Aakrika of the Northern Forest
Turn 10 Part I
I again split this turn into two, as it is very long.
In this part of the turn:
The tribe of one of the forests finds a leaf that repels bugs when it is crushed
An Eekraw hunter in the Northern forest shares the fruits of her hunt with her tribe
The Eekraw expand into a river valley in the western continent
Overview
I am doing a project of incremental worldbuilding. In other words, I’m taking aspects of worldbuilding and changing them slowly over time, in hope of creating a world that has the real weight of history behind it. In addition, I’m using randomness and ‘game-like’ mechanics, as well as assistance from ChatGPT, to help work my way through this process and ensure that I am sometimes surprised by the results.
The Eekraw are an avian species that has developed sentience. They’re slightly shorter than human height, and live around 80 years absent illness or injury. They can’t lift off vertically, requiring a cliff face or tree to jump off to successfully initiate flight. They have strong and dexterous foot talons, meaning their feet rather than wings are needed to work tools. They live in communal nests, with a nest of four-six adults raising their young together.
Turn Order
Random Event: Roll on the random event table, then roll to see what region it occurs in
Myths/Oral History:
In any region that had a prominent individual last turn, determine how that individual is remembered and/or how the remembrance has changed, then move them into Myths/History.
Roll a region. If that region has anything in myths/history, see how that remembrance has changed over time.
Roll a region. That region has a new individual come to prominence. Conduct a basic language development on that region.
Expansion: Roll 1d2. That many regions will expand to a neighboring region. For each, roll a region, then roll among possible destinations. If the region is populated, that region will migrate to a nearby region, and the activated region will take their place (waves of migration pushing previous waves away).
Biome Generation:
Generate a biome for the regions that have been expanded into. Every nearby biome will contribute one feature to the new biome, and there will be two taken at random from different already existing biomes as well.
Develop new words to describe all new creatures.
New regions and source region each undergo basic language development
Language Development: Roll a region. That region undergoes language change in all categories
Advancement / Development:
Roll a region to determine which undergoes technological/social/cultural advancement.
Roll a 1d3 - 1 is technological, 2 is social, 3 is cultural. The selected region will have a minor advance in that category.
That region will also undergo basic language development.
Random Event:
I’m still considering splitting up ‘environmental’ random events from random events that affect the Eekraw, but haven’t done so yet. I’m thinking through how to best do that, and probably will next turn.
As before, the random event table is in this post:
I roll a 5:
5. A new plant becomes prominent
This is going to be a much less involved/long random event this time than any of the previous ones so far, but that’s fine.
As I prepare to roll a region, one thing to consider is that regions/biomes aren’t necessarily the same, as regions 1 and 11 have split up and regions 10 and 16 have as well. If I roll one of those, I’ll consider what to do, but I’ll probably just add the plant to both of the split regions. Of course, that also means that those biomes have a higher probability of getting selected, but it’s not too big of a deal. I’ll have to think of a better way to deal with this if it becomes an issue later (i.e., if there are four or five cultures in the same biome).
In any case, I roll a 14, which is the temperate forest region in the southwest of the western continent.
Possible types of plants it could be:
Tree
Shrub
Herb/flower
Ground plant (moss, fungi)
Underground plant (tuber)
Vine
I roll a 1, so the new plant is a tree.
The Eekraw of region 14 burrow nests in dead trees, so one possibility is this tree is particularly desired for nest-making for some reason. Possibilities:
Good for nest-making
Produces a nut that is edible and tasty
Easy to climb
Much taller than surrounding trees, so good as lookout
Only found near fresh water, so good sign of water source
Leaves, flowers or bark react predictably to weather, helping predict weather
Good as a windbreak
Repels insects
I roll an 8, so it repels insects.
Thus, I add the following to the biome:
Feature: A tree whose leaves, when crushed, emit a smell that repel insects
The Eekraw of region 14 name it “Tavuk’ech,” from the words ‘tree’ (Tavuk) and ‘safe’ (Ech’).
Myths/Oral History:
Previous Turn’s Prominent Individual:
Last turn’s prominent individual also came from region 14:
Yigti Ratrak (traitors to the clan) - During a season of hard weather, the clan suffered greatly, and many died of famine. One nest seemed to hold up better than the others, and were greatly praised for their work in helping the other, weaker nests. However, the clan discovered that this nest had in fact hoarded lots of food, keeping their strength up at the expense at everyone else. The adult members of the nest - Taluchree (male), Vaoichra (male), Chritrachi (female), and Echutrachi (female) - were expelled from the clan for this grave offense, and were marked as Yigti (traitors). (5)
I’ll reuse the table I created last turn to regularize the myth evolution step. I realize that option 1 (“Stays mostly the same”) doesn’t make sense to include, since for this step I want it to change, and for the later evolution step it’s already covered by a roll to see if it changes. Thus, I’ll change option 1 to “Adds a totally new aspect of the story.”
Adds a totally new aspect to the story
Adds a new additional character
Two characters are merged together
An aspect of the story takes on greater prominence
An aspect of the story fades in prominence
The story becomes associated/related to another story
Embellishment of details
Add or increase a spiritual/supernatural element
Plus two additional specific to this culture:The outlaw nest was actually stealing food, not just hoarding it
The outlaw nest is still out there, taking the food that the clan needs
I roll a 7, so the details are embellished.
I’ll also change the names
Taluchree —> Talu Yigti (Talu the traitor)
Vaoichra —> Vaoshra
Chritrachi —> Chritrai
Echutrachi —> Etrachi
Yigti Ratrak (traitors to the clan) - During a season of the worst weather ever experienced, the clan suffered greatly, and most died of famine. One nest seemed to hold up better than the others, and were praised and put in charge of the entire clan for their work in helping the other, weaker nests. However, the clan discovered that this nest had in fact hoarded all of the food of the clan, keeping their strength up at the expense at everyone else, directly causing the deaths of many clan members. The adult members of the nest - Talu Yigti (male), Vaoshra (male), Chritrai (female), and Etrachi (female) - were expelled from the clan for this grave offense, and were marked as Yigti (traitors) and marked with death should they return. (5)
Evolution of Myth
I roll Region 5, the coastal/island tropical deciduous forest to the east. That region doesn’t have any myths/oral traditions.
I had the thought previously, and it came up again, that I might want to say that if a region that doesn’t have any myths or oral traditions, then I generate a new prominent individual to fill the gap. However, I decide against it, I want to give the different cultures the maximum chance to differentiate, so I’ll give them the opportunity to split again before a prominent individual is generated. Right now, regions 1, 5, 6, 8 and 11 have no myths or oral traditions.
Instead of just skipping this step, though, I’ll just re-roll until I get a region that does have a myth. I roll a 15. Region 15 is the region that was settled last turn, a coastal temperate forest biome in the southeast of the central continent, around a large, nearly enclosed sea (possibly formed by a large meteor impact).
Social overview:
Biome: Coastal/Island Temperate Forest
Social Structure:
Clan units of related nest groups, limited specialization
Specialization is at the nest level (i.e., there is a nest of Yeek)
Trades younglings between clans to create new nests. For example, two clans might agree to combine their most promising younglings to create a new nest in one or the other clan. Or a clan with a nest that has lost a member might request a surplus member from another clan. This also creates ties between clans.
Culture:
Reverence for the sun
The Fark are evil shadow spirits (originally based on a predator of an ancestral biome)
The Yeek (priests) conduct rituals to try to drive the Fark away spiritually
These Eekraw use Raatir (luminescent moss) to create specific symbols to represent their clans, so other clans will know when they’ve crossed paths. Not a territorial thing, as they migrate
Technology/Tools
Shelter: Nests in the forest
Myth/Oral History
Akir’krat - Akir’krat was a young adult Eekraw, just past her full maturation. She was taking care of a group of younglings when she saw a Kre’tikk diving at the younglings. She used magic to summon a Tikk’tikru, which attacked the Kre’tikk and gave her time to pull the younglings into the safety of the trees, protecting them from the predator. (5)
Tariti - Tariti was a youngling, a member of a clan that was large, and therefore hard for a youngling to make a mark. He heard there was another clan that had been devastated by disease or predators, and therefore needed new males to fill out its ranks. He traveled a long distance through the forest to find this clan, and at one point stayed in the air for around 80 miles, further than most Eekraw even thought possible. Eventually he reached this new clan and had so impressed the clan that he was accepted into a new nest as Kiva (fostered youngling from another clan) of the clan, and eventually was accepted as a nestmate of females of the clan. (5)
I’ll roll for the strength of each myth in turn. If I roll above, it’ll decrease, if I roll below, it’ll increase. First, for the myth of Akir’krat: I roll an 8, so the strength decreases. I then roll a 4, equal to the new strength of 4, so the story doesn’t change. I do change the word ‘youngling’ to ‘nestling,’ since I differentiated the two after I made that myth.
I will change the name, though: Akir’krat —> Akirak
For Tariti: I rolled a 5. I didn’t say previously what happens if I roll equal to the number - I guess it’ll just stay the same. I then roll a 10, so the myth of Tariti does change.
I’ll use the same table as above, plus additions for possibilities 9 and 10 specific to this story
Adds a new aspect to the story
Adds a new additional character
Two characters are merged together
An aspect of the story takes on greater prominence
An aspect of the story fades in prominence
The story becomes associated/related to another story
Embellishment of details
Add or increase a spiritual/supernatural element
Tariti visited multiple clans along the way, learning different skills and wisdom from each
His journey coincided with the time that the two moons of the planet are full at the equinox
I rolled a 6, so the story ends up being associated with another story. There’s only one other myth in this region, so Tariti and Akirak are associated. The obvious way is that Tariti became Akirak’s nestmate. I can imagine a few other possibilities (Tariti was one of the younglings Akirak saved, for example), but I think that one makes the most sense.
So, after reaching the new clan, Tariti became the nestmate of Akirak.
And, name change - Tariti —> Tariti’bar (Tariti of the sky).
So, at the end of this turn, the myths of region 15:
Myth/Oral History
Akirak - Akirak was a young adult Eekraw, just past her full maturation. She was taking care of a group of nestlings when she saw a Kre’tikk diving at the nestlings. She used magic to summon a Tikk’tikru, which attacked the Kre’tikk and gave her time to pull the nestlings into the safety of the trees, protecting them from the predator. Later, she and Tariti’bar became nestmates. (4)
Tariti’bar - Tariti’bar was a youngling, a member of a clan that was large, and therefore hard for a youngling to make a mark. He heard there was another clan that had been devastated by disease or predators, and therefore needed new males to fill out its ranks. He traveled a long distance through the forest to find this clan, and at one point stayed in the air for around 80 miles, further than most Eekraw even thought possible. Eventually he reached this new clan and had so impressed the clan that he was accepted into a new nest as Kiva (fostered youngling from another clan) of the clan, and eventually was accepted as a nestmate of Akirak. (5)
New Prominent Individual
I roll a region for a new prominent individual: Region 12.
Region 12 is the tribe in the northern temperate forest that was pushed out of their home a few turns ago.
Their societal overview:
Biome: Northern Temperate Forest biome
Social Structure:
Clan units of multiple related nests, limited or no specialization
Culture:
Reverence for the sun
Each clan has a Yektawa - an old, sacred tree, viewed as being placed in the world for the benefit of the clan. When an Eekraw dies, their soul uses the Yektawa as a jumping-off point to fly to join the ancestors.1
Technology:
Shelter: Underneath the trees
Oral History/Myth:
Var’thol - Var’thol was a young Eekraw who was generally derided as being clumsy. She found several other Eekraw - Taluk, the brave male, Ekhitu the wise female, and Daldalti the male tracker, and formed a hunting group together. Her demonstrated leadership led to the four forming a nest group, and then her becoming the indisputed leader over the whole clan. Eventually, the entire tribe asked for her guidance.
Raik’varik - Once the tribe lived in a different part of the forest, warmer and more southerly. Then a different tribe of Eekraw came and pushed them out, upon which Var’thol led them to their current home in a more northerly part of the forest. She guided the tribe on the long and difficult journey as they retreated from the invaders who moved into their land. This journey was known as the Raik’varik (the scared/fearful journey)
Male (1), Female (2)? 2, female
Possible options for the new individual:
Ritual/Priestly/Spiritual virtues
Hunting/conflict virtues (skill at hunting,etc.)
Artistic/cultural virtues
Social/diplomatic virtues
Personal virtues (strength, intelligence, etc)
Character virtues (bravery, loyalty)
Hunting/Conflict vices (cowardice, betrayal in a hunt or battle)
Social/cultural vices (stealing, botching a ritual, betrayal of the clan)
Character vices (cruelty, deceit, discord)
Something specific to this tribe
I roll a 2, so the new prominent individual is known for virtues in hunting or conflict. For a short while, I thought to associate this new individual with the conflict with the Eekraw of Region 3 a few turns ago, but I realize that doesn’t make sense. The point of this step is that these are real, current individuals who become famous, and over time become legend. The conflict is long ago, so there’s no way a current individual would be associated with it.
Possible specific reasons:
Defense of winter food stores from another clan
Exterminated an infestation of Tu’jeti (underground mouse-like creatures) which was damaging the Yektawa (sacred tree)
Trained a group of younglings into skilled hunters
Brought back far more food than the others and then dispersed it evenly
Successful hunt in bad weather
Noticed a Rakuti (stealthy ambush hunter) and warned the others, saving them
Talon-to-Talon combat - fought with an Eekraw from another nest or clan and defeated them
Aerial escape - was attacked and poisoned by a Taf’Ti (gliding predator that paralyzes prey) but was able to recover and escape
I rolled a 4 - she brought back more food than the others and distributed it.
Name possibilities
Farura’yi (good fortune-you)
Aakrika (sunrise/sunset)
Fartiri (sweet berry)
Tararu (water-breeze)
I roll a 2, so she is named Aakrika, which means sunrise.
So, overall pretty simple story:
Aakrika - Aakrika was a member of the tribe who was particularly skilled at finding food. She could hunt out prey animals where no one else could find them, and could find fruits, nuts and berries even in the middle of winter. However, she never bragged or boasted, but always gave out the food she brought back to everyone in the clan evenly. In one particularly bad winter she brought back so much food that it saved the clan.
Now I’ll do a basic language evolution for this tribe:
Plants (8):
Till - plant
Jiltair - edible plants
Frak - trees
Fardir - Large sweet berries produced from a bush
Rati - A fern-like plant with nutrient-rich leaves which several animals eat. Eekraw cannot eat them
Farskee - tree-sap that hardens when exposed to water
Ratakaf - A sap that glows for a long time after being removed from a tree
Expansion:
I roll a 1d2 and get a 2, so 2 regions expand. I’ll roll 2d16 to see what regions expand, but first I pre-register that if I roll a 16 (the newly semi-sedentary region), they’ll create a new semi-sedentary settlement along the coast somewhere.
However, it doesn’t come up — I roll a 8 and 13. 13 is easy enough - there’s two areas of temperate forest and two areas of tropical deciduous forest they can expand to. However, region 8 is much trickier - it is surrounded on all sides by inhabited regions, and each of those is fully surrounded as well.
I’m a little hesitant about creating an expansion that will cause, at minimum, two waves of migration, pushing tribes out of their current spots. Based on my thought from last turn about the massive size of many of these regions, I did think of having the new expansion just fill in part of the already existing region, splitting region 7, for example, in half. However, I do want to have the Eekraw fill out the whole world before too long, and that’ll just delay it further.
As I’m thinking this through, I realize that the largest part of my problem is that I’m having an emotional resistance to kicking these tribes out of their homes - the Eekraw of Region 4 belong in the temperate forest, dang it! There’s also the issue of the work it takes to simulate two regions interacting, but to be honest that’s not actually that bad, it’s more the resistance to ‘killing my darlings’. So despite my hesitance, I’ll follow the rules I laid out earlier, and have region 8 push out another region, and then that region push out a third, and possibly continue.
I’ll do region 13’s expansion first, though, because it’s simpler and to avoid the question of what happens if region 8’s expansion ends up pushing region 13 away.
Region 13:
There are four possible expansion destinations - the temperate forests to the north and in the center, and the tropical deciduous forests in the center and in the south. It’s a bit annoying that there are four regions in such a small space, compared to region 7 which takes up far more space and is only one, but I’ll stick with how I’m running things.
I’ll number them top to bottom (1 - north temperate forest, 2 - center tropical deciduous, 3 - center temperate forest, 4- southern tropical deciduous). I roll a 2, so this region expands directly west, into the tropical deciduous forest in the center. This, I now call Region 17:
This new region is a lush valley between two spurs of the mountain range that makes up the center of this continent.
Biome Generation:
Since it’s a tropical deciduous forest as well, I’ll take the biome from region 13. Then I’ll take one random creature from region 14 (same continent, though not contiguous), and creatures from two other random biomes. I’ll also roll one creature to be varied and one to replace entirely.
From region 14:
Small prey Animal: Small, vibrantly colored fish which live in shallows and coastal pools, feeding on small insects and algae
This already exists in the biome. However, since this region isn’t on the coast, I’ll say there’s a variation of it.
Possible variations:
River fish
Lake fish
I roll a 2, so it’s a lake fish.
Two random biomes:
From region 1: Resource - Stone that emits a low glow, can be used for lighting
From region 13: Minor Predator: Medium-sized quadrupedal insect which crafts web-like snares and then pounces upon prey.
One variation:
Scavenger: Large semi-amphibious segmented worms that feed on dead plants and animals, as well as seaweed and other ocean plant-matter
First off, obviously changed to not eat seaweed and ocean plant matter since it’s an inland biome
Possible variations:
Not amphibious at all
Fully amphibious
Predatory
Vividly colored, poisonous
Climb trees
Retractable spikes
I roll a 1, so this variation isn’t amphibious at all.
Scavenger: Large segmented worms that feed on decaying plant and animal matter on the forest floor
And one fully replaced:
Staple Food: Floating fruit-bearing plants tethered to the ground by long vines. They drift in the canopy catching sunlight, held aloft by gas-filled sacs next to the fruit.
That’s replaced by Staple Food: Tubers that grow under the roots of trees2
Now, new words for the updated parts of the biome:
Farriki - Large avian creature, large light-sensitive eyes, hunts nocturnally. Will snatch a fully grown Eekraw if they are alone.
Yig’ti’kutei - Medium-sized quadrupedal insect which crafts web-like snares and then pounces upon prey.3
Skikyat’taloo (nuisance creature-ground) - Large segmented worms that feed on decaying plant and animal matter on the forest floor
Tak’skeeka (water-harmless creature) - Small, vibrantly colored fish which live in lakes, feeding on small insects and algae
Talrel’taloo (illuminate-ground) - Stone that emits a low glow, can be used for lighting
Taloo’tyrii (ground-plant) - Tubers that grow under the roots of trees
Now, basic language development for regions 13 and 17:
Region 13:
Culture (2):
Yeo’a - priest/shaman nest
Ikrayo - defense/lookout nest
Iki-iki - nestling
Ikiok - youngling
Eero - nest group
Raotra - clan
Yirodra - other clan
Var’o - evil force of darkness
Tragee - spirit/soul
Igavok - a tall tree near the clan’s resting place used as primary lookout by the Ekra’tir
Igridi - temporary lookout post near home
Ero - home
Greet - shelter
Igirato - temporary shelter
Ikvere - the oral history of the clan
Igvere - united/collective effort
Givorwa - the oral history of all the Eekraw, split between the clans
Ikioti - verse of the clan song
Rikri - omen/prophecy
Vordragi - bad intuition/feeling about situation
Region 17:
Basics (1):
Ekio - me
Yee - you
Ero - them
Ra’t - us
Kri - yes
Kroo - no
Riwa - plural marker
This is already getting long and I’m only halfway through with the turn, so I’ll save the second half of this turn’s expansion for another post. Plus, region 8’s expansion is pretty confusing, with a lot going on, and I need to figure out how best to organize it.
I am pretty proud that I managed to get this entire post (minus footnotes) into email length.
This seems to suggest semi-sedentary behavior, which doesn’t fit what I’ve decided before about Eekraw generally being migratory. But I think this still works - there’s a difference between migrating through the same territory frequently, and actually spending significant time there. This tribe returns to their Yektawa when possible, but they’re not making permanent or even extended and routine habitation there.
Obviously this is a bit less interesting than other features. However, I wanted to stop myself from needing every single biome feature to be really interesting and unique. The point is the interaction of all the features of the planet and the cultures, not necessarily every single animal, plant and resource being unique and interesting.
I made a really cool picture of the Yig’ti’kutei using Dall-E 3, but to save space I’m leaving it below in the footnotes rather than in the body of the post. See below - this is one of the better generations I’ve been able to make.
