Primordial Evolution Game/Nad'lun

The tribal Hoppa that wandered and settled the Southern River. Heavily focused on the Herd, they developed shamanistic beliefs based on their ability to control other hoppa through pheromones. After their nomadic journey was stalled in fertile lands, the Nad’lun experimented with agriculture and settled the river banks. They created ships to travel and fought the River Slizer that threatened their settlement.

Technology

A Nad'lun Hut

They are almost constantly moving, and because of this, they travel lightly. Most equipment is simple to carry and replace using the materials provided by the herd or the environment around them. When the herd stops for rest, the Nad'lun send out hunters and gatherers to seek out additional resources. Even though the herd might have moved out before these scavengers return, they can usually locate it by its signature scent.

Although the hoppas communicate mostly with pheromones that are capable of transferring surprisingly complex information, they also utilize secondary and tertiary forms of communication. They rely heavily on body language to convey messages. While their pheromones transfer the base information about their intent, motivation, and so on, they use their movement to weave this raw date into a coherent story. Their phosphorescent patches on their snouts are also used to alter the tone of the message.

They do utilize vocalization, but in a limited fashion, usually in the form of war cries and warning shrieks. If voice is added to their silent dance, it usually means that the message the hoppa is trying to tell is extremely urgent.

Hoppas are somewhat artistic. They utilize body-paints, but music is a foreign concept to them. Their hearing is quite poor, as their ancestors evolved to sense vibrations trough the ground rather than the air. The small hairs in their toes still serve this purpose.

They lack any sort of written language, and are unlikely to develop one easily, as their language is extremely complex, carrying hundreds of different tones for the same concepts, which can significantly alter the meaning of their dance. Because they innately understand the basics of their language, they are unlikely to see the necessity to write or teach it. Although curious, the tribal hoppa society and nomadic lifestyle doesn't encourage innovation, thus they are quite technologically stagnant.

As a people, the tribal hoppas love pouches and strings. Easy to attach to their tentacles and legs. Easy to carry stuff around. Apart from these pouches, the tribal hoppas have yet to develop much more advanced clothing.

Nad'lun huts are simple shelters that are easy to transport on the backs of the Mega Hoppas. They are made from leather and supported by either bones or wooden poles. The Nad'lun build these shelters when the herd occasionally stops.

One day, a young Nad'lun child got too close to the river and was almost washed away. Luckily for the child, he was saved by an ingenious older hoppa, who used a large piece of Yantar bark to float in the water, so that he could reach the child. This gave the the tribe an idea of further developing these floating crafts, so that they might traverse the river easier. Nad'Lun discovered Simple Boats! They now can travel along the river and the coast. That old Hoppa sparked some interesting ideas, and soon the Nad'Lun tied up Frila barks and made them waterproof using burnt Hrass paste. The Nad'lun use their boats to explore both the downstream and the upstream of the great river. They also try to use the boats for fishing.

Nad’lun tools

Nad'lun Tools

The scent staffs are used by the herders. They are mostly ritualistic, as the dried up pheromone bladders of the other hoppas serve mainly as religious symbols, although freshly taken, they still emit the base pheromones of the hoppa breed it belongs to, allowing the user to mask his own scent with them.

As the herders become more experienced, their staffs are made more elaborate. The staffs used by the shamans were originally scent staffs too.

The various bladed tools of the Nad'lun are made mostly from wood and the beaks of the other hoppas, or stones. Some of them are used for hunting and fishing, others are mainly weapons and some are all purpose tools.

The Nad'lun use slings and bolas to fight and hunt from a distance. They are quite accurate and the killing power of their rocks is spectacular.

The dried scent bladders of other hoppas are religiously important objects for the Nad'lun. They are often used in rituals and carried around tied to their arms or in bracelets.

The bright colored orbs are harvested from the eyes of the other hoppas. They are the hard translucent shells that both protect the sensitive sight organs inside of them and focus the light waves to them. Over these orbs is the topmost hard lens, that collect the light and bend the light to the innermost orbs.

The orbs are also religious totems, that are thought to bring luck.

Culture and Belief System

The Nad'lun culture is focused around the herd which they guard and guide. The herd is composed mostly from Tuft Hoppas, and Mega Hoppas. The predatory Flash Hoppas also follow the herd, not in search of prey though. The Nad'lun use these swift predators as attack and guard "dogs", and the promise of guaranteed food along with the mutual pheromone based communication has convinced numerous packs of Flash Hoppas to guard the herds.

The Nad'lun culture itself is heavily focused on pheromone based communication. They have a shamanic religion built around their innate ability to understand the scent messages of all hoppa species. They see all hoppas as one people, and themselves as the destined guardians of their brethren. They also believe in reincarnation through the "Wind of Souls" that they think that flows through the world and connects all hoppas in life and death.

Tribe Structure and Government

Here are the four most important social roles of the Nad'Lun society. They aren't strict castes, as the Nad'luns serve in multiple roles during their 40 years spanning lifetime.

The Shamans are the spiritual leaders of the Nad'lun society. They are the masters of the "Scent Way", which is the pheromone based communication. They can commune and understand the will of the herd, and they provide guidance to the whole society accordingly. They can decipher the frail scent messages that the wind carries to the tribe with stunning clarity, and they often speak in almost prophetic fashion of events that have happened afar.

The warriors are the guardians and protectors of the herd. They are ever vigilant for ferocious predators or other threats that could endanger the tribe. The Nad'lun prefer their speed and agility in combat over strength or hardiness. They also compensate their frailness by using slings with surprising accuracy and stopping power. Their spears are used to keep the enemies at distance, while the other warriors pummel the them into submission with rocks. They use their knives as secondary weapons.

The herders are arguably the second most important members of the tribe. They are the glue that keeps the herd together. They use their limited skills in the Scent Way to guide their lesser brethren, and to transfer the overall commands of the Shamans to the whole herd.

The young minders are the most important members of the Nad'lun society, as they are the ones ensure that the future generations of tribals can mature. They are the ones that guard and tend to the young, and more often than not, they are the ones who also give birth to them. Although like all the hoppas, the tribal hoppas are hermaphrodites, but unlike the other hoppa species, who spawn hundreds of floating larvae, the tribal hoppas give birth to few more developed young. The pregnancy takes its toll on the performance of the tribal hoppas, making them less effective at their other duties. Because of this, the young minders have also become the great mothers of the tribe. They tend and give birth to the vast majority of the Nad'lun, making them also the social glue that keeps the tribe together. As they are all one big family, infighting is less frequent.

When reaching adolescence, the young Nad'lun have to adopt one of the numerous roles the adult tribals occupy. Most of them become scouts, scavengers or apprentice herders, who will eventually become proper herders and then shamans.

Some however, choose to leave the protective sanctuary the herd provides, and fulfill their wanderlust in the vast plains that surround them. These young wanderers will often eventually encounter a different tribe, which they in many cases, join. This behavioral trait serves a vital goal. To mix up the stagnating genepool of the tribes, that results from their breeding behaviors, as different tribes usually avoid each other, in order to avoid conflict, as the herds require large amounts of food and having two large herds in the same are would quickly deplete the available resources. Because of this, interbreeding with different tribes is mostly done by these young maidens.

Brief look in the Nad'lun gender roles.

As I have previously stated, all hoppa species are hermaphrodites. Like slugs, they are all capable of both bearing and siring offspring. The tribal hoppas however, give birth to few more developed young, instead of spawning hundreds of small semi developed floating larvae. The pregnancy takes it's toll on the tribal hoppa, making them less capable at their duties. To counter this, the tribal hoppas have evolved a more "feminine" mentality, that manifests in certain hoppas, making them more inclined to take the motherly role. In the Nad'lun society , this has led to the development of a specialized mother role, who both gives birth to the children of the tribe, as well as takes care for them.

Notable Figures and Heroes

O’nulaa

One of the most prominent legends of the Nad'lun is the tales of O'nulaa the seer. He was said to be the first Nad'lun to master the Scent Way, by searching out the whispers of the Soul Wind scattered across the world.

O'nulaa is a mythic hero of the Nad'lun tribe, he is said to have been the one who unified the scattered tribes together, and formed the first herd. According to one legend, one of his first great deeds was to tame the mighty King Hoppa, who stalked the marshes. He used this beast to drive the ravenous predatory plants from the hidden valley of his tribe.

The Nad'lun see themselves as descendants of O'nulaa and they believe that when he passed away, his spirit was infused to the Soul Wind itself, freeing him from the cycle of reincarnation. It is believed that his spirit still guides the herds, and when a time of grave need comes, he shall return to a mortal coil to aid his children in peril.

N'olai and An'ua

History and Legends

The Nad'lun have set up a temporary camp at the riverside. The generalists-turned-fishermen manage to catch two dozen flatworems and fishlike slucks, and after fishing they forage for food. They manage to find primitive Mevola roots and some stalk-plants. The herd is content to stay put, and feed on the plantation of the area. While the herd feasts, the Nad'lun make repairs, build new equipment (spears/knives/slings) and start drying the food they managed to acquire, so it would last longer.

After a few days of grazing, the herd moves out again. And so does the tribe. They pack up their huts and supplies, and place them on the mighty backs of the Mega Hoppas. Smaller items and supplies are carried by the Nad'lun themselves. They start moving up the river, where they encounter a Dragon Slizer near their settling area. The beast was killed. Although there is no casualties on the Nad'Lun, some tuft hoppas fell. The Nad'Lun loot the corpse successfully. And learned that the beast was weak to airborne predators.

The Trickster Spirit was a enigmatic being that introduced many new ideas as well as disasters from the Southern Marshes.

The Fair Maiden’s Arrival brought with it new ideas of farming as well as strife within the tribe.

The Nad'lun retire form their wanderings and settle the river banks. This is recorded in The Nad’lun Settlement Legend.

As the time passes, the tribe grows, and soon enough the Nad'lun numbers are high enough that they can send out specialized teams of herders and warriors to guide and guard the multiple hoppa herds in the plains, while the rest of the Nad'lun remain in the valley and cultivate the hrass.

The Tuft Plague came suddenly killing much of the Herd. Without Hrass the Nad'lun tribe may have fail to survive the upcoming seasons.

The scouts from the marshes return, but their discoveries don't offer any solutions to the threat of the spotted plague. Although the surviving tuft hoppa population is more resilient to the disease, the future of the herd is still threatened. It is clear that the plains near the marshes are contaminated, and grazing them bears significant risks.

The area beyond the river is not charted by the Nad'lun. The tribe sends scouts to cross the river and investigate the stilt plant forests at the other side, in hopes of finding new grazing land for the herd. The dreaded River Slizer appeared, attacking the scouts. There are casualties, as the scouts are defenseless in the water. What few survivors managed to hastily go toward our own shore. The deaths of the scouts somewhat unify the tribe in grief, and for the first time since they decided to settle down in this valley, they are in complete agreement over something. The River Slizer menace must be eliminated.

The Nad'lun begin to devise plans and weapons which could be used to kill or drive out the mighty beast. Ideas such as sturdier spears with jagged blades, weighted nets with thorns and long hrass ropes with hooks at their ends are brought forward. Plans like luring the beast to shallow water and then killing it, moving large stalk plant trunks to the river, and binding them to ground so that the river wouldn't take them with it, so that the slizer would have harder time moving about. Some even suggest that they could dam up the river, but this idea was quickly discarded by the majority as ridicilous. Eventually the tribe reached conclusion. They would develop tools for the task, and then lure or drag the River Slizer to shallow water, in which they would then slay it.

Anyways, the Nad'lun prepare for the hunt. They kill few of the elderly tuft hoppas and use some of their parts as lures, while other tribesmen collect stalk plant trunks at the shores, and plant them so that when the slizer emerges, they can be toppled over it. The weapons are gathered and the Nad'lun hide in the undergrowth near the shore. Finally, they tie the lures to the riverbank plants and throw them to the shallow water. The hunt has begun!

While preparing for the river hunt the Serpent appeared! But so did the hero N'olai. This is recorded in N'olai deafeats the River Serpent.

One day the Shaman searches the Scent Way for answers about the troubles of his tribe. He is answered with The Gift of the Soul Wind.

Knowing his time had come and having no successor, the Shaman takes N'loai under his wing. This is recorded in the N'loai becomes a Shaman Legend.

Nad'Lun, now without the Slizer menace, manage to swim across the river, to unknown territory. But barely. They were tired from the swimming, and set up camp on the other side of the river. The Maiden successfully plants more Hrass fields, and the hunters bring back plenty of game.

The banks of their river settlement brimmed. Silt filled water nourished the crops, the herd at the surplus and grew large and fat. Life was good. Then the banks of the river flooded and swept away several tuft hoppas, washed away a quarter of their harvest of Hrass, and flooded their village. The Scouts returned shortly after, reporting a tribe to the north, that had plenty and offered food. To the further south the scouts found Hoppa breeds previously too wild to control.

While floods came unexpectedly, luckily there were no casualties. When the water withdrew the hoppas return to the village, and begin repairing the damage and planting new crops. The floods had swept away lots of food, and once again, they were facing food shortages. The scout's reports of another tribe with food are taken with caution. The Nad'lun send out a small emissary party to north in order to investigate.

When the settlement was threaten by raging hoppa, N'olai reacted to clam the beast down. The Herd gained another type hoppa as well. This is recorded in N'olai dominates the Screaming Hoppa Legend.

In the far north a lone scout searching for more food sources comes across the Enclave tribes. This is recorded in the The Lone Hoppa Legend.

The Fair maiden (From now on known as An'ua) approaches N'olai with a proposal. She thinks that the tribe could build a system of ditches that would transport the water closer to the hrass fields, and thus removing the need for having to ferry the water from the river itself.The irrigation system is dug with the aid of the giant hoppas.

The Nad’lun traded with the Enclave for strange new material. Stone, Ramel bones, plates, and horns. As well as New tools.

The Nad'lun once again live in prosperous times.

The tribe grows, children are born and the first generation of Nad'luns that were born in the valley reach adolescence. Both N'olai and An'nua are adults now, and they have developed a firm partnership. The pair leads the tribe with their combined wisdom and knowledge, N'olai with his shamanic expertise, stalwart example and charisma, An'ua with her gentle guidance, compassion and social skills. Together, they have managed to heal the final scars of the split that was born when the Nad'lun settled down.

To further accommodate the the growing tribe, more huts are built. To feed them, Hrass fields are planted. The domestication of the rage prone screaming hoppa also continues. Hrass planting is successful, as so does the domestication experiments

The tribe has also started a new major project. They attempt to build a bridge over the river that goes through the valley, so that their herds could finally reach the lush northern plains. The bridge is made from the stones the Nad'lun received from the Enclave, so that it would last the floods better.

On the other hand, a small drought period (a week) had reduced good mud, so the new huts are not that structurally sound.

Over time, the Nad'lun village grows, as other tirbal hoppas from the surrounding plains seek out the fabled safe haven in the lush secret flood valley of which the Soul Wind had whispered to them. This forces the village to attempt to expand.

An'ua has taken the role of the great mother, her body is painted with vibrant colors to mark her status. In time, she will bear the new generation of Nad'lun in the village she helped to found.

One day the wise Onolkeshan came to the Nad'lun seeking the knowledge of ship making. For this the Onolkeshan gave the Nad'lun weapons as well as knowledge of Metal Forging. This is recorded in The Onolkeshan trade Knowledge Legend.

As agreed, the Nad'lun pay for their newfound weaponry and knowledge with hrass, hoppas and know how of boats. The weapons are rather too heavy for them to aim them very well, but mounted a stable base, such as boats, they are theoretically much more effective. The Nad'lun also start building their own forge, so that they might build these canons themselves.

The Nad'lun culture prospers, and with the newfound mobility trought the waters, multiple new villages sprout forth along the banks of the river, from the coast to the great lakes, the Nad'lun spread.

Soon enough, these villages start trading with each other as the villages specialice to their local environment. Some become fishing settlements, others cultivate the Hrass like never before. The descendants of A'nua inherited their mother's uncanny effect on the speed of plant growth, and as they spread to the newfound villages, the riverbanks bloom in the light shade of blue everywhere they go.

The cannons are used to keep any potential threats away from their trading boats.

The communication between the villages was hard at first, but soon enough, the Nad'lun learned that their tlepathic abilities weren't as constricted by distance as they had believed. Trhough telepathy, the Nad'lun could retain their unity, even if they were separated by vast distances.

As time went on, the Nad'lun began to call their first village Naun'as, which means "The Secret Valley", the legendary paradise from witch the mythic shaman O'nulaa supposedly originated from. The trade with the other Nad'lun settlements has brought wealth and prosperity to the village. Frilla bark and stone from the north and flatworms from the coast.

The telepathic communication allows the Nad'lun to transfer messages from one village to another almost instantaneously, which has allowed the Nad'lun people stay extremely unified. They have also set up numerous outposts along the river, for spotting Slizers, and because of their telepathy, they can quickly warn any boats nearby of the ravenous threat.

The valley is tamed as the village grows. The irrigation ditch also works to lessen the destructive effects of the floods, by redirecting the excess water away from the village proper.

The stalk-plant woods are cut down, to make room for more huts.

It seems like a trickster spirit or hoppa stubbornness lead to the Nad'lun struggling with Metal Working. This was recorded in The Nad'lun struggle with the Forge.

N'olai attempts to further investigate the magical distrurbance in the Soul Wind. Maybe the strange amulet will provide assistance? N'olai tries to use the amulet... and was bombarded by visions. Visions of the trickster spirit, rolling some shaped bones. The trickster spirit briefly smiled, and said: "Here's to interesting times. There's more to the world than you know. try swimming once in a while... oh yeah, watch out for the Slizers." he hands N'olai a leaf.

The vision then disappears. Suddenly, one of the villagers rushed to N'olai's hut. A strange ship had appeared in the river, appearing from a purple fog... the ship is made of metal, and is bigger than any of the Nad'Lun's ships. It easily spans twice the length of the biggest boats they have.

Meantime, the big ship stays still. Many Hoppas wait and look at the riverbanks, some even riding on Nad'Lun boats to get closer. Then suddenly a Lem popped into view. Then a dozen. It seems they're just as confused as the Nad'Lun are.

As the lem aren't telepathic, the Nad'lun are unsure of how to communicate with their sudden visitors. They attempt to haphazardly write down a message in the frog tongue, and then give it to the lem.

The Lem replies by putting up Frilla bark signs, sorta like Wile E Coyote. "We're an Onokelshan coastal exploration group... can anyone tell us why we're on a river, now?"

To combat the increasing Na'suul raids, the elder council of the Nad'lun ordered the formation of a special group of warriors. A task force if you will, which would be able to quickly respond to any piratical activity in the Nad'lun waters. The already existing Slizer spotting outposts would be used to also monitor the pirates, and to relay the telepathic messages quickly to the proper authorities, allowing the rapid response groups to be aware of Na'suul raider activivty within moments of them being spotted.

They are called the River Rangers. Or in theory that is. It is just at a proposal stage. The elders from the coastal region are rather sceptical of this idea, but it was widely supported by the rest of the council.

The River Rangers idea was brilliant... until the idea of who should volunteer was discussed. Either they were busy keeping watch on the Slizers, too scared or sympathizes with the Na'suul.

Cave Hoppas, since they never had any natural predators, are quite docile and easy to domesticate. The settlement grows quickly, around and in the cave. To their surprise, this cave had plenty of greenish crystals which glow neatly in the dark, as well as plenty of Star-Rock and Sky-Rock just laying around. The moss was also found to be edible for sentient Hoppas. This settlement will prosper.

Even if the cave hoppas were easy to domesticate, without a practical use for them, they are just dead weight. The Nad'lun try to figure out how to utilize their newfound cousins. It seems these guys can dig through rock easily. Molehoppas? Maybe a descendant of the digging Hoppa. it is plausible to train them to dig and fetch ores instead of risking sentient Hoppa life in unstable mines.

Just in time, then, for the Hoppa to learn proper ways of mining.

The new settlement is named Nul'subar. The practical knowledge gained from building the forge at Naun'as, is used to make another one in the new settlement. They also attempt to cautiously improve the forge, but in such ways, that nothing short of a catastrophic failure would harm the whole forge itself. The Nad'lun also attempt to collect these glowing crystals, along with the star- and sky-rocks. By strengthening the forge and using the newly found star-rock, they can make a more efficient forge. The Nad'Lun harvest the crystals and sky-rock easily enough, because they're quite abundant. The star-rock, however, are lodged in between other rocks, and hard to pry out.