- Location
- Illinois
Huh, I wonder how the moa fair on Australia. I would think it would be a bit dry for them, but then again, we really don't know how adaptable the birds were.
Lands of Red and Gold
- Thread starter Jared
- Start date
- Timeline
Some things are too good to pass up.
Moas were browsers with quite a flexible diet, judging by the preserved remains: a variety of trees, shrubs and other plants. They even ate the twigs; their beaks were like secaturs. So I expect that they could find plenty of food in Australia,. Actual eucalypt leaves may be too toxic for them (they are for most animals), but there's plenty of other undergrowth in the bush which the moas should be able to adapt to readily enough.
In terms of water, the east coast of Australia isn't that bad. The rainfall around Batemans Bay averages around 950mm annually today, which is higher than plenty of parts of NZ which had moas (eg Christchurch has around 620mm).
Glad you liked it. This was an interesting piece to write; it's a fusion of various real developments in Maori culture (from different periods) with some variations based on how things might have developed based on changed circumstances.
The cannibalism and slavery is unpleasant, but directly taken from real history. I didn't think it plausible that it would be removed completely, although I did have the cannibalism evolve into being a case of ritual cannibalism on rare occasions, rather than being commonplace.
Oh, yes. Perhaps 3.5 to 4 million people, although I haven't specified exact numbers. The carrying capacity of NZ would probably be that high, or close to it.
Fair enough that makes a great deal of sense, thanks for sharing!
Lands of Red and Gold #47: Vines and Shoots
Lands of Red and Gold #47: Vines and Shoots
Note: This instalment gives a glimpse much further into the future of Lands of Red and Gold. Be warned, though, that all of the usual caveats about biased and potentially unreliable sources apply in spades here.
--
"We are about to attack a mountain of gold; the Dutch are about to attack a mountain of iron."
- Sir Thomas Chambers, Director of the English East India Company, 1642
--
Taken from: "Children of Three Worlds"
By Diligence Ledda
Kagana [Tuscaloosa, Alabama]: 1989
The Congxie are the only people on the globe who can trace their heritage to all three worlds: Old, New and Third. Shaped though they were in the New World, their birthright is broader; the mingled blood of many peoples was reformed into the harmony of a new race...
The history of the Congxie begins in what was then the English colony of Cavendia [1], during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Cavendia was founded in 1672 as a private wealth extraction colony by a group of English aristocrats, and named in honour of their patron Charles Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle [2].
From its earliest days, Cavendia was a colony built on the back of forced labour. At first this meant Amerinds [Native Americans/First Nations], captured in war and conscripted into local servitude, or trafficked to European colonies elsewhere in the New World [3]. More and more of the Amerinds died or fled out of the reach of the slave raiders, leading the aristocrats to turn to indentured labour from the Old World.
A few Englishmen and Scotsmen willingly accepted indentured labour for a period of years in exchange for passage to the New World, but most of the labour that worked the plantations of Cavendia did so involuntarily. Some Gaels were bound to servitude for the crime of seeking freedom, but most of Cavendia's new indentured workers were captured in Africa and subjected to the horrors of the Middle Passage.
The exploitative society created in early Cavendia became one of plantations and indentured labour, forced to work in difficult, disease-ridden conditions for the benefit of mostly absentee landlords. The planters and aristocrats lived in better conditions in New London [Charleston, South Carolina] or in England, while their so-called servants laboured and died for them...
In early Cavendia, rice became by far the most successful crop. Rice plantations were confined to the worst areas: low-lying, marshy and infested by hookworm and malaria-bearing mosquitos. The indentured labourers endured these miserable conditions with some hope of eventual release, for they were yet classed as servants, not slaves. While the servants laboured in the low country, planters lived in the towns, while in the uplands, the Amerinds still survived, resentful of the newcomers but dependent on them for weapons.
To this brewing cauldron, a new ingredient was added in the dying years of the seventeenth century. Rice had provided a bountiful yield, but from the earliest days the planters still sought other crops to add to their already excessive wealth. Entrepreneurs from across the three worlds were keen to bring potential new crops to them, for word of the luxury of Cavendia's privileged few was already widespread.
Among those venturers who sought to bring new crops to the attention of Cavendia's aristocrats, the boldest were a few Nuttana merchants who circled the globe in pursuit of profit. The first Nuttana trader visited New London in 1697 with a cargo of eastern spices and seeds to sell, and returned home with a valuable bounty. Inspired by his success, others followed over the next couple of decades...
Among the Nuttana merchant captains who ventured to Cavendia was Barcoo Nyugal. He came to New London in 1704 with a valuable cargo of silk and silkworms, tea leaves and seeds, and lemon verbena leaves and seeds, which like his predecessors he intended to sell for profit. Barcoo never completed the sale of tea, which would be left to later traders to establish as another source of Cavendia's wealth. Yet he accomplished something far greater: as much as any man, he was responsible for the shaping of the Congxie.
For during Barcoo's visit to New London, he witnessed an event which would be a defining moment both for the history of the Congxie, and of Cavendia. An indentured African-born woman named Wednesday (believed to be of Soninke descent, although this is uncertain) had appealed to the Cavendia assembly and governor. She had complained that her servitude was unending, and that her new-born son Jonathon would share the same fate. Wednesday asked for a determination that her indenture should have a defined end-date, or at least that her son should be considered to be born free.
On 4 March 1704, a day that would live in infamy, the governor and assembly issued a joint proclamation that declared that African servitude was life-long, and that the condition could be inherited. The institution of slavery, if not yet the name, had been brought to Cavendia.
Barcoo and his crew witnessed this proclamation, and were greatly angered by it. The transformation of the Africans' fate from servitude to slavery was in gross violation of the laws of harmony, and the institution of multi-generational slavery utterly abhorrent. Barcoo decided that the discord which this would create could not be tolerated, and decided to take proper action...
The risings in New London itself were largely unsuccessful; the aristocrats there were exploiters, not fools, and defended themselves accordingly. In the rice plantations along the Tidewater, however, the indentured workers were numerous and their supervisors few. Around the Santee River delta and the Sea Islands, many indentured workers rose and fled inland, to the relative safety of the uplands. Even here, the majority remained, trapped by fear or by the weapons of the supervisors and planters, but a large number escaped to the hills...
Here, in the sanctuary of the Cavendia upcountry, a new people were born. A people with many forebears, who in their new lives among the hills were merged into a new race. The majority of their ancestors were of African descent, mostly Soninke, Mandingo, Gude and Mende, and others whose ancestry was unknown after the Middle Passage. With them came many Nuttana, including Barcoo himself who fulfilled his pledge to bring harmony to Cavendia. Gaels came, too, and a few other whites who had fled their undeserved indenture. The original escapees included a handful of enslaved Amerinds, who helped to lead the others to safety in the uplands. More Amerinds joined the escapees once they had reached the uplands, including many Cherokee, and some Creeks and Catawba [4].
These were the forebears of the Congxie, who in their new highland home created a new life for themselves. Formerly of many peoples, they were gradually shaped into one, building a new common heritage out of the best of what they had inherited, building a new language and fostering harmony, balance, and the teachings of the Good Man...
From the Cherokee and Creeks who had lived there before them and many of whom joined them, the Congxie learned the arts of hunting and farming in their new home. The Cherokee men taught them how to hunt the white-tailed deer and other animals of the uplands, both for food and for trade. The Cherokee and Creek women taught them how to farm maize, squash and beans in the manner of the New World. From the Nuttana, they learned how to farm the murnong which had been brought with them in the original uprising, and how to tame and cultivate the cornnarts which had grown wild in Cavendia since they were introduced with the first English settlers. From the Nuttana, too, they learned the divine truth of the Sevenfold Path [Plirism] and the arts of writing. From the Africans who had been conscripted into slavery, they learned the arts of blacksmithing, carpentry, and the works of the artisan...
The original Congxie were few in number, but they prospered and multiplied in the health of the uplands and in the balance they brought to their lives. Their numbers grew steadily, both from their own increase and from those who joined them: fleeing slaves, a few Englishmen who preferred that life [5], children of traders, and some Cherokee, Creeks and Catawba...
In 1722-1726, many of the Amerind peoples rose in noble but futile efforts to destroy the English colonists of Cavendia, in a conflict which would come to be called King George's War [6]. The Congxie stood aside from those efforts, recognising that such actions would only fail, and gave safe haven to some of the defeated warriors after the war.
After King George's War and the reprisals which the Cavendians brought afterward, the Congxie became the single largest community in the uplands. The Cherokee and the Creeks were tragically doomed after that war, which only hastened the effects of diseases such as smallpox, measles and Marnitja. Those who survived mostly fled further inland or south out of range of English reprisals, leaving the upcountry to be dominated by the Congxie [7]...
From their upland homes, the Congxie continued the practice of hunting deer which they had learned from their Amerind forebears. Deerskin provided a valuable trading commodity with Cavendia, both for use in the colony itself and for export to Europe. Buckskin provided the English with clothing directly, and for shaping into gloves, bookbinding, and myriad other uses. In exchange, the Congxie received weapons, powder, metal goods and other artifacts which were in short supply in their homeland. Unlike the Amerinds before them, the Congxie refused to practice the slave trade to pay for such weapons.
The deerskin trade required interaction between the Congxie and their former exploiters, but contact would have been inevitable even without that, thanks to the proximity of the two peoples. At first, Congxie often contested to free the slaves who were still being imported from Africa, but in time an unwritten pact developed, a new balance between the two peoples. Congxie would not actively solicit slaves to flee into their lands, while Englishmen would not actively pursue those few slaves who did escape on their own and sought refuge amongst the Congxie.
For a time, peaceful trade endured between the two peoples. The Congxie supplied not just deerskin, but cornnart grain and other foodstuffs that allowed the planters to exploit their land and workers more determinedly in their coastal rice and tea plantations. When the supply of deer started to fail, some Congxie hunters started to search further afield, even across the Alleghenies [8], in pursuit of fresh stock. Other Congxie turned to the cultivation of tobacco which found some value in the lowlands of Cavendia, being cheaper than importing kunduri or tobacco from further afield...
Inevitably, in time the balance was disturbed. The population of both peoples expanded, driven by the high fecundity and hybrid vigour of the Congxie on the one hand [9], and endless wealth from rice and tea encouraging ever more immigrants and slave trafficking on the other. Envious of the Congxie who grew ever more numerous in the uplands, the Cavendians in time began to encroach on their lands.
Some bold Congxie had already ventured west in pursuit of deerskin, with some occasional contacts with New Valois [New Orleans] and Barranca [Pensacola, Florida] to trade with the French and Spanish. With shortages of good land even amongst their own people, some pioneering Congxie pressed further west through the Alleghenies and began to establish settlements in the western uplands [ie upcountry Georgia and Alabama]...
After the treachery of the Cavendians and the massacres of the Lord Protector's War, the gradual westward migration turned into a flood. Most Congxie went yarra [trek or great journey], preferring to abandon the uncertain fate of their birthlands and press into lands still occupied by Cherokees, Creeks and Choctaws...
--
Taken from: "Fundamentals of Linguistics"
Cambridge University Press
Discussion Point: The Congxie Language
The nature of the Congxie language is endless argued. Is it a true multiple-ancestry language [mixed language], or a single language with multiple registers? A heavily modified creole of Nuttana? A well-developed pidgin with variations? In the study of linguistics, it is perhaps the most debated language in the world.
Classification of its vocabulary source languages is relatively straightforward. The single largest portion of its vocabulary comes from Nuttana (approximately 30%), although that feature itself adds to debate since Nuttana is also controversial as to whether it is a mixed-ancestry language or one with a primary language and a very influential substrate. A total of 40% of its vocabulary comes from various African languages; about one-quarter of the Congxie vocabulary comes from Mande languages (Mende, Soninke, Mandingo, and relatives) and about 15% from Gude. About one-fifth of its vocabulary comes from Amerind languages (Cherokee and Creek), while about 5% each derives from English and Gaelic.
Usage of this vocabulary, however, marks a more challenging question. One thing is certain: Congxie has multiple registers, different words with similar meanings which can be used in different contexts. In broad terms, words of Nuttana derivation are the most formal and high-class versions, associated in particular with religion and government, but with some notable exceptions. For many of these words, there are parallel words of the same or similar meaning, which are used in more informal contexts, and where the word roots are recognisably of a different derivation, such as where Mande or Gude word roots are used during everyday interaction.
For some meanings, there are up to four registers available to different people or for different situations, with derivations from recognisably different languages. One of the most noted, and most debated, is that in many situations women use a different vocabulary to men, and that most of the female register is derived from Cherokee or Creek words, with some inclusions from Gude or Gaelic.
In some of these registers, Congxie's usual grammatical rules also change. Much of the informal, everyday register of Congxie uses tones to convey changes in grammar, which is indicative of the contributions of Mande languages, while tones are almost wholly absent from other aspects of Congxie grammar or its other registers.
Congxie grammar is more complex than has traditionally been ascribed to creole or pidgin languages, which is one contributing factor to the debate about its classification. Its word order is relatively flexible, although not quite as free as some early linguistic studies classified it; the word order often depends both on what register is being used, and on which particular word which the speaker wishes to emphasise most, with the most emphasised word usually being spoken first. It can also have a complex clause structure with dependent clauses, and with verbs retaining different tenses; both features which are rarely found in pidgins or creoles derived from them.
Traces of its ancestral languages remain in its grammar, such as the tones used for the informal register, and the multiple pronoun structure and post-nominal articles of Nuttana which persist in the formal register...
While debate continues without complete resolution, the broadest consensus, supported by the historical record, is that Congxie did not emerge as a true pidgin. It developed from peoples who spoke multiple languages and taught them to their own children, who then learned these multiple registers and developed social codes on when to use them, rather than seeking to develop a common lingua franca.
--
The genetic and linguistic heritage of the Congxie is complex, a legacy both of the runaways who founded their society, and the social structure which developed in the uplands. The largest group of initial founders were escaped Africans, largely speakers of various Mande languages from historical Senegal and Sierra Lone, and a smaller group of Gude speakers from the historical Nigeria-Cameroon border. Virtually all of these runaways were still born in Africa, spoke their own disparate languages, and they had varying degrees of familiarity with English.
Accompanying the Africans were smaller numbers of escaping whites, mostly Irish, who spoke a mixture of Gaelic and English. The Nuttana were about as numerous as the whites, and while they were often fluent in English, they preferred their own language except when dealing with Cavendians. The remaining early Congxie were Amerindians (Cherokee, Creeks, Catawba and others), either escaped slaves or others fleeing the early epidemics.
While Africans formed by far the largest initial group, the heritage of the Congxie was rather more mixed. The runaways, Africans in particular, included a larger number of men than women. There were proportionately more women who were Nuttana, white or (especially) Amerindian, leading in turn to a larger proportion of their descendants having that heritage. The Nuttana also occupied higher status positions in the early years (chiefs and priests), and so had their pick of the limited number of women in the crucial first generations.
After the founding generation, the Congxie received a trickle of newcomers from outside, including escaping African slaves, mixed-race children of traders who were left to be raised among the Congxie, and refugee Amerindians. This added to the mixed heritage of the Congxie.
Natural selection also played a role in the progress over generations. Strong selection pressure favoured mixed-race ancestry (African-Aururian or white-Aururian) because this gave the best overall genetic resistance to the mixture of Old World and Aururian diseases. Natural selection also worked partly against those of pure African ancestry, since this involved a higher risk of sickle-cell anaemia. This would have been an advantage in the malarial lowlands, but was a negative factor in the Congxie uplands, and so was selected against.
In short, the Congxie are a very mixed-heritage people.
--
[1] At this point, Cavendia is, very approximately, the historical Province of Carolina (ie before the later division into North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia). As happened historically, its borders will change over time.
[2] Charles Cavendish is an allohistorical son of William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
[3] A similar trade existed in the early days of the historical Carolina and Georgia colonies, and generally involved some indigenous peoples raiding their neighbours and trafficking the captives to Europeans in exchange for weapons and other trade goods. The captives were then either forced into slavery locally, or traded to plantations in the Caribbean, Virginia, or Louisiana. A similar process, on a smaller scale due to lower population, operated in allohistorical Cavendia.
[4] One of the many things which Ledda glosses over here is that the arrival of the Congxie forefathers brought disaster for the indigenous peoples of the uplands. Not deliberately, for the most part – although there were clashes – but because the runaways included several asymptomatic carriers of diseases such as Marnitja and chickenpox, which swept through the upcountry with disastrous results. The Congxie accepted some of the survivors, particularly women since there was a distinct gender imbalance amongst the runaways, and because the women generally knew more of how to farm maize, squash, beans and other local crops.
[5] Even in historical North America, some of the various Native American peoples had people of mixed or European ancestry, from those Europeans who had fled the colonies for one reason or another and joined them. In allohistorical Cavendia, the Congxie fill that niche.
[6] King George's War is the closest allohistorical analogue to the historical Tuscarora and Yamasee Wars. Like those wars, it was started due to the encroachment and slave-raiding practices of European colonists. While the indigenous chiefs had some local victories, they were too badly outnumbered and outgunned to win in the end.
[7] The demise of the Cherokee and Creeks was in fact much more due to population pressure from the Congxie than Ledda admits. Disease certainly played a large part, but European reprisals were mostly limited to the first few years after the war. The scattered survivors were often pushed aside by the Congxie, and he also glosses over the raids for women which were a common part of early Congxie life, and the clashes over deer hunting which happened later.
[8] In allohistorical North America, Alleghenies is the generic name for the entire Appalachians ranges. The name Appalachians is reserved for the mountains between historical Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Maryland.
[9] The mixed heritage of the Congxie (African/European and Aururian) means that they are on the whole more resistant to both Old World and Aururian diseases, which is one reason that their population is growing even faster than that of lowland Cavendia. The other main reason for the spectacular growth is that being in the highlands, they are also far away from the main reservoirs of malaria, yellow fever and hookworm which were so devastating to lowland populations.
--
Thoughts?
Note: This instalment gives a glimpse much further into the future of Lands of Red and Gold. Be warned, though, that all of the usual caveats about biased and potentially unreliable sources apply in spades here.
--
"We are about to attack a mountain of gold; the Dutch are about to attack a mountain of iron."
- Sir Thomas Chambers, Director of the English East India Company, 1642
--
Taken from: "Children of Three Worlds"
By Diligence Ledda
Kagana [Tuscaloosa, Alabama]: 1989
The Congxie are the only people on the globe who can trace their heritage to all three worlds: Old, New and Third. Shaped though they were in the New World, their birthright is broader; the mingled blood of many peoples was reformed into the harmony of a new race...
The history of the Congxie begins in what was then the English colony of Cavendia [1], during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Cavendia was founded in 1672 as a private wealth extraction colony by a group of English aristocrats, and named in honour of their patron Charles Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle [2].
From its earliest days, Cavendia was a colony built on the back of forced labour. At first this meant Amerinds [Native Americans/First Nations], captured in war and conscripted into local servitude, or trafficked to European colonies elsewhere in the New World [3]. More and more of the Amerinds died or fled out of the reach of the slave raiders, leading the aristocrats to turn to indentured labour from the Old World.
A few Englishmen and Scotsmen willingly accepted indentured labour for a period of years in exchange for passage to the New World, but most of the labour that worked the plantations of Cavendia did so involuntarily. Some Gaels were bound to servitude for the crime of seeking freedom, but most of Cavendia's new indentured workers were captured in Africa and subjected to the horrors of the Middle Passage.
The exploitative society created in early Cavendia became one of plantations and indentured labour, forced to work in difficult, disease-ridden conditions for the benefit of mostly absentee landlords. The planters and aristocrats lived in better conditions in New London [Charleston, South Carolina] or in England, while their so-called servants laboured and died for them...
In early Cavendia, rice became by far the most successful crop. Rice plantations were confined to the worst areas: low-lying, marshy and infested by hookworm and malaria-bearing mosquitos. The indentured labourers endured these miserable conditions with some hope of eventual release, for they were yet classed as servants, not slaves. While the servants laboured in the low country, planters lived in the towns, while in the uplands, the Amerinds still survived, resentful of the newcomers but dependent on them for weapons.
To this brewing cauldron, a new ingredient was added in the dying years of the seventeenth century. Rice had provided a bountiful yield, but from the earliest days the planters still sought other crops to add to their already excessive wealth. Entrepreneurs from across the three worlds were keen to bring potential new crops to them, for word of the luxury of Cavendia's privileged few was already widespread.
Among those venturers who sought to bring new crops to the attention of Cavendia's aristocrats, the boldest were a few Nuttana merchants who circled the globe in pursuit of profit. The first Nuttana trader visited New London in 1697 with a cargo of eastern spices and seeds to sell, and returned home with a valuable bounty. Inspired by his success, others followed over the next couple of decades...
Among the Nuttana merchant captains who ventured to Cavendia was Barcoo Nyugal. He came to New London in 1704 with a valuable cargo of silk and silkworms, tea leaves and seeds, and lemon verbena leaves and seeds, which like his predecessors he intended to sell for profit. Barcoo never completed the sale of tea, which would be left to later traders to establish as another source of Cavendia's wealth. Yet he accomplished something far greater: as much as any man, he was responsible for the shaping of the Congxie.
For during Barcoo's visit to New London, he witnessed an event which would be a defining moment both for the history of the Congxie, and of Cavendia. An indentured African-born woman named Wednesday (believed to be of Soninke descent, although this is uncertain) had appealed to the Cavendia assembly and governor. She had complained that her servitude was unending, and that her new-born son Jonathon would share the same fate. Wednesday asked for a determination that her indenture should have a defined end-date, or at least that her son should be considered to be born free.
On 4 March 1704, a day that would live in infamy, the governor and assembly issued a joint proclamation that declared that African servitude was life-long, and that the condition could be inherited. The institution of slavery, if not yet the name, had been brought to Cavendia.
Barcoo and his crew witnessed this proclamation, and were greatly angered by it. The transformation of the Africans' fate from servitude to slavery was in gross violation of the laws of harmony, and the institution of multi-generational slavery utterly abhorrent. Barcoo decided that the discord which this would create could not be tolerated, and decided to take proper action...
The risings in New London itself were largely unsuccessful; the aristocrats there were exploiters, not fools, and defended themselves accordingly. In the rice plantations along the Tidewater, however, the indentured workers were numerous and their supervisors few. Around the Santee River delta and the Sea Islands, many indentured workers rose and fled inland, to the relative safety of the uplands. Even here, the majority remained, trapped by fear or by the weapons of the supervisors and planters, but a large number escaped to the hills...
Here, in the sanctuary of the Cavendia upcountry, a new people were born. A people with many forebears, who in their new lives among the hills were merged into a new race. The majority of their ancestors were of African descent, mostly Soninke, Mandingo, Gude and Mende, and others whose ancestry was unknown after the Middle Passage. With them came many Nuttana, including Barcoo himself who fulfilled his pledge to bring harmony to Cavendia. Gaels came, too, and a few other whites who had fled their undeserved indenture. The original escapees included a handful of enslaved Amerinds, who helped to lead the others to safety in the uplands. More Amerinds joined the escapees once they had reached the uplands, including many Cherokee, and some Creeks and Catawba [4].
These were the forebears of the Congxie, who in their new highland home created a new life for themselves. Formerly of many peoples, they were gradually shaped into one, building a new common heritage out of the best of what they had inherited, building a new language and fostering harmony, balance, and the teachings of the Good Man...
From the Cherokee and Creeks who had lived there before them and many of whom joined them, the Congxie learned the arts of hunting and farming in their new home. The Cherokee men taught them how to hunt the white-tailed deer and other animals of the uplands, both for food and for trade. The Cherokee and Creek women taught them how to farm maize, squash and beans in the manner of the New World. From the Nuttana, they learned how to farm the murnong which had been brought with them in the original uprising, and how to tame and cultivate the cornnarts which had grown wild in Cavendia since they were introduced with the first English settlers. From the Nuttana, too, they learned the divine truth of the Sevenfold Path [Plirism] and the arts of writing. From the Africans who had been conscripted into slavery, they learned the arts of blacksmithing, carpentry, and the works of the artisan...
The original Congxie were few in number, but they prospered and multiplied in the health of the uplands and in the balance they brought to their lives. Their numbers grew steadily, both from their own increase and from those who joined them: fleeing slaves, a few Englishmen who preferred that life [5], children of traders, and some Cherokee, Creeks and Catawba...
In 1722-1726, many of the Amerind peoples rose in noble but futile efforts to destroy the English colonists of Cavendia, in a conflict which would come to be called King George's War [6]. The Congxie stood aside from those efforts, recognising that such actions would only fail, and gave safe haven to some of the defeated warriors after the war.
After King George's War and the reprisals which the Cavendians brought afterward, the Congxie became the single largest community in the uplands. The Cherokee and the Creeks were tragically doomed after that war, which only hastened the effects of diseases such as smallpox, measles and Marnitja. Those who survived mostly fled further inland or south out of range of English reprisals, leaving the upcountry to be dominated by the Congxie [7]...
From their upland homes, the Congxie continued the practice of hunting deer which they had learned from their Amerind forebears. Deerskin provided a valuable trading commodity with Cavendia, both for use in the colony itself and for export to Europe. Buckskin provided the English with clothing directly, and for shaping into gloves, bookbinding, and myriad other uses. In exchange, the Congxie received weapons, powder, metal goods and other artifacts which were in short supply in their homeland. Unlike the Amerinds before them, the Congxie refused to practice the slave trade to pay for such weapons.
The deerskin trade required interaction between the Congxie and their former exploiters, but contact would have been inevitable even without that, thanks to the proximity of the two peoples. At first, Congxie often contested to free the slaves who were still being imported from Africa, but in time an unwritten pact developed, a new balance between the two peoples. Congxie would not actively solicit slaves to flee into their lands, while Englishmen would not actively pursue those few slaves who did escape on their own and sought refuge amongst the Congxie.
For a time, peaceful trade endured between the two peoples. The Congxie supplied not just deerskin, but cornnart grain and other foodstuffs that allowed the planters to exploit their land and workers more determinedly in their coastal rice and tea plantations. When the supply of deer started to fail, some Congxie hunters started to search further afield, even across the Alleghenies [8], in pursuit of fresh stock. Other Congxie turned to the cultivation of tobacco which found some value in the lowlands of Cavendia, being cheaper than importing kunduri or tobacco from further afield...
Inevitably, in time the balance was disturbed. The population of both peoples expanded, driven by the high fecundity and hybrid vigour of the Congxie on the one hand [9], and endless wealth from rice and tea encouraging ever more immigrants and slave trafficking on the other. Envious of the Congxie who grew ever more numerous in the uplands, the Cavendians in time began to encroach on their lands.
Some bold Congxie had already ventured west in pursuit of deerskin, with some occasional contacts with New Valois [New Orleans] and Barranca [Pensacola, Florida] to trade with the French and Spanish. With shortages of good land even amongst their own people, some pioneering Congxie pressed further west through the Alleghenies and began to establish settlements in the western uplands [ie upcountry Georgia and Alabama]...
After the treachery of the Cavendians and the massacres of the Lord Protector's War, the gradual westward migration turned into a flood. Most Congxie went yarra [trek or great journey], preferring to abandon the uncertain fate of their birthlands and press into lands still occupied by Cherokees, Creeks and Choctaws...
--
Taken from: "Fundamentals of Linguistics"
Cambridge University Press
Discussion Point: The Congxie Language
The nature of the Congxie language is endless argued. Is it a true multiple-ancestry language [mixed language], or a single language with multiple registers? A heavily modified creole of Nuttana? A well-developed pidgin with variations? In the study of linguistics, it is perhaps the most debated language in the world.
Classification of its vocabulary source languages is relatively straightforward. The single largest portion of its vocabulary comes from Nuttana (approximately 30%), although that feature itself adds to debate since Nuttana is also controversial as to whether it is a mixed-ancestry language or one with a primary language and a very influential substrate. A total of 40% of its vocabulary comes from various African languages; about one-quarter of the Congxie vocabulary comes from Mande languages (Mende, Soninke, Mandingo, and relatives) and about 15% from Gude. About one-fifth of its vocabulary comes from Amerind languages (Cherokee and Creek), while about 5% each derives from English and Gaelic.
Usage of this vocabulary, however, marks a more challenging question. One thing is certain: Congxie has multiple registers, different words with similar meanings which can be used in different contexts. In broad terms, words of Nuttana derivation are the most formal and high-class versions, associated in particular with religion and government, but with some notable exceptions. For many of these words, there are parallel words of the same or similar meaning, which are used in more informal contexts, and where the word roots are recognisably of a different derivation, such as where Mande or Gude word roots are used during everyday interaction.
For some meanings, there are up to four registers available to different people or for different situations, with derivations from recognisably different languages. One of the most noted, and most debated, is that in many situations women use a different vocabulary to men, and that most of the female register is derived from Cherokee or Creek words, with some inclusions from Gude or Gaelic.
In some of these registers, Congxie's usual grammatical rules also change. Much of the informal, everyday register of Congxie uses tones to convey changes in grammar, which is indicative of the contributions of Mande languages, while tones are almost wholly absent from other aspects of Congxie grammar or its other registers.
Congxie grammar is more complex than has traditionally been ascribed to creole or pidgin languages, which is one contributing factor to the debate about its classification. Its word order is relatively flexible, although not quite as free as some early linguistic studies classified it; the word order often depends both on what register is being used, and on which particular word which the speaker wishes to emphasise most, with the most emphasised word usually being spoken first. It can also have a complex clause structure with dependent clauses, and with verbs retaining different tenses; both features which are rarely found in pidgins or creoles derived from them.
Traces of its ancestral languages remain in its grammar, such as the tones used for the informal register, and the multiple pronoun structure and post-nominal articles of Nuttana which persist in the formal register...
While debate continues without complete resolution, the broadest consensus, supported by the historical record, is that Congxie did not emerge as a true pidgin. It developed from peoples who spoke multiple languages and taught them to their own children, who then learned these multiple registers and developed social codes on when to use them, rather than seeking to develop a common lingua franca.
--
The genetic and linguistic heritage of the Congxie is complex, a legacy both of the runaways who founded their society, and the social structure which developed in the uplands. The largest group of initial founders were escaped Africans, largely speakers of various Mande languages from historical Senegal and Sierra Lone, and a smaller group of Gude speakers from the historical Nigeria-Cameroon border. Virtually all of these runaways were still born in Africa, spoke their own disparate languages, and they had varying degrees of familiarity with English.
Accompanying the Africans were smaller numbers of escaping whites, mostly Irish, who spoke a mixture of Gaelic and English. The Nuttana were about as numerous as the whites, and while they were often fluent in English, they preferred their own language except when dealing with Cavendians. The remaining early Congxie were Amerindians (Cherokee, Creeks, Catawba and others), either escaped slaves or others fleeing the early epidemics.
While Africans formed by far the largest initial group, the heritage of the Congxie was rather more mixed. The runaways, Africans in particular, included a larger number of men than women. There were proportionately more women who were Nuttana, white or (especially) Amerindian, leading in turn to a larger proportion of their descendants having that heritage. The Nuttana also occupied higher status positions in the early years (chiefs and priests), and so had their pick of the limited number of women in the crucial first generations.
After the founding generation, the Congxie received a trickle of newcomers from outside, including escaping African slaves, mixed-race children of traders who were left to be raised among the Congxie, and refugee Amerindians. This added to the mixed heritage of the Congxie.
Natural selection also played a role in the progress over generations. Strong selection pressure favoured mixed-race ancestry (African-Aururian or white-Aururian) because this gave the best overall genetic resistance to the mixture of Old World and Aururian diseases. Natural selection also worked partly against those of pure African ancestry, since this involved a higher risk of sickle-cell anaemia. This would have been an advantage in the malarial lowlands, but was a negative factor in the Congxie uplands, and so was selected against.
In short, the Congxie are a very mixed-heritage people.
--
[1] At this point, Cavendia is, very approximately, the historical Province of Carolina (ie before the later division into North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia). As happened historically, its borders will change over time.
[2] Charles Cavendish is an allohistorical son of William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
[3] A similar trade existed in the early days of the historical Carolina and Georgia colonies, and generally involved some indigenous peoples raiding their neighbours and trafficking the captives to Europeans in exchange for weapons and other trade goods. The captives were then either forced into slavery locally, or traded to plantations in the Caribbean, Virginia, or Louisiana. A similar process, on a smaller scale due to lower population, operated in allohistorical Cavendia.
[4] One of the many things which Ledda glosses over here is that the arrival of the Congxie forefathers brought disaster for the indigenous peoples of the uplands. Not deliberately, for the most part – although there were clashes – but because the runaways included several asymptomatic carriers of diseases such as Marnitja and chickenpox, which swept through the upcountry with disastrous results. The Congxie accepted some of the survivors, particularly women since there was a distinct gender imbalance amongst the runaways, and because the women generally knew more of how to farm maize, squash, beans and other local crops.
[5] Even in historical North America, some of the various Native American peoples had people of mixed or European ancestry, from those Europeans who had fled the colonies for one reason or another and joined them. In allohistorical Cavendia, the Congxie fill that niche.
[6] King George's War is the closest allohistorical analogue to the historical Tuscarora and Yamasee Wars. Like those wars, it was started due to the encroachment and slave-raiding practices of European colonists. While the indigenous chiefs had some local victories, they were too badly outnumbered and outgunned to win in the end.
[7] The demise of the Cherokee and Creeks was in fact much more due to population pressure from the Congxie than Ledda admits. Disease certainly played a large part, but European reprisals were mostly limited to the first few years after the war. The scattered survivors were often pushed aside by the Congxie, and he also glosses over the raids for women which were a common part of early Congxie life, and the clashes over deer hunting which happened later.
[8] In allohistorical North America, Alleghenies is the generic name for the entire Appalachians ranges. The name Appalachians is reserved for the mountains between historical Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Maryland.
[9] The mixed heritage of the Congxie (African/European and Aururian) means that they are on the whole more resistant to both Old World and Aururian diseases, which is one reason that their population is growing even faster than that of lowland Cavendia. The other main reason for the spectacular growth is that being in the highlands, they are also far away from the main reservoirs of malaria, yellow fever and hookworm which were so devastating to lowland populations.
--
Thoughts?
A very interesting and intense chapter, the institution of open slavery was utterly heartbreaking and while I grasp why they could do little there I wish they could have, regardless, what was done and what followed and how it developed was very intriguing and made a great deal of sense!
Sorry there's not a lot I can add here, but the development of colonies, and the plantations and such all was very well handled, just depressing as well.
Really well done stuff on the language front though, I am not even close to an expert, but you clearly know your stuff, kudos!
Sorry there's not a lot I can add here, but the development of colonies, and the plantations and such all was very well handled, just depressing as well.
Really well done stuff on the language front though, I am not even close to an expert, but you clearly know your stuff, kudos!
bookwyrm
Doom of Public Libraries
- Location
- Wichita, Kansas
if the Congxie aren't very careful then they might in turn colonize much of the frontier, becoming in effect middlemen for the slavers as many mixed-race and creole peoples ending up doing in Latin America and Africa despite say the Colombian military phenomenon literally called "the Legion of Hell" of mixed-race cowboys and horsemen ready to fight for whichever side of the civil wars sees the most Spaniards driven before them and autonomy from the capital.
The presence of colonialism and slavery is not pleasant to describe, but in vein with the actual historical trends of the time, there was no real way to avoid it.
That said, on the whole slavery will turn out to be slightly less prevalent than it was in real history. This is due to a combination of trends, some of which are not yet apparent. Of the ones which have started to show up so far, one is that Aururian kunduri has reduced the demand for tobacco, which in turn has largely reduced the number of slaves in what were the tobacco-growing regions of British North America. Another is that the spread of Aururian crops, which are less labour-intensive, also have some effect in moderating demand for slavery (though not eliminating it).
On which hasn't showed up yet, but which is not spoilerific to mention, is that Aururian crops (mostly wattles) will turn out to be very easy and very useful to make honey from, with a little beekeeping. This in turn keeps honey more available as a sweetener, and reduces (though, again, does not eliminate) the demand for slave-grown sugar in Europe.
It's not all positive, of course - there will be some slavery in Aururia, for example - but on the whole there will be less slavery than in real history.
The Congxie have a religious objection to slavery, and avoiding it is part of their national myth. They aren't likely to turn to slavery or be middlemen for slavers. That said, nothing stops them being colonisers of their own in pushing Native American peoples out, although the Congxie population pressure will be much less than that of European-descendants population pressure.
Oh it definitely needed to be cover just really depressing to read about.
That makes a great deal of sense though, thank you for sharing!
Lands of Red and Gold #48: Steps in the Endless Dance
Lands of Red and Gold #48: Steps in the Endless Dance
"The Dutch see only two colours: white and wrong."
- Tjewarra ("strong heart"), Atjuntja activist
--
Jingella, it is called, in the language of the Gunnagal. Jingella: the Endless Dance. An eternal competition between the eight factions into which their society is divided. A contest which is ostensibly over the sport which they call football (involving rules complex enough to give the Byzantines headaches), but which in truth dominates their nation's economy, land use, justice and even the military.
The Dance is an endless struggle, a contest of balance and delicate alliance and counter-alliance. The people of Tjibarr have stepped through the Dance in similar form for centuries, since the fall of the Empire, and the origin of their contest is much more ancient.
Unlike the rules of football, the rules for the greater Dance are not written, but they are equally real. Each faction struggles for advantage, and the members of each faction compete amongst themselves. Everyone vies for gain, but no-one dares to let any one rival become too strong. Alliances are fickle things indeed if the participants think that the other members are growing too prominent.
In short, amongst a people who were familiar with the concept of balance of power centuries before Europeans articulated the concept, the Dance can include some very strange steps...
--
Black Cockatoo Day, Cycle of Bunya Nuts, 8th Year of His Majesty Guneewin the Third [9 April 1640]
Estates of Wemba of the Whites, near Tapiwal [Robinvale, Victoria]
Kingdom of Tjibarr
A chorus of voices, one speaking over another over another. Sounds of tables being thumped, men stamping their feet, or jumping up to look down on their neighbours. Fists being shaken to emphasise points.
In other words, a perfectly normal afternoon's discussion amongst the members of any faction. On the whole, quieter than usual for the Whites.
More than half of the leading notables of the Whites had come to Wemba's estates, which he saw as a personal triumph. Ostensibly, they had gathered to discuss the preparation for the coming football season. That topic would indeed be addressed, but it provided a convenient excuse for other debates. Ones with more import, though it would be a chore to get many of the Whites gathered here to admit the existence of anything more important than football.
The discussion continued for a time, the volume waxing and waning. No goblets had been broken yet, a sure sign that things were calm. Yet it could easily continue all afternoon, as debates were prone to do.
Wemba would happily let the notables argue far into the night, but it would be better if he made sure that the decision was reached before the notables had exhausted themselves in argument. He let his gaze wander around the chamber, lingering briefly on each of three other men, who met his eyes in turn. That done, he whispered an apology which went quite unnoticed in the din of emphatic discussion, and left the main chamber.
He made his way to one of his favourite rooms in his manor, a second-storey north-facing room. The shutters were open to let in the afternoon sun, and revealing a view of wealth-trees, yam-fields with dying vines, a few of the treasured kunduri-bushes, and beyond that his private ponds and the thin blue line of the Nyalananga [River Murray]. The room usually gave him ample daylight for reviewing correspondence or writing, or lately reading one or other of the marvellous paper books of the Raw Men. He would scarcely get time to read any of those today, though.
For form's sake, he picked up the most recent book which his compatriots in Jugara [Victor Harbor, South Australia] had acquired from the Nedlandj: an account by one of their sailors of his visits to the Atjuntja [1]. Nothing could be more valuable for understanding these Raw Men than reading their own accounts of how they perceived what they called the South Land. Today, though, the book merely provided an excuse for him to be here until his three invited guests made their apologies and joined him.
Wemba had time to reread a few lines of the sailor's account – apparently the Nedlandj found the Atjuntja's human sacrifice utterly detestable, showing that they were at least partially civilized – before someone clapped outside the door.
"Be welcome," he said.
Three men came into the room, as he had invited. Nundjalung, who despite his greying hair kept most of the muscular physique and towering height which had made him the best White footballer in the last two generations. Pila Dadi, greatest land controller [2] of the Whites, and the closest thing which their faction had to a first speaker. Kuryal, premier ironsmith and metalworker, whose reputation was recognised beyond the Whites; he was accorded respect even from their bitterest rivals among the factions [3].
"Somewhat quieter here," Pila Dadi said, with his characteristic half-smirk on his lips. "A better place for you to read, if you find the subject pressing."
"Knowledge is always valuable," Wemba said. "And a wise man-"
"Always makes use of time," Pila Dadi interjected. "So you've said before."
"Truth does not stale through repetition," Wemba said. "But with guests here, I'm sure we can find other things to discuss."
"Like your other guests downstairs?" Nundjalung asked.
Wemba said, "We could do well to anticipate their conclusions."
Pila Dadi said, "If they reach any. Beyond the basic truths which any man of vision can see, answers are not so easy to find."
Wemba said, "Indeed. These Raw Men will change the world. We must struggle to accommodate them."
"They will replace the Islanders," Kuryal said. "The Islanders' strength has always been seafaring; now they are replaced."
"Now the Islanders have rivals," Pila Dadi said. "Very strong rivals. Perhaps they will find an accommodation, or perhaps they will fall."
"Seafaring is only part of the knowledge the Raw Men bring," Nundjalung said.
"Truth," Wemba said. "Much knowledge, much strength. We must ensure that the Raw Men do not become too strong."
Pila Dadi said, "The Islanders dominated too much for too long; these Raw Men could be much worse."
"Fortunately, the Raw Men have divisions of their own," Wemba said.
Kuryal said, "We must foster those divisions."
"Such has begun," Pila Dadi said. "We trade with the Nedlandj, the Yadji have started to recruit among the Inglidj, and those Pannidj who raided in the west may yet return. All this is good, but we must make sure that these divisions endure, or too much could fall to ruin."
Nundjalung said, "And give them no reason to combine against us."
Wemba said, "So, the situation is obvious-"
"But the solution is not," Pila Dadi finished. "How should we act, now that the Raw Men are part of the Dance, wittingly or not?"
"We already asked that downstairs. And got about a hundred opinions offering a thousand answers so far," Nundjalung said, his lips crinkling.
"True answers are never found easily," Wemba said. "But we must learn their knowledge and their ways, as quickly as we can."
"As you have begun," said Pila Dadi, with a nod to the book at Wemba's side. "All knowledge of these Raw Men will be useful, but most of all their weapons, those muskets."
Three pairs of eyes turned to Kuryal. The ironsmith jerked his head up and to the left, as if snapping at an unseen mosquito: the ancient gesture of frustration. "Before I saw these muskets and steel, I thought I knew as much of metalworking as any man living. Now... I am studying them, but even with all the resources of the Whites at my disposal, I can promise nothing."
"Even with the prisoners to advise?" Nundjalung said.
"They know little, or pretend to know little," Kuryal said.
"Think you they be truthful?" Pila Dadi said.
Wemba smiled briefly at the archaic phrasing of the question – an allusion to the Tales of Lopitja – then said, "Perhaps. Our captives are soldiers and horse riders, not ironsmiths. I wear mail at need, but could not tell you how it is made."
"If we cannot learn for ourselves, we must find those who can teach," Pila Dadi said.
"It's been tried," Wemba said. "The Atjuntja have asked repeatedly, as have the Islanders. Their... association [Company] refuses."
"We can ask harder," Pila Dadi said. "And their association must realise that their Dance has changed now, too; they have rivals here. Let them fear that if they do not teach us, the Inglidj or Pannidj will."
"Or we can buy more examples of their craft to study," Nundjalung said.
"If that will help," Wemba said. "Many times, craft knowledge is only in the heart of the maker."
"Or buy their muskets and gunpowder for our soldiers," Kuryal said.
"That could be done," Wemba said. "They value much-"
"Much of what is commonplace to us, they greatly desire," Pila Dadi said. "Much of what they would sell to us is of little value to them, but much worth to us. Such is trade."
Wemba said, "We would do well to make what they trade commonplace to us, where we can."
"As they will try with us," Nundjalung said.
Kuryal said, "Or trade with both Nedlandj and Inglidj, so that they cannot set their own price."
Pila Dadi laughed. "Truth for our own folk, too. Think you not that the factions will bid against each other?"
"Unless we make a stronger alliance," Nundjalung said.
"An association together could trade better, truth," said Wemba. "If it holds together."
"If trust can be found for us," Pila Dadi said. "Our capture of the renegade Nedlandj already turns many suspicious eyes on us."
"Fear for what we might do with those Raw Men, not what we have done," Nundjalung said. "Only frustration has come from them, so far."
"Any threat is best faced early," Kuryal said.
"He who cannot plan for tomorrow will fall the day after," Pila Dadi said.
"So let us share some of the knowledge... with chosen factions," Wemba said.
"Share what we do not have?" Nundjalung said.
"We have horses," Wemba said.
That comment produced a long moment of silence, so rare amongst a meeting of Gunnagal. The guests thought through the implications quickly enough, and as usual, spoke even before they finished thinking.
"Horses which have already bred-" Kuryal said.
"And carry a man faster than he can run," Pila Dadi said.
"Or news," Nundjalung added.
"Horses which any man of sense can see will change the world," Wemba said.
"Which for now we control," Pila Dadi said.
"Though others might trade for," Kuryal said.
"Truth," Pila Dadi said. "No monopoly will hold."
"So best to choose to end it on our own terms," Wemba said.
"Offer some new-bred horses to other factions-" Kuryal said.
"And secure cooperation over trade with the Raw Men in exchange," Pila Dadi said.
"Provided we are not too obvious, naturally," Wemba said.
"Quite," said Kuryal, with a shake of his head.
"How many other factions?" Nundjalung said.
"Two: Blues and Greens," Wemba said.
Pila Dadi laughed at once, catching the meaning instantly. It took Kuryal's face a moment longer to show he understood. Nundjalung didn't, though.
Wemba said, "If ever Blues and Greens stand together..."
Belatedly, Nundjalung grasped the meaning, and finished the old aphorism, "Then the king will tremble."
All factions were rivals, and some had longstanding hatreds, but the mistrust between Blue and Greens had always been the bitterest. Rare indeed had been times when they cooperated without all the factions uniting. Which made them perfect partners for quiet cooperation over trade, if offers of horses could secure their support.
"Very good, if it works," Pila Dadi said. "Other options exist, though, as our friends downstairs will be sure to tell us."
That provoked rather more heated discussion about which factions should be sought for cooperation. Wemba had expected nothing less, and settled in for a long, animated discussion of how best to secure the future of the Whites.
Hours later, with the discussion carried as far as it could be with only four speakers present, they adjourned. The task of convincing the rest of the faction leaders would have to remain until the next day.
After his guests were safely retired to the many rooms where they could sleep, Wemba returned to his favoured room on the second floor. A tinkling of the brass bell brought a servant hurrying to answer his bidding. "Have Nuyts brought to me, along with... two guards."
Waiting took some time, since the servant would need to find his way through the night, out of the main manor house and over the hill to the smaller complex of rooms where Nuyts and his fellow Nedlandj renegades were housed.
While he waited, the flickering lamplight was not the brightest, but still enough for Wemba to read more of the Nedlandj account of visiting the Atjuntja. He laughed to himself a couple of times, and nodded in disbelief. Stins, it appeared, expected that every proper-thinking person should think like a Raw Man, in their beliefs and in everything else.
"Fool," he muttered. Men thought differently from each other. Understanding how other people thought, why they acted as they did, was an integral part of the Eternal Dance. Surely not all Raw Men were stupid enough to believe the same as Stins? Not all of them could be fools; their knowledge alone proved that.
Nuyts entered the room, looking about as unhappy as he always did, with two guards following him.
Wemba rosed and bowed in the Nedlandj style. The greeting, though, while in the Dutch language, was of the Gunnagalic form. "Be welcome, my guest."
Nuyts frowned; it was an expression his long Raw Man face seemed built for. "Your prisoner, you mean."
"My guest," Wemba said mildly.
"A guest held at swordpoint," Nuyts said.
"The guards are for the protection of me and mine, not your imprisonment," Wemba said. They had had similar conversations before, but Nuyts refused to believe. "You Dutchmen can be dangerous."
"So they would just let me leave?" Nuyts said, sarcasm dripping from every word.
"If you like, provided that you leave alone – no way to be sure what you Dutchmen will do as a group – and do not try to take any of your horses or other goods with you," Wemba said.
"I don't believe you," Nuyts said.
"Believe it," Wemba said calmly. "If you wish to leave, under those conditions, the guards will not stop you."
"Then, first thing tomorrow, I will-"
"But where will you go?" Wemba said.
"Anywhere but here," Nuyts said.
"Where, exactly?" Wemba said.
"I-"
"Any other men of Tjibarr would return you to us rather than give you shelter; the king and council have agreed that you are our guest. If you flee beyond our borders, the Yadji have sworn to kill you. Gutjanal and Yigutji [the other kingdoms along the *Murray] are too weak; they would hand you over to the Yadji rather than risk angering them."
"If I reach the sea-"
"You will do what? Your own Company has declared you a traitor. The Inglidj have promised to return you and your folk to the Yadji, if they find you. The Islanders would find you a valuable prize to trade; their only concern would be whether the Nedlandj or Yadji would offer more for you."
"I could go-"
"Where? Into the desert? I suppose you could find shelter there, if the savages who live there don't kill you. They won't feed you, though. Do you know how to survive in the red heart?"
Nuyts shook his head.
"I thought not. You could try to go east, and cross the mountains. If the half-civilized savages on the other side don't kill you on sight, they might show you to a Maori ship to take you to Aotearoa. Perhaps you will be fortunate, and not have the Maori eat you. Then you could live among people who know less than we do, with no iron, no physicians, no kunduri, no spices worth naming, and almost as easy to anger as a Yadji. Would you prefer that?"
Nuyts looked down.
"No, the truth is that only among the Gunnagal is your life safe. And you must help us as much as you can, to stop the Yadji learning from the Inglidj, and invading us to force your return."
--
Pieter Nuyts's ill-fated attempt to conquer the Yadji (1636-1638) dealt a disastrous blow to the Dutch East India Company's (VOC) ambition to maintain a monopoly on trade with the South Land. The English East India Company (EIC) had already despatched William Baffin on an exploration mission to this new land; now their English rivals had been given a vital opening to exploit.
The defeat of Nuyts's adventurism led the new Yadji Regent, Gunya, to declare the Dutch anathema within his Empire, to be killed on sight. The VOC made a determined effort to persuade Gunya Yadji to change his mind. Their governor at Fort Nassau [Fremantle] sent emissaries to the Yadji realm to try to convince them that Nuyts had acted independently and without authority.
En route, some of the friendlier Nangu tried to warn the emissaries not to bother, that as far as the Yadji were concerned, the actions of the subjects were the actions of the ruler. Perhaps unwisely, perhaps out of a sense of duty, the emissaries pressed on.
Gunya Yadji is reported to have told the emissaries, "Tjibarr has tried to tell us such things before, striking against us and then denying that they had done so. We will not believe them, nor do I believe you. Your words are lies because your adventure failed, nothing more."
Gunya had all but one of the emissaries executed, with the last sent back to deliver the message to the VOC. He also extended official hospitality to the EIC, giving them permission to set up two trading outposts on Yadji territory. One could be established in the existing harbour of Gurndjit [Portland, Victoria], while the other was to be built somewhere in the wide harbour which the Yadji called the Little Sea [Port Phillip Bay, Victoria].
On 5 May 1642, the VOC responded with a raid on Gurndjit, targeting the half-built English fortifications there. The raid caused some minor damage, but due to a stroke of ill luck for the VOC, most English ships were further east in the Little Sea establishing a new fort there, so those ships survived unscathed.
The undeclared war between the VOC and the EIC had begun...
--
[1] This is a book by Pieter Stins, called ""My Life in the South-Land". It is an account of his experiences as a crew member in de Houtman's first two voyages to Aururia.
[2] In Tjibarr, all rural land is notionally under the ownership of the monarch; what is granted to each person – usually noble – is the right to use that land. In practice, land ownership is one of the great prizes in the Dance, with intra- and inter-factional intrigues over its use being rife, as people try to outmanoeuvre each other for control of the most productive lands.
[3] Blacksmiths in Aururia have semi-sacred status and immense popular respect. This is a legacy of how the craft first developed in the Atjuntja, where the first blacksmiths developed a reputation for great skill and for being touched by the kuru (spirits). It has continued when blacksmiths were first recruited to travel east by the Nangu. Among the Atjuntja, even the greatest of nobles make requests of master blacksmiths, rather than orders to attend. Their social status is not quite as high in Tjibarr, but even there, a reputation as a master smith can transcend factional lines.
--
Thoughts?
"The Dutch see only two colours: white and wrong."
- Tjewarra ("strong heart"), Atjuntja activist
--
Jingella, it is called, in the language of the Gunnagal. Jingella: the Endless Dance. An eternal competition between the eight factions into which their society is divided. A contest which is ostensibly over the sport which they call football (involving rules complex enough to give the Byzantines headaches), but which in truth dominates their nation's economy, land use, justice and even the military.
The Dance is an endless struggle, a contest of balance and delicate alliance and counter-alliance. The people of Tjibarr have stepped through the Dance in similar form for centuries, since the fall of the Empire, and the origin of their contest is much more ancient.
Unlike the rules of football, the rules for the greater Dance are not written, but they are equally real. Each faction struggles for advantage, and the members of each faction compete amongst themselves. Everyone vies for gain, but no-one dares to let any one rival become too strong. Alliances are fickle things indeed if the participants think that the other members are growing too prominent.
In short, amongst a people who were familiar with the concept of balance of power centuries before Europeans articulated the concept, the Dance can include some very strange steps...
--
Black Cockatoo Day, Cycle of Bunya Nuts, 8th Year of His Majesty Guneewin the Third [9 April 1640]
Estates of Wemba of the Whites, near Tapiwal [Robinvale, Victoria]
Kingdom of Tjibarr
A chorus of voices, one speaking over another over another. Sounds of tables being thumped, men stamping their feet, or jumping up to look down on their neighbours. Fists being shaken to emphasise points.
In other words, a perfectly normal afternoon's discussion amongst the members of any faction. On the whole, quieter than usual for the Whites.
More than half of the leading notables of the Whites had come to Wemba's estates, which he saw as a personal triumph. Ostensibly, they had gathered to discuss the preparation for the coming football season. That topic would indeed be addressed, but it provided a convenient excuse for other debates. Ones with more import, though it would be a chore to get many of the Whites gathered here to admit the existence of anything more important than football.
The discussion continued for a time, the volume waxing and waning. No goblets had been broken yet, a sure sign that things were calm. Yet it could easily continue all afternoon, as debates were prone to do.
Wemba would happily let the notables argue far into the night, but it would be better if he made sure that the decision was reached before the notables had exhausted themselves in argument. He let his gaze wander around the chamber, lingering briefly on each of three other men, who met his eyes in turn. That done, he whispered an apology which went quite unnoticed in the din of emphatic discussion, and left the main chamber.
He made his way to one of his favourite rooms in his manor, a second-storey north-facing room. The shutters were open to let in the afternoon sun, and revealing a view of wealth-trees, yam-fields with dying vines, a few of the treasured kunduri-bushes, and beyond that his private ponds and the thin blue line of the Nyalananga [River Murray]. The room usually gave him ample daylight for reviewing correspondence or writing, or lately reading one or other of the marvellous paper books of the Raw Men. He would scarcely get time to read any of those today, though.
For form's sake, he picked up the most recent book which his compatriots in Jugara [Victor Harbor, South Australia] had acquired from the Nedlandj: an account by one of their sailors of his visits to the Atjuntja [1]. Nothing could be more valuable for understanding these Raw Men than reading their own accounts of how they perceived what they called the South Land. Today, though, the book merely provided an excuse for him to be here until his three invited guests made their apologies and joined him.
Wemba had time to reread a few lines of the sailor's account – apparently the Nedlandj found the Atjuntja's human sacrifice utterly detestable, showing that they were at least partially civilized – before someone clapped outside the door.
"Be welcome," he said.
Three men came into the room, as he had invited. Nundjalung, who despite his greying hair kept most of the muscular physique and towering height which had made him the best White footballer in the last two generations. Pila Dadi, greatest land controller [2] of the Whites, and the closest thing which their faction had to a first speaker. Kuryal, premier ironsmith and metalworker, whose reputation was recognised beyond the Whites; he was accorded respect even from their bitterest rivals among the factions [3].
"Somewhat quieter here," Pila Dadi said, with his characteristic half-smirk on his lips. "A better place for you to read, if you find the subject pressing."
"Knowledge is always valuable," Wemba said. "And a wise man-"
"Always makes use of time," Pila Dadi interjected. "So you've said before."
"Truth does not stale through repetition," Wemba said. "But with guests here, I'm sure we can find other things to discuss."
"Like your other guests downstairs?" Nundjalung asked.
Wemba said, "We could do well to anticipate their conclusions."
Pila Dadi said, "If they reach any. Beyond the basic truths which any man of vision can see, answers are not so easy to find."
Wemba said, "Indeed. These Raw Men will change the world. We must struggle to accommodate them."
"They will replace the Islanders," Kuryal said. "The Islanders' strength has always been seafaring; now they are replaced."
"Now the Islanders have rivals," Pila Dadi said. "Very strong rivals. Perhaps they will find an accommodation, or perhaps they will fall."
"Seafaring is only part of the knowledge the Raw Men bring," Nundjalung said.
"Truth," Wemba said. "Much knowledge, much strength. We must ensure that the Raw Men do not become too strong."
Pila Dadi said, "The Islanders dominated too much for too long; these Raw Men could be much worse."
"Fortunately, the Raw Men have divisions of their own," Wemba said.
Kuryal said, "We must foster those divisions."
"Such has begun," Pila Dadi said. "We trade with the Nedlandj, the Yadji have started to recruit among the Inglidj, and those Pannidj who raided in the west may yet return. All this is good, but we must make sure that these divisions endure, or too much could fall to ruin."
Nundjalung said, "And give them no reason to combine against us."
Wemba said, "So, the situation is obvious-"
"But the solution is not," Pila Dadi finished. "How should we act, now that the Raw Men are part of the Dance, wittingly or not?"
"We already asked that downstairs. And got about a hundred opinions offering a thousand answers so far," Nundjalung said, his lips crinkling.
"True answers are never found easily," Wemba said. "But we must learn their knowledge and their ways, as quickly as we can."
"As you have begun," said Pila Dadi, with a nod to the book at Wemba's side. "All knowledge of these Raw Men will be useful, but most of all their weapons, those muskets."
Three pairs of eyes turned to Kuryal. The ironsmith jerked his head up and to the left, as if snapping at an unseen mosquito: the ancient gesture of frustration. "Before I saw these muskets and steel, I thought I knew as much of metalworking as any man living. Now... I am studying them, but even with all the resources of the Whites at my disposal, I can promise nothing."
"Even with the prisoners to advise?" Nundjalung said.
"They know little, or pretend to know little," Kuryal said.
"Think you they be truthful?" Pila Dadi said.
Wemba smiled briefly at the archaic phrasing of the question – an allusion to the Tales of Lopitja – then said, "Perhaps. Our captives are soldiers and horse riders, not ironsmiths. I wear mail at need, but could not tell you how it is made."
"If we cannot learn for ourselves, we must find those who can teach," Pila Dadi said.
"It's been tried," Wemba said. "The Atjuntja have asked repeatedly, as have the Islanders. Their... association [Company] refuses."
"We can ask harder," Pila Dadi said. "And their association must realise that their Dance has changed now, too; they have rivals here. Let them fear that if they do not teach us, the Inglidj or Pannidj will."
"Or we can buy more examples of their craft to study," Nundjalung said.
"If that will help," Wemba said. "Many times, craft knowledge is only in the heart of the maker."
"Or buy their muskets and gunpowder for our soldiers," Kuryal said.
"That could be done," Wemba said. "They value much-"
"Much of what is commonplace to us, they greatly desire," Pila Dadi said. "Much of what they would sell to us is of little value to them, but much worth to us. Such is trade."
Wemba said, "We would do well to make what they trade commonplace to us, where we can."
"As they will try with us," Nundjalung said.
Kuryal said, "Or trade with both Nedlandj and Inglidj, so that they cannot set their own price."
Pila Dadi laughed. "Truth for our own folk, too. Think you not that the factions will bid against each other?"
"Unless we make a stronger alliance," Nundjalung said.
"An association together could trade better, truth," said Wemba. "If it holds together."
"If trust can be found for us," Pila Dadi said. "Our capture of the renegade Nedlandj already turns many suspicious eyes on us."
"Fear for what we might do with those Raw Men, not what we have done," Nundjalung said. "Only frustration has come from them, so far."
"Any threat is best faced early," Kuryal said.
"He who cannot plan for tomorrow will fall the day after," Pila Dadi said.
"So let us share some of the knowledge... with chosen factions," Wemba said.
"Share what we do not have?" Nundjalung said.
"We have horses," Wemba said.
That comment produced a long moment of silence, so rare amongst a meeting of Gunnagal. The guests thought through the implications quickly enough, and as usual, spoke even before they finished thinking.
"Horses which have already bred-" Kuryal said.
"And carry a man faster than he can run," Pila Dadi said.
"Or news," Nundjalung added.
"Horses which any man of sense can see will change the world," Wemba said.
"Which for now we control," Pila Dadi said.
"Though others might trade for," Kuryal said.
"Truth," Pila Dadi said. "No monopoly will hold."
"So best to choose to end it on our own terms," Wemba said.
"Offer some new-bred horses to other factions-" Kuryal said.
"And secure cooperation over trade with the Raw Men in exchange," Pila Dadi said.
"Provided we are not too obvious, naturally," Wemba said.
"Quite," said Kuryal, with a shake of his head.
"How many other factions?" Nundjalung said.
"Two: Blues and Greens," Wemba said.
Pila Dadi laughed at once, catching the meaning instantly. It took Kuryal's face a moment longer to show he understood. Nundjalung didn't, though.
Wemba said, "If ever Blues and Greens stand together..."
Belatedly, Nundjalung grasped the meaning, and finished the old aphorism, "Then the king will tremble."
All factions were rivals, and some had longstanding hatreds, but the mistrust between Blue and Greens had always been the bitterest. Rare indeed had been times when they cooperated without all the factions uniting. Which made them perfect partners for quiet cooperation over trade, if offers of horses could secure their support.
"Very good, if it works," Pila Dadi said. "Other options exist, though, as our friends downstairs will be sure to tell us."
That provoked rather more heated discussion about which factions should be sought for cooperation. Wemba had expected nothing less, and settled in for a long, animated discussion of how best to secure the future of the Whites.
Hours later, with the discussion carried as far as it could be with only four speakers present, they adjourned. The task of convincing the rest of the faction leaders would have to remain until the next day.
After his guests were safely retired to the many rooms where they could sleep, Wemba returned to his favoured room on the second floor. A tinkling of the brass bell brought a servant hurrying to answer his bidding. "Have Nuyts brought to me, along with... two guards."
Waiting took some time, since the servant would need to find his way through the night, out of the main manor house and over the hill to the smaller complex of rooms where Nuyts and his fellow Nedlandj renegades were housed.
While he waited, the flickering lamplight was not the brightest, but still enough for Wemba to read more of the Nedlandj account of visiting the Atjuntja. He laughed to himself a couple of times, and nodded in disbelief. Stins, it appeared, expected that every proper-thinking person should think like a Raw Man, in their beliefs and in everything else.
"Fool," he muttered. Men thought differently from each other. Understanding how other people thought, why they acted as they did, was an integral part of the Eternal Dance. Surely not all Raw Men were stupid enough to believe the same as Stins? Not all of them could be fools; their knowledge alone proved that.
Nuyts entered the room, looking about as unhappy as he always did, with two guards following him.
Wemba rosed and bowed in the Nedlandj style. The greeting, though, while in the Dutch language, was of the Gunnagalic form. "Be welcome, my guest."
Nuyts frowned; it was an expression his long Raw Man face seemed built for. "Your prisoner, you mean."
"My guest," Wemba said mildly.
"A guest held at swordpoint," Nuyts said.
"The guards are for the protection of me and mine, not your imprisonment," Wemba said. They had had similar conversations before, but Nuyts refused to believe. "You Dutchmen can be dangerous."
"So they would just let me leave?" Nuyts said, sarcasm dripping from every word.
"If you like, provided that you leave alone – no way to be sure what you Dutchmen will do as a group – and do not try to take any of your horses or other goods with you," Wemba said.
"I don't believe you," Nuyts said.
"Believe it," Wemba said calmly. "If you wish to leave, under those conditions, the guards will not stop you."
"Then, first thing tomorrow, I will-"
"But where will you go?" Wemba said.
"Anywhere but here," Nuyts said.
"Where, exactly?" Wemba said.
"I-"
"Any other men of Tjibarr would return you to us rather than give you shelter; the king and council have agreed that you are our guest. If you flee beyond our borders, the Yadji have sworn to kill you. Gutjanal and Yigutji [the other kingdoms along the *Murray] are too weak; they would hand you over to the Yadji rather than risk angering them."
"If I reach the sea-"
"You will do what? Your own Company has declared you a traitor. The Inglidj have promised to return you and your folk to the Yadji, if they find you. The Islanders would find you a valuable prize to trade; their only concern would be whether the Nedlandj or Yadji would offer more for you."
"I could go-"
"Where? Into the desert? I suppose you could find shelter there, if the savages who live there don't kill you. They won't feed you, though. Do you know how to survive in the red heart?"
Nuyts shook his head.
"I thought not. You could try to go east, and cross the mountains. If the half-civilized savages on the other side don't kill you on sight, they might show you to a Maori ship to take you to Aotearoa. Perhaps you will be fortunate, and not have the Maori eat you. Then you could live among people who know less than we do, with no iron, no physicians, no kunduri, no spices worth naming, and almost as easy to anger as a Yadji. Would you prefer that?"
Nuyts looked down.
"No, the truth is that only among the Gunnagal is your life safe. And you must help us as much as you can, to stop the Yadji learning from the Inglidj, and invading us to force your return."
--
Pieter Nuyts's ill-fated attempt to conquer the Yadji (1636-1638) dealt a disastrous blow to the Dutch East India Company's (VOC) ambition to maintain a monopoly on trade with the South Land. The English East India Company (EIC) had already despatched William Baffin on an exploration mission to this new land; now their English rivals had been given a vital opening to exploit.
The defeat of Nuyts's adventurism led the new Yadji Regent, Gunya, to declare the Dutch anathema within his Empire, to be killed on sight. The VOC made a determined effort to persuade Gunya Yadji to change his mind. Their governor at Fort Nassau [Fremantle] sent emissaries to the Yadji realm to try to convince them that Nuyts had acted independently and without authority.
En route, some of the friendlier Nangu tried to warn the emissaries not to bother, that as far as the Yadji were concerned, the actions of the subjects were the actions of the ruler. Perhaps unwisely, perhaps out of a sense of duty, the emissaries pressed on.
Gunya Yadji is reported to have told the emissaries, "Tjibarr has tried to tell us such things before, striking against us and then denying that they had done so. We will not believe them, nor do I believe you. Your words are lies because your adventure failed, nothing more."
Gunya had all but one of the emissaries executed, with the last sent back to deliver the message to the VOC. He also extended official hospitality to the EIC, giving them permission to set up two trading outposts on Yadji territory. One could be established in the existing harbour of Gurndjit [Portland, Victoria], while the other was to be built somewhere in the wide harbour which the Yadji called the Little Sea [Port Phillip Bay, Victoria].
On 5 May 1642, the VOC responded with a raid on Gurndjit, targeting the half-built English fortifications there. The raid caused some minor damage, but due to a stroke of ill luck for the VOC, most English ships were further east in the Little Sea establishing a new fort there, so those ships survived unscathed.
The undeclared war between the VOC and the EIC had begun...
--
[1] This is a book by Pieter Stins, called ""My Life in the South-Land". It is an account of his experiences as a crew member in de Houtman's first two voyages to Aururia.
[2] In Tjibarr, all rural land is notionally under the ownership of the monarch; what is granted to each person – usually noble – is the right to use that land. In practice, land ownership is one of the great prizes in the Dance, with intra- and inter-factional intrigues over its use being rife, as people try to outmanoeuvre each other for control of the most productive lands.
[3] Blacksmiths in Aururia have semi-sacred status and immense popular respect. This is a legacy of how the craft first developed in the Atjuntja, where the first blacksmiths developed a reputation for great skill and for being touched by the kuru (spirits). It has continued when blacksmiths were first recruited to travel east by the Nangu. Among the Atjuntja, even the greatest of nobles make requests of master blacksmiths, rather than orders to attend. Their social status is not quite as high in Tjibarr, but even there, a reputation as a master smith can transcend factional lines.
--
Thoughts?
Baron Steakpuncher
Hopeful Idealist
- Location
- Australia
If that quote is anything to go by, the Dutch will stay in the land of the Atjunta for a long time.
OK Wemba is flipping cool, so calm yet witty, able to smoothly and sharply offer point and counter points with every bit of info he knows on the tip of his tongue, yet humble and realistic enough to be aware of what he does not know.
In a point of fact, he is really flipping cool and an absolute joy to read. Watching him debate with his fellows was enthralling, seeing him pick apart Nuyts was frankly, a pleasure and his take on Stins was insightful, accurate and cathartic to read.
Seriously, this was a super engaging segment, not just for the characters though they were great, but the sheer scale of the world building, plotting and politicking on display, it felt deep and insightful carrying the weight and scale of what was being discussed very effectively, awesome post!
In a point of fact, he is really flipping cool and an absolute joy to read. Watching him debate with his fellows was enthralling, seeing him pick apart Nuyts was frankly, a pleasure and his take on Stins was insightful, accurate and cathartic to read.
Very well spoken as always and frankly, pretty much on the money.
Seriously, this was a super engaging segment, not just for the characters though they were great, but the sheer scale of the world building, plotting and politicking on display, it felt deep and insightful carrying the weight and scale of what was being discussed very effectively, awesome post!
bookwyrm
Doom of Public Libraries
- Location
- Wichita, Kansas
Wemba may be of the best Tijibarr has to offer, like the football version of Cardinal Richelieu, but that won't stop oppositional systems like the factions or yes Europe's centuries of glory-obsessed princes from sometimes bringing out the most incredible foolishness and incompetence. Much like how the private regiments and personal fiefdoms made many European efforts in the 17th and 18th centuries a loose collection of egotistical co-belligerents, factional based mustering of resources and troops under arms seems like they would often snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
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At their best , certainly. The best of the Tjibarri are very, very good when it comes to diplomacy and balance of power.
Of course, no amount of diplomacy can help if a people don't have enough military technology to hold off an opponent... but it may well help in finding another opponent for the opponent.
Or it could be from an Atjuntja activist who lives somewhere under Dutch influence other than the Atjuntja lands, either as a migrant or a descendant of migrants.
Thanks. I always have fun writing from Wemba's perspective; he just has a fun take on the world.
Glad you like it. Wemba remains one of my favourite characters in LoRaG.
The way I picture the factional system here is that complete fools or incompetents do not get into positions of strong power within their own faction. Competition for primacy is intense, and undermining opponents within one's own faction is understood to be part of the process.
The greatest danger is not the complete fool, but the big ego. Not too dissimilar to private European regiments and fiefdoms, in that sense, in that personal rivalries or hatreds can sometimes lead to people who are meant to be on the same side not really working out. This danger is moderated in that the Tjibarri have a long tradition of competition amongst themselves but moderating that when faced with outside opponents, and a generally long-term view which means that they can sometimes look past immediate hatreds. Of course, "sometimes" is not always...
The other big danger is social disruption from other causes (European plagues, say) meaning that less experienced and/or competent people get to the top simply because most of those in the way have died earlier than usual. That could lead to the factionalism undermining the other part of the usual social fabric, ie cooperation when necessary.
Lands of Red and Gold #49: What Becomes of Boldness
Lands of Red and Gold #49: What Becomes of Boldness
"Japanese ships are strictly forbidden to leave for foreign countries.
No Japanese is permitted to go abroad. If there is anyone who attempts to do so secretly, he must be executed. The ship so involved must be impounded and its owner arrested, and the matter must be reported to the higher authority.
If any Japanese returns from overseas after residing there, he must be put to death."
- Tokugawa Iemitsu (r. 1623-1650), Edicts 1, 2 and 3, 1645 [1].
--
From: "The Century: History's 100 Most Important People"
By Appian Harris
82. Kumgatu (Nangu explorer and founding father of the Nuttana)
The reputation of Kumgatu is, if anything, greater than that of the man's achievements. Known and celebrated as a cultural hero on three continents, his deeds have inevitably become mythologised to a degree which the man himself likely would not recognise. Yet even stripping out the fiction, what remains is impressive enough.
He was born Werringi Wolalta on the Island, one of many adventuresome Nangu youths who took up life as a sailor and trader. He died known as Kumgatu, first citizen of Wujal [Cooktown, Queensland], leading man of the Nuttana, a man with wealth and glory unparalleled amongst his people...
Kumgatu's significance in global history stems from his three great voyages of exploration and trade, and from his role in setting up the pact of cooperation between the first four Nangu bloodlines (later expanded to six) in the association which would become known as the Nuttana.
To his contemporaries, Kumgatu's main achievement was his first great voyage, his circumnavigation of Aururia in 1630-1631. This voyage was the one which earned him the sobriquet which means 'the Bold', which in time he adopted as his proper name. His first voyage was revered as a true voyage into the unknown, for he lacked any proper knowledge of what he would find. Kumgatu's two later voyages, while celebrated, were conducted with at least some guidance from Dutch and English sources, and so were not viewed as requiring the same courage.
History, though, judges Kumgatu's achievements differently. His circumnavigation of Aururia was a significant feat, but it was his later voyages into Asia which would have more lasting significance...
--
In the year which Europeans call the Year of Our Lord 1644, or the year which in the most widespread native calendar is called the 405th Year of Harmony, a new town is emerging. A thriving town, near the mouth of a river where ten years before the only buildings were the animal-hide shelters of the hunters who had wandered this land since time immemorial.
Here, near the northernmost extremity of a land which a visiting English explorer has recently christened Aururia, is an outpost which the Islanders have named Wujal. The town was founded as a ship repair port and victualling station, intended as a mere outpost worked by a handful of Islanders and a larger number of contracted Kiyungu farmers. In a mere decade, Wujal has grown into something much larger.
Wujal nestles on the southern bank of the River Bidgee [Endeavour River], near the mouth of the river. Here is a safe harbour for those who have learned to navigate the sandbar at the river's mouth, and here it is that the Islanders have come. A few of them, at first, to create a place where ships can resupply or seek shelter at need. Many more have come, though, fleeing the Island and all its problems.
The buildings here have the impermanence of anything which has been constructed on the coast of a cyclone-prone region, balanced against a sense of purpose which shows that those who live here now intend far more than simply to grow kumara [sweet potato] and repair sails on passing ships.
Houses here are built solidly and decorated ostentatiously, marking an attitude which is common to both the Nangu and Kiyungu who make up the large majority of Wujal's inhabitants. The two most ostentatious houses of all are those of the elders of the Tjula and Wolalta bloodlines, who have made Wujal their permanent home.
Here, too, are buildings which show why Wujal is growing. The dockyard is not just used to repair visiting ships, but for shipbuilding. Warehouses nearby hold goods brought from both further south in Aururia, and from the Old World. The buildings of other craftsmen cluster near the dockyard: scribes, weavers, potters, and, most prized of all, blacksmiths.
Wujal hosts four blacksmiths, plus a growing number of apprentices. These are the first iron-workers to dwell among the Kiyungu; none of the master smiths are born on the east coast of the continent. Three of them are master ironsmiths from the Atjuntja, discreetly recruited by the Tjula bloodline, and the fourth is a famously foul-mouthed Gunnagal.
Since the Nangu dwell here, the town of course holds a Plirite temple, built atop a grassy hill overlooking the city. The temple is still small, by Nangu standards, but built of stone, by masons recruited from the Kiyungu. It hosts two priests only, but both of them are kept extremely busy performing the daily ceremonies attended by many of the Nangu and a growing number of Kiyungu converts.
Despite the thriving town, counting the population is not an easy feat. Neither the Nangu nor Kiyungu have any strong tradition of conducting a census. Still, well over a thousand people live in Wujal or in the farmlands and timber camps further up the river.
Whether the exact numbers are known or not, even the most casual visitor to Wujal would see that the population is growing. The sound of construction seems to be everywhere; new buildings are raised through every dry season.
More than that, children seem to run everywhere. Their laughs and cries are spoken in Kiyungu or Nangu in almost equal measure, or sometimes a curious mixture of both languages. The children's heritage is similarly mixed; many of them have one Nangu and one Kiyungu parent. The pairing is much more often a Nangu man and a Kiyungu woman than the reverse. Many of the Nangu who have fled the Island are, not surprisingly, sailors, and they have sought brides among the Kiyungu.
Still, Wujal has many Kiyungu who dwell there for other reasons. The initial pact between the Nuttana [trading association] and the Kiyungu cities called for labourers who would farm on five-year terms. Many of those farmers have chosen to stay for longer, though, and other Kiyungu have started to migrate north, too.
The Kiyungu who dwell around Wujal are not the majority in the town itself, but they are the most numerous people in the surrounding lands. The town could not survive without the food and timber they supply. In the fields above Wujal are kumara, lesser yams, taro, wealth-trees [wattles], jeeree [lemon tea], and several minor crops, including mung beans which Nangu ships have brought from Batavia.
Further up the river, the Kiyungu have a few timber camps where they harvest tropical trees and float the logs down the river for construction of ships or buildings. With so much construction, the loggers are ever busier, and more of them are needed every year. Word is spreading further south among the Kiyungu: come north, where opportunity awaits!
--
From: "The Century: History's 100 Most Important People"
By Appian Harris
Kumgatu's second great voyage in 1635-1636 took his ships from the Island to Java and back again; the first Aururian ships to visit the Old World. During the voyage, he established a trade agreement with the Dutch East India Company, and consolidated his trading association's pact with the Kiyungu.
On the return leg of his voyage, he met the first English ships to explore Aururia under the command of William Baffin. While neither party made any firm agreements, contact with the English offered Kumgatu and his fellow Nangu the opportunity to bypass the Dutch monopoly on European trade with Aururia. He would put this opportunity to good use...
--
"Our world is out of balance. The Raw Men can sail to our homeland as they wish, but we cannot sail to theirs. Only when we can voyage as far as them will the balance be restored."
- Attributed to Kumgatu
--
Nangu shipbuilding techniques had been evolving for centuries. Isolated on their Island, sailing for fish and other produce of the seas such as dyes, they became the best native seafarers in Aururia. Their techniques were further improved after contact with the Maori gave them access to Polynesian navigation techniques and knowledge of lateen sails.
The standard Nangu ship design from the late fourteenth century onward was a twin-hulled, lateen-rigged, shallow-drafted vessel whose Nangu name is best translated simply as "ship" [2]. These agile vessels were capable of navigating reliably even into the wind, and became the mainstay of Nangu commerce for nearly two centuries.
Although manoeuvrable, such shallow-drafted ships had severe limits in terms of cargo space. By the late sixteenth century, more ambitious Nangu shipbuilders had begun to create larger vessels, preserving the triangular lateen sails, but with larger hulls and more decks. These vessels, called great-ships, became the premier Nangu trading vessels on the westward run to the Atjuntja lands, and for other long-range sailing.
Nangu ship design did not end with the construction of great-ships. Members of several bloodlines had considered making even larger ships. These plans were given more urgency when word came of the Raw Men from out of the west, and of the massive single-hulled ships which they used.
The Nangu shipwrights gave little regard to single-hulled ships, viewing them as too limited in sailing against the wind. Yet the volumes of cargo which the Raw Men's ship could deliver were something to be admired, as were the reports that their large square sails and twin masts could sail faster with the wind behind them.
Frantic experimentation began among the Nangu, both with ship design and with the compass which the Raw Men used. The first twin-masted, enlargened great-ships were built by the Manyilti bloodline in 1631, and others quickly followed.
The Nyugal and Wolalta bloodlines supported the push for larger ships, but gave more consideration to how to gain greater speed when sailing with the wind. More masts were an obvious part of the answer, but with lateen sails, even twin masts did not give as much sail area as comparable Raw Men vessels.
The two bloodlines were loath to forgo the manoeuvrability of lateen sails, and in any case switching to square-rigged sails would have required learning entirely new sailing techniques. Reports of some of the Raw Men ships gave them another solution: add a second sail (headsail) in front of the foremast, attached to a bowsprit, to be used when sailing with the wind.
The Nyugal had experimented with headsails on smaller vessels even before the Manyilti built the first twin-masted ship, and found them satisfactory. In partnership with the Wolalta, they began to include them on twin-masted ships.
The first ship to incorporate both of these innovations was built in Wujal, away from prying eyes of other Nangu bloodlines. Completed in 1640, its makers called it the Barrbay (swiftness). The new twin-hulled swift-ship displaced nearly 50 tonnes, with twin lateen sails that manoeuvred well into the wind, while headsails could be run up to add to speed when sailing with the wind.
This new design was, in fact, seaworthy enough to be capable of sailing around the world. Whether it would be permitted to undertake such a voyage, in competition with the seagoing powers of Europe was, of course, a much more difficult question to answer...
--
From: "The Century: History's 100 Most Important People"
By Appian Harris
Due to the accomplishments of Kumgatu's second great voyage, the Nuttana had permission to trade with the Dutch East India Company at Batavia. This trading concession, while valuable, became ever more difficult to exercise given the ongoing state of war between the Netherlands and Spain-Portugal, and the undeclared war between the Dutch East India Company and their English counterparts.
Due to the problems of war, and resentment of Dutch attempts to monopolise trade with Aururia, Kumgatu organised his third great voyage. His aim was to venture further into Asia, to reach the source of at least some of the goods which Europeans were bringing to Aururian ports.
Previous Nangu ships had used Dutch charts to venture through parts of the East Indies, and glimpsed the southernmost islands of the Philippines, but Kumgatu decided to venture much further into the northern hemisphere. Despite having spent several years in profitable comfort overseeing efforts from Wujal rather than sailing himself, his third voyage demonstrated that he still maintained the courage that was his name.
In 1643, Kumgatu took personal command of the Garoo, one of the newest class of Nangu ships, and together with two other vessels, set out for Asia...
Surviving records do not reveal whether Kumgatu was just extremely fortunate in his timing and choice of stops, or whether he had obtained insight from Europeans who had visited Japan. In any case, in his third voyage he bypassed war-torn Taiwan and avoided Cathay proper, and after leaving the Philippines, he explored the Ryukyu islands, eventually docking at Naha, the capital of Okinawa.
The Ryukyu kingdom was then a vassal of Japan, although it still preserved relations with Cathay. Previously a nexus for trade between Japan, Cathay, Southeast Asia and the East Indies, its commerce had declined in the last few decades. Nevertheless, Kumgatu viewed it as a good place to establish trade connexions independent of European authority, and here he offered the goods which he had brought...
Having learned from the preferences of Old Worlders in Batavia, Kumgatu had brought with him supplies of kunduri, lemon verbena, sweet peppers and other spices, and gold and silver. All of these were positively received, but the trade good which made the greatest impression was jeeree. Some visiting Japanese samurai who sampled the new beverage were extremely enthusiastic in its praises.
In exchange, Kumgatu secured samples of trade goods brought from elsewhere in Asia or India: Japanese lacquerware and fans; Chinese porcelain and textiles; Indian ivory; and Southeast Asian sugar and ambergris. Of all the new goods, he rated Japanese muskets and gunpowder as the most important...
--
Taken from Intellipedia.
Kaikin ("maritime restrictions") was the Japanese foreign relations policy whereby no outlander could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country, backed by the death penalty. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu and Tokugawa Ietsuna [3] through several edicts and policies from 1645-52, and remained in effect for nearly 200 years.
The term Kaikin (meaning restrictions on sea activity) was a contemporaneous term derived from the similar Cathayan concept of hai jin [citation needed].
Japan did not isolate itself completely during the Kaikin era. The system saw the shogunate apply strict regulations to foreign relations and commerce, but never completely severed outside contact. Under Kaikin, direct European contact was permitted only via the Dutch trading outpost in Nagasaki. Trade with Cathay was also conducted at Nagasaki. Commerce with Corea was restricted to the Tsushima domain, while trade with the Ezo [Ainu] was limited to the Matsumae domain. Trade with the Ryukyu kingdom, and thus indirect trade with the Coral states, took place in Satsuma domain...
--
[1] Historically, Tokugawa Iemitsu ruled a year longer (until 1651), and the equivalent edicts were issued ten years earlier (ie 1635). The disruptions of the Aururian plagues within Japan, and flow-on effects of reduced European contact, has delayed the advent of the restrictions on foreign contact.
[2] The smaller Nangu vessels names would usually be translated as "boat".
[3] Tokugawa Ietsuna (b.1642) is an allohistorical 'brother' of the historical Tokugawa Ietsuna; being born so far after the divergence means that he is not the same person.
--
Thoughts?
"Japanese ships are strictly forbidden to leave for foreign countries.
No Japanese is permitted to go abroad. If there is anyone who attempts to do so secretly, he must be executed. The ship so involved must be impounded and its owner arrested, and the matter must be reported to the higher authority.
If any Japanese returns from overseas after residing there, he must be put to death."
- Tokugawa Iemitsu (r. 1623-1650), Edicts 1, 2 and 3, 1645 [1].
--
From: "The Century: History's 100 Most Important People"
By Appian Harris
82. Kumgatu (Nangu explorer and founding father of the Nuttana)
The reputation of Kumgatu is, if anything, greater than that of the man's achievements. Known and celebrated as a cultural hero on three continents, his deeds have inevitably become mythologised to a degree which the man himself likely would not recognise. Yet even stripping out the fiction, what remains is impressive enough.
He was born Werringi Wolalta on the Island, one of many adventuresome Nangu youths who took up life as a sailor and trader. He died known as Kumgatu, first citizen of Wujal [Cooktown, Queensland], leading man of the Nuttana, a man with wealth and glory unparalleled amongst his people...
Kumgatu's significance in global history stems from his three great voyages of exploration and trade, and from his role in setting up the pact of cooperation between the first four Nangu bloodlines (later expanded to six) in the association which would become known as the Nuttana.
To his contemporaries, Kumgatu's main achievement was his first great voyage, his circumnavigation of Aururia in 1630-1631. This voyage was the one which earned him the sobriquet which means 'the Bold', which in time he adopted as his proper name. His first voyage was revered as a true voyage into the unknown, for he lacked any proper knowledge of what he would find. Kumgatu's two later voyages, while celebrated, were conducted with at least some guidance from Dutch and English sources, and so were not viewed as requiring the same courage.
History, though, judges Kumgatu's achievements differently. His circumnavigation of Aururia was a significant feat, but it was his later voyages into Asia which would have more lasting significance...
--
In the year which Europeans call the Year of Our Lord 1644, or the year which in the most widespread native calendar is called the 405th Year of Harmony, a new town is emerging. A thriving town, near the mouth of a river where ten years before the only buildings were the animal-hide shelters of the hunters who had wandered this land since time immemorial.
Here, near the northernmost extremity of a land which a visiting English explorer has recently christened Aururia, is an outpost which the Islanders have named Wujal. The town was founded as a ship repair port and victualling station, intended as a mere outpost worked by a handful of Islanders and a larger number of contracted Kiyungu farmers. In a mere decade, Wujal has grown into something much larger.
Wujal nestles on the southern bank of the River Bidgee [Endeavour River], near the mouth of the river. Here is a safe harbour for those who have learned to navigate the sandbar at the river's mouth, and here it is that the Islanders have come. A few of them, at first, to create a place where ships can resupply or seek shelter at need. Many more have come, though, fleeing the Island and all its problems.
The buildings here have the impermanence of anything which has been constructed on the coast of a cyclone-prone region, balanced against a sense of purpose which shows that those who live here now intend far more than simply to grow kumara [sweet potato] and repair sails on passing ships.
Houses here are built solidly and decorated ostentatiously, marking an attitude which is common to both the Nangu and Kiyungu who make up the large majority of Wujal's inhabitants. The two most ostentatious houses of all are those of the elders of the Tjula and Wolalta bloodlines, who have made Wujal their permanent home.
Here, too, are buildings which show why Wujal is growing. The dockyard is not just used to repair visiting ships, but for shipbuilding. Warehouses nearby hold goods brought from both further south in Aururia, and from the Old World. The buildings of other craftsmen cluster near the dockyard: scribes, weavers, potters, and, most prized of all, blacksmiths.
Wujal hosts four blacksmiths, plus a growing number of apprentices. These are the first iron-workers to dwell among the Kiyungu; none of the master smiths are born on the east coast of the continent. Three of them are master ironsmiths from the Atjuntja, discreetly recruited by the Tjula bloodline, and the fourth is a famously foul-mouthed Gunnagal.
Since the Nangu dwell here, the town of course holds a Plirite temple, built atop a grassy hill overlooking the city. The temple is still small, by Nangu standards, but built of stone, by masons recruited from the Kiyungu. It hosts two priests only, but both of them are kept extremely busy performing the daily ceremonies attended by many of the Nangu and a growing number of Kiyungu converts.
Despite the thriving town, counting the population is not an easy feat. Neither the Nangu nor Kiyungu have any strong tradition of conducting a census. Still, well over a thousand people live in Wujal or in the farmlands and timber camps further up the river.
Whether the exact numbers are known or not, even the most casual visitor to Wujal would see that the population is growing. The sound of construction seems to be everywhere; new buildings are raised through every dry season.
More than that, children seem to run everywhere. Their laughs and cries are spoken in Kiyungu or Nangu in almost equal measure, or sometimes a curious mixture of both languages. The children's heritage is similarly mixed; many of them have one Nangu and one Kiyungu parent. The pairing is much more often a Nangu man and a Kiyungu woman than the reverse. Many of the Nangu who have fled the Island are, not surprisingly, sailors, and they have sought brides among the Kiyungu.
Still, Wujal has many Kiyungu who dwell there for other reasons. The initial pact between the Nuttana [trading association] and the Kiyungu cities called for labourers who would farm on five-year terms. Many of those farmers have chosen to stay for longer, though, and other Kiyungu have started to migrate north, too.
The Kiyungu who dwell around Wujal are not the majority in the town itself, but they are the most numerous people in the surrounding lands. The town could not survive without the food and timber they supply. In the fields above Wujal are kumara, lesser yams, taro, wealth-trees [wattles], jeeree [lemon tea], and several minor crops, including mung beans which Nangu ships have brought from Batavia.
Further up the river, the Kiyungu have a few timber camps where they harvest tropical trees and float the logs down the river for construction of ships or buildings. With so much construction, the loggers are ever busier, and more of them are needed every year. Word is spreading further south among the Kiyungu: come north, where opportunity awaits!
--
From: "The Century: History's 100 Most Important People"
By Appian Harris
Kumgatu's second great voyage in 1635-1636 took his ships from the Island to Java and back again; the first Aururian ships to visit the Old World. During the voyage, he established a trade agreement with the Dutch East India Company, and consolidated his trading association's pact with the Kiyungu.
On the return leg of his voyage, he met the first English ships to explore Aururia under the command of William Baffin. While neither party made any firm agreements, contact with the English offered Kumgatu and his fellow Nangu the opportunity to bypass the Dutch monopoly on European trade with Aururia. He would put this opportunity to good use...
--
"Our world is out of balance. The Raw Men can sail to our homeland as they wish, but we cannot sail to theirs. Only when we can voyage as far as them will the balance be restored."
- Attributed to Kumgatu
--
Nangu shipbuilding techniques had been evolving for centuries. Isolated on their Island, sailing for fish and other produce of the seas such as dyes, they became the best native seafarers in Aururia. Their techniques were further improved after contact with the Maori gave them access to Polynesian navigation techniques and knowledge of lateen sails.
The standard Nangu ship design from the late fourteenth century onward was a twin-hulled, lateen-rigged, shallow-drafted vessel whose Nangu name is best translated simply as "ship" [2]. These agile vessels were capable of navigating reliably even into the wind, and became the mainstay of Nangu commerce for nearly two centuries.
Although manoeuvrable, such shallow-drafted ships had severe limits in terms of cargo space. By the late sixteenth century, more ambitious Nangu shipbuilders had begun to create larger vessels, preserving the triangular lateen sails, but with larger hulls and more decks. These vessels, called great-ships, became the premier Nangu trading vessels on the westward run to the Atjuntja lands, and for other long-range sailing.
Nangu ship design did not end with the construction of great-ships. Members of several bloodlines had considered making even larger ships. These plans were given more urgency when word came of the Raw Men from out of the west, and of the massive single-hulled ships which they used.
The Nangu shipwrights gave little regard to single-hulled ships, viewing them as too limited in sailing against the wind. Yet the volumes of cargo which the Raw Men's ship could deliver were something to be admired, as were the reports that their large square sails and twin masts could sail faster with the wind behind them.
Frantic experimentation began among the Nangu, both with ship design and with the compass which the Raw Men used. The first twin-masted, enlargened great-ships were built by the Manyilti bloodline in 1631, and others quickly followed.
The Nyugal and Wolalta bloodlines supported the push for larger ships, but gave more consideration to how to gain greater speed when sailing with the wind. More masts were an obvious part of the answer, but with lateen sails, even twin masts did not give as much sail area as comparable Raw Men vessels.
The two bloodlines were loath to forgo the manoeuvrability of lateen sails, and in any case switching to square-rigged sails would have required learning entirely new sailing techniques. Reports of some of the Raw Men ships gave them another solution: add a second sail (headsail) in front of the foremast, attached to a bowsprit, to be used when sailing with the wind.
The Nyugal had experimented with headsails on smaller vessels even before the Manyilti built the first twin-masted ship, and found them satisfactory. In partnership with the Wolalta, they began to include them on twin-masted ships.
The first ship to incorporate both of these innovations was built in Wujal, away from prying eyes of other Nangu bloodlines. Completed in 1640, its makers called it the Barrbay (swiftness). The new twin-hulled swift-ship displaced nearly 50 tonnes, with twin lateen sails that manoeuvred well into the wind, while headsails could be run up to add to speed when sailing with the wind.
This new design was, in fact, seaworthy enough to be capable of sailing around the world. Whether it would be permitted to undertake such a voyage, in competition with the seagoing powers of Europe was, of course, a much more difficult question to answer...
--
From: "The Century: History's 100 Most Important People"
By Appian Harris
Due to the accomplishments of Kumgatu's second great voyage, the Nuttana had permission to trade with the Dutch East India Company at Batavia. This trading concession, while valuable, became ever more difficult to exercise given the ongoing state of war between the Netherlands and Spain-Portugal, and the undeclared war between the Dutch East India Company and their English counterparts.
Due to the problems of war, and resentment of Dutch attempts to monopolise trade with Aururia, Kumgatu organised his third great voyage. His aim was to venture further into Asia, to reach the source of at least some of the goods which Europeans were bringing to Aururian ports.
Previous Nangu ships had used Dutch charts to venture through parts of the East Indies, and glimpsed the southernmost islands of the Philippines, but Kumgatu decided to venture much further into the northern hemisphere. Despite having spent several years in profitable comfort overseeing efforts from Wujal rather than sailing himself, his third voyage demonstrated that he still maintained the courage that was his name.
In 1643, Kumgatu took personal command of the Garoo, one of the newest class of Nangu ships, and together with two other vessels, set out for Asia...
Surviving records do not reveal whether Kumgatu was just extremely fortunate in his timing and choice of stops, or whether he had obtained insight from Europeans who had visited Japan. In any case, in his third voyage he bypassed war-torn Taiwan and avoided Cathay proper, and after leaving the Philippines, he explored the Ryukyu islands, eventually docking at Naha, the capital of Okinawa.
The Ryukyu kingdom was then a vassal of Japan, although it still preserved relations with Cathay. Previously a nexus for trade between Japan, Cathay, Southeast Asia and the East Indies, its commerce had declined in the last few decades. Nevertheless, Kumgatu viewed it as a good place to establish trade connexions independent of European authority, and here he offered the goods which he had brought...
Having learned from the preferences of Old Worlders in Batavia, Kumgatu had brought with him supplies of kunduri, lemon verbena, sweet peppers and other spices, and gold and silver. All of these were positively received, but the trade good which made the greatest impression was jeeree. Some visiting Japanese samurai who sampled the new beverage were extremely enthusiastic in its praises.
In exchange, Kumgatu secured samples of trade goods brought from elsewhere in Asia or India: Japanese lacquerware and fans; Chinese porcelain and textiles; Indian ivory; and Southeast Asian sugar and ambergris. Of all the new goods, he rated Japanese muskets and gunpowder as the most important...
--
Taken from Intellipedia.
Kaikin ("maritime restrictions") was the Japanese foreign relations policy whereby no outlander could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country, backed by the death penalty. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu and Tokugawa Ietsuna [3] through several edicts and policies from 1645-52, and remained in effect for nearly 200 years.
The term Kaikin (meaning restrictions on sea activity) was a contemporaneous term derived from the similar Cathayan concept of hai jin [citation needed].
Japan did not isolate itself completely during the Kaikin era. The system saw the shogunate apply strict regulations to foreign relations and commerce, but never completely severed outside contact. Under Kaikin, direct European contact was permitted only via the Dutch trading outpost in Nagasaki. Trade with Cathay was also conducted at Nagasaki. Commerce with Corea was restricted to the Tsushima domain, while trade with the Ezo [Ainu] was limited to the Matsumae domain. Trade with the Ryukyu kingdom, and thus indirect trade with the Coral states, took place in Satsuma domain...
--
[1] Historically, Tokugawa Iemitsu ruled a year longer (until 1651), and the equivalent edicts were issued ten years earlier (ie 1635). The disruptions of the Aururian plagues within Japan, and flow-on effects of reduced European contact, has delayed the advent of the restrictions on foreign contact.
[2] The smaller Nangu vessels names would usually be translated as "boat".
[3] Tokugawa Ietsuna (b.1642) is an allohistorical 'brother' of the historical Tokugawa Ietsuna; being born so far after the divergence means that he is not the same person.
--
Thoughts?
Sorry for the late response but this was a really cool piece, blending a strong narration with well woven historical tone and insights/analyse that made for a very engaging pace and read.
The three great voyages and the regard for Kumgatu is really neat, along with how he has been exaggerated but genuinely was quite amazing (He likely has several movies) and these accomplishments definitely were and the fact he has opened up a new trade route, by passing the controllers and gaining access to such rare and useful tools, oh m, very cool and potentially game changing stuff there!
All in all a great piece, thanks for sharing, would love to see more such trades!
The three great voyages and the regard for Kumgatu is really neat, along with how he has been exaggerated but genuinely was quite amazing (He likely has several movies) and these accomplishments definitely were and the fact he has opened up a new trade route, by passing the controllers and gaining access to such rare and useful tools, oh m, very cool and potentially game changing stuff there!
All in all a great piece, thanks for sharing, would love to see more such trades!
bookwyrm
Doom of Public Libraries
- Location
- Wichita, Kansas
The Nuttana is fascinating and access to firearms from a country that doesn't give a fuck like Japan in the Shogunate means that it won't come with much if any hidden imperialist prices to pay beyond having resources the Japanese like. Still with the trade restrictions via Japan's one open port to Ryukyu and the need for the new expensive double-mega-great-ships the most crucial effect would be pushing the English and Dutch factors to have to race to the bottom to meet the Japanese firearms instead of gouging them for antiques. Then again, that effect would only last as long as the hermit kingdom's firearms are up to snuff and a few decades in the future they may be swamped by mass-produced Dutch flintlocks diverted from the slave trade.
plotvitalnpc
Once more walking the path of the catgirl.
Only 63 chapters and some specials to go before this thread contains the full current extent of the timeline, to the best of my knowledge.
Glad you liked it.
There will certainly be more about the Nuttana coming up. It's safe to say that they are one of the more significant cultures who feature in Act 2.
Depends on how you define circumnavigating the world. There are many definitions of circumnavigation. The accepted definition for sailing world records requires crossing the equator (amongst other things). Other definitions include trying to divide the world into roughly equal portions by the route.
Why this matters is that for the Nuttana, the easiest way to go around the globe is to sail around the three great capes, using the winds of the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties. This doesn't involve crossing the equator, and is not exactly dividing the world in half. But this is probably the kind of circumnavigation which will happen first. Other kinds may take longer.
The intriguing thing about the Japan-Nuttana trade is that it comes at just the right time to make significant differences within Japan. Japanese firearms at this point are as good or close to as good as anything Europeans make. That didn't last once Japan (mostly) closed itself of, of course. But even in the OTL era, Japan still actively studied European knowledge in fields where it interested them, that is the Rangaku or "Dutch learning".
In this TL, the Japanese now have an interest in keeping up to date with firearms technology, because they would dislike the consequences of losing the Nuttana trade. So it's quite possible that Japan keeps their firearms production up to date by copying European firearms techniques as they develop. For firearms at least, they could keep up easily enough if they wanted - artillery may be a different story.
That still leaves about 13 special posts to go (I may remove one or two which are very AH.com-specific), as well as the 63 core chapters. Plus any further meta-posts which I write afresh for the SV version.
Still a fair way to go, in other words.
Arthur Frayn
Fake God by Occupation, Magician by Inclination
- Location
- Land of Do As You Please
- Pronouns
- They/Him
So, if I understand this right, Japan doesn't completely close itself off to the outside world, but instead keeps limited contact with the rest of the world via specific ports? If I've got that right, this is a huge development for Japan, especially if the Plirite's get a toe-hold.
I'd actually love to see some examples of pop-culture from this TL. Maybe a spin-off of "The World of the Lands of Red and Gold", so long as it didn't give spoilers for the latter half of the TL?
I'd actually love to see some examples of pop-culture from this TL. Maybe a spin-off of "The World of the Lands of Red and Gold", so long as it didn't give spoilers for the latter half of the TL?
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Neat. thanks for sharing!
That is awesome and intriguing.
Even in real history, Japan kept itself open to trade with specific peoples in specific ports. The various trading contacts I listed with *China, the Dutch, * Korea, the Ainu and the Ryukyus were all as per real history. The Japanese policy was not about ending all trade, but regulating and focusing it in a way which was deemed to be best for Japanese interests. The volume of trade was apparently still significant, particularly with China both directly (via Nagasaki/Dejima) and indirectly (via the Ryukyus).
What's changed here is that a new trading power has been added to the link in the Ryukyus, and that power (the Nuttana) has access to a variety of goods which cannot be easily obtained anywhere else. (The Dutch could bring them too, but not any more cheaply). So to facilitate that trade, Japan may well decide to conduct some further knowledge exchanges elsewhere (with the Dutch) to maintain a firearms industry for export purposes.
It will also be interesting to see if Plirism can manage to flow back to Japan via that trade. That's something I've been considering and discussion over at AH.com for a while, and never quite reached a definitive position on. It is likely that the religion could become established in the Ryukyus, at least.
There's a fair bit of that in the various "interlude" posts (Christmas specials, Halloween specials, and others), which are not strictly canon but which are not full not-canon either. (It's complicated). I can't do more of the Christmas or Halloween special type chapters as the posting schedule is off, but I could consider a few chapters on other pop-culture topics if people are interested. Whether a particular topic is feasible depends on whether it's too spoiler-ific, amongst other things, but I could at least look at it. It would also be helpful if people could suggest some pop-culture areas they'd be interesting in reading about.
I do have one spin-off in mind already, set in the dying days of the Empire and how an Empress Wu-type figure seizes control of the Empire, but that's waiting until the main timeline is closer to being concluded.
Lands of Red and Gold #50: A Necklace of Pearls
Lands of Red and Gold #50: A Necklace of Pearls
"If the United Netherlands can prosper so after seventy years of war, what will she accomplish after seventy years of peace?"
- Attributed (probably incorrectly) to Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange, after the signing of the Peace of Hamburg (1638) saw Spain recognise the independence of the Dutch Republic
--
"Wherefore it be said, we will never make war with the Hollanders, for we are of the same faith. Nay, for we still worship God, they have turned to gold."
- William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Duke Regent of England, 1643
--
"Holland is a country where the demon gold is seated on a throne of cheese, and crowned with kunduri."
- Claudius Salmasius, a Huguenot exile teaching at the university of Leyden, 1647
--
"There is hardly a single Hollander of any consideration in Java, who does not have a concubine – a way of life that is deplorable, and which can give very little inducement to the natives to become converts to our religion."
- Anonymous Dutch minister of the Reformed Church, shortly after arriving in the East Indies
--
"Peer review can be said to have existed ever since people began to identify and communicate what they thought was new knowledge, because peer review (whether before or after publication) is an essential and integral part of consensus building and is integral and necessary to the growth of scientific knowledge.
In the stricter sense of formalised review of a professional's findings by a group of their peers, albeit in a post-publication context, peer review seems to have begun with the physicians of Tjibarr, Gutjanal and Yigutji..."
- From The History of Medicine
--
"A traveller has a destination, a student has only a journey."
"Fear not change; without change, nothing can take place."
"All men are joined together; teach them, spurn them or punish them, but you cannot separate them."
"The longest journey begins when a man looks inside himself."
- From Oora Gulalu [The Endless Road]
--
"No gains of mere conquest or triumphs of will could have brought as much lasting wealth to the Danes as the introduction of what was, if seen from above the ground, merely an oddly-shaped dandelion."
- Jesper Pontoppidan, Norse and Syd
--
"Sicily is a large island, but not large enough to hold that man's ego."
- Ferdinando III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, after first meeting Lorenzo Piazzi, the Advent revolutionary turned King of Sicily
--
"Bohemia is the axle on which the wheel of Europe turns."
- Maximilian III, Grand Duke of Bavaria (among other titles), speaking on the eve of the Nine Years' War
--
"For every state, from the smallest to the greatest, the principle of enlargement is the fundamental law of life."
- Christian Albert I, Elector of Saxony, My Times and Testament
--
"Practice not usury. Interest is false money. No man should lend for reward unless he also accepts the risk."
- From Good Man, Good Life
--
"By machines mankind is able to do that which their own bodily powers would never effect to the same extent. Machines are the product of the mind of man, and their existence distinguishes the civilised man from the savage."
- Rene Michaux, pioneering industrialist
--
"Society unravels in this modern age. As we learn to do more with machines, we forget more of what it means to be men."
"A mill [factory] is a means for concentrating the labour of many into the wealth of one."
"A man who works for wages is scarce more than a slave. A farmer finds food, hearth and home on his own land. An artisan works for himself. Yet a labourer in mill or workshop serves at the bidding of another. If he is fortunate, he will be given enough coin to survive, but not to thrive. If he is unfortunate, he will be cast aside, bereft of food or shelter."
"Alone, a wage-labourer weeps at a world which is cast out of balance. Never can a man in cloth cap stand equal to a man who wears a ruby. Only when the labourers stand together can harmony be restored."
- Myumitsi Makan, better known in English as Solidarity Jenkins
--
"How can they claim to be one nation under God when they can't give you a straight answer as to whether they have only one god?"
- "Sweet" Como Wiradjuri, retiring ambassador to Alleghania, on his return home
--
"A great cause needs great men."
- Tjewarra ("strong heart"), Atjuntja activist
--
"Nia, Paluna, na Umoja." (Strong will, decisiveness, and unity [1].)
- Motto of the African Liberation Army
--
"Old Man Keribee always said that Gideon and Samson are the only two men worth remembering in the Jewish [ie Old] Testament. If I can't be like Gideon for his life, I can be like Samson for his death."
- From the last letter left by Ngengi wa Lemaron, for his parents
--
[1] This motto is in Swahili, the allohistorical version of which includes the borrowed word "paluna" (decisiveness).
--
Thoughts?
"If the United Netherlands can prosper so after seventy years of war, what will she accomplish after seventy years of peace?"
- Attributed (probably incorrectly) to Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange, after the signing of the Peace of Hamburg (1638) saw Spain recognise the independence of the Dutch Republic
--
"Wherefore it be said, we will never make war with the Hollanders, for we are of the same faith. Nay, for we still worship God, they have turned to gold."
- William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Duke Regent of England, 1643
--
"Holland is a country where the demon gold is seated on a throne of cheese, and crowned with kunduri."
- Claudius Salmasius, a Huguenot exile teaching at the university of Leyden, 1647
--
"There is hardly a single Hollander of any consideration in Java, who does not have a concubine – a way of life that is deplorable, and which can give very little inducement to the natives to become converts to our religion."
- Anonymous Dutch minister of the Reformed Church, shortly after arriving in the East Indies
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"Peer review can be said to have existed ever since people began to identify and communicate what they thought was new knowledge, because peer review (whether before or after publication) is an essential and integral part of consensus building and is integral and necessary to the growth of scientific knowledge.
In the stricter sense of formalised review of a professional's findings by a group of their peers, albeit in a post-publication context, peer review seems to have begun with the physicians of Tjibarr, Gutjanal and Yigutji..."
- From The History of Medicine
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"A traveller has a destination, a student has only a journey."
"Fear not change; without change, nothing can take place."
"All men are joined together; teach them, spurn them or punish them, but you cannot separate them."
"The longest journey begins when a man looks inside himself."
- From Oora Gulalu [The Endless Road]
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"No gains of mere conquest or triumphs of will could have brought as much lasting wealth to the Danes as the introduction of what was, if seen from above the ground, merely an oddly-shaped dandelion."
- Jesper Pontoppidan, Norse and Syd
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"Sicily is a large island, but not large enough to hold that man's ego."
- Ferdinando III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, after first meeting Lorenzo Piazzi, the Advent revolutionary turned King of Sicily
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"Bohemia is the axle on which the wheel of Europe turns."
- Maximilian III, Grand Duke of Bavaria (among other titles), speaking on the eve of the Nine Years' War
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"For every state, from the smallest to the greatest, the principle of enlargement is the fundamental law of life."
- Christian Albert I, Elector of Saxony, My Times and Testament
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"Practice not usury. Interest is false money. No man should lend for reward unless he also accepts the risk."
- From Good Man, Good Life
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"By machines mankind is able to do that which their own bodily powers would never effect to the same extent. Machines are the product of the mind of man, and their existence distinguishes the civilised man from the savage."
- Rene Michaux, pioneering industrialist
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"Society unravels in this modern age. As we learn to do more with machines, we forget more of what it means to be men."
"A mill [factory] is a means for concentrating the labour of many into the wealth of one."
"A man who works for wages is scarce more than a slave. A farmer finds food, hearth and home on his own land. An artisan works for himself. Yet a labourer in mill or workshop serves at the bidding of another. If he is fortunate, he will be given enough coin to survive, but not to thrive. If he is unfortunate, he will be cast aside, bereft of food or shelter."
"Alone, a wage-labourer weeps at a world which is cast out of balance. Never can a man in cloth cap stand equal to a man who wears a ruby. Only when the labourers stand together can harmony be restored."
- Myumitsi Makan, better known in English as Solidarity Jenkins
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"How can they claim to be one nation under God when they can't give you a straight answer as to whether they have only one god?"
- "Sweet" Como Wiradjuri, retiring ambassador to Alleghania, on his return home
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"A great cause needs great men."
- Tjewarra ("strong heart"), Atjuntja activist
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"Nia, Paluna, na Umoja." (Strong will, decisiveness, and unity [1].)
- Motto of the African Liberation Army
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"Old Man Keribee always said that Gideon and Samson are the only two men worth remembering in the Jewish [ie Old] Testament. If I can't be like Gideon for his life, I can be like Samson for his death."
- From the last letter left by Ngengi wa Lemaron, for his parents
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[1] This motto is in Swahili, the allohistorical version of which includes the borrowed word "paluna" (decisiveness).
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Thoughts?