Vinča
- For the real-world group, see Vinča culture.
The Vinča, who referred to themselves merely as "the People", were a Neolithic culture centralized around what is now southeastern Europe.[1][2]
Overview
Members of the Vinča culture gathered together in small networks of communities tied by a common language and by their Wise, who maintained communications with one another.[1] These settlements were the center of Vinča life and could range from a couple dozen families to a population of thousands.[3] All villages were located near a source of water, and said water was perhaps the single most important part of a village; the loss of the water source had seen multiple villages deserted.[3]
The layout of a village tended to be the omphalos stone at the middle, surrounded by tightly-packed homes, storehouses, granaries, and shrines.[3] Ringing the edges are agricultural haloes, both of crops and herds of animals.[3]
Decisions regarding a community were likely to be settled by elders, with elder women being given the most respect, due to their closeness to the Bird goddess.[4] The average citizen, meanwhile, will likely spend his day working the fields or with the animals, as maintaining a safe supply of food was paramount; the exceptions to this were traders, potters, hunters, and the Wise.[4] Traders would travel far afield to provide luxuries and other exotic goods, but retained strong ties to a particular home village;[4] potters practiced what was seen as a sacred art, imbuing ritual pottery with secret signs and sigils;[4] hunters, meanwhile, created their own small cults within the village, venerating the god Wolf.[5]
Vinča worship made allowances for both lesser and greater spirits, but focused primarily on a pantheon of gods tied to the Border Marches; their exact nature was mutable, as is common with oral traditions.[6] There was no separate caste for religious experts; the priest is also a farmer.[6] The centers of religious activity were the omphalos stones.[6]
Mages
The Vinča Wise did not Awaken quite like modern mages: There were no Watchtowers to sign; rather, they faced some sort of test of wits and will before coming to some ritual object that might, one day, become a Watchtower.[7] Further, there were no Orders into which Wise were organized following the Awakening.[8]
Unlike in the modern day, Vinča mages did not hide their magic from mundane individuals, though it was performed out of sight to avoid stirring the Abyss.[1] To make this easier, the Wise often lived at the edges of their settlements or even in the wilds.[3] Usually, villages were host to one Wise and, perhaps, an apprentice or two; the oldest might have three[9] These mages would, however, maintain close ties to nearby settlements' mages, forming Circles.[9]
As future mages will, the Wise utilized Yantras and Path tools to work their wills, though the tools used different resonant materials than they will in later eras.[10]
Even in these early days, there were Legacies, usually passed down from master to apprentice; for example, the Hollow Keepers, the Wind-Singers, and the Bull's Children.[11]
Uratha
Uratha generally lived away from proper settlements, remaining closer to the Border Marches.[1] Certain sects, such as the Shepherds, did watch over the villages, at times taking mates, at others merely taking comfort from watching the domesticity.[12] More violent groups, however, such as the Cull or Tyrants, would regularly raid settlements, slaughtering human families.[13][14]
References
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