A Sea of Sand

[limetom]

I haven't really posted anything setting-wise lately, but recently, I've been seriously trying to get into it again.  

I'll call this a thought experiment based off of Luminous Crayon's 'Why Do You Use Multiple 'People' Races?' thread.  In said thread, I raised two points that I think deserve serious consideration by every setting designer: cultural reflex and identity reflex.

To summarize my main points, cultural reflex is the tendency to base cultures in designer's settings off of elements that are familiar and found in designer's own culture.  Identity reflex is the tendency to include elements of the designer's own identity or identities familiar to the designer in the designer's setting.  Most of these are done almost unconsciously, and while they are not necessarily wrong, a better sense of fantasy can be gained from including that which is not as familiar.

I have decided to create a mini-setting, complete with 4 cultures, two of which being unfamiliar to most of what I would safely assume to be setting designers' culture, along with reasonings behind as many of my decisions as I care to give.  Setting information will be given in IC tags, and reasonings will be given in Quote tags.

[limetom]

[ic=The Palkiye]The Palkiye is a vast desert basin found in what is arguably the middle of the Yapoy continent.  Perhaps once a vast inland sea, the Palkiye is now nothing more than a barren waste almost devoid of life entirely.  However, it is not to say that the region is uninhabited.  Various groups have fought wars over the desolate region since antiquity, as the strip of land that encircles the desert at the center provides access from one side of Yapoy to the other.

The Palkiye is bordered to encircled to the northwest, west, and south by the Nom mountains, which  essentially divide Yapoy in half.  To the southeast is the Great Desert, which divides the Palkiye from the lands of the Siega Empire to the east.  Finally, the Steppe, a vast area of grasslands and sparse forests, can be found to the northeast.[/ic]

[img:width=70%&height=38%]../../e107_files/public/1204838797_14_FT45179_culture.gif[/img]

*Palkiye - pel-KEY-yay. pel- should be pronounced like ap

ple.
*Yapoy - ye-POY.
*Nom - NAM[/list]

[limetom]

From what I have seen in my settings as well as other settings, kinship systems are among the things most vulnerable to cultural reflex.  In our culture, we nominally have a patrilineal kinship system, in that we reckon descent through our father's family line.  The opposite of this would be a matrilineal kinship system, in which we would reckon descent through our mother's family line.

However, these two aren't the only two kinship systems that exist, and I will go over new ones as I get to them.  Also, keep in mind that a patrilineal or matrilineal society does not necessarily equal a patriarchal or matriarchal one.

[Jharviss]

Hey limetom,

I love the map and the setting idea.  I really enjoy desert-driven settings.  Actually, let me emphasize that I really like your map.  Did you do it?  Hm-hm-hm.

How are you pronouncing Palkiye?  I'm just curious.

[Polycarp]

As a big fan of the Tarim basin (Yuezhi power!) I fully support this project.  Endoheric geography is too seldom used in most fictional maps I've seen.

[limetom]

How are you pronouncing Palkiye?  I'm just curious.

ple[/b].  The others are pronounced as one normally would expect.

As a big fan of the Tarim basin (Yuezhi power!) I fully support this project. Endoheric geography is too seldom used in most fictional maps I've seen.

Thanks.

[limetom]

I'm not done yet, but I thought I may as well put up what I have so far...

[ic=The Arshi People]The Arshi, as indicated on the map, live along the northeastern edge of the Palkiye.

The Arshi live in patriclans, reckoning their descent within a larger grouping from their fathers.  Arshi clans are mainly historical; there is no set criterion for determining who can create a clan, but typically, a generation or two after a fairly famous person dies, people may begin reckoning their descent from that person.

Though the Arshi are patrilineal after a fashion, authority in Arshi society rests among female elders, who are more often than not also high priestesses for each clan.

The Arshi have a supreme goddess that they call Ã'akteñña.  They also believe that every human has a spirit that continues on after that person's death, and that certain places that they consider to have natural power may also possess a spirit.

Ã'akteñña represents a related grouping of aspects, including the Moon, the Sky, rain, and time.  Rituals for Ã'akteñña take place during the new moon.  The Arshi view the new moon as a time when Ã'akteñña has left them, and they feel that they need to coax her back because without the moon, the night would quickly disappear.

The solar deities of other cultures confuse many Arshi.  They commonly view the Sun as the ultimate oppressive force of nature, and why anyone would worship something like that is beyond them.

TO BE FINISHED[/ic]

Long ago, when the First Clans lived by Samudtar, the Great Lake, the Sun was the only thing in the sky.  It shone all day and all night, and would burn any who dared to stay out under it too long.

One day, a young Arshi woman named Ã'akteñña decided that enough was enough.  She learned the secrets of magic, and set out eastward, towards the Sun.

TO BE FINISHED[/ic]

*Ã'akteñña - nyek-TEN-nya.  The "ñ"s are pronounced as in Spanish, similar to u

nion.
*Samudtar -  sa-MOOD-ter.[/list]

[limetom]

Simply put, a clan is a group of people who descend from a common ancestor.  Sometimes, the ancestor is historical.  Other times, the ancestor is mythological or semi-mythological, such as in the case of totemic clans.  Clans can be arranged in three ways: patriclans, which trace descent through the father; matriclans, which trace decent through the mother; and bilineal clans, which trace descent through both the father and the mother.  In a bilineal clan, it is possible to belong to two clans at the same time.

[Tybalt]

This looks interesting as a basic concept. I would say that while it's tempting to want to be totally unique in concept it's more the sense of freshness of ideas that I crave. I actually like seeing something that I can easily recognize (ah, a desert setting) and then get a sense of potential exciting stories set in that place.

[sparkletwist]

I like this too. I also agree there's somewhat of a shortage of desert-centric settings (or really, centered around any biome other than the usual Euro-forest type environment) so it'll be interesting to see where this goes.

Your rationale makes a lot of sense, too. I have my own desert-ish setting that I've not really done anything worthwhile with, probably because it is so unfamiliar, so it's harder to come up with anything. :)

Did you coin the word Samudtar yourself? It reminds me a lot of Sanskrit samudra (or Hindi samundar) with the related meaning of ocean or sea.

Neat stuff, I hope you keep developing it.

[limetom]

I like this too. I also agree there's somewhat of a shortage of desert-centric settings (or really, centered around any biome other than the usual Euro-forest type environment) so it'll be interesting to see where this goes.

Did you coin the word Samudtar yourself? It reminds me a lot of Sanskrit samudra (or Hindi samundar) with the related meaning of ocean or sea.[/quote]samudtar[/i] is a Tocharian B word, obviously a cognate to the Sanskrit samudra and the Hindi samundar.

Neat stuff, I hope you keep developing it.

Thanks.

[LordVreeg]

Simply put, a clan is a group of people who descend from a common ancestor.  Sometimes, the ancestor is historical.  Other times, the ancestor is mythological or semi-mythological, such as in the case of totemic clans.  Clans can be arranged in three ways: patriclans, which trace descent through the father; matriclans, which trace decent through the mother; and bilineal clans, which trace descent through both the father and the mother.  In a bilineal clan, it is possible to belong to two clans at the same time.

Not that you have gotten into specifics, but becoming 'friends of the clan' or actually joining the a clan as an outsider are parts of many great stories.  I'm hoping to see these points in your clan write ups...and I can't wait to see whcihj descent system you use.
Most clan systems in my world are matrilineal, but the country of Trabler (where Igbar is situated, in case you have read any of my S.O.C. disasters) is patrilineal by law.  Causes no end of grief...