SinghSong
Minstrel
The pseudo-Medieval Europe setting's effectively the default staple setting for the majority of fantasy fiction, and many (including several of us on this forum, over the years) have voiced their opinions that it feels increasingly tropey, dull, boring, stale, unoriginal and overdone. But one of the problems is that, quite frankly, they're the only historical pre-industrial civilizations and societies that most fantasy authors have any half-decent knowledge of, (i.e, beyond the knowledge that such-and-such civilization/kingdom/empire existed at all). As such, here's a thread to share info about any cool or interesting, relatively obscure non-European historical societies and civilizations, to help those of us looking for inspiration for some more original, less cliche, but still equally realistic and plausible historical fantasy settings.
So then, to kick things off, allow me to regale you with the true story of the medieval Igbo Kingdom of Nri, which has always struck me as one of the most interesting and promising prospects to use as the basis for a magical fantasy world's setting, due to the unique nature of its government, society and religion. One of the few states to have ever arisen which can be described as a religio-polity, the Kingdom of Nri was ruled by an elected priest-king, comparable to the early Popes, known as the eze Nri, a divine ruler who held ritual and mystic (but not military) power. And the Kingdom of Nri maintained its hold over its settlements, and expanded further into new territories, not through military force, but by employing a class of missionary nobles to obtain them by ritual oath (which would doubtless be a far more practical and workable option in a magical fantasy world, where magically binding oaths actually worked). Unlike the more paganist and animistic religions which are stereotypically deemed to have been universally practised across pre-colonial Africa, the Nri believed in an omnipotent, omniscient supreme deity, whose being encompassed the entirety of creation. They believed that 'The Light', Anyanwu, was the symbol of perfection that all people should aspire to, and that Agbala, the collective spirit of all holy beings (human and non-human alike), transcending religion, culture and gender, was entrusted to lead them there.
And in all of West Africa, it was the only region where slavery was explicitly forbidden; from the rule of the 10th eze Nri onwards, all slaves who set foot on Nri soil were considered free. The Nri had a taboo symbolic code, with the rules regarding these taboos used to educate and govern Nri's subjects. This meant that, while certain Igbo may have lived under different formal administrations, all followers of the Igbo religion had to abide by the rules of the faith and obey its representative on earth, the eze Nri. An important symbol among the Nri religion was the omu, a tender palm frond, used to sacralize and restrain. It was used as protection for traveling delegations or safeguarding certain objects; a person or object carrying an omu twig was considered protected. The influence of these symbols and institutions extended well beyond Nri, and this unique Igbo socio-political system proved capable of controlling a large area. One of the core tenets of the state religion, Odanini, was religious pacifism, rooted in a belief that violence was an abomination which polluted the earth. Instead, the eze Nri could declare a form of excommunication from the odinani Nri against those who violated specific taboos (including slave trading and ownership). Members of the Ikénga, the priests and the nobility of Nri, could isolate entire communities via this form of ritual siege, resulting in their impoverishment and in starvation, given that the nobility also controlled the means for agriculture (in essence, comparable to the imposition of blockades and/or sanctions).
And given that the Kingdom endured for almost a millennia, the policy was clearly used to great success within their own borders, and greatly boosted trade in the region; Nri maintained its vast authority well into the 16th century, with the peace mandated by the Nri religion and enforced by the presence of the mbùríchi nobles allowing free trade, both internal and external, to flourish. In Nri, as in Igbo society in general, there were strong social pressures toward individual distinction, and people could move upward through successive grades by demonstrating their achievements and their generosity. One of the traditional representations of this was the ikenga, that part of oneself enabling personal achievement, with cult figures (revered in a manner akin to saints or minor deities) representing the attributes of distinction, and the relative lack of overall centralization among the Igbo-speaking peoples conducive to the development of a great variety of art styles and cultural practices. Ironworking, in particular, increasingly rose to prominence during the Kingdom of Nri's height of power- with Ogun, the god of iron, becoming an increasingly important deity, especially for the other more militaristic Igbo Kingdoms, credited with introducing iron as well as being the first hunter and warrior, the opener of roads, clearer of fields, and founder of dynasties.
The iron sword of Ogun, a central symbolic motif, is still associated with both civilizing and aggressive actions. And iron had significant ritual status across the entirety of Igboland, in which the forge functioned as both a ritual shrine and sanctuary, and the anvil was often also used for the taking of an oath or as a sacrificial altar. Ironworking demanded great proximity to supernatural powers, thus smiths were both admired and feared. Across West Africa, forges are considered to be female, and the act of smelting iron is equated to the gestation period. Thus the male smith is often considered the “husband of the forge”, and whilst though women are involved in many aspects of the metallurgic process, they almost never work the forge. The Bamana staff, or ceremonial spear, was another good example of the type of object produced by Igbo blacksmiths in the Kingdom of Nri, as early as the 13th century- these were almost always figural, and though they may have possessed sacred names, publicly they were simply called “iron women”, often carried by those who had purchased an important village title, or were of high rank (marking the status of members of the Ikénga, the Nri Priesthood and Nobility).
To this day, they may also be commissioned by members of either the Jo or Gwan initiation associations, to be placed in the ground around altars in the sacred groves or in shrine houses; and farther afield, in regions culturally influenced by their legacy, similar staffs are still presented to young men at the conclusion of their initiations and as part of circumcision rituals. As spears were the primary weapons used for both war and hunting before the introduction of guns, they continue to be considered an important symbol of manhood. Staffs often receive offerings of millet, water, or beer, which are poured over the works during ceremonies. This can lead to the heavy rusting found on even relatively recent examples. The highly specialized skills of ironworkers were so prized that such artisans were often itinerant and moved where they were needed, or even traveled with armies into battle, often as members of larger, organized 'blacksmith's guilds' (the perfect real-world historical analogue to the 'adventurers'/magicians' guilds' imagined in many fantasy settings). This traffic expanded the social contact that occurred between Nigeria’s major kingdoms, and therefore fostered the rapid exchange of knowledge and spiritual beliefs.
However, the Kingdom of Nri fell into decline and its eventual demise because, in the end, it proved too idealistic to cope with the pressures and demands of the outside world. Ultimately, it had no way to protect the freedom of its people, either from infringing slave states or from the British slave traders when they came to claim their share of the Atlantic Slave Trade; in the end, when faced with profiteering adversaries over whom their faith had no influence whatsoever (with no actual magical power to back it up), their strict adherence to their no-violence policy inevitably led to their downfall. Though, even in our timeline, this wasn't set in stone; at a relatively early stage, the Kingdom of Nri could hypothetically have well abandoned its policy of religious pacifism for a more militaristic 'crusader' mentality; the eze Nri's role would have borne an even greater resemblance to that of OTL's Roman Catholic Popes during the same time period as a result, and their nobility, spreading the word to neighbouring communities where they still practise Nri taboos such as slavery, would have taken on more of a 'Holy Order' vibe, provided with weaponry to counter raids in more lawless regions and authorised to use force to defend their assigned areas.
In later generations, when other surrounding states begin encroaching on its domain, one could easily imagine this theocratic militarization developing still further, with the Kingdom of Nri raising standing armies from the wider populace to combat them, pushing them back out of its Holy Lands and eventually conquering them one-by-one. And if you think about it, in a magical fantasy setting, wouldn't the existence of magic, and/or the existence of actual deities, make it a lot more plausible for any kingdom and/or empire to impose its power and expand its territories by employing a system akin to that of the Nri, stymieing slavery by imposing religious taboos against it, and maintaining the economic incentive for abolition as opposed to slavery, courtesy of the fact that a society without slavery is always going to be far more efficient when it comes to free trade and consumerism? Food for thought...
So then, to kick things off, allow me to regale you with the true story of the medieval Igbo Kingdom of Nri, which has always struck me as one of the most interesting and promising prospects to use as the basis for a magical fantasy world's setting, due to the unique nature of its government, society and religion. One of the few states to have ever arisen which can be described as a religio-polity, the Kingdom of Nri was ruled by an elected priest-king, comparable to the early Popes, known as the eze Nri, a divine ruler who held ritual and mystic (but not military) power. And the Kingdom of Nri maintained its hold over its settlements, and expanded further into new territories, not through military force, but by employing a class of missionary nobles to obtain them by ritual oath (which would doubtless be a far more practical and workable option in a magical fantasy world, where magically binding oaths actually worked). Unlike the more paganist and animistic religions which are stereotypically deemed to have been universally practised across pre-colonial Africa, the Nri believed in an omnipotent, omniscient supreme deity, whose being encompassed the entirety of creation. They believed that 'The Light', Anyanwu, was the symbol of perfection that all people should aspire to, and that Agbala, the collective spirit of all holy beings (human and non-human alike), transcending religion, culture and gender, was entrusted to lead them there.
And in all of West Africa, it was the only region where slavery was explicitly forbidden; from the rule of the 10th eze Nri onwards, all slaves who set foot on Nri soil were considered free. The Nri had a taboo symbolic code, with the rules regarding these taboos used to educate and govern Nri's subjects. This meant that, while certain Igbo may have lived under different formal administrations, all followers of the Igbo religion had to abide by the rules of the faith and obey its representative on earth, the eze Nri. An important symbol among the Nri religion was the omu, a tender palm frond, used to sacralize and restrain. It was used as protection for traveling delegations or safeguarding certain objects; a person or object carrying an omu twig was considered protected. The influence of these symbols and institutions extended well beyond Nri, and this unique Igbo socio-political system proved capable of controlling a large area. One of the core tenets of the state religion, Odanini, was religious pacifism, rooted in a belief that violence was an abomination which polluted the earth. Instead, the eze Nri could declare a form of excommunication from the odinani Nri against those who violated specific taboos (including slave trading and ownership). Members of the Ikénga, the priests and the nobility of Nri, could isolate entire communities via this form of ritual siege, resulting in their impoverishment and in starvation, given that the nobility also controlled the means for agriculture (in essence, comparable to the imposition of blockades and/or sanctions).
And given that the Kingdom endured for almost a millennia, the policy was clearly used to great success within their own borders, and greatly boosted trade in the region; Nri maintained its vast authority well into the 16th century, with the peace mandated by the Nri religion and enforced by the presence of the mbùríchi nobles allowing free trade, both internal and external, to flourish. In Nri, as in Igbo society in general, there were strong social pressures toward individual distinction, and people could move upward through successive grades by demonstrating their achievements and their generosity. One of the traditional representations of this was the ikenga, that part of oneself enabling personal achievement, with cult figures (revered in a manner akin to saints or minor deities) representing the attributes of distinction, and the relative lack of overall centralization among the Igbo-speaking peoples conducive to the development of a great variety of art styles and cultural practices. Ironworking, in particular, increasingly rose to prominence during the Kingdom of Nri's height of power- with Ogun, the god of iron, becoming an increasingly important deity, especially for the other more militaristic Igbo Kingdoms, credited with introducing iron as well as being the first hunter and warrior, the opener of roads, clearer of fields, and founder of dynasties.
The iron sword of Ogun, a central symbolic motif, is still associated with both civilizing and aggressive actions. And iron had significant ritual status across the entirety of Igboland, in which the forge functioned as both a ritual shrine and sanctuary, and the anvil was often also used for the taking of an oath or as a sacrificial altar. Ironworking demanded great proximity to supernatural powers, thus smiths were both admired and feared. Across West Africa, forges are considered to be female, and the act of smelting iron is equated to the gestation period. Thus the male smith is often considered the “husband of the forge”, and whilst though women are involved in many aspects of the metallurgic process, they almost never work the forge. The Bamana staff, or ceremonial spear, was another good example of the type of object produced by Igbo blacksmiths in the Kingdom of Nri, as early as the 13th century- these were almost always figural, and though they may have possessed sacred names, publicly they were simply called “iron women”, often carried by those who had purchased an important village title, or were of high rank (marking the status of members of the Ikénga, the Nri Priesthood and Nobility).
To this day, they may also be commissioned by members of either the Jo or Gwan initiation associations, to be placed in the ground around altars in the sacred groves or in shrine houses; and farther afield, in regions culturally influenced by their legacy, similar staffs are still presented to young men at the conclusion of their initiations and as part of circumcision rituals. As spears were the primary weapons used for both war and hunting before the introduction of guns, they continue to be considered an important symbol of manhood. Staffs often receive offerings of millet, water, or beer, which are poured over the works during ceremonies. This can lead to the heavy rusting found on even relatively recent examples. The highly specialized skills of ironworkers were so prized that such artisans were often itinerant and moved where they were needed, or even traveled with armies into battle, often as members of larger, organized 'blacksmith's guilds' (the perfect real-world historical analogue to the 'adventurers'/magicians' guilds' imagined in many fantasy settings). This traffic expanded the social contact that occurred between Nigeria’s major kingdoms, and therefore fostered the rapid exchange of knowledge and spiritual beliefs.
However, the Kingdom of Nri fell into decline and its eventual demise because, in the end, it proved too idealistic to cope with the pressures and demands of the outside world. Ultimately, it had no way to protect the freedom of its people, either from infringing slave states or from the British slave traders when they came to claim their share of the Atlantic Slave Trade; in the end, when faced with profiteering adversaries over whom their faith had no influence whatsoever (with no actual magical power to back it up), their strict adherence to their no-violence policy inevitably led to their downfall. Though, even in our timeline, this wasn't set in stone; at a relatively early stage, the Kingdom of Nri could hypothetically have well abandoned its policy of religious pacifism for a more militaristic 'crusader' mentality; the eze Nri's role would have borne an even greater resemblance to that of OTL's Roman Catholic Popes during the same time period as a result, and their nobility, spreading the word to neighbouring communities where they still practise Nri taboos such as slavery, would have taken on more of a 'Holy Order' vibe, provided with weaponry to counter raids in more lawless regions and authorised to use force to defend their assigned areas.
In later generations, when other surrounding states begin encroaching on its domain, one could easily imagine this theocratic militarization developing still further, with the Kingdom of Nri raising standing armies from the wider populace to combat them, pushing them back out of its Holy Lands and eventually conquering them one-by-one. And if you think about it, in a magical fantasy setting, wouldn't the existence of magic, and/or the existence of actual deities, make it a lot more plausible for any kingdom and/or empire to impose its power and expand its territories by employing a system akin to that of the Nri, stymieing slavery by imposing religious taboos against it, and maintaining the economic incentive for abolition as opposed to slavery, courtesy of the fact that a society without slavery is always going to be far more efficient when it comes to free trade and consumerism? Food for thought...
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Myth Weaver
Dreamer
Auror
