Dwilight Anthropology Project

[JPierreD]

Alright, so there are 3 indigenous reported races in Maroccidens:
A) Marwood: a group with yet unknown culture and ethnicity, and name, unless you count "Woodfolk" as their name.
B) Townflat: indigenous peoples with no description yet, and immigrants from the Zuma lands.

In the Zuma lands we have another group with no description that used to inhabit most of Occidens, perhaps the same as the Eichur?

In the Far West we have the descendants of the Eichurean Empire, whose ethnicity has not yet been defined.

In Mesoccidens there haven't been described any local indigenous populations, as in the northern lands around Darfix.

[Vellos]

Woodfolk is indeed what the "Colonial" populations would call the residents of Marwood, but not their own name.

"Townfolk" could be another stand-in name for the people of the Townflats.

I suggest that "the Zuma" are a race of people, but that "the Zuma Coalition" reflects an emergent multi-ethnic people, remnants of all the indigenous peoples who have fled the colonists, the demise of Echi'ur, etc. "The Zuma" have received some description, but we could maybe say that what was once a race distinct from other indigenous peoples has begun to meld with other indigenous peoples. That'd be neat to me. And we colonials basically refer to all of them as "Zuma" because they're all worthless barbarians to us.

That's basically how I RP it in Terran. Note in the Concise History of Occidentalism, under "Origins":
"The native folk of Occidens are a strange and barbarous people for the most part, only becoming civilized under the influence of nobility arrived from other continents from 0 DY onwards. As they have mingled with waves of colonists, the natural depravity of these brutish people has been so tempered that the original race of people has become almost lost to history, saving only in the shadow of Volcano Nightscree, where the Zuma Coalition resides."

I think of them as somewhat darker skinned. I imagine the Zuma as essentially Aztec, or some other central American civilization. Other indigenous peoples could vary widely given that the Zuma are under supernatural influences, but could also be modeled off of native American peoples.

[Perth]

I think of them as somewhat darker skinned. I imagine the Zuma as essentially Aztec, or some other central American civilization. Other indigenous peoples could vary widely given that the Zuma are under supernatural influences, but could also be modeled off of native American peoples.

Given the assumption of the weather climate as "jungle-y" and "Caribbean-ish" it's become very easy for me as well to think of the Zuma as Aztec-y.

[Glaumring the Fox]

Glaumring has always spoken of the pre-Melodian/Shadovarian/D'haran civilization that existed where he was born in Raviel . I always roleplayed Glaumring as a sort of aboriginal Dwilii. His people lived near the ocean and sailed with small row boats for 6 to 10 people. And ate sea food and chewed the Bloodmoon fruit. It wasn't until the outside groups like the Melodians came that his tribe was civilized and became apart of civilization and began to forget their old ways. Could this be added to the study for that region?

The original Ravielian groups are a dark people, heavily tattooed and built for rowing and swimming. etc... I can add more if this idea is accepted.

I just wanted to add, I really like Vello's idea about the lands around here, we are on the same vein.


Regarding Echuir: Currently the people of that region are/were a very poor and ignorant group of dirty peasants, When Echuir was refounded it spoke of previous glory ages and ages ago but when we arrived the city was in complete shambles and near desolate asides from bandits groups and monster infestations. We consider the peasant groups to be related to the old dynasty as they are not of the dark races but would be more fair skinned as if they originally came from farther away and settled in Echuir, perhaps they came from Farrowfield ages ago or even further north, but the people are a more recent addition to the area than being aboriginal like the Marrociddens and tomb island groups. etc.  It is possible that the original Echuir peoples sailed from Darfix/Itau and settled in the south for some unknown reason.

[Chenier]

D'Hara is, as far as I am concerned, the continuation of Shadovar.

As for the peasants, I tend to see them as being colonists from all corners of the world. Golden Farrow, Madina, and Giask mostly. Poor people, mostly sailors and craftsmen, artisans of all sorts, having emigrated from the other spots in the hope of a better life, far from the monsters and the wars. America, in some ways, now that I think of it. Kind of anachronistic, but I don't think there were any massive migrations and colonizations during the middle ages anyways.

[Gustav Kuriga]

D'Hara is, as far as I am concerned, the continuation of Shadovar.

As for the peasants, I tend to see them as being colonists from all corners of the world. Golden Farrow, Madina, and Giask mostly. Poor people, mostly sailors and craftsmen, artisans of all sorts, having emigrated from the other spots in the hope of a better life, far from the monsters and the wars. America, in some ways, now that I think of it. Kind of anachronistic, but I don't think there were any massive migrations and colonizations during the middle ages anyways.

Are we forgetting the crusades, good sir? They weren't just military campaigns, you know.

[JPierreD]

Glaumring has always spoken of the pre-Melodian/Shadovarian/D'haran civilization that existed where he was born in Raviel . I always roleplayed Glaumring as a sort of aboriginal Dwilii. His people lived near the ocean and sailed with small row boats for 6 to 10 people. And ate sea food and chewed the Bloodmoon fruit. It wasn't until the outside groups like the Melodians came that his tribe was civilized and became apart of civilization and began to forget their old ways. Could this be added to the study for that region?

The original Ravielian groups are a dark people, heavily tattooed and built for rowing and swimming. etc... I can add more if this idea is accepted.

Something like a Pacific islander? Or a Celtic one? Dark people you mean skin color?

[vonGenf]

I don't think there were any massive migrations and colonizations during the middle ages anyways.

Sure there were. The german tribes all over the place at the beginning, then the Moors colonized Spain, then the Prussians the Baltics. The Normans colonized England, then Norman/English colonized Wales and Ireland, the Vikings Iceland and parts of Scotland and the Danelaw. You had the reconquista which was a re-colonization of Southern Spain and the Norman colonization of Sicily, then the Turkification of much of southeastern Europe. I probably forgot a few.

[Glaumring the Fox]

Something like a Pacific islander? Or a Celtic one? Dark people you mean skin color?

yeah, like pacific islanders. With dark skin, whether it is tanned or their actual pigment who knows!

[Chenier]

Are we forgetting the crusades, good sir? They weren't just military campaigns, you know.

To what extent did western European peasants travel to the east to settle in these new kingdoms? In numbers? I honestly don't know, but I can't imagine it is anywhere near as many as we see in Dwilight popping up.

Sure there were. The german tribes all over the place at the beginning, then the Moors colonized Spain, then the Prussians the Baltics. The Normans colonized England, then Norman/English colonized Wales and Ireland, the Vikings Iceland and parts of Scotland and the Danelaw. You had the reconquista which was a re-colonization of Southern Spain and the Norman colonization of Sicily, then the Turkification of much of southeastern Europe. I probably forgot a few.

Most of these don't qualify as feudal societies, though, as far as I'm concerned. And for those who are, again I ask, how many *peasants* moved? Nobles moving and then conquering natives and making them subjects doesn't count.

[Vellos]

Most of these don't qualify as feudal societies, though, as far as I'm concerned. And for those who are, again I ask, how many *peasants* moved? Nobles moving and then conquering natives and making them subjects doesn't count.

Norse migrations are the huge example. As vonGenf noted: the Danelaw is a perfect example. The clash between the Anglo-Saxon culture and the Norse culture was quite significant, but also resulted in a very fused culture. Many, many "peasants" moved (though among the Norse the peasant class was somewhat less defined). There is a good reason many English people have Norse-derived last names and live in towns with Old Norse toponyms. Norman conquest is also significant.

But, mass migrations probably were rarer. The movement of the Jews to Poland was a bit late for BM, I believe. Crusades had only limited demographic weight, though the movement of Turks westward was quite huge– but, again, that's really only on the fringe of BM's setting.

[songqu88@gmail.com]

We can't forget that Dwilight's geography differs vastly from Europe's. For that reason alone we can't apply the same population dynamics and expect to have logical results.

Europe is essentially one big peninsula. Spain and Portugal are separated from the northwest African coast by a small strait, thus allowing movement of the Moors into the Iberian peninsula. The English Channel separates the British Isles from the north coast of France. The northern tip of Denmark almost touches Scandinavia, and furthermore, the Vikings, who sailed to Greenland and Iceland, could just about swim across the North Sea to England. Oh yeah, and Turkey is quite close to Greece, something that has always been featured in Mediterranean history with the many conflicts between Greeks and Persians, Greeks and Trojans, Greeks and Turks, and so on.

Anyway, that's all not true on Dwilight. Sure you might get some more pronounced isolation on the main bodies of the east and west, like Echiur, Darfix in the west, and Flowrestown, Donghaiwei, and Springdale in the east. And those places look a lot larger and separated from any bodies of water than Europe as a whole (For them, inland pretty much means Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland. Just about every other European country borders some body of saltwater.)

But when you get closer to the central areas, especially near the connecting islands or Valkyrja, then you'd definitely see a lot of mixing. I wouldn't be surprised if the peoples of Eidulb, Golden Farrow, Libidzedd, Port Nebel, Port Raviel, Sallowtown, and Mimer were indistinguishable. They might differ from the ones who crossed via Valkyrja, and it's plausible that they would differ from the southerners. However, I believe that the movement patterns of humans based only on the current Dwilight map, suggests a much more mixed central population, with pockets of isolated groups in the edge regions.

[Chenier]

Norse migrations are the huge example. As vonGenf noted: the Danelaw is a perfect example. The clash between the Anglo-Saxon culture and the Norse culture was quite significant, but also resulted in a very fused culture. Many, many "peasants" moved (though among the Norse the peasant class was somewhat less defined). There is a good reason many English people have Norse-derived last names and live in towns with Old Norse toponyms. Norman conquest is also significant.

But, mass migrations probably were rarer. The movement of the Jews to Poland was a bit late for BM, I believe. Crusades had only limited demographic weight, though the movement of Turks westward was quite huge– but, again, that's really only on the fringe of BM's setting.

These don't sound like feudal societies.

[Chenier]

But when you get closer to the central areas, especially near the connecting islands or Valkyrja, then you'd definitely see a lot of mixing. I wouldn't be surprised if the peoples of Eidulb, Golden Farrow, Libidzedd, Port Nebel, Port Raviel, Sallowtown, and Mimer were indistinguishable. They might differ from the ones who crossed via Valkyrja, and it's plausible that they would differ from the southerners. However, I believe that the movement patterns of humans based only on the current Dwilight map, suggests a much more mixed central population, with pockets of isolated groups in the edge regions.

I wouldn't go so far. Tunesia and Italy are quite close, but I wouldn't go saying they are indistinguishable.

[vanKaya]

If no one objects I'd love to put together a short concise compendium of all the ancient cultures of dwilight. I feel like their would be about ten or so and I think I can take a lot of what's been written on the forum plus the other info jpierre provided at the beginning.

I'll make it brief so that theirs room for others to expand on whichever culture they choose and so that if there's any disagreement it won't be difficult to change. Itd just be a sort of skeleton that would make it easier for anyone who wanted to continue the subject.


Also, I feel like the history of the Maroccidens page written by Vellos is incredibly informative and well made and contributes significantly to rp in Terran and Barca and surrounding areas. I would encourage people from other areas to read it and think of creating something similar for their areas. It would truly deepen dwilights already rich culture.