Davidovian Peoples: Their origins

Davidion, son of pious Peuvlon and the most noble goddess Kelsia, daughter of Abbon Shabai and Tyr, hearing of king Lerimeus had challenged him to a duel, put on his bronze cuirass and after picking his weapons he mounted on his beautiful charriot with its two speedy white horses sending to him by the Gods, and went straight on to the battlefield. There he announced himself to his foe in front of everybody saying these words:

"Oh King Lerimeus, who defied all the Gods, and was accomplice of the greatest of all injustices , here I am, accepting this duel that you so much dessire. And I'll not rest until i kill you with the help of the Inmortals and my spear, in order to bring divine justice to all who think that can do as they please without obbeying the commands that are given from Heaven. "

Extract from the War of Dorstulon, written in the early Ikarian Language around 1.000 BP

The davidovian peoples, one of the most important ethnic groups in Yeia. Their origins are unknown as during their early stages as an unified people they didn't left any written record. The proto-davidovian peoples, the ancestors of modern Ikarian-Blatians, Oronai, Seris, Crorai and the vanished Kallians lived somewhere near the Great Lake, where the kingdom of the Crorai lies today, at the beginning of the Bronze Age.

Their Origins:

The proto davidovian peoples were mostly pastoralist and farmers. They were among some of the first civilizations that discovered bronze.

Around 4480 BP a climatic change called the Little Ice Age forced them to move south initiating their migration process. There were two migration waves for the Davidovian peoples, the first one is this migration related with the Little Ice Age around 4480 BP that saw the migration of two groups of the Davidovian peoples that eventually would form the Seris and the Kallians. The first stayed at the beginning in the Morya Peninsula but were forced to cross the Suris Strait due to the hostility of the indigenous tribes and then conquering the natives they encountered on the other side of the sea thanks to their superior technology. The latter invaded the Kallian Plains (thus their name) subduing the first humans who had colonized the area.

For another 3000 years both Kallians and Seris developed their civilizations and their languages started to diverge from one another. The second wave happened around 1500-1000 BP. When this time a rising in the worlds temperature made the rest of the Davidovian peoples migrate southwards. On the other side of the Albine mountains we found around 1500 BP the so called by the "antiquarians", Yavana culture, the ancestors of the Ikarians and Oronai, who lived in hillforts and sofisticated palace-complexes. This climatic change forced them to split , one yavana tribe went south-west ( The Oronai) and the other went South-East (The Ikarians). With them they brought a new technology, iron.

Proto-Davidovian culture and society:

Their main form of settlement was the hillfort as it is attested but the fact that most of the davidovian civilizations that inhabit Yeia started as communities living in hillforts. This has led some historians to suggest that warfare was something common in the proto-davidovian societies, and far from being a unified nation, fighting between neighbourgs and raids against other settlements were something very frequent. This importance of warfare is also attested in the multiple myths and epic poems that talk about legandary warrior heroes, like Davidion, the mythical ancestor and founder of these peoples.

Agriculture was essential to the proto-davidovian life, as its attested on thousands of words related to this subject in the davidovian languages. The most cultivated crops were wheat and rice (which the Seris later on introduced into Karia). Most of the palace complex states, hillforts are related with agriculture and also of cattle dweling as in situations of emergency, cattle could be kept inside the walls of the hillforts (like a siege or an enemy raid).

Their society was first structured around the family and the community they live in ( something that has survived for example in Seris society and also in how the different davidovian peoples create their surnames, expressing both either the families they belong to or the settlements where they come from). Theirs was a patriarchal society, men were the leaders of the family, and the women (although could sometimes fight alongside men), were relegated to be the responsable of the house and the family economy.
It seems to have also been divided in at least four social classes; the aristocracy, the warriors, the priesthood and the commoners, the latter were probably the farmers and the artisans.

Davidovian religion:

The proto-davidovian peoples were polytheistic and their pantheon has been transmited to their descendants. They believed in the Sky Father, mostly associated with the Sun, they have a goddess of the earth, a goddess of the Moon, and also gods and goddeses related to natural phenomenons like rain, thunder, storms, earthquakes... .

 They seem to have also giving cult to animals, such as the owl that, for example, in the Ikarian and Oronai cultures, as well as in the Seris, is a symbol of protection and above all good luck. Other interesting aspect about the religion (that is share with other cultures of Yeia) is their believe in the After life in what is described in some Davidovian religions as the City of Souls, above the Palaces of the Gods, and their apparent believe in the protection of their deceased relatives that could intercede before the Gods for their loved ones. They also believe that on special dates, the spirits of the deceased relatives descended from the Heavenly city to help or to check the situation of their families on the mortal realm. This believe is shared by many davidovian peoples, and its a key aspect of their faith. 

Proto-Davidovian language

As it has been said, the proto-davidovian peoples didn't know writting, althought their descendants will, also their language died out spliting into several languages around 3000 years ago. And so no text in the proto-davidovian language has survived, although philologists in the most prestigious academies and libraries across the Davidovian cultural sphere have achieved some success in reconstruct what the language of their ancestors may have been like, due to the comparison between the existing davidovian languages like Seris, Oronai, Blatian/Ikarian, Crorai etc... .

Legacy

Today, the davidovian peoples are perhaps the most widespread ethnic group in Yeia (ca. 200 million people) and their family of languages is the most spoken in the world. The culture of these peoples has influenced their neighbours greatly and had brought with them technologies unknown to those regions (for example Bronze and rice to the western shores of Karia, thanks to the Seris).

Naming traditions

Through comparison between the various personal names of the davidovian peoples we can get an idea of the personal names of the proto davidovian peoples: For example one of the most popular male name for both Seris and Ikarians is Rufus (in Ikarian/Blatian) and Ruphyn in Seris. Both share the same origin and probably the name was spelled something like "Rouphwuos" during the proto-davidovian times (meaning red haired).

In case of the female names, one of the most commonly found among davidovian women is the name Maia (which means flower in all the davidovian languages) and the fact that is the same name without variations among all these languages has made the linguists believe that this name also dates back to these proto davidovian times.

Culture

Culture and cultural heritage

Theirs was an heroic society that believed in the importance of bravery in battle. Great tales about warriors and wars have been written and told by the davidovian peoples that probably have their origins in this initial stage. Personal duels seemed to have been pretty common in Davidovian warfare, and some of them have decided the course of a battle.

There were also a very pious and very supersticious society, as it can be seen on their descendants. Nothing could be done without the gods approval and they have to constantly do sacrifies to honour them and keep them happy so they, for example, should grant a good harvest or prevent the realm from natural dissasters such as river floodings, volcanoes etc ... .

Shared customary codes and values

The Proto-Davidovian peoples, as seen from their descendants and for the tales that originated from that time, paid an special attention to honor; understood as not only honor in battle, but honor as a way to live their lives. For example, one should fulfill the promeses he/she has made.

Average technological level

Like many of their neighbours the proto-davidovian peoples were masters of bronze crafting. They produced complex and advance armours and weapons. They made extensive use of the charrior in warfare and also seemed to have also master the art of irrigation to a high level.

Common Dress code

The fashion of the Proto-Davidovian peoples seems to be similar to those Bronze Age peoples that surrounded them. As the climate became warmer so did the fashion change. Men wore short slieved tunics and a kind of kilt that displayed geometrical patterns. This is believed to be a symbol of belonging to a kingdom, a settlement or a tribe as each settlement had a different pattern. This clothing piece is attested even in the earliest depictions of Seris and Ikarians.

Decorated belts seemed to be something related to the warrior class and they were offen decorated with bronze, gold or silver plates.

Women seemed to wear long tunics covered by capes made of wool or animal hair (usually from bisons that once populated the regions north-west of the Albine mountains.

Some colours were reserved to certain social classes.For example, white was reserved to the priest while purple was a sign of nobility. Only the most noble of them all, the king, was allowed to wear clothes entirely purple, the rest of the nobles of the kingdoms could wear a horizontal band or a motive in that colour. White was also reserved to the ceremonial dress of the children, when they became adults.

Art & Architecture

At an initial stage the main materials used for building were stone and wood. The houses of the hillforts had a rounded shape with thatched roofs.

Initially , their houses hadn't rooms properly. Each home had a central kitchen with a fire in the middle and the beds were located around it in order to stay warm at night. As time passed by, rooms were created putting courtains or wooden panels. 

The first Davidovian peoples that used bricks for building were the Seris around the 15th century BP. Two centuries later we found that the walls and some houses of some hillforts of the later stages of the Yavana Culture were made of bricks. 

Their art wasn't as realistic as the art of their descendants, the only surviving art that have reached until nowadays are animal figures, fibulae and some terracota statues of gods and goddeses that thanks to the atributes displayed on their iconography some of them can be identified with the gods worship today by the different davidovian peoples. For example, one of the statues of a misterious goddess has a crown of flowers and a cornucopia, atributes that today can be found on iconographic depictions of the godess of nature and wife of Abbon Shabai, Tyr.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

The proto-davidovian peoples made animal sacrifices to the gods, usually sheeps or lambs, chickens, sometimes cows. But at an unknown date they abandoned this tradition and instead of sacrificing animals they began to make sacrifices in form of libations, pouring liquid substances like water, honey, wine, beer in the altars or in special compartments on the tombs of the dead.
Some athletic competitions, for example running a certain distance dressed in full armor, can trace their origin to proto-davidovian times when they were performed as a religious ritual.