World-Building Part 2 of 5: Question Chain - Society · 1:33am Feb 3rd, 2015
Part 2 of 5.
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Good evening everyone! Again, I come to you with world building questions, some answers, and a request for yet more questions! You will see some of the answers to previous questions asked in my other blow below. I continue my exploration of the world of the distant past, far before the rise of the Sisters, before the rise of Discord... before, even, the rise of civilization as most modern Equestrians would recognize it.
This is a primal world, a dangerous world, and one filled with mysticism and spirits, all of which are quite real - although some are imaginary. Few are, and most of the dangers are real. I've explored a little of what I think that society might mean below. Read on if you're curious.
As always, questions are encouraged. You may think of things that I have not, or wish to know things that I haven't thought of or have glossed over.
First, you all may have a question: Why is this important to creating a story world?
Well, partly because this is a part of the Equestrian landscape that has hardly been explored at all. I know nothing of these people save what I imagine and what I would like to see them grow into eventually: a modern Equestria. Though that is perhaps 10,000 or more years on down the road. If not more. What I wanted to do in this society is set in place a few key ideas: matrilineal favor, harmony, and magic as common and as necessary as eating for survival.
Key:
♣ : Short answer.
► : Longer answer, first tier.
▼ : Longer answer, explanation, additional thoughts tied to above answer.
♦ : Sub-question
♦► : Sub-question answer.
What is the clan structured like?
♣A clan, close to a family but made up of mostly or only partially unrelated adults, has a tiered structure of sorts.
►Elders are the oldest of the clanfolk, and one is an elder if they have reached their fortieth year.
►Regular members of the clan are those who’ve passed their tenth year, and are considered adults by the rest of the clan. Most adults have found their talents, and those few who haven’t are often treated as dullards or simple.
►Children are those from age one through ten. Children are to be protected at all costs. Even an elder must lay down their life before a child comes to harm, if it is within their power to do so. To do otherwise is to be cast from the clan - essentially a death sentence in the wild world.
▼Infants are more precious than children, and their mothers guard them jealously for the first year of their lives. For the first six weeks, none but the grain-singer, the shaman, or the chief may speak to a new mother, and only then to offer aid. This is the time of impression, when a youngling gets to know their mother.
▼In the unfortunately too-common occurrence of a mother dying before the year is up, the infant goes to the father should it survive the circumstances that put the mother in mortal peril (usually protecetion of the infant.)
▼After six weeks, the infant is socialized with the clan, and begins to know the other infants, and even children and adults. The first day is a minor celebration as the infant comes out from behind its mother to greet the clan for the first time as a member of it.
▼For practical purposes, the mother and her infant are considered their own clan for those six weeks, albeit protected at the heart of the clan herd as it moves across the plains. The rest of the tribe will fall before harm comes to the infants.
▼The reason for the six weeks is for the infant to learn to respond to their mother’s voice above all else. This is a survival trait more than anything. Confusion and shouting during a hectic moment in a child could be an undue danger to mother, child, or even the tribe. They listen for mother’s voice before all else, and do as asked.
►A shaman is a healer, a lore-keeper, and teacher for the clan. They are almost always hereditary, almost always a unicorn, and also at one time a star-watcher.
▼Lore and knowledge is recorded in knots and beadwork. Tail hairs, or mane, are plucked from each member of a clan on a momentous occasion and used to record events. The spacing of knots and beads (of stone and gem) on the woven strands of hair and mane tell the story of not just whom was involved, but what happened, when, and where.
▼▼Individual ponies also have intricate beadwork in their manes, telling who they are and what they have done. Their ancestry, their children, and their accomplishments are all recorded in the beads and careful weavings of their manes. Every six years or so, the weaving is redone at a ceremony, and any deeds the pony wishes forgotten may be left out. Some, shameful deeds, must always be recorded in mane.
▼▼Some few deeds are dire enough that banishment alone is not enough. Branding by fire is necessary, so they may not escape their fates. This usually is over their spirit marks. It’s a symbolic way of blinding the spirits to their worth. It is considered a heinous crime to intentionally damage another’s spirit mark, and any accidental damaging of them is viewed as a mark of the spirits’ disfavor.
▼Unicorn body healers are rare. True healing is a skill bestowed only on some few.
▼Earth pony healers are more common, but their abilities are limited to ailments of the body, and they are less able to repair major damage. Not like a unicorn body-healer.
▼Unicorn healers mend ailments of the mind and soul. Earth ponies those of the body. Some few pegasi healers exist, but they are rarer still than unicorn body-healers.
►A chief is a hereditary position, falling from mother to daughter or, in rare cases, mother to son (whom then acts as a daughter for all ceremonial purposes.) The matriarchal standard is sexist, but out of necessity. Young males wander away from the clan to find others, while the mares tend to stay with their mothers - though it is not uncommon of for a young mare to strike off and join another clan at the herdsmeet.
►A grain-singer is almost the only non-heriditary position within a clan. It is one, by necessity, chosen by ability. Not all daughters or sons of grain-singers will have the gift, but they are more commonly found along matrimonial lines than patrimonial, due to the nature of the way magic works and influences a foal while in the womb.
▼Ponies do have an idea of what it is that causes pregnancy, they watch the stars and use their motion to mark time and know that from one time to another is when a mare is pregnant. The unicorns, especially, are aware of the cycle of life and the turning of seasons.
♦What happens to a clan after their grain-singer leaves to find her own herd?
♦►This is usually only done at the herdsmeet, and if a clan is left without a grain-singer willing to stay with them, it speaks ill of the group. Some clan-lines have died out as a result. The same goes for sky-dancers and star-watchers.
♦Does a singer ever allow guilt or obligation to force her to stay with a less compatible group?
♦►She may, if the clan would fail otherwise, but few clans will shun a grain-singer (or a sky-dancer or star-watcher) for wishing to leave a clan if that clan is known to have a… reputation. However, a singer, dancer, or watcher who leaves too many for different reasons is considered unreliable and no clan may take them in, save those desperate.
►A sky-dancer is the pegasus equivalent of the grain-singer. They placate the spirits of the air, asking for favorable winds for their clan and fair weather or rain as necessary. The spirits of the air are known to the pegasi, and the pegasi know almost all of them. There are some that have a reputation for violence (for reason or without, or for reasons long forgotten), but all listen at least. It is not rare for a storm-spirit to become so enraged they cannot be reasoned with until their rage is spent, and the spirits of water have all fled.
▼They also call the storm spirits, if necessary, to bring rain to the ground. The spirits that tend to growing things know the needs of plants, and the grain-singers work with the sky-dancers to coordinate the bringing of water, shade and sunlight to plants that need it. The plants are the fruits of a spirit’s labor, and they like to see them flourish.
♦Why do spirits like to see plants flourish?
♦►Because of the energy the sun casts down upon the earth. The spirits grow stronger for the plants that soak in the sunlight. Water spirits, also, live in the plants that grow in the spirit’s soil, and those spirits carry with them energy from other places, letting the mix of energies grow new and fascinating things that sometimes work for the spirits, and sometimes do not.
►A star-watcher is a unicorn counterpart to both grain-singers and sky-dancers. They are the time-keepers of the clan, and the recorders of seasons and weather patterns (in general). The pegasi somewhat resent them for this role, but the star-watchers often have a longer view of things, as what they watch moves only slowly through the sky.
♦What other roles do they play?
♦►They guide the clans through unfamiliar territory, divining pathways from the paths the stars themselves take in the sky. The spirits of the stars are familiar to them, and they know which stars like to follow what kind of activity on the ground, and what stars are more likely to lead them into disaster or to wealth. In this, the star-watchers and the sky-dancers work in concert to provide clear skies for the observations. Sometimes these observations can take days to complete for a week’s journey.
What is the herdsmeet?
♣A triennial gathering of the different clans at the Homespire. It’s said to be the birthplace of the first ponies.
►Legend says that it’s where ponykind made the transition from elemental to living beings from the breath of the the three great sisters. Celestia, Luna, and Amore each gave of themselves to make the first ponies, each giving something different to each of the three. From Celestia, unicorns received their horn and magic. From Luna, the pegasi received their wings and the ability to talk to the wind. Amore gave to the earth ponies her love of growing things.
Who or what are Celestia, Luna, and Amore?
♣They are the spirits of the Sun, Moon, and Earth respectively.
♦Did this actually happen?
♦►Possibly. The spirits of ponies are strongly tied to the spirits of the world. It is possible that before they were given flesh, they were animate elementals.
♦♦What is an Elemental?
♦♦►This is a spirit that has divorced itself from its need to always be within its element and walks the world as a being of that element.
♦♦►Cloud elementals are often storm spirits that have bound water to themselves to make a body.
♦♦►The great, ambulatory trees that wander the plains are spirits of the earth that have formed and shaped for themselves a body of wood.
♦♦►There are others, but the great plains are ill suited to their kind.♦♦▼They will sometimes tire of wandering and give up the element that they made a body for themselves of and return to rest in the ground. They leave behind their bodies to wither away. Trees continue to grow, but are taken over by animals and other plants. Clouds are torn apart by winds.
Herdsmeet (Continued)
►It’s also a time when the clans gather to share knowledge of the lands they have seen - always careful to guard where it was seen or learned, bartering their information carefully for information from other clans.
►Restless mares and stallions find companionship, mate, and sometimes leave their clans to join others. Other times, they mate for the sheer enjoyment of it, and welcome the foals that sometimes come later.
▼It’s customary for there to be one partner per herdsmeet, and some mares and stallions wait so long to decide to pursue a potential mate that their choice is taken from them by time or another. Some few break from custom and mate with as many as they can. These ponies are often looked down upon as desperate for fatherhood or motherhood. The spirits will grant fertility to those who are worthy of it, both male and female.
♦If they cherish children, why the stigma for those trying so hard?
♦►Because they cherish children, the mating of two ponies is considered an important act and not to be done lightly. Particularly because of the dangers of the world. Knowing whom a pony’s father is is important if the foal is to have a family in the event the mother dies. If a mare mates with many stallions and cannot guess as to whom the sire is, or a stallion mates with many mares and has an undue burden placed on him, it is not considered healthy for the foals of such unions.
►Old mates find each other again, and mothers show their children to fathers who wander far away, learning their faces and names, their smell and their personality in case the mother should die.
►It’s a time of sharing of bonds, and a month-long celebration of life, unity, and harmony. A month only because of the strain it places on the local spirits to continue to grow and accommodate food for so many ponies. No more than twenty thousand.
♦The daytimes are devoted to trade:
►Goods, weavings, and knot-works are the most sought after. A good knot-work bundle with observations of a kind of spirit are invaluable to the type of pony that looks out for it. Storm spirits, wind spirits, predators, and growing spirits.
►Some few hides from predators that the clans have dispatched are also traded.
▼These are invaluable, and represent an even longer lasting record storage than the knot-work bundles. Tattooers from every clan join collectively to record stories of the tribes on these hides, marking down in pictographs the tales of the clan who provides the hide. To have one’s story recorded and stored in the highest cave of Homespire is a great honor, and a form of immortality.
►Some few durable goods.
▼Such as the glass-stone knives that the shamans of the clans use to skin predators, shear the manes of those shamed but not banished, and to shear the manes of the dead for record of their deeds and lives in a knot-work bundle.
▼▼The manes of the dead are given to the surviving family of the deceased, or to the clan chieftain in the event that they were the last of their known line. Three generations are kept, to mark the siblings.
What are the burial ceremonies of the ponies?
►When a pony dies, their mane is cleaned to pristine, and any beads and knots missing from their life’s tapestry are worked back in before the mane is sheared off and bound to a straight branch. The mane is wound carefully around the branch so that the knot-work and beading is still clearly legible, then given to the nearest descendant.
►The branches of any older than three generations are either buried or burned with the last kin to die, sending the last of the spirit essence to guide the pony on to join their ancestors, while still leaving three generations to provide guidance and wisdom.
►The body of the pony is treated differently depending on the kind.
▼Earth ponies are placed reverently in a hollow pressed out be a friendly spirit and the request of the grain-singer. She or he sings away the soul, to return to the earth.
▼Pegasi are burnt at pyre set by lightning, and their ashes scattered by a friendly spirit of the wind. The sky-dancer guides the wind to carry the spirit into the sky.
▼Unicorns are the oddest of all. A unicorn who dies cannot be cast into the sun, nor the moon or stars. Instead, they are burnt at pyre, but their ashes gathered and set to wait until dawn after three days, to let the sun, moon, and stars see the death. Then, on during the twilight of the third day, the ashes are scattered from east to west, following the sun and moon and letting the spirit rise in the same path.
►The memory of the pony, in the form of their spirit mark, is recorded on the clan’s most recent hide.
As always, thanks for reading, and thanks for your questions, should you have any.
You Sir are getting very creative. God I've never gotten into that much detail while I built my world, though I do make a Clan more of an Earth Pony thing and have at least three named Clans.
Do they act as match-makers? Keeping track of times of fertility?
Edit: Scratch that. That was answered in the grain singer section.
Do the clans have more than one shaman, since unicorn and earth pony healers have different skills?
Is being a star-watcher prerequisite for being a shaman? How easy/hard is it for an earth pony or pegasus to learn about the stars? Would their interpretations be inherently flawed without unicorn magic?
Lambent, this is amazingly cool. I can't even begin to go over it piece by piece because there are so many things that make me go "holy shit that's an awesome idea". I'm kind of glad this is pre-civilisation Equestria - since I doubt I'll ever write in that time period, I can safely enshrine this as headcanon without feeling guilty about it.
Fascinating stuff as always. I hope these are helpful questions:
How are infants transported as the clan moves? Are they just expected to ride their mothers, or is there some manner of papoose-like arrangement? How does the isolation of the mother work while the clan is in motion?
What beliefs are there regarding spirit marks? (How they appear, what they symbolize, how the spirits are involved, etc.) Do they take forms that directly reflect the pony's talents, more symbolic appearances, or a mix between the two? If the last, does the degree of symbolism and abstraction depend on the pony's role in the tribe? (For example, is a star-watcher more likely to have an abstract mark than somepony who gathers food or watches for predators?)
Aside from the three great sisters, what other legends do ponies tell?
Do ponies have peaceful relations with any other sapient races?
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My use of the word 'clan' is more closely connotative to that of a family unit or a herd. About 50-100 ponies per clan, with a couple of the larger ones being up to 500. However, these are clanherds (I suppose that's a better term, considering) that only travel during the spring, summer, and autumn together. Due to the need to spread out more during the winter months, they separate into smaller units so they don't denude an area. Wheat Song's clanherd is only about 40 ponies. They're a smaller clan, and have suffered hardship, but they are a close-knit bunch.
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I'm glad! This actually rose out of a bit of forethought and a question train of my own - specifically: If I'm going to make the temples be an actual evolved religion, where did it come from? How 'real' is it? How much bearing does it have on the world and events of the story I want to tell in Darkest. I initially had only a brief synopsis, which was not very good, and then I came up with this.
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Time for some answers!
These will be answered in a sub-document called Spiritual Beliefs. It will cover some of the legends, as well.
Do ponies have relations with other sapient races?
♣Yes. Mostly other hoofed races.
►The buffalo of the far southern plains, for example, whom have a rich tradition built around the desert sands that linger there. They feel their lives are tied to the desert sands, and will only leave it under duress.
►Minotaurs are an undiscovered race, living primarily far to the east, across a narrow land bridge that connects two continents only at the lowest of tides but is impassable and storm-tossed at other times. They have a simple society built around strength. Honor is a large part of their culture as well. Any deal they make will be honored.
►Cows, or cattle, are partly sentient, but are far more instinctual, and have little more than herd instinct and a touch of intuition as to which grains are safe to eat. They can learn to speak a language, but don’t have a lot of intelligence. The same goes for sheep.
►Deer stick to the forested lands far to the north, at the edge of the great mountain ranges that separate the fire lands from the plains. They act as a buffer to the water, earth and air dominant plains that stretch from coast to coast.
►Dragons in the fire-lands are even more insular, and reluctant to leave their fire-lakes where crystallized fire provides them with sustenance. Elsewhere in the world there are few places where fire has crystallized into the gems that they require for their diets.
How are infants transported while the clan is on the move?
►The youngest infants, too young to walk more than a few minutes without stumbling, are carried on a travois style arrangement hauled behind the mother. Most of the ponies of the tribe haul something of this sort, carrying surplus foodstuffs, goods of the tribe and whatnot. It’s the most efficient way for an equine to carry something across uneven terrain without carrying it all upon their backs.
►They do carry water over their backs, hung in clay receptacles or the tough air bladders of a particular type of plant that floats in the rivers winding through the plains.
How does the isolation of the mother work while the clan is in motion?
♣While the clan is moving, any new mothers are kept to the center of the herd.
►A grain-singer mother does her work under the watchful eye of some of the stallions of the herd, so that she might keep her infant with her.
►A sky-singer mother has, perhaps, the most difficult job of raising young. She must have an apprentice who can take over her duties while she is pregnant, as flying while heavy with foal is difficult.
►Star-watchers, who guide the herd, lead by telling their infants where they go. Others listen and pass the word on to the leading stallions forging their way into the plains.
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Do the clans have more than one shaman, since unicorn and earth pony healers have different skills?
This is an amended answer. There is not one shaman, but three, and they are all chosen by skill instead of by hereditary traits.
►A shaman is a more than just a spiritual leader, they are providers for the clan. While there are also leaders among the elders, these three shaman hold positions of advisement to the chieftain. There are three types of shaman - the star-watcher, the grain-singer, and the sky-dancer. All three have some common responsibilities within the clan structure: keeping knowledge, keeping the clan safe, and offering succor and care to those who need it. All three advise the chieftain regarding matters of importance.
Can any others be star-watchers?
►While any can watch the motions of the stars, only the unicorns, with their ability to commune with the spirits of the stars directly, have the surety of having a decent understanding of what the movements of the stars means.
►A sky-dancer or a grain-singer may understand something of the motions of the stars, certainly, as can any earth pony or pegasus, but their ability to interpret their motions is very limited.
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Point. I tend to use Clan as a rather large group, though sizes could still vary. Clan Everfree has for the most part less than ten ponies in modern times (only three of which are of blood), while Clan Malus (Apple) is much much larger in comparison.