The Clockwork Jungle

[LD]

Thanks for the update- I was just checking the wiki yesterday to see if Clockwork Jungle had updated recently, so this is a nice surprise!

[Polycarp]

I am stalked by the fear of monocultures.  No, I don't mean the agricultural kind, I mean the kind in which one race equals one culture, a situation very much unlike how things actually work here on earth.  Whenever I talk about customs, cultures, language, attitudes, and so on, I have to be careful to qualify my words to avoid making over-generalizations.

I had a realization the other day that things might be easier if I had a better idea of the different intra-racial cultural spheres that exist in the world.  I decided to start with our friends the Iskites, and made a list (with short descriptions) of each group of the race, what might be called "nations" or "ethnic groups" if such terms existed in CJ.  I also whipped up a map to go with it.

I didn't make this a "feature" because it's not really a polished article, just an idea, something to float by and ponder a bit as I pull other work together.  It occurs to me that even short blurbs of information on cultures like this could make generating an Iskite who's not just a hardass Analect stereotype somewhat easier.

Major Iskite and Ussik Cultures of the Known World

Cultures are listed in physical order, starting with the pea-green blob in the lower left and moving clockwise.

Iskite cultures are colored in varying shades of green, and Ussik in blue.  Uncolored areas aren't necessarily Iskite-free, but they are definitely not a significant race in such areas, and any villages found there are likely to be highly isolated and possessing of very unique cultures and traditions that reflect that distance from a greater community identity.

Many entries refer to sects of the Iskite Great Social Reform, which is described in the wiki (see link).

Analectic Iskites
Territory: Scalemount, Clawed Thicket, clockwise Wyrmcrown, clockwise Vinetrough
Language: Luminous Tongue (New Script)
Religion: Various public cults

Analectic (or just 'Analect') Iskites consider themselves to be the original and authentic people of their race, and there is considerable evidence that Scalemount may have been the origin point of their people in distant Antiquity.  They typically refer to themselves as 'Analect,' 'Righteous,' or 'Orthodox' Iskites, all of which refer to their adherence to the Mainspring Analects.  Other Iskite cultures that are equally convinced of their own orthodoxy are more likely to describe them as 'Scalemount Iskites.'

Their cultural ideals may be directly traced to the Polemicist sect of the Great Social Reform, which ultimately triumphed in Scalemount and its surrounding regions.  The 'default' Iskite culture described in the CJ article on Iskites is the Analectic culture.  Their society and habits are explained there.

Sekata Iskites
Territory: The Sekah (the borderland between Scalemount and the Netai), the Watzash (unclock Netai coast), Anathi archipelago
Language: Luminous Tongue (New Script)
Religion: Various public cults

Sekata Iskites are the descendants of Scalemount Iskites who settled along the Netai shore and the borderland ('Sekah') clockwise of Scalemount.  In Antiquity they also occupied part of what is now the Mosswaste, and the now-corrupted Lake Isath was the center of their civilization and cultural sphere.  Sekata Iskites are considered generally 'orthodox' in their philosophy by Analectic Iskites, though their society tends to have more explicit social stratification into 'ranks' or 'degrees' due to the influence of the Orderine sect, an 'orphan' faction of the Great Social Reform that was popular in the Watzash.

As trade between villages in the Sekata and Scalemount cultural spheres has grown, the differences between the cultures have slowly but steadily eroded.  The victory of the Netai Confederation over the Sekata Iskites and their defunct Right Orientation Alliance has further abetted the growth of Scalemount's cultural dominance in the borderlands.

Netai Ussik
Territory: Netai Archipelago
Language: Washtongue (Zivenid Speech), Indigo Speech
Religion: Various public cults, many Umbril-influenced

The Ussik population of the Netai has only existed for about two decades.  The Netai Ussik are composed of the families and children of Ussik mercenaries imported from the distant Greenwash to fight the enemies of the Netai Confederation, most of whom have opted to remain in the isles after the end of the conflict.  Though Wash Ussik in tradition and upbringing, the Netai Ussik are separated from their kin by many miles, and have begun developing their own unique society - already, the speech of the Evne-Umbril has begun to creep into their language, and some have adopted Evne cults and forms of worship.

As they are virtually all mercenaries or family members thereof, the Netai Ussik are an especially hard-nosed, prideful, and militaristic addition to the Netai polity.  They have a higher regard for the Tahro and Gheen they've fought beside than their Wash cousins do, but are despised by the Sekata Iskites who they happily fought and vanquished for their Confederation masters.

Mangal Iskites
Territory: The Great Mire, Chokereed, Sea of Serpents, clockwise shore of Netai, Ninefold Vale
Language: Luminous Tongue (Old Script), Kzata, rarely some other local Antique languages
Religion: Various public cults, particularly the Cult of Imauwr (in the Great Mire) and the Cult of the Redeemer (in Chokereed).

Mangal Iskites occupy the lands of the Grand Mangal, having settled here in distant Antiquity.  They existed in these lands before the Great Social Reform of Scalemount but the ideas of the Mainspring Analects were later spread to them by missionary philosophers.  Mangal Iskites are generally orthodox, but many of their villages exhibit 'sodalities,' voluntary families similar in many ways to an Umbril metil, something unknown in Scalemount.  Some Iskite scholars believe this is was the result of proselytizing by members of the Covenanter sect during the Reform Era, whose 'covenants' were similarly non-lineage family groups, but the sodalities are more likely the result of their close contact with Nevir-Umbril colonies in the Grand Mangal super-region.

The Luminous Tongue is widespread among the Mangal Iskites, though many villages (particularly in the Chokereed and around the Sea of Serpents) still use other Antique languages, by far the most widespread of which is known as Kzata.  Most Mangal Iskites use an older, more ornate script for the LT that was superseded in most of the orthodox Iskite world by a 'new' or 'reformed' script during the Age of Prophets.

Wash Ussik
Territory: The Wash, unclock Whitefen
Language: Washtongue (Zivenid script)
Religion: Various public cults, many Umbril-influenced

The Wash Ussik represent the vast majority of the Ussik branch of the greater Iskite race.  The Ussik are physically adapted for semi-aquatic life and thrive in the environment of the Wash, which is ill-suited to farming.  Though the Wash Ussik embrace much of the Mainspring Analects, they refused to abolish heredity from their society and still live in extended family units, which - along with their occasional use of hereditary monarchy - is the source of much of the enmity between them and other Iskites.  Of the sects of the Reform Era, they are closest to the Meritocrats, though it is likely that their present condition is a result of selective adoption of Polemicist dogma than early (and almost certainly unhistorical) Meritocrat influence abroad.

Wash Ussik culture is permeated by Nevir-Umbril influence.  Their language, Washtongue, includes many Umbril terms and is written in a script adopted from the Umbril centuries ago with only minor modifications.  Many Wash Ussik cults are dedicated to Ussik versions of Ivetzivenid aspects, or at least bear a notable resemblance to them.  In many parts of the Wash, 'towns' exist in which Ussik and Umbril live together harmoniously, though villages are more common than such mixed-race communities.

Islander Ussik
Territory: Sea of Marching Stones
Language: Various endemic languages
Religion: Maltheistic wind-spirit cults, particularly the Cult of the Rime Dancer

The islands of the Sea of Marching Stones are populated largely by Ussik.  They rarely leave them, traveling between the nearest isles only occasionally to trade with friendly neighbors or raid unfriendly ones.  Though their isolation from the Wash is not total, most Islander Ussik have diverged in language and custom from the Wash Ussik (and each other) over the last few thousand years.

Though the Analects have reached many of the sea's communities in one form or another, the Islanders - like virtually all Ussik - have not rejected heredity as a part of their culture.  Despite this, Wash Ussik still consider the Islanders to be almost a different race, and describe them as insular, violent, and superstitious savages.  Their languages are no longer mutually intelligible with the Washtongue, though a shared origin is clear.  Most either did not adopt or discontinued the use of Umbril script and use native alphabets.  They not particularly backward in terms of technology, though some isles have regressed considerably since their settlement because of a dearth of resources.  This relative material poverty is the cause of many of their internal conflicts - the Islander Ussik have no meaningful unity and various isles ally or war with each other as petty sovereign villages.

The Islanders tend towards a Gheen-like concept of religion.  Powerful entities are essentially uncaring and even malevolent, and the purpose of religion and ritual is to mitigate their influences.  Unlike the Gheen, however, who generally appease their gods, the Islanders attempt to intimidate and frighten away the evil wind spirits from the forbidding Fanged Rampart above with cacophonous music.

Non-Ussik are rare in the isles of the Sea of Marching Stones and are likely to be viewed with fear or suspicion, though if an alien can avoid being taken for a wind spirit in disguise he is unlikely to be met with violence or outright hostility.

Maw Iskites
Territory:  The Maw, some adjacent parts of the Chalklands and Cogsteeth
Language: Various Antique languages, Szelsh in some areas
Religion: Various public cults

Maw Iskites are less homogenous than any other Iskite culture, as the Maw itself is subdivided into thousands of isolated valleys.  The Iskites of this land tend to be technologically primitive and socially untouched by the effects of the Great Social Reform and the Grand Authority, save those in the shadow of the Lesser Cogsteeth who have come under Szelsh domination.  Their methods of rulership vary from hereditary rulers to ruling councils or cultic theocracies; in the unclock Maw, Iskite villages are heavily matriarchal to an extent only surpassed by the Gheen.

Maw Iskites, reflecting their isolated existences, tend to be highly xenophobic.  Many will kill a Tahr on sight, regardless of their homeland or intentions, because a sizeable number of the Maw Tahro bloods regularly hunt and eat Iskites.  Unusually, Gheen are generally the aliens most likely to be well-received because of their overall rarity in the region.  Many Maw Iskites know of Gheen only through stories.

Szelsh Iskites
Territory: Gearfall, Lesser Cogsteeth, the outer Maw, clockwise Red Depths, and unclock Sea of Ink
Language: Szelsh
Religion: Various public cults

Szelsh Iskites are the descendants of the followers of Isz the Pale, a philosophical refugee from Gearfall during the upheaval of the Great Social Reform.  As such, they draw their cultural ideals from the Dualist sect that Isz belonged to.  Their name refers to the language they speak, an Antique Iskite language of Scalemount that is now extinct in that part of the world.  They are also sometimes referred to (by themselves or others) as 'Gearfall Iskites' or the 'Tribe of Isz.'

Szelsh Iskites consider themselves to be true followers of the Mainspring Analects, but they follow a different version of the text than the 'Analectic' Iskites of Greater Scalemount and retain a number of traditions that predate the Great Social Reform.  Some of their villages are still ruled by the remnants of 'the Elect,' a hereditary upper caste, which has been rapidly recovering from a nadir during the Age of Prophets.

Solar Iskites
Territory: The city of Greythorn, some villages in inner Vinetrough
Language: Luminous Tongue (New Script)
Religion: Cult of the Solar Emissary (or various splinter cults thereof)

Solar Iskites are the faithful of Mylsegemmen, specifically as prescribed by the Cult of the Solar Emissary.  Most followers of the cult are loyal to the Solar Order, the theocratic ruling order of Greythorn, though some who consider themselves true believers are condemned as heretics by the Order for their divergent doctrines.  They trace their origins to the exodus of Zenge, consort of Mylsegemmen, and her followers from Scalemount during the Age of Prophets.

Solar Iskites share many cultural similarities to Analectic Iskites but have abandoned some of the teachings of the Mainspring Analects where they are superseded by what is believed to be divine teaching.  Spurned by other Iskites, the Solars have been increasingly gravitating towards the Ussik cultural sphere, and some have begun living in family units (the Allotment is practiced by many, but is not a state institution or religious requirement).  They tend to be disdainful of the nearby Old Kin, whose culture reflects none of the Analectic ideals that the Solar Iskites are inheritors to (despite their religious 'improvements' to those ideals).

Old Kin Iskites
Territory: Inner Wyrmcrown and outer Vinetrough
Language: Luminous Tongue (New Script), some local Antique languages
Religion: Various public cults

The Iskites of the 'Old Kin' fled the Greater Scalemount during the Great Social Reform.  Their name derives from the conservative sects that opposed the Reformist radicals, known generally as 'kinsmen.'  They managed to survive conversion or destruction in the sparsely populated inner slopes of the Wyrmcrown and there preserved a heredity-based society, albeit one without the autocratic 'blood lords' of old, in keeping with the ideas of the Conclavist sect of the Reform Era.  The Old Kin were only discovered by Analect Iskites during the Age of Prophets, but their small numbers and isolated location made conversion and conquest difficult.  During the Recentering, the Orange Horde and its offshoots annihilated most of the orthodox Iskite villages of the inner Vinetrough, allowing a surprisingly swift expansion of the Old Kin further towards the Black Circle in the modern era.

The Old Kin are considered to be debased and corrupt by most other Iskite cultures but are one of the few Iskite groups to get along passably with the Ussik (though their interactions are very limited).  They are frequently compared to Maw Iskites by their orthodox cousins, despite vast differences in culture, homogeneity, technology, and history.

[Ghostman]

I agree this multitude of (sub)cultures makes the race seem that much more real. It reinforces the concept of a people spread about, isolated and evolved over centuries.

[Nomadic]

It's the same exact pitfall I've been trying to avoid in Mare Eternus by creating different cultures like you are. One thing however I've realized is that there probably will be cultural borders between species even in the same area. So a Nicu in The Pearl Way will probably have a different culture than a Maeri. It may be closer to the local Maeri culture than the culture of a Nicu from somewhere else but there will be a difference. It's something we can't really find examples of in the real world but I just don't see species differences not effecting culture at all. I still like you though hate the idea of mono-cultural species.

[Polycarp]

One thing however I've realized is that there probably will be cultural borders between species even in the same area.

*part of this post eaten by forum change*

In one way I've actually got it rather easy - The Known World is just smaller than the worlds of a lot of other settings (including most of my own).  The map above, after all, is about as wide as the continental US.

It's big, but it's not so big as to have the kind of vast cultural difference exhibited by, say, the Mughals and the Mayans.  It's more realistic that ideas and ideologies (like the Mainspring Analects) could move from one side to another over the course of centuries, even considering the enhanced difficulty of jungle transport.

I still like you though hate the idea of mono-cultural species.

"Hate" is perhaps a strong word - I don't want to rule out the idea entirely if it works.  Maybe a race only has one country/community left, or perhaps instant communications and transport make homogeneity possible over long distances.  I invoke the latter explanation a bit in the case of the Iskites, to justify how the Luminous Tongue became the language of so many different cultures over such a large area in only a few hundred years - the Grand Authority, for a time, was able to coordinate their efforts over vast amounts of space through the power of the Oracle Fruit.

[Polycarp]

I have put together a second map, this time on the Gheen.  You'll notice that they aren't quite as widespread as the Iskites.  In fact, Gheen are the least widespread of the four races because they're the only ones that might be considered environment-dependent - unlike the other races that live on the forest floor, the Gheen live above it, and so generally prefer to live in 'high forest' areas with very tall trees.  The three Gheen 'homelands,' the Red Depths, the Skyshield, and Chalicewood, are all such high forest areas (the only others are Feathervale and the Sea of Ink, though there are some high forest parts of other regions as few are totally ubiquitous).

That restriction is what keeps the Gheen from being the dominant race in the known world.  After all, they mature faster and reproduce (much) faster than any of the other civilized races; if they could live anywhere comfortably, they might simply overrun everyone else.  The closer to the ground they are, however, the closer they are to danger, so Gheen cultures in low forest areas tend to remain comparatively small and beleaguered compared to the massive hosts of Gheen in Skyshield and the Red Depths.

Major Gheen Cultures of the Known World

Cultures are listed in physical order, starting with the big red blob on the right and moving clockwise.

Gheen cultures are colored in shades according to their lineage - Red/pink indicates Red Gheen descent, Orange indicates Chalice Gheen descent, and Yellow indicates Shield Gheen descent (the Black Gheen are colored greenish as their descent is uncertain).  Uncolored areas aren't necessarily Gheen-free, but they are definitely not a significant race in such areas, and any dreys found there are likely to be highly isolated and possessing of very unique cultures and traditions that reflect that distance from a greater community identity.

Red Gheen
Territory: Red Depths, Feathervale
Language: Red Gheen
Religion: Ancestor worship, various public cults (often maltheistic)

The Red Gheen are the largest of the three main Gheen lineages, and have ruled as the unchallenged masters of the Red Depths for as long as history has been recorded.  Myths tell of the Gheen arriving from beyond the World's Edge in ancient times, but this may be pure fiction.  The Gheen of the Red Depths refer to their home as the 'Pure Land,' and occasionally to themselves as the 'Pure Gheen' to distinguish themselves from Red Gheen speaking populations in other regions.  They are the most monarchical of Gheen cultures, with nearly every Red Gheen drey ruled by a formal Queen ('reeya').

Though nearly all Gheen believe in the immortality of one's blood through one's descendents, Red Gheen tend to place more emphasis in ancestor-worship, believing that their past relatives are not only present in their blood but capable of exerting power and granting favors in the physical world.  Many Red Gheen practice drinking the blood of recently deceased family members and ancestors to strengthen their familial power, and in some dreys the flesh is ritually consumed as well, particularly if the dead Gheen has no direct descendents.

The Red Gheen have traditionally considered commerce to be a degrading activity and in recent centuries have delegated this role to aliens, particularly Umbril and Tahro.  Powerful Red Gheen families often form patron-client relationships with alien communities to act as merchants and intermediaries with other alien groups, but seldom deign to live among aliens themselves.

The Red Gheen are politically divided between those who are under the dominion of the Yrtan Empire and those who are not.  Dreys part of or sympathetic to the World-Queen's empire are likely to be much less tolerant of aliens, but are not culturally distinct from dreys not under her control.

Black Gheen
Territory: The City of Orpiment, some dreys in inner Vinetrough, elsewhere on the Black Circle
Language: Perchtalk
Religion: Various cults, many Umbril-influenced

The Black Gheen are a small community of Gheen of uncertain lineage living on the edge of the Black Circle, particularly in the City of Orpiment (where they make up more than a quarter of the population) and a few clusters of dreys at the confluence of the Cogsteeth, Vinetrough, and the Obsidian Plain.  They are descended from Gheen who came to the foothills of Ajen territory in the middle Age of Prophets, but it is unclear whether they settled voluntarily or were taken there as slaves, or where they originally came from.  Their language isn't mutually intelligible with any other Gheen tongue, though it bears some similarities to both Red Gheen and Shield Gheen languages.  The Black Gheen themselves claim they are a 'fourth branch' of the race, though no other Gheen recognize this as fact.

The Black Gheen have historically been closely aligned with the Ajen-Umbril.  They aided the Golden Principality in the Cities' War and Greythorn destroyed some of their dreys in Vinetrough in retaliation.  Since the growth of the Circle trade, they have begun to spread to other Black Circle cities.  They are known for having some of the best khauta fliers in the world, and have a keen mercantile, political, and cultural rivalry with the Gheen of the Rookery.

Though they are named for the Black Circle, it is sometimes said the name also describes their outlook - they are stereotypically described as a fatalistic and morbid people, and it is true that the death-goddess Iseecha (also called 'Grandmother Jet-Eyes' or the 'Queen of the Void') is far and away the most important and widespread deity among them.  This quality is generally exaggerated, however, and they are nearly as favorably inclined towards riotous religious celebrations as most other Gheen.

Peregrine Gheen
Territory: Unclock Sea of Ink, outer Cogsteeth
Language: Red Gheen
Religion: Ancestor worship, various public cults (often maltheistic)

The Peregrine Gheen are descended from Red Gheen colonists that journeyed through Gearfall during the Recentering to make new lives for themselves in the Sea of Ink, of which only rumors were known at the time.  The original settlers were largely from weak or marginalized families in the Red Depths.  For the most part, they share their culture and language with the rest of the Red Gheen, but two hundred years of isolation from the Pure Land have caused some deviation.

Because of the low number of original settler families and the danger of this uncivilized land, the Peregrine Gheen consolidated themselves early on into a number of 'domains' in which a cluster of dreys is ruled by a single Queen.  Over the last hundred years the number of such domains has varied between 15 and 18, with a handful of dreys existing outside this system.  For the most part, the domains coexist peacefully, but some ongoing violent feuds do exist.

Syani Gheen
Territory: Clawed Thicket, outer Wyrmcrown, clockwise Sea of Ink
Language: Chalice Gheen variants
Religion: Maltheistic public cults, the Cult of the Forest Martyr

The Syani Gheen are one of the three descendant peoples of the Chalice Gheen, whose homeland was largely overrun by the Mosswaste in late Antiquity.  Under the leadership of the legendary queen La'at Syani, this branch of the Chalice Gheen crossed the Seven Antlers and settled in the Clawed Thicket.  Since then they have expanded their range and begun to settle the high forest of the Sea of Ink.

Because the Clawed Thicket is not a high forest region (the environment that Gheen prefer), the Syani Gheen have had to adapt to living closer to the forest floor.  Their dreys tend to be smaller and more dense to provide additional protection against predators and aliens, and some are low enough that the residents also build several concentric palisades on the ground around their settlement.  A few communities have adopted the Tahr practice of using ruins as habitations, though they tend to seal up most of the doors and window entrances of a ruin to prevent any entry save through the roof.

The Syani have a chilly relationship with the Analectic Iskites of the Clawed Thicket; they do trade and communicate, but also war with each other frequently.  They get along better with the Tahro of the Outlands, with whom they often ally against the scales.

Lost Flock
Territory: Chalicewood, the Seven Antlers
Language: Chalice Gheen variants
Religion: Aras Tay worship

The Lost Flock are one of the three descendant peoples of the Chalice Gheen.  Unlike their cousins, they chose to remain in their homeland despite the encroachment of the Peril, though most of them have been forced up into the mountain valleys of the Seven Antlers.  They call themselves 'the Faithful,' as they alone refused to leave their homeland entirely.  They have almost no contact with the rest of the world and very little is known about them.  In recent years, a handful of raids by 'wild Gheen' on Iskite settlements in the outer Scalemount have been documented, attributed to Lost Flock bands seeking iron, lodestones, or other goods.

The Lost Flock is primarily a society of nomads.  Some permanent dreys do exist, but staying still for long in the Chalicewood often attracts the attention of the Abominations of the Peril.  They do not rely on seasonal camps like the Tahro, for fear that these could become traps, but higher up in the mountains the Peril is less of a threat and some groups do return to the same sites regularly.

The religion of the Lost Flock has lost most of its gods.  Over the centuries has been pared down to only two real deities - the Peril, which is the enemy of all life, and the Aras Tay, who are all considered to be avatars of a single great being.  It is rumored among the Iskites of Scalemount that the Lost Flock actually communicates with the Aras Tay, and that their shamans can call these otherworldly creatures to carry them or fight for them.

Indigo Gheen
Territory: Netai Archipelago, inner/clockwise Netai coast
Language: Chalice Gheen variants, Indigo Speech
Religion: Public cults, often maltheistic, with some Umbril-influenced deities

The Indigo Gheen, also called Netai Gheen or Inembran Gheen, are the smallest of the three descendant peoples of the Chalice lineage.  The ancestors of the Indigo Gheen left Chalicewood to settle near the outer edge of the Sea of Netai, but many migrated into the Watzash and the inner edge of the sea as the Mosswaste continued to expand.  Most of their dreys were annihilated during the Recentering, and for a generation it was believed that this branch of the Chalice Gheen had become extinct.  Survivors, however, had fled into the Chalklands, and began to migrate back towards the Netai coast and the isles themselves in the late first century of the modern era.

Most of their number who came to the isles settled on the two islands that make up the city of Inembran, a member of the Netai Confederation.  These Gheen have been faithful allies of the Confederation since its founding.  Their numbers were again reduced dramatically by the Scourge, but those that survived in the isles joined the Evne rebels in toppling the Green Principality and defeating the forces of the Oranid restoration.  Most Indigo Gheen learn the Evne language and several aspects of the Evne religion have been adopted into their own practices.

Though decimated repeatedly in their history, the Indigo Gheen have been recovering rapidly since the Scourge Crisis and spreading along the Netai coast, where many live in Evne-inspired ground settlements on easily defensible isles or peninsulas.  By way of the Rainbow Road trade route, many Indigo Gheen have established themselves abroad, from the Grove of Tranquility to inner Scalemount, making reputations for themselves as excellent flyers, guides, and traders.  In the isles, they are also famous - and a bit feared - for the exploits of The Last, an Indigo Gheen 'suicide squad' of the First Netai War.  Having lost their families to the Scourge, the Last painted themselves white and threw themselves fearlessly into dozens of battles against the Oranids.  Fewer than one in twenty survived the war.  These heroes are revered by the Indigo Gheen, whose warriors have painted their faces white in battle ever since.

Shield Gheen
Territory: The Skyshield, the Rookery
Language: Shield Gheen
Religion: Maltheistic public cults

The Shield Gheen are the second largest of the three great lineages of the Gheen race, and have lived in the high forest of the Skyshield as long as any can recall.  They sometimes refer to their land as the 'Heart of the Forest,' and may call themselves 'Heartland' or 'Heart's Blood' Gheen.

The Shield Gheen are the most homogenous of the three lineages.  The 'default' Gheen culture described in the CJ article on Gheen is Shield Gheen culture, and their attitudes and customs are described there.  In recent years, however, there has been a cultural schism growing between the Gheen of the central and outer Skyshield and those living near the edge of the Black Circle, who are influenced by foreign and alien customs and ideas that travel along with goods on the Circle route.  The Rookery, an integral part of the route, has even developed its own specific dialect (called Rooktalk) that includes many alien terms, and this speech has spread to many other Circle dreys.  In future generations the Shield Gheen may find themselves divided into two cultural spheres, one maintaining its 'pure' traditions and the other incorporating an alien world into its customs, languages, and beliefs.

Idakym Gheen
Territory: The Ninefold Vale
Langauge: Idakymi
Religion: Maltheistic public cults

The Idakym Gheen are Shield Gheen who traveled outwise into the Ninefold vale thousands of years ago.  They no longer have any contact with the Skyshield Gheen and their language has developed into a completely different one in that time.

According to Skyshield legend, the Idakym Gheen were founded by a band of Gheen males who no longer wished to live under female dominance.  This myth is not very credible even when one ignores the most obvious problem of how a group without females would be able to found a new community.  The story likely derives from the fact that Idakym Gheen society is indeed unusually favorable to males compared to other Gheen cultures; while inheritance and family are still traced through the female line and females still exercise authority within the family, the drey itself is considered to be a male institution over which groups of males from all the drey's families preside.  Priestesses (and thus Queens) are still female, but virtually no Queen among the Idakym has any political function, serving solely as the drey's high priestess.  Many Idakym dreys elect a High Consort, the Queen's mate and political leader of the drey.  Only males (and usually only those with grandchildren) participate in such elections.

The Idakym, who live in dreys similar to those of the Syani, have no consistent relations with their Vars-Umbril neighbors.  Sometimes the dreys and colonies get along well, and sometimes they don't.  The Idakym Gheen find it difficult to prevail against the warlike Vars and their fortified colonies and seldom provoke a fight with the Umbril even when relations are cold.  They are less restrained towards the few Mangal Iskites who live in the region; the Iskites lorded over the Idakym during the Age of Prophets, which the Idakym repaid with a decades-long genocidal war as soon as the diviners were undone.  The Iskite population in the Ninefold Vale has yet to recover.  More than a hundred years later, members of the two races will still attack one another on sight, and may not check first to see if the interloper is actually a local.

[Dialexis]

Work still progressing here, and if so, upon what areas are you focusing in the immediate future? 

Also, I sent you a pm, Polycarp.  Not sure if you regularly drop in and check them or if anyone knows a better way to contact the mad-genius architect of CJ.

[Polycarp]

Work still progressing here, and if so, upon what areas are you focusing in the immediate future?

I've been on hiatus for a few months because of family issues.  I haven't made much progress on the setting in that time, but neither have I abandoned it; the timing just hasn't been right for me recently.  Hopefully I will be able to write more and contribute more to the CBG community in the near future.

Dialexis, I sent you a response, though obviously a it's bit later than you probably hoped!  Send me an email as I mentioned and we'll talk.

[Polycarp]

Though I have a few things in the works, I decided that it would be best to finish the racial maps before moving on to another area.  It's actually quite helpful to know exactly where the four races live, and will help me a great deal when detailing regions, locations, and settlements.  Today's map belongs to the Tahro, and I'll finish up with the Umbril (hopefully) sometime later this week.

I don't want to make too many promises about updates, but I will tell you what's currently in the works.  Most of this stuff I have drafts of, but either haven't finished parts of them or simply haven't polished them enough to be worthy yet.

• The Golden Principality, the Ajen, and the Hearth of Sagacity
• The Kaj of the Empty Walls, the most famous of Breath-schools
• Gearfall, the Cult of the Great Machine, and an albino Iskite aristocracy (!)
• A somewhat esoteric essay on literacy and scripts

Also, I need to devote some time to editing this thread - not all my syntax came through the forum transition unscathed.  The wiki also needs some updates to get in synch with the thread, particularly the Language page.

Lastly before the feature, I thought I'd give a shout-out to a group of people on Dicefreaks who have actually been running a CJ game on IRC!  Dialexis, a.k.a. Lost Scribe, has been adapting Pathfinder to the setting.  They've been kind enough to put up some chatlogs that you can read here.  I'm really impressed and can't wait for the next installment!

Anyway, here come the Tahro.  As befits their nomadic ways, they're a people on the move, with many of their current inhabited regions only settled within the last few hundred years.  In several areas they're on the retreat, either from the Mosswaste or alien enemies, but as a people they're survivors - a tribe can always move on.  You'll notice that they're more widespread than the Gheen, but perhaps not as much as the Iskites.  In part this is because Iskites expand as a matter of policy, while the Tahro tend to only seek out a new home when their old one has been taken from them.

Major Tahr Cultures of the Known World

Cultures are listed in physical order, starting with the big tan blob at the bottom and moving clockwise.

Uncolored areas aren't necessarily Tahro-free, but they are definitely not a significant race in such areas, and any bloods found there are likely to be highly isolated and possessing of very unique cultures and traditions that reflect that distance from a greater community identity.

Outland Tahro
Territory: Unclock Seven Antlers, Clawed Thicket, outer Wyrmcrown
Language: Seekers' Chant
Religion: Incarnation Cult, Aras Tay worship

The Outland Tahro, or "Seeking Tahro," are a group of Tahro who live outwise of the Pass of Thorns.  Scholars are divided on whether they are native to the Clawed Thicket or, like the Kalath, refugees from the fall of Chalicewood who migrated over the Seven Antlers instead of inwise into the Sekah.

Outland Tahro are a scattered group who occupy the land quite thinly.  They share the Clawed Thicket with Iskites, Gheen, and Umbril, but do not often interact with the settled peoples, preferring to limit contact to local merchant-pioneers.  Over the centuries there has been a continuous flow of Outland bloods through the Pass of Thorns; most of these bloods now fall within the sphere of Kengal and have merged their families and cultures with the Kalath.

There exist many legends about the Outland Tahro traversing the boundary of the Known World.  Among some bloods, there exists a custom called "the stride" in which an individual sets off alone beyond the Outer Circle in search of a physical communion with the world of spirits.  The Outland Tahro believe that in some places, largely beyond the Known World, the land of spirits can be physically accessed.  Some striders do return, some claiming to have reached this mystic destination.  It is theorized that the Outland Tahro, having lived so long at the periphery of the Grandmother Mountain's influence, have developed a stronger pseudomagnetic sense than most Tahro and may be able to keep their bearings for some distance beyond the world's edge.

Kengal Tahro
Territory: Clockwise Wyrmcrown, clockwise Vinetrough, inner Clawed Thicket, Scalemount
Language: Kalath languages, Seekers' Chant
Religion: Incarnation Cult

The Kengal Tahro include the largest true "tribe" of Tahro, meaning a group of bloods that all use the same Red Camp – in this case, Szalk Kengal in the foothills of the Wyrmcrown.  As the center of a cultural sphere, however, the influence of Kengal extends to may bloods who only occasionally or rarely ever travel to Kengal for the Great Conclave, but who nonetheless interact with and are influenced by bloods of the Kengal tribe on a regular basis.

Kengal represents the fusion of two Tahr cultural traditions, that of the Kalath and the "Seeking Tahro" of the Outlands.  The Great Conclave's most profound effect has been the weaving together of these traditions over hundreds of years.  Though languages of both families are spoken amongst the Kengal Tahro, the bloods of Kengal consider themselves to have a shared identity, and their ancestral stories – the touchstones of Tahr culture and traditional values – are also shared each year at the Conclave.

The Kengal Tahro generally enjoy good relations with their alien neighbors, though their sympathy for the Kalathoon Tahro of the Netai sparked conflict between Kengal and the Iskites of Scalemount.  Many bloods raided Iskite caravans and border villages in the low-level "War of the Road," but since the end of the Netai Wars this violence has largely disappeared.

The Tahro of Kengal are the most technologically advanced of the Tahr cultures owing to the great size of their annual conclave and their longstanding trade relations with the Iskites of Scalemount.  They maintain their own metalworking facilities in the vicinity of Szalk Kengal and employ more iron in tools, weapons, and armor than most tribes throughout the forest.

Kalath Tahro
Territory: The Sekah (the borderland between Scalemount and the Netai), Chalklands, unclock Skyshield
Language: Kalath languages
Religion: Incarnation Cult, some alien-influenced cults in the Netai and near the Black Circle

The Kalath Tahro originate from the high forest outside the Sea of Netai, which is now the Mosswaste.  The expansion of the Saffron Peril over the last thousand years drove their bloods to the coast of the Sea of Indigo, and from there into the Sekah.  From there, the Kalath bloods divided into two major groups; one group moved unclockwise into the Scalemount and became the Kengal Tahro, while the other moved further inward into the Chalklands and the region surrounding the Grove of Tranquility.  In the modern era, their descendants can be found as far as the Skyshield.

Kalath Tahro claim an extremely old lineage; "Kalath" itself means "the first."  Throughout their history, they have maintained their identity in alien-dominated lands by being even more strictly traditionalist than other Tahr cultures.  While they are respectful of aliens and cooperate with them often, most Kalath bloods spurn any adoption of foreign ideas and often have strict rules about the kind of goods they will accept from merchants – things decorated with "foreign" motifs or religious art, and anything considered too "alien" are unacceptable.  Exceptions to this rule do exist, however, particularly among the Confederation Tahro of Kalathoon and the Tahr residents of the Grove of Tranquility, who are more integrated with alien culture (particularly Umbril) with each passing generation.  The Kalath Tahro are seen by some to be a culture approaching a schism, with the more cosmopolitan bloods of Netai and the Black Circle drifting away from the hidebound and isolationist tribes in and around the Chalklands.  These latter tribes refer to themselves as the Marou, or "faithful" Tahro.

Mudfoot Tahro
Territory: The Great Mire, unclock Chokereed
Language: Guthulath
Religion: Incarnation Cult with substantial Ivetzivenid influence, Cult of Imauwr

The "Mudfeet" have resided in the swampy forests of the Great Mire for as long as history has been written.  They are numerous but thinly spread upon the land, with each tribe returning to a series of seasonal camps that have been in continual use for thousands of years.  They have developed largely in isolation from other Tahr cultures, but in close contact with the Nevir Umbril who share their homeland.

The Mudfoot Tahro are in some ways a very primitive Tahr culture – they have no knowledge of metallurgy, with Cogsteel being essentially the only metal in use among them.  They do, however, maintain the most developed seasonal camps of any Tahr culture.  Because the same camps have been in use for such a long time, most of them feature some permanent structures (or at least permanent enough to withstand the Forest until the next season in which they are inhabited).  Some are based around ruins, as is typical, but many were made by the Tahro themselves, who in Antiquity sunk massive stones into the marsh to create permanent piles on which raised camps of reeds and branches can be quickly constructed.  It is still unclear how such large stones were moved over the marshlands.

The Mudfoot Tahro have adopted many Umbril cultural practices, including a love of poetry, the art of sculpture, advanced knowledge of herbalism, and the cultivation and use of psychoactive plants.  Many bloods worship deities obviously derived from the facets of Ivetziven (and for their part, many of the Mire Umbril have adopted the doctrine of reincarnation).  The colonies and bloods of the Mire tend to get along well, though conflict sometimes develops over Imauwr, the "Night Wreath," an Elder Wyrm that inhabits this land.  The Umbril generally despise her as deeply as many bloods revere her, and this has occasionally led to violent religious conflict.  The Mudfoot Tahro tend to be an especially religious and superstitious people, attributing nearly everything to subtle divine influence and committing themselves to numerous daily rituals and prayers to secure the favor of the divine world.

The dialects of the Mudfoot Tahro, collectively known as "Guthulath," are distantly related to the Kalath languages.  It is theorized that the two cultures share a common origin in distant Antiquity.

Black Blood
Territory: Outer Chokereed
Language: Black Chant
Religion: River worship

The Tahro of the Black Blood are an isolated and little-understood branch of the race that lives in the upper reaches of the Chokereed.  They are known primarily for their riparian lifestyle (many of their migrations are made by raft) and their violent isolationism – foreigners and aliens are unwelcome in their lands and often attacked immediately.

The Chokereed and its tributaries change their course so often that permanent camps are untenable.  The Black Blood Tahro appear to make their camps wherever shelter and food can be found, and drift all over the region over the course of the year.  They have no proper Red Camps and do not seem to observe the Rainbow Calendar at all, instead having impromptu conclaves whenever several bloods share the same territory.  They are largely ignorant of modern technology, but are very skilled boatmen.

The Black Blood have their own language, usually called the Black Chant.  Though many assume they are a branch of the Mudfoot Tahro, their language bears no apparent similarities to Guthulath or Kalath languages.  Their origin is ultimately uncertain.

The religious practices of the Black Blood are only poorly understood by outsiders, but are largely based around the Chokereed itself, which is understood as a divine entity in the same manner as the Forest itself.  The river is both a physically present deity and a metaphor for the journey of the spirit, which is believed to be linear rather than cyclical.

Well Tribe
Territory: Clockwise Skyshield, Unclock Wash, communities on the Black Circle
Langauge: Well Tahr
Religion: Incarnation Cult, other local and alien cults

As an actual tribe, the Well Tribe is limited to those Tahro who utilize the city of Koldon's well as their Red Camp and those who reside there permanently.  More broadly, however, the "Well Tribe" is used to refer to Tahro who lie within the Well's cultural sphere, including much of the Tahr population of the Black Circle and numerous bloods who make their migrations further outwise in the Wash borderlands or deeper into the Skyshield.  Trade, language, and inheritance link the various tribes of this sphere even though only a minority ever visit the Well itself.

The Well Tribe descends from bloods who migrated out of the Wash during the Recentering, who themselves were relatives of what is now the Banished Blood.  Their speech and customs are marked by a high level of Ussik and Umbril influence, both from their time in the Wash and their present status as a virtual protectorate of White Lotus.  The Tahro of Skyshield have adopted more Gheen terminology into their language, allowing a fluent listener to guess a Tahr's origin based on the ratio of Washtongue to Shield Gheen words.

The Well Tahro are generally regarded as the most open, inquisitive, and cosmopolitan of their species.  Even bloods that live relatively far from the Black Circle usually have regular contact with local Gheen, Iskites, and Umbril, and typically have some involvement in the lesser caravan routes that branch off the Circle to serve more remote communities.  They are also one of the most cohesive of Tahr cultures, and formed a military union in the recent past to defeat an attempt by a league of Gheen dreys to reclaim the Well for themselves.  Though not a large population, they are well represented among Tahr adventurers and journeymen.

Banished Blood
Territory: Clockwise Wash, unclock Whitefen
Language: Dalhath
Religion: Incarnation Cult, various martyrdom cults

The Banished Blood, once known as the Dalhath Tahro, is composed of the remnants of the once thriving Tahr community of Feathervale.  Distantly related to the Well Tahro (who emigrated from the Wash during the recentering), the Dalhath lived in the clockwise reaches of the Great Basin for thousands of years until the rise of Auk Yrta Su'u, called the World-Queen, to the throne of Sarmyk.  The Dalhath violently resisted the efforts of her Yrtan Empire to displace them from their ancestral lands, but were ultimately defeated.

The Banished Blood now survives in scattered communities in the Wash and the edges of Whitefen, where they are out of Yrta Su'u's reach.  They have become an especially militarized culture over the last few years, and it is considered the duty of every tribe to make raids into Feathervale to harry and harass the World-Queen's followers in the hope of eventually contributing to her overthrow.  A sizable number live in Ussik and Umbril communities in the Wash, having sworn to give up their traditional lifestyle until their homeland is redeemed.

The loss of their homeland has affected the Dalhath deeply, and this is reflected in their faith, which has moved towards a doctrinal embrace of vendetta and warfare.  Bands of (usually male) Tahro have forsaken or modified traditional beliefs and formed so-called "death cults," whose practices vary but usually involve the belief that martyrdom for their people is the only means of finding true guidance in the world of spirits.  These cults may exist within larger Tahr society, or break off and pursue a life of guerilla war in Yrtan dominions until the whole group is annihilated.

Ardaun Tahro
Territory: The Red Depths
Language: Dalhath, Ardaun
Religion: Incarnation Cult

The Ardaun ("old roots") are the "native" Tahro of the Red Depths.  The legends of the Red Gheen, who dominate this territory, hold that the Tahro existed here even before the Gheen themselves.  Originally, the Ardaun were one of the most widespread Tahr cultures, inhabiting nearly all of the Red Depths and Gearfall.  They were forced from most of Gearfall by the Szelsh invasion during Antiquity, and have more recently emigrated from unclock areas of the Red Depths that have fallen under the World-Queen's control.

The Ardaun have a very old relationship with the Red Gheen.  Bloods have played the roles of mercenaries, arbitrators, merchants, and laborers for various Gheen dreys and royal houses for thousands of years.  They often compete with the native Umbril in the arena of trade, as the Red Gheen generally consider mercantile activity beneath their dignity.  When not acting in some sort of contractual capacity with the Gheen, however, the Ardaun largely keep to themselves.  They have a long history of conflict with the Szelsh Iskites, who originally drove them from Gearfall, and have provided the main obstacle to continued Iskite expansion into the Red Depths.

The Ardaun have welcomed some of the Banished Blood into their territory, but are overall suspicious of the vengeful zeal of their kin – the Ardaun are no strangers to being expelled from ancestral lands and see turning back the clock as folly.  They have so far resisted the Dalhath Tahro's calls for all-out war with the Yrtan Empire for fear that such a conflict could jeopardize their relationship with the rest of the Red Gheen.  The Ardaun are notoriously cautious, requiring numerous Patriarchal summits and conclaves to enact tribe-wide decisions of any weight.  If the World-Queen's domain continues to expand, however, they may be left with no choice but to act.

Maw Tahro
Territory: The Maw, unclock Sea of Ink
Language: Maw Tahr languages
Religion: Various

As with the other populations of this isolated land, the Maw Tahro have had little exposure to the outside world since Antiquity.  Their languages, faiths, and customs vary substantially from one valley to another, and few blanket statements can be made about them with any accuracy, though most of their languages are clearly related to the tongue of the Ardaun.

The Maw Tahro are probably best known for being xenophages – they hunt Iskites for food.  This has, unsurprisingly, made the Iskites of the Maw their mortal enemies, and many villages in the Maw will kill a Tahr on sight, Maw or not.  The Maw Tahro have a closer relationship with the Umbril, though it is nothing like the relationship between Tahro and Umbril in the Great Mire.

Maw Tahro have occasionally been found outside their homeland.  Bloods have been known to cross Whitefen and raid Ussik settlements, and in recent years bloods speaking Maw Tahr tongues have been found in the Sea of Ink, which is mostly unexplored even today.  Some theorize that pressure from the Maw Iskites, now supported by the metal and weaponry of the Szelsh "uplift," has forced Maw bloods to migrate over the snow-capped mountains into the Outlands.

[Polycarp]

I've had an article on the Golden Principality and the Ajen-Umbril in the works for many months, and I've finally finished it.  I'm too tired to do my usual double-check right now, so please excuse any errors.  The feature, as usual, is in the third post of the first page of this thread.  I'm really excited about it - the Ajen were a really interesting bunch to try to get a hang of, and hopefully they'll provide a first look at how a specific culture can differ from the four races in general and the Umbril norm in particular.  The Principality is a big part of the Black Circle setting and something any PCs in that region would likely have to deal with, whether they're doing a job for a Golden Ring merchant, forging over the mountains into the exotic land of the Maw, seeking answers in the labyrinthine Hearth of Sagacity, or getting themselves caught up in the business of Ajen slavers.

In other news, I've recently been trading reviews with Sarisa, who has been extraordinarily patient with me despite my less than punctual behavior over the Christmas season.  I recommend that you check out Over Under, his campaign setting, once you get tired of my endless forestry and decide you'd prefer an eccentric urban adventure in the city of towers.

[Ghostman]

A pretty interesting read. I liked the vale with the cairn bats and animal cogs - creepy yet fascinating. The Ajen "families" have a subtle mafia vibe to them.

[Polycarp]

Our recent IRC games have provided me with some crunch inspiration, perhaps the first of its kind to directly encounter the Clockwork Jungle setting.  User Lost Scribe over on Dicefreaks was running a Clockwork Jungle game using his own house-ruled adaptation of Pathfinder.  Though his game ended more quickly than I had hoped, I was intrigued by the information and stats he produced (aside from the great chatlogs, of course), particularly because 3rd edition D&D is something I am very familiar with.

Since playing in Steerpike's Fimbulvinter and Horse's Haveneast games, I've come to a better understanding of the Pathfinder system, and I've decided it would be worthwhile to continue where Lost Scribe started and produce a heavily customized version of Pathfinder for the Clockwork Jungle.

CJ did originally start as a d20 setting; I turned away from that because I did not find the world I wanted to build to be compatible with the system as written.  The fact that I'm working on "CJ:PF" does not mean I've changed my mind on this, or that I believe Pathfinder is the best system for CJ.  Rather, I have selected Pathfinder because it is a system I know well (through 3rd ed) and because it builds off a base of information already established by Lost Scribe.  As a well-known system both here on the CBG and the wider gaming community, I feel it's a system I stand to get better and more experienced feedback on.  I am mindful of Vreeg's maxim about settings changing to meet the system, and to that end I am keeping the fluff of CJ totally separate from the Pathfinder crunch.  I have established a new wiki "domain" for CJ:PF articles which run parallel to the fluff CJ articles - they have few links between them and you can clearly tell which "track" you are on by the sidebar.

This is not going to be a quick and easy process.  It involves coming up with a Breath-based magic system unlike anything in Pathfinder, as well as mostly-new classes to reflect the archetypes of the typical CJ adventurer.  Perhaps ironically, the task may be slightly easier than expected simply because of how much I'm gutting - after ripping out all divine and arcane magic, for instance, I no longer have to worry about balancing the Breath system against other magic systems, the situation that has plagued psionics since its introduction.

The ultimate goal of this process is to finish a workable draft of the CJ:PF rules and play a game with them.  How long that will take is something I can only guess at, but I've been pushing ahead on the Breath magic system.  You can check out everything I've been working on right here, though please note that not all the sidebar links are functional yet.  I appreciate any feedback you'd like to give, though as usual I'd prefer it in this thread rather than on various wiki discussion pages.

Thanks folks!

[Superfluous Crow]

Was looking over your wiki article on Channeling, since it sounds like that might pose the biggest problem for your conversion (although doing the races is probably pretty central to doing a good CJ->PF conversion).

I'm assuming you want to do a Channeler class. That said, incorporating the First Discipline into a feat would make sense in regard to otherwise non-channeling adventurers taking it. Since there is some overlap, I would probably make Endurance a prerequisite.
The first level in Channeler should thus give the player Endurance and First Discipline as feats. I don't think either of these are going to be so powerful that a player would wish to take that level just to get those, but that depends a lot on the balancing. I also think that a player should choose his Path at level 1. These should probably be designed like wizard schools, sorcerer bloodlines, or cleric domains in that the Channeler should get some minor additional benefits from them. Especially considering that all paths but the final one limit the Channeler discipline-wise.

This system is probably ill-suited for a plethora of spells, so I'd make something more akin to the Warlock with a few limited powers that can be used often. Maybe add a pool mechanic.
Is Breath a finite resource or can the Channeler keep performing his supernatural feats forever?

[Llum]

I believe Tahro get Endurance feat for free at the moment.

[LD]

Could you please give a link to the Dicefreak games? (Edit- found... Oct 14th post had the link)

Good luck with the system establishment!