The Casani

[Jubal]

The Casani have recieved a plethora of mentions on the site thus far... and since my own Larigal is on the Casani/Central Empire borderlands I think a thread of general enquiry may be in order. 

The following we know about the Casani;
- They are part of the Empire
- They occupy most of the area south of the great lakes
- They are quite culturally separate
- They might have been fighting the Devanu without the Empire's help anyway at the time of liberation
- In the pre-Imperial era they had a different religion to the Empire Fubarnii

[Bethar]

In my mind I have some interesting possibilities for the Casani.  I don't know that Mike is ready to make any of this canon, but these are my ideas:
The Casani are fairly ethnically distinct from the Central Empire, among other things having a recessive trait of greenish skin.  They are certainly culturally distinct, and still come across as strange to Central Empire Fubarnii despite having taken on some of their customs (out of necessity from being part of the Empire).  I see them as quite mystical, heavily into associating meaning with things and speaking in metaphors, possibly even using sympathetic magic (this is not to say that it works, but they believe it does).  They wear bright colours, which have their own symbolism, and lots of jewellery.  They don't worship the Enarii, except for political reasons.  Whether they believe in them is a different matter.  The Enarii are not the ancestors of the Casani so they have less relevance.   The Casani possibly tend towards Pantheism, nature worship and a general belief in interconnectedness.  They have a good understanding of drugs and medicines.  Outsiders tend to think of them as impractical dreamers, speaking in riddles and nonsense, but actually they do share the general Fubarnii traits of inquisitiveness and scientific exploration, they just approach it in a very different way.  They have at least their own dialect if not their own actual language which lends itself to metaphorical thought.  They  do of course have to speak Empire Fubarnii though a lot of the time.  Their artwork tends to be colourful, symbolic  and more inclined to 2D (the Empire Fubarnii use lots of sculpture and mechanical art).  They therefore have knowledge of pigments and dyes, resources for which are fairly easy to come by in their territory.

I'm quite happy for this to be discussed, quizzed, picked over, questioned and rejected, but would be interested to know what others think.

 

[Carcharoth]

Beth has summed it up quite nicely!

We've chatted about it a few times, but the area is somewhat labeled 'here be dragons' at the moment. I am now wondering what Casani militia would look like, but I know I don't need another project...

[Brandlin]

Beth has summed it up quite nicely!

We've chatted about it a few times, but the area is somewhat labeled 'here be dragons' at the moment. I am now wondering what Casani militia would look like, but I know I don't need another project...

Brandlin (no, not the Chief Architect one, the Emperors Cartographer one) hasily scribbles "here be dragons" on a section of ancient map, then looks up and asks "what's a dragon?"

should that be "here be devanu?"

[Rick]

Does this mean that the Casani probably have more in common culturally with Feral Fubarnii than with most of the Empire? Still a bit nebulous at the moment, but it seems that way - Casani seem to be separate, and a culture in their own right, but almost a mid-point between Feral and Empire.

[Bethar]

Does this mean that the Casani probably have more in common culturally with Feral Fubarnii than with most of the Empire? Still a bit nebulous at the moment, but it seems that way - Casani seem to be separate, and a culture in their own right, but almost a mid-point between Feral and Empire.

Hmm, probably not.  I don't see the Casani as a midpoint so much as a tangent.  My thinking at the moment is that the Ferals in the Empire region share the same ancient theology about the elemental Old Gods (see the creation myth on the main site), but then haven't necessarily adopted the Enarri, whereas the Casani even have their own creation myths.  The Casani may even have their own Ferals of a sort, though there is a very different relationship to them.  Basically the ferals are fubarnii who chose to keep a nomadic lifestyle, and I imagine all the Casani stayed nomadic for longer than those in the Empire region.

[Jubal]

Are there any technological or structural differences? How much of a problem are Devanu in Casaniland compared to eh Central Empire?

[Bethar]

Yes and yes, but these have been smoothed out over time since the formation of the Empire.  Traditionally they would have had different technical specialities - I imagine the Casani actually being very good at glass, and the Central Empire importing a lot of their distinctive glasswork.  As I mentioned, dyes, medicines and other botanical technology would be well developed by the Casani.  Iron and steel are the province of the Delgon, though obviously the Empire do use these as well, but certain specialised metal technologies originated in Delgon regions.  The Empire's speciality is probably mechanisms; gears, wheels, timing devices etc.  All cultures have pottery, textiles, woodwork and other such crafts, but took them in entirely different directions according to their culture and geographical resources, so all are distinctive and used for different purposes.
In short, the whole continent basically has access to any of the technology, but how much it costs and how well local labour is trained in it varies from region to region.
Political structure is much looser in the Casani territories, or at least more confusing.  The Empire gave up trying to establish clan territories and just split the Casani into two administrative districts.  The Casani are largely uninterested in these, and identify themselves according to their own system.  But when having dealings with the Central Empire there are these two councils to deal with taxation, protection, trade agreements etc.
Yers, Devanu are still something of a problem, though there are other clans between them and the Argoran wastes where the Devanu have been mostly exiled to. The Empire Knights keep them at bay, as is their job.  The Casani military is, well, different.  Maybe they have more stealth tactics such as sniping, trapping and poisons.  I don't see them just bashing people over the head with maces.  It's just not subtle.

[Rick]

Hmm, Mikes already suggested on a FOD thread how Casani architecture may differ slightly from some of the other empire areas and with the new ideas of how Casani artisanship differs - I imagine them to have quite a distinctive, decorative style to more commonplace items. I imagine that their armour is of a similiar type to the rest of the empire, but more decorated, possibly more elaborate.

It's difficult for me not to think of these guys as the renaissance italians of the empire!

I'm thinking that most of their craftsmanship would be of a similiar function to the rest of the empire, but more ornate or of a more artistic style (as opposed to a functional style).

[Carcharoth]

I think maybe the Casani prefer simpler, bolder, brighter designs than are generally favoured by the Empire. If anything they would sit in my mind as similar to African tribes, but don't let that limit your ideas too much!

I imagine architecture to vary as much across Anyaral as it does across Europe and parts of Asia. I could imagine the Casani having structures like those seen in Tunisia/Star Wars. They are probably a bit less worried about sunlight than their Northern brethren, but would still generally stay indoors during the day.

[Jubal]

I guess, thinking with my wargamer's hat on, the question is how this all affects them militarity? They clearly don't have the Delgon issue at all (possibly the odd emissiary, but the likelihood of any force getting that far south must be minute), and probably have a better relationship to the Ferals than the central empire.

So tbh, their military is if anything going to be less focused on inter-fubarnii combat and more on Devanu-killing?

[Rick]

To be fair Jubal, I don't think any of the empire military is mobilised for an all-out war with the Delgon (yet?). At the moment I think there are just skirmishes going on near the borders and the odd raid here and there. But I think you're right that there might be the odd black priest wandering around Casani - but the biggest priority for the militia and knights would be keeping the Devanu bottled up in the Argoran wastes.

Ok. If the Casani are a sorta equivalent to African tribes, that would make the Argoran wastes sorta the Sahara? I may have to use white and blue for Casani armour, lol! March or die, Beau Fubarnii!!

[Jubal]

The "military" aka the knights certainly aren't, I imagine some of the militia in the northern Empire are already on something of a war footing though with all the raiding that's been going on. It's not just the delgon though; it feels very much from the fluff as if generally the Casani will ahve had less expence of intra-racial warfare (much less of a clan system so no clan wars, porbably better relationship with ferals too). I may be totally wrong of course; that's just the impression I got.

[Rick]

You might be right about that, then. My take on the Casani was that it wasn't LESS of a clan system, just different - not sure quite how though, even a semi-tribal system is much like the Fubarnii clans. Judging from what Bethar has said, I imagine the Casani don't do clan wars quite how they're done in the North! Probably a big ritualistic show up front, lots of shouting and no-one getting hurt, meanwhile someone slips round the back and slips poison in the troublemakers drink!
The winners probably gain prestige for how quietly and unobtrusively they deal with the opposition!

[Carcharoth]

I'm not too sure how often the Casani fight each other... it's possible (maybe even likely) they have lots of little inter-tribe skirmishes, but that hasn't been documented yet (which basically means I reserve the right to retract anything I say regarding details of the Casani...)! I think they do have plenty of little skirmishes - far more than are generally seen in the bulk of the empire. They see the devanu quite differently as well - very much a force of nature. Young Casani from some tribes may go out in bands to try and kill a Devanu as a right of passage, and this is possibly how things have been since before the Empire was formed. They may have been visited by priests, but I expect the priests would be very confused as to who they were meant to be talking to and may have left thinking their message was delivered having only spoken to one or two petty chieftains, or just the nominal clan heads (who have very little actual power within the tribes).
Don't take too much of that as fact though, but it may eventually turn out to be...

There haven't actually been many skirmishes between the Delgon and Fubarnii just yet. The priests have delivered their warnings, and there have been reports of one or two substantial attacks on villages of neighbouring clans but it is not war yet. The Emperor is however worried and has been pulling knights back towards Gar Loren and ignoring many requests for aid. The Knights still have standing orders never to get involved in intra-fubarnii conflicts, but that doesn't mean all knights obey those orders (besides, some militia would have enuk riders that could be represented in game by knights if you so desire).