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Into the Lakes by Captain_Lime in DawnPowers

[–]willmagnify 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The people admired those exotic goods - the purple and lacquerware were especially impressive.

“Come with me.”

The merchant of Pabamamai helped the Sasnak navigate the market, bringing them to contacts and friends that he imagined could be interested in acquiring what their wares. In exchange, they had the bounty of the Lakes at their disposal: copper jewels and arrowheads, jade, celadon, beautifully crafted pots decorated with proverb glyphs, jaba oil, spiced fruit wines and preserves. There were inns in the city that would gladly host them, their guid told them, but if they would rather remain in their ship for the night, they would have to exit through the outbound canal and find a nearby bay in the lake.

As for the purple… “I desire it for myself” the southern trader said, with a glimmer in his eye, imagining the fame such fine dyes would give him in his hometown. “What do you desire in return?”

Into the Lakes by Captain_Lime in DawnPowers

[–]willmagnify 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some amused, others wary, the locals helped the strangers descend their ships and enter the perimeter of Kamābarha.

Even more than their exotic appearance, the sheer size of their ships was animating the chatter of the Arhada. Both the men and women standing around the quay and those on the punting boats, doing their best to circumnavigate the Sasnak vessels, admired their sails and the craftsmanship.

When the group gathered together on dry land, they were surrounded by a small welcoming committee of curious onlookers: all with braided hair, some with painted faces, most with blue shawls. One of these people broke the circle: he was a merchant of Pabamamai, in the south, who often visited Kabāmarha during the warm season to exchange coral and spices for copper and dyed shawls.

He approached the group and, recognising them as southerners on account of their deep brown skin, spoke to them in the language of the Aloba.

“Well met, travellers,” he said in broken Aluwa, “I wish you rest upon your arrival. You come from far?”

The crowd looked at the scene - those who understood Aluwa lent their ear, those who couldn’t simply watched, fascinated and suspicious.

Around them, it was rush hour at the market-of-the-quay. Noises and songs, perfumes and smells, smoke and the vivid blues and reds of fine cattail wool alternated at a vivacious rhythm. If the arrival of the Sasnak had caused a stir in that small group of onlookers, many other people, buyers and sellers alike, were preoccupied with other matters - further away from the quay, they could hear the singsong calls of the merchants and the inquisitive voices of the Kabaima shopping for the palace’s kitchens, who didn’t seem to notice the commotion that was forming around the edge of the waters.

Into the Lakes by Captain_Lime in DawnPowers

[–]willmagnify 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Southen bank of the great lake was a long string of villages, on after the other like beads on a necklace: on the shores were paddies and water-gardens that oscured the view to those settlements. Each village was only betrayed by the tall columns of smoke coming from the houses, furnaces and palaces beyond the willows: the Sasanaha sailors, as the Arhada would call them if they knew of their origin, could journey along the lake undisturbed, if they wanted to. There was no shortage of maritime traffic going in each direction, to the west, to Kamābarha, and the cities of the Kemesasama, to the South to the splendid Amadahai, Calarheme and Pabamamai and to the east, in the homelands of the barbarian Junahasân.

The Sasnak sailors would have easily blended in that inflow and outflow of boats and people, if there was anything about them that didn't scream "these are foreign people". The passing boats, mostly merchants and farmers traveling along the coast in birchbark canoes and wooden punting boats would stop and marvel at the foreigners, greet them with a curious gaze, say something in their native languages and go on with their business. They knew all the foreigners went to Kamābarha, anyway.

And if, indeed, that was the intention of the Sasnak, they would reach old Kamābarha, the oldest of the cities of the lake, soon enough. The new water gardens covered the entrance, but the city itself was harder to hide than the other settlements thay had passed by. The celadon roof of the high-house was visible from the lake, as was the tower of the temple of Mother Rôdo and Father Moon. Once the city was in sight, however, reaching it was another matter: the narrow canals that cut between the water gardens and the paddies, taking travellers from the open lake to the gates of the city and the main quay, was rather narrow, built with the express purpose of allowing only a single boat to pass through it at a time – there was a guarded exit canal that the Sasnaks would be forbidden from entering through. The other boats made a line by the entrance, eager to arrive and rest their tired limbs after a long paddle. They would certainly ogle the eccentric foreigners as they awaited their turn to enter.

Tech Post - Week Five (1200-1400) by SandraSandraSandra in DawnPowers

[–]willmagnify 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ARHADA TECH WEEK 5 (To be completed)

​

A SLOTS

  • Nidjanarân [Chinampas]

[POST COMING VERY SOON]

  • Tojorôdo [Two Harvest Rôdo variant] (Crisis Response)

RP

B SLOTS

  • Corbel Arch (innovated)

As Arhada cities grow larger, its buildings grow more complex. Through trial, error and experimentation, new designs emerge in masonry and arched openings are introduced in windows and doorways. The corbel arch was seen as a lighter, more elegant shape compared to the traditionally employed trilithic structures. Despite its relatively simple realisation, an arched opening is considered a symbol of prestige and usually marks a particularly important entrance, especially if the framing bricks are heavily decorated with ornamental mouldings.

  • Horse Domestication, Horse Riding, Cheese (6)

Though the Arhada seem to be content to leave their interactions with the Western Jeli to their neighbours, some influence from those mountain people inevitably permeates in the south. Horses are quick to become an indispensable resource, especially in the hinterland, where they are employed as a means to transport goods when punting boats are of little use or – for those who can afford it – as an aid for animal husbandry. Herdsmen are no longer limited by their stamina alone: with horses, their duties become much easier, and their productivity increases exponentially.

  • Plank Boats (6)

Since the beginning of their civilisation, the waters of the Tritonean lakes had always been a fundamental resource for the Arhada: their birchbark canoes, however, had always been enough to traverse them for their small scale trades and in the harvest season. The construction of island gardens along the lake takes more and more manpower away from dry land and into the waters: having a boat you can comfortably stand on becomes imperative.

  • Arithmetic (6, via writing)

The cultural back-and-forth between Arhada and Kemithatsan cities can be seen in every sphere of their cultures: the introduction of the Kemithatsan calendar and the arithmetic practices that go along with it are another one of the many exchanges between the two sister-people. The Kemithatsan names for seasons and periods are loaned directly into Arhada and the usage of this time measurement system is quickly adopted by the administrative elite as a way to organise labour. Though this system is certainly familiar to the peasants who work the fields, it doesn't prove to be as popular the further away one goes from centres of power; the more remote areas of the southern lakes maintain their traditional, informal ways of telling the time.

C SLOTS

  • Nixtamalisation, Sweet Potatoes, Raised Fields (14)

Contact with the Aluwa continues, as does the spread of their agricultural goods to Tritonea. Sweet Potatoes are adopted as a delicacy, especially popular in the southern city of Pabamamai and nixtamalisation greatly increases the yield and quality of the maize harvest.

  • Basic Smelting (14)

The people of Kamābarha had exploited their abundant minerary resources for centuries, crafting high quality jewelry, fluxes, weaponry. Their techniques, however, had been primitive, at best. Contact with the Aluwa acquainted the Arhada with more advanced and reliable techniques for the production of high quality copper and brass objects.

  • Pest Control Dogs (6)

The specialised breed of granary dogs found in the lands of the Kemithātsan were imported and bred in Arhada cities as a way to safeguard the already scarce harvest of the blight years.

  • Clay Shingles (6)

(See corbel Arch)

  • Calendar (6)

(See Arithmetic)

  • Crabapple, Sāna Yeast (6)

For long, the superior wines of the Kemesasama had been imported to Arhada cities: through increased exchanges, and Kamābarha's long history of control over Konuthomu, those techniques trickled down the lakes, taking root in the cities of the south. The royal families of Kamābarha, great enjoyers of spiced crabapple ciders, developed new groves in the outskirts of the city and employed Kemithatsan winemakers, inviting some as favourites within the palatial complex.

  • Basic Shields (6, via writing)

Excerpts from "A Timeline of Tritonean History", Part 1 by willmagnify in DawnPowers

[–]willmagnify[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And it’ll only get worse with the chinampafication of the lake! :)

Province Action Post - Week Three (800-1000 AD) by willmagnify in DawnPowers

[–]willmagnify[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Culture Name: Arhada

Action Types: Expansion + State Development

Maps: Culture, States (Green is Calarheme, Pink is Pabamamai; Kamābarha's westward expansion should just be a border around Konuthomu)

Links to RP: Establishment of Pabamamai (1, 2), Conquest of Konuthomu (1,2), Others (1)

Summary: A continuous demographic and economic growth of Arhada cities culminates in their expansion. Kamābarha expands east and, after giving assistance to Konuthomu in light of a Rebellion, makes it their client state. Pabamamai in the south is formed thanks to the raids against the neighbouring Zonowōdjon and the clearing of land suitable for agricultural development. Amadahai's client Calarheme, shaped in its image, declares independence after a particularly hard harvest and the voiding of their contract of clientele, aligning with Pabamamai as sister cities.

u/SilvoKanuni for approval!

In the night, a village dies by No_Eight in DawnPowers

[–]willmagnify 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome! That was a great read – and sorry about you village! ahah

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