Epitaph - A Civilization Quest

[Chehrazad]

It is the nature of all things to pass away with time. Rivers carve their way through countries, mountains become pebbles and yes, even the names of gods are forgotten. Likewise, it is the nature of new things to arise from the passing of the old. Where rivers dry canyons remain, where mountains fade new will arise and new rites will be made for newer gods still. Order, likewise, fades and returns with time. It was the course of fate that the order that had reigned in the Greatwater Valley, would eventually find itself disrupted and rendered a thing of the past. When this course of events was set in motion is unclear, but historians shall since agree that it was precipitated by the arrival of a migrating tribe from the south.

Unused to the mores and traditions of the valley culture, the new tribe was outsiders, bringing their own gods and rites with them. They obeyed strange traditions and paid obeisance to foreign names in their bizarre ceremonies that were alien to the peoples of the valley. They would be called barbarians, foreigners, aliens and many more names by those who dwelt in the valley, but in their own tongue, they returned the favour and gave a hundred names to those who came before them. In their own tongue, however, they had a single name for themselves: The People. As unitary as such a term sounded, the People fragmented and never truly considered themselves one entity. All illusions of unity born from the migrations were quickly broken as they settled separately, warred with each other as they warred with the natives and many a chieftain among the People called those very natives to war against the greatest threat to one settlement of the People: other settlements of the People.

Over time, the People transitioned from migratory nomads who never settled down for long, to seasonal settlers and eventually to almost completely sedentary. This had of course been disconcerting to the peoples of the valley, who did not want to cede a whole area of the valley to strange foreigners, even if those foreigners had arrived a hundred years ago and all who could remember the days of their arrival now were dead and gone with the turning of history's pages. Historians disagree on where they first settled in the valley, and which people were most antagonized by their settling. Eventually, however, the people did settle down more or less permanently around...

[ ] ...The highlands: The People settled the foothills of Highwatch Peak and continued, undisturbed by the traditions of the valley-dwellers, to drive their sheep by seasons and tend their gods of old. They built fortified settlements on the hills, which they surrounded with walls of sharp logs bound by rope. They learnt to work the stones of the earth and made quarries, from which they extracted copper and the riches of the earth. When they settled, they drove out the Metal-Workers, who had known how to make many fine works in copper and other metals.

[ ] ...The lowlands: The People settled the fertile floodplains around the Copperflow and Swiftflow rivers. They multiplied and became numerous with time and they cultivated the land, leading to great bounty in crops, which they farmed and let their rulers control. They built large settlements and adopted the ways of the valley-dwellers over time, never sacrificing their own gods, but worshipping old names along with new arrivals. When they settled, they subjugated the Tower-Builders, who had lived there before them and built many great buildings.

[ ] ...The coast: The People settled the fish-rich coast by the sea and adopted many new habits. Here, they learnt to construct boats and traded with people up and down the coast. In turn, they became the gateway for new ideas to enter into the valley proper, where pottery and trade would flow upstreams and enter the valley. They built settlements with harbours and though disparate, remained in contact with each other. When they settled, they slew the Dye-Makers, who knew how to use the colours of nature to make new ones, including purple for which they were famed.

In time, the People too became inhabitants of the valley and adopted many of their customs, although historians debate how much they kept of their own. The other valley-dwellers traded with them and named them in their own tongues, they warred with them and they sacked their settlements, and the people answered in kind as it is the nature of men to do. So, the foreigners became inhabitants of the valley as well and a new order was established. Loanwords were traded between the immigrants and the natives, wars were fought and customs were exchanged. Thus, the memory of the great migration first became a memory, then a story and finally a myth. What had once been a journey burn out of resource scarcity in a now-forgotten homeland became a divinely inspired travel. The customs of the People became valley customs and valley customs became theirs.

Especially pertinent among customs is the system of rule, by which the People governed themselves. While it is known that a single chief would always rule their settlements, no direct historical accounts would survive from these early times, so later historians would fumble in the dark. They would guess from the few remains of material culture they had and extrapolate from records that would not appear yet for many thousands of years. Therefore, the specifics of how the disparate settlements of the People governed themselves and resolved their disputes, beyond the rule of the chief, remains a mystery. However, it is generally agreed that the political structure most common among the People generally resembled…

[ ] ...A despotate: The People lived under a single chief, who held theoretically absolute power, contained within the royal family. The chieftain's power was based on the control of a palatial centre, from which his territory would be administered. This allowed for high degrees of royal intervention into society and gave the chieftain power over even food. However, it was also troubled by a great degree of inequality and could be burdened by economic changes.

• Phase 1: Establishes the supremacy of a palatial centre.
• Phase 2: Opens up for the Palace mechanic that allows favourable resource allocation.
• Phase 3: Risks creating massive inequality and gradual societal collapse.

[ ] … An aristocracy: The People organized themselves into a system of legislative councils convened by aristocratic families. These councils advised and elected chieftains, although they were not true parliaments. They did, however, allow for surprisingly responsive governance that was capable of compensating for poor chieftains. Their primary limit was the tendency towards gridlock between powerful families fighting for control.

• Phase 1: Establishes several powerful landowning families.
• Phase 2: Opens up for the Council mechanic that allows favour-trading for advantages.
• Phase 3: Risks creating stasis and civil strife between faction and family conflicts.

[ ] ...A commonwealth: The People never developed a true monarchic state, instead organizing themselves into loose clan-confederations centered around settlements. There was no real central authority except in times of crisis, otherwise clans would be lead by local chieftains. This allowed for a system that allowed the individual person a large degree of freedom. It was limited, however, by the very looseness that characterized it and often hard to coordinate.

• Phase 1: Establishes many tight-knit clans.
• Phase 2: Opens up for the Election mechanic that chooses a strong leader in crises.
• Phase 3: Risks creating conditions for society drifting apart and too weak state control.

The People would eventually establish many settlements under different names and different leaders. While some of these are only known to historians through the medium of a single mention in an obscure letter or forgotten name in an epic poem, others are more well-documented. These settlements were so numerous that only a very small minority of them had a documented effect on the region and time in which they existed, however that is not a universal pattern. Others have been the attention spot of scholars both modern and ancient for decades and centuries, having well-documented king lists, intact archaeological remains and similar. However, even among the most well-documented ones, a few stand out far beyond the others. The most well-documented of these proto-state settlements is generally held by modern historians to be the settlement of:

[ ] ...Optional name vote: Vote for a name. Construct it out of English words or suggest a language that you'd prefer to be used for the People in general. This vote is a suggestion, not a binding vote and should therefore ideally be backed with some reasoning if you really want to convince me. Don't stress it too hard, though!

MD: Okay, so this is a very traditional civilization quest in many ways. It doesn't need much elaboration, but it is also a bit of an experiment on my part. So, first off:

This quest will have a maximum of 60 updates. An update will be provided every Monday.

This quest is divided into three phases, each of which represents a specific amount of time in the history of your people. The phases constitute 60 updates in total, of which 10 constitute the first phase, 20 constitute the second and 30 constitute the third. A total of 1230 years will be covered over the span of these updates, 100 per update in the first phase, 10 per update in the second and 1 per update in the third and final.

To elaborate on this somewhat unusual way of arranging the quest, the first phase covers the establishment and mythical history of your people. You can view it as an extended character creation in which the starting situation of your people is fleshed out and your myths and legends appear. It is in this phase where you get the opportunity to truly distinguish yourselves from your neighbours! This phase will have no focus characters and will be primarily historical.

The second phase is the more standard political history of your people, which covers your conquests, exploits and similar. In this phase, you produce philosophy, art, vast legions to conquer your neighbours! Either that, or you're conquered yourselves, outcompeted by the teeth of time. This phase will be seen through the lives of kings or similar ruling figures.

The third and final phase should be seen as a vast endgame crisis, similar to the collapse of the Roman Republic, Alexander's Conquest of Achaemenid Iran or something in that vein. Surviving this will take all the skills and advantages you can muster and failure should be expected. But if you manage to drag yourselves to this phase in the first place, you can expect a place in the literary canon of later historians. This phase will have a single focus character.

Failing doesn't mean that you stop playing the quest. The maximum and minimum amount of updates is 60, nothing more and nothing less. Think of it less like win conditions and more like achievements. If you fail uniting the People in the first phase, you're still playing through phase 2 and 3, just as a city-state or tribe at the periphery of greater states. You could still catch up, but would inherently be more limited to another kind of "narrative" so to speak. However, it should be said that this quest uses dice, and while player decisions take precedence over their results, that also means that a good dice roll cannot save you from stupid decisions. Discussion will be necessary, otherwise you will fail.

In addition, whenever I speak in italics, it should be understood to mean an authoritative QM statement. When I do not, assume it is me posting as a regular poster.

 

[Chehrazad]

Eskeragal - The Wine-Gate by the Sea

Description​

Population: Approximately 39,000/Increases by 1000 per turn in phase 1.

Location: Built on the northern Twin Peninsula, close to the Copperflow river, Eskeragal is a coastal settlement that enjoys trade with both inland Tower-Builders, Metal-Workers and other coastal settlements as well as further trade ventures across the sea.

Governance: Ruled by a set of aristocratic families, the onenamekene, who elect a chieftain to govern with their power, the central authority of Eskeragal is weak and constantly under threat by a revolt against the current chieftain. Most of the time, the chieftain can do little more than act as mediator between two families.

Religion: Worshipping a variety of gods, Eskeragal is polytheist as the People traditionally are. The gods of Eskeragal are weather gods and sea gods. Foremost among them are the Storm King, crown prince of heaven; the Winged Lord, ruler of heaven and the world and his consort Lady Ocean, who was taken in the chaos before the world was created and the dragons of the sea brought to heel. All gods of Eskeragal are either children of Lady Ocean and the Winged Lord or were admitted from barbarian gods, who saw the rightness of the Winged Lord and became his children by filial servitude, if not by blood. The Storm King was married to the Wild Lady, a fertility goddess who ruled the domesticated beasts of Eskeragal.

Statistics​

Centralization: 4; Steadily more centralized, power in Eskeragal has been almost entirely monopolized by the priesthood-bureaucracy and the palace that sponsors it.

Sedentism: 4; The rural population surrounding Eskeragal has begun to settle more, staying in its vicinity rather than leaving for better pastures when the opportunity comes.

Urbanization: 5; Heavily urbanized by premodern standards, Eskeragal is urbanized enough to look like a city, however its lack of other dominating buildings give it away.

Other settlements​

Ilduxti: Range: Close; Population: 2,000; Coadunation: 2/2.
Babbarak: Range: Close; Population: 3,000; Coadunation: 3/3.
Hastal: Range: Close; Population: 2,500; Coadunation: 1/2.
Gaftan: Range: Medium; Population: 5,000; Coadunation: 0/5.
Askotikan: Range: Medium: Population: 4,000; Coadunation: 0/4.
Softxal: Range: Medium; Population: 6,000; Coadunation: 0/6.

Rivals​

Askomekane

Great Works​

The Harbour of Zaharal IV: Built by chieftain Zaharal IV to accomodate the expanding naval trade network, expansions upon this harbour would service ships many decades and even centuries to come.

 

[Chehrazad]

The People generally settled around the coast. Here, kin-groups that settled in the same regions would eventually conglomerate into settlements. Within the settlements, land was owned by families that merged over time or consolidated their grip on land, leading to the plots of familial lands expanding and inheriting. In the start, these families were anarchic and near-constantly involved in elaborate feuds with each other, but as time passed, the kin-groups began establishing common institutions such as a council for meetings and legitimizing myths. Eventually, this nascent aristocracy began electing one to be foremost among their number, a chieftain or early king to arbitrate disputes between them. What started as conflict negotiation transformed into a transfer of power. The chieftain was essentially gifted with absolute authority.

Of course, this was always a matter of degrees. Not only was the chieftain's absolute authority heavily dependent on his own charisma and the ability of the aristocracy to tolerate him, this scenario did not always play out identically in every settlement. In some settlements, these "Onenamekene" barely transitioned from their feuding origins and the council developed into mostly a room to negotiate bride and blood prices after feuds. In others, the Onenamekene became highly organized and violence was a thing of the past, a much rarer occurrence than it had been. In any case, the People settled many times and many places, and would continue to do so as people emigrated from old settlements to form new ones. Usually, the oldest of the settlements would have a place of prestige, not only due to their age, but due to their ideal locations.

Among the most significant of these old settlements were Eskeragal, Askomekane, Uraskomek, Axtezab and Gishmabel. Founded on the original wave of settling, these were built on the best spots and tended to have the largest populations. Of these, the largest settlement was Askomekane, followed by Uraskomek and then Eskeragal, finally followed by Axtezab and Gishmabel. For a variety of socioeconomic, cultural and religious reasons, these settlements came to be the most significant ones among the People, having some degree of pan-cultural importance that blended with their larger population sizes and gave them their positions of preeminence. While later historians disagree about the significance of the others, except for Askomekane, which was known for its unusually organized military, the most well-documented of these is Eskeragal, which was known for…

[ ] ...A pan-cultural festival: Historians disagree about its name and significance, but it is known that Eskeragal had, since prehistory, been the site of an ancient festival of importance to the whole of the People. This made Eskeragal sacred ground and gave it a natural spot as arbitrator between the disputes of near-lying settlements, who would refer to the holy judgement of the chieftain of Eskeragal.

• [ ] Write-In: What was the festival about? What did it celebrate? Detail it if you feel like it.

[ ] ...A vast trading network: While the names are forgotten to time, its existence is not. Eskeragal maintained trading relations with many peoples up and down the coast and even a few islands in the sea. This granted sailors from Eskeragal a great deal of knowledge about the area, but also served to make it far richer than many of its counterparts. In addition, it also gave Eskeragal a very multicultural population.

• [ ] Write-In: Which people did Eskeragal trade with? What goods were exchanged?

[ ] ...An educated elite: Its exact nature is unclear, but for a variety of reasons, historians agree that Eskeragal developed a somewhat literate elite. While a writing system was not yet invented in the Greatwater Valley yet, an early notation system was used by this elite to note down trades, amounts and other things. This gave Eskeragal certain administrative advantages compared to its counterparts.

• [ ] Write-In: What are these literati? How elaborate is the notation system?

After settling in the valley, the People rapidly assimilated and came to be part of the usual order of the day in the region. When they had been immigrants, they had been a nomadic terror to its inhabitants that disrupted all they knew, but after settling proper, they simply became new potential rivals or allies. This meant the People also came to understand that they were not alone and drifting between few sparse populated areas anymore, but constantly in the presence of other peoples.

To the east, the People met with the Tower-Builders. Generally settled in the valley lowlands, along the Copperflow and Swiftflow rivers, Tower-Builder was with high likelihood not their endonymic name, but a name given to them by the People for how their larger architecture must have shocked the still-nomadic ancestors of the People. This architecture was accomplished as a result of the far more organized and centralized Tower-Builder hierarchies, where the palace economy was the standard and the fertile floodplains supported much larger populations.

To the north, the People came into contact with the Metal-Workers. Settled in the highlands and foothills of Highwatch Peak, the tallest mountain in the region, these were mostly semi-nomadic tribes, the most settled of which exported copper and other metals to the lowlands. Despite this relationship of export, the Metal-Workers were generally a menace to the more sedentary civilizations of the valley, to whom the threat of a Metal-Worker raid could be a constant worry.

To the south, a remnant of the Dye-Makers, which the People had generally extinguished upon their original immigration, had remained. These were generally a few scattered chiefdoms in a more forested and hilly region, where the People had been fended off and exerting proper power was impossible for any of the settlements. Here, they persisted and kept to traditions which were fundamentally alien to both the People and the dwellers in the valley, a relict population from an earlier time.

Culture in the valley was a mixture of many different peoples, each with their own stories and myths. The People were not the first to migrate here, only the most recent. While the People shared certain overarching themes in their mythology, it cannot truly be called a single system of belief. Each settlement had its own beliefs and stories inspired by an eclectic combination of its surroundings, history, great figures and neighbours. Similarly, there was no real uniting beliefs further upstreams, and the disunited peoples of the lowlands, forests and highlands all maintained thousands of different ideas about the world.

Despite this disparity or perhaps because of it, certain common narratives can be identified in the mythology of the People, some of which have been reconstructed by later scholars. While the early history of Eskeragal is not as well-documented as its later history, scholars have still been able to pierce together some of the myths that would have formed the cornerstones of belief in those early days. The People had always believed in a menagerie of different divinities with purviews associated. However, these were the deities of nomadic migrants, and as the People settled themselves in the valley, they underwent societal changes and so did their gods.

It started slowly, of course, as these kinds of things always do. Gods with purviews that fit to changing circumstances found themselves changing as well. Words to describe the new metals introduced from trade with the Metal-Workers were introduced and given divine personifications as well. Slowly, the divine history of the People reinvented itself and became the divine history of proto-kingdoms dotting the coastline, rather than that of the nomads that had reached the valley by foot and travel. The great journey, similarly was also relegated to the domain of myth. Sometimes, it became a matter of a divine journey by some divinity to reach the earth, other times the fertile valley the People had reached transformed into an afterlife and the journey took place after life expired.

The oldest of the settlements showed this effect most and Eskeragal was no exception in any way. Founded on the initial wave of settling, the original seed of the myths of the People had a long time to germinate in Eskeragal, and a long time to change under changing times. As a result of trade and cultural meetings, the beliefs of Eskeragal quickly found themselves turned to new ends and taking its own cast. With changing beliefs came changing structures and the priesthood in Eskeragal steadily found itself taking on new roles in the daily life of the settlement. These new roles generally came about as the dominant beliefs of Eskeragal transformed into…

[ ] ...A solar religion: Worship of solar deities came to play a more and more important function. Chieftains were exalted through comparison to the sun, which was held to have absolute authority over heaven, just as they had over their subjects. The chieftain became, first and foremost, a defender and promulgator of order against the forces of chaos and dissent. Simultaneously, as Eskeragal slowly developed something resembling an early state, its many priesthoods came to play a greater and greater part in its running. Every family of the onenamekene would sponsor their own priesthood, which came to promulgate their decrees. The priesthoods came to be subservient to the developing body politic.

[ ] ...A celestial religion: The Dye-Makers had worshipped sea gods and with their conquest, Eskeragal came to exalt the power of the storm gods over the sea. The sea came to represent all that was barbarous and foreign and the storm was the disciplining and civilized power of heaven. The Onenamekene compared themselves to tempestuous lords of heaven and warrior ideals were exalted above all else. Chieftains married priestesses and in return, chieftains became priests themselves. The developing state of Eskeragal slowly came to merge with the priesthood, who came to dominate every aspect of society. The gods had created mankind for the purpose of labouring to their desires and the priests alone could divine those desires.

[ ] ...An animistic religion: The People had always worshipped a multitude of deities and would continue to do so in Eskeragal. Unlike other settlements, the priesthoods of Eskeragal never came to play an important role in state formation and instead remained largely decentralized, developing into many localized cults. These were based around sacred sites of the natural world and each maintained their own priests. Most families maintained their own gods; an eclectic mix of renowned ancestors and cthtonic beings. The same was true of the onenamekene, who carried their own traditions with them. The developing state of Eskeragal wasn't separate from religion, there was simply never a real organized religious tradition at this point in time.

MD: Yes, this one comes a bit late, sorry for that. I was busy and got distracted, I'll try and not make that happen in the future, but as long as it's one update per week, I think we'll more or less manage.

 

[Chehrazad]

Yo people, no update yet, just posting here to explain that I have moved the regular update spot to Tuesday, because unlike Monday, I'll actually be able to make that spot. You'll get the update tomorrow.

 

[Chehrazad]

Trade was commonplace, already at this point in time, all across the sea. Common wares traded were pottery, ivory, silver and saffron used for monuments, buildings and objects of religious importance. Also common was copper ingots, wine, incense and olives; wares that criss-crossed the sea in a makeshift network of early galley-like boats, propelled by oars. Tin was not yet extracted on a widespread level and bronze was thus relatively uncommon, leading to the predominance of copper as the favoured metal of choice. In absence of tin, smiths made use of arsenic to produce early arsenical bronze that, while effective, was highly sought-after and rare.

As a result of its opportune peninsular position, Eskeragal quickly came to take part in this burgeoning trade. With ships built of the cedar trees that natively grew in the Greatwater Valley, Ekseragal and several other settlements became avid participants and were known to clash several times over control of this trade. Although no formalized currency was present yet, a system of inter-royal gift-giving was becoming commonplace and slowly creating a more interconnected world, although it would be long before this truly transformed into anything but local chieftains demonstrating their wealth and power through gifts. Smaller trades happened too, of course, these took the form of exchanges of goods, with no particular currency involved. There was significant risk involved with this; piracy and banditry were frequent challenges both.

Despite these challenges, however, Eskeragal grew significantly in this period, something which later archaeology supports. What is present is an enormous expansion of the material culture of Eskeragal, which would imply a massive expansion of both production and wealth alike. This is primarily evident in the higher-quality pottery and greater prevalence of so-called "palace tombs", where small mausoleum-like palaces were built to put dead chieftains to rest. However, it also manifests in the significantly higher amount of monumental architecture that archaeologists have been able to recover from this period. Especially notable during this period is the construction of the…

[ ] ...Royal irrigation channels: Built by the chieftain Zaharal IV, the royal irrigation channels were a system of perennial irrigation to ensure good harvests. Irrigation works had been used since the early days in Eskeragal, but this was the first recorded example of large-scale central planning for the sake of the developing settlement. In the famously fertile Greatwater Valley, this system increased the bounty of the harvest enormously and made Eskeragal one of the greatest producers in terms of agriculture, during this period only overshadowed by the settlements of the Tower-Builders further inlands. (+1 Centralization, +1 Sedentism. Can be expanded later).

[ ] …Eskeragal palace-complex: Built by the chieftain Zaharal IV, the Eskeragal palace-complex was a vast building complex that constituted the administrative, religious and economic centre of Eskeragal. While the chieftain had always resided apart from the majority of the populace, the palace-complex was a major step on the path to a more centralized and urbanized Eskeragal. Housing not only the chieftain himself, but also his family, a chamber for the onenamekene to meet and much more, the Eskeragal palace-complex, early as it was, would remain as the largest and most notable example of monumental architecture among the People on the coast. (+1 Centralization, +1 Urbanization. Can be expanded later).

[ ] ...Harbour of Zaharal: Built by the eponymous chieftain Zaharal IV, the harbour of Zaharal is considered by modern scholars to be one of the first artificial harbours built in this region. Built large to contain the growing fleet of ships that would make port and depart from Eskeragal, the harbour of Zaharal was at the time a marvel of engineering. The construction of the harbour led to a smaller dependence on agriculture and far greater economic pull, leading to a steady migration from the largely rural population surrounding Eskeragal, journeying into the city and staying near it far more regularly than had previously been the case. Therefore the harbour is sometimes credited with a large part of the founding of Eskeragal as a proper state. (+1 Urbanization, +1 Sedentism. Can be expanded later).

As the power and influence of Eskeragal grew over the region, so did enmity with neighbouring states. Conflicts were naturally rife in a system without any significant international norms, and the poor treatment and worse discipline of soldiers at the time meant that plunder and pillaging was rife when war became reality. This was to be expected, of course, and was even encouraged at the time, as the successful sack of a settlement could reinvigorate the loyalty of doubting soldiers to their chieftain. When loyalty was fundamentally based on the allegiance of clans and kin-groups, not to the chieftain but to the onenamekene who owed him fealty, a clever chieftain was one who let his soldiers plunder as they pleased. Otherwise, he might find them quickly made a tool in the conflicts of the onenamekene, rather than his own.

Armies were small, as population sizes were modest and what passed for warfare among most of these proto-states was often closer to glorified raiding. Most of the emerging states could simply not afford to wage extended campaigns, nor could they afford to lose too many in war, thus natural pressure kept armies small, mostly unprofessional and generally inexperienced. However, despite these unoptimal conditions for warfare, it was still a common occurrence. Both the People and their neighbours lived in strictly honorbound and often patriarchal societies, and the goal of diplomacy was more often than not, not to strike a common accord but to cow an enemy into becoming more or less a feudatory ally or at least staying out of the affairs of a particular settlement, conflict or region.

While the coast and highlands remained fairly disunited, the Tower-Builders who resided in the valley were a different matter. It began with a series of campaigns by the chieftain Haf-lem II of the settlement of Hoxma, which subjugated its neighbours. Over the decades, Hoxma grew significantly, becoming more and more urbanized, to the point that scholars usually agree on referring to it as the first "proper" city of the Greatwater Valley. The burgeoning kingdom of Hoxma would, in the next two decades, incorporate enough settlements and territory, that it came to reach the coast as a result of its territorial ambitions. Here, the first battle which involved Eskeragal, the Battle of Namzen is recorded. As part of a coalition, Eskeragal fought…

[ ] ...With Hoxma: The chieftain of Eskeragal and the king of Hoxma had become blood-brothers and exchanged daughters in marriage, therefore Eskeragal joined the war on the side of Hoxma. At the Battle of Namzen, the army of Askozal III of Eskeragal intervened in a battle between the armies of Hoxma and Uraskomek against a coalition consisting of the settlements Askomekane, Axtezab, Gishmabel and the Metal-Workers. In this battle, Eskeragal sought to…

• [ ] Break the enemy: Contributing with a surprising charge, the army of Eskeragal attempted to break the morale of the coalition army and make them to rout. (Very risky decision, but can have great rewards for Eskeragal.)
• [ ] Support Hoxma: Relieving the Hoxman army from the brunt of the attack, letting it regroup to focus on a new charge, the army of Eskeragal sought to weather the storm. (Easier to accomplish, but likely to result in lower gains for Eskeragal.)
• [ ] Write-in: Describe a strategy in no more detail than a few lines. Assume that the riskier the strategy, the potentially bigger the reward is for Eskeragal. Playing it safe does not win the most pitched battles of the ancient world.

[ ] ...Against Hoxma: Having previously made a sacred compact with the chieftain of Askomekane, Ekseragal joined the war in a coalition that consisted of Askomekane, Eskeragal, Axtezab, Gishmabel, several smaller settlements and a tribe of Metal-Workers against Hoxma and Uraskomek. At the battle of Namzen, the army of Askozal III of Eskeragal intervened after a slow march, where Eskeragal sought to...

• [ ] Fortify Namzen: Repulsing the armies of Hoxma, the forces of Eskeragal attempted to secure and fortify the town of Namzen, in which the battle took place. (Easy to accomplish, will result in comparatively low gains for Eskeragal.)
• [ ] Rout Hoxma: The army of Eskeragal sought to totally break the army of Hoxma, through flanking and an aggressive approach, seeking to end the war decisively at Namzen. (Risky, but if successful could totally break the rising Hoxman power and benefit Eskeragal.)
• [ ] Write-in: Describe a strategy in no more detail than a few lines. Assume that the riskier the strategy, the potentially bigger the reward is for Eskeragal. Playing it safe does not win the most pitched battles of the ancient world.

However, there was more happening in Eskeragal than simply participating in battles. Eskeragal itself was changing, as is the nature of any lasting polity given time. Over time, the temples of Eskeragal had come to merge with the slowly emerging state, leading to a complete lack of division between these two spheres. This was to be expected in any premodern polity of course, as there was no dichotomy of secularism against religion at all, but in Eskeragal this was especially pronounced. As a result, the scribes of Eskeragal, who had previously used a primitive system of notation to mark down exchanges of goods, had also become the keepers of faith and tradition.

As influence from further inlands met with the native traditions of Eskeragal, a writing system slowly developed out of this early notation system, slowly giving birth to a developed if somewhat young system of symbols used to represent more and more advanced concepts. And with rising literacy comes a literate class, with an interest in not only writing down exchanges and transactions, but stories, narratives, rituals and more. This literate class expanded over time, using clay tablets, as they had always done, to mark down ever more complicated ideas. The first writings of Eskeragal were simply more detailed transaction records, temple procedures and lists of chieftains, but as time passed, this would evolve into far more complex concepts. This eventually culminated in the writing of…

[ ] ...The Storm King Cycle: Containing the earliest known reference to the myths of Eskeragal, the Storm King Cycle is a later name for this text. The text itself is an epic poem, concerning the exploits of the Storm King, a divine figure worshipped in Eskeragal as the crown prince of heaven and chief warrior against barbarian gods. This epic covers the story of the Storm King's subdual of the dragon-filled ocean on the behest of his father, his exile to the earth, his founding of Eskeragal and his driving out of the barbarian gods of the Dye-Makers, which allowed Eskeragal to triumph, as well as his return to heaven at the end.

[ ] ...The Hundred Rituals: Containing what is now believed to be a compilation of every significant ritual in the early religious life of Eskeragal, the Hundred Rituals is the name by which later texts refer to this. This text is believed to have been written by the priestess Minvez, who is the earliest named figure in the literary history of Eskeragal. It contains instructions on how to perform the rituals of the temple to which she was attached, as well as granting a rare look into the secret royal rituals that were said to be vital to the continuity of the chiefdom of Eskeragal, through the sacred marriage of Minvez to the chief Herimel I.

[ ] ...The Tablet of Words: An early dictionary, containing a description of the dialects of the significant settlements on the coast, as well as many clay tablets full of nothing but words and their equivalents in Eskeragal's language. While most of the tablets would later be lost, the parts that remain describe the languages of Hoxma, Askomekane, Eskeragal, Uraskomek and a few other settlements. While not a significant focus, several tablets also focus on grammatical analysis of the Eskerag language itself, leading to a hypothesis that some of the tablets were used as educational aides by scribes.

MD: This update introduces a new set of rules, namely stats. Unlike other civilization quests, the purpose of these stats is not prescriptive, in the sense of providing formalized rules for how Eskeragal interacts with other civilizations, but descriptive. This means that they are supposed to be understood as describing the internal coherence, urbanization and similar traits of the civilization. They are rated from zero to ten and are as following:

Urbanization: Measuring the degree to which the population of Eskeragal live predominantly urbane lives. Low urbanization represents a primarily rural populace that live outside the settlement and only occasionally visit it, while high urbanization represents a population that largely lives inside the city and make their livelihoods there.

Centralization: Measuring the degree of how many valid sources of power there are in Eskeragal. Low centralization represents a pluricentric system with no single centre of power and a weak state, whereas high centralization represents a monocentric system where power is concentrated in the hands of a single source or very few, combined with a strong state.

Sedentism: Measuring the degree to which the People of Eskeragal are permanently settled or primarily nomadic. Low sedentism represents a primarily nomadic people and a very low permanently settled population in Eskeragal proper, while high sedentism implies a permanently settled population, that will not simply leave for better pastures given the chance.

In addition, there is also a character sheet now, on which you can see Eskeragal and near-lying settlements. For every point gained in in Urbanization, Centralization or Sedentism, Eskeragal will gain one point of Coadunation with one of those settlements, beginning with the closest. When that reaches its limit, the settlement merges with Eskeragal completely and Eskeragal grows, giving it a free point of Coadunation with another settlement. When Eskeragal has at least five points in every category or seven points in one, it will be considered a proper city, rather than a settlement.

In addition, there are rudimentary rules for battles. These are very rudimentary at this point in time, although they will be elaborated on in the second and third phase. They involve rolling a bunch of 10-sided dice and winning will let you impose a consequence on someone, whereas losing will let someone impose a consequence on you. Battle functions loosely by rolling a dice pool of ten-sided dice. Good luck in the battle is determined by rolling high, whereas good strategy is determined by getting several matching dice.

 

[Chehrazad]

Perfectly in time as always:

Spoiler: Winning votes

[X] ...Harbour of Zaharal: Built by the eponymous chieftain Zaharal IV, the harbour of Zaharal is considered by modern scholars to be one of the first artificial harbours built in this region. Built large to contain the growing fleet of ships that would make port and depart from Eskeragal, the harbour of Zaharal was at the time a marvel of engineering. The construction of the harbour led to a smaller dependence on agriculture and far greater economic pull, leading to a steady migration from the largely rural population surrounding Eskeragal, journeying into the city and staying near it far more regularly than had previously been the case. Therefore the harbour is sometimes credited with a large part of the founding of Eskeragal as a proper state. (+1 Urbanization, +1 Sedentism. Can be expanded later).

[X] ...With Hoxma: The chieftain of Eskeragal and the king of Hoxma had become blood-brothers and exchanged daughters in marriage, therefore Eskeragal joined the war on the side of Hoxma. At the Battle of Namzen, the army of Askozal III of Eskeragal intervened in a battle between the armies of Hoxma and Uraskomek against a coalition consisting of the settlements Askomekane, Axtezab, Gishmabel and the Metal-Workers. In this battle, Eskeragal sought to…
-[X] Break the enemy: Contributing with a surprising charge, the army of Eskeragal attempted to break the morale of the coalition army and make them to rout. (Very risky decision, but can have great rewards for Eskeragal.)

[X] ...The Storm King Cycle: Containing the earliest known reference to the myths of Eskeragal, the Storm King Cycle is a later name for this text. The text itself is an epic poem, concerning the exploits of the Storm King, a divine figure worshipped in Eskeragal as the crown prince of heaven and chief warrior against barbarian gods. This epic covers the story of the Storm King's subdual of the dragon-filled ocean on the behest of his father, his exile to the earth, his founding of Eskeragal and his driving out of the barbarian gods of the Dye-Makers, which allowed Eskeragal to triumph, as well as his return to heaven at the end.

Warfare in the Greatwater Valley was ultimately something sporadic and spontaneous. It could happen for any number of reasons and often ended either in decisive battles or with crushing attrition. One thing it was not, however, was conclusive. Even to a large coalition, such as the one which an Eskerag formation had broken the flank of at Namzen, traditionally lacked the power to sack a large settlement such as Eskeragal. That was changing, however. As the power of the nascent states grew, especially upriver in Hoxma, concentration of power became greater and what had once been tiny settlements and nomadic settlements became increasingly proficient at wielding their arms to destroy their foes.

After the Battle of Namzen, which had decisively ended in favour of Hoxma and Eskeragal, the power of both had grown over the following century. Eskeragal was establishing itself as a powerful and allied port of the Empire of Hoxma and it became tradition for the two to exchange royal daughters. As for the coalition, Eskeragal soon became predominant. Askomekane remained the primary rival and enemy of Eskeragal, but under the wings of Hoxma, there was little the other settlement could do to challenge it. Askomekane maintained its coalition, increasingly paranoid of the growing power that Eskeragal benefited from. Over time, some members would defect; Gishmabel famously secured the protection of Eskeragal preceding its defection from Askomekane and its sister-settlement Axtezab.

Eskeragal came to benefit greatly from its alliance. Richer and wealthier than ever before, the incorporation of near-lying settlements was accelerated by far as the patronage of Hoxma secured peace and immigration to Eskeragal increased. This cannot truly be called a golden age for Eskeragal, as it was fundamentally simply enabled by existing in the shadow of Hoxma, but it was a time in which Eskeragal grew as it hadn't before, and one in which the seeds of what would later come to be identified as a hallmark of Eskerag culture would be sown for the benefit of future generations. The most noticeable way this benefited Eskeragal was by...

[ ] ...Raising her above: Eskeragal had historically been a power on the coast, but always second-rate compared to Askomekane, which was larger and more powerful in terms of military. With the diplomatic association of Hoxma and Eskeragal, this changed. Over the coming century, Eskeragal would take a stronger role in the affairs of the People as a hegemon in its own right. Askomekane would increasingly find its coalition dwindling, its power waning as it steadily became diplomatically isolated. Eskeragal, in turn, found itself growing as new houses and buildings sprung up with immigration from the People all over the coast. (+1 Sedentism)

[ ] ...Crushing her enemy: The feud between Eskeragal and Askomekane had not ended with the defeat of the coalition. As a result of growing Eskerag superiority, Askomekane launched another attack backed by the coalition, but this time found itself severely outmatched. In the end, Eskeragal and Hoxma sacked Askomekane proper and tore down its walls. The bounty was divided between them and Eskeragal carried off the chief icons of Askomek gods back to the settlement itself. Askomekane was not permanently destroyed, but a Hoxman prince sat in the palace and every year tribute traveled from Askomekane to Hoxma. (+1 Urbanization)

[ ] ...Opening her trade: To the far east, there was a whole sea of trade to which Hoxma had exclusive access through the river, by which Hoxman boats traveled upstreams. Now, they found themselves joined by Eskerag boats as a royal decree from the emperor formally permitted Eskeragal to trade on the eastern "monsoon sea". An immense amount of new riches were brought to Eskeragal by this new route and the palace took swift advantage of this. The power of the palace increased by several orders of magnitude as the trade brought wealth and power for Eskeragal, which the palatial taxation quickly transformed into wealth and power for the palace. (+1 Centralization)

Eskeragal had always had a naval heritage. In the beginning, it was small boats with room for a single person, barely propelled forward by more than paddling down rivers. Over time, more elaborate boats were designed, new ones emerged and old ones fell out of favour. Sails were added and oars were refined to be more than tiny paddles. Slowly, Eskeragal had experience and reputation for its skills at sea. Elaborate naval battles beyond simple pirate-chasing were still uncommon in these times, but in those few there were, Eskeragal tended to perform well. In the shadow of Hoxma, a new network of trade was opened up to Eskeragal as upriver merchants used the vast harbour that Zaharal IV had built for their benefit, while foreign merchants came to Eskeragal proper in greater numbers than ever, aware that goods from the entire Empire of Hoxma could be purchased there.

As Eskeragal benefited, so did many other peoples by the sea. A new type of boat had recently been introduced from the south, a variant of a sort of primitive galley, these new boats did not only render Eskerag sailors capable of sailing further than they had before, but doing so with fewer stops on the way. This opened up a whole new world of direct trade, where previously the islands off the coast and long journeys that hugged the coast as tightly as possible had been the only possibilities in terms of trading. Such long journeys, which had to rely on the coast, meant that often, the more effective choice was to simply trade with someone closer for what you need, rather than aim for the potentially better quality that might be acquired at the original source.

It is not uncommon for people who display mastery in a subject to dedicate themselves to truly audacious feats in that subject, and it is no different in states. As the sailors of Eskeragal grew better at their craft, longer and longer routes became the order of the day. Eventually, Askohal I, the chieftain of Eskeragal at the time, sponsored a naval expedition, which was to demonstrate the true prowess of Eskerag sailors. Some historians have argued that this expedition was also launched in a context where Eskeragal was fading in terms of favour at the Hoxman court, and that Askohal I needed something to impress the distant emperor with, but there is no substantial evidence for this. Regardless, the expedition was an enormous success and set out from Eskeragal to travel…

MD: The following are ranked from first to last in terms of how much impact your expedition will have. The higher the vote, the more impact on the people you visit but the lower the vote, the more impact they have on you and the less it will be remembered.

[ ] ...North: To first the west and then north, a series of tribes, vaguely united in confederation lived by their inland sea. They traded here, they made wine and spoke languages unrelated to any in the area. These were the Wine-Maker tribes, undeveloped and barely sedentary. Urban centres in this region were only loosely urban and tended more towards particularly large villages. Previously, trade with powers from the Greatwater Valley had only been indirect, but after the Eskerag voyage, trade regularly increased. Over the coming centuries, the Wine-Makers would steadily take on more and more Eskerag qualities and make use of their art and art inspired by it, along with several new gods introduced. (Trade routes to the Wine-Makers secured. No other benefit other than accelerating the sedentarization and urbanization of the Wine-Makers. Contact will be studied extensively in the future.)

[ ] ...West: Westwards from Eskeragal, there lies an island populated by the Copper-Traders, at this point in time, famed most of all for their high-quality copper. Further west yet, however, much further west, lies another island not far from the coast of the Calf-Land. Bountiful in fertile soil and agriculture, this island was settled by the dolmen-building Grain-Farmers, who traded in olive oils and wine. Poor in metals, however, they imported their materials from the mainland itself, but with the arrival of Eskeragal, the possibility for imports from the Copper-Traders through the medium of Eskeragal suddenly became very real. As time went on, this trade route became more permanent as Eskerag traders would sail between the two, moving grain in exchange for copper and vice-versa. The Grain-Farmers gained their tools and weapons, the Copper-Traders gained their food and grain and Eskeragal? Well Eskeragal grew very rich. (You will gain control of trade routes for copper and grain. Historians will take note of the voyage and recognize your role in spreading material culture.)

[ ] ...South: Going west and then south, the Great Kingdom of the River-Children awaited Eskeragal. Ruled by the Great King from his palace, all the people around the Vast River bowed to him and all grain was his to own. He redistributed it, moved it and taxed it at his leisure and his authority was so great that even the temples served simply the purpose of furthering this vast, centralized system of redistribution. Likened more to a god than to a mortal man, the influence of the Great King on Eskeragal cannot be underestimated. Nobility dreamt of being the Great King, while the palace did its best possible to become like him. Monuments in the style of those that dotted the vast capital of the River-Children were introduced to Eskeragal, even their language was imported and the trade was lucrative. (+1 Centralization. You gain a wealthy trade route and will begin to take cultural cues from the River-Children. Historians will take note of the voyage, but you are just one visitor among many.)

In the end, despite the growing influence of Hoxma, Eskeragal was not subject to Hoxma. A tool and faithful ally in Hoxma's arsenal to subdue the coast and the hill-residing barbarians among the Metal-Workers and related peoples that would subdue the growing empire, but ultimately not a subject. It was not part of the vast territorial domains of the empire, it was not subject to the laws and decrees of the Hoxman emperor, it did not send tithes to the palace to be redistributed and consumed, it did not even speak the same language as the Hoxman people did. However, this did not prevent the culture of Hoxma from being felt by the Eskerag people. It simply meant that the cultural meetings between Eskeragal and Hoxma were more roundabout.

It began with material culture. With a greater and greater presence of Hoxmans in Eskeragal, their idols and icons were brought with them. Sometimes, they were mere traders who brought amulets and talismans against evil, other times, they settled here and built their own shrines and sometimes even received permission to build temples directly from the king. In this time, there wasn't really a coherent notion of religion as a category to which one belonged. Divinities were a fact of life, and it was mostly just a matter of which gods one worshipped and honoured. Certain traditional gods of Eskeragal were recognized in Hoxma, for example after the writing of the Storm King Cycle, it became common in Hoxma to symbolize Eskeragal through the Storm King.

Over time, Hoxman idols in Eskerag temples became Hoxman gods in Eskerag prayers. Not all of them were imported, of course. The Hoxmans had a traditional god of the river's anger, who was subsumed into some of the sea gods which were subdued by the Storm King. However, in other places, the Hoxman gods became part of Eskerag religious life and worship, eventually taking important positions in the assembly of the gods and having their own priesthoods ordained and skilled in interpreting their will. Scholars consider the most important example of this is that of the Wild Lady, who was likely a fairly unimportant hunting goddess before. After the Hoxman influence, her domain and importance expanded hundredfold, although primarily due to her Hoxman equivalent being a hundred times more important as well. Over time, the Hoxman goddess came to swallow her domain entirely, though she would still be referred to by her old name in Eskeragal. A fertility goddess, the most important feature she took on from Hoxma was that of...

[ ] ...The rebirth: The Wild Lady would eventually take on the aspects of a fertility goddess through the domain of the rebirth. Every winter, the world would die, and every spring, it would rise again. Similarly, the Wild Lady would die and be reborn with the world. This goddess who stood between the world of the living and the world of the dead would eventually become consort to the Storm King and mother to his children.

[ ] ...The hearth: The Wild Lady would eventually take on the aspects of a fertility goddess through the domain of the hearth. A safe childbirth, a safe home and a safe family were all important to the ancient Eskerag people. Ever the dutiful and motherly wife, she fed the other gods by taking care of the sacrifices given with her excellent cookery and would eventually become consort to the Storm King and mother to his children.

[ ] ...The beasts: The Wild Lady would eventually take on the aspects of a fertility goddess through the domain of the beasts. The multiplication and diversity of nature was essential to the prosperity of Eskeragal. The Wild Lady, as mistress of the beasts and ruler of animals came to patronize hunters and trainers alike, ruling in the dual office of the hunt and domestication of animals. She would eventually become consort to the Storm King and mother to his children.

 

[Chehrazad]

Spoiler: Winning votes

[X] ...Opening her trade: To the far east, there was a whole sea of trade to which Hoxma had exclusive access through the river, by which Hoxman boats traveled upstreams. Now, they found themselves joined by Eskerag boats as a royal decree from the emperor formally permitted Eskeragal to trade on the eastern "monsoon sea". An immense amount of new riches were brought to Eskeragal by this new route and the palace took swift advantage of this. The power of the palace increased by several orders of magnitude as the trade brought wealth and power for Eskeragal, which the palatial taxation quickly transformed into wealth and power for the palace. (+1 Centralization)

[X] ...West: Westwards from Eskeragal, there lies an island populated by the Copper-Traders, at this point in time, famed most of all for their high-quality copper. Further west yet, however, much further west, lies another island not far from the coast of the Calf-Land. Bountiful in fertile soil and agriculture, this island was settled by the dolmen-building Grain-Farmers, who traded in olive oils and wine. Poor in metals, however, they imported their materials from the mainland itself, but with the arrival of Eskeragal, the possibility for imports from the Copper-Traders through the medium of Eskeragal suddenly became very real. As time went on, this trade route became more permanent as Eskerag traders would sail between the two, moving grain in exchange for copper and vice-versa. The Grain-Farmers gained their tools and weapons, the Copper-Traders gained their food and grain and Eskeragal? Well Eskeragal grew very rich. (You will gain control of trade routes for copper and grain. Historians will take note of the voyage and recognize your role in spreading material culture.)

[X] ...The beasts: The Wild Lady would eventually take on the aspects of a fertility goddess through the domain of the beasts. The multiplication and diversity of nature was essential to the prosperity of Eskeragal. The Wild Lady, as mistress of the beasts and ruler of animals came to patronize hunters and trainers alike, ruling in the dual office of the hunt and domestication of animals. She would eventually become consort to the Storm King and mother to his children.

Over the coming centuries, Eskeragal would grow more wealthy. The newly opened trade routes both upriver and on the sea injected new sources of wealth into the economy and the chieftaincy progressively grew better at taxing his subjects. The burgeoning Eskerag state was still insufficiently centralized and struggled with cementing its power over the growing territories, but it had moved far from its origins in tribal traditions. The populace of Eskeragal was more settled, more urbane and more receptive to the state's growing power than they had ever been. What would later be dubbed the first golden age of Eskeragal was well underway as the Greatwater Valley and Midland Sea opened themselves up to a growing state increasingly active and dependent on foreign trade. In general, this good state of Eskeragal would span approximately two hundred years, in which the future prospects looked good.

Then came the news from Hoxma.

The Hoxman Empire had expanded towards the east, conquering their way up the river and out of the highland-surrounded valley, parts of which it had already subjugated. The current emperor had been leading an army against an incursion of eastern steppe barbarians, expecting to subdue them with terrain that massively favoured the Hoxman defence and a vast host that outnumbered the enemy several times. Instead, the emperor had been slain by an unlucky arrow, the banner had fallen when a bannerman grabbed the falling emperor and the army had turned to rout. The emperor had a single child of three years, Ixmen, completely unfit to rule the Hoxman Empire, but supported by the closest advisors and palatial ministers. In the east Astnam, the emperor's second-in-command, declared that the dead ruler had pronounced him his successor and the army seemed to believe him. Retreating from the eastern border and marching towards Hoxma itself, the palace had little option but to mobilize more of the population and call on allies.

Barely a few days after the palatial messenger arrived in Eskeragal, a similar messenger arrived from Astnam. Both praised the wisdom and power of Eskerag chiefs, both spoke at length of the great sailors who sailed undaunted on river and sea alike and the mighty warriors that had made Askomekane bow many generations ago. Both wanted the same. An Eskeragal that declared for them and raised its young men for warfare in Hoxma. The pretender had to be subdued, whether his home was in the gilded palace or the marching host. This would be the first large-scale instance of civil strife in Hoxma and its proximity to Eskeragal meant that it was impossible to ignore. Such warfare would spill out and embroil every near-lying people, but as a result of Eskeragal's special relationship, it stood in a special position to be grabbed and involved. In the end, the situation was such that Eskeragal…

[ ] ...Declared for the palace: Eskeragal took the side of the palace, seeking to subdue the rogue Astnam and his plunderer-army. The warriors were called together and the chieftain Askozal IV led the host into Hoxma and the land of the Tower-Builders. The palace had prepared, rationed the granaries and called its ad hoc army to defend the city and prepared for a long siege, counting on the Eskerag to break Astnam's army. The plan of Eskeragal was to...

• [ ] ...Break the siege: While Astnam laid siege to the city, the Eskerag army would arrive in order to break his soldiers in a decisive battle outside the city, where they would be made to rout. (A toss-up. Astnam's army has experience but is tired from the march. Yours is inexperienced but can easily resupply.)
• [ ] ...Assist the defense: Before Astnam arrived, the Eskerag had hastened to the city in order to bolster its defences and prepare its defences for the siege, contributing to the guard inside it themselves. (Risky as the Eskerag army is unprepared for an extended siege. Will undoubtedly see the Eskerag army struck badly if failed. Will earn the eternal gratitude of the palace if you succeed.)
• [ ] Write-in: Describe a strategy in no more detail than a few lines. Assume that the riskier the strategy, the potentially bigger the reward is for Eskeragal. Playing it safe does not win the most pitched battles of the ancient world.

[ ] ...Declared for the army: Eskeragal took the side of the army, seeking to restore the successor to his rightful throne and break the pretenders in the palace. The warriors were called together and the chieftain Askozal IV led the host into Hoxma and the land of the Tower-Builders. Astnam marched from the east and the western Eskerag army would therefore easily be able to make it to Hoxma by following the river, in order to lay siege to the walled capital of the empire. The plan of Eskeragal was to...

• [ ] Block the river: While Astnam laid siege to Hoxma, Eskerag boats would cut off the palace from its access to the river. A Hoxman navy could challenge the boats of Eskeragal, but the navy had become very experienced. (Not risky as the navy of Eskeragal is superior, but also very passive.)
• [ ] Aid the siege: As Astnam arrived, Eskerag soldiers would reinforce his army and a joint siege would wear down the defenders, so that Eskerag and Hoxman could take part in the plunder both. (Moderately risky as the siege could fail, will win you the plunder of the city but not much more.)
• [ ] Write-in: Describe a strategy in no more detail than a few lines. Assume that the riskier the strategy, the potentially bigger the reward is for Eskeragal. Playing it safe does not win the most pitched battles of the ancient world.

MD: As you can see, the options for aiding Astnam are generally easier, but don't really win you that much. If you aid Astnam and fail, it is most certain that he will visit vengeance upon you for this treachery. This will not be a game-over.

As an expanding sedentary settlement, Eskeragal of course benefited from the diversification of labour that came from agricultural surplus. This meant that there were many different occupations in the settlement, and with occupations came economic opportunity and with economic opportunity came legions of interested. Every single conceivable industry had its representation in Eskeragal, from smithing to baking and from grisly abattoirs to world-weary fisheries. Of course, economic opportunity and growing industries also meant regulation, laws and an increasingly interested government. From his palace, the chieftain was increasingly interested in making the most of the many sources of wealth in the settlement.

Traditionally, the priesthood and tribal chieftains had entered into marriages; the priesthood would be given the chieftain's power and the chieftain would be legitimized. With the transition to a steadily more centralized system, this meant that the priesthood remained a group of families that carried the priestly traditions and which occasionally adopted someone of common birth, but otherwise mostly married into each other and the families of the onenamekene. Due to this system, expertise was transmitted from father to child and the priesthood had become a rather effective bureaucracy in service of the burgeoning Eskerag state. Priests could keep records of trade, balance budgets and had the favour of the people to extract taxes. Due to this marriage between temple and chieftaincy, the priesthood also acquired immense influence.

As Eskeragal grew, so did the power and size of the priesthood, but so did the challenges of administering the settlement that was now vast. Furthermore, new cultures were introduced to Eskeragal, and with the new cultures, so came new expectations. A father had sought to open business in Eskeragal as a baker, but the priesthood blocked this on account of him having no law-given right to do so. The father brought the case before the chieftain, then Zaharal V, and the onenamekene, arguing that as a subject of the chieftain and father of a family, he was entirely in his right to open his bakery and give his sons work. Ultimately, the chieftain listened to both parts and decided that...

[ ] ...The priesthood must be secured: The priesthood was necessary to regulate Eskeragal. Therefore, it was cemented that to open and practice business would require permission from the priesthood and apprenticeship under a priest. These services required a payment to the priesthood to compensate for the services. The priesthood and the palace would grow closer together and both would acquire prodigious power over the shaping of the settlement. The palace, especially, would acquire an exhaustive list of the households of business owners, allowing for far more efficient taxation upon the populace and a stronger state. (+1 Centralization. The priesthood and state in Eskeragal complete their gradual merging)

[ ] ...Trade could not be refused: Eskeragal was built on trade, but allowing anyone to open a business as they wanted would be chaos. Therefore, trade would be restricted to the wealthy families, the landowners and the husbandmen. With an expansive, but still restricted elite, good trade with Eskeragal both up and down the river could be ensured. Such an elite would already have the wealth necessary to invest in risky trades without risking poverty and the sons of these merchant families could carry on their tradition of trade. The wealth of Eskeragal would be secured, but the palace would be far less capable of taxing these families and depend on their cooperation. (Eskeragal will become wealthier and its trade network integrated further into neighbours.)

[ ] ...Inequality must be quashed: Despite the introduction of new populations to Eskeragal, a certain degree of homogeneity and equality had been kept. Neither priests nor wealthy families could be privileged at the expense of the Eskerag community and therefore these restrictions on trade and business had to be removed. Everyone would be allowed to open up a business and everyone would be able to trade at their leisure within Eskeragal. This would increase the number of goods in circulation and make products generally cheaper to those who live in Eskeragal, but lead to no further benefit. It may contribute to greater homogeneity and cultural unity within Eskeragal proper but only marginally.

Worship in Eskeragal had - as it had with most of the People - developed into a generally polytheistic system. Eskeragal had taken several divergences not present in other settlements of the People, such as the division between heavenly deities and ocean-bound deities and similarly, an ethnic component of barbarian and civilized gods was present in Eskerag cults that is generally not identified in other cults among the People. In this regard, Eskeragal was unique at its time, but in other regards, it was not very divergent at all. In fact, in most regards, Eskeragal at this time period was not exceptional at all, simply another polytheist system of worship among many others.

And as with those many others, Eskeragal possessed no dogma. New divinities could be added and old ones removed at a whim, there was not even really any system to speak of. It was less like a religion in the sense of a common creed as much as a series of practices that could be described as related. However, even then, certain practices were more amenable to the temples and priests than others were, and certain gods never saw cults within the temple walls. Some of this was easily attributable to the cults of later coadunated settlements that had been absorbed by the Eskerag synoecism, through which the smaller settlements surrounding Eskeragal slowly merged with with it and became part of it. But it was also attributable to a very real difference between the lives of a rural and illiterate population and the literati elite among the priesthood.

An example of this difference were the so-called "lesser cults". The term lesser cult is one that has been invented by historians since, in order to describe any sort of smaller and related religious practice performed by any group of people on the Eskerag periphery. These cults not only worshipped the gods that were given regular obeisance in the temples by educated priests, but also their own practices. To some degree, the notion of labeling them as specific cults is misleading, as it would indicate that these practices were limited to them, but it is simply a case of emphasis. Many of these rituals were common among the Eskerag population in general, but inside the settlement, they were generally subordinated to the rituals of the priesthood. This was not so on the periphery where an older, yet more unchained and transformative version of the traditional Eskerag faith could prosper and thrive. Among these practices, the most common practices that would ultimately survive the centuries were…

[ ] The appeasement of ancestors: Ancestors served an important role in Eskerag belief and worship. They would guard families, they would bless devoted daughters and good sons and curse an enemy. And unlike the high gods, they could be expected to listen to a family's pleas and concern themselves with the desperate cries of a bloodline fallen on hard times. Small sacrifices at house-altars were common and even chieftains and onenamekene would make elaborate references to their proud ancestors and give the praise for letting them accomplish great deeds and defeat worthy foes.

[ ] The cult of the axe: For those who could afford it, the axe was a vital tool. It could log trees and it could separate limb from limb. It was sharp and heavy, light and powerful. The power and force of the axe were necessary for the existence of some communities, whether they were warriors or they were farmers. Therefore, it was not uncommon to find such an axe placed in a pit in the floor of some houses, with a clay vessel before it in which to receive offerings. The veneration of the axe was not bound to any strata of society; from the simple axes of lower warriors to the richly dedicated axes that hung in the palatial corridors, it was a universal icon.

[ ] The rites of nature: The high gods of the water and the heavens were not the only divinities which mattered in Eskeragal rites. All of nature was alive and full of animating essences, from animals to trees, fields and forests, rivers and mountains. Nature was not some passive recipient for human will, but full of agency and power, and to placate and work with these forces was necessary for Eskeragal to thrive and prosper. Small ad hoc shrines with uneducated priesthoods could handle the rites of a single river, and tradition preserved the names of these forces for far longer than text had ever done.

 

[Chehrazad]

Surprise motherfuckers, this quest isn't dead. REGULAR WEEKLY UPDATES BITCHES.

Spoiler: Winning votes

The winner is declared for the palace, break the siege, the cult of the axe and the priesthood must be secured.

The Hoxman Civil War was a bloody affair. While the host of Astnam was large and experienced from beating barbarians on the frontier and suppressing revolts in the newly conquered eastern territories, Hoxma was a rich and fortified city and it had just been harvest season. Furthermore, the river was thoroughly under the command of Eskeragal and Astnam's few attempts to contest that control by building boats had ended in miserable failures against the far more experienced Eskerag sailors. As a result, Eskeragal was able to supply the besieged with plenty of food and ferry soldiers up and down the river as it wished. It had been Astnam's hope that he was able to break the city quickly, but that quickly turned out to be impossible.

Desiring to force an engagement, Astnam had allegedly given orders to find a way to breach the walls. A primitive battering ram was constructed by his army under his direction, a true innovation that would later turn out to transform warfare in the Greatwater Valley permanently. However, at the last moment, the Eskerag army had arrived and forced Astnam to engage them. While Astnam's host were slightly numerically superior and far more experienced, the appearance of the Eskerag army had caused one of the palatial ministers to sally forth with the loyal remnants of the Hoxman army in the city. As a result of the combined attack, Astnam's host was made to rout and he was forced to flee. He would return to plague the empire as a bandit leader several times in the coming decade but was eventually slain with Eskerag aid.

As a result of the battle, Eskerag now stood in an increasingly more influential position. The army of Hoxma was gutted, the stability of the empire was increasingly precarious, the emperor was a child and the empire looked to be primed for revolt at any moment. When the Eskerag army entered the city, it was hailed as liberators and when it returned many years later with the head of Astnam on a spike, it was hailed as saviours. At the coronation of the new emperor, the Eskerag chieftain was given the honour of placing the crown on his head. As a reward for the lifting of the siege and the loyalty of Eskeragal, it was given:

[ ] A Father's Crown: It had long been the case that the Hoxman palace saw Eskeragal as its greatest ally on the coast, and in the complicated network of settlements that dotted the valley, such loyalty had its rewards. However, it would be impossible to discuss loyalty without power, and the matter of fact was that Hoxma and Eskeragal were simply operating on different scales of power. Therefore, the palace offered to Eskeragal the exalted role of becoming like a son to their Hoxman father, governing the coastal province of Ungir in the emperor's name, raising the still-nascent city-state to a place of first among equals on the coast. (+1 Sedentism, vastly accelerates the cultural unification of the People under Eskeragal)

[ ] A Brother's Embrace: The elected chieftains of Eskeragal and the inherited emperors of Hoxma had long married into each other's families, and Eskeragal's loyalty had so far been unquestionable. Therefore, Hoxma would formally embrace Eskerag chiefs as brothers and raise them to a status similar to their own on the growing international stage. Admittedly, this would still be a subordinate position, simply due to the differences in power and Eskeragal would not gain much from it directly, but would become capable of negotiating on an at least theoretically equal basis with other powers along the ocean by invoking their brotherhood with the Hoxman palace. (+1 Urbanization, makes other powers treat Eskeragal seriously)

With the increasing growth of Eskeragal, new cultures were constantly introduced to it, and with new cultures came the first and foremost thing any culture cares about; entertainment. The growth of Eskeragal had brought new species of animals with it, and one of those which had been introduced first to Hoxma and from Hoxma to Eskeragal was the peacock. Dazzling and beautiful, the Eskerag took to loving the new bird easily. While aggressive and willing to attack at small provocation, the beautiful train of the bird combined with its regal appearance swiftly made it a favourite at the palatial court and outside it, whether that was in priestly temples or at the streets where children could be seen provoking and following them.

Depictions of the peacock quickly became a favourite subject of Eskerag art. The pillars before the holiest of holies in the high temple of the Storm King's marriage to the Wild Lady depicted peacocks carved in stone with sapphires sat in their trains. Similarly, the gold plates used by the chieftain and his family in the palace depicted the plumes of peacocks. But artistry was not the subject in which peacocks were popular, they became a popular target of the hunt as well. Authority in Eskeragal was implicitly and explicitly tied to hunting, whether one was the chieftain or lesser onenamekene or even a priest in the temples, and the beautiful feathers of the peacock's train meant that it was an easily-accessed status symbol and sign of a successful hunt. Even if peacocks weren't the target of a given hunt, rare was the time when the hunters wouldn't return home with peacock feathers anyways simply to show it.

This fervour for peacocks led to a number of developments for which Eskeragal was internationally known, such as the "peacock-hatted Shurrim" mentioned in the chronicles of the River-Children and the feather-plumes used for helmets by Eskerag aristocracy. It was also a problem however, as it had intensified the feuds between onenamekene significantly and undermined the chieftain's authority in favour of the chiefs who could acquire most peacock feathers. While the chieftain's authority remained paramount, the fall in status that came with being outshined by a more dazzling aristocrat could be dangerous to the ability of the chieftain to enforce laws and cajole the onenamekene to follow him. Steadily, however, the peacocks were monopolized by...

[ ] The Palace: Steadily, peacock feathers came to be a mark of palatial service as the chieftains acquired greater and greater hunting grounds. The chieftain was increasingly conceptualized as a hunting king before anything else and the first proper Eskerag crowns were made with this in mind: A diadem in the fashion of the Hoxman emperors, with a great plume of peacock feathers and inlays of sapphire. Such a "hunting king" became defined by his willingness and ability to launch and sponsor grand hunts, his masculinity and virility tied to his mastery of the peacock and increasingly understood as a chief devotee of the Wild Lady, who laid her blessings upon him to confer the power of the hunt.

[ ] The Onenamekene: As a result of hunting ground monopolization and wealth accumulation, the onenamekene came to distinguish themselves with the peacock feather. This reflattened the nascent inequality between the chieftain and the onenamekene and brought about a steady return to the idea that the chieftain was first and foremost simply a first among equals elected by the onenamekene. However, it also created a powerful elite class of warriors and hunters who could present a strong rivalry to the nascent temple-bureaucracy that had steadily grown closer and closer to the chieftain.

[ ] The Priesthood: As the temples were already a powerful and established faction within Eskeragal, it came as no surprise that the peacock primarily became the domain of the priesthood who used it in a great amount of rituals and ceremonies. These varied from the peacock feathers used by various priestly garments to the sacred peacocks of the Wild Lady, but largely signaled a significant increase in the priesthood's power over the settlement, which permitted them to largely begin the sidelining of the power of the onenamekene in favour of their own growing power and importance for admministration.

In an already complicated century, the single issue that sees most addressal in surviving texts is the matter of temple prostitution. The prominence of sacred prostitutes in pre-Hoxman contact Eskeragal remains a contested issue among scholars and even after its existence is clearly attested, the actual importance of the practice is still hotly debated today. What is undoubtable true however, is that by the time of the Hoxman Civil War and after it, a system of sacred prostitution was practiced by most, if not all in Eskeragal. Against the modern expectation, it seems likely that temple prostitution in Eskeragal was mostly the domain of young men rather than women and that during ritual acts, such men dubbed "Temple Peacocks" in certain texts, could take on either a male or female role.

However, while prostitution was present in Eskeragal and likely extensively so, prostitution of a far less sacred character was certainly also to be found in the nascently urbanizing settlement, as is the case with every human cohabitation. It is not for no reason they call it the oldest profession in the world. While the sacred male prostitutes of the temples seem to have served first and foremost to reenact mythic scenes and to participate in ritual action, this could not be further from the reality of prostitutes unaffiliated with the temple, who seem to have been largely women from lower social classes, with the exception of a few educated "retainers" that had some sort of reciprocal relationship with the temples and were often kept as courtesans by chiefs and nobility.

It is in the century following the Hoxman Civil War that the nature of Eskerag prostitution is most attested, having become the focus of a scandal sweeping the streets. A number of temples had introduced new and stricter regulations about purification following menarche, leading to first an accusation and then a plea from a number of prostitutes that banded together that the temples were aiming to drive them out of their business and redirect customers to their own sacred prostitutes instead. From surviving texts, it is evident that the plea was brought before the then-ruling chieftain Askohal II and it can be concluded both from later texts and administrative records that he ruled that…

[ ] The Temples Would be Cowed: It was clear that the priesthood had acted in error. The chieftain ruled in favour of the prostitutes and henceforth, the ability to regulate pricing and purity regulations would be the remit of the chieftain and the palace alone. This drove a rift between the temples and the palace but endeared the palace to the prostitutes and other small craftspeople, whose labour conditions would now be secured by the justice of the palace rather than the often-arbitrary and capricious rulings of the temple. (Creates problem for next phase: Schism of Priest and Palace. Creates advantage for next phase: The King's Labour)

[ ] The Priesthood Would be Obeyed: The priesthood was in the right. While the prostitutes could certainly market themselves as they wished, the will of the priesthood was ultimately superior to that of prostitutes. In addition, the power of the chieftain was built on the administration of the temples and to seek to cow them would surely lead to doom. As a result, the priesthood's right to control purification rituals as they saw fit was enshrined and in addition, the temples acquired general jurisdiction and authority over both the prostitutes and several minor crafts as their authority swelled and the chieftain's own with it. (Creates problem for next phase: Delegated Rule. Creates advantage for next phase: Marriage of Priest and Palace)

[ ] A Settlement Would be Attempted: This is explicitly a write-in option to attempt fostering a compromise and will require a roll and a write-up with about as much detail as the two other options.