Post by Sdschildberg on Mar 19, 2023 1:50:05 GMT
General Information:
Population: 970,00
Density: 3.3 people/square mile
Racial Makeup: Mostly human
Demonym: Jakarti
"Official" Language: A series of mutually intelligable Jakarti tounges.
Script: The Jakarti people, being steppe nomads, do not have a proper script. Adoption of the script of other peoples has occurred.
real world inspirations: Mongolia, Scythia, other Eurasian Steppe Nomads, Amizgh Tribes system of electoral governance
(flag is a blue pennant with a green bundle of arrows on it, all the flag sites want rectangular European flags. in any case horsehair tugs are also a symbol)
The Jarkit people inhabit the seemingly endless grass sea, which they refer to as Dazkar-" Domain of Sky and Earth" and are largely pastoralists who have tended to their flocks of sheep and herds of horses (and hunted and traded) while moving over the steppe since time immemorial. They focus on cooperation among themselves, and are proud of their traditions, but are fearful of outsiders and disapprove of their strange ways. They believe themselves to be the true children/servants of Earth and Sky, and see themselves as living a more upright lifestyle than many of their neighbors.
Government:
The government at the lowest level is largely elective. The average Jarkit clan's elders elect a Khan from among their people to lead them once every 3 years, though some clans do go with every "free" adult in the clan acting as the electoral body instead. The Khan or Khatun is "sworn in" on Noon of the Spring Equinox of the relevant year in a religious ceremony.
These Khans and Khatuns negotiate disputes along with their elders and the people effected, mete out punishments, actually collect tribute from sendentary population and their traders, and handle most other local issues. They then form the Kuraltai, a council that, among other high-level decision-making activities, elects a Great Khan or Khatun from among their number to act for all when such is needed. They are elected every 6 years, and are sworn in at sunrise on the Summer Equinox at a religious ceremony.
The Great Khan (or Khatun) and Kurultai have the following jobs, in no particular order
Lead the Jarkit clans to war (see below)
Keep peace among the clans, by avoiding inter-clan strife. Keep the arrows pointed away from each other, as it were.
Make descisions that affect all of the Jarkit people.
Stimulate trade and discussion among the clans, by maintaining infrastructure like kurgans.
Act as the point of contact with outsiders, allowing for a unified voice instead of various clans being arrayed against each other. This also involves dealing with settled peoples
Deal with trade with outsiders, in the sense of being the source, destination, and route of trade. See below for why the latter is important.
And otherwise act as a scaled-up version of the average Khan or Khatun's position.
War, why and how it happens.
While the Jarkits are not the horde that the "city-folk" around them sometimes stereotype them as, sometimes peace is not an option. War is sent against those who threaten them, usually other nomadic groups whose herds are eating their grass but also settled peoples muscling in to the more fertile areas, as well as when raiding. Usually, said raids are against other steppe nomads for people, who, after a period in a bo'ol like position of semi-incorporation, are fully incorporated and for their animals. Only rarely are raids sent against settled peoples for their metal goods, cereal grains, and luxuries, and are as much a political show of force as they are economic. In particular, mass raiding campaigns/full scale wars must be approved by the Kuraltai’s shamans, which in their beliefs is the sign that Sky-mother wants her children to make war upon the ungrateful and wicked, to purge those who taint Creation with bow and spear, flame and hoof-thunder. Bow and Lance cavalry are the order of the day, and horse-string fireless logistics lets then appear in faraway places "out of nowhere". Contrary to city-folk propaganda, they will use metal armor when they get the chance to use it, and use felt armor if not.
Religion and mytho-History:
Jarkit history is kept in the oral record. Literacy is not common in Dazkar, but mutually intelligible dialects are. History is told as a story of heroes and epics via song and poetry and trance-enabled ceremony, and blends seamlessly into what some would call "myth" or more respectfully, religion.
Said religion might be termed "animistic" by some scholars, wherein every animal, plant, and inanimate thing has a personage to interact with, along with the spirits of great heroes. Among this abundance of "persons, only some of which are humanoid/centaur/slime", two stand out. They are the Sky-Mother, who is activity and fire and the Sun and lightning and all manner of things, and her androgenous lover, the Earth-Being, who is life, grass, the slow times of a persons life, the Moon, the sacred landscape, and is often accredited with the spirits of inanimate things in some traditions. They are said to have created the world in general, and consider all the world to be their domain that they let humans make use of. This is fundamentally a temporary transaction, which can be stopped if They sense misuse.
Magic: The Jarkit magical traditions therefore involve bargaining with these spirits, with sacrifice of material goods, building kurgans to sacrifice man-hours, and possession during the duration of ceremonies. To invoke Sky and/or Earth requires an extreme price, such as doing Their bidding out in the world, such as "striking down those who misuse what is truly Their creations and children". Monsters are seen as creations of their gods which, being people who are not humanoid/centaur/slime, fell to vice.
Mytho-History proper
It is said in their tales that Sky-Mother either created them among some past sedentary people, or called out to already existing sedentary people, and that said people were wicked tyrants who were above all else, greedy. Sky-Mother than told them to come to Dazkar to escape a calamity, which is often cited as a punishment by Sky and Earth for the acts of this unnamed past people and to reclaim that which the tyrants of old had scarred with their greed and vice. The nomadic ways of the Jarkit are said to be how Sky-Mother taught them to live a better life with what they had and that their electoralism is a way to escape the tyranny of the past (Jarkit translating to "free and upright people"). It is also at this time in mytho-history that the shamans say that Earth-Being taught them the ways of working with the spirits of animal and land came about, as well as their cooperation with each other, as a more proper way (in their eyes) to engage with the world and with each other to oppose the greed and corruption of the old sedentary people which they claim descent from.
The shamans, who are more often than not what some in another time and place would term LGBTQ+ or neurodiverse, get rather touchy when foreign antiquarians bug them about the nature of the past tyrants, if they were "real" (such that matters), and suchlike.
In terms of "real history", a surveyor of the land would see that they migrated from a former civilization which underwent collapse from the effects of climate shifts several thousand years ago, and that there are the same ceremonial sites as used to swear in Khans today along the path. The institution of Great Khan as a "proper king" as city-folk would have it is surprisingly recent, being 300 years old give or take a summer, so while it is well entrenched, their oral history records times before it. The territory has been gained in part through the peaceful incorporation of various tribes in the area, but some of it was gained through conflict. An inquisitive eye would also note different ethnicities among the Human population.
Subistinance:
The central axises about which Jarkiti subistinance, and thusly society, orbit are the horse and sheep. Horses are, obviously, good for mobility, though the Jakriti breeds are rather smaller than the stable-fed kinds seen in other lands. After all, a good horse should be self-sustaining, especially when using a string of them to move while at war. The true center pole about which Jakriti life orbits is the sheep herd. Sheep are considered Earth's greatest gift, for they provide meats and milk for consumption, wool to make cloth for clothes and other textiles, the felt needed to raise yurts [embed here] (along with hides which provide all manner of vital leather products), and dung to power fire and life on the treeless expanse. The average diet consists largely of dairy products of both mare and sheep, with powdered sheep's-milk yogurt being the warriors choice. Meat of course figures into things, especially in winter when dairy is scarce. While horse products (like meat, hair, and hide) are present, it is not nearly as popular as city-folk think it is and is typically a way to "recycle" excess stallions, the lame, ect. Horses are too useful and valuable to kill! Herding other animals, like goats does occur, but those are the most important ones.
Hunting figures somewhat into the equation of survival, especially when on campaign. Hunting is as much ritual (and practice with horse and bow) as it is subistinance, though.
Given the nature of geography, trade runs through Drazkar often. Heavy tribute is demanded of traders who enter Dazkar, as their animals eat the grass nomads need to survive (be it now or months in the future). When tribute is paid, tribes are told to protect foreign traders from beasts and bandits. When it isn't, the traders are on their own. Whatever hospitality (or lack thereof) they earned is their own fault for not paying the price of their impact. Traders who refuse to give tribute may find it taken from them, or find themselves driven out of Drazkar if they are particularly irritating. The tribes themselves also trade a lot with each other and their neighbors. After all, they are already making circuits around the area, so they might as well carry goods to gain access to things which cannot be produced on the plains, like metal goods.
Culture, clothing, et al:
Music, as mentioned, is vital to their religion. Horse-hair fiddles and overtone singing is the image that comes to mind. Tales of the past, odes to the world around them, and more are carried in song. When tribes meet, songs are exchanged to keep everyone in touch and tell the stories of what happened since they last met.
Gender Roles
Men are traditionally expected to be more common herders, hunters, warriors, and other out of camp positions.
Women are traditionally expected to be weavers, raisers of very young children, shamans, and other positions in camp
However, things are more egalitarian than expected. Simply put, there's not enough manpower in any given tribe to allow for strict gender roles. Child-rearing is seen as a communal affair to be managed by those who can't/won't work another position (such as the newly incorporated), so women often have time to do things like herd, hunt, work, lead, and war. Conversely, men are often not shamed from working around the camp, and this is a common situation for those whose differences in ability would bar them from more "conventionally male" positions. This is only really made possible by the electoralist system.
Population: 970,00
Density: 3.3 people/square mile
Racial Makeup: Mostly human
Demonym: Jakarti
"Official" Language: A series of mutually intelligable Jakarti tounges.
Script: The Jakarti people, being steppe nomads, do not have a proper script. Adoption of the script of other peoples has occurred.
real world inspirations: Mongolia, Scythia, other Eurasian Steppe Nomads, Amizgh Tribes system of electoral governance
(flag is a blue pennant with a green bundle of arrows on it, all the flag sites want rectangular European flags. in any case horsehair tugs are also a symbol)
The Jarkit people inhabit the seemingly endless grass sea, which they refer to as Dazkar-" Domain of Sky and Earth" and are largely pastoralists who have tended to their flocks of sheep and herds of horses (and hunted and traded) while moving over the steppe since time immemorial. They focus on cooperation among themselves, and are proud of their traditions, but are fearful of outsiders and disapprove of their strange ways. They believe themselves to be the true children/servants of Earth and Sky, and see themselves as living a more upright lifestyle than many of their neighbors.
Government:
The government at the lowest level is largely elective. The average Jarkit clan's elders elect a Khan from among their people to lead them once every 3 years, though some clans do go with every "free" adult in the clan acting as the electoral body instead. The Khan or Khatun is "sworn in" on Noon of the Spring Equinox of the relevant year in a religious ceremony.
These Khans and Khatuns negotiate disputes along with their elders and the people effected, mete out punishments, actually collect tribute from sendentary population and their traders, and handle most other local issues. They then form the Kuraltai, a council that, among other high-level decision-making activities, elects a Great Khan or Khatun from among their number to act for all when such is needed. They are elected every 6 years, and are sworn in at sunrise on the Summer Equinox at a religious ceremony.
The Great Khan (or Khatun) and Kurultai have the following jobs, in no particular order
Lead the Jarkit clans to war (see below)
Keep peace among the clans, by avoiding inter-clan strife. Keep the arrows pointed away from each other, as it were.
Make descisions that affect all of the Jarkit people.
Stimulate trade and discussion among the clans, by maintaining infrastructure like kurgans.
Act as the point of contact with outsiders, allowing for a unified voice instead of various clans being arrayed against each other. This also involves dealing with settled peoples
Deal with trade with outsiders, in the sense of being the source, destination, and route of trade. See below for why the latter is important.
And otherwise act as a scaled-up version of the average Khan or Khatun's position.
War, why and how it happens.
While the Jarkits are not the horde that the "city-folk" around them sometimes stereotype them as, sometimes peace is not an option. War is sent against those who threaten them, usually other nomadic groups whose herds are eating their grass but also settled peoples muscling in to the more fertile areas, as well as when raiding. Usually, said raids are against other steppe nomads for people, who, after a period in a bo'ol like position of semi-incorporation, are fully incorporated and for their animals. Only rarely are raids sent against settled peoples for their metal goods, cereal grains, and luxuries, and are as much a political show of force as they are economic. In particular, mass raiding campaigns/full scale wars must be approved by the Kuraltai’s shamans, which in their beliefs is the sign that Sky-mother wants her children to make war upon the ungrateful and wicked, to purge those who taint Creation with bow and spear, flame and hoof-thunder. Bow and Lance cavalry are the order of the day, and horse-string fireless logistics lets then appear in faraway places "out of nowhere". Contrary to city-folk propaganda, they will use metal armor when they get the chance to use it, and use felt armor if not.
Religion and mytho-History:
Jarkit history is kept in the oral record. Literacy is not common in Dazkar, but mutually intelligible dialects are. History is told as a story of heroes and epics via song and poetry and trance-enabled ceremony, and blends seamlessly into what some would call "myth" or more respectfully, religion.
Said religion might be termed "animistic" by some scholars, wherein every animal, plant, and inanimate thing has a personage to interact with, along with the spirits of great heroes. Among this abundance of "persons, only some of which are humanoid/centaur/slime", two stand out. They are the Sky-Mother, who is activity and fire and the Sun and lightning and all manner of things, and her androgenous lover, the Earth-Being, who is life, grass, the slow times of a persons life, the Moon, the sacred landscape, and is often accredited with the spirits of inanimate things in some traditions. They are said to have created the world in general, and consider all the world to be their domain that they let humans make use of. This is fundamentally a temporary transaction, which can be stopped if They sense misuse.
Magic: The Jarkit magical traditions therefore involve bargaining with these spirits, with sacrifice of material goods, building kurgans to sacrifice man-hours, and possession during the duration of ceremonies. To invoke Sky and/or Earth requires an extreme price, such as doing Their bidding out in the world, such as "striking down those who misuse what is truly Their creations and children". Monsters are seen as creations of their gods which, being people who are not humanoid/centaur/slime, fell to vice.
Mytho-History proper
It is said in their tales that Sky-Mother either created them among some past sedentary people, or called out to already existing sedentary people, and that said people were wicked tyrants who were above all else, greedy. Sky-Mother than told them to come to Dazkar to escape a calamity, which is often cited as a punishment by Sky and Earth for the acts of this unnamed past people and to reclaim that which the tyrants of old had scarred with their greed and vice. The nomadic ways of the Jarkit are said to be how Sky-Mother taught them to live a better life with what they had and that their electoralism is a way to escape the tyranny of the past (Jarkit translating to "free and upright people"). It is also at this time in mytho-history that the shamans say that Earth-Being taught them the ways of working with the spirits of animal and land came about, as well as their cooperation with each other, as a more proper way (in their eyes) to engage with the world and with each other to oppose the greed and corruption of the old sedentary people which they claim descent from.
The shamans, who are more often than not what some in another time and place would term LGBTQ+ or neurodiverse, get rather touchy when foreign antiquarians bug them about the nature of the past tyrants, if they were "real" (such that matters), and suchlike.
In terms of "real history", a surveyor of the land would see that they migrated from a former civilization which underwent collapse from the effects of climate shifts several thousand years ago, and that there are the same ceremonial sites as used to swear in Khans today along the path. The institution of Great Khan as a "proper king" as city-folk would have it is surprisingly recent, being 300 years old give or take a summer, so while it is well entrenched, their oral history records times before it. The territory has been gained in part through the peaceful incorporation of various tribes in the area, but some of it was gained through conflict. An inquisitive eye would also note different ethnicities among the Human population.
Subistinance:
The central axises about which Jarkiti subistinance, and thusly society, orbit are the horse and sheep. Horses are, obviously, good for mobility, though the Jakriti breeds are rather smaller than the stable-fed kinds seen in other lands. After all, a good horse should be self-sustaining, especially when using a string of them to move while at war. The true center pole about which Jakriti life orbits is the sheep herd. Sheep are considered Earth's greatest gift, for they provide meats and milk for consumption, wool to make cloth for clothes and other textiles, the felt needed to raise yurts [embed here] (along with hides which provide all manner of vital leather products), and dung to power fire and life on the treeless expanse. The average diet consists largely of dairy products of both mare and sheep, with powdered sheep's-milk yogurt being the warriors choice. Meat of course figures into things, especially in winter when dairy is scarce. While horse products (like meat, hair, and hide) are present, it is not nearly as popular as city-folk think it is and is typically a way to "recycle" excess stallions, the lame, ect. Horses are too useful and valuable to kill! Herding other animals, like goats does occur, but those are the most important ones.
Hunting figures somewhat into the equation of survival, especially when on campaign. Hunting is as much ritual (and practice with horse and bow) as it is subistinance, though.
Given the nature of geography, trade runs through Drazkar often. Heavy tribute is demanded of traders who enter Dazkar, as their animals eat the grass nomads need to survive (be it now or months in the future). When tribute is paid, tribes are told to protect foreign traders from beasts and bandits. When it isn't, the traders are on their own. Whatever hospitality (or lack thereof) they earned is their own fault for not paying the price of their impact. Traders who refuse to give tribute may find it taken from them, or find themselves driven out of Drazkar if they are particularly irritating. The tribes themselves also trade a lot with each other and their neighbors. After all, they are already making circuits around the area, so they might as well carry goods to gain access to things which cannot be produced on the plains, like metal goods.
Culture, clothing, et al:
Clothing is largely made of felt, though furs do figure into the design in the colder regions. 
Figure 1: A Jarkit woman of the colder reaches in her traditional wear
Figure 1: A Jarkit woman of the colder reaches in her traditional wear
Gender Roles
Men are traditionally expected to be more common herders, hunters, warriors, and other out of camp positions.
Women are traditionally expected to be weavers, raisers of very young children, shamans, and other positions in camp
However, things are more egalitarian than expected. Simply put, there's not enough manpower in any given tribe to allow for strict gender roles. Child-rearing is seen as a communal affair to be managed by those who can't/won't work another position (such as the newly incorporated), so women often have time to do things like herd, hunt, work, lead, and war. Conversely, men are often not shamed from working around the camp, and this is a common situation for those whose differences in ability would bar them from more "conventionally male" positions. This is only really made possible by the electoralist system.