Formations of Empire

[Thelandrin]

For the record, Bronze Age Phoenicians sounds perfect for the Masetians. The BR comic shows the interior of the Serpent's tower and it gives the feel of being somewhat low-tech.

[AndrewTall]

Now that's something I hadn't pulled together - if we take the Masetians as living pretty much entirely on the coast then they would have a much larger proportion of ships than normal, and little need for roads. Also the Serpent was one of Azrai's lieutenants and fought the Masetians (with renegade Masetians?) and may have attacked the coast until ordered to Deismaar by Azrai.

A coast-only approach provides both a means by which a larger proportion of the population could physically get the Deismaar and also an enemy other than the Basarji that could attack substantial numbers of the civilian population. Possibly also some of Azrai's great sea-beasts could have attacked the coast.

This would also account for their low numbers if they were a dispersed people of merchants. After loosing their great fleet fighting the shadow they had no way to maintain contact with their dispersed colonies that simply got absorbed/conquered or enslaved ala the Serpent.

[ConjurerDragon]

AndrewTall schrieb:
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> AndrewTall wrote:
> Now that`s something I hadn`t pulled together - if we take the Masetians as living pretty much entirely on the coast then they would have a much larger proportion of ships than normal, and little need for roads. Also the Serpent was one of Azrai`s lieutenants and fought the Masetians (with renegade Masetians?) and may have attacked the coast until ordered to Deismaar by Azrai.
> A coast-only approach provides both a means by which a larger proportion of the population could physically get the Deismaar and also an enemy other than the Basarji that could attack substantial numbers of the civilian population. Possibly also some of Azrai`s great sea-beasts could have attacked the coast.
>
Or use another explanation which has a recent real-live counterpart - a
tsunami. When Deismaar exploded and the landbridge between Aduria and
Cerilia slided down into the deep sea a tidal wave struck the coastal
cities of the Masetians hardest.

[AndrewTall]

A tsunami's another good idea - but it would have to occur in the Bair El-Mehare to impact the Masetians primarily - but that would hit the islands as hard (if not harder) than the mainland and also hit Djapar - so if we suggest it as a strong candidate then any expansion of Djapar should note tsunami's as well.

It's quite reasonable to say that a lot of tectonic activity happened around Deismaar - wars of the gods are rarely quiet affairs and it's canon that the landbridge collapsed so we know of some already.

That again would suggest that the Masetians were almost entirely coast based however - does anyone recall if they settled late or something to prevent exploration deeper inland?