Societal/technological impact - aquatic empire

[Folded]

Building a Fantasy world with a slight twist. Though the campaign will be set on land, the largest population of sentients are aquatic, specifically, they occupy the world's oceans, and treat them surface to floor as their sovereign territory. This means that the land-dwelling species are not allowed to sail the oceans at all (freshwater lakes and rivers are not a problem). Anything other than a swimmer (even down to kayaks, canoes and the like) will be sunk by the aquatics (collectively known as the Naran). This goes far enough back in history that the idea of putting a boat on the ocean is simply alien to land-dwellers.

 

The Naran will transport people and cargo for a price, but the travel is under a stasis-spell inside the equivalent of a small shipping container, and is limited to those destinations the Naran choose to make known and available. Note that the Naran are also the most technologically advanced society on this world, and have difficulty understanding how one works metals properly without easy access to volcanic vents for constant heat.

 

So, I'm in the process of figuring out the overall ramifications of this for the land-dwellers. This is what I've come up with so far.

 

1) No ocean fishing drastically reduces the value of coastal lands as dwelling sites. Doesn't eliminate, as small communities can do quite well with surf-fishing and diving for shellfish, but large communities would not develop in these regions.

 

2) Lack of navies focuses resources otherwise spent into ground armies, roads and overland transportation systems.

 

3) Minor issues: knot-tying is less well-developed, as sailing provides significant impetus for a large variety of these. Certain foodstuffs we would consider common (tuna, for instance), would be extremely rare, if not unknown except through trade with the Naran. The Naran also have a taste for certain delicacies like beef, pork and venison, as well as a variety of vegetables, herbs and the like.

 

4) Inland bodies of water are not generally large enough for the military implications of sailing to be studied much, and so would represent 'walls' much more than a sailing culture would consider them.

 

5) The big one: Cartography. The land dwellers cannot sail up and down a coastline to get a basic outline of a continent. They go from place to place without experiencing the intervening space, and so have no direct means by which they can measure over-sea distances and thus build a map of the world in general. While navigation tools such as the sextant and the astronomical observations it tends to bring about and require might be found in a desert-based culture, the societies in the game-portion of the world do not have them. Overland navigation is going to be much more dependent on landmarks, basic star knowledge, and maps of variable accuracy. Magic will fill in some gaps, but is not common enough at a high enough level to provide large-scale solutions. This results in overland travel away from roads being much less reliable, or relying on some navigational techniques or technology of which I am not aware.

 

So, thoughts, additions, suggestions, comments or questions? Thanks in advance

[dbsousa]

Surface dwellers will be obsessed with flying. Balloons may make cartography more accurate.

Are the Naran amphibious? If so there may be a history of raids on the surface. Beaches would be covered in traps and barbed wire.

Is there trade? ideas and culture exchanges might lead to hybrid creatures. Are they beautiful creatures or hideous monsters?

 

[Folded]

Hadn't thought of balloons, definitely something to consider. Since the campaign will take place in the relatively new frontier continent, I could put them in in a fairly controlled fashion.

 

As to the Naran, there are actually four different species (there are five such species groups in this world). Interbreeding specifically doesn't happen between these groups, but one of the Naran subspecies is essentially a dolphin-mer type, with sufficiently humanoid features to speak the surface languages (the other three are based on shark, cephalopod and arthropod/crab). Interaction has been going on long enough that any sense of 'monster' has long since passed. They act as diplomats and traders, primarily, though the Naran as a whole have little interest in the surface, being largely involved with their own empires, internal conflicts, and ruling the vast majority of the world. No amphibious species are known to exist (although one of the other species groups, the Tove, have some degree of amphibious representation, they are not in conflict with the Naran... yet).

 

Trade is primarily controlled by the Naran, as they have significantly less need for goods than the surface-dwellers, and control oceanic transport completely. To the surface, they occupy something of the same position as the Spacing Guild does in Dune. I have specifically put them in the position of the benevolent neutral greater power, although have been considering an arc taking the players into their world.

[TheQuestionMan]

Environmental Adaptation will mean that the average Naran will possess a sense of superiority to land dwellers. Individually stronger, tougher, and more fit. Their domination of the seas will historically color the reactions of land dwellers to them. Technologically they will develop along parallel lines, but use complete different techniques to achieve results. Again their environment will make using nets part of their cultural development. Instead of Water or Wind Mills they will rely on Currents and Tides. They may even be great Sailors. Trade with Land Dwellers will mean moving goods. They could domesticate Ocean Life or Build Ships or their own.

 

What weaknesses you chose for the Naran on Land will make the largest impact on how they are treated and perceived by Land Dwellers.

 

As for Sea Side Communities being rare I think rather the Naran fishermen? Need a place to sell their goods. I can see fishing villages becoming Trade Towns and the only place where Naran and Land Dwellers mix.

 

More later...

 

QM

 

[TheQuestionMan]

Aquatic Architects and Laborers could be employed by Land Dwellers to build Bridges, Submerged Mines, and Dikes,

 

More later...

 

QM