Children of the Mountains: A different South America

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Teji's Journey
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    • RedBeret

    800 BCE

    Teji felt as if he had been walking for years, although he knew it had been mere days since he and his people had been forced to leave their homes for good. And if things were to continue as they had done for the days since then, he doubted that they would be walking much longer.

    Nobody knew where the invaders had come from. Dressed in cotton armour and wielding slings, bolas and clubs, they had attacked out of nowhere. Woefully unprepared for such a battle, Teji's people were soon slaughtered almost in their entirety. Teji was lucky. While the newcomers were raiding the village and battling with those who had chosen to protect it, Teji had gathered together as many people, livestock, seeds and food as he could and fled to the south. There, he hoped to lose the invaders in the craggy and mountainous terrain, and eventually find some new place, far far away, where they could recover and rebuild their civilization.

    Or at least that was the plan. While Teji and his people had managed to evade the attackers, they now suffered from a far greater danger: starvation. Their food stocks were running low, and while this alpine landscape may have contained many things, food wasn't one of them. It was clear that if some miracle weren't to happen soon, then all his efforts, all that they had gone through, would be for nothing. Teji couldn't bear that thought.

    ---

    "Only a few more steps. Only a few more steps, and we'll be fine"

    Teji's words were more for himself than his companions. No matter what he said, one thing was clear: they were dying. The last of their food had run out several days ago, and even if they were to slaughter the Llamas, it would only give them a few more painful days of existence, whilst at the same time getting rid of the main thing that lessened the burden of what they carried with them.

    And yet they continued to climb nonetheless. More than likely, what they would see once they reached the top of this mountain would be the same as what they saw at the top of every other one: yet more empty tundra and mountains. But they couldn't give up, not for a second. Driven by some primal instinct, they continued with as much energy as the could muster, in the hope that somewhere, somehow, they would find their new home.

    At last, they reached the top of this final mountain, and viewed what they saw with awe. For below them lay a vast and endless landscape, and ocean of green, interrupted here and there by vast twining rivers. It was like nothing they had ever seen before, not even in their lost homeland. As he beheld this sight, Teji fell to his knees.

    "Thank the gods"

    [Meta: This is a reworking of something I did on an alternate history game ages ago, based around the rise of a more advanced South American civilisation. Said civilisation was EXTREMELY unrealistic, but as it's its one year anniversary, I have decided to redo the concept into something hopefully plausible.]
     
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    • Evolution of a Myth
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    • RedBeret

    Evolution of a myth

    790 BCE`

    "Originally, we didn't come from this place. Oh no, we came here from a land far away across the mountains, a great lake where all was at peace. But invaders came, and we were forced to flee far to the south. For days upon days we ran, and all seemed lost. But at last, we came here, led by the great Teji, and were able to rebuild our civilization. And it is in the civilization which we built that you are sitting here today."

    690 BCE

    "Many years ago, in the days when your grandfather's grandfather was still naught but a child, we didn't live here. Oh no, we lived in a land far away across the mountains, a paradise on Earth. It was the land of the gods. But our ancestors were sinful, and so the gods expelled us from their land, and forced us to walk a long and hard journey. For years we wandered, and at last we came here, led by the great Tøji, where we were able to build the society in which you grow up in today. But it is nowhere near as much of a paradise as the land of the gods, nor will it ever be."

    590 BCE

    "In the beginning, there were no men in this land, only beasts, wild animals and the mountains. And it is from the mountains that we first came, created by Tøjiz, born of rock and stone turned flesh. From them we wandered, and used our power to subjugate and shape the lands, as the mountains do. We bended beasts to our will, and built these structures that you see around you. And that is the story of how man was formed,"

    490 BCE

    "In the beginning, the world was blank and empty. All there was in the universe was God, and God was all there was in the universe. But he soon grew lonely, and so he created the world, with all its crevasses and features. And to connect this world, he created the mountains, a great spine connecting all the lands upon the Earth. And into the mountains, he imbued his soul, so that forever, he would be the mountains, and the mountains would be him. But still, he grew lonely, and so he created all the life upon the planet, all the beasts and plants in their entirety. Yet still, something was missing. And at last he realised what it was. Recognition. For what is a god with no worshippers?

    And so from the very rock that formed the mountains that were he, he formed a shape out of rock turned flesh. And into that shape, he breathed the spark of intelligence, the spark of the soul. And into the ears of man, for that was what he had created, he whispered his name, a name that was to be remembered for all eternity: Tøzej."
     
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    • The Formative Period
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    • RedBeret

    The Formative Period

    Although little is known of the early Isa Culture, it is believed that they first migrated to the area that is now known as the Pilcomayo river between 900 and 700 BCE. What culture they originally came from is up for debate, with people drawing parallels between their architecture and that of the Chiripa, Chavín and Kotosh cultures. However, genetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA seems to suggest an origin based in Lake Titicata, thus leading most historians to the conclusion that the Isa were descended from refugees of the Chiripa culture, which disappeared from the archeological record around 800 BCE. Early Isa settlements were generally focused around river valleys, farming Quinoa, Potatoes and Alpacas for food. Architecture took the form of single storey adobe houses arranged in a trapezoid shape around a sunken plaza, which contained a large decorative stone as a centrepiece. The deceased appear to have been buried underneath the floors of their homes along with artefacts of copper, shell and in some cases even silver. The differences in what individuals are buried with has been taken by some to be evidence of a stratified hierarchy, although the lack of specialised dwellings other than the plazas described above has cast this theory into doubt.

    At first, the Isa appear to have been the only settled people in this region. However, around 650 BCE, this began to change. Spreading outwards from the Pilcomayo river, several native peoples, apparently inspired by the Isa, began to make the transition to sedentary life themselves. While many of their structures have now sadly decayed due to the fact that they were primarily constructed out of wood, it appears that they were engaged in some form of trade with the Isa, for Isa artefacts and domesticates seem to be quite a common thing. Intermarriage appears to have been relatively common, as evidenced by genetic analyses. However, such cordial relations were not to last.

    Following 600 BCE, the Isa appear to have been superseded by a new culture, that of the Istijun. This event appears to have coincided with the appearance of the first true governments in the region, in the form of city-states. For the first time, organised large-scale construction became commonplace, with stepped Ziggurat temples reaching as high as 30 feet replacing the plazas of the old Isa culture. Settlements appear to have been organised around these temples, with buildings growing smaller and less grandiose the further out they were. This is the first conclusive evidence archeologists have found of a stratified government in the region, with some speculating that it was a theocracy, based upon the placement of the great ziggurat temples. Meanwhile, religion itself appears to have changed too. Whereas the religion of the Isa culture appears to have been primarily animistic, the Istijun instead seem to have revered the mountains, which bear a large place in much of their art. This could also provide a motive for the construction of the ziggurat temples, which could be potentially interpreted as being an artificial representative of the mountains. In the late formative period, certain city-states even redirected rivers so as to pass through the temples, thus further solidifying their place as an artificial mountain.

    However, while this may have been a more organised existence, it was certainly not a more peaceful once. While the previous settlements of the Isa seem mostly to have been defence free, many of the Istijun city-states chose to construct large walls of stone surrounding their cities, thus implying a need for defence. This is a practice that was mirrored by the less organised settlements of the region, in which defensive palisades begin to appear. However, perhaps the most conclusive evidence for the turmoil of these times is that provided by the analysis of the remains of the people born during these period, the majority of whom seem to have suffered death at the hands of artificial weapons such as clubs, arrows and knives. Nonetheless, if this was a war between the Istijun and the other cultures of the region, it was a war the Istijun certainly won. In the centuries following that time, their religion and the concept of a more stratified government spread far and wide across the region, carried by trade, rivers and war. Whether this was a change for better or for worse would remain to be seen.
     
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    • The Professor

    The Professor

    Intrigued. And if you have access to BBC iPlayer check out the Lost Kingdoms of South America series. Should be right up your alley!
     
    Salvador79

    Salvador79

    Awesome start!
    When I first read the development of the myth, it all seemed to change a little too fast and abrupt, but with the explanation which you gave about the change in 600 BCE, it does make sense. Still, the leap to "personalised worship monotheism" in yet another hundred years is a huge one, too, so I'm really curious how this continues!
     

    El Terremoto

    They’re the first states in the area? Like in all of Peru/Bolivia or just the highlands? Cause if all of the Andes than did something happen to the coastal Peruvian city states in 3500 BCE ITTL? That’d be a really strange but interesting PoD
     
    Last edited:

    RedBeret

    El Terremoto said:
    They’re the first states in the area? Like in all of Peru/Bolivia or just the highlands? Cause if all of the Andes than did something happen to the coastal Peruvian city states in 3500 BCE ITTL? That’d be a really strange but interesting PoD
    Click to expand...

    By first states in the region, I was mainly referring to the area around the Pilcamayo river and Paraguay. The states in the Andes still turned out the way they did OTL.

    Also, wow, this is a huge burst of activity after several months. I'd given up on this project, but if you guys are interested then I'll definitely give a go at restarting it.

    Sceonn said:
    Think I read this before, can't recall where though...
    Click to expand...

    Here? https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...e-mountains-a-different-south-america.433217/
     
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