Dreamland

Dreamland was a nation founded in the northwestern corner of the continent of Rilola by immigrants from the islands of Laba.

Language

The language was closely related to that of its enemy Kava. The proper name for their shared proto-language is Meromo.

Phonology

Consonants of proto-Dreamlandic

Labials:       /p b m f β w/
Alveolars:     /t d n s l ř/
Postalveolars: /č ǯ ñ š j/
Velars:        /k ŋ/

Note that /ŋ/ was realized as nasalization of the preceding vowel except before a stop consonant, in which case it assimilated to that consonant. Thus, the sound [ŋ] is actually very rare.

Unlike the closely related Kava, the voiced stops /b d ǯ/ were preserved. However, there was no corresponding voiced velar stop /ġ/.

Vowels of proto-Dreamlandic

/a e i o u/

There is a four-way contrast of à/ă/ā/á for tones, although á is rare.

Early depalataization

The palatals /č ǯ ñ š/ changed to /k ŋ ŋ f/ before the back vowel [u], and to the coronals /t n s/ elsewhere. This new /ŋ/ was a true sound, unlike the old ŋ which merely nasalized the preceding vowel, even between two vowels. However, this new sound proved more stable, and the only ŋ also became a true velar nasal. Note that the /f/ above can be considered a variant of |h| but that this language simply did not have an /h/.

Then, /β/ > /v/ unconditionally. (A spelling change for convenience, not a true sound change.)

Geography and wildlife

Dreamland's climate is ideal for human habitation. However, it is among the least densely populated areas of the planet for humans because it is also the ideal climate for many species that prey on humans.

Firebirds

Chief among these is the firebird, a close relative of the seagull which in recent evolutionary history evolved from a fish-based diet to a diet consisting almost entirely of land animals, including humans. Firebirds are ambush predators, preferring to remain out of sight, hidden by shelter or other natural formations, and then swoop on a human from behind. They prefer to dive on a human from above at maximum speed, push the human to the ground, and then incapacitate the human by biting off a hand or other vulnerable body part. By this time, in most cases, the human has already sustained deep wounds from the initial impact of the bird's beak cutting into their body at high speed, as well as the bird's talons tearing into their body from behind. Therefore blood loss is rapid and further resistance from the human tends to be weak.

Because their first attack is almost invariably to bite off the human's right hand, humans' defense is limited to small, one-handed weapons that are little threat to firebirds. In most cases, the human will bleed to death from their rapidly accumulated wounds without effectively fighting back against the firebird, but if the human is able to counterattack, or strong enough to stand up and flee, the firebird can quickly retreat to safety and attempt a second attack when its human prey is further weakened by blood loss and other injuries.

Other land predators

Firebirds mostly stay close to the seacoast despite their diet, as the high temperatures of the interior in summer will quickly exhaust them. But humans are not safe inland either because the interior of Dreamland is home to several other predators who hunt humans, such as pigs, desert wolves, and wildcats. There are also eagles, who hunt humans in a very similar manner to the firebirds near the coast, but humans are not their preferred prey.

Animal attacks at sea

Off the north coast of Dreamland, humans are even more vulnerable, because they are preyed upon by sharks and other fish, as well as, to a lesser extent, by seals and other aquatic mammals. Firebirds are also known to travel miles out to sea, using their keen eyesight to spot humans on their watercraft from the distant shore. However, the ocean is also the primary food source for humans in Dreamland, even those living far inland, and therefore humans on boats are keenly aware of their predators and will put up a ferocious struggle to survive an attack by any of the aforementioned animals. Dreamers generally build themselves large boats with sheltered areas into which they can retreat should they be attacked by a firebird. Seals generally hunt by ramming their bodies through the lower deck of the humans' boats, to which the human response is to use their fishing spears to fight back against the seal.

Humans as prey of pack animals

Most of the predators of humans are solitary hunters, and will attack humans at their most vulnerable: when they are alone, and generally when they are unarmed. However, firebirds have been known to attack in flocks as well, in which dozens or even hundreds of firebirds will simultaneously descend on a human city and carry out the same types of attacks they use when they attack one-on-one. Generally, each bird will alternate between stages of actively attacking and resting on top of buildings, out of humans' reach. A mass firebird attack can last for an entire day. The birds on the buildings keep watch for the others, and will attack any humans attempting to flee. Because a human attempting to flee has a reduced ability to defend themselves, these people are the most vulnerable and the most likely to die in a mass attack. Humans who stick together have a better survival rate in these battles, even though they are likely to face multiple firebirds attacking them from all directions. Humans always cluster together in circles where each individual faces outward, meaning that firebirds can only attack them from the front, where they are stronger and better able to protect themselves. Here, sometimes two birds will attack the same human, usually with one biting off the arms or hands and the other attempting to bite off their feet. When this happens, the humans who are free for the moment will attempt to grab onto the wings of each bird and pull them off of the other human. Since this requires the use of both hands, this leaves the humans open to attack from behind from another bird, and in some cases chains of birds and humans biting and grasping each other will form long lines or even loops as each animal tries to get the better of the other.

Politics and government

Dreamland was an explicitly political nation: rather than being founded on the basis of membership in a particular tribe or belief in a particular religion, people living in Dreamland were made to agree to certain political beliefs.