Sefdaanian ethnography Ch. 14, Technology 1

Technology

Mechanics

The six simple machines are available to the Six Loquent Peoples:

1. the lever (ĸosúṙos)
2. the pulley (ðǫṁṙéþos)
3. the screw (ĸ̧uřúṙos )
4. the wheel (ṙéþos) and axle (áƶos)
5. the wedge (ṁeȝ̇úṙos)
6. the inclined plane (dèȝ̇mëlȩ́pos)

The following tools are available:

• Agriculture (þṙèfṁeídas):
  • hoe (saṙúṙos)
  • harrow (šaṙúṙos)
  • planting stick (beṙgúṙos)
  • sickle/scythe (meþúṙos)
  • plow (ȝ̇elúṙos)
  • water wheel (àṁdëṙéþos)
  • swingle/scutch/flail (pisúṙos)
  • winnowing fan (ṁęúṙos)
• Animal husbandry (tasṁóṙtas):
  • shears (pecúṙos)
  • crook (lít̬os)
• Equitation (ècüą́qtas):
  • bit (ðṙèuláṙðos)
  • hackamore (ðṙèulsɔ́ṁos)
  • harness (ðuṙúṙos)
  • bridle (sɔ́ṁos)
  • halter (ƶ̧ulúṙos)
  • headstall ()
  • reins ()
  • saddle (séðlos)
  • whip (lógos)
• Construction (démas):
  • hammer (temúṙos)
  • sledge hammer (temúṙƶos)
  • mallet (m̧úxcos)
  • single-bladed ax (áxsos)
  • double-bladed ax (seĸúṙos)
  • saw (pę̀ilúṙos)
  • plane (gelvúṙos)
  • chisel (cąnúṙos)
  • scissors (d̬isį́mos)
  • drill (puṙúṙos)
  • tongs (bą́ĸos)
  • file (ṁṙįnúṙos)
  • trowel (lȩ̀fĸaȝúṙos)
  • shovel (voðúṙos)
• Crafts (ų́ṙas):
  • loom (ṁevúṙos)
  • loom comb (patúṙos)
  • sewing needle (şųúṙos)
  • knitting needle (mezgúṙos)
• Miscellaneous (mèicóes):
  • magnifying glass (meƶúṙos)
• Hunting and fishing (ĸéduĸ̌e peísĸuĸ̌e):
  • bow (lúgos)
  • arrow (íšos)
  • trap (ṙitúṙos)
  • fish lure (acénos)
  • net (tentólos)
  • fishnet (ĸúltos)
  • fishhook (pèisĸúṙos)
  • fishing pole (peísĸëȝ̇ázdos)
  • weir (nádos)
• Boating: (ną́ṁas)
  • anchor (ĸicúṙos)
  • paddle/oar (eṙúṙos)
  • oarpin (t̬élos)
  • boat pole (gaȝúṙos)
  • sail (seĸélos)
• Weapons (càturóes):
  • battle-axe (aǧésos)
  • spear/lance (cunúṙos)
  • sword (ę́nsos)
  • blowpipe (ṁȩcólmos)
  • sling (ĸipúṙos)
  • crossbow (şógos)
  • quarrel (ƶápos)

Food production

• All the Peoples have access to a number of foodstuffs, both animal and vegetable, but each of them specializes in particular foods that characterize their cuisine

The Ethrans

• Specialized food production for the Ethrans consists of the raising of geese and pigeons; the growing of oats, crocuses and roses; and the keeping of bees. Some of the Ethrans also hunt wild fowl.
• Geese are raised for their flesh and their eggs. Goose fat is used for frying and flavoring.
• Wild fowl, such as partridge and pheasant, are hunted for sport with gyrfalcons and their flesh graces the Ethran dinner table.
• Pigeons are raised to be used as carrier pigeons, but they are also eaten, as are their eggs.
• Oats are raised in fields around the citadels.
• Saffron and rose are the Ethrans’ favorite flavors. Some are grown out-of-doors, but the Ethrans maintain greenhouses so that these flavors are available all year long.
• Bee hives are maintained for honey and wax. The bees gather pollen from the crocuses and the roses. The honey is fermented to make mead.
• Various Ethrans are skilled in doing this work: farmers, gardeners, animal keepers, beekeepers, brewers, millers.

The Pyrans

• The major source of food for the Pyrans comes from the goat. Although cheviot is eaten, the goats are used mainly as a source of milk for making cheese and butter. Several types of cheese are made. If rennet is not available, vinegar is used to curdle the milk. The butter is clarified to make it imperishable.
• In their home gardens they grow, among other things, the fennel and the horseradish which characterize Pyran cuisine.
• Chickpeas are grown on communal land. Everyone lends a hand to care for the crop and the produce is divided among all the families.
• Everyone has at least one sloe tree on his property, the creamy white blossoms of which beautify the dábos street in the spring. The berries are used to make jam and the juice is fermented into a wine and a liqueur.

The Hydorans

• There is very little food production among the Hydorans. Most of what they eat is provided by nature.
• The primary source of the Hydorans’ protein is what they catch in the water: fish, frogs, crayfish, eels to name a few. These are eaten either raw or grilled over peat coals. Fish are caught with either hook and line are in throw nets. If the lake on which they live is large enough, they often fish from some type of water craft. Their otter companions also do some fishing for them.
• Their ponies are free range but come when called. The mares are milked on occasion to provide milk for drinking and for fermenting. Fermenting to make an alcoholic drink is the only food process in which the Hydorans engage, other than cooking.
• Much of the Hydoran culture revolves around the cattail (Typha latifolia). As food from bottom to top:
  • the roots are cooked and eaten like potatoes, or they may be crushed and boiled to make a sweet syrup, or they are ground into a powder and used like flour (although there is no gluten). This is done when the weather becomes cold when they are richest in starch.
  • the young shoots and stems can be eaten raw or cooked rather like asparagus.
  • the immature spike can be cooked are eaten rather like corn on the cob.
  • the seed also can be eaten either raw or cooked or pressed to yield its oil in which the Hydorans do their frying.
  • and the pollen can be eaten.
• Other water plants harvested in the wild are a food source for the Hydorans. Watercress and water mint are the characteristic spices in Hydoran cuisine. And the cranberry is used as is, but sweetened, and is make a fermented wine.

The Humans

• The horse is the center of the Human culture and, on occasion, horsemeat is eaten. However, most of the protein in their diet is gotten from wild game. Smaller game, such as antelope, is hunted on horseback with eagles. Larger game, such as aurochs and giant deer, is also hunted on horseback, but with bow and arrow.
• Lentils are grown in gardens around the ceímos and tended by the women.
• The corn poppy grows wild on the steppes and the seeds are harvested in the fall. The seeds are used to flavor their cuisine or are ground for their oil. The leaves are not eaten since it is more important to await the seeds. The petals also to produce a flavored syrup.
• The cherry plum grows along the rivers that flow through the steppes. In the fall the fruit is picked and either eaten raw or made into jam. The juice is made into a fermented beverage.
• Wild basil is grown in the family gardens and used to flavor Human cuisine. It is able to be dried and thus available throughout the winter. If the harvest is plentiful enough, the leaves can be cooked and served like spinach.

The Xylans

• The Xylans eat much of their food raw although, given enough time and desire, they do sometimes cook their food.
• The Xylans are vegetarians and eat various kinds of nuts, especially the acorn, as their primary source of protein. The bitter taste of acorns, due to tannins, do not bother the Xylans and they seldom leach the acorns. The time necessary to leach the acorns also interferes with their roving life style.
• A number of wild fruits are available in the forests, but the Xylans are partial to the wild cherry. The sap yields an edible gum, but the Xylans would not wound the bark to obtain it, gathering it only from trees naturally wounded.
• The Xylans enjoy chewing wild angelica for its licorice-like flavor.

The Lithans

• The Lithans grow buckwheat on their valley floors and in terraces.
• Their main source of protein is mushrooms, many varieties of which they grow in their mountain caves.
• A supplementary source of protein is wild game. With the help of their domesticated foxes, the Lithans hunt small game such as rabbits, hares, and groundhogs.
• The black elderberry tree is grown in their valleys for their fruit which is made into jams and chutneys and can baked in pies. The five-petaled white blossoms are made into an infusion for drinking or a syrup for flavoring. Elderberry wine is very popular.
• In their gardens they grow lemon balm and parsley to flavor their cuisine. Parsley root is a favorite vegetable.

Architecture

Dwellings

The Ethrans

• The Ethrans live in great stone edifices known as citadels (ðúnos) consisting of dormitories (šefdáṙos), offices, refectory (eðcélnos) and kitchen (pèĸücélnos), a worship room (tozcélnos), a meeting room (ĸàntïcélnos), a recreation room (nųbcélnos), observation towers (gèþqǫṙdémos), dovecotes (κòlombéðlos), hothouses (ȝ̇èlnëmųldémos), and extensive gardens. The citadels cannot be seen as they are made invisible by the séfƶas (“magic” energy). Outsiders can gain access only through an archway made visible when necessary.
• The main entrance leads into a large rotunda (ǧeþcélnos), the ceiling of which is painted a light blue. On it in gold are painted the stars visible from that location at midnight on the winter solstice.
• Straight ahead there is a door leading into the worship room. All doors are high enough to permit the comfortable entrance of a Xylan. This circular room is painted all in white. The center point is surrounded by six sections of seating, one for each of the Loquent Peoples who may be in attendance.
• There are four two-story wings of the citadel, one to the right upon entering the rotunda, one to the left, and one to either side between the front wings and the worship room. The wing to the left contains the refectory and the kitchen. The wing to the right contains offices. The second floors of these wings and the two other wings contain dormitories, male on the left side, female on the right. Through the combined use of magic and mechanics there is indoor plumbing. All of the wings have glass windows.
• Above the rotunda rises a tower on the top of which are the accomodations of the archimage of that citadel: private quarters, office, laboratories, observation decks.
• Outside the building, both between the wings and scattered over the estate are various workshops, gardens and greenhouses.

The Pyrans

• The Pyran family lives in an adobe (càlmëðeíȝ̇os) house with a wooden roof (gų́los). The adobe is made from the clay (ðeíȝ̇os) of the river banks. These houses line both sides of the one street of the dábos. In the center of one side is the community house (ĸàntïdémos) where the people meet for town meetings and worship. Opposite the community house is the bath house (pándos).
• The typical gų́los contains three rooms. Entrance is into the center room which is the living area/kitchen (žįȝcélnos). To either side is a bedroom (šefcélnos), one for the parents and one for the children. The dirt floor is covered with rush mats. An adobe oven (aúĸ̌os) in a front corner of the living room provides heat for warmth and cooking The fuel is wood and dung. Windows in the three rooms are covered with oiled parchment. The windows are protected on the outside by wooden shutters. Tapestries woven from goat hair are hung wherever there is a need to prevent a draft. Candles provide needed light.
• There is a door in the center of the rear wall which leads, via a short passage, to an outhouse (cèĸüdémos). Strewing herbs are used in the outhouse and in the living area to impart a pleasant odor to the rooms.
• Along the length of the house on the back are two large rooms separated by the outhouse. These are the stables (qómos). The bucks and wethers are kept in one, the does in another.

The Hydorans

• The Hydoran family lives in a one-room thatch house (càlmëvánδos) with a wooden floor built on stilts over the water. Although there are no windows, there are two doors which admit some light in the warmer weather. Rope ladders (şàcüṙeníȝos) hang from the deck (b̧ásos) to allow access. Rope bridges (şàcüvṙę́ṁos) give access from one house to another, although, if the water is deep enough and warm enough, the Hydorans readily swim from one place to another. The family sleeps on rush mats on the floor. If the house becomes too small to accommodate the family, it is dismantled and a larger one built.
• A firepan (p̌ónësĸóṙðos) in the center under a smoke hole (ṙápos) provides heat for warmth and cooking. The fuel is peat (talóngos).

The Humans

• The Human family lives in a below-ground house (aṙgéļos). That part of the house above ground and the roof are made of sod (námos). Grass is allowed to grow on the sod. There is a smokehole in the roof (sáṙmos). There is a staircase (ṙeníȝos) going down to the entrance. A high sill (p̓ósos) at the door helps prevent rainwater from entering the house, although entrance to the staircase can be covered with horsehide to eliminate a lot of the rainwater. The wooden door is often covered with a horse hide hanging to prevent drafts. While on the steppes, pasturing the horses, the men build temporary sod shelters (coqómos).
• A firehole (p̌ónësĸóṙðos) in the center under a smoke hole (sáṙmos) provides heat for warmth and cooking. The fuel is dung, either horse or wild cattle (talóngos).

The Xylans

• Each Xylan builds for himself a log cabin (ṙąþṁȩ́sos) in his personal territory in the forest. It is here that he keeps his supplies and personal items, but he is seldom in his cabin. The Xylans roam freely across the land.
• The Xylans are impervious to the heat and the cold, but a fire is nice once in a while. The cabin has a fireplace which is also used for cooking, although Xylans eat a lot of their food raw. The fuel is deadfall (fǫldéřos), as the Xylans never cut down a living tree.

The Lithans

• The Lithan family lives in a stone house (gų́los) with a metal roof. Both of these materials are mined from their mountains. The houses are similar to those of the Pyrans but, whereas the Pyran house is long with the three rooms in a row, the Lithan house is narrower with the two bedrooms behind the living room. Oiled parchment covers the windows and there are metal shutters on the outside. The outhouse is entered from the side of the living room.
• A metal oven stands against the back wall for heating and cooking. The fuel is dung from the donkeys and argalis.
• The stable is separate from the house and the donkeys and argalis are stabled together.