REALLY missing JSTOR access....

[tantric]

Doing research without journal access is a nightmare. Most people have no idea how much information is availabe in scholarly journal (check Google Scholar). Are y'all familiar with Aaron Swartz's story, the guy the feds literally hounded to suicide because he tried to download a part of JSTOR, which he was legally allowed to do and even after JSTOR refused to press charges?

I have two collections of papers for previous projects, one about Bantu africa and the other about precolumbian South America. The amount of info in those two folders DWARFS what you can find elsewhere on the internet. My Ubantu project (rpg setting based on Bantu africa) would have been utterly impossible without JSTOR access. Does anyone else feel this loss?

 

[Gurkhal]

I'm with you 100% even if I've never heard about this Aaron guy, very sad story however.

Anyway Ubantu and South American interested caught my eye. What system are you Ubantu setting supposed to run on?

 

[tantric]

The core of my project is the idea of using RPGs to preserve vanishing cultures and mythologies. For this, I've created a world called Refugium, where cultures which on Earth got steamrolled by colonialism get a second chance on a world where magic works (and by some great coincidence, all these lands reach the Age of Sail at about the same time). The first part of this is Ubantu, a world based on Bantu mythology that repudiates the Dark Continent trope by presenting a version of sub-Saharan Africa that is on the verge of its own sui generis Renaissance.Unlike other African settings, it is centered around one group of cultures and follows them faithfully - there is nothing of Egypt or West Africa here. Ubantu is a magnificent, powerful civilization on par with Renaissance Europe.The PDF is here. Note that you have to download it for the ToC links to work. The map is here. I've also got a bit of work on an Afro-Caribbean/South American continent, if anyone cares to see it.

I conceived it in GURPS, wrote it as systemless then almost sold it to HERO via Indie Press Revolution, which still claims they will go with it at some point. Steven Long of HERO actually read over the manuscript and liked it, saying 'at least this guy can write' and then he and my prospective publisher told me I hand to change the name - Ubantu is too close to Ubuntu, even if Ubantu is protobantu reconstruction for Land of the People. I may call it Wajabu, from Nchi wa Ajabu, land of wonder (lit. Wonderland). Anyway...

intro to next project:

Welcome to Paría and Nèf Guinée

Paría is a fantastic setting with two themes: pre-Columbian South America and Afro-Caribbean cultures, In our world, many native South American cultures are extinct or seriously threatened, in Paría some of them have become world powers. Likewise with the Caribbean states - rather than Haiti being a failed state, the descendants of the rebellion control an empire where slavery is verboten, Voudu is a world religion and magic is technology.

The land is an equatorial continent like South American minus the horn, with a large chain of islands to the north-east that resemble the Caribbean Islands, called the Ouakaéra Islands. This area was occupied by cultures very similar to those found in the pre-Columbian Americas, from the 'Incas' to the Taíno on the islands. On our Earth on the island of Hispaniola, in August of 1792, Dutty Boukman, an escaped slave, enacted an incredibly powerful ritual, meaning to free his people from the French forever - and did he succeed. His last name was based on his possession of several grimoires, including the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, a secret grimoire of Kabalistic rituals. Using his powers as a Voudu priest, he and Cécile Fatiman reworked the ritual Moses used to part the Red Sea. The entire island of Hispaniola was copied to Refugium. The storm his ritual created left a wandering dimension gateway that meandered through the regions for decades, picking up people, ships and whole towns and moving them to Refugium. Now, 200 years later, almost all of the islands are in the hands of Africans or Europeans, as is parts of the eastern coast of Paría.

The cultures of Paría are mainly based on the Inca/Quechua, the Muísca, the Machupe, the Arawak, the Tupi-Guarini, the Taíno and the Kalina. South America of our world has dozens more cultures, but in Paría the empowerment of some groups, mostly due to magic, has lead to a decline in cultural diversity. Because magic works here, the civilizations of the mainland are were advanced in 1792 than in our world. In the Tawatinsuyu Empire (aka Incan), have a fully recorded language, though using knotted strings rather than paper, and have begun using llama-drawn carts on their elaborate road system. The other major civilization, that of the Muísca, has recently invented a very strong version of bronze, The Machupe, to the south, have brought back horses from a perilous island to the south of Paría, and have begun taming them.

The last two centuries have been a time of great change in Paría. Smallpox and other European diseases wiped out the population of the Ouakaéra Islands and some of the coast before self-propagating magical cures could be found. Of the islands, only Nèf Guinée (formerly Hispaniola) came through reasonably intact, including a few ships and shipsyards, leading them to become the dominant power in the Bague Sea, making the Empire of Nèf Guinée a reality which control over Nobo Knen, Ile Mawon, Mbazakibala and Yurumaï, along with numerous smaller islands. Puerto Refugio, a primarily European island, resists them, first with canons and now with the help of Novo Lusitânia, as does Jaguacayno, a magically powerful Taíno island.

The Tawatinsuyu Empire is the largest and most powerful polity on Paría. The long planning Incas have used magical food preservation to end the cycles of famine keyed to ENSO-like climatic patterns, then gone beyond that to create a working socialist state. It's been a century since the Tawatinsuyu tried to expand militarily, after being beated by the horse-mounted Machupe in the south and the bronze-equipped Muísca in the north, but as soon as these two innovations have been assimilated, it's a sure beat the armies will march again.

 

[Gurkhal]

Couldn't download the PDF due to problems on my own computer But I'd say that it looks very interesting from the quote part. Its nice to see another author daring to steer away from Medieval Europe!

 

[Cambra]

I really do like this idea, I think in is both original and challenging... It reminds me somewhat of the world state of the Kushiel books, but I have a few quibbles...

Would a Vodun practitioner use middle eastern magic texts? I mean Vodun is animistic in nature and the lore is mostly transmitted verbally, Moseic/Kabbalistic magic is monotheistic and patriarchal and mostly dependent on text... Syncretism is possible but I think you should aim to respect the underlying traditions.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I still have journal access even years later, but what you're looking for is in two parts. The first is not the journals themselves but rather the index. Google scholar can do a reasonable job of replacing this allowing you to search a wide range of journals for various articles.

The second part is to access the journals themselves. This is not as difficult as it might seem, depending on the journal. But a lot of them are on line and allow free access to articles older than a certain age.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[tantric]

I really do like this idea, I think in is both original and challenging... It reminds me somewhat of the world state of the Kushiel books, but I have a few quibbles...

Would a Vodun practitioner use middle eastern magic texts? I mean Vodun is animistic in nature and the lore is mostly transmitted verbally, Moseic/Kabbalistic magic is monotheistic and patriarchal and mostly dependent on text... Syncretism is possible but I think you should aim to respect the underlying traditions.

Are you asking about the sixth and seventh books of moses? They were present. I have tons of this, and i'll never use it - it was for a sequel to Ubantu, which is also unpublished.

This is from my notes:

Legliz Sèvis nan Nèf Guinée (AKA Vodou)

1492 Columbus lands near Cap-Haïtien
1503 First Africans brought to Hispaniola
1592 Last cacique, Queen Anacaona is executed
1665 Port-de-Prince founded
1751 Slave rebellions, led by François Mackandal
1791 Dutty Boukman begins the revolution
1791-1793 Years of Terib Tanpèt, the hurricane summoned by Boukman, population of Hispaniola is copied to world of Refugium
1794-1797 Most French forces are defeated, there has been no contact with Europe for years, Revolutionary army led by Toussain Louverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe
1798 Repiblik Nèf Guinée is declared, based on the principles of the French Revolution, Capitan Datiguenave completes his survey of the islands
1799 Pax Guinée allows all Europeans safe passages to the enclave of Santo Domingo, granted to them indefinitely, Toussaint dies of pneumonia. Missions searching for Europe return, no trace is found, reports of contact with Africa (actually Ubantu)
1800 First constitutions guarantees freedom of religion, all citizens are officially Black, Whites are forbidden from owning property, Dessalines becomes Emperor Jacques I, repudiating the republican ideas, proclaiming the Anpi nan Nèf Guinée
1801- Néf Guinée becomes a maritime power, trading rum and iron with the other islands
1831 Reign of Emperor Jacques II
1849 Emperor Faustin I is crowned, he allows the integration of the Santo Domingo and Nèf Guinée Catholic Churches, Jacques Langlois is the first Arch-Bishop of Nèf Guinée and the highest Catholic authority in Paría. The Church begins building schools
1851 The island is divided into five kingdoms, based on the Taino kingdoms, Jaragua, Marién, Maguana, Maguá and Higüey, parcelled out among the Emperor's relatives, but they have no real power.
1852 Official organization of Legliz Sèvis nan Nèf Guinée, the Vodou Church, with Pierre Nakomun as the Gwo Ougan.

Cosmology

The High God, otiose and distant, is Bondié. He interacts with the world via various spirits, known as Lwa, which are organized into Nanchons. There are three primary nanchons in Sèvis, Rada, Petwa and Guédé. The Rada Lwa are the kind spirits of the homeland, the Petwo are the fierce spirits of the age of slavery and the Guédé are the Lwa of the Dead and the spirits of the Ancestors. Officially, the Catholics saints are the Katolik Lwa. Beneath the Lwa are the Mystères, minor helper spirits, and the Bakas, malevolent spirits of the wild.

Souls are called 'anj 'or angel. Ti-bon-anj or ka is the part of the psyche that does self-evaluation and ethical moral conduct. This part of the soul can become a baka after death if not cared for (given Guédé rites). Gwo-bon-anj or ba is the human intelligence and recollection, the soul that ascends

Rada Lwa

Legba - Papa Legba stands between humans and the Lwa, gives permission to speak to the spirits. He appears as an old man with a cane, a broad straw hat and a pipe. Dogs are sacred to him.
Loko - patron of healers and plants. Husband of Ayizan, he is the First Oungan.
Ayizan - Lwa of commerce and the marketplace, First Mambo, Palm Fronds are sacred, no alcohol.
Anaisa Pye - patron of love and money, female, very jealous, works with Belie Belcan.
Damballa - primordial creator of life, sky god, snakes, symbols are white cloth, owls, bones, cotton and chameleons (presumably anoles)
Ayida-Weddo - lwa of fertility, rainbows, water, fire and wind, wife of Damballa
Erzuli Fréda - Lwa of love, beauty, dancing, flowers, femininity and compassion. Associated with male homosexuals. Three husbands - Damballa, Agwe and Ogoun
Agwé - Lwa of the sea and sailors, his family includes Met Agwe, Lwa of Direction, Agwe Arroyo, captain of the Immamou, ship that carries the dead to the afterlife, Papa Agwe the Gentleman Sailor
Ogou - Iron and war
La Sirène - Lwa of the calm seas, also known as Mami Wata

Petwo Rada

Kafou Legba - trickster, crossroads, destiny
Ezili Danto or Je-Rouge - woman of rage, protective mother
Ogou Ferary - Military might
Baron la Koa, Baron Same.di, Baron La Croix,
Simbi - keeper of springs and ponds.
Dan Petwo - head of the Petwo Nanchon, leader of revolutions

Guédé Lwa

Papa Ghede - corpse of the first man who ever died, waits at crossroads to take souls to the afterlife, protects children
Brave Ghede - guardian and watchman of the graveyard
Ghede Bábáco - Papa Ghede's brother, lesser psychopomp
Ghede Nibo - first to die from violence, can give voice to lost ghosts
Baron Kriminel - first killer, avenger of murdered
Maman Brigitte - Wife of Samedi
Baron Samedi - ruler of graveyard
Baron La Croix - guardian of the gravestone
Baron Cimetière - Guardian of the grave

Mami Wata, La Sirène, River Mama, Maman de lEau, Yemanya - has her own cult, with similar images and rites throughout the islands

Temples

Sèvis temples are called Ounfour. Oungan is the word for 'priest', Mambo is a priestess. In each temple, there is a Oungan Asogwe, the high priest, and several Oungan Surpwen, which are dedicated to specific Lwa. Members of the temples are called 'Sèvités', servants. Each temple, or figi in urban areas, has a choir, ousi, led by ousi hungenikon.

Ounfour are triangular buildings (from a three sided house to a pyramid) set in a circular yard. Each face, or figi, is dedicated to one of the Twa Nanchons. Each has an altar or pe, which is square shaped holds ritual objects sacred to members of the temple but always contains a snake symbol. Within the figi are kay miste, chambers to specific Lwa.

A service begins with a series of prayers in Guinéyen that goes through the Twa Nanchons and the primary Lwa, called Priyè Gine. Next is the litany for a particular Nanchon are more detailed, with praise songs for each of the Lwa. During this time the Lwa may possess one of the priests and speak through him.

Magic

Ounfour can perform magic in two ways, ceremonial magic using grouped energy to perform a set ritual, or by summoning a Lwa and petitioning it for favors.