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Help with filling out: Proto-Uea

Scalvi

Scribe
I wanted to do a bit of a Q&A to help flesh out my world but I didn't think it should go in the Character Q&A forum.

It's basically a big continent, massive really, with the systematic use of shamanistic therianthropy that divides populations along the lines of species a group can transform in to. Like a bunch of Viking/Hun man-bears or a race of buzzard-people.

The main characters are quintuplets from the man-bear tribe, which I'm currently calling the "Madyabjor", who find out they are the start of a new clan.

Ask away!
 

TheokinsJ

Troubadour
Well, I suppose the first question I ever ask is; who are the people/creatures that inhabit this world? Do they closely resemble any historical cultures/societies? (you mentioned a similarity with the vikings/huns). What is the world like- mountainous, cold, arid? I feel like I need a setting of the scene before I can ask more in depth questions.
 

Scalvi

Scribe
Well, the land is an entire (rather large continent) so it spans from glacial in the north to taigas and tundra in the center-west and center-east,respectively, to alpine forests in the south. So the temperature is appropriately cold.
Like I said, there are groups that defined by what animal they can transform in to. The world is rather interconnected by a courier network of those buzzard/hawk-people and a group of nomadic, mountain-deer people..
 

evanator66

Minstrel
Are there any racial tensions between these groups? Have they been at war together? Is there any sort of overarching government?
 

Nimue

Auror
Ooh, this sounds like a rather fun concept! I'd go a little broader than Evanator and ask how these groups of therianthropes see each other? Are there alliances between predators, and between herbivores? Are all of the transformations useful? Like...is there a people that turns into sheep :) How deeply do the peoples identify with their animal counterparts? Do those that migrate, migrate? Do the bearfolk hibernate?
 
OK here goes:

1) How has the world changed over the past few thousand years? Has there been climatic change, species extinctions/expansions etc.

2) Have there been previous civilisations and how are the current peoples influenced by these?

3) What sort of economy do they have - hunter gatherer, animal husbandry, agricultural - do they use bone, stone or metal tools?

4) Are they oral societies or do they have writing - this has big impacts for communication.

5) What is their perception of the divine - do they think about the earth, ancestors, the stars/heavens, spirits etc.

Feel free to answer any of the above or just say 'pass' :)
 

Scalvi

Scribe
Sorry, life took precedence but I'm on break and looking to write.

1. Over about 3000 years, three clans of died out: the Elks and Great Eagles near the beginning and the Foxes near the death of the continent. The Madyabjor/Bears were essentially hired by the Ravens to kill the Great Eagles which were the apex predators and had a rather sophisticated society.


2. There were no previous civilizations on Proto-Uea.


3. After the death of the Great Eagles, the economy stagnated. Eyrie coins have been depreciated but are still
accepted by some groups in the continental barter economy. Metal tools are more common in the south were the climate is warmer. Up north, tools carved from the bones of the bottom-feeding kish.


4. The Ravens' messenger service has propagated a written system and common language devised by the Ravens but, besides the Bobcats who are very reclusive, no one has an writing. The Elks use runes/ hieroglyphs and the Bears use a bastardized version of Eagle script.

5. Ancestor veneration is the most common, though some shamanism is gaining popularity in the center.
 

Scalvi

Scribe
There aren't groups as docile as sheep. I imagine they were consumed before recorded history. The animal forms very much inform their cultures. The Bears are raiders that stockpile for the harsh winters where they just stay in their lands and, yeah, sleep.

Information flow is controlled by the Ravens, so everyone is still against each other. Especially predators who try to kill each other as a status symbol.
 

Swordfry

Troubadour
1. What exactly is the purpose of this shape shifting that everyone can do? Is it only used for things like war and hunting? Or is it more functional in living in certain regions or for cultural purposes?

2. Can everyone shape shift? Is it a natural ability?

3. Is there any intermingling between these groups? This sounds like a cool concept, but I really think dividing the people up into such stark groups is a little cliché. Sort of like how all benders of a certain element live in this area only in "Avatar: The Last Airbender."
 

Scalvi

Scribe
Well, I'll start with 2 since it informs all the other answers.

2. Everyone can shapeshift on P-Uea.
Usually at about 3 or 4, your first transformation kicks in although the age can vary in either direction. Every transformation is...unpleasant if not explicitly "painful" but the first time is dreadful. Toddlers that go through the first Shedding ("shed the human skin") too early have died in the past. It common enough that it doesn't shock anyone but not enough to pose a threat to any generations. However, it's seen as a mark of pride for you and your family if you Shed early and survive.

The reason as to why clans can Shed is a subject of religious debate among some clans but, on the whole, most people don't worry about.

1. As a natural phenomenon, it doesn't have a prescribed purpose. Clans use it for whatever they want to. The Bears use it to raid and murder. Some Rams near the southern coast just use it to make their nomadic lives easier.

3. Not really. Oh, there are stories about clan Hare so-and-so running off to be with some Lynx but I'm taking the whole "what?! cats and dogs lying together?!" angle. These clans are very much in touch with their animal sides.
 
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