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--- user:shyriath [2020/06/10 09:54] – created shyriath
+++ user:shyriath [2025/11/06 14:49] (current) – shyriath
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+====== Shyriath ======
+===== THINGS TO DO =====
+  * Check linked and wanted articles for mythology
+===== Contact info =====
+  * [[https://universeodon.com/@shyriath|Shyriath]] on [[https://joinmastodon.org|Mastodon]]
+  * [[https://www.schlaugh.com/shyriath|Shyriath]] on [[https://www.schlaugh.com|schlaugh]]
+  * Shyriath#0258 on [[https://www.discordapp.com|Discord]]
+  * [[https://bsky.app/profile/shyriath.bsky.social|@shyriath.bsky.social]] on [[https://bsky.app|Bluesky]]
+===== Things to remember =====
+==== Mythology ====
+  * Anel, Lady of Tides, and Kastun's gatekeeper;
+  * Sembral, Lady of Tongues, the muse of song and poetry
+==== Terms ====
+  * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_ecology|Behavioral ecology]]
+  * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_ecology|Cultural ecology]]
+  * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_psychology|Evolutionary psychology]]
+  * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuptial_gift|Nuptial gift]]
+===== Takma-xtauh history =====
+The relationship between takmar and xtauh is as old as both their species, for indeed they share descent from a common ancestor, known as the pre-takmar. From 18,000 cycles (100,000 Earth years) to 6,000 cycles (32,500 Earth years) ago, driven initially by a drying of the Brightness due to a climatic shift, the pre-takmar engaged in a lengthy period of divergence that ended in the takmar being separated from their cousins by the high mountains of the Spine of Sirdanth, while the xtauh remained in the original pre-takma homeland in the Brightness.
+Throughout the lengthy cycles of takma prehistory, it can only be assumed that from time to time some hardy souls braved the crossing of the mountains to reach the Brightness; certainly by the time writing first appeared between 800 and 700 cycles (4300-3800 Earth years) ago, there were reports of vast deserts to the north, with strange, dwarfish people living in it, suggesting that at least some contact had been made, and there are even reports of possible xtauh migrants or travelers likewise visiting the Cerulean Tangle, though always in the distant past. Nonetheless, the early accounts are vague and inaccurate enough that it is clear that neither species, or its homeland, was particularly well known to the other, being mostly experienced through story and legend.
+The cultural and social distance between the species remained wide throughout early history. To the takmar, the dryness of the climate in the Brightness - which was rumored to be entirely without water - made it an undesirable destination; to the xtauh, who were fond of tales of the water-rich paradise beyond the mountains, it was nonetheless closed to large-scale colonization because of the ever more sophisticated takma polities that already occupied the land. And to both, there remained the fact of the mountains themselves as a major physical barrier. The ways through were few, and the ways around far too distant, and the climate and food availability in the mountains themselves inhospitable. That said, they were more friendly to the xtauh than to the takmar, and for many cycles nomadic bands of xtauh were the primary inhabitants of the Spine of Sirdanth and its associated highlands.
+The situation had begun to change by 450 cycles (2400 Earth years) ago. Although the takmar of the flatlands had begun building powerful agricultural states a hundred cycles or so earlier, it was not until the advent of rudimentary dam-building and terrace agriculture at this time that takmar began to spread into the highlands. Although at first relatively peaceful - with some joint takma-xtauh communities forming - the sheer numbers of incoming takmar eventually resulted in clashes and confrontations over land use. The takma colonies increasingly formed defensive leagues to aid them in these conflicts, and by 400 cycles ago, they had increasingly consolidated into the first large-scale highland states, in the process pushing most xtauh back across the mountains and into the Brightness, though isolated bands continued to roam throughout the area for cycles afterward.
+Although the highland polities came and went, and some of them managed to cling to existence on either side of the mountains, they largely avoided the desert, which was still considered to be uninhabitable except by the "barbaric" xtauh. For the most part, they remained unaware of the few rivers running through the desert, or of the oases that dotted it, and by and large the xtauh were content to keep it that way. Takma expeditions found beyond the highlands had a tendency not to return, and it was only sometimes that it was due to the elements. Therefore relations between the species settled into an uneasy equilibrium of peaceful trade and mutual raids, never quite cordial but never completely hostile.
+In the following centuries, the local situation remained much the same, but that of the wider world continued to change, often dramatically. 267 cycles (1444 years) ago, the founding of a then little-regarded confederation in the midst of the Cerulean Tangle, the Sixfold League, became the nucleus for a sprawling empire the likes of which the takmar had never seen before. By 220 cycles (1190 years) ago, the Empire ruled much of the lowlands; by 200 cycles (1080 years) ago it had extended its rule into the nearer highlands; and by 175 cycles (945 years) ago it had absorbed the matriarchies bordering the desert under its rule.
+For the xtauh to deal with fragmented polities and individual colonies was one thing; contending with a strong and united Empire, military garrisons and all, was quite another. Raids were not met with mere retaliatory raids, but with full-scale military assaults; scouting parties were not lonely bands of wanderers, but flocks of leather-armored soldiers trained with sling, bow, and spear; merchants were not content to stick to existing trading posts, but pushed into the desert in search of spices and salt. The vast tracts of the Brightness, so long unknown to the takmar, were becoming steadily more known.
+Still, even these contacts were only incursions, not invasions; the desert remained in the possession of the xtauh. It was not until the times of the Overturns, beginning 163 cycles (882 years) ago, that even that began to change. Refugees fleeing the depredations of rival factions and warlords made their way to the borders of the Empire and beyond; some fleeing across the seas, others into the Seas of Grass. Although the Brightness remained the least desirable option, those who were closest may have felt there was no other option, and although many perished, some made their way to the great rivers that provided lifelines in the desert. The xtauh were able to push many of the refugees of the early Overturns back, and to confine the rest, but the balance was terribly upset by the successful Black Overturn, 147 cycles (795 years) ago, in which the Eighth House, with the backing of the priestesses of the Most Eminent, usurped the position of the Fifth House.
+When the First House had been usurped by the Seventh, its female lines had been exterminated, down to the last daughter and egg. The Eighth was more magnanimous in victory, and merely exiled the Fifth; the House, and its supporters, departed the Empire, and it was to the Brightness they went, to join the beleaguered colonies of takmar there. The Fifth House gained a power base free of their foes; the takmar of the Brightness gained saviors to help protect them from the dwarfish barbarians; and the xtauh of the southern deserts were expelled from their most fertile lands. Some xtauh joined their more nomadic brethren among the oases of the deep desert; others moved further north into more fertile lands and away from the takmar; those who could do neither perished, either from lack of water, from battle, or in slavery to their conquerors. The rule of the Fifth House in the Brightness ended 128 cycles (692 years) ago and the takma population collapsed in the following cycles amid revolt, famine and plague, but by then the damage was done; there were too few xtauh in a position to take advantage of it.
+The Empire itself collapsed 85 cycles (460 years) ago, although the plague had already long since decimated its provinces bordering the Brightness, and much of the continent was plunged into a scrabble for survival. Both north and south of the Spine of Sirdanth, the takmar became a patchwork of fiefdoms and matriarchies, some organized into mini-empires, others completely independent. The states of the Brightness were mostly of this latter variety, although sometimes banding together in alliances for defense or trade. The xtauh recovered by 65 cycles (350 years) ago and, after taking back those oases that were under the control of takmar, proceeded to resume raiding upon the takma river towns.
+There was another long period of relative equilibrium, but the balance is shifting once again. For the past twenty cycles, population growth south of the mountains has been pushing more takmar north in search of room, and they have begun to reconnect with their brethren on the river, who in the meantime have begun to develop new methods of dealing with their environment. The xtauh of the southern desert, meanwhile continue their raids, but recognize that they risk a change of circumstances, and have begun appealing to their more numerous kindred in the north.
 ===== Language notes =====
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 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_order|Word order]]: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolutive_case|subject]]-verb ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intransitive_verb|intransitive]]), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergative_case|agent]]-[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolutive_case|object]]-verb ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitive_verb|transitive]])
+Grammatical [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidentiality|evidentiality]]/[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemic_modality|epistemic modality]]
+===== Timeline notes =====
+  * 6.5 million cycles ago (35 Mya): appearance of draconiforms
+  * 4.7 million cycles ago (25 Mya): wet period begins, sea level rise and mass extinctions
+  * 4.4 million cycles ago (24 Mya): radiation of draconiforms
+  * 3.2 million cycles ago (17.3 Mya): dry period begins
+  * 2.8 million cycles ago (15 Mya): draconiform radiation slows
+  * 1.7 million cycles ago (9.2 Mya): wet period begins
+  * 1.3 million cycles ago (7 Mya): draconiforms make inroads into continental interiors
+  * 750,000 cycles ago (4 Mya): takmoids fully separate from other draconiforms
+  * 200,000 cycles ago (1.1 Mya): dry period begins
+  * 91,000 cycles ago (492 kya): takmids fully diverged from other takmoids
+  * 78,000 cycles ago (422 kya): evolution of bipedalism
+  * 74,000 cycles ago (400 kya): takmids diverge into pre-takmar and dvidalins
+  * 52,000 cycles ago (281 kya): massive scales predominate, cavitated scales disappear, stratified scales appear
+  * 35,000 cycles ago (190 kya): evolution of cooperative polyandry
+  * 18,000 cycles ago (100 kya): beginning of drying of the Brightness; divergence of proto-takmar (who develop spongiform scales) and proto-xtauh
+  * 15,000 cycles ago (81 kya): proto-takmar begin to migrate into the Cerulean Tangle, forming a new southern population
+  * 9,000 cycles ago (50 kya): desertification reaches greatest stable extent in the Brightness; northern proto-takmar dwindling, with survivors merging with proto-xtauh or southern proto-takmar
+  * 6,000 cycles ago (32.5 kya): northern proto-takmar extinct; takmar and xtauh effectively separate populations
+  * 3,800 cycles ago (20.5 kya): spongiform scales predominate among takmar