Arcél 1300

From Almeopedia

This has been a time of expansion, for empires, kingdoms, and the agricultural and pastoral lifestyles. Agriculture is starting to spread from the Bé to the Linaic people in the west and the Minče to the east, and from the Kleʔmet’ to the Tsihsip river valleys. In the east, the Uyram brought herding techniques into the Smë rift valley and the Nikrit plain beyond; there they spread to the Kemic peoples. A little to the south, the northern Mneseans have also adopted pastoralism.

(The precise boundaries of these techniques, both in space and time, should be taken as approximate. Records are scanty, adoption of new techniques takes time, and land use was mixed and continued to be so for centuries.)

1 The Bé
2 Uytai
3 Krwŋ
4 Itsenic confederacies
5 Characteristic figure

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The Bé

There is now a proliferation of Beic city-states along the lines of Héjùs, which retains its primacy. The cities frequently went to war— more a matter of sudden raids than attempts at conquest.

However, trade was the lifeblood of these cities. Unlike the command economies of the south, they boasted true market economies, the first in Arcél. There was a fierce market for southern goods: cotton and huar fabric, wool, notseh leather, potatoes, pell beer, bronze tools and weapons, pots, cosmetics, jewelry.

The Bé imitated what they could (they soon mastered pottery, but metallurgy was still a mystery), and developed their own expertise in boat-making and woodworking. The coastal cities dried salt in salt flats, and the interior cities were known for creative use of truca rope: bridges, hammocks, baskets, and even boats could be made of truca fiber.

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Uytai

Uytai continued its expansion, occupying the upper Tsyeʔ around 1230— for the first time ruling some Dnetic peoples. (For graphic simplicity, this atlas does not show ethnic diversity within nations. The blue color doesn’t mean that the upper Tsyeʔ is now Uyram in ethnicity, but that its rulers are Uyram.) This must have been something of a cultural shock. The Uyram were prepared to respect the Dnetic ancestors, but there were none— their new subjects worshipped animal and plant spirits instead.

For some time these were dismissed as kwaʔtet ‘foreign gods’; but some were intrigued at the power wielded by Dnetic shamans. They apprenticed themselves to the shamans and soon developed their own relationship with the powers, now renamed purhyet ‘good powers’.

In the southwest, the local Uyram have organized the kingdom of Čwam, hoping to forestall Uytainese conquest.

Siad βo has expanded to fill its watershed, and Uyram settlers have settled the Šrun valley, replacing an iliu enclave. The region was still known as Ťrim (Uyseʔ Themtai), the land of the blue (people).

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Krwŋ

Krwŋ and Uytai fought a series of wars in the 1200s; eventually both emperors reluctantly accepted that the other empire was too large to conquer. In 1272 they declared each other “brothers”— a form of nonagression pact. Krwŋ focussed on extending its authority to the pastoral zone. There were often clan ties, and thus shared ancestors, allowing peaceful accession; only when this didn’t work would the Krwŋese resort to conquest.

The herdsmen proved to be a formidable military resource. Peasants made unsatisfactory conscripts, since their skill set offered nothing conducive to military prowess. The pastoralists were used to protecting their herds against wild animals and each other; every herdsman was already an excellent archer, and used to long marches besides. (This military advantage was less than in Ereláe, however, because of the lack of horses and because the pastoral zone was smaller.)

The first fruits of this greater military power was a victory over the múrtani. They had often interfered with trade with the Bé; a concerted effort decimated their western region. Many múrtani moved to the east instead, though this brought them closer to the elcari.

Krwŋese highlanders had long ago discovered that the leaves of the phret bush, common in the hills, produced a stimulating beverage when steeped in warm sheep’s milk. The custom had spread to the flatlanders, though they preferred to make their tsai (tea) with boiling water. They began to cultivate phret— though it was soon learned that the plant only thrived in the hills.

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Itsenic confederacies

Two rival Itsenic confederacies (nakdegnamkwe) have formed, Nlatak and Itsulwit. Both the confederacies and their component tribes were governed by a tripartite ruler-and-council system. The three divisions were warriors (makwenkwe), shamans (mniʔjinkwe), and women (nsawadgwe); each had a council (dapnenyamnam) which deliberated separately and elected a chief (dačigwin). (This was supposedly the strongest among the warriors, the wisest among the shamans, and the oldest of the women, but there was a tendency to pick from two or three notable lineages.)

The three dačigwinkwe were each paramount in their own sphere, but cooperated closely; the preference was always to form a consensus rather than for leaders to make decisions alone.

Agriculture, child-rearing, and cooking were largely the domain of the women; trade, fishing, and war that of the warriors; religion, medicine, and crafts that of the shamans. Boys past puberty were supervised by their fathers, but organized into age cohorts (gagwidziʔkwe) that lived and worked together. (This was for life; a man visited his wife but continued to live in the house of his age cohort.)

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