The Flightless Empire

[mightfly]

Can an empire rise out of Australia if the Murri, Wiradjuri or another aboriginal people had managed to tame the Emu to use as a pack animal in a similar manner to the llama? Lets say they start using the animal around 1000 CE.

Would Europeans still have an easy conquest or does the developed australian civilization/s reach out first to discover the broader world? What technologies might the aboriginies develop to assist in using the birds and would this lead to other domesticates?

The Emu is a large flightless bird similar to the ostritch but native to australia. While having been hunted by humans its was not domesticated till recent attempts showed it had a rather mild temperment and made a good domesticate. It's possible the Emus mild temperment may show a past attempt at domestication or self domestication.

The soft-feathered bird reaches up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) in height. They have long thin necks and legs. Emus can travel great distances at a fast, economical trot and, can sprint at 70 km/h (43 mph) for some distance at a time. They are opportunistically nomadic and may travel long distances to find food; they feed on a variety of plants and insects, but have been known to go for weeks without food. Emus ingest stones, glass shards and bits of metal to grind food in the digestive system. They drink infrequently. Emus are also able to swim. The birds are known to follow and watch other animals and humans. Emus do not sleep continuously at night but in several short stints sitting down.

Emus use their strongly clawed feet as a defence mechanism. Their legs are among the strongest of any animal, allowing them to rip metal wire fences. They are endowed with good eyesight and hearing, which allows them to detect predators in the vicinity. They can tolerate a wide range of temperatures.

Please understand i am new here and this will be my first thread attempt.

 

[Kaiphranos]

Ah! As you are new here, allow me to introduce you to Lands of Red and Gold, one of the forum's "great works," which features a native Australian civilization, including domesticated emus...

 

[mightfly]

Don't make more Emo Emus!

While Jared's land of red and gold is a fine piece and much of it can be used as an answer to my post, it is not quite what i had in mind.

One point was Jared's need to create the Red Yam to be the staple crop of the new civilization which i felt required an ASB influence to suddenly appear. Another was his lack of uses for the great birds of the continent as little more than food. Next i don't need a butterfly net as i thrive on chaos. So if the europeans arrived to a chinese speaking islamic aborigine civilization with guns i don't mind it as long as the events that lead up to such a civilization follows logic and connects to the OTL.

I don't really want to stray too far from reality of the OTL if possible, but if the butterflies float that way from just having a single domesticate semi beast of burden then so be it.

remember in this emu domestication precedes any crop. My question is with emu domestication would australia have enough on its own to make use of the pack emu to develop civilization?

 

[PariahNihil]

remember in this emu domestication precedes any crop. My question is with emu domestication would australia have enough on its own to make use of the pack emu to develop civilization?

It would probably be just a very small, tribal centered thing passed down through generations. Every tribe in Australia?

Maybe over centuries. But emus don't equate to horses. Aboriginies riding emus battling in the desert won't happen.

 

[Petike]

I can't see emus pulling carts or being used as cavalry animals. At all. Ratites are not suited to either of those tasks.

 

[mightfly]

Don't make more Emo Emus!

I can't see emus pulling carts or being used as cavalry animals. At all. Ratites are not suited to either of those tasks.

Well the idea was they would be used more like how Andean cultures used llamas having satchels of goods to trade drapped on their backs pulled by leashes rather than pulling carts which the aboriginies will likely take time to develop anyway. This extra carrying capacity would allow for trading more goods with peoples further away especially if they carry more food and water to cross the deserts. Granting them range and spreading what ever useful plants and technologies individual peoples have.

For war, even being able to carry a few extra weapons/supplies to the battlefield is an improvement of logistics. I'd rather have three spears than one. two to throw one to fight with.

 

[DValdron]

Good gosh. Personally, I'd have reservations about doing a timeline following in the footsteps of a Masterpiece Timeline. Really, its a screw, no matter how good you are, its just about impossible to get out of the shadow, or to escape comparisons. The Land of Red and Gold is just epic. 115 pages, over two thousand posts, something like a million words, an incredibly deeply researched piece of work spanning everything from plant biology, to tropical diseases, culture, language, wow. Even with years of hard work, it would be tricky....

But on to the topic. First, let me refer you to

"Animal Traction: Guidelines for Utilization"

http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNAAM876.pdf

No Emu's in it I'm afraid. No rattites at all, as a matter of fact, despite the missed potential of the Ostrich as a beast of burden in South Africa. Nevertheless, we can reasonably extrapolate from the various analysis of mammals that the sustainable carrying capacity of a pack animal ranges between 25 and 5% of its body weight. There are a couple of extreme outliers, Dogs and Reindeer who seem to go up as high as 40%. But most pack animals go between 10 and 15%

This should give you some idea of the load bearing abilities of an average Emu. Emu weights range between 40 and 130 lbs, and average 70 to 80 lbs. Assume breeding for bulk, you might get the average up to 100.

So let's assume a load bearing animal, what's the capacity of the average weight range: 70 to 100 lbs, at the most likely ranges:

At 10% - 7 to 10 lbs.
At 15% - 10.5 to 15 lbs.

At unlikely ranges, which would probably be pretty hard to achieve, but are within the established range of animal pack carrying:

At 20% - 14 to 20 lbs
At 25% - 17.5 to 25 lbs

Absolutely impossible, because unlike dog or reindeer, Emu are two legged and thus only able to distribute their weight to two points, or one point:

At 40% - 28 to 40 lbs.

Frankly, I think your most likely pack handling is about 10 pounds on average per animal. 15 pounds tops.

This is a fraction of what dogs can manage at 25 to 40%, and the Australians do have dogs (the problem is feeding them).

Alternately, its also a fraction of what humans can carry about 25% of their body weight sustainably - and humans are roughly twice the size of Emu, at 140 to 160 lbs. So a human carrier would be good for 35 to 40 lbs. Or roughly, worth 4 emu.

And of course, in this context, Emu are going to be wrangly sum bitches. They're going to be tricky to manage, there's going to be four or more of them getting all pissy and not wanting to carry packs, you're going to be continually fiddling with all the straps and harnesses.

If I was an Emu wrangler, eventually, I'd just get fed up, chop em all up with an ax and carry the damned pack myself.

But let's just say that the Aborigines got in the habit of domesticating Emu, like other people domesticated sheep or goats or pigs. What are the chances of that.

Well, good luck catching the bastards. They can hit 30 miles an hour, a 10 foot stride when motoring, and they've got good eyesight. And they can disembowel with a kick. All downsides.

On the other hand, they're pretty hardy birds, and can stand up to a pretty variable environment. So they'd probably be pretty tolerant of human handling or mishandling. Not something you can say about every critter. There's a reason, for instance, that there's no such thing as Giraffe Cavalry - Giraffe die if you look at them funny - they're 'delicate.' Emu have a pretty varied diet, are flexible eaters, and do well with periods of not eating and not drinking.

They're socially flexible, usually wandering in pairs or small groups, but sometimes forming flocks. That's good. On the other hand, not a lot of flock hierarchy, and that's bad, cause humans usually domesticate by inserting themselves at the top of critter social hierarchies. So in this case, instead of becoming the Top Emu Rules Other Emu, humans would be The Big Asshole Emu That Other Emu Want to Avoid.

The other route to domestication is replacing the parent, and becoming the 'mom' or 'dad' to the animals. We do this with cats. And anyone who has seen geese imprint on a human can be struck by it.

Emu reach sexual maturity in their second year, so they're fast breeders. They lay on average 11 eggs a session, although females may lay two or three clutches if circumstances require. Breeding season is two months. The eggs take about two months to hatch. That's not bad at all, in terms of potential domesticability.

Chicks are reared by their fathers. They can reach full size in 5 to 6 months, but they can remain in their father's care and protection and tutelage for up to 7 months, and with their family group for another 6 months, or 13 months in all. This seems like a fair shot to organize flocks.

Ten to twenty grown offspring a year from a single breeding pair makes for a very good return on investment. I assume that infant/juvenile mortality to predators is very high. If humans intervene, then more survive, and there's more harvest potential.

I could see nomadic aborigines learning to herd the animals, and travelling with herds, while living on a diet of meat and eggs.

Assuming herding becomes well established, could you start getting the critters to carry packs? Sure, given enough time.

Could this get you to a civilization?

Nope. You could multiply your aboriginal population, possibly severalfold. But it couldn't get you the population density, nor the stability of location, that you'd need to get a population going.

No matter how efficient or productive animals are, its still second generation eating. If you have an economy whose staple is eating plants directly, it will always support a much larger population than one which is eating the animals that eat the plants.

At best, your herding economy population is going to be between a fifth and a third of the agricultural economy population. Possibly a tenth.

Also, to feed a significant population of animals like that, you got to keep moving them around to new feeding areas, and guarding them from predators, and keeping them from running away, or fighting.

So its a catch 22, herding gives you population densities that come within a stone's throw of agriculture (no pun intended), but also requires a lifestyle that seems to prohibit the establishment of agriculture.

I dunno, as a suggestion, if you look at Jared's work, his civilizations are only in the south. There's lots of room for herding cultures due north of them. Possibly the equivalent of Emu-Mongols.

 

[mightfly]

Good gosh. Personally, I'd have reservations about doing a timeline following in the footsteps of a Masterpiece Timeline. Really, its a screw, no matter how good you are, its just about impossible to get out of the shadow, or to escape comparisons.

I hope i can acheive this.


This should give you some idea of the load bearing abilities of an average Emu. Emu weights range between 40 and 130 lbs, and average 70 to 80 lbs. Assume breeding for bulk, you might get the average up to 100.
Frankly, I think your most likely pack handling is about 10 pounds on average per animal. 15 pounds tops.
This is a fraction of what dogs can manage at 25 to 40%, and the Australians do have dogs (the problem is feeding them).

The average weight of an australian dingoe is 13 to 20 kg (29 to 44 lb); however, there are a few records of outsized dingoes weighing up to 27 to 35 kg (60 to 77 lb). Dogs used for packs are usally larger than sled or hitched dogs at a minimum weight of 35 kg.


Alternately, its also a fraction of what humans can carry about 25% of their body weight sustainably - and humans are roughly twice the size of Emu, at 140 to 160 lbs. So a human carrier would be good for 35 to 40 lbs. Or roughly, worth 4 emu.

Humans come with their own issues like wanting fare treatment and to be paid for their labour. If you use slaves you have to worry about feeding, clothing and the possibility of rebellious actions worse the any emu can do.

And of course, in this context, Emu are going to be wrangly sum bitches.
If I was an Emu wrangler, eventually, I'd just get fed up, chop em all up with an ax and carry the damned pack myself.

If an emu is particularly onery the now well fed dingoe can take its place.

But let's just say that the Aborigines got in the habit of domesticating Emu, like other people domesticated sheep or goats or pigs. What are the chances of that.

I alway found it strange they did not in the OTL but maybe this was a possible future development on the way before european contact.

Well, good luck catching the bastards. They can hit 30 miles an hour, a 10 foot stride when motoring, and they've got good eyesight. And they can disembowel with a kick. All downsides.

Thats not much more trouble than horses who's kicks can kill and run away a top speeds. Good eyesight might make them good alerting animals as they may detect a danger you haven't whether its predators or an enemy. Their kicks will also make them less suseptible to predators.

On the other hand, they're pretty hardy birds, and can stand up to a pretty variable environment. So they'd probably be pretty tolerant of human handling or mishandling. Not something you can say about every critter. There's a reason, for instance, that there's no such thing as Giraffe Cavalry - Giraffe die if you look at them funny - they're 'delicate.' Emu have a pretty varied diet, are flexible eaters, and do well with periods of not eating and not drinking.

Meaning they'll be useful for crossing the desert and other difficult regions.

Emu reach sexual maturity in their second year, so they're fast breeders. They lay on average 11 eggs a session, although females may lay two or three clutches if circumstances require. Breeding season is two months. The eggs take about two months to hatch. That's not bad at all, in terms of potential domesticability.

Humans have domesticated them today and this only moves that farther into the past and gives them an extra niche to fill.


I could see nomadic aborigines learning to herd the animals, and travelling with herds, while living on a diet of meat and eggs.
Assuming herding becomes well established, could you start getting the critters to carry packs? Sure, given enough time.

I started them at 1000ce but if they need more time i'll edit it to 500 bce.
Could this get you to a civilization?

Nope. You could multiply your aboriginal population, possibly severalfold. But it couldn't get you the population density, nor the stability of location, that you'd need to get a population going.
No matter how efficient or productive animals are, its still second generation eating. If you have an economy whose staple is eating plants directly, it will always support a much larger population than one which is eating the animals that eat the plants.
At best, your herding economy population is going to be between a fifth and a third of the agricultural economy population. Possibly a tenth.

At first, but remember there were some potential plant domesticates in australia like the macademian nut or the bush raisin and technologies by isolated peoples (such as Djab wurungi eel farming) that will likely be traded and spread through the emu trails. More peoples may meet and trade ideas. Useful plants will likely reach regions where they can be developed possibly into a crop.


I dunno, as a suggestion, if you look at Jared's work, his civilizations are only in the south. There's lots of room for herding cultures due north of them. Possibly the equivalent of Emu-Mongols.

I would love the northern emu herders planning to bring wrath down on the southern yam people who do not thank the great bird for its bounty.

 

[mightfly]

at this rate of writing we'll catch up to jared's million words in no time

 

[mightfly]

Carriers of Mans Dreams

500 BCE Near Wallumatta

Merrandaroo an elderly man of the Eora people had fallen into a dreamtime "or had he" was his thoughts. He had drifted off into a daze earlier a wondered the land walking where the dreams took him. But, he found he could not remember the dream only the furry soft feeling of the Emu chick in his hands.

After returning to his people who (after having been attacked by an unidentifiable people) stood at less than 40 members Merrandaroo was told how others had watched him standing in a daze and walk away.

Merrandaroo thought "could the dreams be coming to me more as they do all to who live long enough" and then looked inquisitively at the chick he was still holding before his young grand daughter ran up. Merrandaroo spoke to her saying to "keep the chick healthy as we shall see what spirit it holds".

 

[mightfly]

The Meal

October 16, 500 BCE

Merrandaroo is being given more and more dreamtime. Tells of his awakening in strange places guided by the dreams was prevalent amongst his people and even neighboring peoples knew of him for they had seen him wondering.

He was now a well known man. He thought now about his grand daughter and how she had bonded with the emu chick from his first dream. He had thought the dream had brought him a meal for her but as she took to the bird like a mother, then he thought they should wait and when the bird is big it will make a better meal for all.

The grand daughter herriwollu fed the bird just about anything nuts, shrubs, fish innards, even pebbles! It was not long later when the bird manage to escape. Henoogoranda her mother caught it and tied a rope to keep it from getting away again. The Herriwollu used the rope as a leash at all times as the bird grew bigger.

Many months had passed and now the emu was big and not alone as Herriwollu wanted more Merrandaroo asked hunters who killed emu to bring back chicks. They now had one grown emu and six chicks and that was one big bird too many. The time had come for the bird of his dreams to feed his people.

Merrandaroo took the wildly bird's leash from Herriwollu who cried but knew this was coming. He thought about his finding the bird in his hands for the first time and took a good look at the bird while surrounded by the people waiting for him to strike so they could start the process of turning the bird into tools, food, and other useful necessities.

Then with a strike from a sharp axe the bird went down. A few weeks later Merrandaroo was sharpening his new bone knife and looked over to his grand daughter and the five chicks she had with her and thought to himself "that first emu dream was good we'll now have many knives when we need them".

 

[mightfly]

Eggs! Eggs!

September 29, 199 BCE

Young Ommeeyrrii descendant of the Gorualgal was waiting for her father to return from the meeting festival. Her father Duragonoo was meeting the Turu-wal from which he was to get her some of the emu chicks they raised.

Emus were now being caught and raised in the villages of many peoples who first learned it from dream wander spirit man. Once the emu got big enough it was cooked for a great meal. Children especially girls found it fun to raise the chicks themselves as mothers to prepare them for their future role.

Ommeyrri thought "why do i have to wait when we could have caught our own".
But her father had promised her one from the neighboring people who gave them to others as gifts during meetings rather than waste hunting time to collect chicks himself.

When Duragonoo arrived he held three leashes to three large birds. Omeeyrri was shocked as she wanted a cute little one she could raise like other girls. These were surely the next meal in the days to come. Yet Duragonoo preceded to walk to Omeeyrri and hand her the leashes while smiling said "see i got you three!", "The women of the Tulu-wal became too many to eat and they grew old and the male had started getting thinner so the men gave them to us".

October 26, 199 BCE
For the next few weeks that passed Omeeyrri made due with the birds she got fully expecting there to be a sudden meeting by the women to decide how to cook them. But the fishers had a great catch all that time and many nuts were found so the meal kept being put off. Then, surely enough a group of older women came for the birds finally but just when she thought she was through with the birds she saw a make shift nest being guarded by the leashed male filled with 11 eggs.

"Eggs! Eggs! there are eggs!" she said happily as the women came to look upon the batch of eggs they noticed the male watching carefully and decided to wait to recover them.

When the news hit the ears of Duragonoo he thinks about how much he likes emu eggs. That day Duragonoo distracted the emus while Ommeyrri collected the eggs and as she did she decided to leave three so she could finally get her emu chick.

 

[mightfly]

The Lost Ones

January 10, 23 BCE

Bakana was a young hunter and lookout watching to ensure enemies didn't disturb the Murri hunting territory. He was tall about 6 ft and had decent eyesight as he looked over each hill. Then he spotted two figures coming towards him. At first he thought they were another peoples hunters and grabbed his spear as he was preparing to callout to his own. But then he noticed their fluffy outlines and colors were that of kalaya(i.e. emus). He gave himself a quick chuckle then turned.

Next when he turned their way he realized they were so close to him and still coming. Then he realized his eyes had been fooled those were not emus but a woman and child covered in an kalaya feathered dressing. Shocked Bakana grabbed his spear and pointed it at them yelling "stop". Only then the woman spoke back saying "i am lost" "i am not an enemy" "my name is allama".

Surprised the woman knew his tongue he asked "why she came?" "go back".

To which, she replied "i cannot, as i have lost my people after we were driven north by the Narrungderra who stayed south".

Bakana was skeptical but inquired from what people she came? She told him her people were living on the coast by the sea and fished. But, some moved inland with the kalaya herds and walked about with them. This way they met many peoples and she had met "Wachas"(referring to what she heard neighboring peoples call the Murri) before. She learned much while walking and traded the emu meat, feathers, bones, eggs and other things to various tribes.

Bakana wondered about the kalaya herds. then notice the child carried kalaya eggs with her. He asked "are those your meal"?

The child responded "no, not till they are old birds and have fed many with their eggs"

So he told her to come with him to his people.

He called out and after a time several men and their dingoes guided them to the village while carrying two small kangaroos.

 

[mightfly]

A Strange World for Disturbing Thoughts.

september 19, 2002 CE

Laoodta Morbu stood in front of his classroom at Edinburgh University. A short man at only 5ft 3'' but that was fine. Dark skinned with a mid length black hair he wore eo cloth on his forehead like many, as it was a very stylish crimson red and emu beak pointing up to yellow stars, the symbol of a teacher from the Eomueen people (pronounced eh-OMee na)of Australia.

He was thinking how easily it was to become the new Australian History instructor for the entrance level students. He preferred this position to working at the Hollandbrooke University back in Katherine. He still hated his new place as he could bring along none of his pets and his wife Laura constantly complained. Yet today he would forget all that and focus on the lesson. He was over joyed when he received called back by the history department at Edinburgh and offered the chance to teach about the "Flightless Empire" a name jokingly given to the Emu taming peoples who spread across Australia only 2000 years ago. Perhaps the name suited the peoples who developed the technique of raising the flightless birds, only to abandon almost entirely the practice once easier beast of burden were introduced. Then he thought again about how Australia might have turned out if no one had thought of the practice. Since there was almost no other domesticates on the continent the peoples of Australia would never have had a significant population center. Also certainly not a enough people to endure the introduced diseases of the British or dutch colonist. Especially since the M. integrifolia macadamia nut might not have been so heavily traded along the Emu trails by the northern Eora people who learned to cultivate it in the area of the Brisbane River. If that had occurred none of the greater cultures would have arisen. He then thought the continent might have been worse off then even the Americas. The Peoples of Australia would likely have endured a fate similar to the Taino of the Caribbean or more likely the Polynesian islands cultures.



What a disturbing sad world that would have been.

 

[mightfly]

The History

June 4, 2004
Edinburgh University

Lecturer Mordu: "How shall I revise the beginners course this year?"

Dr. Bingham: "Well start out like usual," "the new books on recent discoveries by Coutts will only include the new material after the first section"

Mordu: "I see that it should work out then"

Bingham: "I got to go to a meeting now, Bye"

Mordu: "GoodBye"

As Laoodta sat he began to think about how excited he was when he first came to Edinburgh to teach. But, now that he is more established he feels the pressure to move the new materials he could not easily cover when he first started his course. Now he was prepared he would be lecturing more thoroughly.

The Eomueen was one of the most westernized of Australia's peoples but there was a reason for that they were one of the oldest known groups of the emu tamers. Having been decended from a multiethnic pool of tribes of Australia they more easily accepted the European new comers than the bush tribes. The emu herding peoples were at first nomads who traveled in small family groups with each family having at least two birds with them or a male and its clutches brood. They traveled hundred of miles with the birds to whole new regions at times bringing them into contact with many other peoples leading to exchanges of genetics, conflict, and trade.

The Aviari cultures was a more collective term for the the flightless empire peoples. They were at their peak at the time of contact and one can only guess how their culture's would have developed in time as they lack any significant analog. Being the only people to rely almost entirely on an avian domesticate. The Aviari seems to have started in the eastern coast of New South Wales around approx~200 BC, but quickly moved inland and some how reached Queensland as the New South Wales culture died out. Some speculate there was conflict with neighboring Eora peoples as they took up the practice of following the emu. Others think the people moved up the coast to establish the northern Eora people. But, while the northern Eora based in Brisbane did trade with the emu peoples they were not part of them and were eventually absorbed like many other marginalized bush tribes adding to the Eomueen diversity. The Northern Eora had managed to cultivate the smooth shelled macademia around 350 AD, while many other peoples found only marginal use of the macademia they came into possession of [FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]Integrifolias[/FONT] more heavily through trading. Continuously replenishing their supply till they saw success in its cultivation in areas that had been cleared of other trees. They were not trying to cultivate it but after a long period of trading the nuts the plant moved further north into areas the peoples had cleared of competing trees. But this achievement would spell their doom. When the rival Eomueen peoples farther inland began farming the D. [FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]Integrifolias[/FONT] macadamia their population bloomed to over take many neighboring peoples. The Eomueen peoples were the result of of the emu taming cultures migrating inland. Many peoples came in contact along the travel routes which lead them to integrate many from others peoples.

They inland cultures used the emus for meat, eggs, clothing, bones for tools, and carrying small bundles and sacks. The Emu made for a very limited pack animal as while it traveled in flocks at times this was only in the same direction of a food supply. Emu herding was most likely similar to ancient humans following caribou migrations. The but some peoples tied up the bird to prevent it from leaving. Amongst the Gunit people in Queensland there is a common story of the Emu tying itself and presenting itself to a woman. Drawings of this were found on pots and emu egg shell bowls of many Eomueen peoples. The Eomueen Have the Emu most helpful in cultivating the Macadamia as it often notice the first signs of rains and carried the seeds in pouches on the draped over their backs from which seeds would fall. This spread the Domesticated macadamia to many open ranges which the Eomueen peoples ultimately settled.



Although there are a few herding practitioners left today they are mostly holdouts and traditionalist. But there are many Aussy who farm emus on a somewhat commercial scale. Most have taken up to farming western livestock.

 

[mightfly]

wow its not easy keeping up with so many updates.

 

[DValdron]

wow its not easy keeping up with so many updates.

Tell me about it. A lot of time, the sheer amount of work that these things take is daunting.

 

[Hrvatskiwi]

Can an empire rise out of Australia if the maori, Wiradjuri or another aboriginal people had managed to tame the Emu to use as a pack animal in a similar manner to the llama?

You know the Maori are from New Zealand, not Australia... right?

 

[mightfly]

You know the Maori are from New Zealand, not Australia... right? Yesterday 08:16 PM

You know the Maori are from New Zealand, not Australia... right?

Thamk you for catching that mistake. As I said this was my first thread attempt. I started it with only an small amount of initial knowledge of the Aboriginal peoples.

The artcles I had read at the time didn't distinguish the original distribution of the Maori people from their current position as part of the Australian community.

Sorry I should have caught this myself with all the research I have been doing but that research has been on a whole range of topics from the domesticatibilty of ratites, to learning about terrain, weather, sea currents, Australian flora and other fuana, cultures, art, and writing about them.

Its all a bit much but it has been edited now.

 

[mightfly]

A New Order

June 29, 393 CE


Moroee was a wise young man but he had no birds with his family.

He along with some other young men had often went to protect the trees that were their peoples main trading and food source. As the flockers passed through they dropped seeds in the trails they made and trees would grow and over time these trees would grow old and large. The herders would take many trails as they were nomads and would take many years to cross the same regions giving the trees time to grow large for generations. The older trees gave the best nuts. Which were easier to open and eat.


Moroee was from one of the other peoples who had not taken up flocking, but had taken to picking from the old nut trees which grew in large orchards created along the former paths stamped down by the bird flockers. They lived by one of the paths with the oldest trees and would pick them all to trade with the nearby peoples who did not live by orchards.

Moroee's people were numerous thanks to the food they gathered and hunted. But they could not feed so many were it not for the trees. When the flocks passed through they gained great amounts of meat and goods from trading their stocks. They had time to do many things they could not do when before they started harvesting. But now conflicts arose with their neighbors who wanted their stocks or their location. In the past they had been attacked and driven off when others would come to control their village. Forcing them to move and find new orchards. But now Moroee's people are many and no people who does not control an orchard would have the numbers to attack them. Moroee helped to build the mud wall that protects the outskirts. He and other men patrol the orchard to see if theives have come.


With the outsiders taking from the orchards and attacking, Moroee's village needed more men to fight the raids. They have many bone knives and weapons which they made from the bones of the flocks they traded for. Some have even taken up flocking but keep the birds tied and in roped off areas to keep them from running off. Moroees people keep growing and it will not be long till they need more orchards to feed their burgeoning numbers. Something he considers with his first child on the way.