The History of Southern Tseireph

Last updated Jan 10, 2025

• Lore
• 2nd realm

Tseireph is a continent of Kherell in the 2nd realm. It has been home to many different minikin groups, notably the Morellic minikin and their civilisations, such as Sarvara and the Empire of the Petrified Child. It saw the development of agriculture, society, and art.

Southern Tseireph was formed millions of years ago, when the northern and central tseireph tectonic plates converged, the central and southern plates diverged, the southern plate and the aqhoran oceanic plate converged, and the tseireph gulf plate and the eastern oceanic plate converged.

Tseireph has been inhabited for the entire time it has existed in recognisable form, and even before so. It has only been inhabited by intelligent life after Minikin developed c. 300,000 years ago, after which, sparse migrant communities of other sapient species such as slugfolk also emerged.

The stone age marked the emergence of tribal communities as Minikin developed out of more basal and non-sapient squirrel-like rodents which inhabited the forests and bushlands of Tseireph.

The paleolithic, or old stone age, was characterised by the use of basic stone tools and simple magic use. This period saw minikin tribes begin not only to forage for food but also to hunt and fish for animals, especially large animals to feed a whole family, and even to speak in complex languages by the late paleolithic.

The mesolithic, or middle stone age, was the next period of the stone age. This period saw cultures emerge in forms closer to what would later be seen in the Tseireph after the stone age, with the formation of the continent’s first languages and religions.

The mesolithic also saw greater sophistication in the creation of stone tools and the forms of magic used. This led to the decline of large hunting parties tasked with taking down one large animal, as they could now hunt a wider and more varied range of animals with different, more specialised weapons.

The neolithic, or new stone age, was the last period of the stone age before Minikin developed the use of metals such as copper and bronze. This period saw magic use reach greater complexity, and interweave with religion in a way unseen previously. The neolithic era began with the ’neolithic revolution,’ which brought many innovations such as agriculture, pottery, and the first cities.

It was around this time that the Diiran minikin, a nethic group of proto-farmers, emerged in the Sarvaran River Basin; the Mora minikin, a morellic group of nomadic hunter-gatherers, emerged in the northern steppeland; and the Aqhoran minikin, an oyholiric group of fisherpeople, migrated from the southwestern continent into the coastal regions of the Sarvaran river basin.

These proto-farmers began as simple hunter-gatherers who ate wild plants and hunted wild animals, yet eventually gained a habit of collecting wild seeds and dispersing them in areas with fertile soil, so that they could be harvested. These were the first ‘farms,’ around which the farmers built the first buildings, typically clay huts reinforced with stone and wood, to store crops and tools.

Furthermore, some other hunter-gatherer groups also gained a habit of keeping and breeding wild animals for their resources, including meat, pelt, wool, etc., rather than immediately hunting them and harvesting their bodies; this spelled the beginning of the practice of pastoralism and the domestication of livestock.

It was during his time that the proto-farmers would migrate and spread throughout southern Tseireph, bringing their practice of agriculture with them. They ultimately absorbed, eliminated, or assimilated into surrounding groups, and ended up making up a substantial chunk of the genetic makup of the region in the future.

Simultaneously, the practice of living at settlements all-year-round became more and more common as farming became a more dominant part of the farmers’ diets. Rather than searching for food, they could rather live by their farms in the huts they had built, and consistently upkeep the farms for permanent use.

As a sedentary lifestyle grew in prominence, so did the need to adapt. Not only did huts develop from tool-sheds to bona fide homes, but the Minikin also began to use clay to create pots, to store and preserve seeds, spices, water, beer, etc., and so was the first instances of pottery.

Religion was a prominent part of minikin life from even during the paleolithic, but it was during the new stone age that organised religion gained prevalence and widespread adoption. People began to build temples as a place for settlers to focus their worship, and spiritual leaders began to take on a more systematic role as monks, priests, and high priests. One such example of a temple was Sabelina, a Diiran temple located in an area of increased intensity of alucinara.

The Bronze age began as the people of southern Tseireph began to utilise metals such as copper, tin, and, namely, bronze, in their tools. It was during this time that the first settlements well and truly flourished into cities, city-states, nations, and empires, and the languages of the region began to be recorded in writing.

The settlements of the Diira were an invaluable invention for the success of life in the region. As they were continually inhabited, they offten grew in power, size, wealth, territory, and political importance. The first political systems evolved to keep up with the need for control, offense, and protection; and thusly the ‘state’ began to emerge as a type of political entity.

The most prominent city of the bronze age was Sarvara, a morellic city located in the eponymous Sarvaran River Basin, originating in the late neolithic as a Diiran settlement¹ before being conquered by the Mora under High Matriarch Coriandra I directly following the LNMM (late-neolithic morellic migration).

Sarvara went on to become the most prominent and influencial cities in the entirety of south Tseireph, with Mtr. Oleandra II establishing the Sarvaran Empire following the conquest of the city-states of Aqhor and Evelor.

Coroth was yet another morellic city, a city-state located in the southwestern continental forests of southern Tseireph. Coroth was home to many unique species, leading the city to become a wealthy exporter of textiles and dyes.