The rule as stated doesn't leave any wiggle room. The danger is not from the Empire, it's from one's own subjects. There is no credit for "keeping tribute low".
Lands of Red and Gold, Act II
- Thread starter Jared
- Start date
The rule as stated doesn't leave any wiggle room. The danger is not from the Empire, it's from one's own subjects. There is no credit for "keeping tribute low".
twovultures
Donor
Interesting...the highlanders seem to me to be Aururian Apaches. This should be interesting.
Seems like Highlanders are similar across Time Line
Certain features seem to be the result of geography, more than anything else. Strange how things work out.
What ever schedule works best for you. The things you give this site are solid gold
While obviously all posts depend on me having time to write them, I do generally aim for a post every fortnight or so.
On reflection, this rule is too harsh to be realistic.
The intent was to have a view among the highlanders that any leader who conceded ongoing tribute to lowlanders was effectively joining them. One-off tribute to buy off an invading army was one thing; paying tribute without that army coming back was another.
But yes, this outcome does seem too harsh. I'll amend it to a rule where if there is a rebellion, any chief who doesn't quickly join it tends to lose their life in the process. More of a "if you're not for us you're against us" view.
Highlanders with a code of... well, not chivalry exactly, but there own honour code. Just a code that not many other peoples would agree with.
twovultures
Donor
Ah, raiding cultures. So much fun to read about, so awful to actually live next too.
Admiral Matt
Gone Fishin'
Great to finally meet the highland peoples. I have a special interest in linguistic isolates enduring in the corners of the world.
I've been wondering about the historical Gunditjmara people - IOTL they had a fairly sophisticated aquaculture, as has been outlined in this timeline, and were the most settled people in Australia. If I recollect correctly this aquaculture did not amount to anything different until the agricultural Gunnagal migrated south. A major theme here has been that while Australia has plenty of native domesticates, what was lacking was a "founder crop", from which agriculture could be learned. Is aquaculture so different in its skills that agriculture is not the kind of idea which would ever occur? This obviously happened IOTL, so I guess the answer is "yes", but I don't understand why this is the case. While they are different skills and not easily transferable, wouldn't the concepts of cultivating your food sources in such a controlled manner lead to similar notions regarding plants? I haven't read anything which suggests that the Gunditjmara aquaculture was a new idea, and according to LoRAG it existed thousands of years ago, so why wouldn't this have eventually led to at least a basic agriculture at some point?
This is because the process of early agriculture seems to be a largely unconscious activity. Obviously, no-one woke up one day and said "I think I'm going to start farming! What plants can I use?" Instead, human activity put enough selection pressure on some populations of plants to turn them into domesticated forms.
Of course, this isn't the whole story. Founding agriculture (i.e. independent invention of agriculture) required a combination of at least five factors:
(1) at least seasonally sedentary lifestyles;
(2) the right toolkit to harvest and process the relevant plants;
(3) the right food storage techniques;
(4) suitable founder crop(s); and
(5) enough time for the unconscious processes of domestication to modify the genome of the right plant(s).
For (1), having at least seasonally sedentary lifestyles is important because people need to be predictably in the right place at the right time of year to keep harvesting the same populations of plant. The historical Guntidjmara had (1), so far as we can tell. But they didn't have all of the others.
For (2), toolkits and food processing techniques weren't static, and they weren't always quickly developed. It took time to develop the right toolkits and food processing techniques to take advantage of the right plants. In the Middle East, those toolkits and food processing techniques for wild grains were around for at least a couple of thousand years before agriculture started.
In contrast, one possible reason why New World agriculture took longer to develop is because it took for people to develop all of the tools and skills needed to process those plants. Humans arrived in the New World relatively late, after all, and did not develop toolkits and food processing overnight. In particular, this is probably part of the reason why the Eastern Agricultural Complex, in North America, took so long to develop.
In Australia in OTL, harvesting/food processing techniques were also still evolving. The development of techniques for processing native millet (a small-seeded grain) is something which Messr Diamond touches on, for instance.
For (3), food storage techniques are often overlooked. A big part of why agriculture developed so early in the Middle East was because they invented a kind of granary at above ground level, which allowed for food to be aired and gave some protection from pests such as rats and mice. The development of these granaries preceded the development of Middle Eastern agriculture by a millennium or more.
The Gunditjmara in OTL had excellent techniques for storing meat (smoking it), but as far as we know didn't develop techniques for storing wild plants (i.e. they collected and ate them, but did not store them for year-round consumption).
For (4) and (5), in OTL there always needed to a crop, or combination of crops, which were suitable for the process of unconscious domestication, and enough time for those processes to take place. Depending on the crop(s), those processes could be quick and require only a couple of mutations to happen, or it could be a process which takes several millennia.
In the Old World (Middle East and China), some crops were quite quick to be domesticated, such as emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, and barley (Middle East) and millets (China). Other crops took longer, such as rice. In the New World, there don't seem to have been any quick domesticates, or at least not in combination with the right toolkit and food storage. Domesticating maize took a while in Mesoamerica, and domesticating small-seeded plants in the Mississippi took even longer.
For the Gunditjmara in OTL, if the potential domesticates (wattles, murnong, native flax) were suitable founder crops, either they required even longer to domesticate than Mississippi crops (possible) or the combination of harvesting, processing and storage technology wasn't available to foster the unconscious domestication process (probable). Or both.
For the ATL Junditmara, they were unfortunate in that they were out of the wild range of the red yam, and so couldn't begin the unconscious domestication process with that plant.
However, there may also be a wild-card here. In a couple of cases, it may just be that some peoples around the world just lucked out, and the right mutations didn't happen to start unconscious domestication. Wild rice in North America is an example of such a crop where suitable mutations have happened recently, and there's been timelines speculate about what might have developed if that happened earlier. In OTL, the Gunditjmara may just have been unlucky, too.
To sum up: Gunditjmara aquaculture was a good, innovative thing. But it didn't lead to agriculture in itself in OTL, and other than the seasonally sedentary lifestyle (which was necessary but not sufficient), there's no particular reason to think that it would.
Since theres evidence of maize domestication dating back 8700 years, according to the wiki article, it was clearly domesticated 'quickly', (5000 years or so after human arrival), compared to Middle Eastern agricultural (20,000 years or more after Hsapsap arrival).
Admittedly it took over a thousand years to spread throughout MesoAmerica, and was still spreading north when Europeans arrived.
Admittedly it took over a thousand years to spread throughout MesoAmerica, and was still spreading north when Europeans arrived.
"Quickly" in this context means "quickly after the end of the last Ice Age".
For whatever reason - climatic instability, probably - agriculture didn't start anywhere until the Ice Age was over. If I remember right, there were a couple of failed domestications, where things started and didn't stop (but it's bugging me that I can't remember where).
Yet not too much after the end of the last Ice Age, agriculture started showing up all over the place. The Middle East (10,000 years ago), New Guinea, China not much later, and then various others. Mesoamerica (maize, squash) was quicker than some other centres, but not the quickest.
In other worse, maize domestication was still quick compared to how long humans had been in the region (it certainly beat out eastern North America), but not so quick after the end of the last Ice Age. If that makes sense.
And while it's slightly tangential, there's more to the domestication of maize. The first forms of domesticated maize were small. Very small. The development of larger cobs took quite a while, and may have been developed through interbreeding of domesticated maize with a (different) wild subspecies or related species (the jury is still out on exactly how they were related).
The first evidence of these larger cobs that survives is around 1100 BCE; not coincidentally, around the date that the Olmecs emerged to create the first large cities in Mesoamerica. Possibly the larger cobs of maize emerged earlier, and their remains haven't been found yet. But it's also possible that it was prety much the emergence of this form of maize which allowed the Olmecs to start building larger cities.
Ah, yes. If memory serves, the other was a failed attempt around Jericho.
One benefit of being borderline-OCD when it comes to working out the details...
On another note, I've recently found an even more vivid demonstration of how what Australia was lacking was founder crops, not domesticable crops.
Australia does have a native cereal that has been domesticated. This is a development of the last 5-10 years; the accomplishment is that recent.
The cereal which has been domesticated is in fact Australia's most widespread surviving native grass, a perennial species called weeping grass (Microlaena stipoides). It's a small-seeded grain that is distantly related to rice. In fact the domesticated version is marketed as "Alpine rice", though it's not really rice, and is not confined to alpine areas. Weeping grass grows in most of the wetter areas of Australia, and for that matter in New Zealand and parts of New Guinea and the Philippines, too.
As a domesticated grain, it doesn't yield as highly as most other cereals, but it's perennial and thus takes advantage of year-round rainfall, tolerates drought very well, etc. (This is the reason it was domesticated). It also has a bonus for modern farmers in that once the seeds have been harvested, the remaining stalks can be used to provide excellent grazing for cattle, and then a natural recharge of the fertiliser for next year (though this obviously wouldn't be much use to native Australians domesticating it initially).
Finding out about this crop may actually require some small retcons to the history of Lands of Red and Gold, though they shouldn't be too major because as a lower-yielding crop that doesn't grow in the original heartland of agriculture (the *Murray basin), it will just become a supplemental crop in some of the wetter areas of the continent.
Still, it's interesting to see just how wrong Messr Diamond was about Australia's only domesticable crop being the macadamia nut...
Lands of Red and Gold Interlude #5: Let Your Light Shine
Lands of Red and Gold Interlude #5: Let Your Light Shine
This special gives an overview of how All Hallows’ Eve may be seen through the prism of another history. As with all specials, this post should not be taken in an overly serious manner.
* * *
This letter appeared in The Logos of Dundee [Scotland], 31 October 1964.
Dear Sirs,
I muʃt proteʃt in the ʃtrongeʃt of terms your chronicle’s unwarranted endorʃement of the alien celebration called “Hallowe’en”.
Your register has been inundated with too many ill-conʃidered, illness-inducing, and almoʃt-illiterate articles that illuminate and even ʃupport the foreign tradition of “Hallowe’en” and all that thereby entails: children dressed as elves, trolls, nixies, ʃkeletons, and other villeins prancing from houʃe to houʃe declaiming that moʃt miserable demand with menace known as “trick or treat”, jack-o’-lanterns made from abominable pumpkins, bobbing for apples, and other ʃuch outlandiʃh miscellanies.
Need I remind you, ʃirs, that our fair city of Dundee, wherein you have graciously choʃen to publiʃh your chronicle, is a city inhabited by men and women of the Scottiʃh Nation? We, your readers, are of the ancient blood of Alba, and it is our own festivals and customs which you ʃhould, nay, muʃt endorʃe in your diverʃe writings.
I note, ʃirs, that even when you have deigned to refer to the proper festival of Samhain, your articles in that regard have not merely been few, they have been deficient. To take but one recent, notorious example, your article “Wandering the Streets” by Hezekiah MacDuff, on the 29th, deʃcribed how children ʃhould be dressed in apt costumes and go from houʃe to houʃe, ʃinging in auld verʃe and receiving gifts of food. That much is good and proper. But while your missive hails the jack-o’-lanterns that ʃhould wait at the door, it neglects to ʃay that theʃe muʃt be made from worthy turnips, in accord with our ancient custom, not with that vile American fruit ʃo gracelessly called pumpkin. Even more abominably, the moʃt conʃpicuous feature of that moʃt verboʃe article was a complete abʃence of any word about bonfires. How can a true ʃtory of Samhain ignore the element which is moʃt highly-regarded and essential to its proper celebration?
It muʃt be ʃaid that there can be no finer celebration of this moment in the passage of the ʃeaʃons: the children dressed as ʃithi, etins, and ʃprites go guiʃing from ʃtreet to ʃtreet, ʃinging auld verʃe both for their own celebration and to ward off the ʃpirits of the wandering dead, with jack-o’-lanterns of turnips to light the way, while on the great crossroads the bonfires illuminate the night as marʃhmallows, cheʃtnuts and boomberas [macadamias] are roasted above it.
That, ʃirs, is the true meaning of Samhain, and it is that which your chronicle muʃt ʃhow to all of your readers, for it is we, ʃirs, who ultimately pay your ʃalaries, and without us, your readers, you would have no chronicle, and thus no income.
If I might further inform, that need not mean that you muʃt never refer to the celebrations of other peoples. No harm could come if you chooʃe, from time to time, to enlighten your readers with the festivals and customs of other nations. Theʃe are matters of which occaʃional knowledge is proper. But this can not, muʃt not be allowed to outweigh the proper information and celebration of our own customs of Samhain.
I am pleaʃed to remain, ʃirs, your moʃt humble and obedient ʃervant,
Fionn Hume, Eʃq.
* * *
Taken from The Monstrous Sourcebook, a compendium used in the game Wizards & Warriors
ELVES
Stylish, glamorous humanoids, elves are fey-born creatures as attractive as they are dangerous. Hot with anger, and hot with passion, an elf can seduce a human with as much skill as it can hunt him.
Poised and alluring, lithe and nimble, elves are creatures of magic and music; often they combine the two. An elfish dancer has no equal, so report those who have seen them. Their songs sound beautiful, unless you understand the words. The legend of elves is that they can steal a man’s heart; what the legend neglects to mention is that this is not a metaphor. Sometimes a hunter does not come home because he has become the hunt. Some men pray to meet elves, only to find that to an elf they are prey.
An elf can fascinate and entrance those they meet; venturers who have survived them often say that much of their allure comes from the fact that you never know until the fatal moment whether they wish to dance with you or hunt you. They have no moral compass; or if they do, it is eternally spinning without settling on one direction.
Whether because they are attuned to nature or a gift of their fey blood, elves are stealthy and hunters par excellence. They can track a bat through fog. They are extremely gifted in magic, in many forms, though they seldom use it when hunting. Keen of sight and rarely seen, an elf could shoot a human from cover easily if they so desired, but rarely will they do so without warning. A hunt is sport to an elf, and they will usually allow their quarry a decent chance to survive, if they are fast, agile or smart enough.
Elves dwell in places of power, which survivors often mark with rings of stones, and where often a haunting sound of singing lingers beyond mortal ken, naught but the whisper of an echo of a dream. While they have no fear of daylight, for preference they enter the mortal realms at night.
Silver is the one metal elves cannot endure. A charm made from it is said to protect against the allure of elves. Even this should not be completely relied upon, given the maliciousness of elvenkind.
* * *
31 October 1986
Dusk on the eve of the Day of the Dead. To the west, the sun was slipping below the waters of the Pacific, the last of its last crimson light spreading across the bayside home and the white sands around it. To the east, a gentle breeze whirled through from the dunes and the streets of Bilambil city beyond. With the breeze came the scents of urban life, which was unfortunate, but the wind set the chimes ringing where they hung all around the house.
Dusk, the time of balance, brought all into harmony. This evening, of all evenings, that was what was needed most. Mirrabulla knelt in front of the altar de muertos, the altar of the dead. Her husband Alonso was by her side.
The altar had a photo atop it, of a young boy dressed in an ultramarine and gray uniform. A school uniform. Thirteen candles ringed the photograph, with a bunch of marigolds around each candle. The rest of the altar was decorated with an assortment of gifts: nuts, dried fruit, a miniature bicycle, two tortillas, one made from blue corn, the other from black cornnart, and other small trinkets.
When the sun touched the western waters, Mirrabulla stood. A match lit the first, crimson candle, and then she used that to light the other twelve white candles. “Nyungar, my son, this is the Day of the Dead, and I remember you.” Beside her, Alonso made a similar invocation. She continued, talking to Nyungar, remembering his life, and his stories.
So it was, tonight. The Day of the Dead. All of the Kogung people in Bilambil would be venerating it. So, in truth, would the rest of the peoples of the city, if not in quite the same way. Even if they did not have recently passed kin, then they would remember those who had expired in more distant times.
As the Day of the Dead progressed, tomorrow and the day after, there would be other moments. Happier times, celebrations of the lives of those who had passed. But for now, for dusk, with chimes sounding and lemon-scented candles burning, this was the time for honour and reminisce.
* * *
Taken from Intellipedia.
Hallowe’en
Imagery
The modern pageant of Hallowe’en is a transnational pastiche of symbology from many nations. Christian symbols such as devils, demons, and ghosts mix with autumn-themed harvest icons such as scarecrows, corn husks, cornnart pods, and squash. Abstract macabre symbology contributes ever-popular skulls, skeletons, bloodstained robes, snakes, spiders, and warlocks. Folklore from around the globe combines with the modern horror corpus to provide such creatures as elves, sithi, trolls, ravens, huldras, thunder boys, nymphs, dryads, mummies, werewolves, thralls, lamias, headmen, and juntees. However, in Portugal soul cakes marked with the cross are a popular gift during Hallowe’en...
* * *
Thoughts?
This special gives an overview of how All Hallows’ Eve may be seen through the prism of another history. As with all specials, this post should not be taken in an overly serious manner.
* * *
This letter appeared in The Logos of Dundee [Scotland], 31 October 1964.
Dear Sirs,
I muʃt proteʃt in the ʃtrongeʃt of terms your chronicle’s unwarranted endorʃement of the alien celebration called “Hallowe’en”.
Your register has been inundated with too many ill-conʃidered, illness-inducing, and almoʃt-illiterate articles that illuminate and even ʃupport the foreign tradition of “Hallowe’en” and all that thereby entails: children dressed as elves, trolls, nixies, ʃkeletons, and other villeins prancing from houʃe to houʃe declaiming that moʃt miserable demand with menace known as “trick or treat”, jack-o’-lanterns made from abominable pumpkins, bobbing for apples, and other ʃuch outlandiʃh miscellanies.
Need I remind you, ʃirs, that our fair city of Dundee, wherein you have graciously choʃen to publiʃh your chronicle, is a city inhabited by men and women of the Scottiʃh Nation? We, your readers, are of the ancient blood of Alba, and it is our own festivals and customs which you ʃhould, nay, muʃt endorʃe in your diverʃe writings.
I note, ʃirs, that even when you have deigned to refer to the proper festival of Samhain, your articles in that regard have not merely been few, they have been deficient. To take but one recent, notorious example, your article “Wandering the Streets” by Hezekiah MacDuff, on the 29th, deʃcribed how children ʃhould be dressed in apt costumes and go from houʃe to houʃe, ʃinging in auld verʃe and receiving gifts of food. That much is good and proper. But while your missive hails the jack-o’-lanterns that ʃhould wait at the door, it neglects to ʃay that theʃe muʃt be made from worthy turnips, in accord with our ancient custom, not with that vile American fruit ʃo gracelessly called pumpkin. Even more abominably, the moʃt conʃpicuous feature of that moʃt verboʃe article was a complete abʃence of any word about bonfires. How can a true ʃtory of Samhain ignore the element which is moʃt highly-regarded and essential to its proper celebration?
It muʃt be ʃaid that there can be no finer celebration of this moment in the passage of the ʃeaʃons: the children dressed as ʃithi, etins, and ʃprites go guiʃing from ʃtreet to ʃtreet, ʃinging auld verʃe both for their own celebration and to ward off the ʃpirits of the wandering dead, with jack-o’-lanterns of turnips to light the way, while on the great crossroads the bonfires illuminate the night as marʃhmallows, cheʃtnuts and boomberas [macadamias] are roasted above it.
That, ʃirs, is the true meaning of Samhain, and it is that which your chronicle muʃt ʃhow to all of your readers, for it is we, ʃirs, who ultimately pay your ʃalaries, and without us, your readers, you would have no chronicle, and thus no income.
If I might further inform, that need not mean that you muʃt never refer to the celebrations of other peoples. No harm could come if you chooʃe, from time to time, to enlighten your readers with the festivals and customs of other nations. Theʃe are matters of which occaʃional knowledge is proper. But this can not, muʃt not be allowed to outweigh the proper information and celebration of our own customs of Samhain.
I am pleaʃed to remain, ʃirs, your moʃt humble and obedient ʃervant,
Fionn Hume, Eʃq.
* * *
Taken from The Monstrous Sourcebook, a compendium used in the game Wizards & Warriors
ELVES
Stylish, glamorous humanoids, elves are fey-born creatures as attractive as they are dangerous. Hot with anger, and hot with passion, an elf can seduce a human with as much skill as it can hunt him.
Poised and alluring, lithe and nimble, elves are creatures of magic and music; often they combine the two. An elfish dancer has no equal, so report those who have seen them. Their songs sound beautiful, unless you understand the words. The legend of elves is that they can steal a man’s heart; what the legend neglects to mention is that this is not a metaphor. Sometimes a hunter does not come home because he has become the hunt. Some men pray to meet elves, only to find that to an elf they are prey.
An elf can fascinate and entrance those they meet; venturers who have survived them often say that much of their allure comes from the fact that you never know until the fatal moment whether they wish to dance with you or hunt you. They have no moral compass; or if they do, it is eternally spinning without settling on one direction.
Whether because they are attuned to nature or a gift of their fey blood, elves are stealthy and hunters par excellence. They can track a bat through fog. They are extremely gifted in magic, in many forms, though they seldom use it when hunting. Keen of sight and rarely seen, an elf could shoot a human from cover easily if they so desired, but rarely will they do so without warning. A hunt is sport to an elf, and they will usually allow their quarry a decent chance to survive, if they are fast, agile or smart enough.
Elves dwell in places of power, which survivors often mark with rings of stones, and where often a haunting sound of singing lingers beyond mortal ken, naught but the whisper of an echo of a dream. While they have no fear of daylight, for preference they enter the mortal realms at night.
Silver is the one metal elves cannot endure. A charm made from it is said to protect against the allure of elves. Even this should not be completely relied upon, given the maliciousness of elvenkind.
* * *
31 October 1986
Dusk on the eve of the Day of the Dead. To the west, the sun was slipping below the waters of the Pacific, the last of its last crimson light spreading across the bayside home and the white sands around it. To the east, a gentle breeze whirled through from the dunes and the streets of Bilambil city beyond. With the breeze came the scents of urban life, which was unfortunate, but the wind set the chimes ringing where they hung all around the house.
Dusk, the time of balance, brought all into harmony. This evening, of all evenings, that was what was needed most. Mirrabulla knelt in front of the altar de muertos, the altar of the dead. Her husband Alonso was by her side.
The altar had a photo atop it, of a young boy dressed in an ultramarine and gray uniform. A school uniform. Thirteen candles ringed the photograph, with a bunch of marigolds around each candle. The rest of the altar was decorated with an assortment of gifts: nuts, dried fruit, a miniature bicycle, two tortillas, one made from blue corn, the other from black cornnart, and other small trinkets.
When the sun touched the western waters, Mirrabulla stood. A match lit the first, crimson candle, and then she used that to light the other twelve white candles. “Nyungar, my son, this is the Day of the Dead, and I remember you.” Beside her, Alonso made a similar invocation. She continued, talking to Nyungar, remembering his life, and his stories.
So it was, tonight. The Day of the Dead. All of the Kogung people in Bilambil would be venerating it. So, in truth, would the rest of the peoples of the city, if not in quite the same way. Even if they did not have recently passed kin, then they would remember those who had expired in more distant times.
As the Day of the Dead progressed, tomorrow and the day after, there would be other moments. Happier times, celebrations of the lives of those who had passed. But for now, for dusk, with chimes sounding and lemon-scented candles burning, this was the time for honour and reminisce.
* * *
Taken from Intellipedia.
Hallowe’en
Imagery
The modern pageant of Hallowe’en is a transnational pastiche of symbology from many nations. Christian symbols such as devils, demons, and ghosts mix with autumn-themed harvest icons such as scarecrows, corn husks, cornnart pods, and squash. Abstract macabre symbology contributes ever-popular skulls, skeletons, bloodstained robes, snakes, spiders, and warlocks. Folklore from around the globe combines with the modern horror corpus to provide such creatures as elves, sithi, trolls, ravens, huldras, thunder boys, nymphs, dryads, mummies, werewolves, thralls, lamias, headmen, and juntees. However, in Portugal soul cakes marked with the cross are a popular gift during Hallowe’en...
* * *
Thoughts?
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Very clever, as always. Two comments:
I always thought that "villein" just meant "peasant", not "evil-doer". So it doesn't seem appropriate here. Am I wrong? (Probably.)
No spiders? I see a lot of spider imagery at Halloween around here. But never any snakes.
Several places, I think that should have the medial s, but don't, for example, in "festivals and customs which you ʃhould, nay, muʃt" why is the first s in festivals or the first s in customs done in the terminal for rather than the medial form.
In addition, I believe that if the media s is kept, then Illness should end with an Eszett, unless the equivalent of the 1996 German Orthography reform has occured (which changed so that after short vowels the ss was used), I think.
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