Mountain People

From Gothpoodle

Revision as of 16:06, 24 October 2011

Gorilla/Chimp

Description

• Height: 6'3" (male), 4'7" (female)
• Weight: 500lbs (male), 220lbs (female)
• Coloring: Black hair and skin, brown eyes. Male hair color starts to go silver-gray on maturity.
• Diet: Omnivorous.
• Mating: Polyandrous.
• Sex: Females come into heat mid-cycle and choose males.

Hirsute, flat-chested females. Females only fertile when food abundant, males and females live apart (young children with mother). Drum when aggressive.

Names

Short, single syllable, barking sound. King takes the name of his ancestor-god.

Development

• Hunter-gatherer bands based around a dominant male and his adult female mates, sometimes a successor son or beta males, and children. Rely heavily on the leader for protection, hunting, and decision making. Fight with neighboring groups over mates and territory. Very little in-group violence. Death of male leads to chaos, infanticide by incoming dominant male. Unattached males form raiding parties.
• Tribal villages form as agriculture allows settling, beta males take their own harems and fighting evolves into wars for land, food, and mates. Females are plunder, daughters are used to reward loyal warriors, cement alliances, or as gifts to appease or bribe other tribes. Settlement occurs mostly in fertile mountain valleys along the rivers, coming down out of the cloud forests (which are treated as sacred ground for the new deified tribal ancestor gods and places for coming of age ceremonies, most of which involve hunting). Raising of pigs and buffaloes, very limited farming. Metalworking and stone-working begin.
• Hereditary kings develop from chiefs claiming direct lineage to the gods, artisans rise from weaker males, tribute (including females) demanded from conquered states and subjects, limited public architecture (mostly king's residence and temples) and luxury goods, and plunder and war the primary ways to make a fortune, very limited trade. Justice and ownership are very centralized, little delegation to warrior caste that makes up the defacto nobility. King is the primary religious figure as embodiment of the god, priests are ritually castrated. Cannibalism isn't uncommon, both as ritual and as a use for slaves, due to the limited food supply. Mining and advanced metalworking and stone-working.

Religion

Early religion focuses on totem spirits but develops into ancestor worship where the ancestors become formalized gods, with dominant tribes enforcing worship of their dominant god on conquered people with their gods becoming minor deities. Ancestor spirits were said to dwell in the cloud forests. When they become gods, they are said to go up, such that now the gods live atop the mountains or in the sky. Totems are now emblems and the gods often have animalistic features which match the original tribal totem. Burial is in stone tombs in the cloud forests for those of rank, simple burial for others, and cannibalism for slaves or captives.

Society

• Royal Family
• Priests (castrated)
• Warriors (allowed mates)
• Artisans (not allowed mates)
• Slaves

Social mobility is from artisan caste to warrior or priest caste. Females are property, no social position.