseeing activities in different areas of the world, and people moving between regions as they please. However, recent immigrants may express support for a monarchy like the ones back home, and some movements of longtime planet residents consider going back and getting rid of the monarchies entirely. They don’t have wars, per se, but very loud and disruptive demonstrations of their differing ideologies.

The governments of the Bura are largely based on city-states, where the central city, ruled by any of a number of different types of governments, controls a surrounding area of land marked by natural or artificial borders. With the rising population in modern times, some borders between city-states have dissolved, with the cities forming a sort of confederation and behaving like a single unit. That, or they become areas of conflict and battle over limited resources. However, the large wars are less often border disputes and more often justified by ideological differences, like those of the caras (even if the actual reason is different).