The Shesti people

[RobElks]

The Shesti are an Indo-European speaking people, genetically related to modern-day Armenians (although their language is very different) who were separated from the main stock of humanity 2500 years ago. Their existence is the result of the relocation of a section of land on Earth (specifically the basin of modern-day Sevan Lake, Armenia) to another planet by an unknown race – it is believed that it was an effort to preserve mankind from a possible meteor strike. Today, they number roughly 3 million, mostly inhabiting the region around their home island – the transplanted landmass – but some have diffused in small numbers to their extremities of their world.

Climate

The Shesti homeworld has several large continents and a few large island ranges. Its average temperature is slightly higher than Earth’s, so its ice caps are only seasonal. The interiors of the continents are deserts, devoid of life – as a result, nearly all settlements are in coastal regions, which vary between forests, swampland and mostly grassland. These towns are devoted mainly to fishing and agriculture.

Town structure

Agricultural towns are organised in concentric circles – the outer houses are barns or small dwellings, the inner houses are larger dwellings and the innermost house is a “town hall”, which is used for celebrations and as a grain store during emergencies. The farmland occupies the space between the houses, and livestock graze in the outermost circle. As with Native American communities, land is not often privately owned – however, in the event of a trade dispute, the boundaries between land are clearly marked, although food, when sold, is distributed between the farmers equally.

Politics

Each town is self-governing, with varying structures of government – some are communal democracies, where all people have a say in the town’s running, while others are patriarchal or matriarchal autocracies. Towns may wage trade disputes between each other, or dispute the treatment of a prisoner – however, in the rare event of a conflict, the men of each town are trained to fight, and rather than conquering the town, their supplies and people are pillaged and imprisoned until peace has been made.

Classes

Class structures are very different to most other early Indo-European societies – people are born into non-specific castes, but can easily move in and out of them. Wealth is mostly evenly distributed, although this is not true for every town. There is no official currency for most towns, so goods are traded by barter system. Education is informal in these towns, although a scribe class exist in most settlements, who keep track of legal records and weather patterns. In many towns, a slave class, mostly consisting of prisoners and petty offenders, still exist, but people can exit them by performing a set amount of labour.

Crime

Each town have their own laws – if they are broken, the most common punishment is exile, but for more serious offences, the penalty can be temporary/permanent slavery or even death, usually by being drowned.

Religion

The Shesti are, unusually, mostly non-religious – there are loosely-held traditional beliefs, but no specific rituals derived from this. However, some isolated groups practice their religions with great devotion – they tend to live far from the main settlements.

Technology

The Shesti are pre-industrial, but have relatively advanced technology – some towns have developed basic hot-air balloons and hang-gliders, and some mining settlements have even mastered the basics of electricity. However, they have yet to fully harness these inventions. They also have a remarkable understanding of natural processes, such as weather patterns, tides and even evolution, which have been recorded by scribes.

The Shesti language is here: http://relkton.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/the-shesti.html

[jute]

Did they ever have a native religion and just became predominantly atheist now? If not, that's something I'd call unrealistic, since religions tend to be universal among human cultures. Not necessarily organized ones like Islam, of course, but belief system that include some kinds of rituals and/or celebrations at least.

[RobElks]

Did they ever have a native religion and just became predominantly atheist now? If not, that's something I'd call unrealistic, since religions tend to be universal among human cultures. Not necessarily organized ones like Islam, of course, but belief system that include some kinds of rituals and/or celebrations at least.

Well, there are some unorganised rituals - for example, the end of the harvest season, and the summer and winter solstices. They also celebrate births (even those of some domesticated animals), marriages and large harvests.

[gestaltist]

Was there local flora and fauna on this planet or is the planet restricted to the organisms imported along with the humans?

[RobElks]

Was there local flora and fauna on this planet or is the planet restricted to the organisms imported along with the humans?

Well, some Earth fauna, such as cattle and dogs, were imported along with the humans, but there are local flora and fauna as well - for example, "hoget", which are similar to Arabian wildcats (in fact, some biologists theorise that these are descended from feral cats imported from Earth interbreeding with local organisms, although due to extreme genetic differences, this is unlikely). There are some domesticated local fauna, such as "ormekai", which are similar in appearance to rabbits, except far larger - they are harvested for their milk.

[gestaltist]

Ok. So there is local fauna that's very convergent with that on Earth. Lucky Coincidence?

[RobElks]

Ok. So there is local fauna that's very convergent with that on Earth. Lucky Coincidence?

Pretty much, yes.

[gestaltist]

I get why it's convenient to have it like that but it makes suspension of disbelief difficult, at least for me.

[RobElks]

I get why it's convenient to have it like that but it makes suspension of disbelief difficult, at least for me.

Well, it actually, in some ways, makes sense - since they were relocated by an intelligent species, it was in their interest to choose a world with similar conditions to our own to resettle the Shesti on.