Dusklands

Not to be confused with Pantalei which is slowly replacing the Dusklands. This article only focuses on the original region.

The Dusklands is a large, ancient region that divides the north from the south of the Mesathalassa - Deepwoods super-continent. The creation of the Darkened Spires and the Fractal Ocean created a 'leak' of Julkofyr's influence upon the land west of the spires, with time, this developed an region of eternal twilight where life thrived, albeit in an unique way. The region's population is entirely Human, known by Mesathalasans as Dusklanders and by populations in the north, such as Thau and Great Ring, as Southerners.

There is no local word to define the land, typically it is called Nyupo - 'Home' or Dzanyaveh - "Twilight/Starlit Land". The word for Dusklanders, however, is far better defined and became widespread during the first century post-Realta, Dzanya.

## Etymology and Exonyms

The term Duskland usually spelled using local words, is colloquially used sparsely. It is the main term used to refer to Dzanyaveh as it is an acceptable translation of the word. Other terms for the land are

Kivicoi (Northwest Mesathalassa): Ner Hunu (grey land)

Susi (North Mesathalassa): Nerang Thunu (grey land)

Imgian (Southwest Mesathalassa): Avup Zujau (twilight swamp)

Fibeslayian (East Mesathalassa): Greslandi (grey land)

Thauic (South of the Deepwoods): Koch Hiv (silver south)

## History

### **Pre-Eusalic**

The Dusklands was first formed with the creation of the Darkened Spires by the god Julkofyr, not as a part of the holy site, but as a result of the leak of divine power into the marshes east of the mountains. The constant state of twilight was contained within a well-defined strip of land, with the unclimbable Darkened Spires to its west, a large lake to its east and the 'stormlands' to its north and south, the latter was caused by the power that also created the Dusklands, once the divine energy became too weak, the dusk charged air collapsed against the hotter, 'normal' air of the rest of Galbar.

### **Eusalic and Ikanotita**

Despite it being a hard task, early life had plenty of time to migrate into the dusklands, though the local fauna would only be defined by a Eusalic-Era boom caused by a visit from Slough.

Hain presence in the region was negligible. The marshy nature of the land, the lack of large game or accessible fruit, the constant darkness and the sense of isolation that the lack of colour and the mute sounds give were the main factors in the absence of Hain in the region.

However, near the southern border, there were many early Hain 'frontier' settlements such as Grehvew and Kris Forio, both clearly named after the dark lands up north. (Grehvew being proto-hain for Grey View and Kris Forio being Dawnman for Grey Fort.) Gems and plants native to the duskland have also been found in sunland sites, giving the idea that while it was not permanently inhabited, some groups ventured into the Dusklands.

The Julkofyr essence in the area, even if diluted, worked against the prolonged presence of Jvanic entities and quickly caused imperfections in the White Giant's systems. All other pre-human species simply lived too far to even know about the region.

### **Silver Antiquity - Bahopodzo**

The Duskland was one of the few regions not populated by waves of mass migration from already established Arconian tribes. As it had no local established non-human populations, moving into the region was not followed by bloodshed, making it possible for smaller tribes to settle peacefully in relative isolation. In contrast, the only danger of the journey was crossing the border storms or the lake, both tasks which were far easier to be done by small tribes than the larger Arcon rooted tribes. The end result was something quite unique for Galbar, with early Dzanya settlements having many aspects of a variety of Arconian cultures and ethnicities, with little connection to one another.

The folk memory of this era is called "Bahopodzo", the age of the home, the name coming from the belief that in this age was characterized by great buildings, great people and great isolation, a romanticized view caused by many chieftains of later clans claiming they descended from ancient bahodjomo. The legend is not devoided of truth, communication between early tribes was abysmal and the local humans, some of, if not the first humans on the Deepwoods-Mesathalassa supercontinent,  did build some of the earliest mortal structures of the world, albeit still staying fully nomadic as they did so.

As centuries passed, change started to happen within the loose collection of groups that formed a "dusklander" society, far more gradually than the legends of Djomura Rarahupuva, eater of tongues and conqueror of a thousand tribes, recorded in the local folk history.

Trade and social interaction between tribes grew as the numbers of said tribe rose up and the knowledge on boat building and the lay of the rivers consolidated. Soon, many lingua-francas started to appear, including proto-Dzanyarara, first spoken within the fertile Tsefo valley.

Mobility and community extended to the southern border of the Duskland. Unlike the north, which bordered sparsely populated plains, the south always was close to 'sunlander' civilizations and far easier to cross. Human interest in settling the sunlands grew.  A sudden militarization of the established Hain settlements, as well as the creation of many more along the border, such as Grehvew and Kris Forio, showcases an effort to limit and contain mankind in the north. This was successful, as Duskmen presence on Mesathalassa quickly dwindled into insignificance.

### **Silver Antiquity - Dawman Duskman conflicts**

Mankind would settle the southern sunlands with the arrival of the Dawnman, an example of mass migration by a large tribe with a vaguely unified culture and clear leadership. With their large numbers came many inventions from the human heartland that had yet to arrive on the duskland (such as slings, obsidian weaponry, the wheel). Hain hegemony was challenged and actively pushed away from the west. However, this did not mean Dusklanders would find peace with the humans to the south, as the Dawnman simply took over the Hain border fortresses and continued to regulate the presence of northern nomads.

By then Julkofyrian influence had given the Dusklanders their unique look, despite the diverse genetic makeup of the region, this one factor clearly separated them from Dawnman and latter men.  The impact of this meeting and the common tongues is easily seen in the local culture, especially the south.

Yet, as local identity and distrust of sunlander grew, so did the trade with the south. Hain and Dawnman were often fighting along the border and this created many opportunities for trade. Many duskland goods started to appear in the south, and at the same time, Dawnman inspired pottery, their trinitary anti-dualist philosophy, and their architecture, in particular, the ring-shaped stone fortresses, showed up in the north. Later into the era, as obsidian proved itself a valuable strategic resource, Hain - Dusklander trader also bloomed, bringing a great deal of Hain crafts and culture to the humans north, even the polygamy, which would be practised by the middle and high classes and become a foundation of clan society.

### **White Antiquity - Mavapodzo**

While it was one of the regions least affected by the creation of the White Ocean, the shifts this world-changing event brought to the dusklands are still enormous, remembered in folk memory as the Mavapodzo, era of wanderers.

About 1/5 of the region sank, a change that might seem small, but it brought about the first large-scale migration with the region, at the same time, in the desperation of the advancing seas, many newcomers would make their way into the duskland. This influx helped the growing pan-regional culture to flourish, either by feeding into the systems of trade and common tongues or by clashing with the established cultures.

While the Dawnman and Western Hain collapsed in Mesathalassa, being replaced by the migrating Eveman and Sunman, the Duskman saw something that could be loosely described as a golden age. The central region of the Tsefo Valley saw the first permanent settlement rise, and the shift from stone fortresses raised at the meeting point of clans to villages with the first ring houses as the new migrating clans formed a middle class between established clan lords and simple people. The exploration and use of the dusklands rose, and although a route between the north border to the south border was never established, inner roads and waterways formed.

Trade flourished as soon as the new sunlanders established new societies, and while the dusklands still continued to be the obsidian provider of the south, goods such as silk, honey, silver and gems started flowing south. At the same time, local works dominated the interregional trade, as the experience in craftsmanship and artistry rose along with the connectivity.

### **Red Antiquity - Djutapodzo**

As the white sea coast and its harbour kingdoms started to settle down from the turmoil of emigration and conquest and new, more societally complex governments rose, the once precocious culture of the dusklands started to lag behind in comparison to its southern counterparts. The economy continued to be very simple, population and the will of exploration stabilized, the growing local creature led to closedness towards foreign thought and cities continued to be merely chokepoints in trade and war routes with the elite continuing to be the clans that could afford to stay nomadic.

While society became insular, the refinement of discovered techniques continued. Cloth-making and tailoring became increasingly complex, musical instruments were invented, culinary started to become diversified and truly explore the ingredients in the region and even architecture, while limited in terms of urbanism and great constructions, saw waves of refinement at the hands of the middle class, moving away from the rude stone walls into stone plus clay bricks and adobe.

By the end of the Red Antiquity (or in local memory, Djutapodzo, era of boats) right after Vestec's horde made an impressively unnoticeable incursion into the region, a bit of south culture, now far more complex and diverse, made its way north into the dusk in the form the Elysian philosophy of the Harbor Kingdoms.

### **First Era After the Realta**

In the year the Realta attacked, the goddess Ilunabar took over the region of the Darkened Spires. That alone would have meant the end of the Dusklands as Julkofyr's influence would dissipate given enough time, yet the process was even more drastic due to the presence of the goddess' own influence, Glamour, seeping in, turning the once dark land into the colourful and mystical Pantalei, albeit slowly, over the course of one century.

A minority of clans noticed this as soon as it happened and started planning for a migration into the Mesathalassa "sunlands". In the north region, this was done by finding viable land and starting settlements, often with a large amount of local population but a dusklander elite. In the West, there was an attempt to infiltrate local government for information so the involved clan could better decide what to do, though that became inconclusive as the clan backing the project broke down and those in the south strayed from their project.

Yet, as the disaster started to happen, the dusklanders had finally seen the start of social and cultural dynamism again. Elysian thought had created a small connection with the sunlands and new, safes routes across the borders had been discovered, increasing contact just as the harbour kingdoms of West Mesathalassa had been going through a small golden age of expansion and innovation, at the same time, Tsefo Valley farming had started the shift into sedentary living years prior, the process only becoming faster as more practical Sunland crops were introduced.

For two decades the dusklands enjoyed prosperity and gradual change, reaffirming its place as one of Mesathalassa's main trade partners. Then, the oddlands enfulfed Tsefo Valley and change turned into upheaval.

The fleeing populations were the least of the worries of the clan chiefs from the unaffected lands, the fleeing clans, however, were a massive one. Hain polygamy had flourished among the elites as a way to keep land within clans, now, landless young men roamed the dusklands, with just as many landless young soldiers following them.

War became the norm by the third decade, disrupting trade and exhausting resources, but also weakening the rigid clan society of the dusklands. Many young chieftains rose, several without great lineages, such as the young warrior Tihtzin, others being small ones that managed to overpower larger ones, such as clan Llapur. Power was fickle and many men would spend one season as great warlords, one as broken peasants, and then once again lead armies of countless followers.

In the chaos, temples rose to prominence, along with the 'crafting clans' that formed the middle class, both often conspiring to undermine martial clans control over towns. This weirdly mimicked the ancient Dawnman societies, which were divided between civilian (Livas/granary) military (Forio/fort) and temple (Naos/temple), and while most Dawnman were gone by the time of this change, their trinitary thought and anti-dualism had influenced the culture of the southern dusklands, which took the position of Tsefo Valley as the cultural centre of the Dzanya.

The decade of skirmishes started to end, at least in the south, as more and more lords took the role of pacifiers. The alliance between the warriors Mutaraka, Tihtzin and Tzeba famously defeated and made examples of many rogue clans, including a few ancestral ones, helping to stabilize the south.

### **First Era - Dzatsu Kafu conflicts**

As stability grew, the coalition of clans that pacified the south became relaxed, Tihtzin outright leaving to work as a mercenary in the massive war that had started in Mesathalassa. Mutaraka never stepped out of his position of influence, however, maintaining the peace among the coalition, expanding and securing the borders of the pacified zone and accommodating refugees escaping the oddlands.

Soon, plans to create dusklander settlements past the border into the sunlands started, and it was then, after decades, that the clans that stayed met the few clans that had left to establish Sunland colonies as early as the appearance of the oddlands. A struggle between both sides was immediate, both a power struggle and an ideological one, early settlers (Dzatsu Kafu) held to an ultra tradition duskland clan society hierarchy of power but had adopted much of the local customs and tradition, whilst the clans that stayed and survived the urban explosion and temple influence had much more flexible power classes but held to 'Dzanya' customs dearly. Neither sides had the mobility or numbers to fight seriously, but skirmishes along the border started, though were mostly kept a secret to the population within the duskland.

After his historic campaign as a mercenary, the take over of the Harbor Kingdom of Tabatha, and long resistance against other kingdoms, Tihtzin and his men returned to the dusklands, defeated and exhausted but largely glorified and beloved. His men brought much more intimate extents of Sunlander experience, their tales kickstarting a change is dusklander thought, clan society kept declining as the social norm thanks to migration, whilst the 'Dzanya' feeling, of a union as a people and independent of clan ties, grew. Many heard the stories of the Harbour Kingdoms and felt an acute interest in their society while at the same time seeing themselves as different than those people.

### **First Era - Tsoti**

The culmination of a millennium-long social trend and the increasing focus on the 'sunlander-dusklander' division would take the form of a group called Tsefo. Originally an anti-elysian circle of priests led by Mavadzugji, son of legendary general Tihtzin, the group quickly changed focus to the preservation and definition of local history after Mavadzugji the first written script for the dusklander common language.

While initially focusing on the translation of foreign works, it had always been clear Tsefo held a strong sense of "Dzanya unity", and even as they flooded the Duskland with new foreign texts, greatly increasing local awareness to the world, they thought always reinforced a united and well defined dusklander identity, often favouring the high culture in the south-west, to the detriment of many others less central ones.

The common unifying aspect of the region is the influence of the god Julkofyr which is showcased not only in the eternal dusk of the region but also in the alterations it caused over the course of aeons, either directly, through mutations, or indirectly, as the fauna and flora adapted itself to the region. Dull colours, dark fur, thick underbrush, and sometimes bright, if not luminescent, spots, are common to all living creatures and some geological features.

## Geography

The land, located entirely within a central tropical latitude, is mostly a boggy swamp fed by the great rivers born from the darkened spires, however, there are still many distinct geological areas within the larger 'duskland' region

1. Papuratsura, Grey Shore

A region so rocky and lifeless that even the dusklanders thought it was too grey.  As the humidity of the land gets trapped by Mohollar mountain range and the humidity of the ocean gets cast away by the tumultuous border between Sunland and Duskland, the Papuratsura is a dry region of gravel shores, with most trees being cacti and low thorny shrubs. Living conditions are poor, and as such, this is one of the most sparsely inhabited regions, the ones who brave the arid land being called Papurapabibi by bewildered outsiders.

2. Djoratsonya Tsadzami, Central River Delta.

In the centre of the Papuratsura, the fierce Djoratsonya River breaks into a delta, creating many islands that are inhabitable albeit not as fertile as one would expect. Oftenly flooded, the local flora is mostly composed of mangrove, tall grass, water surface plants, with some occasional grove of towering trees with deep roots.

3. Djoratsonya Lla, Central River Valley

Being a large river with fierce waters, the Djoratsonya River carved itself a valley on the east side of the Dusklands. Unlike the Tsefo Valley east, in this region, there are no gentle shores, navigation must be done on foot by the sides of the river and along tall canyon walls. The region is much more welcoming to settlements than the lands far west, especially near the flooded regions, but transport is not easy, paradoxically making this central region where the three main rivers of the Duskland meet considerably isolated.

4. Tsefolla, Tsefo Valley

Located between rivers Djoratsonyanyar and Djoratsonyamiri, the Tsefo valley is a fertile, lightly flooded region, being a shrub swamp near rivers and a swamp forest deeper inland. Home to the oldest of Duskland civilizations, inhabitation within the land is mostly made on 'islands' of land that stay above the water in wet and dry seasons, although, later settlements built with advanced architecture became bolder in location placements.

5. Mikahagje, Lake Plains

A relatively dry land, Mikahagje is formed by two large lakes, Mohavu and Mupunya. This region is covered in a wet broad-leaf forest of moderate density and does not have flooding. making it easy to settle or navigate the region. The Mohavu lake rivers flow southwards, into Mesathalassa,

6. Momullar Djomo, Sky Mountain Approach.

Loosely connected to Mikahagje, the Momullar Djomo is the only settleable area near the spires, thanks to a few gentle rivers and the lack of thick jungles or sharp arid land. Rich in Darkened Spires Obsidian, this region contains a sparse montane ecosystem.

7. Dzahagje, Dza Plains

A shrubland, the region around rivers Dzamiri and Dzanyar, is mostly flat plain lands, sometimes flooded, but far more uniform than Tsefo Valley. Inhabitants stay close to the areas with little forests, as the land with tall grass is typically muddy and unstable. During the wet season, the region floods to the point one can travel over the grass by boat, making it a time of great connectivity for the region.

8. Llovagjudzo, deep swamp

Similar to Papuratsura, Llovagjudzo was a region so swampy, swamp dwellers called it swampy. Always wet and muddy, this is a hard region to cross and it has been one of the main reasons why the north border of the dusklands is not as connected to the sunlands as the south. Plantlife here is mostly sturdy types of grass and thick trees. The rivers disappear into bogs, making canoe transportation impossible.

9. Wildlands

Typically regions too far from rivers and featuring many hardwood plants, far too large, too thorny, too thick, to be cut down. These regions are not only untouched by human hands, but also untraversable by them, which is why the Tsefo Valley held such importance as it was in the middle of the only easily traversable path within the dusklands and was often the meeting point of north, west and south.

### **The Eternal Dusk**

As a result of Julkofyr's influence, the dusklands was, unsurprisingly, a land always under the dusk. It is not like time stops within the region, but that dark clouds always cover it, creating a dusk-like sky. Being mystical and divine in nature, the dusk has many peculiarities. It obfuscates the sunlight, but never moonlight or the light of the god changed planets.

The morning under dusk is when the sun shines its brightest, as the dusk has trouble blocking light at an angle. The sky slowly becomes light grey, and many crepuscular rays are formed as clouds of dusk essence fail to block the sun.

The midday has a weaker now fully blocked by the dusk, the sky is brighter, and, with the direct sunlight weakening the dusk essence, all stars become visible.

Dusk comes with angled sunlight again. This time, it takes colours, often making auroras of purple, cyan, orange, twilight lasts long within the dusklands, and then slowly vanishes, along with the stars, as the dusk essence strengths during the night. The sky turns jet black, with the exception of the moons and the two persistent 'stars'.

Days in the duskland have skies brighter than the land, nights have the land being brighter than the darkness essence charged sky.

### **Fauna and Flora**

The Flora in the Dusklands is tropical, albeit composed of less dense forests in comparison to Mesathalassa due to the altered sunlight being weaker and the constant flooding of the many rives of the region. In general, while a few trees can grow tall and broad and most of the vegetation in the region is composed of thin trees, shrubs, mangroves and tall grasses. In the drier areas of the region, trees get a bit shorter but thicker, and the shrubs become increasingly twisted and thorny.

Plant life within the duskland is rich in Pheophytin but lacking in Chlorophyll, it also had developed over time many new unique organic components, some containing the elements of Mythral and Orichalcum, which the ground near the Darkened Spires is rich of, these elements are used to gather light and the energy dusk, which is why vegetation tends to not only be thicker near the mountains of the Dusklands but also far richer is colouration, as any compound with either of those metals is capable of breaking the influence of the dusk.

The dusklands also has a great variety of vegetal life fit for textile production, which is both in part due to the region's natural flora but also thanks to the long human inhabitation of the region. Cotton (both of the white and the local pink variation), Palm Fiber, Jute, Rattan, Nettle, Hemp, as well as the local products Dzanya Threads.  Another local domesticated plant is the Tsefo Seed, which used to be the main source of food before more practical Sunland crops entered the region.

The fauna of the region is characterized by a great variety of fishes, reptiles and birds, but lacking in mammal diversity, birds within the duskland tend to be taller than usual, mostly in leg size, while lizards tend to be larger in general. Mammals are mostly rodents, as well as Chiroptera order animals, with some unique variation of bats, as well as a few Pholidota scaled mammals.

### **Demographics**

The only significant population within the duskland is the Dzanya Human one, figuring over four million in its peak. The only other moral species with any population would be the urtelem, but with less than a thousand mortals. White Giants cannot route into the Dusklands due to the dangerous borderlands, most which tried have been destroyed or buried under the shifting gravel.

Dzanya, or Dusklander, populations could very well be classified as many different ethnicities, as there is a large variety of face shapes, skin colours, etc. However, the unifying aspect of all these people are a few unique genes mutated under the influence of the duskland. The effects include small alterations to vision, mobility, and the synthesis of different biochemical compounds. Visually, what stands out is the skin colour, which can range from white to black but will always have a grey/pale light to it, hair is typically black, grey or white and eyes brightly coloured, usually grey, but with a significant copper population followed by cyan, aquamarine, violet, and red. Dusklander eye colours have a direct correlation with 'Sunlander' eye colours, a fact easily seen in mixed couples.

## Culture

### Government: Clan Society

The core of the control of land within the duskland is a nomadic "clan society". Bahototzu, as it is called in the largest local language, is the division of society in large extended families, with a core of people born within the family and the adjacent wives, husbands, adoptee and servants.

While called a family, these clans are closer to tribes, as they are in a sense descendants from the time the dusklands was composed of isolationist tribes. With numbers that can reach the hundreds, its common for the families to cultivate an inner culture of its own, with a strong sense of collectivism within the clan and countless family symbols being cultivated.

In a traditional clan, a certain amount of polygamy happens,  a man or woman marrying into the family is marrying the family, and a child of the family belongs to all the family. The practice is often mutated, typically devolving into harems or just simple couples, however, its one of the roots of the ideas of 'family unity' within the Dusklands. Core members of the family often hold votes over clan decisions, though the presence of groups of elders (Hullibamu) with the eldest one taking being the great elder (Nyarhulli) and of a young fifteen to forty years old head (from spearhead, Kuhotsepu) of the family is also common, often dictating the topics to be voted. Elders also dictate the tests and trials which will decide which children are to become core members and which are to be married or adopted away. Rarely, clans elect lifetime chieftains (Djodje)

Traditional clans are often hard to maintain and fragile, typically the isolated dusklands are extremely stable and fertile ground for such societies, however, periods of great migration within the land have been the bane of clan society. The creation of the white sea broke the tribal isolation of clans as many had to escape the advancing sea and settle near to other clans, creating more intra-clan communities and increasing the core to adjacent ration within the families. By the time the oddlands appeared, clan society was already changing, though the massive migration the former created would be the driving force of change from year 0 forward. Many clans found themselves completely incapable of maintaining a traditional form, creating a division between traditional high families (Nyardzata) and new middle class, often craft focused, lower families (Miridzata). At the same time, many adjacent soldiers managed to create new clans of their own, cities grew parallel to clan control and temples and its cleric society formed its own sphere of influence, increasing their independence from clan society.

### Government: Urbanism

In a society as divided by family as the Dzanya, the creation of a public, family-less, areas of living was a slow process. The first of the common grounds (Hufitotzu) were religious sites, which often required long peregrinations, existed in contrast to the nomadic tribes and would be a source of constant warring, leading to clan neutral religious groups taking over holy areas. Second, would be the trading areas, or meeting points (Mika), while clans would move to control chokepoints of movement and river trade, their increasingly large societies also often need a neutral meeting point for trading goods, often small outposts distant from any clan large enough to be intimidating.

As society grew larger, especially with the advent of early agriculture in Tsefo Valley, more and more common ground was created beyond clan society. The Mika grew from meeting points into market villages with temples, granaries, and small clans or adjacent family members working crafts.

The social instability caused by the advancing oddlands was crucial into furthering the presence of neutral villages, but it also brought about many questions on how to manage these villages, which were so different from typical Dzanya society. Many grew into oligarchies dominated by one larger clan, but others created a strong sense of Hufitotzu, common ground, often creating councils of great elders and clan heads, giving control to the local priests or just existing on a rule-less state where control of the common grounds is defined in colloquial agreements between clans.

### Religion

While there is little unity to dusklander religion, a few common aspects, especially in the core of the most populated regions, can be found. In general, raw dualism is seen as flawed, there is a strong focus on how imbalance leads to balanced cycles, this has roots in Dawman influences within the Dusklands and the belief in an Earthly Divine Realm and a Heavenly Divine Realm and that existence is the space between both. Often in the Dzanya language, there is a word for the empty space between things, Bopu is the sky, Momu is the earth and between both is the Mika or  Dzanya.

A few common myths are seen in many corners of the land, the belief in the star sister and the sun brother, in the craftsmen and his obsession with perfection leading to him cutting off his own hands, in the heavenly daughter and the heavenly brother each being given a piece of land after the heavens conquered the earth, the last one relating with the Elysium myth, and later tellings adding that mankind was first born to serve the heavenly daughter but was stolen or travelled to Galbar, though that is a controversial telling, and many traditionalists like to add extra space between sunlanders and dusklanders.

While most of the higher pantheon has some root in a god or two, most of the local gods of rivers, trees and mountains do not.  Many families also believe in "family spirits" sometimes described as the union of all ancestors and other times defined just as a guardian, nevertheless, symbols depicting such spirit are often made as wards or just symbols of pride.

### Religion Time

The dusklanders have a strict sense of time-related to religious and folkloric roots. The religious epochs are tied to the moon and change everything, from the clothes that one should use, to what sort of patterns should be on pottery, to what goes on the little shrines in front of homes, to the entire set up of temples. A full epoch cycle lasts two galbarian solar years, though each of the years is different.

[full calendar later]

### Arts and Technology

Living in a region with a rich variety of fibres and with a deficit in animals that can provide good quality leather, the people of the dusklands developed masterful skills in weaving, being the main source for a variety of fabrics for both Mesathalassa and the lands under the Deepwoods, especially silk, but also some of the strongest ropes that exist in mortal Galbar. The most common boat type within the duskland is made of reed.

Metallurgy is present, though typically contained to decorations, obsidian being one of the preferred tools of war, in the fields and crafts imported copper tools and local stone tools are common. Despite that, silver, gold and bronze are smelted in the duskland, locals also mix the mithril rich sands with copper or silver for alloys that are used only for aesthetic purposes, with the silver mix gaining a pearlescent texture and the copper gaining a teal mirror-like texture.

Dusklanders preferred weapon is the spear, with clubs and short swords also being present. Ranged weapons are rarely used, but throwing spears are not uncommon. Local armour is usually made of cotton and oil-treated rattan with the addition of copper or wood plates, darkened spires sand treated with glue is also used by the more resourceful families as small plates and fillings meant to protect vital areas. Imported copper and bronze armour typically triumph over local weaponry, as such, even with the ban on war equipment done by Kivico since the Tabatha takeover, such materials are often smuggled north.

### Architecture

Houses within the dusklands are often large and made to house entire tribes, typically composed of a single or a series of buildings centred around an empty space, the most common house shape is the Dawman influenced ring-shaped houses, though many other designs exist, all following a theme of isolation to the outside but union within the complex. Similarly, mortar and adobe from the Hain are also very common.

While the foreign influence definitely changed the face of Dzanya architecture, the influence of the Dusklands in the design cannot be ignored. For a start, the creation of large houses for collective inhabitation is a trait that quickly developed among the first inhabitants of the land, caused by the fact early settler's bodies were not adapted to the misty and dark local environment, with the cultural isolationism of the tribes also being a factor.  Villages grew compact, palisades connected buildings, huts grew larger, grew longer, and then started to merge. By the time of the contact with Dawnman, there were already ring-shaped villages of palm leaf covered leanto.

Dzanya houses, even the poorest, still have cultural obligations related to the fact the home represents the spirit of the family. Gates are common, tall and embellished in a way that represents the family that lives there, sometimes built into the structure of the home and sometimes as the entrance point of a palisaded structure. Near the homes, but still outside, are little shrines that need to be decorated accordingly to the current religious epoch.

Stonework is only really common in a few areas to the south and west as well as among the larger clans, most homes are built with wood, adobe, dirt or reed.

### Language

There exists a large number of local dialects within the dusklands, with the language typically referred to as Dzanya/Dusklander Language (Dzanyarara) being more a lingua franca, popularized by the Tsefo Valley civilization but largely spread all across the land centuries prior. In the most mainstream version of the language, the consonant inventory is r dʒ  dz ts tʃ t k b p ɟ ʎ m ɲ ʋ f ɦ while the vowels are a ɘ i u ɒ.

In Galbar, a few Dzanyarara words are often borrowed by interacting cultures, Tsillu [common string] (textile), Tsiko [string worm] (silk), Tzurkortze [sea copper] (turquoise), Hatzur [like the sea] (azure), Manyadjir [esteemed adoptee] (manager), among others.