Episode 1 - In the Beginning
In this first episode, we absolutely sprinted through two thousand years of regional history. We looked at an overview of the rise and height of the early Masutan, Palewasi, and Elosuta civilizations along with their literary works, the subsequent dark age inflicted by a far flung volcanic eruption, the arrival of Masutan refugees into the Aloki Sea region, and the current political status of the regions greatest powers, the Takeni, Nika, and Kanso Confederations, as well as the Konwali Empire.
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![Regional map of the Hekalum and Hewonu continents around Onaki.](images/onaki region map.png)
Transcript
Hello, and welcome to the History of Onaki.
Episode One - In the Beginning
Onaki needs no introduction. Our customs, our language, our laws, our governance, all are of Onaki. The sports we play, the food we eat, our holidays, our calendar, our gods, just as well. We read its philosophers, we celebrate its game players , we love and loathe its emperors and the later Republicans, and, of course, many around the world adore and worship its religious figures. Without Onaki and its world grasping empire and culture, not a single one of us would recognize the world we live in today.
So, it is with pleasure that I have taken it upon myself to deliver you this monumental history in the form of a podcast. I'll be adjusting the material for the regular listener, as we will take plenty of pit stops along the way to piece together just what is going on. For the most part, we will take a state-centric approach to our narrative, focusing on the leaders and great figures of the day, but not to worry, there will be plenty of gaps along the way for explorations into Onaki culture, and the world from a layman's view. In addition, this is a weekly podcast, published every Sunday, and I currently plan to be covering the entirety of the History of Onaki. Yes, the whole thing. We will cover the period from the Onaki people's arrival on the Jowami Peninsula, to the last whimper of real imperial authority, totaling almost three thousand years of history. What an adventure we have ahead of us.
So, without further ado, let's start from the beginning. Yes, the very, very beginning, at year 0. We're not leaving any stone left unturned. Well, actually, yes we will! The history of mankind should not be summarized in 20 minutes, so we are going to leave most of those stones untouched. Our goal here is not to provide a complete picture, but a good enough picture that is tailored specifically to Onaki. Your primary school social studies instruction should do the rest of the heavy lifting. One more thing. Before we really hit the ground running, this would be a great time for us to introduce our dating system, the Human Calendar. Unlike the Humekaji calendar that we use daily, the Human Calendar dates historical events not from the birth of Soli, but from the first evidence of humans in the archaeological record. Simply add five thousand years to any normal date, and you'll have the Human Calendar date, and vice versa. As we are currently in the year we know as 1783, in the Human calendar, it is truly 6783. Really puts our history into perspective, huh? It might take a while to get used to, but I promise, this will make it easier for everybody. Alright, now, at last, let's begin.
To start, it is unclear where the origin of humans occurred on Earth. As far as archaeological evidence can point us, the first evidence of human activity across the continents of Hewonu, Hemuli, Samuwosa, and Anona occurred near simultaneously, or at least within the same few hundred year span. This indicates to us, historically, that humans likely arrived to all the continents within a hundred years of one another from an origin point that we have not discovered, or that the evidence of their migration has been erased from the archaeological record. This specific unknown has remained quite the sticking point for historians and archaeologists over the past, well, forever. Numerous myths and legends have always attempted to tell this story, of continents falling suddenly into the sea, leaving its residents to flee elsewhere. For now, we'll just have to do with what we've got. As there is quite the large span of a few hundred years, the date of the first recorded humans is placed arbitrarily by the Human calendar somewhere in the ballpark at the year zero, five thousand years before the birth of Soli.
Our attentive listeners may note that hey, you missed the fifth continent, Hekalum, the first subject of this here podcast! What about those early people, didn't they also arise around year 0? Well, not exactly. Despite what you may have learned in grade school, the idea that all five continents saw inhabitants simultaneously is now largely disputed by archaeologists. Over the past 20 years, evidence has emerged that the peoples of Hekalum did not appear at the same time as the other four continents, but rather migrated there from the neighboring continent of Hewonu. It was initially thought, given the absence of an archaeological record from the time period, that Hekalum possessed humans that simply did not create materials that could be preserved for us to examine. Or, perhaps their presumed subsistence hunter gatherer lifestyle prevented any evidence of settlement from accruing. This has largely been disputed by new theories, as remains recently found dating from about 400-600 show evidence of a large scale die-off and mass extinction in Hekalum. Similar mass die-offs appeared to have taken place much earlier in the other four continents, around the year 0. Yes, dating to the initial arrival of humans. What a great people we are. In addition, significant evidence has been found along the banks of the Palewasi River of tools and materials that were unique to the communities of northwestern Hewonu, particularly the Elosuta peoples and their usage of gem tipped tools to plow the early rocky soils. Although it is possible this plowing technique was a transfer of knowledge to a theoretical native Hekalum population rather than a transfer of people, based on what we know about the Elosuta people's migration in other regions, this does not make the most sense. The gem tips used on Elosuta plows were frankly, impractical, and were a unique fixture of their culture. Although others did mimic their methods in the use of shale or crude metals to tip their plows, something much more practical, only the Elosuta peoples ever had the audacity to use gemstones regularly. The total absence of any tools before these gem tips in the archaeological record, in addition to the mass die-off of species from the same time period, puts together a pretty great case for Hekalum settlement to take place in about the years 400-500.
There are two ways this could have possibly occurred. Most archeologists, based on the relative simplicity and straightforward nature of the argument, suggest that ancient Elosuta peoples crossed the Straits of Ujima or Lesuho onto Hekalum nearly a millennia after they first appeared in Hewonu. However, some archaeologists present a different view. The Elosuta peoples did not only spread north towards Hekalum, but spread west into the Masutan Islands, where again we see these gem tipped plows come with them. The northernmost Masutan island, the Island of Konwali, sits only two hundred kilometers south of western tip of the Jowami peninsula. Counting smaller islands in between, only about a hundred kilometers of relatively calm, Mediterranean waters divide the two lands, marking the entrance to the Pihano Sea. Although evidence of Elosuta culture or human inhabitants generally does not appear in Jowami until some time after the artifacts found at Palewasi, it is well within the realm of possibility that these inhabitants could be descendants of early Masutan people. At any rate, these Elosuta-descended residents of Hekalum were now here to stay by 500.
As the Elosuta civilization grew and flourished to the south, the first evidence of settled peoples and city-states began, along with the invention of writing, metallurgy, mathematics, and more advanced tools. Prosperous Elosutan kingdoms began to spring up around the turn of the century, uniting some of these city states in the grasslands just north of the oppressive Wanihi desert. The most famous of these, such as the Empire of Lopu in the 800s and the Kingdom of Sikuweja in the 1100s, united the majority of the region. The lands north of the Wanihi had rich soil ready for agriculture, where corn, potato, and cereal grains were grown regularly. Two lifeline rivers, the Lonji and Metawa, brought fresh drinking water from the alpine regions to their west, allowing oases to spring up within the previously untenable sands of the Wanihi. Things could not be going better for the Elosuta. Meanwhile, the northern Hekalum people, cut off from their southern civilized neighbors. kept on not doing any of those things. I suppose they left Elosuta for a reason! Of course, I'm just kidding. These civilization founding ideas did make their way across the straits and into the southern regions of Hekalum, where the appropriately named Palewasi civilization came about. Unlike the prosperous Elosuta kingdoms to their south, the Palewasi peoples built their temples within the thick and humid tropical region at the delta of the Palewasi river, the longest on the continent. Many of these great stone temples still stand to this day, buried in the tropical foliage. The engravings made on their temples form the ancestors of the Komi alphabet we still use to this day, and many of its gods found their way into the mythology of Onaki. For a few hundred years, these Palewasi peoples would be united under a single kingdom, but aside from brief colonial ventures into the subtropical regions south of the Mawihi Alps, their kingdom never extended past the river that bears their name.
Meanwhile, the Masutan Islands were beginning something of a golden age. Within the walls of the Masutan city-states, culture began to flourish. Driven by the technological and cultural innovations to their east, the Masutan peoples began to innovate new revolutionary ideas that built on the Elosuta's foundations. Architecture and the arts bloomed, far surpassing the more crude mud and stone used in Elosuta architectural works. One of the key features of Masutan architecture was its seamless integration with the natural environment of the islands. Unlike the monumental structures of the Elosuta, who would construct monuments from quarried stone, Masutan architects embraced open spaces, courtyards, and terraced designs, sometimes directly carved into trees and cliffsides, that allowed for ample ventilation and natural light. Buildings often featured wide, overhanging roofs to provide shade from the intense tropical sun, and walls were constructed using local wood and stone, blending with the landscape. However, the use of vibrant paints and murals appear to have been used by some communities on the plain stone and wood, contrasting with the Earthy tones of the natural structures. Plazas and amphitheaters, the central structures of each community, were designed to host gatherings, performances, and intellectual discussions. For residential structures, new methods of creating wood joints allowed apartment buildings to stretch in height beyond the traditional limits of brickwork, sometimes reaching up to ten floors toward the skies. This unparalleled density allowed populations within protected walls to far exceed previous limits, with one city in particular, Konwali, reaching over one hundred thousand residents by 1400. Unfortunately, due to their reliance on wood as a building material, not much of this architecture stands to this day. However, several mausoleums carved directly into cliff faces still survive, as well as several mosaics embedded in palace floors. One beautiful mosaic in particular, a large floor panel displaying the god Luminasuta, can be seen today underneath what is now a parking garage.
Another of the Masutan people's great achievements was their foray into literature. In no other society did the literary arts flourish as much as that of ancient Masutan. Literary works had never found much prevalence in the earlier Elosuta cultures, mostly due to the way in which they transcribed their language. The Elosuta script featured complex pictural symbols representing a specific concept, designed for carving into wet mud or clay. For example, the Elosuta word for water was displayed with what appeared to be waves. Pretty smart of them, you can't mistake that meaning. However, widespread use of writing, especially large texts like books, was nearly impossible outside of large temple walls. The Masutan people initially adopted this script, as it remained widely used in trade, but found it largely unfit for their use at home. Thus, upon their increasing trade with the Palewasi peoples, you could say were in the market for a new script. The Palewasi, on the other hand, used a script derived from that of the Elosuta, but hundreds of years distant from its original use case. The Palewasi wrote by burning wood with a heated rod of copper, searing their words into a slim cut of wood. The complex and intricate characters of the Elosuta script were unsuited for this way of transcription. Instead, the Palewasi adapted a select few Elosuta characters in a simplified form, designating each to represent a singular sound. For example, the wave symbol in the Elosuta script representing water was pronounced as "uwi" in the Palewasi language. As such, they adopted a symbol of two downward curves, much simpler than the complex waves, to represent the vowel sound "oo". The Palewasi script, standardized through trade and communal use over centuries, had about thirty commonly used letters. The Masutan people adopted this script, with some modifications and additions to fit the sounds of their language. However, unlike the Palewasi, the Masutan preferred the use of animal skins and cloth to transcribe their script, which was perfectly fit for the creation of the first scrolls around the turn of the first millennium. Although these scrolls were initially used to transcribe laws and transactions, it did not take long for their use to expand into the realm of literary works. It was at this time that the founders of philosophy and history began to write works that we still have preserved with us to this day. It's great figures, such as Oson, the father of modern history, define our perception of the Masutan people. However, it is Takawi who defines them most of all, who in 1134 wrote the massive twelve volume epic, the *Hesinokalumi*, detailing the mythological origins of the Masutan peoples.
This work would have massive effects on the later Onaki mythology, and as such, it is very important to us. Now, as mythology, the Hesinokalumi should be thought of as just that, a largely fictional story that people tell about themselves. However, it is not useless to us, as myth can sometimes provide whispers of a half remembered past. With that in mind, let's take a quick look at the general strokes of this grand work. The *Hesinokalumi* generally spends its pages weaving a tale of cosmic creation and divine conflict. The narrative unfolds with the birth of the universe from the cosmic energies of Hesinoko, the primordial force that embodies both chaos and order. At its heart is the eternal struggle between the benevolent deity Luminasuta, the embodiment of light and wisdom, and her malevolent counterpart, Unlonso, the harbinger of darkness and deceit. They fought in the teal clouds of Asaja, the planet which our world revolves around, each clash creating a burst of lightning in its clouds. For an eternity their battle remained at a stalemate, with one never winning over the other. Then, Luminasuta created the forge deep within Asaja, a place where she channeled the energies of Hesinoko to create an impenetrable shield. This shield protected her from Unlonso's wrath, and for the first time, the light had won, and darkness retreated across the lands. She then created the first mortals, imbuing them with the gifts of knowledge and free will, giving them broad wings to fly throughout the clouds of Asaja. Unlonso, still present in the shadows deep beneath the clouds, sought to enslave their minds and souls in sin. Our mortal protagonist, Kalumos, emerges as a figure destined to determine the outcome of this conflict, as he embarks on a journey to understand the power of the Hesinoko. Throughout his journey, Unlonso seeks to deceive Kalumos in straying away from the morals endowed in him by Luminasuta. He does this by taking multiple forms, of seductive shadows whispering half-truths in the moonlight, a lying serpent which travels between dreams, and finally, a charismatic blacksmith offering promises of untold power. Each form represents a different facet of Unlonso' deceptive nature, aiming to exploit Kalumos's vulnerabilities and lead him astray from the path of light. Only the final form would be sufficient enough to sway him. Unlonso, in the form of the blacksmith, leads Kalumos to the forge deep within Asaja where Luminasuta forged her shield. Only the mortals of Luminasuta or herself can activate the forge, and Unlonso attempts to seduce Kalumos to do this with the promise of unimaginable power. If Kalumos was to forge a blade, it could injure a god, giving him the chance to slay Unlonso forever. With darkness urging him to forge his destiny according to his desires, Kalumos has a lapse in judgment, forging a blade for himself. Unlonso then unveils his true form, taking the weapon, and immediately embarking to attack Luminasuta. Upon Kalumos' return to the surface, he finds Luminasuta's temple under siege by Unlonso. The battle that ensues is a spectacle of cosmic proportions, and in the fighting, Kalumos makes the ultimate sacrifice by positioning himself between Unlonso' blade and the shield of Luminasuta. Both weapons shatter, along with Kalumos, scattering their remains in a silver ring that wraps around Asaja to this day. In the aftermath of the battle, both gods yet again found equal, the mortals created by Luminasuta are cast away onto Asaja's moon, the Earth, to settle its lands where they cannot disturb her. Their wings are struck from their backs so that they can never fly back to the clouds of Asaja. The descendants closest to Luminasuta, so close they can sometimes still communicate, were cast onto the islands of Masutan. According to the story, their descendants still carry this closeness, and remain Luminasuta's chosen peoples. This epic, produced fairly early on in the heyday of Masutan antiquity, became a classic text and the eventual foundation of the major Masutan and Onaki religious cults. Make sure you remember all of that, it will be on the quiz next week!
The Masutan, Palewasi, and Elosuta civilizations all existed near the height of their power by 1400, thriving with flourishing trade, facilitated by the advanced seafaring technology of the Masutan people. Exotic goods, spices, and cultural ideas flowed between the Masutan Islands and neighboring regions, the shallow and calm Pihano Sea acting as a cultural superhighway. This created a melting pot of diversity across the whole region, enriching the already vibrant Masutan culture. Of course, being an island people, their innovations in navigation and shipbuilding were unlike any other of their age, only propelling this force. Although no unifying empire or body ever arose to control more than a few of their city state societies, the early Masutan civilization remained a powerful force to reckon with militarily through their own internal treatises and agreements. Multiple invasions launched by ambitious Elosutan kings were unsuccessful, the famously great walls of their cities found impenetrable. However, this relative regional security and harmony was not to last.
Across the great Inula Ocean to the southwest, on the continent of Anona, the island chain of Ikitosa was undergoing some tectonic indigestion. In 1498, this all came to a head with the dramatic Ninkan supereruption. The sheer amount of dust and debris which was blasted into the atmosphere had a severe effect on the global climate. As temperatures dropped across the globe, we start to see evidence of famine in both the archaeological and historical record at the turn of the 16th century. Historical records begin to vanish from this time period, as new construction ground to a halt and urban populations plummeted. What had once been a flourishing region descended into a dark age. During this period, much knowledge was lost. The Elosuta civilization would lose their literacy entirely, the meaning of the language inscribed on their temples remaining lost to us until modern times. For the Masutans, their great city states began to decay, the vast majority of their literary works were lost, and the population either starved or descended into the wilderness beyond the city walls. Trade ground to a screeching halt, as for nearly three hundred years, the region grappled with such a huge loss of both population and knowledge.
Despite the terrible loss of history and culture this time period represents, these dark ages are the starting gun for our story. Around the same period of 1500-1700, evidence of Masutan migrants, likely arriving by sea, appeared on the peninsula of Jowami and elsewhere around the nearly enclosed Aloki Sea. Although there were sparse residents in the area before their arrival, none had developed cities or an urban culture like Masutan at its peak. In this period, we start to see Masutan tools, pottery, and styles of infrastructure in the archaeological record, with a population boom shortly following. The very suitable Mediterranean climate of the region, as compared to the hot and humid southern regions, was very amicable for quick growth. By the 1800's, when some Masutan city states began to emerge from the rubble of their past, the peoples around the Aloki were far ahead of their southern ancestors. Now, let's set the stage for these peoples, looking over every major confederation in the region up to the turn of the millennium in 2000. Unlike the Palewasi or Elosuta, there were no extremely centralized empires or kingdoms here yet. These regional powers were either confederations of city-states or singular city-states, like the Masutan who came before them. Again, before we start, if you feel a bit lost, I've provided a map on our webpage that will help illustrate the region as of the founding of Onaki. Trust me, it helps a lot.
First, closest to home in the central Jowami peninsula, we have Takeni confederation. Clustered along the Takeni river valley in the Jowami alps, stretching along the spine of the peninsula, these peoples were well protected from raiders at sea but still with easy access to the Aloki for trade. Their confederation appears to have developed gradually out of mutual benefit and protection from the Kanso, and became solidified in the historical record as of the 1800's. The rich copper mines in these alps would form the basis of their economy, and their alpine city states reaped the wealth of the rest of the region. In the 1900's, some cities on the western Jowami coast on the Inula joined their confederation, providing an important rich agricultural resource to their growing bloc, in addition to an important link to the outside world. The closest major power on Onaki's road to empire, this region would be a tough nut to crack for centuries to come.
Next, we come to the largest power in the region, the Kanso civilization. Their capital, positioned in the well protected and adequately named Bay of Kanso, provided them a space to stretch their power across the Aloki Sea. The nearby Wakano river valley would be their first stop in the late 1600's, projecting power on much of the western coast of the Aloki, and providing a much needed agricultural region to their confederation. Slowly moving south throughout the Onsaka Islands and on the mainland, cities were quick to join their confederation whenever the Kanso navy would roll onto their shores. In their last great conquest in the late 1700's, the Kanso would make their way along the southern Kawelo River valley, taking control of the even greater agricultural region they represented. The Kanso government, now in control of much of the Aloki, was different from most other confederations that touted equality. They favored a much stronger and centralized approach to governance, although not quite a kingdom or empire. As opposed to each city-state wielding an equal vote, instead, the Kanso elites elected one of their own to act as a Kansake, translating to "Confederation Master", who had the real final say on what the other outsider city delegates favored. In a sense, the Kanso would be a model for the Onaki, who took this route of centralization quite a few steps further. From 1800-2000, the rapid growth of the Kanso would be slowed mostly by distance. The absence of rivers on most of the Jowami peninsula provided them no opportunity to blitz that region, where they instead hold several singular cities and establish colonies on its eastern coast. The Takeni would be a formidable enough force to dispel them from having a major foothold there. In addition, crossing the Strait of Waleka, the Kanso would make the incredibly critical capture of both sides of the entrance to the Aloki in 1829. No merchant or navy would enter the Aloki without their permission, and more importantly, their tax collectors. In essence, the Aloki sea would become the Kanso's personal lake, with their navy in total control throughout. Well, throughout *most* of it, as we will soon see.
Lastly, we come to the Nika civilization, another power positioned to the north of the Aloki. Their power rests in the river valley of the Kiluma River, the longest in the region, providing them an agricultural powerhouse nearly equal to that of the Kanso. Arising in the mid 1600's among northern city-states, this would be the oldest large confederation in the region. However, unlike the Kanso, this confederation was beneficial for all, rather than for some, with all members remaining equals at court. Unique to the Nika, city delegates would be sent according to reported population figures, and as a result, we have some quite unique data from the period. Their largest city, Musaka, rests at the mouth of the Kiluma at near the northernmost coast of the Aloki, deep within a bay that nearly resembles a fjord in its mountainous nature. At its peak, Musaka hosted nearly 80 thousand residents. Their confederation reached up into the entire Kiluma River, whose total residents neared a million, and east along the northern coast of the Aloki. whose residents numbered about 150 thousand. The great walls and mountainous nature of this northern region of the Aloki provided a significant challenge for the Kanso, who would never take the cities so tantalizingly close to their capital. Vitally, and where the confederation got its historical namesake, they would absorb the cities of the islands of Big Nika and Little Nika in 1742, responding to the rising threat of the Kanso. Their most recent major acquisition was the city of Pesan, just north of the Jowami peninsula on the western Inula coast. This would provide them a link to the outside world, given the restrictions placed on sailing through the Strait of Waleka.
These two powers, the Nika and Kanso, were at near constant and systemic war with one another in the Nika islands. Although the Nika had kept the majority of cities established on both islands, always liberating what cities the Kanso could briefly take, the Kanso decisively captured the large city of Hoku at the southern tip of Big Nika in 1941. Given their new nearby Jowami colony of Homin to act as a head of a supply chain, by the turn of the century in 2000, they remained in control of not only Hoku, but several notable towns in the hills inland. Who would prevail in this struggle? We will just have to wait and see. I'll give you a slight hint, it has something to do with the subject of this podcast.
Oh, I almost forgot. There is one more power that has only now just burst onto the scene. The Empire of Konwali, a fast growing Masutan power, began to make their way onto the shores of the southwestern tip of the Jowami Peninsula. Taking prosperous trading hubs such as Totansa and Peton in the late 1900's, they quickly became a threat to the Kanso's possessions in southern Jowami. Multiple raids were launched on Waleka in 1974, and if it wasn't for a miraculous storm smashing the Konwali fleet against the rocky shore, their possession of the Waleka Strait would have ended right then and there. However, the emperor of Konwali, known to us as Jontansa the Apostate, was embarking on a bloody religious persecution in his homeland and was too busy to come back for more. Thank goodness for that, because If the Konwali could gain easy access to the Aloki, that would be bad news bears for everybody. At least, for now, we haven't much to worry about. Wait, what's that? Jontansa the Apostate has been smothered to death with a bar of soap by his servant bathing him? And his highest ranking general, in command of the Pihano Sea fleet, is now emperor? Oh. Well that's not great. But, it's also just the Kanso's problem right now, so let's not worry too much about it.
Phew! What a marathon of two thousand years that was. Okay, now we are all caught up, we're going to set our sights just east of the Takeni river delta, on an appropriately named Onaki bay. Next week, we will finally start with the mythical founding of the city. Unfortunately, due to a sacking in 2386, which we will get to in due time, the ancient records from the city's founding were entirely destroyed in fire. It would be historians and theologians immediately after the sacking that would be tasked with constructing a new history of Onaki, one that they felt represented their culture, their people, and their destiny. Although this history is certainly in the realm of mythology, it will tell us a wealth about what these early Onaki people thought of themselves, and maybe, just maybe, have at least a whiff of history in it. Again, we make do with what we get.