Lands of Red and Gold, Act II
- Thread starter Jared
- Start date
.....OHHHHHHHHHHHHHOf course, WE all know the original name of the Blamèd One.....
I remember now!
Ehheheheeh, thats pretty funny.
Huh, wouldn't have considered the ecological ramifications of elephants in Aururia! Would some forested areas be more depleted, though, as the Nuttana expand and clear out forests for wood? Or do the feral elephants help strike a balance between deforestation and reforestation?
What other species can go feral in Aururia? Camels are already there, horses could go feral. What about water buffalo? Like elephants, the Nuttana could bring those in.
What other species can go feral in Aururia? Camels are already there, horses could go feral. What about water buffalo? Like elephants, the Nuttana could bring those in.
Actually, there's no explicit mention of war elephants there. The elephants the Pakanga encountered were probably work elephants from the looks of it (I don't think the men on it were armed).
But speaking more generally about war elephants, they were made obsolete by the advent of gunpowder warfare, and of cannons. But I think war elephants can be pretty useful in Aururia. The Nuttana would probably find war elephants useful against the Tjarrlinghi. Put a couple of musketeers on top and you have a mobile firing platform, which is how war elephants were used for the most part in Ancient India and SE Asia.
Other than that, I don't see the Nuttana having much need for war elephants. Best to keep elephants for the express purpose of carrying big loads. Training them for war is extra work that may or may not pay off, and plus you'd want to armour it up for war, so add in the cost of an elephant sized suit of armour. It's not impossible for the Nuttana to figure out the war training process, since war elephants were being used in India until the 18th century.
Though there might be others in Aururia who might want to acquire war elephants and would also put them to use (and I really do want to see war elephants used in Aururia). Perhaps Tjibarr or the Yadji would want to buy some war elephants off of the Nuttana? They're some of the few in Aururia who might be able to afford the purchase and the upkeep of war elephants.
Nothing so far says elephants specifically trained for war. The Pakanga were chased away by work elephants pressed into service, since the local Nuttana figured (correctly) that shock value would be invaluable. The Nuttana did carry some weapons, but these weren't specialists.
On the other hand, with a population of elephants around for labour purposes, it's not impossible to train up a few for war.
War elephants are the sort of tactic which would almost certainly work once, unless the Tjarrlinghi were very well-informed. If they are informed, or after one or two battles, though, they can quickly figure out counters to war elephants. There were plenty of tactics available for that. After that, war elephants become something much riskier.
Most of Yadji territory would probably be too cold in winter, though Tjibarr would probably be warm enough. Of course, the elephants could probably be kept indoors during winter.
Same caveats apply in that war elephants are useful but far from invincible.
Gives a whole new meaning to white elephants...
There's a rumour that the original name of the Blaméd One was Tjandee...Of course, WE all know the original name of the Blamèd One.....
Only if he denies being one. It takes a true god to deny his divinity.Wait, is @Thande a god...
Glad you like it. This one has been in the works for a while, and was safe to publish before the rest of the Hunter arc.Good update, Jared!
Any more in-depth descriptions of elephants in Aururia will probably have to wait until that arc is completed, though.
Elephants can certainly knock down trees - though African elephants are generally better at it than Asian elephants - but on the whole, their effects would promote tree growth. It's hard to overstate how much the extinction of megafauna has changed the nature of Australian forests, with their disappearance being followed in short order by the dominance of eucalypts, and much more open woodland. It's something which can be measured in the more detailed fossil deposits (such as Lyell Crater).
More generally, the Nuttana do cause some deforestation, but in very specific patterns. They tend to rely on water transport for timber, and so the areas they deforest are either directly along the coast, or on the navigable portion of rivers. The areas further inland are largely untouched in terms of logging, simply because transporting the timber is much more troublesome than bringing timber in by sea. The Nuttana aren't even limited to getting timber from Aururia; they also arrange to bring in some high-quality coastal timber from New Guinea.
Plenty of species can go feral, although I haven't gone into much detail yet. Camels, pigs, goats, horses, water buffalo, cows etc are all OTL. Others are also possible.
Which does lead to the question of whether an elephant is in natural harmony...
I wonder what the hunter-gatherer peoples think of this new arrival? No doubt many will die at first trying to hunt this new beast, but an elephant with its meat, tusks, and bones will be very useful to their society. Trading the ivory will be great for them. And if they can get the camel, that will be even more interesting...
Yeah, that makes sense. But what're the Nuttana norms on armed citizens? If there are people that face the threat of the Pakanga (or generally the threat of crime, bandits etc) then it'd be logical for them to carry a sword, and perhaps a pistol or long gun (can also be used to hunt etc.) and be trained in the use thereof. The average Nuttana citizen could probably afford a decent weapon and training. Not that owning a blade or gun was a matter of personal wealth. It depended more on the society IMO. The Dayak headhunters were not particularly rich but were armed well and have a reputation for swordsmanship (how else do you get all those heads?).
But taking only urban societies into account, in medieval Europe blade ownership was contingent on law, but nearly all common people could afford a sword. Not every one of them could afford a high quality blade, but they had options (e.g. they could buy a used blade and have it restored later). Defending against Pakanga raids is a bit too tricky to be done by a military, why not encourage those most in danger to arm and train themselves, and if they have already, form a militia to defend themselves against possible Pakanga attacks.
The tactics against war elephants are not all perfect, and do not guarantee victory of if used. But there are enough of them by this era to make using war elephants riskier, true. Either way, whoever uses war elephants in Aururia first will have success if they use them wisely, and until their opponents master a counterattack.
Aside from field artillery, one possible counter to elephants I find interesting are elephant guns. It's far easier to get a few people with elephant guns in position than it is to get a cannon, and a cannon has only one shot. The problem would be elephant armour, as elephant guns are designed for unarmoured elephants, and black powder firearms may not be powerful enough to penetrate that.
Yes, war elephants were more likely to be kept in stables and I can see these two nations building a complex of elephant stables merely for war elephants.
What about ostriches? Though they've gone feral too IOTL.
That does beg the question if harmony - disharmony can be affected by animals? Just like how animals don't go to heaven or have souls, you could probably say that since animals live according to instinct their actions don't really affect harmony?
E: I recently came across some interesting speculation that crops don't do best around the area where they were originally domesticated, since that's where you'll find pests and pathogens adapted to that crop. Crops really seem to take off when introduced to distant lands with suitable climate. Such as how maize and cocoa came from Central America but took off in Africa, while peanuts and manioc are of secondary importance. Assuming that the same would happen for Aururian crops, I would imagine that any given crop would likely do better in a different part of the continent than it's origin (given suitable conditions). And probably do tons better on a whole different continent.
Last edited:
I did have a very long reply to these posts nearly finished, but the website managed to vanish the draft post. Apologies if the new replies are briefer.
For mainland SE Asia, the dominant power struggle is between the kingdoms of OTL Thailand and Burma. There is also a somewhat resurgent Hindo-Buddhist Champa kingdom, which has broken free from Vietnamese influence because northern Vietnam has itself been invaded a couple more times from China. The Chinese were ultimately pushed out again, but the occupation and resources required meant that the Champa have re-asserted their independence.
For the Tjarrlinghi, their influence certainly spreads past the Darling Downs. This includes both some way south, and further north. The Gemfields have more or less quietly acquiesced to the Hunter's rule, without needing a crusade to do it. Most of their population were Tjarrlinghi anyway, so it wasn't a great change. This level of control stops at the continental divide, more or less - the northern coast is not at all under their control. The level of control further inland varies, but they certainly go further west than OTL Roma and St George, QLD.
For instance, Solidarity Jenkins, who has featured in various flash-forward posts, is both a labour/social organiser and co-author of The Nationalist Manifesto. The full focus of his aims has not yet been shown, but a large part of it is preserving the identity and beliefs of the Congxie in an environment where they lack traditional state sovereignty. Does this have some economic implications? Yes, but they are a consequence of his core aims, not the foundation of his ideology.
To give a rough idea of the size of the trade, ATL China's population in this period is probably somewhere in the 110-130 million range. (Chinese population figures for 1710 are a bit rubbery, at least the populstat ones I could access quickly, and ATL are lower because of Aururian plagues but recovered a bit due to Aururian crops). The elite market would be, say, up to 2% of the Chinese population who consumed imported kunduri or jeeree to some degree. That's still 2+ million potential customers, enough for a significant trade in Nuttana terms.
To expand on that a bit, in China in this period in OTL there was widespread, locally-grown tobacco consumption. But there was still an luxury market for premium tobacco products, for which the social elite/wealthy were prepared to pay high prices. Water-pipe tobacco was a different species of tobacco, grown in a restricted area around Fujian, which the elite were prepared to pay more for and which was shipped long distances around China. Similarly, imported high-quality European snuff was valued and paid well for. The catch was that it was the Portuguese who imported that via Macau and Canton, and they never imported very much compared to the size of the potential market. Chinese merchants in Canton were always puzzled by that because they could sell a lot more but the Portuguese didn't bother to supply it.
ATL, that elite niche is supplied by premium kunduri products, sourced mostly from the high-quality versions grown in the Five Rivers, and shipped to China principally by the Nuttana (and to a lesser degree by European trading companies). The Five Rivers produce high-quality products anyway, but they also flavour them with various aromatic compounds which makes their produce even more desirable to those who can afford it. (In China, of course, most cannot afford them).
A similar thing applies ATL for jeeree, which is seen as an elite beverage consumed for its calming influence. (It actually does have a mild sedative effect.) So again there's a proportion of the wealthy who consume it as part of their lives, while the large majority of the population just drink tea.
Kunduri and jeeree are to a lesser degree also luxury products consumed in much of India and SE Asia. Never a large percentage of the local market for total tobacco/kunduri or tea/jeeree, but a significant enough luxury demand to be worth shipping there.
The confectionery idea is also interesting because the Nuttana are already gradually moving in the direction of preparing processed sugar products: rum, hard candies, etc. Kratom would probably fit in that niche quite well.
For the potential names for it, likewise I have no idea how far back the name kratom goes, and I have no convenient sources to figure out what a Papuan name for it might be. I think I'll just go with the Nuttana developing their own name for it which translates as "bitter jeeree".
In terms of other Asian influence, there will also be some level of Japanese cultural influence, although again it's hard to judge the exact amount. For instance, a number of Japanese gunsmiths were persuaded to leave Japan and come to the Nuttana city-states to begin their own indigenous gun-manufacturing industry (a one-way trip, since Japanese law at this point states that they will be executed if they return).
For noodles, Aururians actually have already independently invented a form of noodles, much as in OTL they were independently invented in both China and Europe/the Middle East. Aururians make them primarily from wattleseed flour, boiled (sometimes with egg) and dried. I suppose yam starch might have some use for that too. Chinese forms of noodles might expand the Aururian culinary repertoire. Rice is known at this point in the TL, being an occasional luxury import from SE Asia (principally Bangkok), though the main imported foodstuffs are either from the northern Kiyungu or from New Guinea (principally sago pith).
More seriously, if some Aururian states resist direct colonisation and if those states aren't ruined by Mongol-level genocide by the Hunter's armies, they have some potential for becoming early global manufacturing hubs. This applies to four suspects, in more or less descending order of likelihood: Tjibarr/the Five Rivers, the Nuttana, Durigal/the Yadji, and the Patjimunra. There are various reasons why each could take up early industrialisation by adopting industrial techniques from elsewhere in the globe (setting aside, for the moment, any possibility of indigenous industrialisation). The Five Rivers have a very strong fine manufacturing tradition and several commodities which would benefit from mechanisation; the Nuttana have a lot of wealth and a chronic labour shortage which means that they would also benefit from mechanisation; the Yadji have a command economy which means that they could easily adopt industrialisation if a ruler likes the idea; and the Patjimunra have a strong mining tradition, sit on a bucketload of coal and are in a location where adopting a steam engine would bring them quick benefits (due to allowing them to pump out frequently-flooded mines and exploit deeper coal deposits), and then expand on that into iron and steel production.
It's too early to say what might happen in more modern times, since that would involve more details of what happens to Aururia and what happens in some key other parts of the world.
More importantly, though, the main way in which the Nuttana deal with scurvy when sailors reach port is not via fruit at all, it's via a cultivated plant, the sweet sarsaparilla (Smilax glyciphylla). They turn the leaves of this plant - which have a high Vitamin C content too - into a tea and drink it to cure scurvy. The advantage of this is that the leaves are available all-year round, and so there's no need to worry about whether fruit is in season.
I'm not sure about the accuracy of that distribution map: multiple sources which I've seen both online and in print refer to Terminalia ferdinandiana being found only between northern WA and eastern NT. They could still find it by exploration and advice from the local people, of course, but it's not going to be the close exploration.
What might be possible, though, is for the Nuttana to adopt the plant originally for medicinal use, and then start cultivating it as a secondary purpose for food. The fruit was deemed medicinal, but the really nice one was using the inner bark of the tree for skin disorders, such as wounds, infections, boils and ringworm. (The bark is known to have antibacterial properties.) If the Nuttana start cultivating the trees for medicine, they're likely to eat the fruit as a bonus, though that may not lead to domestication in the strict sense.
Tjibarr's political system is better-suited to standardisation within factions (or groups of factions) rather than across the nation as a whole, which brings plus and minuses. Lack of complete standardisation, but also some benefits in terms of competing pseudo-corporations improving their products to try to get more customers from the other factions. In the long run, of course, if they see Durigal achieving military benefits from complete standardisation, the factions could still co-operate enough to agree on a common standard. They are capable of such things, though it's not usually their first reaction.
The Nuttana are a bit of an odd instance in that they start out by buying Japanese firearms, which may or may not be standardised already. (I'm not sure about Japanese firearms at this point.) But then they lure Japanese gunsmiths and start making their own muskets according to different requirements, and so even if they were standardised, they aren't any longer. Then at some point they will probably decide to standardise again, but I'm not sure how long that would take.
Short answer is that insular SE Asia has seen a stronger, earlier Dutch influence than in OTL, due to the wealthier VOC. They have influence over more of OTL Indonesia/insular Malasia than at the same point in OTL. The Portuguese still have Timor, and the Nuttana also have considerable influence over the eastern portions of OTL Indonesia (except the actual Spice Islands) and PNG. Coastal regions, at least; as in OTL, no-one other than New Guineans themselves has reached the New Guinea highlands.
For mainland SE Asia, the dominant power struggle is between the kingdoms of OTL Thailand and Burma. There is also a somewhat resurgent Hindo-Buddhist Champa kingdom, which has broken free from Vietnamese influence because northern Vietnam has itself been invaded a couple more times from China. The Chinese were ultimately pushed out again, but the occupation and resources required meant that the Champa have re-asserted their independence.
Broadly speaking, any Aururian state which borders the arid interior claims more territory than it actually controls. This applies to the Tjarrlinghi as much as Tjibarr or the Atjuntja. So any map which showed claimed territory would show them claiming significant chunks of the interior, even for areas where their only visits might be a few wanderers or a once-in-a-generation military sweep to intimidate the local non-farming peoples.
For the Tjarrlinghi, their influence certainly spreads past the Darling Downs. This includes both some way south, and further north. The Gemfields have more or less quietly acquiesced to the Hunter's rule, without needing a crusade to do it. Most of their population were Tjarrlinghi anyway, so it wasn't a great change. This level of control stops at the continental divide, more or less - the northern coast is not at all under their control. The level of control further inland varies, but they certainly go further west than OTL Roma and St George, QLD.
The topic of Plirism in Japan is one that I've parked until I've been able to access some specialised sources. If you can find some that would be useful, otherwise it will need to wait until I can access some more university-type sources (I've unfortunately lost access at the moment due to finishing degrees).
My knowledge of the Danka system is not detailed, but my impression is that the Tokugawa valued the role of Buddhism as being part of the state apparatus, and would be resentful of any challenge to that. Of course, this question would probably best be deferred until that same review of sources.
Plirism is mixed in that regard. It encourages loyalty to existing rulers and government institutions... where those rulers are Plirite. When those rulers are non-Plirite, loyalty is far from guaranteed. It doesn't have the same automatic association with foreign influence that Christianity had in Japan, but it doesn't really promise automatic loyalty either.
My point was not so much that Marx was the first, but that Marx's influence has been so profound that it has encouraged both politics and (to a significant but not total extent) history to view the world through an economic lense. This is true both of those who write in support of Marx, in opposition, or even just in reaction. In an ATL, that's not necessarily the case, and while economics will not be ignored, it's not necessarily going to be the foundation of analysis that it so often is in OTL.
The difference is one of emphasis. Nationalism is in one sense a framework, but it views the world primarily in terms of identity and sovereignty. This means that its primary concerns are matters like citizenship, different legal systems, movement of peoples, different levels of sovereignty, culture and traditional rights and practices (however perceived), and other matters associated with identity. It is often, but not universally associated with labour organisation, too. This does not mean that economics are ignored, but that there is no coherent nationalistic position on what an economic system should be. Different nationalists will have distinct views on economics depending on how they view it as integrating with their other aims.
For instance, Solidarity Jenkins, who has featured in various flash-forward posts, is both a labour/social organiser and co-author of The Nationalist Manifesto. The full focus of his aims has not yet been shown, but a large part of it is preserving the identity and beliefs of the Congxie in an environment where they lack traditional state sovereignty. Does this have some economic implications? Yes, but they are a consequence of his core aims, not the foundation of his ideology.
The two Chinas are somewhat more open to European trade, but otherwise there's not much difference. It's too early to consider potential modernisation/*Meiji style changes because things will change once China is reunified.
Jeeree and kunduri are both luxury products in China. The local alternatives of course capture the large majority of the market, but jeeree and kunduri serve a niche as high-end, high-status products. Given the absolute size of the Chinese market, even a small percentage of that market is still a very large, profitable trade for the Nuttana. The reverse doesn't hold for tea in Aururia because while there probably is a small elite market for it, too, the population of Aururia is so much lower than China that it makes for a minuscule market.
To give a rough idea of the size of the trade, ATL China's population in this period is probably somewhere in the 110-130 million range. (Chinese population figures for 1710 are a bit rubbery, at least the populstat ones I could access quickly, and ATL are lower because of Aururian plagues but recovered a bit due to Aururian crops). The elite market would be, say, up to 2% of the Chinese population who consumed imported kunduri or jeeree to some degree. That's still 2+ million potential customers, enough for a significant trade in Nuttana terms.
To expand on that a bit, in China in this period in OTL there was widespread, locally-grown tobacco consumption. But there was still an luxury market for premium tobacco products, for which the social elite/wealthy were prepared to pay high prices. Water-pipe tobacco was a different species of tobacco, grown in a restricted area around Fujian, which the elite were prepared to pay more for and which was shipped long distances around China. Similarly, imported high-quality European snuff was valued and paid well for. The catch was that it was the Portuguese who imported that via Macau and Canton, and they never imported very much compared to the size of the potential market. Chinese merchants in Canton were always puzzled by that because they could sell a lot more but the Portuguese didn't bother to supply it.
ATL, that elite niche is supplied by premium kunduri products, sourced mostly from the high-quality versions grown in the Five Rivers, and shipped to China principally by the Nuttana (and to a lesser degree by European trading companies). The Five Rivers produce high-quality products anyway, but they also flavour them with various aromatic compounds which makes their produce even more desirable to those who can afford it. (In China, of course, most cannot afford them).
A similar thing applies ATL for jeeree, which is seen as an elite beverage consumed for its calming influence. (It actually does have a mild sedative effect.) So again there's a proportion of the wealthy who consume it as part of their lives, while the large majority of the population just drink tea.
Kunduri and jeeree are to a lesser degree also luxury products consumed in much of India and SE Asia. Never a large percentage of the local market for total tobacco/kunduri or tea/jeeree, but a significant enough luxury demand to be worth shipping there.
The potential from kratom certainly seems to be meaningful, and the Nuttana would be well-placed to grow it. There is the catch that it is extremely bitter and traditionally consumed with a sweetener. The Nuttana sell sugar too, of course, but it's not cheap. One little amusing prospect is that tropical-adapted wattles (or temperate wattles, depending on location) get cultivated in the target areas and wattle gum extracted to use as a sweetener. That would be much cheaper for potential consumers than expensive sugar.
The confectionery idea is also interesting because the Nuttana are already gradually moving in the direction of preparing processed sugar products: rum, hard candies, etc. Kratom would probably fit in that niche quite well.
For the potential names for it, likewise I have no idea how far back the name kratom goes, and I have no convenient sources to figure out what a Papuan name for it might be. I think I'll just go with the Nuttana developing their own name for it which translates as "bitter jeeree".
There's certainly some level of Chinese settlement in the Nuttana cities, as indeed there was Chinese settlement throughout much of SE Asia. That will have some level of influence, though the exact amount is hard to judge yet. What is intriguing is if the Chinese do something similar to what they did in OTL, and end up settling in the Atherton Tableland. This region (for those who don't already know) is a highland region inland of what is ITTL the Nuttana city-states. OTL, it was settled by Chinese immigrants who had originally come into the region for the Palmer River gold rush, then moved to the Atherton Tableland where they took up crop-raising and later dairying. It would be amusing if they operated similarly ITTL in adapting Chinese crops to the region.
In terms of other Asian influence, there will also be some level of Japanese cultural influence, although again it's hard to judge the exact amount. For instance, a number of Japanese gunsmiths were persuaded to leave Japan and come to the Nuttana city-states to begin their own indigenous gun-manufacturing industry (a one-way trip, since Japanese law at this point states that they will be executed if they return).
For noodles, Aururians actually have already independently invented a form of noodles, much as in OTL they were independently invented in both China and Europe/the Middle East. Aururians make them primarily from wattleseed flour, boiled (sometimes with egg) and dried. I suppose yam starch might have some use for that too. Chinese forms of noodles might expand the Aururian culinary repertoire. Rice is known at this point in the TL, being an occasional luxury import from SE Asia (principally Bangkok), though the main imported foodstuffs are either from the northern Kiyungu or from New Guinea (principally sago pith).
In OTL, it would be more accurate to say that Australia exports goods to China for massive profits, then buys some Chinese goods back. View attachment 344072 (Australia runs a trade surplus with China, one of the few OECD countries to do so.)
More seriously, if some Aururian states resist direct colonisation and if those states aren't ruined by Mongol-level genocide by the Hunter's armies, they have some potential for becoming early global manufacturing hubs. This applies to four suspects, in more or less descending order of likelihood: Tjibarr/the Five Rivers, the Nuttana, Durigal/the Yadji, and the Patjimunra. There are various reasons why each could take up early industrialisation by adopting industrial techniques from elsewhere in the globe (setting aside, for the moment, any possibility of indigenous industrialisation). The Five Rivers have a very strong fine manufacturing tradition and several commodities which would benefit from mechanisation; the Nuttana have a lot of wealth and a chronic labour shortage which means that they would also benefit from mechanisation; the Yadji have a command economy which means that they could easily adopt industrialisation if a ruler likes the idea; and the Patjimunra have a strong mining tradition, sit on a bucketload of coal and are in a location where adopting a steam engine would bring them quick benefits (due to allowing them to pump out frequently-flooded mines and exploit deeper coal deposits), and then expand on that into iron and steel production.
It's too early to say what might happen in more modern times, since that would involve more details of what happens to Aururia and what happens in some key other parts of the world.
Kakadu plum is very high in Vitamin C, although I've also seen the claim that the cultivated ones are lower in Vitamin C for uncertain reasons. This doesn't really have that much additional benefit for treating scurvy, though. It would only help during the brief fruiting season, since as with all such fruit the Vitamin C content is lost when the fruit is dried. The Nuttana already have several fruit species with high Vitamin C content, not as high as Kakadu plums of course (but then what is?), but still high enough to be helpful against scurvy: particularly quandongs (twice the Vitamin C of an orange) and various Citrus species.I think the Nuttana can come across it through exploration and bring it back for cultivation, similar to how they have come across kratom. The vitamin C content would make it very useful for maritime use to prevent scurvy. And it's tasty enough, as you mention, to make for a good fruit crop.
And if this distribution map is correct, it can be found closer to the Nuttana:
E: Of course, the Nuttana need not have to stumble upon it by accident, they'd just have to ask any hunter-gatherers around the area about plants that are good for eating. The Kakadu plum was much prized by aboriginals IOTL for being a very healthy fruit (not only vitamin C but antioxidants). Cultivated, it would make a good addition to the Aururian diet. Though I've seen a few unsubstantiated claims that fruits of cultivated trees have reduced vitamin C content.
More importantly, though, the main way in which the Nuttana deal with scurvy when sailors reach port is not via fruit at all, it's via a cultivated plant, the sweet sarsaparilla (Smilax glyciphylla). They turn the leaves of this plant - which have a high Vitamin C content too - into a tea and drink it to cure scurvy. The advantage of this is that the leaves are available all-year round, and so there's no need to worry about whether fruit is in season.
I'm not sure about the accuracy of that distribution map: multiple sources which I've seen both online and in print refer to Terminalia ferdinandiana being found only between northern WA and eastern NT. They could still find it by exploration and advice from the local people, of course, but it's not going to be the close exploration.
What might be possible, though, is for the Nuttana to adopt the plant originally for medicinal use, and then start cultivating it as a secondary purpose for food. The fruit was deemed medicinal, but the really nice one was using the inner bark of the tree for skin disorders, such as wounds, infections, boils and ringworm. (The bark is known to have antibacterial properties.) If the Nuttana start cultivating the trees for medicine, they're likely to eat the fruit as a bonus, though that may not lead to domestication in the strict sense.
In essence, whether Spain is still in Chiloé is one of those questions which could go either way. I'll need to make a decision about that when I make a broader review of Spain's presence around the globe; something which I will address when writing the lead-up to the Nine Years' War.
The thing is that Australia is full of iron ore. The biggest reserves for modern purposes are in Western Australia (and mostly in the desert), but at the level of iron ore which would be required for preindustrial iron mining, there's plenty over most of Australia. With one significant exception, the major Aururian states can all access convenient iron ore reserves. The somewhat exception is the Yadji, whose core territory does not contain much in the way of iron ore reserves. There is some on the fringes of their territory, though, and it's easily traded with neighbouring regions (NW Tasmania, the Eyre Peninsula, and in peaceful times Tjibarr or Gutjanal).
Oh, for religious purposes at least I'm sure that Plirites and Tjarrlinghi would keep their existing calendar. I'm just more curious as to whether they could retain a separate calendar from the rest of the world for everyday secular purposes. Perhaps, perhaps not, but it's an intriguing possibility.
I would actually expect the Yadji/Durigal to move to standardised military equipment first. They have the sort of semi-command economy which is very well-suited to having that sort of standardisation, especially if they first start by preparing a centralised saltpetre production board, expand that into powder production, then decide that they want to make sure that their powder works gets enough customers, so they start standardising weaponry too.And lastly (man, this post literally took me hours to type
Tjibarr's political system is better-suited to standardisation within factions (or groups of factions) rather than across the nation as a whole, which brings plus and minuses. Lack of complete standardisation, but also some benefits in terms of competing pseudo-corporations improving their products to try to get more customers from the other factions. In the long run, of course, if they see Durigal achieving military benefits from complete standardisation, the factions could still co-operate enough to agree on a common standard. They are capable of such things, though it's not usually their first reaction.
The Nuttana are a bit of an odd instance in that they start out by buying Japanese firearms, which may or may not be standardised already. (I'm not sure about Japanese firearms at this point.) But then they lure Japanese gunsmiths and start making their own muskets according to different requirements, and so even if they were standardised, they aren't any longer. Then at some point they will probably decide to standardise again, but I'm not sure how long that would take.
The Nuttana don't really have much of a standing army, at least not of actual Nuttana. They rely on mercenaries and auxiliaries, initially mostly Kiyungu but later a collection of Maori, Papuans, Solomon Islanders and a few Indians and Europeans. They would have the complication of what kinds of weapons each of those different kinds of mercenaries/auxiliaries prefer, although in the long run they would probably settle on standardisation.
Much depends on the future of the Dominion, of course, but there's certainly some potential inspiration there.
Well, hello, Jared.
Well, you know.....I was just browsing around here when I happened to remember this fascinating TL of yours. I'll definitely consider reading thru it again at some point, as it's one of the most unique and well-written TLs on here.
Well, you know.....I was just browsing around here when I happened to remember this fascinating TL of yours. I'll definitely consider reading thru it again at some point, as it's one of the most unique and well-written TLs on here.
Not wishing to rain on this parade, but it is my understanding that elephants cannot be trained to advance into gunfire.
The elephant will be slowly incorporated into their world-view, where it will become a totem for some people, and thus rules around when it can be hunted, its uses, etc. From the point of view of survival of elephants, they are fortunate that they are spreading right when human populations across the continent are crashing due to diseases, so it's much easier for them to become established and grow in both numbers and area before humans became too much of a threat to them.
The Nuttana, like their Nangu forebears, have no explicit rules forbidding weapons. If you can afford a weapon, then you can carry one. Although this episode was set right when the Pakanga started to arrive at the Nuttana city-states - it was rare for the Pakanga to come that far north, but not unheard of - there were plenty of other dangers which merited weapons: crime within cities, and potentially hostile people (i.e. displaced hunter-gatherers) outside of the cities, and so forth.
Certainly no tactics are guaranteed against war elephants. But they do make them trickier, and given the huge expense of importing, training and feeding war elephants, the existence of such tactics makes the use of war elephants even more of an expensive gamble.
Elephant guns are intriguing, but likewise I have no idea if black powder weapons were strong enough to penetrate armour.
They went feral for a while near Port Augusta, and in at least one other site too, but it's not clear whether they've survived. I've seen mixed reports on that. Clearly if they survived, they didn't thrive and expand very rapidly.
Depends on which school of Plirism you're talking about. Some of them take the view that animals are secondarily harmonious or disharmonious, on the principle that they're influenced by people, and that influence can continue and spread even after the initial human actions have ceased. No school sees animals as primarily responsible, but they can spread the influence. For instance, the spread of rats and mice in Aururia, with subsequent severe consequences, is seen by these schools as a secondary source of disharmony caused by Europeans.
Interesting speculation indeed. I'd already touched on how Aururians use crop rotation over a period of years because they've found it allows for more vigorous crops. This is because of various soil pests (such as nematodes) which build up over a course of years if there's monoculture, and reduce the viability of crops. This would also suggest that Aururian crops do even better elsewhere in the world (Mediterranean, I'm look at you) than I'd considered.
There is an updated sequence coming soon, since I've now changed over to the method of writing a sequence of posts and then posting them in a relatively short timeframe, rather than just sporadic updates as and when I find time to finish a chapter.Well, you know.....I was just browsing around here when I happened to remember this fascinating TL of yours. I'll definitely consider reading thru it again at some point, as it's one of the most unique and well-written TLs on here.
Elephants who are unfamiliar with the sound of guns can be spooked by it, but they can be trained to ignore the sounds of gunfire. For instance, Akbar, the great Mughal emperor, had gunfire done repeatedly around his war elephants so that they were accustomed to the sounds and it didn't faze them. (ITTL, elephants are accustomed to the sounds of gunfire since they are also used for secondary purposes as mobile gun platforms when hunting kangaroos and the like.)
In this case, the gunfire wasn't particularly concentrated - there weren't that many Pakanga - and aimed at the riders more than the elephants, so it wasn't sufficient to spook or halt the elephants.
Had anyone thought of doing a crossover of this TL with DValdron's Green Antarctica?
Likewise, I appreciate the sentiment, but I would prefer it didn't happen. I'd like to retain creative control in the event I ever do try publishing something commercially in the LoRaGverse, and allowing crossovers and other such matters could potentially interfere with that.