River People

From Gothpoodle

Revision as of 14:50, 1 April 2016

Bonobo/Human

Description

• Height: 5'9" male, 5'3" female
• Weight: 145lbs male, 120lbs female
• Coloring: Brown skin, black hair, brown eyes.
• Diet: Omnivorous.
• Mating: Promiscuous. 10-14d in 37d cycle
• Sex: Bisexual, multi-partner, used for social bonding and tension relief.
• Household: Female leader, sons and daughters, daughters' children.

Long hair, large breasted females, slender, thin necks, long legs. Mother-son relationship is the most important.

Racial Stats

• Aspects: Promiscuous, Social Creature, Highly Civilized
• Occupations: Merchant, Diplomat, Bard
• Power Skills: Domination, Life, Warding

Names

Two syllable plus House name (based on old tribe/place name) for nobles.

Development

• Early Stone Age: Hunter-gatherer bands based around matriarchal families that meet regularly for trade and social interaction. Bands composition very fluid, breaking into smaller groups and reforming, and movement between bands is common. Territories often overlap and there is not strong territoriality except when resources grow scarce, which is also when violence becomes more prominent.
• Late Stone Age: Villages form around agriculture (farming, herding, and fishing) mostly along the river, family matriarchs make decisions. Men raise their sister's children and protect the family household. Ownership and resources lead to more violent interaction with other groups, though war is still infrequent. Trade and social interaction with other villages still common, but identity forms more around the village tribe and fluidity is lost.
• Bronze Age: Prominent villages grow into cities and economically dominate surrounding villages through trade. A Republic forms when the the Matriarchs of prominent city families (matrician families) appoint a Grand Matriarch. Economic power is paramount and fighting is over resources. Production of luxury goods and public architecture are ways of showing wealth, necessitating bureaucracy. Military power wielded by the eldest son of the Grand Matriarch is balanced by the religious significance given to the latter position. Priestess caste develops from bureaucracy, only daughters of matrician families are eligible. Further development of states is hegemonic. Prostitution is a highly respectable profession.

Religion

Communication between bands allowed for a single unified religion to develop, worshipping the Great Mother. Women embody her, which evolves into Matriarchs being the symbolic "Great Mother" of their tribe, then the Grand Matriarch fulfilling that role for the state. Worship is less about formal ceremony and more about embodying the principles of nurturing life and family as the Great Mother becomes less of a nature figure and more of a moral authority to counterbalance increased violence with competition for resources. The development of a formal priesthood is to serve as moral authorities, serving as judges, peacemakers, diplomats, and civic leaders. Burial is in earth, naked and rubbed with red ochre, to simulate a reverse-birth.

Society

• Royal Family
• Priesthood
• Nobility (Matrician families)
• Commoners

Only social mobility is from the nobility to the priesthood.