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Living with Megafauna, Pt. II

TheKillerBs

Maester
They'll need to figure out crop rotation or their farmlands will lose nutrients quickly, since they won't have yearly/seasonal flooding to replenish the soil.
 

Drakevarg

Troubadour
They'll need to figure out crop rotation or their farmlands will lose nutrients quickly, since they won't have yearly/seasonal flooding to replenish the soil.

Well, crop rotation has been around for thousands of years, so evidently it's not that hard to figure out. Plus humanity's pre-history... history (long story, not relevant, but they were basically bred as cattle-slaves by an empire that got wiped out and left them scattered around the world with no masters) would probably supply them with a rough understanding of the concept, even if they didn't necessarily have any context for the "why' of it.
 

staiger95

Scribe
All good considerations above, but also sounds like you need to get a good handle on how this world came into being. The assumption of travelling caravans assumes that civilizations exist in multiple locations and people need protection while travelling. One one presume these pockets of civilization are likewise heavily fortified. But unlike our human perception of fortification, which was designed to protect against other humans, it would seem that protection against these megafauna was paramount, and defenses right down to indivudual weaponry would be unique to that purpose. Warfare between societies in such a dangerous might be very infrequent. Remember that human civilization did not materialize as we understand it until after we became the apex predetors of our environment. However, if something reversed that progression and we slipped from number one, then naturally all efforts would be made to fight our way back.

Also, you mentioned god-level mega-beings that might protect forests and such. Any kind of magic or spiritualism on that scale must be factored into the equations. Sacrifices and supplications to higher powers for protection while travelling should therefor be added to the list above. Perhaps the human civilizations also have their own protectors as well. Just thoughts.
 

Drakevarg

Troubadour
All good considerations above, but also sounds like you need to get a good handle on how this world came into being. The assumption of travelling caravans assumes that civilizations exist in multiple locations and people need protection while travelling. One one presume these pockets of civilization are likewise heavily fortified. But unlike our human perception of fortification, which was designed to protect against other humans, it would seem that protection against these megafauna was paramount, and defenses right down to indivudual weaponry would be unique to that purpose. Warfare between societies in such a dangerous might be very infrequent. Remember that human civilization did not materialize as we understand it until after we became the apex predetors of our environment. However, if something reversed that progression and we slipped from number one, then naturally all efforts would be made to fight our way back.

As mentioned in the previous post, humans were cattle-slaves of a global empire that got very abruptly wiped out. This left human populations scattered all over the world (leading to a rather eclectic distribution of ethnic groups with no consideration to environment). Very little of the empire itself remains and it was eventually all but forgotten about. So that part, at least, helps explain why humans are found all over and might have need to travel.

Now, the matter of warfare and indeed personal defense is another matter entirely. The most I have in it at the moment is that the earliest days of human civilization was mostly just concerned with survival, and that warfare didn't really crop up until humans began competing for space. Of course, when that space is also being occupied by elephant-sized bears or city-sized wasp hives (the hives being city-sized, not the wasps), that dynamic changes a bit. That part I'm still figuring out. In a way, it's the point of this thread.

Also, you mentioned god-level mega-beings that might protect forests and such. Any kind of magic or spiritualism on that scale must be factored into the equations. Sacrifices and supplications to higher powers for protection while travelling should therefor be added to the list above. Perhaps the human civilizations also have their own protectors as well. Just thoughts.

I haven't worked too extensively in the area of religion just yet, mostly that it varies significantly from place to place but all more or less have their roots in animism (being that the existence of nature spirits is demonstrably true).
 

Drakevarg

Troubadour
Beginning to think that the most sensible strategy for developing civilizations would be a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mentality. Humans might near-invariably join up with other animals for protection, in relationships that might range from simple domestication to a more dynamic symbiosis (similar to pilot fish, or perhaps ravens to wolves).

I've been looking at this mostly as what would it take for humans to carve out a space of their own, but it might come down to not bothering to do so. Maybe the only safe place from a hungry T-Rex is on the back of another T-Rex.
 
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