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  • #16
    The Singidu

    Long, long ago, a people came to this part of the river. They called themselves the Singidu, “Those Who Watch the Stone-Grey Fish”. For all this time this river, the Dimini, the lands that surround it, called Cernica, and the ocean it flows into, called Beo, have nourished the Singidu. It is a long river, and The People have traversed much of its banks.

    The river, even near the sea, is fairly clear, and rarely floods much beyond its banks. Many of its tributaries are exceptionally clean, the visibility of their river rock bottoms and the water creatures that hide amongst them having given The People their name.

    Far, far upstream up among some harsh range of terrible, stormy peaks, snow and rain feed the beginnings of the sweet Dimini. Down here where the Singidu make their homes, somewhere between those mountains and the endless, sunlit waves, the land is gentler and more fruitful.

    Hills, most low, some high, lie here and there over the lands of Cernica. Forests of many varieties thrive in this temperate clime, as do meadows, grasslands, and scrub. Fish, beasts, and the fruits of plants were plentiful for The People to make use of.

    Most years the Singidu have thrived in this place. They brought wisdom with them when they arrived here, things their ancestors learned in The Place Where The Birds Are Born. Wisdom about digging in the hills, and cooking metals and dirt in fires, and stretching hides, and bending wood and twisting grass or hair or leather. They discovered new wisdom living in this place, new dirt and metals to cook and mix, new ways to cut wood and fit it together. The taught and learned wisdom from other tribes in far off vales who came Cernica before or after the Singidu themselves did. They were shown how to make animals do hard kinds of work, where delicious beasts came from and went to in changing seasons, which plants to put in the ground and when to gather their seeds and when to cut their stalks.

    Those whose ancestors came from The Place Where The Birds Are Born had many homes along and near the Dimini. In winter they would cluster in their cold weather camps and eat from their larders and of the wintertime plants and animals they could acquire. In the warm seasons they roamed up and down and beyond the Dimini, sometimes all the way to the sea, or up to the flanks of the mountains from whence the Dimini and her tributaries flow, or even in other directions, far from the rock grey banks, out to the vales of other peoples, or the lands of the lakes, where the journeyers could point and say to each other, “In that direction, far away, is The Place Where The Birds Are Born that our ancestors came from”. In these warm seasons between travels they stopped at camps that were like the cold weather camps, or made new resting grounds in new places, and stayed for as long as they needed, days or weeks or even an entire season if the fish jumped well and the crops swayed high in the sun's fresh warm breezes.

    The Singidu have long practiced religion, though the distinction between religion and the customs of daily life is hard to point out. They believe that the power of magic comes from sleep and dreams and takes shape upon one's mind, body, and perhaps even entire tribe through dance, song, paint, and masks. From the decorations that adorned their camps and bodies during their frequent festivities came their first logographic writing system, which a large proportion of average people had at least a rudimentary grasp of, due to its widespread use in everyday as well as ritual situations. Surviving cultural artifacts from this early period usually consist of small, portable items such as decorated pottery, masks, tablets, and hides, although some early carved wooden pillars still exist. Because creation of custom, literature, art, et al. was not restricted to any particular class but was practiced by all elements of society, there is an abundant diversity of material represented by surviving folklore, literature, ceremony, and artifacts.

    The People knew how to work iron, though crudely, and rarely used this skill. Their working of bronze and brass and other alloys of bright copper has grown quite skilled and they have always preferred to make their sturdy and elegant tools and ornaments with this well-crafted material.

    Relatively protected from any more than the occasional famine, epidemic, natural disaster, material shortage, or external violence, The People developed into a fruitful and capable society. They found uses for obscure new technologies and even began to engage in indirect trade with far off civilizations by way of their more connected neighbors. They governed themselves with Band Leaders and a proto-senate council of distinguished persons selected by popular, though not numerical, approval. They approved of hospitality, vigor, courtesy, wit, friendly competition and displays of impressive feats, and disapproved of greed, sloth, resentment, and cruelty. Sometimes the gods were kind to them, sometimes they were unforgiving, but they saw no hidden meanings in their fates, only the need to sometimes make the best of bad events and other times to be clever and apply themselves so as to make more good things follow.

    Generations of almost uninterrupted peace came to a close when the Invaders, literally, “Hunters of Men” offered their poisoned embrace to the lands of Cernica. They did not eat horses or use them to plow the earth. They rode atop them into the land of lakes and the vales and finally the valleys and hills of the Dimini among the Singidu to throw torches and spears into the people who, until just then, had contented themselves with watching the rock-grey fish.

    The People were new to the ways of war. They were not ignorant of the ways of nature; they knew they were prey, and their persons and possessions were the flesh that those that would hunt them wished to consume. They knew what prey must do to win its life from the slender, red-tipped claws of its predator.

    The Singidu ran as fast and as far as they could while the Invaders filled up their bellies and their bags and their cruel lusts with the loot torn out of a scattered riverside people. The People washed their hands with their tears and stood up straight on their toes upon the hard earth. One of the Leaders of The People drew out his pouch and let his hand clench the hot, dusty remains of his home and kin. The People became warriors, those who hunted the hunters, and they were called The Lips Burnt Black, for when they prepared to fight they smeared their mouths with ashes still warm.

    The Singidu took their nets and their snares and their arrows and spears and notched blades and turned them away from the rabbits and poultry and antelope and they turned them against those men who rode their horses in order to hunt men. They turned their eyes and their minds and instincts and their grim unparted blackened mouths against the Invaders who thought to make game of the riverlanders.

    In the hills and valleys of Cernica the Invaders began to know fear of the men and women they had though were soft. The ghosts of these forests could not be dissuaded from having their vengeance. The Invaders soon decided to take their horses and ride away to lands where they hoped they would find easier pickings.

    Our people who had once watched the fish began to build their tools and homes anew, with walls and warriors to guard them. Their neighbors from the vales soon felt the affliction of the Invaders' hooves and sent messengers asking for the aid of those who had shed blood to send the Invaders away. The Singidu looked to each other and said, “We did not ask the Invaders to be our enemies, yet they became our enemies. Surely, then, if these or any other people ask in earnestness to be our friends, we must become their friends?”

    The Invaders were driven far away, and the Singidu and their neighbors had learned of cause to build strong walls and keep firm hold on bent bows and fire hardened spears and maintain alliances as peoples of the same heart. Indeed, the Singidu and their neighbors have grown very close, upon seeing the lay of the outside world and just how similar they really are. On calm days, when the wind blows sweet and watchful faces say all is safe, all the people of Cernica can sit together and watch the fish.
    Last edited by foolish_icarus; November 24, 2006, 21:40.
    Those walls are absent of glory as they always have been. The people of tents will inherit this land.

    Comment


    • #17
      You are a story-writin' fool, aren't you?

      Excellent, that's one nation set. Next?
      "Bother," said Pooh, "Eeyore, ready two photon torpedoes and lock
      phasers on the Heffalump. Piglet, meet me in transporter room
      three. Christopher Robin, you have the bridge."

      Comment


      • #18
        I'm getting pretty excited about this. The 'capital' city, by the way, is called Singidunum.
        Influences were from all over; barbarian non-Mediterranean Europe, pre-Hellenic near east and Helladic Greece, Sub Saharan Africa, North American Indians...I wanted to try something away from the classic Greco/Roman/Mediterranean paradigm.
        Any chance we can get a peek at the map, even if it isn't finished?
        Those walls are absent of glory as they always have been. The people of tents will inherit this land.

        Comment


        • #19
          An Old Proto Map feat. Notes

          I have an old proto map with some notes etc. on it, that may whet your appetite. We (ciders really) is/are remaking it to have one large central continent, and this is just a pure archipelago with some bigger islands.

          Giganti-map
          Last edited by bipolarbear; November 26, 2006, 18:20.
          Lysistrata: It comes down to this: Only we women can save Greece.
          Kalonike: Only we women? Poor Greece!

          Comment


          • #20
            I'm in, will post my civ soon.
            THEY!!111 OMG WTF LOL LET DA NOMADS AND TEH S3D3NTARY PEOPLA BOTH MAEK BITER AXP3REINCES
            AND TEH GRAAT SINS OF THERE [DOCTRINAL] INOVATIONS BQU3ATH3D SMAL
            AND!!1!11!!! LOL JUST IN CAES A DISPUTANT CALS U 2 DISPUT3 ABOUT THEYRE CLAMES
            DO NOT THAN DISPUT3 ON THEM 3XCAPT BY WAY OF AN 3XTARNAL DISPUTA!!!!11!! WTF

            Comment


            • #21
              The Azuran

              Our people were once without a home, but no longer.

              Since the dawn of time when Zhursas, the Lord of Heaven, created the peoples of the world, the tribes of the Azuran roamed the world with their flocks and their horses. We lived our lives on horseback, men of peace when the years were good to us, and men of war when times were lean. We learned the art of archery and took up the bow, and with that instrument of war made many peoples pay us tribute. All this was ours, but we still had no home.

              The Zhurhiman, priests of the Lord of Heaven, prophesized that one day we would find a land to stay and become like other peoples, and that the sign would be a fire eternal. Our Lord carries fire as his sacred symbol, and for generations we searched for the place where it was prophesized we would make our home.

              Now, we have found our place. Our numerous peoples found a fertile land by a great lake, where a people dwelled in ignorance of Zhursas and his will. They had a shrine there, a place where fire wells up from the earth eternally, and yet they were blind to its great holiness. We, the inheritors of the sacred fire, made war against them, and they were swiftly conquered - how can scattered tribes of footmen compete with our great host of mounted warriors - even our women can ride and loose an arrow into enemy eyes! It was here that we have made our home, and here we shall stay.

              Let it not be said that other peoples are not good for anything. The natives of this place have over time intermarried with our own peoples and adopted the worship of Zhursas. They are indistinguishable from us now, and together we have built a great city, Surizhad, meaning "the place of sacred flame." Our Great King rules over us all, both the commander of our allegiance and the highest priest of the land, commanding the Zhurhiman that administer our realm. We have learned from the natives the ways of building with stone, of writing, of making pots and working iron. We learn the ways of peace and remember the ways of war - we have not abandoned our lives upon the horse's back, and most of our people outside Surizhad's walls are still the herdsmen-warriors that made the fufillment of the prophecy possible.

              O Zhursas, Lord of Heaven, the Sacred Keeper of the Hearth, keep our people strong and our rulers wise, our flocks numerous and our fields rich, our arrows straight and our horses swift. We will have much need of all these things when we contend with what lies beyond our promised land, peoples who surely follow your eternal opponent, the wretched Agharisus. We shall always keep your eternal flame, in our Great Temple and in the hearts of our people. Bring glory to the Azuran, and make our children masters of the vast plains of the world!

              OOC: Sounds like a promising NES. I've given these guys a ancient persian/parthian/sassanid theme, and used plenty of gibberish words! The capital city, as I mentioned above, is Surizhad, and our current Great King is named Khozol.
              Last edited by Cyclotron; November 26, 2006, 17:49.
              Lime roots and treachery!
              "Eventually you're left with a bunch of unmemorable posters like Cyclotron, pretending that they actually know anything about who they're debating pointless crap with." - Drake Tungsten

              Comment


              • #22
                PS, get rid of that giganti-map, it breaks the tables
                Lime roots and treachery!
                "Eventually you're left with a bunch of unmemorable posters like Cyclotron, pretending that they actually know anything about who they're debating pointless crap with." - Drake Tungsten

                Comment


                • #23
                  Horsemen! Pray to your spirits that when we meet you have no malice in your hearts, for our mercy, though great, dwindles at the sight of evil half beasts who would seek to fill their cruel gullets with the spoils of our people.
                  May you find plentiful grazing...far away from our fields. Those who walk upon two feet are welcome among us.
                  Those walls are absent of glory as they always have been. The people of tents will inherit this land.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    hello all, its been a while.
                    Don't tell a twisted person he is twisted, he may take offence. (THAT MEANS ME!)
                    Founder of the Mafia Poly Series (THATS RIGHT I STARTED IT)
                    Nesing, come and see what its about in the Stories and Diplomacy threads.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Greetings, thou Nebuchadnezzar, breaker of walls and despoiler of cities!
                      (I've been waiting all afternoon to say that to someone. Thanks for accidentally obliging )
                      You going to join?

                      PS ancient Mesopotamia has the coolest words and names, period.
                      Last edited by foolish_icarus; November 26, 2006, 18:21.
                      Those walls are absent of glory as they always have been. The people of tents will inherit this land.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Originally posted by foolish_icarus
                        Horsemen! Pray to your spirits that when we meet you have no malice in your hearts, for our mercy, though great, dwindles at the sight of evil half beasts who would seek to fill their cruel gullets with the spoils of our people.
                        May you find plentiful grazing...far away from our fields. Those who walk upon two feet are welcome among us.
                        As sure as the holy flame of the sun rises over the plains, we have no quarrel with your people. You must in turn pray that you accept Zhursas, Lord of Heaven, into your hearts, for his path tarries not into darkness and evil. You speak of cruelty in taking spoils, but one does not scold the hawk for preying upon the mice of the world - so how can one speak ill when the strong prey upon the weak, or the righteous upon the unrighteous?
                        Lime roots and treachery!
                        "Eventually you're left with a bunch of unmemorable posters like Cyclotron, pretending that they actually know anything about who they're debating pointless crap with." - Drake Tungsten

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Your people's long years out under the flames of your holy sun has made you haughty and a little bit addled, but we like your zest and vigor anyway!
                          We are amused that you might supect us to be mice--Step into the forest, dance and wrestle with us and run beside us as we track game through the woods in the dark of night, and you might be surprised to learn who is the bird of prey.
                          We revere the sky, but there are other forces that lend us strength as well, each at their appropriate time. May all of them take their turn in lending strength to this peace growing between our people.
                          Those walls are absent of glory as they always have been. The people of tents will inherit this land.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            The Fathan

                            Fire, steel, flesh and blood! That is what all is made off! In the beginning there was only nothingness and the gods. These gods were hunderds all immensely powerful, with bones of steel and blood of fire. Measuring strength against eachother, they started a battle that lasted ages, until only one lived! He took the other gods' corpses, made a mountain of them, and with his own blood, the Great Warrior ignited the pyre and watched the mix burn. Before his eyes, the pile of corpses turned to this world.

                            As the fire lowered, he saw that embers settled in little pieces of flesh, some animals, but the brightets pieces of flame were for humans, especially whose flesh was created from the loins of the dead gods. The Great Warrior saw how these first mortals mimicked their ancestors, the fire driving them to glorious combat, and he was pleased, for he feared the eternity would boring once the fire went out. So he took the ones in whom the fire burned brightest, and he gave them the sacred task of making sure the world remained aflame, and for that they would find all the pleasures of the world open to them.

                            Our people have followed this decree with greatest pleasure. Our ancestors say we long travelled, fighting against one another when none were close, and fighting others when they were. But those times are done, for today the flames are fanned to the size of armies, and one needs cities, farms and mines. Thus we found a city, and after vanquishing it, we did not burn it to the ground, yet became rulers.

                            We called the people we rule 'Ash-men' for there seems to be little fire. Occasionally they revolt, which gives our youths great possibility for first kills. Occasionally, the spark from us flies and one of the Ash-Born ignites, and is welcomed among us. Also, we claim the thirdborn child of the ashborn, so our blood does not thicken.

                            We find weedy men who crave authority over other ashmen and have them deal with the boring stuff. Us Fathan are content as long as our demands for food and weapons are met. Forging Weapons is forbidden to the Ash-men though. Mostly our wives, whose fire tempers steel, do that. (Though they can get in the army if they can silence anyone that would call them too weak)


                            I have been accepted as Warleader after defeating other contestants. We've spent many years making sure the Ash People wouldn't dare to betray us, but I shouldmake sure there are warriors in the city always. And ofcourse, once we have taken other cities we will see if they'll fight to the last,or turn Ash-men as well.
                            ,

                            Oh Great Warrior, this city is subdued and shall provide the fuel for the infernos to come. We are all but like burning straws, our existant short and without fate. Let us provide pleasure to You and ourselves, and make the world burn until there is nothing left and darkness and silence claim all!

                            (Bit of a mix between Spartans and Vikings. Mostly Vikings with perhaps a dash of orc. Will have a hard time keeping order really,mostly rule through brute force Maybe a bit like Cyclotron, but more 'hand to hand' oriented, and less 'nice' all around.)
                            Fire and ice and death awaiting. But he was steel, he was steel.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              The map posted was in a very developmental stage, but I'll probably keep most of it and edit a large continent in near the middle. Before you ask; you don't get to pick your spot, BP and I are reserving that right. That's only your first city, so it shouldn't be much of a handicap. Most, if not all, of your cities will be on the mainland.

                              A quick explanation of the map:
                              Ignore the red and neon green; those were ways for Bipolarbear and I to communicate.
                              Dark blue is deep water, good for shipping, not fishing.
                              Medium blue is medium water, great for fishing, ok for shipping.
                              Light blue is shallow water- safe harbors but small ships, some fish.
                              Light green is plains and grasslands; good for farming, lousy defense.
                              Dark green is forest; lots of lumber, some defense.
                              Brown are hills and mountains: not much food, but ore is most likely to be found here and a great defensive position.

                              You'll also see some rivers and inland lakes, which are pretty self-explanatory.

                              I've got lots more to say but not much time to say it in, at least tonight. Semi-final map tomorrow, if I'm lucky.
                              "Bother," said Pooh, "Eeyore, ready two photon torpedoes and lock
                              phasers on the Heffalump. Piglet, meet me in transporter room
                              three. Christopher Robin, you have the bridge."

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Fish, Grain, Fruit and Hunting: These represent the food sources for this city. Hunting is a basic staple of small cities that becomes rather unimportant as cities grow because it is very difficult to increase the amount of food gathered through hunting. Hunting is, however, a reliable source of a small amount of food that varies little year-to-year.
                                If my city is to be tenable, herding should be somewhere too. We are a pastoral people!
                                Lime roots and treachery!
                                "Eventually you're left with a bunch of unmemorable posters like Cyclotron, pretending that they actually know anything about who they're debating pointless crap with." - Drake Tungsten

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