Menducia
From KneeQuickie
Menducia is a conworld being created by Anguipes. It started out in 2002 as a bog-standard "fantasy land to put conlangs in" and slowly developed a life of its own, largely based on obsolete theories including the four Classical elements, geocentricism, Cartesian dualism and Lamarckian inheritance. As a result it aquired its own unique system of conphysics, and from there on conchemistry and conbiology.
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The Menducia Rundown
Cartesian Dualism
Menducian physics divides the cosmos into two separate but interacting halves, the physical and the “animating” (mental). They are seen as imperfect mirrors of each other, with location and existence in one usually having some equivalent in the other (in D&D terms, they are coexsistant planes). Both consist of “elements" or “essences”.
Because existence in one realm affects existence in the other, nothing is purely physical or purely mental. Even apparently inert objects have a physical existence and therefore at least some echo in the mental realm. Conversely, the presence of a “spirit” in the mental realm will cause some reaction in the physical world.
The physical realm is considered to be orderly, with matter following very simple rules of motion. The mental realm is changeable and chaotic. Anything analogous to chemical reaction requires input (“intent”) from the more chaotic mental realm, and any continuing entity in the mental realm requires some sort of physical anchor.
The Elements
Both the physical and mental realms are made up of elements. An element is infinitely divisible: it is not made of fundamental particles. Instead it occupies a “position” on a theoretical element chart:
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w164/Anguipes/Conlangery/elem.png
Names are assigned to certain zones and/or focus points, similar to how colours are named but nevertheless blend seamlessly into each other (hence, to help the analogy, the colour wheel backing the element chart – the colours do not directly relate to the elements). The simplest division is usually four-way, into Fire, Air, Earth and Water. Air is brittle, Water is ductile, Fire is sparse and Earth is dense. The dense-sparse axis is reasonably self-explanatory. Brittle elements fragment, while ductile elements flow and bend. Sparse and brittle elements naturally move outwards, dense and ductile elements move inwards.
The mental realm has equivalent elements in its own substance, often (confusingly) given the same names as the physical elements.
The Cosmos
There are two theories on the structure of the cosmos. One is the Ordered model, which argues that the basic structure of the cosmos is a sphere with the densest elements in the centre and the most sparse on the outside. The other is the Chaotic model, which argues that the elements are dispersed at random throughout the cosmos.
The Ordered model is the older view of the cosmos, originally based on a four-element system. In it the land is the Earthy layer, the oceans the Watery layer, the skies the Airy layer and the stars and planets occupied the Fiery layer. This roughly matched the observed motion of the elements, and the Ordered model posits that the cosmos will eventually reach a state of perfect order via this natural motion.
Problems with the Ordered model include the question of what is beyond the fiery layer, why the cosmos is not already perfectly ordered, and the (rather anthropocentric) problem that any familiar form of matter or life would not exist in the hypothetical perfect state of the cosmos.
The Chaotic model assumes that the cosmos is infinite, with “clumps” of matter in an overall random distribution. In this model Menducia is one such clump, the Sun another (with a quite different composition) which orbits it, as are the planets. The stars are distant clumps of a fiery composition. This raises the possibility of other Sun-like structures, possibly orbiting other worlds.
The Stars
The System
Menducia is at the centre of a (mainly) geocentric system of ten known bodies: six moons, the Sun, and two solar companions. The orbit times of the bodies are in approximately the same proportions as a 12-tone equal temperament major scale.
An orrery / night sky program is in the works, which will allow users to view the Menducia system as an animation or show the night sky at a given date and location.
Geography
The Menducian known world consists of two continents and a string of islands that take up less than a quarter of the surface of an Earth-sized globe.
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w164/Anguipes/Conlangery/basicmapregions.png
Menducians tend to divide the land into eight regions: Símo, Andorjá, Nánda, Amfĕc, Hemhuár, Xor, Iff and The Eastern Islands
Life
Menducian life is divided into two categories: the spontaneously arising (sprits) and those that reproduce themselves.
Spirits are the impression of matter on the mental realm. Any repeating pattern in the physical realm e.g. a stone, or a river generates a corresponding pattern in the mental realm: the mind or spirit of that object. These minds can be of any complexity from barely conscious to preterhuman. Generally, the greater the age (or more specifically stability over time) and size of an object, the more advanced its mind.
Reproductive life is a complex interrelation of mind and matter. The mind and body of a spirit do not need to interact to maintain the existence of either (a river will continue to be a river even if its spirit is “killed”, and the spirit will be regenerated from the presence of the river). The mind and body of a plant or animal need constant interaction, as each maintains the other (the body decays by the natural motion of its elements without the mind, and the mind has limited definition without a body).
Reproductive life is subject to evolution by natural selection, and inherits traits based on the state(s) of the parent(s) at the time of conception. Despite quite different biology and evolutionary paths, Menducian organisms tend to parallel familiar groups; mammals, birds, arthropods, fungi, plants etc.
One of the most important features of a Menducian organism is its "bloodedness": the elemental basis of its metabolism.
Fire-blooded organisms have a constant, high body temperature and require a larger energy intake than other metabolic types to maintain this. They have the advantage of being able to maintain fast, efficient biological processes. Fire is also the lightest of elements and as such fiery blood is a partial advantage for flight (the elemental makeup of the rest of the body is also highly important). They are however vulnerable to cold (lack of fiery energy), poorly adapted to aquatic living, and require access to reliable heat sources and/or large amounts of food. In those creatures that rely on food for fiery content elemental misbalance is also a risk, leading to illness in extreme cases.
Air-blooded creatures have a body temperature that roughly matches and fluctuates with the external environment. They do not need to eat as much as fire-blooded creatures, mostly requiring the elemental intake for growth and healing, as air is more abundant than fire and can be breathed in as well as consumed. They are very sensitive to excessive heat, which causes their biological processes to function in a hyperactive and chaotic manner, but are a good deal better at dealing with cold than fire-blooded or water-blooded creatures. Air is less efficient than fire, so most air-blooded creatures have slightly slower motion and longer reaction times than fire-blooded creatures, though the abundance of air and various biological adaptations means that air-blooded creatures can be just as fast as fire-blooded ones, and often have greater stamina.
Water is a far from ideal element to use as a basis for motion, as it is heavy and moves in a far more limited manner than air or fire. However it is abundant, more stable than fire or air, and has a greater affinity to Earth. It is therefore ideal as a basis for tough, rigid structures that do not need to move but are not completely inert. All plants are water-blooded organisms, as are a few primitive animals.
Intelligent Life
Aside from individual spirits there are three known forms of intelligent life in Menducia: humans, Ceteri and Angues. Humans (fire-blooded mammals) dominate the southern continent, while Ceteri (air-blooded "amphibians") live in the cooler climes of Símo. The Angues (fire-blooded reptiles) live only in jungles regions, particularly the Iff peninsula.
Cultures
- Qeran
- Kesh
- Andorjan Khanates
- Rolase Empire
- Raum
- Proto-States
- Pre-Imperial
- 1st Imperial
- Intermediate
- 2nd Imperial
- Decline and conquest
- Enher Barbarians
- Cujda Empire
- Founding
- Western Expansion
- Eastern Expansion
- Conflict with Xor
- Golden Age
- Decline and Fragmentation
- Western (Raum) Empire
- Enher Empire
- Eastern Empire
- Xor
- Early Xor
- Imperial Xor
- Conflict with the Cujda Empire
- Expulsion and Exile
- Iff Sea Culture
- Iff Oligarchies
- Nanda Hydraulic Empires
Languages
- Centric Family
- Proto-Centric
- Raum (formerly Fluvic)
- Pidgin Raum
- Siwézta (formerly Victic)
- Cujda
