Kasca
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Kasca is a region in the conworld of Akana. It has a longer civilized history than most other regions in the world, stretching at least as far back as the Ngauro civilization of approximately -4000 YP. At times in its history Kasca could be called a nation; at other times, it has been divided between others. It has also been the center of at least one empire.
Contents |
Names
| Language | Name | Pronunciation | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ndak Ta | Kasadgad | [kasɐdgɐd] | unknown |
| Adāta | Kāxad | [ˈkaːxad] | ← NT Kasadgad |
| Fáralo | Kazəgad | [ˈkazəgad] | ← NT Kasadgad |
| Naidda | Kasca | [kast̠ʃə] | ← NT Kasadgad |
| Ndok Aisô | Axôkseuhod | [aʔɞksɛwˈhoʔ] | ← Toponym pref. a- + NT Kasadgad |
| Mavakhalan | koxað | [ˈkɔxað] | ← Adāta Kāxad |
| Ayāsthi | cáġat | [ˈkɑːɦɑt] | ← Adāta Kāxad |
| Namɨdu | Kozyad | [ˈkʰʌz.jad] | ← Fáralo Kazəgad |
| Erhadzy | kálesə | [ˈkɑlɛsə] | ← Yhát Qáles |
Geography
Kasca lies on a broad, flat plain, dominated by a wide, slow river, the Aiwa (also called the Eigə in Fáralo and the Ya in Naidda). The primeval land cover was forest, except for grasses in the rich alluvial plain, and wetlands along the extensive littoral. The closest Earthly analogue would be the Gangetic plain of northern India. The heartland of Kasca lies around the river delta, but associated settlement has also extended along the river and the littoral since time immemorial.
The Kascan heartland can be divided into three zones: the fringes of the Aiwa delta; the swampy core of the delta; and nearby associated lands.
The Fringeland
The center of civilization in Ngauro and Ndak times was located primarily of the areas immediately adjacent to the core river delta: the land between and around the branches of the Aiwa in the area where it splits up, plus some of the larger islands connected to the delta. The ground in these areas is relatively stable and provides rich farmland. However, portions of the fringeland are still occasionally prone to floods and periodic reshaping, depending on how well behaved the river is. There are always parts drying out and becoming farmable while other parts are getting eaten away at by the river or becoming soaked until useless for farming, just at a slower rate than happens in the deep delta. Cities have generally been able to hold their own in the fringeland.
The Deep Delta
The central delta zone, meanwhile, has always required a little courage of its residents - but it's certainly not uninhabitable, just problematic. Through most of known history, no single river channel connecting to the sea has been large enough to be navigable, save for when canals have been built or formed. Instead the river branches and branches until at the coast there is mostly just continuous swamp, rather than channels and islands.
Inland from the coast, the delta is characterized by a patchwork of dry-ish islands separated from each other by river corridors. These corridors range from sizeable branches of the river down to broad muddy troughs with little flowing water; but all of them are choked with silt and thick vegetation. Hundreds of the islands are substantial enough and dry enough to be at least partially farmable, and there have always been some islands that are able to host large permanent towns, but frequent shifts of the river channels leave all of the above at risk of floods and crop ruin.
The usefully dry islands form perhaps a third of the core delta's land area, with the rest being swamp and mire. Nevertheless, a substantial population has done its best to live in such conditions for millennia, due in part to the year-round availability of food for comparatively little effort. In the millennia before advanced technology made levees and reliable bridges possible, travel between delta islands was mostly by water and there were few permanent roads.
Nearby areas
The following places have always been closely associated with the Aiwa delta. Traditionally, they and the delta are included together under the name "Kasca":
- The banks along a short stretch of the lower Aiwa before it begins branching, and the alluvial plains around them;
- The peninsula across the bay south of the delta;
- Some of the land north of the delta, extending perhaps up to the city of Miədu (the exact Kascan border has always been fuzzy here);
- The numerous nearby coastal islands
The agricultural value of these lands is marginally lower than that of the fringeland, although still generally very fertile. But these areas are considered part of Kasca more on a cultural and political basis than on a natural basis, as they tend not to be swampy and don't have to worry much about the behavior of the river.
History
Ndak Empire
Main article: Ndak empire
Kasadgad had no natural defenses (except the sea), and had thus been invaded and conquered many times. The Ndak were not the earliest recorded inhabitants; those were the Ngauro, who established civilization, including writing, but were divided into squabbling city-states. Archeological excavations of a few small tels and middens around the lower-middle Aiwa, particularly in the area of Buruya, indicate that even the Ngauro were almost certainly preceded by one or more pre-civilized cultures living in small walled towns. Little is known about these people.
The Ndak originally lived along the middle Aiwa. They were briefly ruled by the Ngauro, but soon established a kingdom of their own. They fought several wars with the Ngauro and finally conquered them. Over time the Ngauro language was replaced with Ndak Ta, and indeed the perceived center of the Ndak world shifted to the more populous delta. The Ndak in their turn were conquered (once by hill tribes from the north, twice by nomads from the west), but their edge in population had become secure; they eventually either revolted, or absorbed their conquerors.
After the Ndak expelled the last of the conquerors, they entered a new period of vigor, which culminated in the conquest of the entire Aiwa plain, the littoral, and much of the rugged mountains to the west, from their bases in Kasca and along the Aiwa. The Ndak Empire was the first true empire on Akana, at least in this part of the world. Much of this was the work of one dynasty of emperors; Tsinakan was the third in this line and perhaps the greatest of them all. Tsinakan is the subject of the infamous Tsinakan text, the standard comparison text used among Edastean philologists. His father Terakan also found a lasting place in local legend, though historians pay less attention to him.
Post-Ndak period
The Ndak decline took time. Kasadgad hung on as a political entity for several centuries after having lost control over everything else. It was late in this period, in -1258 YP, that Kasadgad experienced a last gasp of vitality, managing to reconquer both the Huyfárah littoral and most of the Aiwa below Lasomo. Two of these latter-day kings, Sadgukiyat and his son (or maybe nephew) Meyut, were recorded in legend and song. Historians have difficulty piecing together the fragmentary accounts of other kings of this era, and nobody is entirely certain who they all were, nor about the accession dates of these two or any reliable description of their accomplishments. If it weren't for the Faraghin scribes of this era, we may not even have been sure that these two were more than mythical figures.
The final full loss of Ndak vitality is partly due to a natural disaster, although they were clearly already in serious decline. In -1202, Kasadgad was devastated by one of the rare major hurricanes to come ashore along its coast. Complete loss of many of the coastal towns, coupled with massive inland flooding, nailed shut the coffin on Ndak power. They lost control of all of the coast above Miədu and all the Aiwa river above Buruya, and with the resulting social chaos found themselves unable to maintain any overall societal structure. And to top it all off, due to poor maintenance their canal through the Aiwa delta had silted up, blocking navigation of the delta and thus choking off Kasadgad's economic lifeline. The next three to four centuries were spent in a presumed but unrecorded dark age in which many benefits of civilization were simply lost and a sizeable fraction of the people feralized.
Classical period
Culture
Main article: Culture of Kasca
The culture of Classical-period Kascans is somewhat dysfunctional. Their traditions of close families and colorful celebrations, and their reputations for quick wit and resilient survival are balanced by their outlook of cynicism, apathetic inertia, and slowness to accept change, with the result that most Kascans live in poverty.
See also
- Kasadgad article on Almeopedia
