As part of my weekly goal to connect my origin to the present, today I wrote out the continents in my world, Amideka, and how their powers affect their development and conflict. One question I’m still struggling with is population growth and the time needed. In this age, Harok is sitting on his plans for revenge by building up his nation and reach of power through alliances and blackmail across the globe. You will see through the pieces of each nation how he plans to launch his first open offensive, and then in the end of the post how he will start the next age – Dark Age.
Each tribe was responsible for building their ships and supplies were divided equally. Yelen Delegates went with each ship to help each tribe get settled and became the police force to ensure compliance with God’s Law, as spoken through the prophet Tanith.

The tribes then used their powers to set up each nation’s strength.

i. Tanithari: Yelen Family; Original Continent; Home to Tribal Council. Organizes resources like Solomon to be capital of civilization. Tanith uses power of wisdom to make decisions and plans which help the nation prosper. Schools are set up where people learn tasks meant to help the gifted ones better execute their duties. For example, Horticulture is studied to best utilize the water which the Fateal family helps produce so that crops are abundant in dry spells.

ii. Haroktan : Fateal Family; Power of Water used to produce clean water supplies and water crops and eventually produce hydro-electric power. Their close proximity to equatorial continents provides ample opportunity to sell their water for the above reasons, as well as for cooling.

iii. Trinix: “Three Claw”; Pinkton Family; Small island that is both dangerous for concentration of deadly plants and animals, but also source of unique medicines. First victim to demon worship, as some start ingesting hallucinagetic toxins (licking frogs, and certain tree saps). This leads to mythology of trees as God’s Watchers and revering trees as God. After the first volcanic eruption, which decimated one of the islands, a practice of human sacrifice was instituted in an effort to bring the trees back. The Fatealans sold them rain bringers to help the trees grow in return for medicines and stones.

iv. Wijugal; Healer Nation, the Marooms; Eventually, as the tribes grew, last names were added, with only direct descendants of the Tribal Guardian getting the last name of Maroom. Thus healers became known as “marooms”. They are highly valued worldwide, because of the diseases that are introduced after growing up in a safe haven on Tanithari. There powers are limited, and so an alliance is formed with the Pinktons for medicines that help the marooms regain strength as well as to fight disease without using their powers.

v. Niktar; Swordbearers, the Silvs. They train soldiers and hunters based on their gift of mindswipe. They are able to project the sharpness of their blade at varying distances. They work in tandem with the Orans from Ta’Gri, the metal formers, to shape the finest blades. They also work with the Broones of Drakkenhof, the earth shakers, to develop a style of fighting that teams up the two abilities. Intermarriage creates descendants which have a blend of both abilities over time. The Silvs are closely allied to the Fateals and Drakkenhofs because all three chose wives out of order and thus didn’t get the power. The relationship between metals, rock moving, and swordsmanship create a tight bond which will eventually fight for power from Tanithari, to become their own Council of Nations. The last thing they will need is Tanith’s death before they can convince the rest of the world to move on from his prophecies and the old ways.

vi. Lemsoon; The Visionaries; The Peripels; They are the only continent connected to another, with a landbridge to Tanithari. Tanith uses their visionaries to help keep an eye on the rest of the world, with his delegates being his hands and feet for quick response time to any troubles. The Peripels are hated second only to the Yelens by Harok and his allies, calling them spies for the tyrant. For those nations concerned about being attacked by Harok, the Peripels are paid well for security to be lookouts. Harok is believed to be paying his advisors handsomely to figure out a way to blind the Peripels, at least over his country. Until he finds this defense, no one will know what he intends. When he does, they will enter the Dark Age with a great war.

vii. Pal’Holi; Energy Nation, The Beluvs; At first, the Beluvs could not figure what their powers were for, except for shocking people and stunning enemies. Once they discovered conductivity, they worked very closely with the Yelens to study electricity. The Yelen’s invested in this not only through their schools, but also with the metals they purchased and mined. In return, the Beluvs agree to use this power to power Tanithari, and it’s capital city, Esolton. Harok has also invested in spies to steal this technology and cripple Tanith once it is realized. The invasion will wait for both this discovery of useful electricity and the blinding of the Peripels.

viii. Ta’Gri: The Metal Makers; The Orans; Gifted with the abilitiy to morph the elements in inadament objects, they work on turning rock into gold and other metals useful for society and technological advancement. The limitation they have is imagination. They need the Yelens to study the elements of rocks to figure out what is strong, light, flame resistant, etc. Unfortunately, that relationship is strained from their alliance with Horak, Drakkenhof and the Broones. They believe the Yelens are hiding their research because they don’t want the Orans to sell it to their enemies. They are one of the richest nations, second only to Tanithari because their resource is both useful and pretty. They play on pride and charge very high prices. If someone isn’t willing to pay, it is said they will turn all their precious metals to dust on their way out of town, effectively crippling the town, state or nation if the supply they ruin is large enough. For this reason, many nations hid their metals and spread them out.

ix. Drakkenhof: Earthshakers, The Broones. The first power discovered outside of the original twelve sons, was by Delista. His dad, Feder, controlled his son through fear, forcing him to only use his power when commanded by Feder. The Drakkenhofs sell their services to help flatten land for farming, but have been accused of creating earthquakes to demolish villages who wouldn’t pay their price. They are allied to the Orans through their ability to split mines of precious elements for easier digging and to the Silvs by teaming their shakers up with the swordsmen for lethal fighting units. Near the end of the Exploration Age, they are banned from Tanithari and widely accused of terrorism.

x. Codesta; Fire speakers, the Reditz; Theirs is the gift of fire, and is useful in trade with Kaitubae, the northern most continent save for the polar ice caps. Before the Dark Age, Harok will plot an invasion to force them to wed his daughter and tie their power to his. Taking out their people on Kaitubae will be a crucial step to wiping out the Whittens and stealing their scepter because they will freeze to death if they do not turn it over to Harok.

xi. Balrain; Shepherds, the Grenettes; They have the power to communicate with living beings to coerce and move, though not those with souls. This means they can move plants and animals to do their will. They have lush plantlife and efficient use of animals for both labor, protection, traveling, and communication (by carrier). They are called in to control herds for meat production and in case of poisonous or infected animals, insects or even plants, they are able to shoo them away or even cause them to die. An example of killing a plant would be convincing it that it must hide from the light, and then in doing so it dies from lack of sunlight. Or, they could send a natural predator to kill the plant. One of their strengths is being able to tell a family of predatory animals to protect a certain family, and then being able to leave and that family of animals, say wolves, bears or hawks will live and die by their side, teaching their children to do the same when they die.

xii. Kaitubae: The Whittens, or Light Bearers; They harness the power of light over darkness and evil. Evil cannot penetrate their space. Harok will cause rain to quench the fires from Codestan Speakers which heat Kaitubae, forcing them to turn over their scepter and letting Harok occupy their land. This will mark the beginning of the Dark Age because in Harok’s hands, the scepter will emit darkness – the only way to prevent the Peripel’s from spying on his land and activity. From here, he will execute his plan to invade Tanithari and kill Tanith.

Again, I’m not sure how long this would take before Harok makes his move. A few hundred years? Less? He is probably 300-350 years old by now if I let the Haven Age last 300 years. I could cut that age in half to give more time for setting up each country so that Harok isn’t too old before invading. This is important because of the population level involved in the wars of the Dark Age. If I can think of a way for Harok to feel overwhelmed by invading Tanithari for long enough, he will spend most of his life attacking the weaker villages and building wealth and power in secret. Then, he discovers a plan to force Kaitu to hand over his scepter, which starts the domino effect which will end in his conquest of Tanithari.

Very amazing and well-thought out. There's a lot of fascinating detail and logical developments here.

I agree. As I was reading this, it felt like you would need about 200-300 years to develop these unique cultures and increase the population. You could shorten that time if you say that the various groups were well on their way to developing their unique cultures and gifts before they settled on the new continents. (That only works if you don't need the time to increase the overall population, though.) I think it makes more sense for this age to last 200-300 years.

A couple of questions. What keeps Tanithari from being perfect and Eden-like? Right now, it sounds like they have everything, and are more "righteous" than anyone else.

Is Katiubae without sin, since "evil cannot penetrate their space"?

Is Trinix the only continent that fell to false worship? Is everyone else still following God's law? Do Haroktan and her allies subscribe to a false religion or atheism?

Thank you Philli! Good questions too

Tanith is like Moses, a prophet who is far from perfect, though your point will make me develop his imperfections and in turn some key sources of history.

Kaitubae isn't like Eden or anything, but like the priestly caste. When concentrating on their scepter's power, the demons that seek to posses man and animal are repelled.

Trinix isn't the only one to fall to false religion. I would say that is rampant across the globe, especially with Harok and his friends resisting God's Word as given by Tanith, the prophet. Harok's son will take his scepter at the end of the Dark Age and cause a darkness to grow across half the planet as part of a spell he is casting to change the face of their territory to become more evil and magical/demonic.

That makes more sense. I think it would be good if you brought out Tanith's faults (and, hence, the imperfection of his continent) a bit more, just for realism. The dramatist in me says that Tanith wouldn't make a good MC (or even someone we're supposed to sympathize greatly with) if he's perfect. Just in general - drama thrives on imperfection.

So Katiubae is like a Catholic convent, a place that, while it isn't perfect, is a haven focused on religion and populated by people dedicated to the faith? Are they similar to the Levites? Do they worship God (for now) more or less in truth?

What other kinds of false religions prevail on the world? Are they key to your story? Who, besides Tanithari, still follows God?