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ysabetwordsmithThis is posted as a birthday gift for Anthony Barrette. It is spillover from the March 2, 2021 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from mama_kestrel. This is the first poem in the Strike of the Thunderbirds series.
"Ever Evolving, Changing, and Becoming"
On the shores of the Foggy Ocean,
the people of Spearhead Island
first began to build a civilization.
They learned how to harvest
the fish and shellfish, drying
some fish to trade inland.
They started to farm beans
and squash, and later corn.
They grew sweet potatoes,
too, rich and good keepers.
The people raised cotton
to make cord for fishnets,
and they wove cloth for
garments and satchels.
They began to keep track
of amounts and events
with knotted cords, so
they became known
as the Knotmakers.
They built pyramids and
mounds to look over the land.
Their civilization did not last
forever, but it inspired others.
Far to the north, on Turtle Island,
the Moundbuilders emerged
in the fertile river valleys and
in the eastern woodlands.
They grew the Three Sisters:
corn, squash, and beans.
They planted other crops
as well, and their villages
flourished, booming in size
until they became cities.
People raised up mounds
for ceremonies and signals,
used them to bury their dead.
They flourished and grew
more complex over time.
On Spearhead Island,
the Children of the Earth
spread out in many tribes.
They built their villages on hills
where they farmed quinoa and
many types of potatoes, using
llamas to plow the fields.
They raised chickens
received from traders who
sailed over the ocean.
The Children of the Earth
also became famous for
their silverwork, which they
traded from Spearhead Island
all the way to Turtle Island.
For some time, various peoples
had dabbled in the use of flight.
People would run with kites and
catch a headwind from the ground,
or jump off a high place, then glide.
They built taller and taller mounds
or towers, which they used for
various purposes, including flight.
It was the Sky People of the south,
not far from where the Knotmakers
had lived, who took the next step.
They created thunderwings,
more powerful than kites.
With these, people could
soar much higher and farther.
Pilots studied thunderbirds
and other large birds
to learn how they flew.
Observant pilots noticed that
the birds sought out thermals,
and followed them, learning how
to ride the warm currents and
eventually how to find their own.
They studied the shape of wings,
how the air flowed over the surfaces,
how the birds used their feathers
and tails to change direction.
Over time, they built better
and better thunderwings,
learning about lift and
gravity and airfoils.
The thunderwings were
one of those things that
changed everything.
Now more people wanted
to fly or at least watch flying.
They wanted more towers
and larger, taller mounds.
They wanted the messages
passed from tower to tower
or carried by thunderwings.
When peoples quarreled
and brought war, then
the thunderwings turned
their attention to battle.
They could scout the enemy
and report on their position.
They could lead warriors
to the enemy or to safety.
The pilots also learned
how to battle from above.
It became a favorite trick
to capture a wasp nest at night
while the insects were sleeping,
seal it up, then drop it on the enemy
so that it burst upon the ground,
releasing an angry swam.
For a while, the world went
quite wild with wars, but people
learned better ways to solve disputes.
Many tribes favored ball games,
which could be almost as bloody
as war -- indeed, some named it
the Little War -- but at least nobody
was dropping wasps on their heads.
Other peoples preferred diplomacy
or trade or sundry means of their own.
They learned that many tribes shared
a custom of building round houses
and considered the circle sacred.
In addition to private homes,
some also used larger ones
to serve as gathering places.
So it became a widespread custom
to build round houses in locations
where everyone could come together
and use them, which encouraged
ties across the different tribes.
It didn't matter what methods
this or that people chose to use.
What mattered is that they discovered
how to expand their civilizations and
how to live in peace with each other.
The Jaguar People rose to prominence
on a little peninsula that lay between
Turtle Island and Spearhead Island.
They raised great fields of corn,
squash, and beans but they
also loved the hot chili peppers.
They mixed cacao beans with
chili and other spices to make
a hot drink called chocolate.
This became enormously popular.
The Jaguar people developed
a sophisticated writing system,
which they carved and painted
on the walls of their buildings.
They made great pyramids
and watched the stars, worked
advanced mathematics and
created a calendar system
that became the foundation of
recorded history in their area.
Like many others around it,
their culture was rough and
bloody, and the Jaguar People
often practiced human sacrifice.
They killed war captives, but
they also cut themselves
to use blood in ceremonies.
This led to many deaths
from infection, which for
a time limited their culture.
Then their medicine people
learned that the blue mold
which grew on damaged ears
of corn could stop infections.
They began to grow corn
not just for food but also
for this precious medicine.
The gift of blue corn powder
reduced losses from injuries
and childbirth, as well as
some infectious diseases.
Their medicine people also
learned how to speak with
patients to find the source of
their ills and how to heal the mind
when it became sick or injured.
The Jaguar people shared
these gifts with their neighbors
and received others in return,
which supported the growth of
more and larger cities over time,
making large urban civilizations
more stable both north and south.
Their love of pain and blood also
spread, so that sharp pleasures
of the bedfurs became the norm.
They referred to this as chocolate,
after the painfully delicious beverage,
and the opposite as vanilla, after
the mellow seasoning of orchids.
Those who avoided the love-war
and the self-sacrifice were viewed
with suspicion and distaste across
many of the middle cultures, and
sometimes even beyond them.
Still, the Jaguar People had brought
so many good things that nobody
much minded their odder habits.
In the deserts of the southwest,
where Turtle Island was hot and dry,
the Sand People began building cities.
They mixed clay with straw and
baked bricks, or used wet adobe
to plaster large stones together.
Some built cities on the flat land,
while others carved theirs into cliffs.
The Sand People grew corn, squash,
and beans where they could find water.
They made beautiful baskets and
sandals which they traded far
and wide with other peoples.
They made pottery, too,
some plain and gray for
everyday use, other pieces
painted black-and-white for
more special occasions.
Later, they began to use
red and orange in pottery.
They developed ventilators
and deflectors to control
the flow of air in buildings.
Over time, they moved and
changed, discovered new things
and lost some others. They made
enemies and allies along the way.
Still the desert shaped them,
and all who lived in that area
were known as the Sand People.
In the far south of Turtle Island,
the White Land formed as
several cities allied together.
They farmed corn and other crops,
and instead of merely gathering
mushrooms found in the wild,
learned how to farm those too.
This newly flourishing food source
helped the cities grow even bigger.
The people of the White Land
soon discovered that this came
with the price as the blue sickness
spread among the crowd, making
people wheeze and sometimes die.
The medicine people learned that,
like the mushroom farms from which
it came, it was destroyed by sunlight
and fresh air, so they could deal with it.
They didn't want to give up the farms,
because mushrooms could grow well
even in the dim years when dark clouds
covered the sky and other crops failed.
So people raised guinea pigs and
ducks and other animals indoors.
The ducks grew fat on the worms and
insects that lived among the mushrooms,
while the guinea pigs could eat hay
and scraps left from the kitchens.
The people of the White Land
brought rubber from the trees,
then made paved courts to play
their favorite ballgame, with
a vertical hoop and a rubber ball.
They learned to work metal
from other peoples, for gold
and copper had been worked
as far back as anyone knew.
Some people had even
mixed the two, and it was
this that gave the metalworkers
the idea that led them to bronze.
That was altogether better than
copper, and proved quite popular.
The best metalwork of all, however,
was done by the Salmon People
who lived along the Foggy Ocean.
They discovered how to work iron,
first the kind that fell from the sky,
and later some that washed ashore
in small bits stuck in the driftwood.
They built great furnaces and
laid out within them lines of
metals and other materials
to see how hot the fire got.
They learned that silver,
bronze, and gold were all
easier to melt than copper.
A fire just a little hotter than
copper needed could melt steel,
a stronger metal made from iron.
It was all quite fascinating,
and people learned more
about metal over time.
The Lords of the Four Parts
arose farther south and
created an empire.
They kept up the craft
of the knotmakers and
advanced mathematics
with their counting grids.
They made stonework so fine
that a knife could not slide
between two finished stones,
using it to build terraced cities
and farms along the mountainsides.
Their surgeons learned to drill holes
in the skull to relieve pressure, and
most of their patients survived.
The use of the coca plant
helped with this and also with
giving their messengers energy.
The Lords built roads that
connected their empire,
which supported trade.
Everyone sought after
their colorful pottery
their fine textiles, and
their beautiful metalwork.
The Lords of the Four Parts
were new, but they had
so much potential.
Because civilization was
ever evolving, changing, and
becoming more complicated, it was
difficult to define in explicit terms.
Yet somehow it was all, still,
recognizable as civilization.
The people of Turtle Island
had learned so much, from
the Snow Folk of the north
to the Sand People of the south,
from the Salmon People of the west
to the Moundbuilders of the east.
In the Palm Sea, the Big Wind Kinship
traveled the currents, bringing news
and new merchandise to trade.
This inspired the Moundbuilders
to explore further, and they tried
new ways to make thunderwings
into more useful vehicles.
Rubber launchers and
pedaled fans could
only do so much.
Then someone tried
the first true engine, and
the whole thing took off.
Soon they had airplanes
to explore Turtle Island.
Then they began to wonder
what might lie beyond it.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its notes appear elsewhere.
mama_kestrel. This is the first poem in the Strike of the Thunderbirds series."Ever Evolving, Changing, and Becoming"
On the shores of the Foggy Ocean,
the people of Spearhead Island
first began to build a civilization.
They learned how to harvest
the fish and shellfish, drying
some fish to trade inland.
They started to farm beans
and squash, and later corn.
They grew sweet potatoes,
too, rich and good keepers.
The people raised cotton
to make cord for fishnets,
and they wove cloth for
garments and satchels.
They began to keep track
of amounts and events
with knotted cords, so
they became known
as the Knotmakers.
They built pyramids and
mounds to look over the land.
Their civilization did not last
forever, but it inspired others.
Far to the north, on Turtle Island,
the Moundbuilders emerged
in the fertile river valleys and
in the eastern woodlands.
They grew the Three Sisters:
corn, squash, and beans.
They planted other crops
as well, and their villages
flourished, booming in size
until they became cities.
People raised up mounds
for ceremonies and signals,
used them to bury their dead.
They flourished and grew
more complex over time.
On Spearhead Island,
the Children of the Earth
spread out in many tribes.
They built their villages on hills
where they farmed quinoa and
many types of potatoes, using
llamas to plow the fields.
They raised chickens
received from traders who
sailed over the ocean.
The Children of the Earth
also became famous for
their silverwork, which they
traded from Spearhead Island
all the way to Turtle Island.
For some time, various peoples
had dabbled in the use of flight.
People would run with kites and
catch a headwind from the ground,
or jump off a high place, then glide.
They built taller and taller mounds
or towers, which they used for
various purposes, including flight.
It was the Sky People of the south,
not far from where the Knotmakers
had lived, who took the next step.
They created thunderwings,
more powerful than kites.
With these, people could
soar much higher and farther.
Pilots studied thunderbirds
and other large birds
to learn how they flew.
Observant pilots noticed that
the birds sought out thermals,
and followed them, learning how
to ride the warm currents and
eventually how to find their own.
They studied the shape of wings,
how the air flowed over the surfaces,
how the birds used their feathers
and tails to change direction.
Over time, they built better
and better thunderwings,
learning about lift and
gravity and airfoils.
The thunderwings were
one of those things that
changed everything.
Now more people wanted
to fly or at least watch flying.
They wanted more towers
and larger, taller mounds.
They wanted the messages
passed from tower to tower
or carried by thunderwings.
When peoples quarreled
and brought war, then
the thunderwings turned
their attention to battle.
They could scout the enemy
and report on their position.
They could lead warriors
to the enemy or to safety.
The pilots also learned
how to battle from above.
It became a favorite trick
to capture a wasp nest at night
while the insects were sleeping,
seal it up, then drop it on the enemy
so that it burst upon the ground,
releasing an angry swam.
For a while, the world went
quite wild with wars, but people
learned better ways to solve disputes.
Many tribes favored ball games,
which could be almost as bloody
as war -- indeed, some named it
the Little War -- but at least nobody
was dropping wasps on their heads.
Other peoples preferred diplomacy
or trade or sundry means of their own.
They learned that many tribes shared
a custom of building round houses
and considered the circle sacred.
In addition to private homes,
some also used larger ones
to serve as gathering places.
So it became a widespread custom
to build round houses in locations
where everyone could come together
and use them, which encouraged
ties across the different tribes.
It didn't matter what methods
this or that people chose to use.
What mattered is that they discovered
how to expand their civilizations and
how to live in peace with each other.
The Jaguar People rose to prominence
on a little peninsula that lay between
Turtle Island and Spearhead Island.
They raised great fields of corn,
squash, and beans but they
also loved the hot chili peppers.
They mixed cacao beans with
chili and other spices to make
a hot drink called chocolate.
This became enormously popular.
The Jaguar people developed
a sophisticated writing system,
which they carved and painted
on the walls of their buildings.
They made great pyramids
and watched the stars, worked
advanced mathematics and
created a calendar system
that became the foundation of
recorded history in their area.
Like many others around it,
their culture was rough and
bloody, and the Jaguar People
often practiced human sacrifice.
They killed war captives, but
they also cut themselves
to use blood in ceremonies.
This led to many deaths
from infection, which for
a time limited their culture.
Then their medicine people
learned that the blue mold
which grew on damaged ears
of corn could stop infections.
They began to grow corn
not just for food but also
for this precious medicine.
The gift of blue corn powder
reduced losses from injuries
and childbirth, as well as
some infectious diseases.
Their medicine people also
learned how to speak with
patients to find the source of
their ills and how to heal the mind
when it became sick or injured.
The Jaguar people shared
these gifts with their neighbors
and received others in return,
which supported the growth of
more and larger cities over time,
making large urban civilizations
more stable both north and south.
Their love of pain and blood also
spread, so that sharp pleasures
of the bedfurs became the norm.
They referred to this as chocolate,
after the painfully delicious beverage,
and the opposite as vanilla, after
the mellow seasoning of orchids.
Those who avoided the love-war
and the self-sacrifice were viewed
with suspicion and distaste across
many of the middle cultures, and
sometimes even beyond them.
Still, the Jaguar People had brought
so many good things that nobody
much minded their odder habits.
In the deserts of the southwest,
where Turtle Island was hot and dry,
the Sand People began building cities.
They mixed clay with straw and
baked bricks, or used wet adobe
to plaster large stones together.
Some built cities on the flat land,
while others carved theirs into cliffs.
The Sand People grew corn, squash,
and beans where they could find water.
They made beautiful baskets and
sandals which they traded far
and wide with other peoples.
They made pottery, too,
some plain and gray for
everyday use, other pieces
painted black-and-white for
more special occasions.
Later, they began to use
red and orange in pottery.
They developed ventilators
and deflectors to control
the flow of air in buildings.
Over time, they moved and
changed, discovered new things
and lost some others. They made
enemies and allies along the way.
Still the desert shaped them,
and all who lived in that area
were known as the Sand People.
In the far south of Turtle Island,
the White Land formed as
several cities allied together.
They farmed corn and other crops,
and instead of merely gathering
mushrooms found in the wild,
learned how to farm those too.
This newly flourishing food source
helped the cities grow even bigger.
The people of the White Land
soon discovered that this came
with the price as the blue sickness
spread among the crowd, making
people wheeze and sometimes die.
The medicine people learned that,
like the mushroom farms from which
it came, it was destroyed by sunlight
and fresh air, so they could deal with it.
They didn't want to give up the farms,
because mushrooms could grow well
even in the dim years when dark clouds
covered the sky and other crops failed.
So people raised guinea pigs and
ducks and other animals indoors.
The ducks grew fat on the worms and
insects that lived among the mushrooms,
while the guinea pigs could eat hay
and scraps left from the kitchens.
The people of the White Land
brought rubber from the trees,
then made paved courts to play
their favorite ballgame, with
a vertical hoop and a rubber ball.
They learned to work metal
from other peoples, for gold
and copper had been worked
as far back as anyone knew.
Some people had even
mixed the two, and it was
this that gave the metalworkers
the idea that led them to bronze.
That was altogether better than
copper, and proved quite popular.
The best metalwork of all, however,
was done by the Salmon People
who lived along the Foggy Ocean.
They discovered how to work iron,
first the kind that fell from the sky,
and later some that washed ashore
in small bits stuck in the driftwood.
They built great furnaces and
laid out within them lines of
metals and other materials
to see how hot the fire got.
They learned that silver,
bronze, and gold were all
easier to melt than copper.
A fire just a little hotter than
copper needed could melt steel,
a stronger metal made from iron.
It was all quite fascinating,
and people learned more
about metal over time.
The Lords of the Four Parts
arose farther south and
created an empire.
They kept up the craft
of the knotmakers and
advanced mathematics
with their counting grids.
They made stonework so fine
that a knife could not slide
between two finished stones,
using it to build terraced cities
and farms along the mountainsides.
Their surgeons learned to drill holes
in the skull to relieve pressure, and
most of their patients survived.
The use of the coca plant
helped with this and also with
giving their messengers energy.
The Lords built roads that
connected their empire,
which supported trade.
Everyone sought after
their colorful pottery
their fine textiles, and
their beautiful metalwork.
The Lords of the Four Parts
were new, but they had
so much potential.
Because civilization was
ever evolving, changing, and
becoming more complicated, it was
difficult to define in explicit terms.
Yet somehow it was all, still,
recognizable as civilization.
The people of Turtle Island
had learned so much, from
the Snow Folk of the north
to the Sand People of the south,
from the Salmon People of the west
to the Moundbuilders of the east.
In the Palm Sea, the Big Wind Kinship
traveled the currents, bringing news
and new merchandise to trade.
This inspired the Moundbuilders
to explore further, and they tried
new ways to make thunderwings
into more useful vehicles.
Rubber launchers and
pedaled fans could
only do so much.
Then someone tried
the first true engine, and
the whole thing took off.
Soon they had airplanes
to explore Turtle Island.
Then they began to wonder
what might lie beyond it.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its notes appear elsewhere.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-20 04:43 am (UTC)Or an even ruder shock when it discovers them.
Yes ...
Date: 2021-05-20 04:51 am (UTC)I have the first two poems in the series written, the setup of the Americas and Europe. I still need to write the invasion of Europe.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2021-05-20 04:59 am (UTC)Both are possibilities for contact.
And you have to wonder about Asia. China in particular, but Japan is also a possibility.
Oh yeah.. will they visit Europe first? Or Africa? I can see arguments for them hitting Africa first.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2021-05-20 06:29 am (UTC)Both are possibilities for contact.<<
Europe didn't make it that far.
Frozen Island (Greenland) is inhabited primarily by Inuit people who came over from Canada. A majority of them live on the west coast. Fat Rock (Qaqortoq) is named for a large flat in the shallows where seals and walruses haul out. Northmen (Norse) sailors have settled a few places on the east coast, but these are shrinking and struggling to survive in 1450 due to the Little Ice Age.
>> And you have to wonder about Asia. China in particular, but Japan is also a possibility. <<
I haven't looked into that much yet. I do know that Europe is largely cut off from the Middle East, thence Asia and Africa. Remaining routes are difficult and perilous. That doesn't just rob Europe of what it got from other places; it means that Africa and Asia don't enjoy much of what they got from Europe either. The entire religious structure is different, for instance.
>>Oh yeah.. will they visit Europe first? Or Africa? I can see arguments for them hitting Africa first.<<
Europe first. From the northeastern coast of Canada, the explorers could reach Frozen Island (Greenland), and from there, the Land of Fire and Ice (Iceland), then either Tatterland (Norway) following the Great Circle, or bending southward to the Silent Islands (Great Britain).
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2021-05-20 10:38 am (UTC)Well, the straits of Gibraltar aren't all that hard to cross. So you'd get *some* contact there.
Not sure if that'd get them Western African contacts, or if there'd still be some Middle Eastern contact. The effects the vulcanism have on the Middle East would be a big factor there.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-20 10:48 am (UTC)Hm.. if the Great Plague of 1347 had wiped out 2/3 or even 3/4 of Europe instead of a third, this is what could have happened... Without the pressing need for more space, not to mention a lack of manpower the age of Exploration probably wouldn't have happened. Left alone, the people of Turtle Island could well have developed along these lines.
Well ...
Date: 2021-05-20 07:00 pm (UTC)Re: Well ...
Date: 2021-05-20 07:09 pm (UTC)Comet might be over-kill, as those tend to be extinction level events on a global scale... Although if the Tunguska dirty snowball [ice/gas/rock asteroid] had detonated over central Europe instead of a remote bit of Siberia, that would certainly do it... Just a bit late for the Natives of America, although it would rather put the dampener on WW1.
Hmm.. and if Smilodonts had evolved a smarter, tool using, fire making, cousin, the human race wouldn't have evolved probably... or certainly had a tougher time of it.
Re: Well ...
Date: 2021-05-22 12:31 am (UTC)Nah, space debris is great because it scales to the size and composition of the impacting object. You can get anything from a microstrike to a planetcracker. \o/
>> Although if the Tunguska dirty snowball [ice/gas/rock asteroid] had detonated over central Europe instead of a remote bit of Siberia, that would certainly do it... Just a bit late for the Natives of America, although it would rather put the dampener on WW1. <<
Now you're thinking.
>> Hmm.. and if Smilodonts had evolved a smarter, tool using, fire making, cousin, the human race wouldn't have evolved probably... or certainly had a tougher time of it.<<
Iffy given that it is still indeterminate whether those were solitary or pride hunters. Dire wolves, however, were definitely pack hunters. *ponder* And don't forget the mammoths and mastodons. I've only seen one person write those as sapient.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-20 03:38 pm (UTC)I admit, I saw the first references to effigy mounds and went, eeee! They're all over this area, but you know that.
I find myself wanting to see eventual contact between Turtle Island and the empire in Mali existing at around this time. Would the Glittering Pilgrimage still have happened in this timeline?
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-24 11:44 pm (UTC)Well ...
Date: 2021-05-25 01:31 am (UTC)PENICILLIUM EAR ROT OF CORN
Corn smut is Ustilago maydis. It is edible rather than medicinal. I do not find it palatable myself, although I like many other fungi.
Re: Well ...
Date: 2021-05-25 05:39 am (UTC)Re: Well ...
Date: 2021-05-25 05:55 am (UTC)There is nothing wrong with disliking fungus; plenty of people do.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-25 03:39 am (UTC)Well ...
Date: 2021-05-26 08:23 am (UTC)Also, you can prompt for more. The June 1 fishbowl will be on "I never thought I'd have to say that."