Perpetually Under ConstructionThe Flag of the Dendapim:
Names:
*God's Name: Nemea
http://www.roleplaygateway.com/roleplay/the-gods/characters/nemea/*Avatar's Name: Rawenya Qtoli
*Influential Figures:
Richest Man in the Dendapimaria: Dwayin Daqendor
Richest Woman in the Dendapimaria: Cirealla Imin
General of the Army: Gairus Najar
*Civilization's Name: The Dendapim
*Species Name: Human
Generally golden to dark tan skin
Brown, Grey, and Green eyes
Black haired
There is a large variation in height between Dendapim due to contrasting water and food quality. Women are quite voluptuous while men tend to be very lean, even effeminate. This generally results is ridicule by foreigners.
Demographics:
Population: 1.4 million pre-Plague, 850,000 pre-Volcano, roughly 600,000 now.
All human.
Fast Facts:
The Dendapim are perhaps most famous for their social mobility. Where as most cultures have a seated aristocracy, the Dendapim value "self-made men" above all others, and tend to climb social ladders faster than most. However, their mobility is not purely upward. A Dendapim man can taste unfathomable wealth in his lifetime, but still die in a gutter. As a people, they value hard work and ingenuity, and are often seen as cutthroat, ambitious, and completely unsentimental. Dendapim abroad are famous for never giving charity, and often being lavish spenders. Dendapim outside the Dendapimaria are usually incredibly wealthy due to their nature as harsh businessmen, and having access to superior technology. Besides the dwarves (who don't get out much) the Dendapim are the finest gem cutters in Ashariel. However, these Dendapim expats are rarely accepted by other societies, and form clustered communities.
The Dendapim are equally famous for their cloth. It's vividly colored, strong, and soft, and the Dendapim are often the most colorfully dressed people in Ashariel. They have bred a type of giant spider specifically for its silk.
Because of their technological advancement, the Dendapim have more muskets than most other cultures, however, due to the plague, many of these have been sold off. The Dendapim musket forms the standard of musket technology in the world. They do not fail as often, but they are still inaccurate, loud, and tend to cover the surrounding area with black smoke. The plague severely reduced the Dendapim's march forward.
*Territory:
The Dendapim inhabit the southernmost peninsula of Ashariel, which is highly volcanic, being very dry inland and very humid along the coasts. It is rocky and chaotic in its geography, and is famously marked by a terraced hill, which climbs to the northeast to a mountain pass and the city of Galatzella.
*Major Cities:
Galatzella: Acting capitol of the Dendapimaria. Stretching between a mountain pass in the near center of the peninsula, it looks off over a terraced hillside down to the coast. It contains the Avatar's Palace, a massive complex which is home to the Oligarchy, the Artisan's Council, the Alchemist's central laboratories, the "Glass Tower," and the Propagandist Guild. The entrance to the palace is a massive series of concentric hexagons in vivid dark blue, green, and red, all trimmed with gold. This culminates at the door, and the surfaces are polished and extravagent. This becomes the termination point of the "Qsamadar" the central artery of the Dendapim, which is lined with aqueducts palms, cyprus, and flowering trees.
Dalin: A port city located on the cape of the Dendapimaria, spans a handful of petite islands around the cape, and famous for its fishing, particularly squid and various bivalves. Took drastic measures during the plague, and retained most of its workforce, however, due to the abusive regime that took control, the vast majority of Dendapim fled the city as soon as the quarantine was lifted. Many fled to Avuvian lands or moved across Ashariel, while the rest moved to the drained city of Galatzella, which, due to massive public works projects after the plague, has a very high standard of living. Daliniq, as they're called, form a sub-culture among the Dendapim, and actually have a culture of gift giving and togetherness that "High Dendapim" don't possess. They migrated to Nonya from Galatzella after the influx of plague-survivors there made their primarily port-city skills useless.
Nonya: The largest port city of the Dendapim, located on the eastern side of the peninsula, and marked by a massive rock, upon which the Dendapim are building an elaborate lighthouse and palace system. It is sheltered and surrounded by high walls, and its large boardwalk and seawalls form their own floating city.
Nonya became very famous after the plague, due to it being the place for the fabulously wealthy Dendapim to build a "city of the future" as the Propagandists have described it. While Galatzella must tear down before it can build up, Nonya is completely new, so it can be very well planned out. The city sits on the western end of a small, wide bay, and straddles a river.
The city wall is high, and wraps around the periphery of the city from the edge of the Rock, in a smooth quarter circle to the canals of the river, which head due east into the bay. The wall arches over the river in an elaborate series of catenary and honeycomb arches. The wall continues south, turning twice at 90 angles to arrive back at the sea, with two large towers each with two lower bastions with cannons. The walls are marked by low lying periphery towers and gates.
The river cutting the city in half is canaled long before it reaches the city, with a port at the base of the terraced hills for shipping to Galatzella, and many tributary canals for irrigation between the terraces and the city. These plains are marked by enormous fortress-like houses of the wealthy, who operate the farms, as well as pubs and docking stations. They often grow to form minute walled microcosms.
Nonya has very wide, flat streets, with even tiles. Every main road is named after one of the wealthiest Dendapim who funded it, with statues, fountains, plazas, and markets, connected by arterial roads, and even they have fountains and are tree lined at least on one side. Nonya is famous for its raised collonaded markets in the middle of its streets, as well as bridges built across the wide avenues to connect buildings. The river has canals extended through the city. Its got a huge sewer system, and supports the first ever Dendapim bath houses. Nonya stands on top of a handful of mineral waters, and the ability of the city engineers to keep the fresh, salt, mineral, and sewer water separate is perhaps its most impressive feet, even grander in scale than...
The Rock. Technically a hill, because of some interesting erosion patterns it is wider at its center than at its base, where there are many caves. It has some natural tunnels throughout, and the Dendapim have carved many more. Famously, they drilled straight through the rock with a beautiful Catenary arch, lined with bright oil lamps and leading to the Great Cistern Bazaar. This covered bazaar is roughly three stories deep, supported by twelve rows of twelve columns. Two story tall ones supporting single story columns. They each have beautiful crowns and bases. The bottom two stories are filled with fresh water, piped in from a variety of sources. The rests on a platform at the end of the Rock tunnel just before the cistern, and is vibrantly full of mirrors, lights, and openings for ventilation and sunlight.
The rock's barren stone surface is broken in places to reveal large honeycombs, where apartments are built. Every apartment on the rock uses the same balcony system, which is a triangular one jutting out from the rock. At the point is placed a hearthbowl, which burns at night. These balconies exist all along the west side of the rock, overlooking the city.
Leading up from the bazaar in a variety of lifts, spiral staircases, storage rooms, and even some apartments to the surface, where Trinity Palace is placed.
Trinity Palace is the enormous complex atop the Rock, which consists of huge open courtyards and buildings with enormous, gardens and much ivy. Trinity comes from the fact that the complex was a joint venture by Dwayin Daqqendor, Cirealla Imin, and Rawenya Qtoli, as well as the Dendapim idea of Trinity, although there are also plenty of areas where the Pentanity is brought up as well. The building was meant to act as a secondary center of government, though it grew rapidly into the logical location of the Dendapim capital. It acts as a fortress for the city of Nonya should there be a siege, with plenty of cellar space, some, with the addition of numerous windtowers above, are able to maintain ice. Trinity Palace is laid north to south, built so as to appear a part of the Rock.
Its lowest foundations are cantenary arches, long expanses of them, in front of a long promenade with evenly spaced palms. Bougainvilleas hang over the sides of the promenade. Above these arches are three or four stories of the triangular balconies, heavy with crawling vines and potted bushes, each triangle alternated for space and dramatic effect. These apartments face the inner hallway, with collonades and cyprus trees, and across from them are the inner rooms, artisans workshops and libraries. There are three main courtyards in the Palace, the northernmost being Imin Square, the central Qtoli Square, and the southernmost Daqqendor Square.
At the Western culmination of the Rock, before Imin Square rises the tall, symmetrical "Grand Palace" a building with a vast dome, and small domes supporting it (mosque style). It has many broad hallways and even more balconies, pointing out in every direction. Its many covered balconies encircling the square form the national Dendapim university, where various Masters have brought some of their guilds together for the purpose of recording and teaching. Many of the buildings have elaborate tent roofs that sweep down to the ground as flags.
Around Qtoli Square at the center is a line of greenhouses, including four low but wide glass domed buildings. The halls and gardens of this area are dedicated to a large library (under the western glass dome, which is lower than the eastern one across the square. The library is a great circular expanse, stories high, with every book kept on an official scroll, stored in a honeycomb shelf. Jokingly called "The wine rack" it contains not originals, but "immaculate reproductions." The buildings around Qtoli square include places for embassies and the military of the Dendapim. The trinity palace was originally planned to be the center of the Dendapims yet-uncreated navy.
Around Daqqendor Square are the Alchemist's Grounds. The area includes all the Alchemist's laboratories and pens, as well as a small glass aquarium, which the Dendapim are quite proud to possess. The roofs of buildings around the square are lower and flat, with plenty of bushes and crawling plants, and spread over it are triangular cloths, row on row, stretched out so as to billow like sails. They are the blues, greens, and reds of the Dendapim flag, trimmed with white. At the southernmost end of the square is the Element Tower, the huge hexagonal tower whose foundations extend to the sea at the base of the Rock, and nearly ten stories above it.
The tower acts as a wind tower, siphoning air down through the cellars for cooling of the palace, a water tower, to hold fresh water for the fortress in case of a siege, and a beacon tower, for a lighthouse as well as to warn Galatzella of an impending attack. The fact that it's hewn of rock brings in the fourth element.
Along the eastern side of the Rock, the side facing the sea with the city of Nonya behind it has walls that are more stark, with less stained glass and more obvious crenellations and towers. The roofs of the tower are tents of the Dendapim flag colors, stretching down along the walls as massive flags, dispersed evenly along the wall. It is equipped with cannons, muskets, and plenty of rocket arrows, although attack from that side would be quite impractical anyway.
Ironically, the Artisan's Council and High Hall, which were what the palace on the Rock were originally intended to house, are built on either side of the canal in the center of Nonya. A main road passes directly through them, north to south, rising in a series of large ramps and sweeping stairs up to large platforms on the roofs of the government halls, between them stretching a wide, high bridge, with metal supports climbing elegantly up from both sides of the river. The two buildings have two quarter domes on either side of the bridge, enclosing waterwheel powered lifts. In the center of the bridge is a small tower, hanging in the middle of the river. The dome is dark red and houses the Starweave when it is not worn by the Avatar.
The walls of the city are quite tall, with small square towers, with simple staircases moving up to the towers on either side, and stair/flying buttresses on the inside of the walls. The stepped look that the staircases give the wall are quite common in Nonya, as the architects enjoyed incorporating open air bridges and visible staircases into the city. Ditches and moats, some fed by fountains pouring from the towers. Most parts of the wall do not have secondary defences however, as Nonya is relatively far from dangerous territories by land.
The biggest marketing point for Nonya is its high standard of living. Apartments are larger, there are bridges from building to building and usually just above the sidewalks acting as cool promenades and shade. There are wide, clean, even tree lined streets, and fountains. There are also street lights, the most garishly expensive aspect of Nonya. An adaptation of hearths, in Nonya, it's expected that the citizens of the communal apartments light the streetlights owned by those apartments.
This general activism (generally odd for Dendapim) decreases crime and improves health.
Ultimately, besides not having the dramatic Gem gate or the Qsamadar of Galatzella, it's truly got much more, and is a more defensible, profitable position for the Dendapim, as well as being arguably amongst the most beautiful cities in the world.
Expanded InformationThe Dendapim are famous world wide for their cloth. Many have tried to imitate their silks, but all have failed. The Dendapim have a variety of weaves, ranging from horse hair and wool to silks and the most expensive, which are famously woven out of spider silk. While the Dendapim, as a rule, generally do not use magic, one of Nemea's most magical gifts to them was a breed of spider that likes dark places and large caves. The Dendapim have bread them over the years like cattle, and this has resulted in a recent infestation of giant spiders throughout the Dendapim mountain ranges. Most of the spiders the Dendapim control are incredibly docile, and very much like cows. The Dendapim harvest their venom as well as their silk, but have found the meat to be putrid, and used only as a fertilizer. Spiders, Bees, and Silkworms are the most sacred of Dendapim animals, as they represent industry and advancement, and their various products are considered of the highest value, just under pearls, which are considered the oyster's contribution to industry, and the ultimate expression of "Zi" the making of something incredible from nothing more than a speck of dust.
The Dendapim cloth is incredibly strong and soft, and ranges from the decorative but strong âMoonweaveâ made of spider silk and inlaid with pearl, to âEarthweaveâ which is an example of the little magic the Dendapim use, a strong, usually thick black or brown cloak which, upon the pulling of a tassle made of petrified wood, suddenly hardens. This cloth is incredibly thick and heavy, and when activated can rarely be moved. However, men have been known to be galloped over by horses while under the cloth and escape unharmed. It takes tremendous amounts of time and effort to make, and is almost exclusively given as a military reward, theoretically to keep the absolute best of the best alive longer.
The âStarweaveâ was made by Nemea herself, and is at once thin and cool, with layers and layers of intricate patterns throughout it, which, depending on which side you look at, the angle, and even the lightsource, spell various prayers and enchantments in the weaving. She wove it from pure pearl, fire, and starlight, and it was so powerful it actually acquired particles from all around it, and grew into a goddess itself, named Yorinaphe. She is now considered apocryphal, and for some reason most of the history of her is blotted out. Nemea herself tells everyone that the story is simply a tale of her power as ultimate creator, but denies that it ever actually happened. The Starweave was mysteriously damaged, odd since even that which remains is entirely indestructible, but all that remains is enough cloth for a glove. It reflects even the tiniest, most distant point of light, and considered a potent magical artifact.
The Dendapim call their homeland the âDendapimariaâ
Though Nemea is universally worshiped by the Dendapim, there are 3 state sanctioned religions, as well as 2 smaller, but growing religions.
Nemeaiq: Considered the âpurestâ form of the religion, Nemeaiq believe working and producing is the highest form of worship. They build shrines in their workplaces that they enhance as they get wealthier, to show they are blessed by Nemea. The primary focus is on the idea that the truly âblessedâ (read: wealthy) should contribute to cities and make as much land as possible arable and livable. These rich landowners usually contribute large fountains and extravagant statues to public places, and, along with the military, act as city planners. The result is the usual Dendapim desire for beauty in efficiency. Makes up roughly 80 percent of the Dendapim, and virtually all Artisans. It believes in absolute free will, and tends to view even genuinely distraught people as having
chosen weakness and believe in taking absolute responsibility for your actions.
Staniq: Worshipers of the âTrinityâ of Nemea. They believe that there is a basic three-ness to human success. Ambition (Nemea), Good Teaching (Grumpsh), and Natural Talent (Yorinaphe). This system believes that the ambitious beat the well taught, the well taught beat the naturally talented, and the naturally talented beat the ambitious. The idea, of course, is to maximize all three, identifying oneâs own best talent and seeking to use it to its best end to worship Nemea. This group comes under scrutiny because it believes every person has a unique talent they are meant to act on, which the Nemeaiq believe limits free will. This makes up roughly 13 percent of the Dendapim, mainly Merchants, Soldiers, and Prostitutes.
Ardnyiq: Worshipers of the âPentanityâ of Nemea. They believe that all existence is built on a sacred hierarchy. Life, Comfort, Love, Ambition, and Perfection, and that these form the essential building blocks of all things. Overwhelmingly practiced by Alchemists, and is the most mystical and esoteric of the three state ordained religions, practiced by a scant 3 percent of the population.
The remaining 3 percent is split between two unofficial religions and the nonreligious, who are very rare amongst the Dendapim.
Eisel: This group is despised, believing that life is never enjoyed if one is perpetually ambitious, and preach that one is only happy when one accepts their position in life and revels in the very fact they are alive. Considered ingrates and people attempting to justify their laziness, the Dendapim believe them to be the scum of society, too afraid of sacrifice, and completely submissive to authority, with no respect for their self, which the Dendapim believe to be above all else.
Adu: The worshipers of the âMarriage.â A cult, who believe that Nemea is spiritually bound to Mask, and that one must practice their ambition and be perpetually aware of corruption. They believe that one should always be aware they are living, and be skeptical of all human interaction, as humans are inherently evil. The Dendapim believe humans are inherently self interested, not evil, and in fact consider humans the most perfect thing in nature, and the preservation of self to be merely an attempt and preserving that perfection. The Adu tend to promote selflessness, while the Dendapim only like to encourage âcommunityâ and the importance of nationalism, not actual selflessness. Some particularly radical Adu are completely nonviolent and vegetarian, which the Dendapim tend to roll their eyes at, believing that such a lifestyle is weak, as it is the lifestyle of the weakest of animals, not transcendent humans.
The Dendapim
classes are as follows:
Landowners: Denoting ownership of farmland, these men and women become a part of the legislator, usually grouping together to select a valuable, intelligent representative to the Lower Council. They do not hire farmers, instead, the Dendapim treat farming like Jury Duty, and every viable man and woman will ultimately be summoned every few months to help with tending and harvest. This system requires Landowners to hire only a few skilled horticulturists to look after problems and manage the farming, while the free labor (technically paid by taxes), is in constant supply. The result is better for everyone, because in order for the unskilled labor to be efficient farmers, tasks are simplified, and ultimately even the citizens become skilled in a certain area of agriculture, and can remain in that area of expertise for the remainder of their life as temporary farm hands.
Artisans: Represented by guilds in the Lower Council, usually called the Artisan's Council, these people are considered the most blessed by Nemea, and are constantly seeking to improve service and quality of goods. Through loose alliances and guilds, various companies attempt to provide the best for the least. The Master Artisans tend to take in various apprentices as soon as they are out of the military or basic education. Artisans are usually constantly working, as the Dendapim government tends to buy large amounts of various products from guilds at bargain prices, and this keeps the Artisans calibrated and busy. The two most powerful artisan guilds are the Chefâs Guild and the Starweavers, who represent cooks and those weavers who work with spider silk. Food is tremendously important to the Dendapim, and makes up one aspect of their hedonistic lifestyle.
The Near Guard: The domestic military of the Dendapim, who are usually soldiers who have spent their time abroad and are nearing the end of their mandatory service, or those men who are particularly interested in the wellbeing of their cities. The Near Guard act as police, town guard, firemen, and general peacekeepers. They are usually young men, pulled from the Dendapim education system, and also control the official games and circuses which are commonly found in Dendapim cities. Because of a societal sense of paranoia, the Dendapim prefer to have their most talented warriors at home, and often the Near Guard who want to return abroad are given high ranks in the military, and are by that time very skilled warriors.
Judges: The intellectuals of the Dendapim, the Judges are former Near Guard who have their own guilds. They essentially are the justice system, acting by a strict code of ethics that is built not off of precedent but almost entirely on intent. Judges are some of the few Dendapim who do not answer to bribes as they are already extravagantly wealthy. The Judges also have a third of the control of the Dendapim education system, interested in preserving the cultural heritage of the Dendapim, focusing on literature, poetry, logic, ethics, and various other humanities. Judges form an informal council for the High Hall, and tend to be beloved social leaders with quite a bit of power over the population.
Alchemists: The highest class of Dendapim, Alchemists make their living working with foreign chemicals and some magic. They are split into two âtowersâ based on the long destroyed Towers of Alchemy, there is âThe Tower of Lifeâ which seeks improvements to gunpowder, industry, and warfare, and âThe Tower of Deathâ which seeks cures for diseases and an ultimate path to immortality. It is unknown if the names are serious or ironic, and there is much debate on the subject. The Alchemists control a third of the education system, focusing on engineering, sciences, and mathematics. Most Dendapim students are taught from age 7 to age 17, alternating between teachers from each of the three wings of the education system, and are thus taught humanities, sciences, and physical education primarily. Boys and girls are educated together until puberty, when they are split, merely to avoid distraction. Alchemists usually began their careers as Artisans.
Prostitutes: Odd though it may seem, the Dendapim treat women and men of the night very differently than most, they hold them in esteem. Having children by a prostitute is considered perfectly normal, even encouraged, as the Dendapim have a famously small population. The children of prostitutes, as well as unadopted orphans are cared for by the prostitute, who may marry as they please, and are usually supported by a tax subsidy. Their jobs not only include the obvious, but they also act as advisors and servants, and are expected to be attractive, intelligent, and exceedingly outgoing, but above all clever. Prostitutes are believed to have very difficult, demanding jobs, requiring knowledge of every subject and at least three languages. Few consider the money worth the effort, schooling, and time. The presence of these citizens tends to insult and disturb most cultures the Dendapim interact with, though ironically the Dendapim are (perhaps as a result of this hedonistic lifestyle) the foremost experts in the treating and preventing venereal diseases, which normally spell death in any other part of the world. This class is also the most well traveled of the Dendapim, as they are often act as ambassadors and gifts to foreign dignitaries.
The Military: Soldiers outside of major Dendapim cities, who are constantly trained in the newest strategems and technologies. The Dendapim believe whole heartedly in quality over quantity, and so every soldier is expected to be talented enough to last his own against multiple opponents. Because of the Dendapimâs small population, soldiers are also considered incredibly valuable, and the military likes to rely on tricks and defensive positions to wear down the enemy, making even small Dendapim battalions an annoyance to even large armies. The Dendapim army is actually more famous for its ability to distract and enrage armies into a frenzy, sending them off in the wrong direction. Itâs a favorite move called the âTemptationâ and it never ends well for the party attacked. Soldiers are some of the few Dendapim who form families with outsiders, but they are usually required to bring their family back to the Dendapimaria.
Merchants: A group in symbiosis with the artisans, who sell products both domestically and abroad. Together with the Artisans and the Military this forms the bulk of the Dendapim population. They tend to be famously thrifty and money hungry, but also considered slightly lower class because they do not make anything for themselves. However, there are more honored Merchants who work exclusively for certain Artisans and Guilds and are considered upstanding Dendapim.
Citizens: The basic class of the Dendapim, unskilled labor. Usually too poor to do anything but rent, these people are constantly losing and gaining members. Although it would seem they would make up the majority of the population, because of the Dendapimâs penchant for ambition, this group is rarely stagnant. If they are not training to become Artisans or Merchants, they are joining the Army. Because of the lack of priests in Dendapim society, and the belief that work is the highest form of worship, these people form the most distinctly religious part of Dendapim society, actually congregating and talking about religion at specific times instead of incorporating the philosophy into their work ethic. Those who live perpetually in this class, casually enjoying their jobs as civil servants, are usually considered invisible, but those who actively seek to do less, the âlazyâ (which is a viable cuss word to the Dendapim) are universally hated.
To make up for the Dendapimâs dog eat dog desire for more, and the resulting lack of unskilled laborers (the plumbers, street cleaners, and what not) the Dendapim have actually extended their Agricultural system to Public works. Particularly rich members of society, usually Nemeaiq, commission large projects to enhance their reputation, and pay the government to call upon various members of the citizenry to come work as unskilled labor throughout the city. This phenomenon changed the Dendapim perception of the street cleaner and other âunseenâ to more a chance to prove how âgoodâ a Dendapim one is, and how fully one supports the Dendapim lifestyle.
What naturally follows from the Dendapim system is a certain hypocrisy. The Dendapim laud the squeaky wheels who demand grease and the cutthroat ambitious people who fight for more of the pot, but the Dendapim also consider themselves to be collectively superior, and consider public works a mark of their reputation. This strenuous paradox of selfishness and community has so far worked wonders for the Dendapim, who are kept distracted by the Avatarâs personal Guild the Propagandists.
The Propagandists are the most educated of the Dendapim. Usually having studied abroad and being deeply connected to the âgovernmentâ which consists mainly of the High Hall, the Artisanâs Council, the Judges, the Military, and various civil servants. The Propagandists use this relatively weak government to their advantage, attracting rich landowners to pay for city renovations in exchange for name recognition and power. These people maintain large reserves of preserved food and resources, and tend to act as the cautionary wing of the usually go-go-go style Dendapim government. Without the propagandists, the Dendapim would inevitably fail. They work to ensure that farms are properly rotated and enriched, never overfarmed. They make sure the people have plenty of public places to gather. They make sure to heavily advertise new advancements like street hearths or canals, to garner public approval, and they organize the festivals of the Dendapim, to make sure the population remains stoked with Ambition and proud of their heritage.
While the group may sound evil, they actually provide a service that is not needed in normal societies, keeping the people from working
too hard, and getting angry about it. While Propaganda is usually considered a negative term, itâs really neutral, and the Dendapimâs use of it is not necessarily sinister as much as paranoid. Much like a powerful machine, if Dendapim society broke down, the results would be disastrous.
Alchemy:
The Dendapim, as a civilization, have the greatest trust in Alchemy of any of the nations in the known world. While not potent magic users, the Dendapim study relentlessly the bizarre realm between science and magic. Their devotion to it, as a divine revelation from Nemea, has come to define their culture.
The Dendapim have a single word to describe the goal of alchemy, "Zi" (pronounced: Ndzee) It appears over and over again throughout Dendapim culture, because it is considered the absolute finest quality in the universe. Profound concepts such as "Truth" and "Fate" regardless of capital letters, don't accurately depict how important this word is.
The noun, verb, and quality that is "Zi" describes, in no particular order:
The making of something from nothing, either as the beginning of reality or the creation of an idea, a spark of inspiration, from the human mind.
The making of something
valuable from something worthless, as in forging metal from ore, carving a beautiful statue, or turning lead into gold.
The ability to reach perfection, as in discovering an absolute reality in enlightenment, being the change in the world, and creating a masterpiece
The fusion of the two sides of the human spirit "Qsaqsamorep: Selfish Ambition" with "Dashuria: Altruistic Ambition" into a perfect society
The value human inventions have, whether it be an item, a community, or morality. The concept of "instrumental versus inherent value"
On more mundane notes, it also implies beating a standing record, acting for "capital J" Justice, purifying gold through fire, being reborn, and winning a war. For Alchemists, it also implies the ability to perfect the human condition, and therefore remove the concept of death entirely, other Alchemists believe death not to be a thing, and seek an Alchemical solution to human suffering such as disease or pain.
The Military The Dendapim's Alchemical research has resulted in a plethora of uniquely "Dendapimiq" tools of fighting, for instance:
The Compound Bow: The Dendapim bow hardly resembles the sturdier, simpler bows of other civilizations. Generally, these bows are sturdy and bladed, with the intent of being able to be used as a last resort of necessary. They are smaller, and aim for a good balance of speed and accuracy. They can be fired from a horse.
The Dendapim also have similarly sturdy arrows, and have adapted fireworks (along with a particularly ingenious lighting mechanism on the bow) to create concussive explosions, and even have certain arrows designed to release shrapnel or thick black smoke. These arrows are obviously highly inaccurate, but also don't try to be accurate. Dendapim archers therefore are best suited for thinning out ranks, which gives heavily armored Dendapim a far better chance to best them.
The Far Guard: The Near Guard when it goes abroad, these soldiers are heavily armor, and while their armor began as essentially heavy plates hanging from strong shoulders, their armor is constantly being refined to be more articulated, as well as incorporating as much non-armor as possible in the form of leather and wicker. They always have helmets and throughout the roleplay will acquire masks.
Their weapons, to begin, are long, strong spears with a very heavy tang, so the spearheads are not simply stuck on. There are also soldiers who use axes, and these two groups inevitably meld into a unit who wields a classic axe-spear hybrid the fighting spade, a vertically fanned axe (the Dendapim add one sharp stabbing spike in the middle for good measure) that uses the weight of these heavy spears and the unit's heavy army to break up and slaughter units in nice clean sweeps.
There are also the slightly less armored soldiers who wield muskets. Dendapim muskets are, presently, very unrefined, but throughout the roleplay they gain a variety of advancements from rifling to reloading capabilities to more efficient cleaning. As per usual, muskets are generally used to deaden a large group of clustered soldiers, allowing the bayonets attached to make quick work of the confused enemy. The Dendapim do best against confused, agitated opponents.
Because nothing gets opponents confused and agitated quite like fire, the Dendapim employ a lot of it.
The pinnacle of Dendapim black powder warfare to be acheived is the "Dragon Gun" a seriously dramatic and powerful thing. The Gun looks like a long Chinese Dragon stretched straight. Its tale tapers up into a long sweeping blade, and the dragon's head forms the angular butt of the gun. The dragon has slender wings which extend just above the bayonet and boy of the gun, and they conceal the barrels of the gun. The head of the dragon conceals a mechanism for throwing greek fire, so a soldier can fire, run and pierce the enemy, before throwing himself around and letting the mouth of the dragon breath fire behind him. These soldiers have heat resistance cloaks (and in fact, to have a Dragon Gun would mean they were the highest ranking soldiers, and would probably have won their Earthcloth by then) and are the elite of the elite.
There are also Dendapim cannoneers, who employ moving cannons which are for battering particularly distant armies and sieging, but they are very, very rarely employed outside of walled citadels.
The Dendapim strategy usually involves:
0. Delay and wear down. When sufficient, proceed to step 1.
1. Lay traps to direct the enemy on the desired path. If this step isn't possible, see step 0.
2. Attacking from long range with arrows, muskets, and cannon. If the Enemy attacks, see step 3. If the Enemy retreats, see step 6
3. Break up formations before they arrive, and move soldiers to flank. If Enemy continues attacking, see step 4. If the Enemy retreats, see step 6
4. Divert as much of the force of the army as possible with musketeers and more arrows before receiving blunt of blow with Far Guard.
If the Enemy continues attacking, see step 5. If Enemy retreats, see step 6.
5. Maneuver enemy into easily charged position, send in cavalry behind at least two volleys with everything you've got.
6. Retreat, observe damage, and repeat as necessary.
Tends to work quite well, however, a good General doesn't follow checklists. How many good generals are amongst the Dendapim is questionable, though.
CultureThe Dendapim have a basic, though occasionally inaccurate, solar calendar. There are 357 days in a year, divided into 17 groups of 21, with another eight days leading up to the Spring Equinox, which is considered the new year. Every 21st day is a festival day, and there is no thought of celebration or rest in between them, however, on the eight days leading up to the Spring Equinox, the Dendapim essentially shut down, and hold a festival that far outshines any other in extravagance and expense. So many fireworks and incense is burned that the cities are often filled with smog for days afterwards, and it is a time that is actually considered dangerous for outsiders, as Dendapim tradition can seem very violent. During this festival there are dances, parades, weddings, wedding nights, circuses, sports, competitions, and above all, food.
Food is incredibly important to the Dendapim, and because they live in a volcanic, near sub tropical climate, and practice (thanks to the propagandists and alchemists) incredibly smart farming techniques, food is only rarely in short supply.
The Dendapim diet consists of quite a lot of meat, predominately duck. Generally, the Dendapim use their irrigation pools for farming to raise ducks, and the breed is a particularly lovely type of Pekin, of which absolutely every part is used. Older ducks are often kept as endearing pets and guard animals. The birds are slaughtered; their down is taken for insulation; their skin is prepped and, if removed, chopped and fried and seasoned for sale on the streets (think pork rinds); the livers are usually soaked in milk, cleaned, and mashed for sausage filling (though some ducks are especially fattened for their livers, to produce a finer product); other organs are cleaned and usually prepared before being sold, instead of being sold raw; the blood is made into charcuterie; the legs and wings are usually packed in seasoned salt and allowed to dry before being preserved in a richly flavored concoction made of their own fat and livers; the breast meat is most often sold fresh; the remaining fat is rendered for frying; and the bones, feet, bills, etc get boiled into stock.
The number of ducks the Dendapim keep is very easily caricatured, but they consider the duck as the absolute staple of meats, Chickens are remarkably rare because of this, because Ducks often enough provide eggs as well (though this has recently switched to larger scale operations).
The Dendapim particular enjoy preserved food, charcuterie especially, and consider the bone marrow of large animals a delicacy, while smaller animals have their bones boiled for stock, generally, marrow is considered to have life giving properties.
While the Dendapim have access to many different animals, pork is the second, far behind duck, and it's considered a cheap substitute. Beef is very rare, as Dendapim cows have meat that is generally considered worse than horses, as they have been bread exclusively for dairy, which the Dendapim do enjoy. Very hard cheeses, called "crystalizing cheeses" for their pleasant crunch at the finish, are prefered, with very soft, creamy cheese being enjoyed with fresh fruit. Butter is cooked down into ghee, and the butter solids are preserved, usually dried and given as a seasoning, a particularly decadent example of Dendapim cuisine is piping hot, freshly fried duck skin, seasoned with grains of paradise and butter solids, with crumbled hazelnuts. The Dendapim do not drink milk or cream, though custard tarts made of sour cream or soft cheeses are common festival foods.
The Dendapim's staple vegetables are the sweet potato, taro, and the beet, which grow wild along the sandier regions of the Dendapim's coastline, and which they have harvested for their vibrant colors and nutritional oomph. Other root vegetables are common, such as turnips and carrots, but they are usually considered too small, and saved for garnishing stews. Beet roots and taro are often made into a sweet, vividly red liquor, which the Dendapim are highly fond of, and usually serve with fresh celery seed cordial. The various root vegetables are often served grated thin and macerated in vinegar before being fried with some flour into crisp pancakes, or roasted whole with the other staple of Dendapim cuisine, the onion family.
The Dendapim's love of onions and their kin is obvious as soon as you enter a Dendapim market, inevitably there will be four or five varieties of onion at every food stand, and at last one stand devoted entirely to the family of bulbous, pungent plant. Bulb onions of every shade, from tender young green onions to apple-sweet white onions to lip searingly piquent red onions, along with shallots, leeks of various colors, and garlic both young and old. The Dendapim treat each onion with respect, having certain beliefs for them, and various superstitions on how many should be in certain dishes, and which ought not mingle and which cannot be parted. The result is food that is famously fragrant.
Cabbages are also incredibly common, usually petite ones, like brussel sprouts, and certain young flowering varieties are also popular.
Mushrooms are less common, but woodgrowing varieties are particularly beloved by the Dendapim.
Legumes such as peas and lentils are universally beloved for being cheap, numerous, healthy, and delicious.
Grain is generally in the form of classic wheat, and predominately sold simply as flour. The Dendapim prepare a variety of pastas and noodles, in a plethora of shapes and sizes, but they are very rarely treated as more than a wrapping. Dendapim flour is particularly hard, so the pasta tends to be on the chewier side. Bread, while common, is not an artform as it is in other places, as it is generally always made from a basic starter (Dendapim disagree on which baker has the best starter) and bakers are actually more likely to sell
stale bread. Dendapim who do enjoy bread often soak it in egg and dairy (Yes, as in Pain Perdu, French toast) and fry them up either savory or sweet, usually as a base for food. Bread custards and breadcrumbs are quite common. The Dendapim do not eat nearly as much bread or noodles as would seem normal, and the only bread that they value is incredibly rich equal parts butter-flour festival breads, similar to brioche, and flatbreads, served on the streets fresh and stuffed with succulent roast pork or duck in spicy sauce with pickled vegetables, a particular Dendapim delight.
Honey and Vinegar are two very important preservatives that the Dendapim tend to use as their staple ingredients. Along with nuts they form the base of many a Dendapim meal.
Nuts and all nut biproducts could be called the real heart of Dendapim cooking, because while fats, fish, and root vegetables are certainly pronounced, there is rarely a meal that does not have a nut, droop, or legume with it. They are often treated as a spice as well as a crucial filler.
The most valued spice above all else is Vanilla, which is horribly persnickity, blooming maybe one day out of the year, and growing only on far off islands that the Dendapim cannot conveniently control or colonize. Vanilla, its fragrance, and its taste are all associated with royalty, and the word for "pearl" "vanilla" and "palace" are all the same in Nyarladhotepna, the Dendapim's mother tongue.
For port cities, fresh fish is often just as common as any other meat, but changes with the seasons. The Dendapim love shellfish most, as there are a variety of superstitions about them, and their flavor can be extended with stocks made from shrimps, lobsters, crabs, and the like. The most beloved Dendapim seafood is the Skate, however, a type of kite with delicate flesh that, prepared right, is the Dendapim's idea of royal cuisine. Skate on Vanilla Seafoam with Pistachios is the official dish of the Avatar, and many Dendapim never actually get to eat it.
Fruits of all kinds are common, with peaches being a general favorite, along with melons. The most elegant fruit is the Mangosteen, which is actually a symbol that can be given by the Dendapim government to show a person who has done well for the Dendapim cause and represents "Zi." Dried, salted, pineapple is a common sweet treat. Dried fruit is very common due to the Dendapim's love of preserved food, and also the more potent flavor.
Every Dendapim kitchen has a jar of honey, usually from a specific flower, full to bursting with walnuts, pistachios, almonds, macademia, as well as star anise, peppercorns (red, green, white, and black), grains of paradise, vanilla sprigs, bay leaves, thyme, sage, and cinnamon. This mixture is the first thing that is brought into a new house (and is often given as a gift from past owners to new owners, so the kitchen is never without it) and it is served like one might serve jelly. It is renewed occasionally when cheap, quality ingredients become available, and takes part in many Spring Equinox rituals. Many a Dendapim finds themselves abroad wishing for a taste of this sweet, salty, spicy, strange concoction, preferably on a loaf of festival bread, or perhaps cooked down on a pile of skewered, roasted fruit.
Architecture:The Dendapim are generally quite talented engineers, if not absolutely horrible mathematicians. The Dendapim upgrade and expand their cities through private donations, so often roads have archways overhead, which are adorned with a statue, perhaps a dramatic fountain, or simply a name of the benefactor. The Dendapim enjoy open spaces, and also consider the honeycomb a symbol that is both auspicious and opulent, and six sided columns are quite common, and often hollowed out with honeycombs. These columns are so common that they are often used as mailboxes, and the particularly wealthy will fill the various honeycombs with glass, often spelling out a saying or depicting a person sigil.
The Dendapim have
no access to glass. It is considered incredibly valuable because the Dendapim do not control anything close to the appropriate sand or soda ash or other things necessary for glassmaking. Generally, it hasn't mattered much, but glass remains a sign of tremendous esteem, and stained glass, usually geometricly arranged and in rich blues and green, require the sort of money in line with Vanderbilts.
The Dendapim live in individual families, but tend to pool their resources with other families (very rarely relatives) with the intent of forming alliances and relationships, this also allows for particularly beautiful public spaces between the various homes. The honeycomb is a particularly common way of laying out homes, for reasons both of religion and efficiency.
Streets are usually broad and wide, with many cloth awnings stretched over fenced off reaches of the street set with benches and tables. The center of the roads are often decorated with fountains to control traffic. Dendapim roads are marked by large, ornate milestones which usually denote the name of the road, which are almost always named after the person who spent most on the road. The Dendapim rely essentially on one-upmanship to produce beautiful, efficient roads. The Dendapim like Cyprus and Palm trees for lining roads. Also common are medium high lying planters in a honeycomb shape filled with compost which boast explosions of flowers, most popular being the Bird of Paradise.
The most famous Dendapim Road, the Champs-Elysee of the Dendapim, is in the capital city of Galatsella. Named Qsamadar, this street reaches wide up the city which sits between two mountains, one looking down a terraced hillside, and the other looking down over sweeping hills to the sea. This road runs straight up the center of the city, a wide circle with an elaborate honeycomb entrance to a massive palace, the hall of the Avatar, running due Southwest from the entrance is the road, a broad, flat paved tan road, bordered on either side by low lying aqueducts with sweeping, low arches, which run down the road with occasional dramatic steps. Beyond this, on either side, is another slightly higher path, with a high planter beyond that, bursting with flowers, the top a series of aligned birds of paradise, their little floral beaks pointing up at an angle towards the entrance to the Avatar's hall. Beyond these planters are a series of tall, richly spherical Royal Palms, behind that medium bougainvilleas dispersed evenly between tall thin cyprus trees. These elaborate trees are broken by large hexagonal plazas which break off from the road, opening up more and more, encircled by this arrangement of trees and flowers. This road, and the huge hexagonally shaped entrance at its end, is the symbol of the Dendapim, appearing on their currency, and houses and shops along this road are always built with loft terraced roofs with elaborate pillars and vine covered patio covers with elaborate ironwork and tarps, with plenty of space to look down on the street. Many famous markets have actually moved to their flat roofs to get a view of the road.
Because the Dendapim are most famous for their cloth's strength, and the Dendapim weather is usually sunny, rainy, or windy, and often a combination thereof, the Dendapim tend to forgo roofs and stretch brightly colored, watertight canvases out like tents over their homes. Since roofs are usually accessible, this is rarely hard. More elaborate places have metal lattice work domes over which the canvas is stretched, and more elaborate still have large latticework structures (think Eiffel tower), but these are rarely seen outside palaces. The roofs are usually open during the summer, and the Dendapim usually make a point of keeping anything that they wouldn't want wet out of the open places anyway. The windier places tend to be built so as to part most of the wind, leaving only the sound, which the Dendapim consider pleasant.
The Dendapim live in a very hot, sub-tropical tropical area that tends to be very dry inland and very wet by the coasts. The Dendapim often use the winds to their advantage by building tall square windcatchers (the rich top these with vines, draperies, flags, and metalworking). These towers do the cities of the Dendapim, and the Propagandists often pay for their construction in exchange for the equivalent of advertising space. Flags and banners hang from them, and the taller, more dramatic ones become famous landmarks. The towers siphon warm air down into tunnels and over cool running water or into cooled basements (often used as cellars, some getting cold enough to maintain small amounts of ice), which then flow back up throw the homes. This is a relatively recent feature, but it is becoming incredibly widespread to combat the incredibly hot weather of the Dendapimaria.
Because Nemea is goddess of the Hearth, there are often elaborate setups for the Dendapim. Generally, the hearth and its chimney are at the corner of the house, with a long bar extending from them, a trench for coals running down the center of the bar. More modern hearths have fountains around them, both to keep warm water and for washing. Some homes keep their hearths near balconies or open walls, and often groups will have hearths in their open areas, for communal gatherings during pleasant days. The Dendapim's favorite activity is to go to their balconies or out to the streets to listen to singers and actors, who are usually preparing for festivals, and form a rarely spoken of demographic of the Citizenry.
