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--- tirades:2019-06-20 [2020/06/20 17:47] – shyriath
+++ tirades:2019-06-20 [2024/01/25 09:43] (current) – ↷ Links adapted because of a move operation shyriath
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-Continuing the [[avishraa:community:poradrin:|Poradrin]] stuff is taking a while, so I thought I'd detour into a completely unrelated subject, because sure, why not!
+Continuing the [[geopolitical:poradrin:|Poradrin]] stuff is taking a while, so I thought I'd detour into a completely unrelated subject, because sure, why not!
-One of the less stable pieces of lore related to the [[xtauh:|xtauh]] and the [[takma:|takmar]] is that they are both prone to suffering a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalassophobia|fear of the open sea]]. This fact has had some strong consequences for the history of their civilizations, because it means that, although they've built ships and boats for a large part of their history, they haven't done anything nearly as impressive with them as humans have. The xtauh have never left sight of their coasts except by accident, and the takmar, while they have crossed relatively narrow seas and colonized minor landmasses, have made no [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesia#Origins_and_expansion|Polynesian-style voyages]] across thousands of miles of ocean. Unlike Earth, whose continents have all been connected or nearly so during human history, Sekhaa is an isolated continent; the rest of [[avishraa:|Avishraa]] certainly //could// be reached by sail, but it hasn't been yet.
+One of the less stable pieces of lore related to the [[xtauh:|xtauh]] and the [[takma:|takmar]] is that they are both prone to suffering a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalassophobia|fear of the open sea]]. This fact has had some strong consequences for the history of their civilizations, because it means that, although they've built ships and boats for a large part of their history, they haven't done anything nearly as impressive with them as humans have. The xtauh have never left sight of their coasts except by accident, and the takmar, while they have crossed relatively narrow seas and colonized minor landmasses, have made no [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesia#Origins_and_expansion|Polynesian-style voyages]] across thousands of miles of ocean. Unlike Earth, whose continents have all been connected or nearly so during human history, Sekhaa is an isolated continent; the rest of [[universe:mikurmiya:avishraa|Avishraa]] certainly //could// be reached by sail, but it hasn't been yet.
 I developed this concept because I wanted there to be a whole unexplored planet to unleash the takmar on, and needed a reason why there still was one, considering that humans, by the same point in their history, had gotten nearly everywhere that there was enough room to stand on. Regardless, I call this lore unstable because I've never really come up with an in-universe reason for it that I can fully convince myself with. My original thought, and the one that is still the "official" explanation, was that it had been a holdover from early in their evolutionary history; shallow water was safe, particularly among grasses and roots, but wide, open water was where you would be exposed to larger predators. But while the idea that evolutionary history can have an impact on landscape preferences is not a [[http://ethnobioconservation.com/index.php/ebc/article/view/122|completely insane idea]], this particular instance is just slightly thin in that it's been a very long time since their lineage has been in a position to worry about most predators of any kind, much less aquatic ones. Would that kind of instinct hold for that long? Maybe - there wasn't anything selecting against it either. There've probably been weirder evolutionary holdovers.
-I once described takma/xtauh thalassophobia to someone, who commented that "humans are afraid of the ocean too", feeling that not only did it not require the amount of thought that I'd put into it but that it wasn't even particularly interesting. <del>Probably</del> possibly I'm biased, but I've been struggling to articulate why I feel this is wrong, and I think I've put my finger on it since then: there's a qualitative difference. I would argue that, for most humans, not venturing out into deep water is, if not consciously logical, then at least practical. Humans are pretty good with water considering how terrestrial they are, but once they run out of strength to swim, they drown - going too far from land will, eventually, kill them, which is a pretty good reason to be afraid. But if you give someone a boat, that part stops being a problem. The boat might be vulnerable to storms, and //those// might kill the occupants, but with a big and reliable enough ship that also stops being a major concern. If it didn't, cruise ships wouldn't be a thing. While genuine, unreasoning thalassophobia certainly exists among humans, I get the sense that it's pretty uncommon - most people just don't want to drown, and are fine if they feel they're not in significant danger of doing so.
+I once described [[takma:behaviors#thalassophobia|takma]]/[[xtauh:behaviors#thalassophobia|xtauh thalassophobia]] to someone, who commented that "humans are afraid of the ocean too", feeling that not only did it not require the amount of thought that I'd put into it but that it wasn't even particularly interesting. <del>Probably</del> possibly I'm biased, but I've been struggling to articulate why I feel this is wrong, and I think I've put my finger on it since then: there's a qualitative difference. I would argue that, for most humans, not venturing out into deep water is, if not consciously logical, then at least practical. Humans are pretty good with water considering how terrestrial they are, but once they run out of strength to swim, they drown - going too far from land will, eventually, kill them, which is a pretty good reason to be afraid. But if you give someone a boat, that part stops being a problem. The boat might be vulnerable to storms, and //those// might kill the occupants, but with a big and reliable enough ship that also stops being a major concern. If it didn't, cruise ships wouldn't be a thing. While genuine, unreasoning thalassophobia certainly exists among humans, I get the sense that it's pretty uncommon - most people just don't want to drown, and are fine if they feel they're not in significant danger of doing so.
 Thalassophobia among takmar and xtauh, however, is //not// based on a fear of drowning or of storms or any particular misfortune; both species are, in fact, rather better at swimming and holding their breath than humans are. They experience it simply from being too near deep, wide water - particularly being physically in it, but being on it, on a ship, is not necessarily proof against it. It carries a vague tenor of feeling that something is waiting for them below, out of sight, and the mythologies of both species frequently involve terrifying sea monsters, abyssal hells, and dark, aquatic gods. (Believing in such things, as one might expect, only reinforces the phobia.)
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 I read somewhere that the most common human phobia, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrophobia|acrophobia]] - the fear of heights - occurs in about 2-5% of the population (among which I count myself). Thalassophobia is far, far more common in takmar and xtauh - a clear majority of each species. Logically, there are also those who //don't// have it, though for most of them it'll probably never matter, since they don't live near the sea. (Rivers, marshes, and shallow lakes and seas are usually okay in any case.) For those who do, a cultural predisposition to see a desire to cross the sea as batshit insane discourages most of them.
-Like humans, however, takmar and xtauh are mentally flexible and under the right conditions can deal with their phobias. The [[culture:ethnicity:abethine|Abethine]] city-states, which are probably the most maritime-oriented cultures on Avishraa and derive considerable wealth from their dominance of coastal trade, have developed a kind of cultural toolkit for dealing with fear of the sea, and have begun exploring further afield in search of new lands and resources, mostly to one-up their neighbors. As a result, an Age of Exploration is probably due to start within another few generations or so; while I don't know that sea travel will ever be popular enough that ocean-going cruise ships would make sense, the promise of a new life in unoccupied territory might be enough to persuade people to risk a one-time journey.
+Like humans, however, takmar and xtauh are mentally flexible and under the right conditions can deal with their phobias. The [[ethnicity:Abethine:]] city-states, which are probably the most maritime-oriented cultures on Avishraa and derive considerable wealth from their dominance of coastal trade, have developed a kind of cultural toolkit for dealing with fear of the sea, and have begun exploring further afield in search of new lands and resources, mostly to one-up their neighbors. As a result, an Age of Exploration is probably due to start within another few generations or so; while I don't know that sea travel will ever be popular enough that ocean-going cruise ships would make sense, the promise of a new life in unoccupied territory might be enough to persuade people to risk a one-time journey.
 (Although I haven't considered this issue in relation to the [[orghysh:|orghysh]], I assume that, considering how closely related they are to the other two sophont species, it would apply to them as well. But since they're poorer swimmers than the others and haven't built watercraft more advanced than rafts, their interaction with the ocean is limited to what fish they can catch from the shore, so it probably hasn't come up.)