Medasteria

A map showing Medasteria and its subregions.

Medasteria (Gaullican: Médastérie; Luzelese: Medastéria; Vespasian: Medasteria; Ruttish: Medasterija; Blostlandic: Medästeria; Asteriaans: Medasterië; Soravian: Медастерія) is a geographical region consisting of the regions of the Asterian continents along the coast of the Arucian Sea and the islands within the Arucian, most commonly invoked as a historical region consisting of the civilizations which existed in the area before the discovery of the Asterias and the arrival of Euclean explorers and settlers in the late 15th and 16th centuries. Today, Medasteria occupies portions of Eldmark, Ardesia, Vinalia, Gapolania, Puramape, Satucin, Aucuria, and Nuvania, as well as the entirety of Sainte-Chloé, Carucere, Imagua and the Assimas, Bonaventura, and Île d'Émeraude.

Medasteria is home to two of the world's true cradles of civilization, where sedentary civilized society emerged independently: pre-Assimian Aucuria, and Tonatihcan in modern-day Ardesia and Vinalia. The cultivation of plants and animals such as maize, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, cacao, chili, llamas, guinea pigs, and turkeys between 7000 BCE and 2000 BCE enabled the emergence of sedentary societies with complex social orders.

The diverse cultures of Medasteria subsequently developed a number of shared cultural traits and innovations, including the construction of major ceremonial sites marked by monumental architecture, intricate artistic works in a variety of mediums, complex religious and cultural rituals, the concept of zero, and the use of terre noire. Other cultural innovations found in part or all of Medasteria include Tonatihcan calendars and pyramids, non-alphabetic systems for recording information such as Tonatihcan pictographs and ancient Vaskaranan khipu; public infrastructure such as the Cutinsuan road network & qullqa-tampu system and the Nati yukayeke; the use of axe-monies for trade; and agricultural practices such as Three Sisters polyculture, milpa crop rotation, the waru waru and chinampa techniques of raised field agriculture, and pukyu aqueducts.

Medasteria was connected by extensive trade between the various cultural regions it encompassed, including extensive trade over the Arucian Sea. Food crops, practical goods like wood, textiles, dyes, stone, and ceramics, and luxury goods such as copper, gold, silver, turquoise, jade, cinnabar, obsidian, hematite, lapis lazuli, pumice, and Spondylus shells were all traded widely across the region, with artifacts from Cutinsua, Tzapotla, Calkhun & Itzel, and Terachu being found in each of the others' domains. Groups on the periphery of Medasteria's major powers, such as the Mosca, Ayohli, and Chanuche, were also integrated into these trade networks, often serving as a gateway for trade with other parts of the Asterias; the Nati, Mutu, Narapan, and coastal Marai, who lived on the coasts and islands of the Arucian and plied the waves with canoes and balsa rafts, played a key role as middlemen and brokers of intercontinental trade, which enabled them to form confederal polities like the Karukera Confederacy.

Eucleans first arrived in Medasteria when Assim Asteris reached the Horn of Asteria, in modern-day Eldmark, in 149X. Subsequent explorers, such as Auguste d'Antibes, Johannes van Twiller, Álvaro de Mascarenhas, and Pierre Avenard, steadily penetrated further into the region in the next few decades, and were followed by conquerors & early colonizers such as Julio Marinho, Jurgis Leikauskas, Rasse Féret, and Nunzo di Rosignelle from the 1520s to the 1550s. Colonization from across the Vehemens was joined by colonization from across the Lumine following the expeditions of Grigori Kosh in the 1560s. While Euclea benefitted massively from the Medasterian commodities it obtained in the Asterian exchange, Euclean conquest and settlement devastated Medasteria. The indigenous populations of the rehion were ravaged by imported diseases, massacres, and exploitation; local trade routes were destroyed in favor of the exportation of raw resources from the Asterias to Euclea in line with the doctrine of mercantilism; and the demographics of Medasteria were radically changed by Euclean settlement and the Transvehemens slave trade.

In spite of this, Medasteria has left a rich legacy. Surviving Medasterian indigenous populations have worked to keep their languages and cultures alive, maintaining practices and traditions harkening back to pre-contact Medasteria. Some aspects - such as the use of terre noire and Vaskaranan terrace farming - were even adopted by settler populations due to their practical benefits. Some of the modern nations in Medasteria have come to regard the pre-colonial civilizations that once existed on their territory as a key part of their national identity (Aucuria with Cutinsua and Ardesia with Tzapotla, for example). Additionally, some authors - such as [NAMES TBD] - have postulated that a "new Medasteria" has been created by the modern economic and cultural ties connecting the nations along and within the Arucian.

Etymology and definition

Medasteria's name is ultimately derived from that of explorer Assim Asteris.

Medasteria literally means "in the middle of the Asterias", from the combination of the Solarian medius ("middle") and the word "Asteria", derived from the name of Rahelian explorer Assim Asteris. The term was coined by the Aucurian-born Cassien cultural anthropologist J.V. Kiaulauskas in his 1945 article Médastérie: ses peuples, ses frontières, et son héritage, published in the journal L'anthropologie. Kiaulauskas posited that the geography of the Asterias had shaped the regions along the Arucian Sea into a coherent geographical and cultural region in the pre-Assimian period, whose development was worth comparing and contrasting with the development of civilization in Coius and Euclea.

Some of the shared cultural traits and practices held to unite the peoples of Medasteria include cities and ceremonial sites arranged around monumental architecture; complex political, religious, military, and social structures and rituals; the concept of zero; the development of non-alphabetic means of recording information; the development of a large-scale trade network and the use of axe-monies for trade; and the transfer of agricultural techniques such as the use of terre noire, polyculturing, and raised field agriculture, among others. Kiaulauskas argued that the diffusion of cultural practices, technological innovations, and trade goods was facilitated by the proximity that Medasterian civilizations had to the Arucian Sea, which facilitated trade in the same way that the Solarian Sea had facilitated trade in the regions of Euclea and Coius along its coasts. Intercultural contact in Medasteria was further facilitated by the number of islands within the Arucian, with ideas, goods, and people able to "island-hop" between Asteria Inferior and Asteria Superior, transported by canoes and balsa rafts.

A map depicting the regions of the pre-colonial Asterias, including Medasteria, as proposed by Pelletier and de la Haye.

In 1961, Cassien anthropologists Stéphane Pelletier and Émilien de la Haye, who had studied under Kiaulauskas, proposed a wider set of anthropological and cultural regions spanning the entirety of the Asterian continents. This framework divides the Asterias into eleven such cultural regions:

• Glaciasteria, the northernmost regions of Asteria Superior bordering the Boreal Ocean, home to tribes dependent upon fishing and hunting for aquatic mammals like the !inuit and Titiqituq;
• Boreasteria, the boreal forests inhabited by nomadic taiga-dwelling hunter-gatherers such as the majority of !na-dene groups;
• Silvasteria, the forests and woodlands of southeastern Cassier, eastern Rizealand, and the eastern AFR, site of the Northern Agricultural Complex, further divided between a temperate northern region and a subtropical southern region;
• Savannasteria, the vast central plains of Asteria Superior, home to nomadic buffalo-hunters such as the !sioux;
• Littorasteria, the eastern coast of Asteria Superior in what is now Chistovodia, internally subdivided akin to Silvasteria between its cooler, wetter north and its Solarian climate south;
• Medasteria along the Arucian Sea, regarded as the center of pre-contact Asterian civilization;
• Austrasteria, the various hunter-gatherer peoples of the hills, forests, and jungles of southern and western Asteria Inferior beyond the borders of Medasteria, with a subdivisions drawn both along east-west lines and to distinguish the tribes of the Nuvanian Bosveld;
• Oriasteria, the various peoples of the hills, forests, and jungles of eastern Asteria Inferior, akin to Austrasteria in many regards but divergent in others due to physical separation;
• Planasteria, the flatland regions of central Asteria Inferior too far from the Arucian to be considered a part of Medasteria;
• Insulasteria, the various islands and island chains located to the south of Asteria Inferior in the Austral Sea, home to tribes dependent upon fishing and shellfishing for survival.

While these terms have become accepted and widely in academic circles, only Medasteria has gained widespread traction in everyday usage.

Geography

A photograph of the Arucian Sea, Medasteria's most prominent geographic feature, taken in Carucere.

Medasteria, in the simplest definition thereof, consists of the regions of Asteria Inferior and Asteria Superior lying in and around the Arucian Sea, which served as a conduit for cultural contact and exchange. The Arucian Sea, while conventionally treated as a single body of water, is stricto sensu two adjacent marginal seas, the West Arucian being a marginal sea of the Vehemens Ocean and the East Arucian being a marginal sea of the Lumine Ocean. The Arucian Sea is highly biodiverse, with marine biota from both the Vehemens and the Lumine and a great diversity in the temperature, depth, and salinity of the waters in different regions of the sea providing a wide range of ecosystems for different types of plant and animal. Differences in humidity, climate, and elevation provide for a similar biodiversity in the lands surrounding the Arucian. The Arucian often played a key role in the lives and cultures of the populations that lived around it. The Arucian was a source of food in the form of fish and shellfish, as well as a source of Spondylus shells and pearls from the species Pteria sterna and Pinctada tzapotlanica, and an avenue for cultural and mercantile contact between the Asterian continents, enabling the rapid spread of a vast range of goods and ideas across a vast area. This importance is often reflected in how it was named by these cultures; the Arucian was dubbed tlallinepantla huēyātl ("the sea in the middle of the earth") in Tzapotlan and chawpi mamaqucha ("the middle sea") in Runanca, while the Nati and Mutu referred to it simply as "the sea" (bagua and parana, respectively).

Photographs depicting the geographic and climatic diversity found in Medasteria. Clockwise from top left: a rock formation in Gyllenedal National Park, the ruins of Itzel in the Vinalian jungle, a beach near Saint Fiacre's Town, rolling hills in southern Ardesia, Liokubamba Valley in the Vaskaranas Mountains, wetlands in northwestern Nuvania, the lower reaches of the Sythe River, the Puramapese Altipiano.

Medasteria is also commonly defined using the mountain ranges that mark its outer borders - the South Asterian Range and Sierra Bianca as well as a small portion of the Vaskaranas Mountains in Asteria Inferior, and the Ryggrad, Acopa Mountains, northern Ocotlan Mountains, and Juyu Ruwach Mountains in Asteria Superior. These ranges did not form an impervious barrier, but did mark a dividing line between the very interconnected societies along the Arucian and those beyond the ranges, who traded with Medasteria through mountain passes, coastal plains, and highland plateaus. Curiously, only some mountain ranges proved to be barriers to the spread of Medasteria's networks of trade and cultural contact. Some ranges - like the vast majority of the Vaskaranas and Ocotlan mountains, as well as Satucin's central spine - served not as barriers but as bastions of Medasterian civilization for groups like the Runanca, Kirua, Tzapotla, and Highland Marai. Academic debate on what caused this distinction is extensive, but largely inconclusive.

Due to the size of Medasteria as a region and the diversity of the terrain within, Medasteria is home to substantial geographic and climactic diversity. These variations helped create various sub-regions within greater Medasteria. Academics, drawing from both preexisting literature and further research, have developed a commonly agreed-upon set of subregions within the region defined as Medasteria by Kiaulauskas. There are generally held to be eleven such subregions:

• The Vaskaranas, consisting of the bulk of northern Aucuria, encompassing the country's pakrantė, aukštumos, and pakraščiai regions; the cradle of civilization in Asteria Inferior, home to a succession of civilizations including the Kiljakoljas, Tirakvas, Piura, and Kulkinčas cultures, culminating in the Cutinsuan Empire;
• Tonatihcan, less commonly Northern Diasteria, representing most of Vinalia and eastern Ardesia, bound by the Juyu Ruwach and northern Ocotlan ranges; the cradle of civilization in Asteria Superior, home of the Tetuolmec, !zapotec, and !teotihuacan civilizations, and later of the Tzapotlan Empire and the Tecpan polities of Och-Kan, Calkhun, and Itzel;
• Southern Diasteria, consisting of the majority of central Satucin, particularly the central highland regions and adjacent coast; original homeland of the Marai peoples and the State of Térachu;
• The Jansplata, consisting of the regions of Eldmark south and east of the Ryggrad, dominated by the Jansplatå highland that gives the region its name; home to groups such as the Ayohli and [others tbd];
• Cisacopa, composed of western Ardesia south of the Acopa Mountains, inhabited by a variety of groups - including the !zacateco, !guachichil, !guamare, and !purepecha - who the Tzapotlans grouped under the umbrella term Chichimeca;
• Western Arucasteria, spanning the Golden Islands of the West Arucian Sea, including Vanö, Bonaventura, Sainte-Chloé, Imagua, and Šventasis Kazimieras, among others; inhabited by the Nati and Mutu peoples, and home to polities like the Karukera Confederacy;
• Eastern Arucasteria, spanning the Emerald Islands of the East Arucian Sea, including Île d'Émeraude, the Big Island of Parane, and San Nicomede, among others; home to groups such as the Narapan and some of the Island Marai;
• The Kustveld, encompassing the westernmost regions of the Vaskaranas Mountains and its coastal plain as they stretch into Nuvania; home to the Mosca and Tairona peoples;
• The Sythe-Juoda, consisting of the regions of Aucuria and Satucin dominated by the watershed and rainforest of the same name; the most enigmatic of the regions, long considered to have been comparatively unimportant in Medasteria, a perception which has been challenged by contemporary archaeological work uncovering the remnants of geoglyphs and lost cities within the jungle's depths;
• The Altipiano, stretching from eastern Satucin across the interior of Puramape and into Gapolania, dominated by the plains of the same name; home to a variety of groups, the most famous of these being the Chanuche;
• The Costa, composed primarily of the coastal regions of Puramape and Gapolania; home to groups such as the Dabu and [others tbd].

History

Pyramids constructed by the Pativilkas (left) and Tetuolmec civilizations, the first civilizations in Asteria Inferior and Superior respectively.

[very very broad and basic recounting of medasteria's history, focusing mainly on:]

[1) its role as home of two cradles of civilization;]

[2) broad regional trends in medasterian history;]

[3) the thriving of medasteria at its peak;]

[and 4) its destruction by euclean colonization]

Periodization

[tbd]

Culture and common characteristics

Subsistence and diet

Agricultural innovations

A diagram depicting a Vaskaranan terrace.

Medasteria featured numerous agricultural innovations, that allowed it to sustain large population centers. The primary innovation was the domestication and improvement of Maize, from the wild teosinte, with Maize being the most important crop in numerous Medasterian societies. A primary issue suffered by Medasterian societies was poor soil quality, and overuse of agricultural land, this resulted in specialized sites being developed for agriculture.

Vaskaranan terraced farming was developed to accomodate to the unique topological, and climatic challenges of their environment. Although terrace farming was not unique to the Vaskaranas, the societal impact such development created was unique to the region. Likewise Tonatihcan cultures use of the Milpa cycle along with the three sisters Maize, beans, and Squash ensured that yields were high, and the health of the soil was mantained.

Terre Noire, an anthropogenic soil (anthrosol) first developed in the Sythe Rainforest, was used extensively throughout Medasteria, primarily as a result of Marai adoption and later exchange with Medasterian societies. Special plots were developed in Tonatihcan cities for the preparation and use of Terre Noire, which ensured the health and fertility of soils. Likewise the use of Chinampas throughout Tonatihcan, also developed a system of utilizing well developed irrigation systems to fertilize and mantain soil quality. With these gardens being replenished with easily accessible river sediment.

Medasterian agriculture was diverse and well adapted to its unique environmental challenges. Use of techniques to maintain soil fertility, along with Polyculture, forest gardening, and crop rotation were keystone concepts in Medasterian agriculture.

Significant domestic plants

Several species of plants were domesticated in one or more parts of Medasteria:

• Maize, cacao, tomatoes, avocadoes, squashes, jicama, breadnut, mamey sapote, and vanilla were domesticated in Tonatihcan, as was the non-food crop cotton;
• Potatoes, cassava, quinoa, oca, mashua, ullucu, lucuma, pacay, and coca were domesticated in the Vaskaranan region of contemporary Aucuria;
• Different species or cultivars of the common bean and chili pepper were domesticated or developed separately in both Tonatihcan and ancient Aucuria (the chili species Capsicum annuum, frutescens, and shangaenense were domesticated in Tonatihcan while Capsicum pubescens and baccatum were domesticated in Aucuria, for example);
• The guava, papaya, and sweet potato were domesticated either in the Sythe-Juoda region of what is now Aucuria and Satucin, or along the New Aurean Strait between Satucin and Ardesia, or on the islands of the Arucian Sea;
• The cashew was domesticated in modern-day Nuvania;
• The pineapple was domesticated in modern-day Satucin;
• Peanuts, the strawberry cultivar Fragaria chanuchensis, and erba mate were domesticated in what is now Gapolania and Puramape;
• Tobacco was domesticated somewhere in Medasteria, though precisely where is unclear;
• The calabash was also cultivated in Medasteria before 1488, though how and where the Coian plant species arrived in the Asterias is a matter of debate among experts.

These plants were then spread throughout the whole of Medasteria by trade networks, as was knowledge of how to cultivate them and prepare them for consumption (for example, the process of nixtamalization for preparing maize). Plants domesticated or cultivated in other parts of the Asterias - such as agave in what would become the AFR and sunflowers, winter squash, & goosefoot from the Northern Agricultural Complex - were also brought to Medasteria by trade, though climactic differences sometimes restricted their local cultivation.

Several animal species were also used as domesticated food animals in Medasteria, including the turkey, dog, and duck in Tonatihcan and the llama, alpaca, and guinea pig in the Vaskaranas.

[further stuff on diet - commonalities, unique local stuff & variations, how cultural contact shaped things]

Art and architecture

Guanín objects made by the Nati are found across the region.

Subregions

Vaskaranas

Main article: History of Aucuria

[the first and oldest cradle - the various civilizations leading up to the !inca (cutinsuans), plus cutinsua itself]

Tonatihcan

Main article: Tonatihcan

[the other one of the cradles - the various civilizations leading up to the !maya (tecpans) and !aztecs (tzapotlans/"zapoyans"), plus the tecpans (calkhun, itzel, etc) and the tzapotlans themselves]

Southern Diasteria

[the marai, terachu]

Western Arucasteria

[nati, mutu, karukera - mercantile intermediaries between the continents]

[colonization by the marai, tzapotlans]

Eastern Arucasteria

[narapan - mercantile intermediaries between the continents, but on the other side of the straits]

Jansplata and Cisacopa

[ayohli et al in jansplata; groups like the chichimeca and purepecha in cisacopa?] [important role as intermediaries between the medasterian network and the peoples of aridasteria and silvasteria, spreading crops and goods between those regions]

Kustveld

[mosca et al; important as intermediaries between medasteria and austrasteria]

Sythe-Juoda

[the most obscure, but recent research has uncovered geoglyphs and cities lost in the jungle, which suggest it might have been much more prominent than previously believed]

Altipiano and Costa

[chanuche in the altipiano, and are big players with some expansive conquests; dabu (!yaruro) the costa; important as intermediaries between medasteria and planasteria & occidasteria]

Legacy

[surviving indigenous populations and their efforts to preserve their traditions] [traditions which were adopted by settlers]

[incorporation of medasterian civilizations into modern national identities]

[the concept of a "new medasteria" between postcolonial countries and societies]

See also

• Cradles of civilization (Kylaris)