Cultures Collide

Turn 7

Sep 30, 2023

In this turn:

The Eekraw of the mountains split into two cultures
The story of Krvar’ek the Teacher takes on different forms in three different cultures.
A female Eekraw in the southern forest protects younglings from a predator
Eekraw from the Savannah move north and push out the former inhabitants in the northern forest
The Eekraw of the rainforest start trading with one another

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 recently 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 raising their young together.

The Eekraw look generally like this - getting an image I liked from Stable Diffusion has been a pain, but I think this is a reasonable approximation.

Now, Turn 7 starts. At this point, there are 10 inhabited regions, so it’s starting to get a bit unwieldy. We’ll see how things go.

Turn Order

Random Event: Roll on the random event table, then roll to see what region it occurs in
Prominent Individuals:
- 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 a region. That region will expand to 1d2 of the nearest regions. 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 a different biome 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:

Again, I’m not going to reproduce the random event table - it’s in this post:

Rules of the Game

Vince

September 19, 2023

Read full story

I rolled a 7: “7. Cultural schism: A region splits into two distinct cultures (possibly ignore/re-roll if it’s a biome that can’t support a large population).”

This is an interesting one, I was wondering what would happen If I roll this. I’ll now roll a region that splits into two separate regions (i.e., if I roll Region 3, it’ll now be region 3 and 11 occupying that same area.

The only region that I’m not totally sure about allowing to split would be region 1, since it’s both smaller than the other regions and mountainous and therefore less able to support a large population, but honestly, it’s over 1000 miles long and 300 wide (300,000 square miles), so it’s pretty reasonable for it to support two distinct cultures. At the lowest reasonable range of max hunter-gatherer population density from Earth history (around 0.1 per square mile), that’s around 30,000 people for the whole mountain range, or 15,000 if I split it in half. I haven’t established precise population numbers yet, but there’s no way any of these regions have 15,000 Eekraw - probably closer to 1-4,000.

So, I’ll roll a 1d10, and split whichever region into two parts. As it happens, I do roll region 1, so region 1 now has two parts, each of which has a slightly different culture that will diverge over time.

Here’s the new central region of the central continent, with the mountain range that was the Eekraw homeland split into two cultures.

To start their differentiation, I’ll do a short round of language evolution on each:

For region 1, I roll a 4, so language evolution occurs in category 4

Verbs (4):

Lalik - to fly
Rarvar - to take flight/take off
R’Vark - to dominate/oppress
R’Jil - to use
R’Tal - to stand/land
Ra’ti - to defend/protect
R’Tavak - to challenge
R’Taiki - illuminate

For region 11, I roll a 7:

Creatures (7):

Taik - dangerous creature
Skika - non-threatening/harmless creature
Tatak - medium-sized feline with heat-dissipating fur and retractable claws, hunts during cooler hours
Tekro - Snakes with scales, infrared senses, basks on cliff faces during the day and hunts at dusk
Varkai - Large raptor-like predator with leathery wings, uses thermals to stay in the air for hours, major predator of the Eekraw
Tikra - Canine with sturdy legs and keen sense of smell, looks for carcasses but will attack a wounded creature if it thinks it can get away with it
Traro - Large herbivore with sturdy legs, hump on back to store water, thick leathery skin, can go days without water
Skitel - solitary mammals with hooves that can grip nearly sheer surfaces, go to hard-to-reach vegetation
Rakji - small creatures with large ears, primarily nocturnal, jump from rock to rock
Turjek - Small mouse with fur that holds heat in (to prevent being spotted by IR senses) - hold heat and then dissipates it when it finds water (or feels safe?). Build underground homes
Jiltak - small lizard that feeds on insects and takes shelter under rocks

Prominent Individuals

Now, prominent individuals. Since the prominent individual from last turn was in a culture that then split into three, I’ll have to move the individuals into myth three times (maybe in future I’ll do it first, or maybe this works well - we’ll see)

Myth Changes

This was the story in all three of the regions before the turn started:

Krvar’ek - Krvar’ek was a prominent Yee’r. Generally, the Yee’r focus their efforts on protecting the clan spiritually, but Krvar’ek decided to try and spread his knowledge as well. He learned the history of the clan, and of many other clans, and recited it to spread to others. His most prominent student was KrVeekra, a female Eekraw. She learned his knowledge and continued his goals by spreading it further herself.

I use the following prompt to help come up with ideas: “This is an oral culture. How does the story of Krvar’ek and KrVeekra change over time, including the names and story? If it passes into myth, what does the myth say? If it remains history, what is remembered and what is forgotten? Give ten varied options.” As always, I regenerated the prompt a few times, and took the options that I thought were best and rolled between them.

Region 7

For region 7, possible alterations:

Largely stay the same
Embellishment - add deeds of action as well as culture
Krvar’ek takes larger place, KrVeekra lesser
KrVeekra takes larger place in story, Krvar’ek lesser
Foundation - Krvar’ek founds the institution of the Yee’r
Rebel - Krvar’ek and KrVeekra are rebels against the Yee’r
Romantic - the two form a nest together (add in two additional characters to create a full nest)
Caution - KrVeekra misinterpreted a teaching of Krvar’ek or initially resisted his teachings
Ritual - The two performed a ritual to drive away evil
Sacrifice - Krvar’ek sacrificed himself, and KrVeekra tells the story
Add additional character to tale
KrVeekra gets an additional story after the initial one

I roll a 5, so the story changes such that Krvar’ek and KrVeekra were the founders of the Yee’r, rather than being a member who went against the nests’ teachings.

In addition, the names change slightly, and add a honorific.

Krvar’ek —> Kvarek Talri’Kril (Kvarek the illuminator)

KrVeekra —> Kvee’ra Yee’r (Kvee’ra the Yee’r)

Thus, the updated myth reads as follows:

Kvarek Talri’KrJil - Kvarek was a wise Eekraw, who had traveled far and gathered the stories and lore of the scattered tribes. He went from clan to clan, teaching them and helping to protect them from the Var’k, and for that he was given the epithet Talri’Kril (the illuminator). Eventually, a female named KrVee’ra came to follow Kvarek Talri’Kril, and recognized the power of his teaching, becoming his foremost student. After his passing, KrVee’ra founded the Yee’r to ensure that the Eekraw were always protected from evil.

Region 9

Now, I do the same thing for region 9. The biggest difference for region 9 is that they have the EkVeere (clan song) which is based off the story of Krvar’ek. Looking for ideas specifically based on that, I get the following possibilities:

Tale of lost knowledge - Kvar’ek and KrVeekra used to have much more knowledge for the Eekraw, but it was lost, and the EkVeere is only a fragment of what once was
Multiple clan EkVeere - Kvar’ek and KrVeekra separated parts of the full EkVeere amongst the clans, so that they come together to sing instead of war
Evolving EkVeere - Kvar’ek and KrVeekra didn’t create the EkVeere, they just brought together the verses of all the Yee’r. Each future Yee’r must, in their lifetime, add to the EkVeere.
Duel of songs - Krvar’ek and KrVeekra challenged the Var’k to a contest of songs, and drove them off with the beauty of the EkVeere. While the EkVeere is still sung, the Var’k cannot affect the world

I initially intended to just add these to the possibilities I already came up with, but they are so cool that I don’t want to miss out on the possibility of basing the myth off the EkVeere, so I decided to just roll between the above four. I roll a 2, so the EkVeere was split between the clans (this is possibly the least interesting of the four, but still, play by my own rules).

I also see how their names change

Krvar’ek —> Karvek

KrVeekra —> Veekra

Thus, the updated story is as follows:

Karvek and Veekra - Karvek was a brilliant Yee’r, who traveled between the clans learning their histories and rituals. With the help of his student Veekra, he created the EkVeere’Erwa, the song of the Eekraw, which recorded the whole history of the Eekraw. However, he foresaw the splintering of the clans and split the song among the clans, so each has a fragment of the overall song, which is the base of their own EkVeere. Unless they are united, no clan may share its fragment with any other, but once all the Eekraw are united in one, they will finally have the entire EkVeere’Erwa once more.

Region 10

Finally, we’ll do the same thing for region 10. Region 10 doesn’t have any cultural advancements different than region 7, so I’ll just use the 12 options above. I roll a 1, so the story stays mostly the same. The names will still change, though

Krvar’ek —> Kra’varik

KrVeekra —> Kree’Veeka

Updated story:

Kra’varik - Kra’varik was a prominent Yee’r. Generally, the Yee’r focus their efforts on protecting the clan spiritually, but Kra’varik decided to try and spread his knowledge as well. He learned the history of the clan, and of many other clans, and recited it to spread to others. His most prominent student was Kree’Veeka, a female Eekraw. She learned his knowledge and continued his goals by spreading it further herself.

Great! I enjoyed that part a lot, so I think I’ll keep it this way - if a new prominent individual happens to be in a region that migrates, I’ll just turn them to myth the next turn, after they’ve split into multiple regions.

Now I’ll roll a region for a further change to myth - I roll region 11, which doesn’t have any myths, so I skip that step.

New Individual

Finally, I’ll roll another region to have an individual come to prominence. I roll a 4. Region 4 is the temperate forest southeast of the original mountain range, as shown in the climate and altitude maps below. It looks much smaller on the altitude map without all the climate zones and markups I’ve done on the climate map. The altitude map does show that it has a higher altitude than the neighboring regions - perhaps it would be fair to call it ‘hilly.’

Region 4’s societal overview follows:

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 Raa’tir (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, lined with insulating moss

To create the prominent individual, I do the same procedure I did for the last two turns. 1 is male, 2 is female - 2, so female.

Possible reasons for a rise to prominence:

Raa’tir artisan - she had exceptional skills in making intricate and beautiful designs from the glowing moss
Healer - she was well-known for her knowledge of herbs and her ability to heal wounds
Defender - she protected a group of younglings from attack by Kre’tikk (predator)
Navigator - she learned a network of Tavark (jumping off points) through the forest, allowing her to lead the clan in migration
Mediator - when three clans nearly went into conflict, she brokered peace by creating an exchange of younglings between all three clans
Ritualist - developed a new ritual to fend off the Fark (evil spirits)

I rolled a 3, so she protected a group of younglings from attack by Kre’tikk (a flying predator).

Possible names:

Raatika (sun-small-new)
Varjilka (sky-good)
Tavkrark’ti (takeoff-new)
Rakir’ka (sunrise-new)

I roll between them and get 4, so she is named Rakir’ka (meaning something like New Sunrise)

Possible ways in which she defended the younglings (who were too young to fly):

Led the predator away - she got attention to herself and led the predator away (sacrificing herself?)
Mimickry - she mimicked the calls of a Tikk’tikru (a larger ambush predator), scaring the Kre’tikk away
Disorienting - she led one or two more adults in diving at the Kre’tikk in turns, disorienting it and giving another adult time to hide the younglings away

I rolled a 2. Thus, the story of Rakir’ka:

Rakir’ka was a young adult Eekraw, just past her full maturation. She was taking care of a group of younglings of the clan when she saw a Kre’tikk diving at the younglings. She thought quickly and mimicked the call of Tikk’tikru, which caused the Kre’tikk to veer away sharply in fear. She then was able to quickly pull the younglings into the shelter of the trees, protecting them from the predator.

This one is a much less impressive feat than the ones from the previous two turns, but I think that’s fine, the point isn’t the story itself as much as the way it morphs over time. Besides, since I’m adding new stories each turn, before too long there’ll be more than one for each region, so none of them has to be incredibly stunning/awe-inspiring.

Expansion

Now, expansion. I’ll roll from the 11 inhabited regions. I roll a 2, which is interesting - it’s the first time I’ve rolled a region without anywhere uninhabited to expand to.

I’m considering whether to rule regions 1 and 11 off-limits, since those regions also have no place to expand to. But no, I think the possibility of that should remain - I’ll just push the next region further. So, region 2 can expand to the following six regions:

Region 1
Region 3
Region 4
Region 5
Region 6
Region 11

Ordinarily I’d roll a 1d2 to see if region 2 expands to one or two regions, but I think in this case I’ll just stick to one, to make it simpler. I roll a 2, so region 2 moves into the place currently held by region 3. Region 3, in turn, can expand either into the arctic/boreal forest and tundra to its north, or to the strip of temperate forest further northeast. However, I think it makes more sense that they wouldn’t expand into a marginal climate like the arctic unless there were no other options, so they push northeast into the temperate forest in that direction.

I was initially planning on changing the region number too (i.e., region 3 would be in the new area, and the location that was once region 3 would now be region 12), but I’ve decided not to renumber a region. In this case, I’ll just move everything of culture and language from region 3 to region 12, and do the new culture that split off from region 2 as region 3.

Now, I need to figure out how to best represent the interaction between regions 2 and 3, linguistic and maybe societal transfer, and anything else that comes out of such an interaction.

New Region 3:

Social Structure:

Clan units of multiple related nests, limited or no specialization

Culture:

View the tall trees (Tava) as being placed in the savannah for them by the spirits or their ancestors to aid their leaps into the sky

Tools/Technology:

Shelter: Underneath trees, with some brush pulled over the top
Shalu’tarak’tiy - tool fashioned from animal bones to draw and temporarily store small quantities of water from oases during long trips through the savannah

Oral History/Myth:

Var’Doltik was a young Eekraw who was generally derided as being clumsy. However, she went and found several other Eekraw - Talwik, the brave male, Ekti’lu, the wise female, and little Daltal’tiy, the male tracker - and convinced them to form a hunting group, even taking down a Tikku’Taluvark. Her demonstrated leadership convinced the other three to form a nest group with her. Later, the rest of her clan decided to ask her to guide them, due to the noted success of her and her nest group.

Old Region 3 (now 12):

Social Structure:

Clan units of multiple related nests, limited or no specialization

Culture:

Reverence for the sun

Technology:

Shelter: Underneath the trees

I’ll refer to the invaders as region 3 and the displaced as region 12 from now on. Obviously, region 12 is less developed than 3, though both are less developed than some of the other regions.

For each culture aspect (reverence for the sun and reverence for the Tava), as well as the Shalu’tarak’tiy tool and the Var’Doltik myth, I’ll roll a 1d2 to see if the other tribe adopts it or a variant of it. 1 is yes, 2 no

Sun: 1
Tava: 1
Shalu’tarak’tiy: 2
Var’Doltik: 1

So, region 3 adopts a reverence for the sun as part of their culture. Region 12, meanwhile, adopts a reverence for trees placed to aid in flying, as well as the legend of Var’Doltik, but does not adopt the tool of the invaders.

Incidentally, as water is less of an important thing in region 3, the Shalu’tarak’tiy is now used to draw sap from the trees.

This process is actually going to be really complicated, as for each of these I need to develop new language as well, depending on the new biome, but I also need to figure out how the societies develop before fully making the new language. In this case, I should figure out what the savannah Eekraw call all the creatures in the temperate forest before going any further.

So, the former savannah Eekraw, upon reaching their new home, need to name the new creatures they find there. Of the 13 features of the new biome, two (mice-like creatures and bioluminescent beetles) are similar enough to features of the old biome that they can be immediately named. I’ll roll a 1d11 to see how many of the others they get names for from the previous inhabitants. I roll a 2, so they only get the names of 2 of the new things from the old inhabitants of region 3. I’ll roll twice more to see which ones — I get a 1 and 4, so they steal the names Ra’kutik (for the major predator) and Tikruir (for the scavenger beetles) from the old inhabitants. Now, they have to name the remaining 9 features.

Creatures (8):

Ra’kutik - Stealthy creature with large, piercing eyes, solitary hunter
Dal’tik’ti (like the avian pack-hunter, but on land) - Pack hunting creature with leather skin and a strong jaw that can crunch through exoskeletons
Varskti’Vaktik (tree-air-based predator) - Sleek, elongated animal with a prehensile tail. Drops from trees onto their prey, have a venomous bite
Tikruir - Medium-sized beetle-like creature with a hardened carapace, eats decaying plant or animal matter
Skitirakuu’eek (herbivore-safe) Large herbivore with broad, leaf-like antlers. Have thick fur that helps keep them warm in the winter
Tarak’skik’tiy (small-herd animal) Medium-sized animal which eats the fern-like plant and moves in groups of three or four, easily startled
Tarak’sika (water-walker) - Amphibious medium-sized animal with webbed feet and a finned tail, lives in or near rivers and small lakes, hibernates in winter
Tuujeeti - Small animal with vibrating whiskers and no eyes, lives in decayed roots of trees underground
Vajilkti’dor - Bioluminescent beetles that live in colonies and feed on tree sap, release a noxious gas when threatened

Plants (9):

Tiirtew’tira (bad-tasting-plant) - A fern-like plant with nutrient-rich leaves which several animals eat. Eekraw cannot eat them, but when boiled they make a good-tasting tea
Tirkrew’ke (berries-good) Bush producing large, sweet berries
Varskti’eek (tree-safe) - Tree that has sap that hardens when exposed to water, allowing it to hold things together
Eekra’tal’Varskti (shelter-tree) - A tree that has bark that can be soaked in water and then beaten into sheets to create clothing or shelter

Region 3 also needs new words for the forest instead of the savannah and scrubland. Region 12’s language doesn’t really have any such words to choose from. However, region 3 does have the suffix ‘wi for ‘place.’ Therefore, adding it to the word for tree (Varskti) gives me Varskti’wi - forest. The already existing words ‘Taluvark’wi’ (savannah) and Talu’wi (scrubland) now mean forest clearing and forest underbrush.

I change the Var’Doltik myth to be about hunting a Ra’kutik instead of a creature from the savannah, but otherwise it stays the same.

Considering that this tribe no longer lives in a savannah where trees are rare, it doesn’t make sense for them to think of individual trees as being placed to aid in their flight. Instead, their reverence for the Tava could change in a couple of ways:

They worship certain groves of trees
They worship the forest as a whole as a conclave of ancestors
The Tava becomes a mythical perfect tree from which the Eekraw flew
Each clan has a specific tree that they think of as their own

I roll a 2, so they worship the forest as a whole. The updated sentence is: View the forest (Tava) as being placed in the world for them by the spirits or their ancestors to aid their leaps into the sky. The oldest trees are worshipped as Yek’Tava, sacred trees.

As region 12 has adopted this belief from the invading tribe as well, I’ll roll on the same table for them. This time, I roll a 4, so each clan thinks of a specific tree in the forest as their sacred tree. I steal the word Yek’Tava from region 3, and add the following verbiage to the society overview: “Each clan has a Yek’Tava - 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 Yek’Tava as a jumping-off point to fly to join the ancestors.”

Finally, I’ll see how region 12 adopts the Var’Doltik myth. Possible options:

Stays basically the same
Adds something about leading the tribe away from their old homeland
Adds something about trying to defend the tribe from the invaders
Var’Doltik and her nest are evil invaders, pushing the tribe from their homeland

I roll a 2, so Var’Doltik leads the tribe away from their old homeland. The names of the characters also change as they are adopted from the language of the invaders, and become Var’Dol, Talik, Ektu and Dalti.

Updated story in Region 12:

Var’Dol was a young Eekraw who was generally derided as being clumsy. However, she went and found several other Eekraw - Talik, the brave male, Ektu, the wise female, and little Dalti, the male tracker - and convinced them to form a hunting group, even taking down a Ra’kutik. Her demonstrated leadership convinced the other three to form a nest group with her. Later, she became the leader over her clan, and eventually the whole tribe asked for her guidance.
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’Dol 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.

Biome Generation

Now, I’m going to do biome generation for region 12. It’s a temperate forest similar to region 3, so I’ll keep it mostly the same. I’ll roll one creature to draw from region 6, another to draw from a random region, another to have a variation, and a fourth to be replaced entirely.

For the first, I roll a 13, so the bark that can be beaten into sheets is replaced by something from region 6. It’s replaced by “A sap that glows for a long time after being removed from a tree” - there’s quite a lot of glowing things in this setting.1

Next, I roll a 2, so the Pack hunting creature is replaced by a predator from one of the other regions. I’ll roll a 1d11 to see which one - 4. Thus, region 12 has a “Semi-transparent gliding kite-like creature. Paralyzes its prey then wraps it up and slowly dissolves it” - a creature with relatives in a number of the regions here.

Next, I roll a 4, so the “Medium-sized beetle-like creature with a hardened carapace, eats decaying plant or animal matter” has a variation.

Possible variations:

Spikes on carapace
Retractable wings
Segmented carapace

I roll a 1, so it’s got spikes on its carapace. It’s now “Medium-sized beetle-like creature with spiky hardened carapace, eats decaying plant or animal matter.”

Finally, a feature is replaced altogether. I roll again, and roll a 3, so the slim, venomous predator doesn’t exist in this part of temperate forest. Instead, I’ll generate a new one.

Now, I realize that I have a bunch of RPG books with generation tables, so I’m going to try and generate the creature using this, instead of just from ChatGPT giving me ideas.2

I’ll use the table from p. 201 of Stars Without Number, by Kevin Crawford, to roll for its “Basic Animal Features.” The SWN free version can be found here, I highly recommend it, for its random tables if nothing else.

I roll a 4, so it’s insectoid in some way.

I’ll roll on a couple of the other tables to add information. I’ll roll on two of the four description tables (size doesn’t apply, since I already know that it’s medium size, so between cat and calf). I roll a 1 and a 3, so I’ll roll on the body plan and skin novelty tables.

I roll a 2 for the first table and a 3 for the second, so it is quadruped and has an odd texture. Finally, I’ll roll on the predator behavior table and get a 5, so it lures or drives prey into danger.

It took me a while to find a prompt for ChatGPT that produced the kind of results I was looking for. Here’s the prompt I used:

You are an expert in xeno-biology. You are brilliant and well-read in all the textbooks on xeno-biology. Help me brainstorm the following lifeform in a temperate forest biome on a planet. Think through how such an ecosystem would function and what creatures would live there. There is an insectoid predator in this biome, somewhere between the sizes of a cat and a small calf, which takes up a secondary predator niche. It is quadruped and has an odd texture, and it lures prey to it. Give me ten possible one sentence descriptions of such a creature. Be grounded in biological principles and stay away from things that are too fantastic.

A few possible descriptions:

Medium-sized insect covered in lichen-like scales, blends seamlessly into forest floor waiting for unsuspecting prey.
Medium-sized quadrupedal insect which emits a sweet scent that lures herbivores close and then easts them
Medium-sized quadrupedal insect which crafts web-like snares and then pounces upon prey.

I roll a 3, so it’s that last one. Melding the random tables and ChatGPT didn’t work as well as I thought it would, I’ll have to work on the process some more to make it better.

Names for the new creatures:

Tavaa’Tikk (jumping-off-predator) - Semi-transparent gliding kite-like creature. Paralyzes its prey then wraps it up and slowly dissolves it
Tikk’tikruir (predator-beetle) Medium-sized quadrupedal insect which crafts web-like snares and then pounces upon prey.
Tikruir - Medium-sized beetle-like creature with spiky hardened carapace, eats decaying plant or animal matter.
Raa’tarkrav - A sap that glows for a long time after being removed from a tree

Now, I’m going to do language exchange between the two languages.

Here are the words from region 3 that don’t have an equivalent word in region 12:

Rayk (respectful you)
Eira (that nest group)
Yeekee (knowledge)
Eekii (safety/safe place)
Jilki (meat)
Jiltira (edible plants)
Tava (the sacred forest as a whole)
Dor’tiktir (hidden danger)
Tikti (dangerous)
Itek (someone who overcomes challenges)
Dor (secret/mystery)
Eek (safe)
Jilki’tiy (insignificant/minimal)
Yekriy (old-fashioned)
Eekra’tal (temporary shelter)
Shalu’tarak’tiy (tool fashioned from animal bones to draw sap from the trees)
ChVarkee (to leap or glide)
ChVarkee’tiy (to try something new)
K’Tal (to stand/land)
Tikvart (to look for food and resources)
Chalu’jilk (to search diligently)
Kraitir (to argue/make a case)
‘tiy (suffix for new)
‘wi (suffix for place)
Dal (ground/soil)
Varra (air/above)
Varrkree (flight)
Taluvark’wi (open-space/clearing)
Taluwi (underbrush)
Varskti’wi (forest)
Raat (sunset)
Rakruki (sunrise)
Tal’raak (pond or oasis)

And here are the words from region 12 that don’t have an equivalent in region 3:

Ki’raa (emphatic yes)
Kre’raik (emphatic no)
Ek’yik (individual from my nest)
Era’raa (clan)
Rilk’tal (a place where food is consumed)
Rilk’tika (a feast)
Yikuik (misguided/wrong)
Raik’tal (scared/fearful)
Raa (blessed or sacred)
Haal (to stand/land)
Hraal (to complete)
Hraal’raa (to die)
Ravi (to make/create)
Te’ (prefix for small)
‘ka (suffix for large)
Varu (wind/breeze)
Varu’raa (favorable flying weather)
Tavaa (jumping off points for flight - cliffs or tall trees)
Jilta - prey animals

As an aside, it’s pretty crazy, but also really cool, that after just a few turns of divergence (each of the two regions had three turns in which they were selected for language development), there are 52 words that are not shared between them. The similarities in the languages are really clear, but so are the distinctions.

So, I think I’ll roll a die that is half the number of missing words (i.e., 16 for region 3 and 9 for region 12) and move that many from one to the other. So for region 3 to region 12: 16 (jeez)

I roll 6, 12, 17, 4, 9, 18, 12, 30, 16, 33, 20, 1, 28, 22, 8 and 9. 9 and 12 are duplicated and 16 refers to a technology that region 12 hasn’t adopted, so only 13 words transfer.

Jiltira (edible plants)
Eek (safe)
ChVarkee (to leap or glide)
Eekii (safety/safe place)
Tikti (dangerous)
ChVarkee’tiy (to try something new)
Varskti’wi (forest)
Tal’raak (pond or oasis)
Tikvart (to look for food and resources)
Rayk (respectful you)
Taluvark’wi (open-space/clearing)
Kraitir (to argue/make a case)
Dor’tiktir (hidden danger)

Then from region 12 to region 3: 4

Words 3, 17, 6 and 8 move.

Ek’yik (individual from my nest)
Varu’raa (favorable flying weather)
Rilk’tika (a feast)
Raik’tal (scared/fearful)

Finally, I’ll randomly select two words from each that replace the equivalent word in the other language. To make it manageable, I’ll roll first for category, then for word.

From region 3: Categories 3 and 9. From category 3 I roll Yekriy (old-fashioned) which does not have an equivalent, so I won’t switch it over. From category 9 I roll Varskti’eek, the word for the sap that hardens when exposed to water, so that word replaces Tarkravi, the previous word.

From region 12: I roll 2 and 8 (incidentally, Region 3 has an additional language category, tools/constructs, so 8 in region 12 is the same as 9 in region 3). From category 2, I roll Ek’yik (individual from my nest), a word that is already shared. From region 8, I roll Ratikri (fern-like plant), so the word replaces the word Tiirtew’tira.

As I’m doing this, I realize that this is duplication of effort - I already rolled to see if the newcomers pick up words for things from the people they displaced. I also kind of felt that I was bouncing around as I was figuring out what was transferred between the two cultures and that I may have transferred too much stuff between the two - I want to make sure they are distinct from one another.

Next time this comes up, I’m going to change it. Instead of separately rolling between words that the regions don’t share and words that they do, I’ll just roll some number (maybe 5 or 10 - 19 was too many) of words from each list. If the word has an equivalent, it replaces it, and if it doesn’t, it gets added to the other region’s lexicon.

Lastly, I’ll do one basic round of language evolution for each of the three regions involved in this migration - Region 2, the originator, Region 3, the destination, and Region 12, the displaced.

Region 2

I roll a 1, so category 1 (basics) undergoes language evolution. The new words are:

Basics (1):

Aa - me
Ju - you
Ray - (respectful) you
Aii - them
Air - that nest group
Er - us
Kee - yes
Kruti - no

Region 3

I roll a 4.

Tools/Constructs (4):

Kra’talu - temporary shelter
Shal’aratiy - tool fashioned from animal bones to draw sap from the trees

Region 12

I roll a 2.

Culture (2):

Ra’yek - elder
Ti’kay - youngling
Ek’jik - individual from my nest
Echwi - nest
Er’ra - clan
Rilg - food
Ril’kal - a place of gathering
Ril’tik - a feast
Yek’Tawa - a particularly old, sacred tree
Eeki - safety/safe place
Dor’tiktr - hidden danger
Varu’ra - Good fortune

Language Development

Now, I’ll do a full set of language development for some region, where I do language development to each category. I roll 10, so region 10, the coastal region settled last turn, undergoes full language development.

Region 10’s updated lexicon:

Basics (1):

Ku - me
Yee - you
Eru - them
Ewa - us
Kree - yes
Rew - no

Culture (2):

Yira - priest/shaman nest
Ekrat - defense/lookout nest
Ekiek - youngling
Leraw - nest group
Ratrak - clan
Varka - evil force of darkness
Traki - life
Era - home
Krit - shelter
Ekratera - family heritage

Descriptor (3):

Yig - traitor
Tikar - hidden/camouflaged
Skigka - totally useless
Jeel - tasty/good-tasting
Jiker - delicious
Tare - challenging