Turn 3
Continued expansion, two new biomes, and worship of the trees
Time to start turn 3. As I mentioned at the end of the last post, I’m considering adding in the possibility for a random event of some sort (anywhere from an ice age to a disease or an animal migration). I’ve come up with a table of basic events that might occur, with some interesting possibilities. However, for this turn, I won’t roll on the full table, since it’s just too early to have some of the possible events with so little of the globe inhabited. Instead, I’ll just roll among two of the possible events for this turn, maybe more later.
I’m also considering deciding that until the globe is about halfway filled up, if a region is activated that doesn’t have any room to migrate to an uninhabited region, then it’ll instead migrate to an inhabited region and the previous inhabitants will migrate to a new uninhabited region, rather than doing any complicated merging/migration mechanic. I will have the two tribes have some amount of language borrowing too, though. It hasn’t occurred yet, but as we start filling in the empty spaces on the first continent, it probably will eventually.
Turn Order:
Random Event: Roll on the random event table, then roll to see what region it occurs in
Activation: Roll a die to decide which region to ‘activate.’
Expansion: The activated 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: I will generate a biome for the regions that have been expanded into. I’m adding a rule that one animal or plant from each nearby biome is present in the new one - this makes the biomes mesh better, and also can make some interesting ways in which the creatures change between biomes.
Language Development: The activated region and expanded-to regions will undergo language development
Technological Development: Finally, I will roll another die with the new number of regions. Whichever region is activated may have a new technology or cultural or societal innovation occur. I will roll a 1d3 - 1 is technological, 2 is social, 3 is cultural. Those will start off minor - things like some small amount of specialization or developing fire, not agriculture or iron-working. That region will also undergo a round of language development.
So, here we go:
Random Event:
As mentioned above, though I have come up with a lot of possible events, I don’t want to roll on the full table this turn. Instead I’m going to just roll from the following two possibilities:
Culture Changes (i.e., instead of revering sun, they revere the moon) - this is not an increase in complexity, just a change
Society Changes (just like above, a change, not an increase, in complexity)
I roll a 1 on a 1d2, so there is a cultural change that takes place. I now roll to see which of the 4 inhabited regions the change takes place in. The result is a 2, so Region 2 (the savannah) has a change in culture.
At the moment, their culture has only one thing: “Culture: Reverence for the sun.”
Unlike the cultural evolution for Region 1 on the first turn, I don’t have any particular idea on what ways their culture might change. So, I put the information on the Eekraw of Region 2 into ChatGPT, along with the following prompt: “You are a complex society simulator. You simulate the changes and evolutions in societies based on their context, environment and other factors. You are simulating the changes to the culture of a tribe of the Eekraw, an avian species that has recently developed sentience. This particular tribe lives in a savannah/scrubland biome. Their only current cultural trait is 'reverence for the sun.' Their culture undergoes some sort of change. Give me ten possible changes the culture could undergo. This is a simple society, so the change should be a change, not an increase in cultural complexity For example, one possible change could be 'reverence for the moon' replacing their previous reverence for the sun.”
Incidentally, based on that ‘reverence for the moon’ I used as an example, I do want to see how many moons there are for the Eekraw’s planet. I’ll roll a 1d4-1 to determine how many moons there are. The result is that there are two moons around this planet.
I intended to pick my five or so favorite possibilities from the response, and roll for them. However, one of the suggestions was particularly interesting, so I decided to forgo rolling and just pick it. “Worship of Ancestral Trees: Recognizing the vital role of tall trees (Tavak) as essential flight take-off points, they may come to view these trees as holy or ancestral spirits, protecting and aiding their leaps into the sky.”
I thought that was a fascinating concept, that these mountain birds, which need things to jump off of to be able to fly, worship the few trees in their new biome that allow it. Thus, I replaced ‘reverence for the sun’ with “Culture: View the tall trees (Tavak) as being placed in the savannah for them by the spirits or their ancestors to aid their leaps into the sky.” I also moved the word ‘Tavak” from the ‘environment’ to the ‘culture’ section of the lexicon, with an appropriate update to the definition.
Activation:
There are four regions inhabited by Eekraw. I roll a 2 on the 1d4, so Region 2 (the savannah/scrubland region) activates
Expansion:
The region expands to two nearby regions. There are two uninhabited regions nearby (I’m calling the tropical deciduous forest islands to the east a different region from the tropical deciduous forest to the north). You can see from the map that Region 5 includes all of the islands and some large coastal areas, while region 6 is more inland and also includes a large crater-lake (approximately 150 miles wide).
Biome Development:
Region 5
We’ll start with creating the biome for Region 5. As mentioned above, I’m going to say that each nearby biome has one species or plant with a near-relative in the new biome. The biomes near to this coastal island biome are regions 2 (savannah) and 4 (temperate forest). The way this is going to work is I’m going to scan the biome lists for each to see if there is anything that jumps out at me as an obvious candidate. If not, I’ll roll to see what to pick, re-rolling if it’s dumb or unreasonable.
From Region 2, the two that seem to make the most sense are the large predator with barbed tails or the small whistling birds. I’ll roll a 1d2 to decide between them, and get a 1. So the large predator from the savannah has a relative in the islands. I used ChatGPT to get some possible variations, and I’ve decided this variant has better IR vision and vibration sensing, and is a nighttime hunter, lying in wait in the forest’s undergrowth.
From Region 4, the coolest one to pick is the buoyant gaseous floating creature. Again with assistance from ChatGPT, I’ve decided this variation is smaller, and has longer prehensile apendages to grasp and pull fruits from the lower branches.
New Biome - coastal/island tropical deciduous forest:
Major Predator: Large, slender creature with long, whip-like tails equipped with barbs They have potent IR vision and can sense vibrations. They are a nighttime ambush hunter which lies in wait in the forest’s undergrowth then spears prey with its barbed tail
Minor Predator: Amphibious predator with a tail that rapidly vibrates to propel itself as well as disorient creatures. Hunts aquatic and terrestrial creatures
Minor Predator: Nocturnal, winged creature that spring from trees and pounce on animals on the forest floor. Not dangerous to Eekraw
Scavenger: A slow quadruped with a long snout and a strong, armored back. Excretes dissolving enzyme to soften tough materials
Major Prey Animal: Medium-sized floating creatures that are buoyant due to gas-filled sacs within their body, use their long prehensile apendages to grab fruits from the lower branches. Can release the gas to disorient predators and change altitude rapidly
Medium Prey Animal: Semi-aquatic mammal that feeds on fish as well as fruits and leaves near the islands’ coasts
Medium Prey Animal: A medium-sized bipedal animal with prehensile tail, jumps between trees and feeds on fruits
Small prey Animal: Small, quill covered creature that feeds on fruit and insects, rolls into a spiky ball when threatened
Small Prey Animal: Small bird with irridiscent feathers, uses long tongue to drink nectar from flowers
Small Prey Animal: Small, quick fish that feeds close to the islands. Very tasty to the Eekraw who is willing to fly out from an island to catch one
Staple Food: Nutrient-rich fruit that has a luminescent glow
Staple Food: Seeds with hard shells that are a delicacy to the Eekraw
Resource: Certain trees produce a hard resin that hardens over time and falls to the ground as a stone-like material that can be shaped to some extent
Region 6
Now for Region 6, the tropical deciduous forest to the north. The nearest biomes are regions 2,3 and 5.
From 5, the biome that was just created, I’m going to pick the bipedal animal (primate-like) as the new one. This variant is actually omniverous, eating small prey as well as fruits. It also has a camouflaged fur that changes with the season
From Region 2, I’ll pick the “small birds that produce high-pitched whistle noises as they fly. They fly in erratic patterns to avoid predators.” This variant has light claws and a strong beak that allows it to drill into bark to reach insect larvae like a woodpecker.
From Region 3, there are 13 options, and I decided to roll for it. I rolled a 7, picking this animal: “Amphibious medium-sized animal with webbed feet and a finned tail, lives in or near rivers and small lakes, hibernates in winter.” The variant in region 6 buries itself deep in the mud during drier seasons, going into a state of torpor until the monsoon rains return.
New Biome - tropical deciduous forest:
Major Predator: Winged serpentine creature, with wings that allow it to glide. Spends most of its time in the canopy then drops on prey from above
Minor Predator: Nocturnal predators with bioluminescent patches on their bodies that look like bioluminescent berries or insects. When prey comes near, the predator pounces
Minor Predator: Bipedal animal with prehensile tail that swings between trees. Eats small prey as well as fruit
Scavenger: Bird with long, sharp beak to tear into tough hides, eats carcasses
Major Prey Animal: Medium-sized furred animal. Tough, low to the ground and strong, with small but sharp tusks.
Medium Prey Animal: Amphibious medium-sized animal with webbed feet and a finned tail, lives near rivers and small lakes. Buries itself deep in mud during drier seasons in a state of torpor, returning when the monsoon rains return
Medium Prey Animal: Herbivore that has sticky skin and rolls in dead leaves to try to camouflage itself
Small prey Animal: Small birds that produce high-pitched whistle noises when they fly. They attach themselves to trees and drill into bark with their beak to reach insect larvae
Small Prey Animal: Small floating creatures with flexible tendrils that latch onto trees and draw them in to catch insects. When touched or ingested, their is a bitter taste and temporary numbness
Staple Food: Berries that glow when ripe
Staple Food: Underground root vegetable with a spiky exterior but nutritious insides
Resource: A sap that glows for a long time after being removed from a tree
Resource: Tree with bark that can be peeled in thin layers, can easily layer a nest
In future I have to decide a better way to generate biomes. Although it was fun at first, it’s getting tedious now. I’d rather get more quickly to the language, culture and societal development.
Language Development
Now for language development:
Region 5:
Basics:
Aki - me
Yuku - you
Ra’yik (sun-you) - you as a term of respect
Eiru - them
Eiru’kru (them-no) > Ekru - us
Iki - yes
Ikru - no
Society:
Eraw - nest group
Ek’ti - nestmate
Era’wi - clan
Eekra’wi (safety/safe place)
Culture:
Yekri - elder
Yeekree - wisdom/knowledge
Ra’Dor - respected stubborn one
Tavak’Vara - The tree canopy as a whole, revered by the tribe as being placed for them by spirits/ancestors to allow jumping off to travel between islands
Dal’Tavak (ground-sacred tree): Certain trees produce a hard resin that hardens over time and falls to the ground as a stone-like material that can be shaped to some extent. Revered by the Eekraws’ culture
It’tek - traitor/murderer/evildoer
Verbs:
Krarkee - to leap or glide
KrVar’wi - to fly between islands
KrV’tal - move/migrate
Kitalu - to stand/land
KrTik’vark - to hunt
KrTal’jilk - to forage
Kratir - to defend
Krila - to eat
Other:
‘tiy - suffix for small
‘wi - suffix for place
Ra’ - prefix for respect
Jilk - food
Environment:
Raa - sun
Dal - ground/soil/land
Dor - hard/stubborn
Tarak - water/below
Varak - air/above
Aikur - night
Ayru - day
Varkree - flight
Taluvark’wi - old/previous homeland
Varsti’wi (tree-place) - forest
Tarak’wi (water-place) - ocean
Dal’wi (land place) - island
Ra’ti - sunset
Rarkuki - sunrise
Tal’raak - creek or stream
Creatures:
Tikk - ground-based predator
Vaktik - air-based predator
Sika’dal - creature that lives on the ground
Sika’varksti - any creature that lives in the trees
Jikta - any small creature
Raikur’Tikka’Taluvark - Large, slender creature with long, whip-like tails equipped with barbs. They have potent IR vision and can sense vibrations. They are a nighttime ambush hunter which lies in wait in the forest’s undergrowth then spears prey with its barbed tail
Tarak’tikk - semi-amphibious predator with a tail that rapidly vibrates to propel itself as well as disorient creatures. Hunts aquatic and terrestrial creatures
Vaktik’raikur’ti (air predator-night-small) - Nocturnal, winged creature that spring from trees and pounce on animals on the forest floor. Not dangerous to Eekraw
Sika’Kraitir: (walker-defend) A slow quadruped with a long snout and a strong, armored back. Excretes dissolving enzyme to soften tough materials
Jilk’vara (food-above - i.e., takes food from above) Medium-sized floating creatures that are buoyant due to gas-filled sacs within their body, use their long prehensile apendages to grab fruits from the lower branches. Can release the gas to disorient predators and change altitude rapidly
KrVarkee’Sika (leap-walker) A medium-sized bipedal animal with prehensile tail, jumps between trees and feeds on fruits
Dor’jikta (hard small creature) - Small, quill covered creature that feeds on fruit and insects, rolls into a spiky ball when threatened
Vara’jilk (air-food) Small bird with irridiscent feathers, uses long tongue to drink nectar from flowers
Tarak’jilk (water-food) Small, quick fish that feeds close to the islands. Very tasty to the Eekraw who is willing to fly out from an island to catch one
Plants:
Tira’tiy - plant other than a tree
Sktira - trees
Dal’jilk (ground-food)Nutrient-rich fruit that has a luminescent glow
Varsk’ti’jilk - Seeds with hard shells that are a delicacy to the Eekraw
Region 6:
Basics (1):
Ak - me
Yook - you
Raik - you as a term of respect
Er - them
Eraa - us
Kii - yes
Kro - no
Culture (2):
Yekra - elder
Yukree - wisdom/knowledge
Ittak - traitor/murderer/evildoer
Sika - slow/clumsy/useless
Ekti - youngling
Ekra’wi (safety/safe place)
Jolk - food
Raa’Tavak - tall trees that can be used as jump off points for flight and produce glowing sap, revered by the tribe as being placed for them by spirits/ancestors
Tools/Constructs (3):
Ekratal - nest in the canopy
Verbs (4):
KrVarkee - to leap or glide
KrV’tal - move/migrate
K’taal - to find a nest
Krvartiy - to hunt or forage in a forest clearing
KrTalu’jilk - to hunt or forage in a dense thicket
Raitir - to defend
Kril - to eat
Other (5):
‘ty - suffix for small
‘wee - suffix for place
Environment (6):
Raa - sun
Dal - ground/soil
Do’r - underground
Darak - water
Vaara - above
Rakur - night
Rayru - day
Varree - flight
Raa’dal’wi - Clearing in the forest
Dal’tira - the leaf-covered forest floor
Varatav - above the canopy
Creatures (7):
Tikk - ground-based predator
Vaktik - air-based predator
Sika - walker - as in creatures that walk (instead of fly)
Jikta - any small reptile-like creature
Vaktik’tikru’varr: Winged serpentine creature, with wings that allow it to glide. Spends most of its time in the canopy then drops on prey from above
Tikk’Varr’jilk’ti: Nocturnal predators with bioluminescent patches on their bodies that look like bioluminescent berries or insects. When prey comes near, the predator pounces
Sika’Tikk’ti: Bipedal animal with prehensile tail that swings between trees. Eats small prey as well as fruit
Varra’kril: Bird with long, sharp beak to tear into tough hides, eats carcasses
Sika’dal’dor: Medium-sized furred animal. Tough, low to the ground and strong, with small but sharp tusks.
Tarak’dor: Amphibious medium-sized animal with webbed feet and a finned tail, lives near rivers and small lakes. Buries itself deep in mud during drier seasons in a state of torpor, returning when the monsoon rains return
Sika’tira: Herbivore that has sticky skin and rolls in dead leaves to try to camouflage itself
Varrkree’jilk: Small birds that produce high-pitched whistle noises when they fly. They attach themselves to trees and drill into bark with their beak to reach insect larvae
Vara’kril’kru: Small floating creatures with flexible tendrils that latch onto trees and draw them in to catch insects. When touched or ingested, their is a bitter taste and temporary numbness
Plants (8):
Tiira - plant
Varti - trees
Talu - bush
Raa’tirkrew - Berries that glow when ripe
Tira’Kraitir - Underground root vegetable with a spiky exterior but nutritious insides
Raa’Tavak’tiy - A sap that glows for a long time after being removed from a tree. Sacred to the tribe
Eekra’ti’varskti - Tree with bark that can be peeled in thin layers, can easily layer a nest
Varskti’Tavak - a variety of tall tree that is very common
Finally, for region 2 I’m just going to roll to see which category of words undergoes development.
Culture (2):
Yekra - elder
Yukree - wisdom/knowledge
Ittak - traitor/murderer/evildoer
Sika - slow/clumsy/useless
Ekti - youngling
Ekra’wi (safety/safe place)
Jolk - food
Raa’Tavak - tall trees that can be used as jump off points for flight and produce glowing sap, revered by the tribe as being placed for them by spirits/ancestors
Technological Development
Now we’ll do cultural/societal/technological development. There are now 6 inhabited regions, so I’ll roll a 1d6. I rolled a 4, so region 4, the southern temperate forest, undergoes some sort of development.
Their current social/cultural/technological summary is:
Social Structure:
Clan units of extended families, limited specialization
Culture:
Reverence for the sun
The Varkik are evil shadow spirits (originally based on the predators of the mountain biome)
The Yeek’r (priests) conduct rituals to try to drive the Varkik away spiritually
Raa’tir (Luminescent moss) is used to mark territory, and also primitive art
Technology/Tools
Shelter: Nests in the forest, lined with insulating moss
I roll a 1d3 - 1 is technological, 2 is social, 3 is cultural. I got a 2, so the Eekraw in region 2 develop socially. I’ll reproduce the table I came up with in the last turn for region 1, and add a few others I’ve thought of/gotten from ChatGPT inspiration. The following are possible social developments for the Eekraw in region 2:
While what were once elders are now priests/shamans, I haven’t specified if there is any ruler as such - probably not, still more of a small group decision rather than rulers as such. Perhaps they develop the concept of the ‘big man’ (or ‘big nest’) who acts as clan chief
This species is fundamentally nomadic, but perhaps they start returning to the same section of the forest each year?
Separation out of specific nests of Eekraw as lookouts/defenders to protect the rest of the tribe against predators and other threats
Separation of nests of hunters and nests of gatherers
Change to how living units form - larger collections of nests? ‘Nests of nests?’
Trading younglings between clan groups to create new nests
Seasonal gatherings of multiple clans
Nest assigned to manage luminiscent moss markings, defining territory
I rolled a 6, so this tribe of Eekraw has developed a societal custom of trading 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.
I add the following phrases to Region 4’s lexicon:
Eki’var (youngling-above) - a youngling who has come from another clan (i.e., flown up)
Tavark’eki (start-youngling) - the process of integrating a new youngling into a nest
Ewa’var (us-big) - the clan
Ru’var (them-big) - another clan, specifically one with which a youngling has been traded
Yiti’eki (bad-youngling) - a youngling who does not properly integrate into their new nest
Finally, I conduct a language development process for region 4. I’ll roll 1d8 to determine which category undergoes development - and I got a 4, so the verb category changes.
Here are the changes to the verbs of region 4:
Verbs (4):
Krark - to fly
Tavakrark - to take off, jump off
KrVor - to succeed/excel
Kril - to use
Tark - to land
KrRa’ti - to defend
Yee’KrRa’ti - to pray, meditate or defend against spiritual challenges
Tavaka - to start
And that’s the end of turn 3. As I mentioned before, the language/society/culture development part is much more fun than the biome generation part, so I should probably come up with a way to make the latter less annoying. I’m not sure how to do so, though, absent reducing the number of migrations - but I do want to cover the world with the Eekraw eventually, so I feel like reducing it to 1 per turn will just draw it out too long.
For future turns, here’s the random event table I’ve come up with so far:
An animal migrates from one region to another
A species dies out
A new species becomes prominent
A new variant of a species becomes prominent
A new plant becomes prominent
A new resource is found (possibly related to technology - technology advances as well?)
A region splits into two distinct cultures (possibly ignore/re-roll if it’s a biome that can’t support a large population)
A loan word is transmitted from one region to another
An additional round of linguistic change occurs
Society devolves - some complexity of society is reduced
Society evolves - complexity is added
Society changes - some aspect of society changes
Culture devolves - some complexity of culture is reduced
Culture Evolves - complexity is added
Culture changes - some aspect of culture changes
Technology devolves
Technology evolves
Technology changes - a new or different take on the same thing (not sure if this makes sense - maybe a change in priority - hard to distinguish from devolving or evolving)
Language evolves complexity - add particles, tenses, etc.
Language devolves - remove particles, tenses, verbs
Culture massively changes - massive rapid changes across the entire culture
Major linguistic shift - run language development twice
Major societal shift- massive rapid changes across the entire societal structure
Genetic change - develop new feather colors, for example
I’ll probably not introduce all of these next turn, though. Some of them, like ‘society devolves’ will be annoying when these societies are still so simple. I’ll wait until things get more advanced before I start messing with them like that. But some of the others seem like they’ll be interesting, so I’ll probably use a shortened random event table next turn.