This first chapter will be about mankind's fall from Aetheria.
Men first arrived in Shakarta when they were thrown out of Aetheria by the gods. The first of these were called the "Primenis" or "First-Landers". The first villages sprung up around the region shortly after. The villages were also divided up into "Ariums". Ariums were the alliance of different villages and were the closest we got to kingdoms. With ariums being another way to define different regions. The biggest of these was the Orins. Orinian villages were villages who swore allegiance to Chieftain Ori of Tress. Tress was the village that later would become the mighty city of Demolus.
Ori was the chieftain of the biggest and most powerful village in Arta. The village of Tress dominated the region. They raided and fought other villages. One unique characteristic about these early Artians is that they didn't conquer any land. They instead demanded tribute in the form of goods and levies from the villages they conquered. Tress grew rich from this. They had the best armour and the best weapons. They would continue to grow for centuries. This growth was again caused by the Artians focus on their own land instead of conquering more. The tributary villages would be allowed to rule how they saw fit. They were even allowed to conquer themselves, as long as they paid the tribute. It wasn't until the first kings that the Artians would start to expand.
We have multiple stories about Ori and we base most of our knowledge on the chieftains of the era on these stories, and they provide great insight into how the villages operated. Some of these stories said he had the power of a hundred men and the smarts of a thousand more. We don't know a lot about his personal life. I do know that he never had any children. This was not a big deal since chieftains often were elected after one passed. Usually this would be the child of the former chieftain, but not always. The Artians believed that titles were gained by actions, not by inheritance. Readying a son for the election was a chieftains most important job.
Life in The Villages
Life was hard in these times. Work was constant and of crucial importance to survive. Furthermore the year was divided into four seasons. A system we still use today. They were different according to the region, but they all shared the same seasons. They are as follows:
Spring was the first season of the year. Coming after winter it symbolised rebirth. Plants would spring up and vegetables planted. Fields were ploughed and fertilised. Marriage was also common during this time. With fields of flowers popping up, it was the perfect scene for two people to proclaim their love to the gods. Artian marriages differed according to how wealthy your village was. The richer the village, the larger and longer the feast. Sowing the fields was also important for the survival of the village.
Summer might be one of the busiest. Harvest of the grasslands started early to get hay for the livestock. Later they reaped the wheat fields. Summer was hot and dry. Heatstroke was a real threat. Especially in the south. Workers were out in the sun the whole day and water could be a problem if it was a dry summer. When villagers weren't harvesting they threshed the wheat and prepared for winter. Harvesting season could be in late summer or in Autumn.
Autumn was the last season before winter. It was an important time which was spent stockpiling food and supplies for winter. Some villages might hold a feast at the end of harvest, but this was more common in Isadora. Autumn might mean milling grain and ploughing fields. Cabbage and leek were planted to be harvested in winter. Tools and other items were also made during this time.
Winter was the time when fields were spread with manure, and buildings and tools were repaired. Livestock still needed to be fed and taken care of. They weaved clothes and baskets. Generally speaking winter still was a time for rest. Villages would hold a feast at the start of winter. Winter was also a time of winter activities such as snowball fights. Animals were butchered and meat smoked in early winter and cabbage was harvested.
Another defining time of year was the "war time". Villages had some time between the sowing of the fields and the harvest. This was spent raiding other villages and in rare occurrences subjugating them. Another reason for the lack of expansion was the fact that since they only had this short period of time, they couldn't travel far. They still had to come back for harvest. Also the survival of the village was often dependent of the victories of their men. If they died in battle, the village would starve. Many villages perished because of this.
The First Cities
I focus a lot on the villages in Arta. This is because the Artians were the ones who developed the first real "Cities". Now how do we define a city? A city usually refers to a large town. With a town being a large village. In this book we will define it as something specific. The thing that differentiates cities and towns from villages usually lies in how it functions. Villages in the first era functioned by everyone doing their share of the work for the survival of the whole village. No one was above anyone else. Chieftains were leaders, but were not looked at as nobles. They were respected and often did less grunt work, but they still were seen as common villagers. Villages were still common in the region of Shakan, the westernmost region of Shakarta. But it was in the east that the first cities started appearing.
Now in the cities and towns it was different. For the first time we had unique professions. You had people in villages with different abilities, but things such as baking, weaving and crafting was often done by individual families. In the cities professions such as bakers, weavers and craftsmen appeared. Central markets made it easy to trade goods and wares. Nobility also appeared as a social class. The nobility often were the leaders of the cities. The leader of a city was called a Perapoli. It means "Defender of the city" in old Artian. The Perapoli was in charge of administration and planning for the whole city or town. Cities were the first step towards the establishment of the first kingdoms.
The most famous of these was the city of Demolus. Built by Perapoli Demos, it was the most powerful city in Shakarta. It was built upon the old village, and later town, of Tress. This transition from town to city appeared roughly 200 years after the time of the Orins. Keep in mind these numbers are not certain. The city was the first in the region to build stone walls and towers. It's said that Demolus was impenetrable and was never sieged. The new "city-states" still depended upon the harvest of autumn to survive, and needed all able bodied men to work. This was the only limiting factor that made expansion impossible.
The cities functioned differently depending on region. Some were more feudalist while others more reminiscent of the shared responsibility found in early villages. This difference plus the lack of emigration meant cultures evolved independently. Even today there are hundreds of different cultures and traditions in Arta. Usually cities got their name from their founder. Examples being Demolus which was founded by Demos and Aquilus which was founded by Aquila. These names consist of the name and the suffix -lus. which meant city of.
