Gurkhal
Auror
Ok, so after a lot of brainstorming and some research I've come to do a first draft for the details of the world which I first started in this thread, for those who remember or are interested.
http://mythicscribes.com/forums/world-building/6021-inquiry-about-some-names-kingdoms.html
The Riverlands
The center of this world, of rather the part of it that the stories will be centered around, is the territory which fits around the Great River and which is called the Riverlands (I know GRRM uses it so its probably going to be a place-holder). It has its springs in the Dawn Mountains in the east and runs down into the lowlands before it finally enters the Great Forests far to the south. Since the river is the primary source of water in the area and with very little rain its mostly desert and steep away from the river and its tributaries.
At its widest part the river is about 30m meters across while at the narrower parts down south its only about 10m across. (not sure about the seize here)
The land itself is in the sub-tropical zone and as such has a great diversity of animal and wildlife, although to some degree this has been reduced due to the human domination of the fertile river valleys, and the river itself also teems with life of all kind. From fish to the greater reptiles and other beasts.
But thanks to extensive and sophisticated use of channels a larger amount of land can be cultivated than one would expect and thus support a large population of specialists in the urban centers.
Humans
The human presence in the area can be roughly divided into four races or cultures; the Suyarim, the Zajamites, the Nagarai and the Mountain Men. The dominant political unite in the area is the city-state and the "normal" social unite is the household and the lineage, which both counts as very important, often more important as actual merit, to determine a person's place in society or at least in the higher echelons of society. Many lineages for example claim special relations with supernatural powers or great heroes in their history and its is thought that these traits are inherited in their blood.
The Suyarim are a race of people of black hair and swarthy skin who were the first ones to erect great cities along the river and have developed a rich urban culture dominated by the duo of the Palace and the Temple, which works in together to form the state. Its a strictly patriarchal class society but where the lawmen, officials and priests are the highest and not the warriors, although these are given due respect as well, while the slaves are the bottom. They Suyarim are very arrogant towards other peoples and considers themselves superior in every way to all other three races. They inhabit the cities of Ishron, Xocatl, Kemor , Charruka, Seratti and Zitzaya, each of whom has its own patron deity although the patron deities from destroyed or lost cities can often be found as hostages or guests within the temples of the city's own patron deity.
The Zajamites have migrated to the Riverlands from the southern forests and are a people of black skin and hair who have emigrated north along the Great River and formed their own two states of Anshanka and Mijawa. The invading Zajamites have adopted parts of the Suyarim culture to form their own blend of which is unique both from the Suyraim and the tribes further down south. The dominant social feature of the Zajamite society is a caste system, which is also patriarchal in nature with the pure blooded Zajamites in the top and the the non-Zajamites in the bottom, while the people of mixed descent are in between. The great ideal among the Zajamites is the warrior and the warrior-nobility rules society with a brutal fist, and the religion is marked by the great abundance of hero-cults and warrior gods, the greatest of which is the Lord of War who is given different worship in the two cities but functions as the patron god of the pure blooded Zajamite and the state in both.
The Nagarai are very similar to the Suyarim in appeance although these lives since time immemorial in the desert around the rivers. In later generations Nagarai tribes have however conquered and formed their own city-state in Tenoktha which is ruled through a tribal confederacy with a council of elders as the highest governing body. Unlike the Zajamites who have to a large degree distanced themselves from the southern forest tribes, the Nagarai maintains strong links to the nomadic desert tribes from which they are descended and often call upon these for aid in times of trouble. The basis of the Nagarai society is the tribe, both actual members and associated people. The nomadic Nagarai lives as a combination of raiders on the settled lands and guards for caravans between the deserts. Just like the Zajamites the Nagarai is very much a warrior society.
Mountain Men, really a diverse groupings of different nations and groups inhabiting the Dawn Mountains, these tends to be raiders who raid each other, the lowlands and the caravans braving the passes across the Dawn Mountains for the lucrative trade between the Riverlands and the lands to the east.
http://mythicscribes.com/forums/world-building/6021-inquiry-about-some-names-kingdoms.html
The Riverlands
The center of this world, of rather the part of it that the stories will be centered around, is the territory which fits around the Great River and which is called the Riverlands (I know GRRM uses it so its probably going to be a place-holder). It has its springs in the Dawn Mountains in the east and runs down into the lowlands before it finally enters the Great Forests far to the south. Since the river is the primary source of water in the area and with very little rain its mostly desert and steep away from the river and its tributaries.
At its widest part the river is about 30m meters across while at the narrower parts down south its only about 10m across. (not sure about the seize here)
The land itself is in the sub-tropical zone and as such has a great diversity of animal and wildlife, although to some degree this has been reduced due to the human domination of the fertile river valleys, and the river itself also teems with life of all kind. From fish to the greater reptiles and other beasts.
But thanks to extensive and sophisticated use of channels a larger amount of land can be cultivated than one would expect and thus support a large population of specialists in the urban centers.
Humans
The human presence in the area can be roughly divided into four races or cultures; the Suyarim, the Zajamites, the Nagarai and the Mountain Men. The dominant political unite in the area is the city-state and the "normal" social unite is the household and the lineage, which both counts as very important, often more important as actual merit, to determine a person's place in society or at least in the higher echelons of society. Many lineages for example claim special relations with supernatural powers or great heroes in their history and its is thought that these traits are inherited in their blood.
The Suyarim are a race of people of black hair and swarthy skin who were the first ones to erect great cities along the river and have developed a rich urban culture dominated by the duo of the Palace and the Temple, which works in together to form the state. Its a strictly patriarchal class society but where the lawmen, officials and priests are the highest and not the warriors, although these are given due respect as well, while the slaves are the bottom. They Suyarim are very arrogant towards other peoples and considers themselves superior in every way to all other three races. They inhabit the cities of Ishron, Xocatl, Kemor , Charruka, Seratti and Zitzaya, each of whom has its own patron deity although the patron deities from destroyed or lost cities can often be found as hostages or guests within the temples of the city's own patron deity.
The Zajamites have migrated to the Riverlands from the southern forests and are a people of black skin and hair who have emigrated north along the Great River and formed their own two states of Anshanka and Mijawa. The invading Zajamites have adopted parts of the Suyarim culture to form their own blend of which is unique both from the Suyraim and the tribes further down south. The dominant social feature of the Zajamite society is a caste system, which is also patriarchal in nature with the pure blooded Zajamites in the top and the the non-Zajamites in the bottom, while the people of mixed descent are in between. The great ideal among the Zajamites is the warrior and the warrior-nobility rules society with a brutal fist, and the religion is marked by the great abundance of hero-cults and warrior gods, the greatest of which is the Lord of War who is given different worship in the two cities but functions as the patron god of the pure blooded Zajamite and the state in both.
The Nagarai are very similar to the Suyarim in appeance although these lives since time immemorial in the desert around the rivers. In later generations Nagarai tribes have however conquered and formed their own city-state in Tenoktha which is ruled through a tribal confederacy with a council of elders as the highest governing body. Unlike the Zajamites who have to a large degree distanced themselves from the southern forest tribes, the Nagarai maintains strong links to the nomadic desert tribes from which they are descended and often call upon these for aid in times of trouble. The basis of the Nagarai society is the tribe, both actual members and associated people. The nomadic Nagarai lives as a combination of raiders on the settled lands and guards for caravans between the deserts. Just like the Zajamites the Nagarai is very much a warrior society.
Mountain Men, really a diverse groupings of different nations and groups inhabiting the Dawn Mountains, these tends to be raiders who raid each other, the lowlands and the caravans braving the passes across the Dawn Mountains for the lucrative trade between the Riverlands and the lands to the east.
Troubadour
