Arcél 782

From Almeopedia

The precision of the date does not mean that the map would look much different for 780 or 800; rather, it celebrates the fact that, for the first time, events could be recorded with precision at all— in this case, the accession of the pauram Syunseʔ of Tsopwan.

It was Syunseʔ’s grandfather Purkrau who succeeded in uniting the lower Ħomtso and Hurtso around 750, creating the first kingdom-level state, and renaming himself Paukhel, ‘ruler of everything’. Though he could be as brutal as Purtyai, he also learned from Purtyai’s mistakes: His brutality was selective, reserved not for his conquered enemies, but for rebels. The subject lords were confirmed in their properties, but their heirs were taken to Tsopwan to be raised, serving as hostages for the good behavior of their parents while being indoctrinated into the cult of the pauram. Similarly, the ancestors themselves— that is, the uywar made of their bones, or remade from stone in their image— were relocated to Tsopwan.

Paukhel’s son Pausol rebuilt Tsopwan, creating palaces and temples worthy of an empire, incorporating the tribute required of every city in the realm. This project required new methods of administration and accounting. Tribute was sent with manifests— incised clay tablets that indicated quantities and goods, and then identifiers giving dates and the heraldic marks of the sending or approving parties. The king had to approve the succession of any lord, and this was done with similar tablets, or with stone carvings for suitably memorous occasions, such as the accession of Pausol’s son Syunseʔ.

Astronomers had long been counting days, and then years, though the systems differed by city. Paukhel imposed the Tsopwanese system throughout his realm. As it happens the year 1 of this system is Z.E. 577. This commemorates no event except the beginning of a particular registry of eclipses and other notable celestial happenings.

The first Dnetic state, Tnełun, appeared on the upper Nyoi by about 700. Not much later, we hear of Dneht on the upper Itseʔ, signifying that agricultural techniques had crossed the mountains; we know little about it, but it gave its name to the Dnetic people.

In the north, almost the entire Beic area had adopted garden agriculture. This led, albeit slowly, to a crisis: the large game animals were almost gone. (They survived to the east and west, but these were Linaminče hunting grounds, hotly defended.) And hunting was the major activity and source of prestige for men.

They eventually began to help out with ‘female’ tasks— fishing, farming, child-rearing— but apparently under female supervision. Worship shifted at about this time from mostly male to mostly female gods, a sign that women had gained the upper hand in society.

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