Wow, those are very nice. Do the markings on the kilt(s) have any significant meaning, or are they simply decorative?

As far as these pictures go, it was purely decorative to fill space, but the actually clothing might have meaningful patterns wovens in with religious meaning or family markings. The woven strips of leather or bark used for corsets might be colored with dyes or paints and the weaving patterns changed.

Very interesting..when you decide on these designs, and meanings of colors, I'd like to see a description.

Cool. I'm working up a description of Raitoli'ri clothing, I wish I could use those figures but I can't draw at all.

TF, I put the figure models up in the Collaborative discussion thread. Feel free to dress them for your own culture. :)

Tekann Sailing Ships
I know I mentioned somewhere that the Tekann aren't into oceanic exploration, but they do use ships and do sail for transportation, travel, and fishing. Boat drawing requiring more curves and I, unable to draw curvy things to my satisfaction, have opted to collect photos that demonstrate what I what and textually piece them together. Simple outrigger canoes are used on inland rivers and canals, to conserve space. The more interesting boat forms are those used on the seas. Smaller ships use hollowed out logs framed together into a trimaran, While larger ships are constructed of jointed planks and sealed with resins. The rigging used is of the "crab claw" variety found in Earth Polynesian groups. The largest ships use a fixed sail form of the crab claw (also known as Oceanic Lanteen)... while smaller vessels use a pivoting crab claw rig. (a youtube of the pivoting rig in action http://youtube.com/watch?v=7EcFwZwjM5E) Massive trimarans with multiple lanteen sails can travel quickly and relatively safely across vast expanses of ocean (though such large ships will not be around until after the Tekann "discover" and begin trading with and warring against other nations). As of yet, I have not given the Tekann a form of navigation beyond staying within sight of the shore, and general navigation based on the sun and moon positions, so the oceanic empire of the Tekann is more-or-less non-existent.

Astonishing. You have surpassed any & all of my puny efforts to work on this project.

Thank you. And to continue, I made a model (since I couldn't draw it). For this, I blame Sano for the idea. :) Not everything is to scale (I only spent about an hour building it) and the rigging lines and other fine details have been completely ignored.

Wow. Nice model, even if it is thrown-together.

Vegetation Type and Geographical Names
First, I'll deal with some of the geographical regions of Skjeimitekann... The southern sea is named Mo'innu Tsu, The Cobalt Sea, because of the clarity and color of the waters. This sea is filled by rivers flowing from the surrounding mountains and has few rivers draining it into the open ocean. One of these rivers is the Xkei Ska'olu, which begins at the protect bay area of Tja'a Xra'ikja (Lagoon of the Moon), and runs North to drain into Tsumitskoxki, The Sea of Storms. The barrier island protecting the lagoon is Tunnki Skjinnke. Many other rivers and streams run out of the mountains into the vallry, but none are as important to the life of the nation as big river. To the West of Skjeimitekann are the Kalor Stju'ennka, a range of mountains that face the nation with steep cliffsides and dangerous passes. The Kalor Mountains are the home of many of the Gods of the Tekann. On the Eastern border rise the Tjaketero Stju'ennka. This range of mountains are less imposing, with gentler slopes and small valleys hidden in between its peaks. Between these ranges lies the Stjetxumikxel, the Valley of the Gods, the home of the Tekann. Four major ecological zones are found in Skjeimitekann. Rainforest (Green): The Northern coast is covered with Deciduous Rain Forest, sustained by the high humidity and frequent storms pushed inland from the Sea of Storms. The montane regions of the Eastern and Western mountains also collect enough moisture from the air to allow rain forests to occupy their slopes. Temperate Forests (Light Blue): Higher up in the slopes, moisture is less available and the temperatures are moderated by altitude, allowing temperate forests to dominate. Savannah Grasslands (Yellow): The humid winds from the North drop most of their moisture long before they reach the central parts of the valley. Lessen rainfall allows for tall grasses, but keeps most trees from surviving. Unlike the forests of the North, where the canopy and heavier year-round rainfall protect it during the dry season, the Savannah region is more affected by seasonal changes. The dry season can lead to drought-like conditions and the wet season brings the heavy rains that rejuvenate the area for another year. Desert and Badlands (Red): The Eastern mountains block and steal the moisture from the Southern Trade Winds, which then sweep down in the valley in hot, dry gusts. Even coastal areas bordering the Southern Sea feel the effects of these life-stealing winds. Only during the height of the dry season, do the South winds push over and around the mountains enough to deposit the moisture in the form of flash floods that can inundate the lower areas of this region for up to 4 months. The drying effects of these winds are far reaching as the western coastal areas that would otherwise be occupied by forests are reduced to grasslands.

Taking a cue indirectly from TF: A short evolution of Education and Libraries in Skjeimitekann Tekann Education: Education begins almost immediately for Tekann children and is carried out by members of the family, rather than a government institution. The youths learn how to perform tasks required for the maintenance of the household as well as the trade(s) of the family. Institutional education may begin during the period of required military service (more common in times of peace), but is quite limited in scope. Continued education from this point requires apprenticeship with a willing teacher. Colleges (of sorts) exist mainly in the city and potential students need to be sponsored (usually by a master from thei time as apprentice), but these places are small as the knowledge they teach is specialized and few people are needed in these areas. Tekann Libraries: There are three types of library in Tekann society, the smallest being the family library. These are relatively small, usually able to be stored in a single trunk in the home. Wealthy families might have larger collections. These libraries are composed mainly of reference materials, like almanacs and practical applications (sewing, farming, etc). The second type of library belongs to colleges and are actually based around the libraries of the founding families. Subjects will be more detailed, and the collections will be very limited in scope to the particular sciences or trades that the college teaches. The last type of library is the Government library. These contain not only reference, but fictional writings, government records, international books, deeds, and anything else that might be useful to the local and national government. Portions of these libraries are open to the public for use (though materials never leave the building), while other areas are strictly for official use. Functional literacy in Skjeimitekann is high, thanks to its implementation as part of military service training, but more in-depth learning is restricted by ability, need, location, and wealth. Those living in the city have a far better ability to read than those in the rural areas. Currently, cloth paper and ink are the raw materials most commonly used for writing, though there still exists many older forms. Animal skins and clay tablets are almost always kept in government facilities, as colleges and family libraries don't have the resources to maintain them. Paper books are bound into codices with wood and leather covers. Storage and preservation of books against nature differs among libraries. In a small family home, the books are usually wrapped in water tight skins and stored in a cool, ventilated area to prevent water damage and rot. In the largest libraries, books are stored in rooms with spread with salt to remove moisture from the air and destroy fungi.

Historical Overview of Skjeimitekann in 3 (or more) Parts: First Era The Stjetxumikxel Valley was settled at the start of the first era when a number of small nomadic tribes began filtering in from the East and South. Up to this point, the valley was an untouched wilderness protected on two sides by oceans, and on the other two by large mountain ranges. On the valley floor, nearly two million square kilometers of seasonal rain forest lay unbroken except by the numerous swamps, mangroves, and rivers. Among the first to arrive in this pristine environment were the Finotok tribe, crossing in from the East through the Tjaketero mountain range. These nomads did not attempt to penetrate into the dense forest and opted, instead, to settle along the northern shoreline, especially around the nutrient rich mouth of the Xkei Ska'olu. After settling, the Finotok people would remain untouched by other, later inhabitants of the valley for nearly a millennium and a half. Other than the Finotok, there were only three very large groups that entered the valley during the initial settling period: the Mo'opundi, the Tekann, and the Kokosi. It is believed that all three arrived by boat from across the Mo'innu Sea, settling in the Southeast, the Southwest, and the central valley up river, respectively. Many smaller groups also found their way into the valley, though their numbers and impacts on the valley were negligible. All of these hunter-gatherer groups spent the next few centuries growing in number and rapidly depleting the large land creatures native to the valley, driving most to extinction. Later, after the creation of large civilization, large beasts of burden would have to be imported at great initial cost, both monetarily and to human life. As large game became scarce, some tribes turned to warfare and raiding to ensure they retained their accustomed standard of living, while others turned their backs to the land and intensified fishing. One unique tribe, the Mo'opundi, instead developed the first form of sustainable agriculture out in the thinly wooded grasslands area that is now Kxakla. Large tracts of land were cleared and irrigation ditches put in place to water the somewhat drier region. Around these food crops, tribes gathered and formed a network of towns and villages. The Mo'opundi proto-civilization spread and eventually covered the entire Kxakla region and beyond, spreading agriculture among the central and Southern tribes. The Mo'opundi sat balanced on the verge of forming a proper state, needing only a centralized government of elite, but their thinly spread people and egalitarian habits prevented a coordinating force from forming. At the end of the first era, the Mo'opundi "Empire" occupied more than half of the total land area of modern Skjeimitekann. While culture flourished on a local level, no great projects or monuments were ever undertaken. Larger projects that were finished were coordinated by smaller groups of locals, such as the irrigation and resevoir systems. This caused confusion as neighboring groups duplicated systems and haphazardly built on older structures. This and the ever shrinking resources caused by deforestation and erosion lead to the eventual abortion of Mo'opundi civilization and the creation of the Kxakla desert. The line between the end of the first era and the beginning of the second marks the final cause of the collapse; the invasion by the newly agricultural Kokosi tribe.

Historical Overview of Skjeimitekann in 3 (or more) Parts: Second Era Though it was slow to spread, agricultural technology eventually reached the Kokosi tribes living along the Xkei Ska'olu. Being more warlike and more tightly hierarchical than the Mo'opundi tribes, the technology was immediately seized upon and put to use to build food surpluses. Of the factors that allowed the Kokosi to rapidly develop and improve agricultural techniques, climate and geographical location contributed the most. Even before mass deforestation of the South-East regions affect climate, the central region of the valley received more rainfall than the Kxakla region. Also, the Xkei river and its tributaries provided a natural irrigation system to keep fields well watered. Even as the poorer Mo'opundi soils began losing fertility, Kokosi soils were being continuously replenished by runoff from the mountains. During this change over from hunter gatherers to farmers, the different Kokosi tribes continued to wage wars against on another. Two particular tribes became prominent: the Northern Kokosi, who live along the Xkei on the site of present day So'onnmikxel; and the Southern Kokosi, who lived on the peninsula in Tja'a Xra'ikja, approximately near the site of Kxa'olennatsu. Both tribes managed to swallow up neighboring Kokosi tribes and assimilate villages until only the two remained, divided only by very tenuous borders. More than just expansion of territory, the two cultures flourished under the stimulating effects of warfare. Art, science, and especially architecture expanded. This was the age of pyramid building and both the Northern and Southern nations put them up in ever greater proportions. Though most of these monuments would later be destroyed in conquest or for materials, a few still remain, including the grea-*test*-('") pyramid built. The Pyramid of the Goddess was built in the Northern Kokosi capital, which by no small coincidence is the modern capital of the Tekann, So'onnmikxel. Also built during this period were the infrastructures of advanced nations: roads, dams, bridges, and more. In time, the constant small-scale battles between the North and South erupted into full scale war. A longer-than-usual period of drought devastated crops and thinned reserve stores. As food became scarce, the little battles of previous years escalated and unleashed the bloodiest period of warfare the valley has ever seen, known as the Maize Wars. Lasting 27 years and costing the lives of millions, the Maize wars finally ended after a few decisive victories by the Northern Kokosi. After taking the capital and slaying the Southern king, the Northern Kokosi began a genocidal slaughter of all Southern Kokosi. Most of those that fled ended up in the Mo'opundi's lands. Those Mo'opundi villages that provided aid to the refugees found their already strained fields completely depleted, leaving them no better off than their guests. Those villages that tried to turn away the foreigners found themselves attacked and plundered. Famine and disease spread throughout the Mo'opundi's lands, decimating everything it touched. The fragile Mo'opundi culture finally collapsed under the stress and most of its people died, only those on the South-East fringes managed to escape the worst of it. The victory in the North was short-lived, as diseases brought home from the field spread through the efficient network of roads, city to city, and wiped out thousands of citizens. Having yet to replenish food stock used up in the war and with many food producers taken by illness, famine and another round of disease followed and struck another blow to the Northern peoples. Not even a century after the victory against the Southern enemies, the vast Northern Empire collapsed. Military leaders bickered over land, tearing apart the intricate infrastructure of the nation and eradicated centuries of advancement. Soon only small bands of people roamed the great plains of the once mighty empire, but through it all, the Northern peoples had fared far better than those they had conquered, for they had not had to turn on each other as food to survive.

Forms of Address: ellipsis is used for any number of inserted generations parenthesis show titles of mother's mother, sisters, and brothers when they are not the eldest Location refers to forms of address used for neighbors and others that may not be well know, if at all. Profession is used for (what else) professionals (doctor, priest, etc). Title is the occupational title, otherwise, <Jek> is used.