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<h3>-1150 — First states in Eretald</h3>
<h4>Civilization in Eretald</h4>
Civilization has broken out among the <b>Monkhayic</b> peoples of Eretald, where the kingdoms of <b><a href="Javascript:parent.al('Me%C5%A5aiu');">Meťaiu</a></b> and <b>Como</b> have appeared along the upper Svetla.
<p>We know little of this civilization, as it was never literate, and its traditions were largely lost in the subsequent Eastern invasions. According to the Caďinorians, the first king of Meťaiu was Dobauron (a word which however is Caďinor in form, and seems to relate to no modern-day Monkhayic language). His capital seems to have been the modern Aránicer; we do not know what he called it. It has been speculated that the southern Caďinorians, the Araniceri, adopted the Meťaiun gods, though renaming them in their own language, in which case the Caďinorian “First Pantheon” is an echo of Meťaiun religion.
<p>(The <b>Meťaiun</b> discussed in <a href="Javascript:parent.updir('kebreni.htm');">the Kebreni grammar</a> is the reconstructed ancestor of only the northern Monkhayic languages— since our information on the southern languages is so spotty. In it, the two kingdoms are named <i>Meťaiγo</i> and <i>Komuγ;</i> the <b>γ</b> was evidently lost in the south. The meaning of the first is obscure, except for the vowel-harmonizing honorific <i>me-</i> found in many other toponyms, such as <i>Monkhayu</i>, <i>Menla</i>, and <i>Mišicama</i>; <i>Komuγ </i>means ‘god-place’, suggesting a Meťaiun origin for the Caďinorian belief that Lake Como was the dwelling of the gods.)
<p><h4>Munkhâsh</h4>
The people of Látwenam learned agriculture from their neighbors. From the <b>Munkhâshi</b> perspective this was theft: the Latwenese could hardly be allowed to benefit from ktuvok technology without accepting their rule. They were conquered in the 1200s, and their land renamed <i>Mrátnonam</i> ‘land of thieves’.
<p>In the 1100s Munkhâsh absorbed the region to the south, <b>Tyellakh</b>. To the west, it has halted at the Dagêsh range; to the east it has run into resistance from the Qaraus, who were nomadic but fiercely monotheistic. The ktuvoks have already perfected their statecraft: each successive people conquered is reconciled to their subjugation by helping to conquer the next. The established peoples of Munkhâsh feel not enslaved, but proud and powerful. Naturally, the system required constant expansion for everyone to benefit.
<p>The ktuvoks made sure that their realm was efficiently run. Other peoples never complained that the the Munkhâshi were impoverished; they objected to their imperialism, to the ktuvoks’ disdain for and repression of human families, and to their rites of human sacrifice. The victims for the last were generally war captives or criminals, although the son or daughter of a local notable was sometimes sacrificed— out of fear, said outsiders; but there is no evidence that these sacrifices were unwilling; they seemed to be exceptional and brought great honor.
<p><h4>In the south</h4>
Along the upper Xengi a third Wede:i kingdom has emerged, <b><a href="Javascript:parent.al('Sai%C5%9Bi');">Saiśi</a></b>. Its system of government has been remembered to this day: every two years a new king was elected, and given absolute power; at the end of his period of rule he was ceremonially killed. The reason for this arrangement was variously said to be to satisfy the jealousy of the gods, or to keep tyrannical and ambitious men out of power.
<p>The Lenani-Littoral seem to have been the first to domesticate <b>rye</b>, which is native to Pronel, and is hardy enough to grow even in the coldest reaches of the Littoral.
<p>Rye cultivation spread to the <b><a href="Javascript:parent.al('Mei');">Mei</a></b> in the Šinour valley; they claim to be the first to have brewed rye beer. It spread to the Wede:i regions as well (under the name <i>tuka</i>), but chiefly for beer, as it was considered bitter. Perhaps because of this, combined with the climatic transition from taiga to Magellanic forest, Wede:i agriculture never spread much further south into the Mnau peninsula than the Jakaye. The people to the south, the <b>De:iju</b>, were relatives of the Wede:i, but remained culturally distinct, few in number, and technologically backward.
<p>On each map we see a bit more Mei settlement of the southern <b>islands</b>. This is quite an achievement for hunter/gatherers paddling small boats in the cold, stormy southern ocean. But once in a generation or so, conditions are favorable and long passages are made.
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