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[Twinwolf]

"Technology": Chijindum and Chijindum's Code of Laws

The nomadic people who migrated across the Askian Savannah and into the Tu Desert were, for all intents and purposes, perfectly mundane flatland human tribals. They contended with the environment, flora, and fauna exactly as well as one would expect. Indeed, the rate of advancement of the Askian tribes was perfectly average.

There were a number of separate Askian tribes at first. This changed when Chijindum [Author's Note: Igbo for "God holds my life" - us and twin being god eheheh] came of age. Legends say that as a child Chijindum killed an attacking lion with a single blow to the head from a stone held in his hand, and the tales only get more fantastical as time goes on. The facts we've managed to verify still tell quite the story. Chijindum's father was killed by the tribal leader, Chijindum and his mother were exiled from their tribe, and they were forced to shelter with another tribe who was quite wary of outsiders. Chijindum learned how to fight and trained hard and constantly until he'd grown to be an adult as well as the most fearsome warrior of the tribe that had adopted him. His mother had passed of illness a couple of years before Chijindum felt capable of exacting revenge, and with the nights getting longer warriors weren't seeing as much use in general. This left Chijindum with nothing to keep him from setting out toward his old tribe.

Chijindum had played the part of outgoing curious child plenty of times when travelers crossed the tribe's path, and he'd managed to keep track of the migration of his first tribe. He came upon them with a sling and a spear, announced himself, and demanded satisfaction in single combat with his father's killer - who by this point was getting old. Still, the man ran the tribe through fear, and when Chijindum's challenge was announced, a single wave commanded two tribesmen he had as personal guards to club Chijindum to death.

However the fight went, Chijindum gained leadership of his old tribe and used his close ties to his adopted tribe to merge the two while retaining leadership. The uniting into a "supertribe" led to greater needs, which led to settling land, agriculture, and territorial claiming. With the singular tribe settling and expanding rapidly, Chijindum needed to delegate duties to those who could act in his stead. In order to regulate the actions of these Governors it fell upon Chijindum to create the Code of Laws. These nearly 300 rules established standards, fines, and punishments across the tribe, and is the oldest known collection of deciphered writings to date. The Code of Laws was etched onto stone pillars at the center of every village and settlements, and are the clearest indicator of ancient Askian presence.

----
(Average) (6+6)+0 = 12: Unexpected Boon

Since before recorded history, the Askian people have been masters of a vast savannah, and an even more vast desert. The savannah was given life by the river Konoo, flooding several times each year each year, and providing floodplains ripe for agricultural cultivation. Around the river and it’s tributaries, roving nomads started to settle, learn to farm. Tribes built up across the Askian Savannah, coming into contact and conflict over their farmland and hunting ground nearly as regularly as the river’s floods. When a conflict ended, those who had not been killed or taken for slaves were often sent off into the Desert Tu, either to live in exile in it’s oases or die in it’s dunes.

Chijindum’s life is shrouded in mystery and the exaggeration of generations upon generations of oral tradition. They say the man was a human mountain, a warrior without peer, and yet soft spoken and thoughtful. He spent as much time pondering philosophy as he did with a spear, they say, and when he spoke, his quiet but strong voice carried the same weight as that of the gods. His father had been the chief of his tribe, murdered by a rival. When he came to avenge the murder of his father, he did so not with wrath and arrogance but with calm determination. The murderer’s men did not strike. They couldn’t bring themselves to. The battle was short, and Chijindum tried to avoid inflicting too much pain - he inflicted death, but tried to avoid inflicting more suffering.

Chijindum united his adopted tribe and that of his birth, the pair becoming the single largest population in the region. And it didn’t stop there. Chijindum had decided that none would suffer the pain he had when his father had been slain for his position again. He took his tribe on a campaign of unification - the other tribes of Askia would join his. Either by the strong arguments and words he made, or by his peerless military command, they would be united. Various accounts of the Askian Unification comprise one of the oldest historical records, second only to Chijindum’s Code.

The Great Unifier would not live forever, and he knew it - so he laid down laws to govern the Askian people past his death. The Code is the first documented code of laws, chiseled into stone monuments in the middle of Askian villages. They laid out a variety of rules and codes for the people to follow with harsh punishment for violation - the harshest, by some standards, being exile into the Desert Tu. Perhaps most importantly, it laid out succession clearly; when Chijindum died childless, his position fell to a close nephew who had been trained for the role, rather than causing the chiefdom to falter and fracture.

Considered by many to be the greatest philosopher-king of the ancient world, Chijindum and his code would have ripple effects through history. Foreign historians are critical, pointing to the man’s military unification, the harshness of his code, and the way it favored the shamans and later the priesthood and nobles - but, Askian scholars argue, that was normal for the time and Chijindum’s code was unique in that such classes could commit crimes (besides treason, that is). While there was initial resistance among the tribes, they were pushed into line in short order. The discipline instilled in the armies and people would last for millenia, and while the Code fell out of use in time, it did inspire the society that would form. Some believed that the great leader never died, but instead ascended to godhood. At the very least, he ascended to chapter one of nearly any book discussing the origins of civilization.

Resource: Magnetofumic Vents, Magnetofumes, and Magnetofumic Navigation (Sphere - Electromagnetism)

Magnetofumic Vents are holes thrust deep into the earth that constantly emit a light grey, slightly reflective, weakly-bound magnetic smog. The Magnetofumes are the product of some element deep within the planet being heated and escaping through gaps in the mantle and crust to the surface. The fumes themselves are nontoxic, and have the peculiar tendency to drift consistently towards the nearest magnetic pole. At least until the Magnetofumes dissipate into the atmosphere. This behavior aided the ancient Askians in their travels across the near-featureless Tu Desert, acting as a compass before the invention of the device.

----
(Easy) (3+5)+1 = 9 (Above Average)

The Tu Desert has very few landmarks. The odd oasis, some rocky plateaus, and sand dunes upon sand dunes. But these are spaced far apart, and it is nigh impossible to use them as reliable landmarks due to the distance between them; one might go off course and never find one, or even could get turned around and end up back where they started with the only progress made being through their supplies. The desert was known for this particular facet, and it’s why it was used as a death sentence by the Askian tribes: After one lost sight of the savannah, it became a nearly impossible task to find it again. A few times, people exiled from their tribes banded together with intent to build settlements around the oases, but even these were doomed to fail for their lack of navigational skills.

Magnetofumes, referred to by ancient Askians as “Guiding Gas”, was something of a novelty in our earliest days. It was a gas that came out of holes in the ground, and always went one direction even as the wind blew it another direction, barring some extreme winds indeed. It would be a long time before we became aware of it’s true power and versatility, but it assisted us in our earliest days in leaping ahead of our peers.

The story is told to children across Askia to this day, as a lesson in the value of intelligence just as much as strength. There was an Askian chief who, when angered by a lesser, offered them the choice of a contest of strength or of wit to remain. Any that chose strength were allowed to remain, and those who chose wit were forced to leave - he only had use for strong men and women, he would tell them. After losing a battle, he lashed out at all his warriors and gave them all this test - and sent those who failed and their families into the Tu. Among those who “failed” the test, was the husband of a woman named Olamide. Olamide, rather than fall to despair in her imminent exile, had an idea. The village was built around one of the magentofume vents, an object of worship for them. She shaped a clay vessel with great skill, and brought it to a vent and prayed. She filled the vessel with the gas, which struggled to escape, and put a cap on it to keep it mostly contained. She repeated this several times, and put each into a leather bag. When the time came to go into exile, she gave each exiled man and woman a bag.

As the savannah disappeared, Olamide opened her bag just a little bit. Fumes drifted out, and quickly diverted to the North. With this, she said, they could cross the desert. The first oasis was known, and from there, they just had to keep heading to the West. As long as the fumes drifted to their right, they would be going straight.

It took a long time, and some of the men and women did not make it across the desert. But with the help of the Magnetofumes and the first rudimentary compass, Olamide’s group became the first to make it across the desert. It is said that this demonstrates that a quick mind can be far more important in surviving an impossible situation than a strong body, although of course the story has likely been embellished over time. What was not embellished was that the magnetofumes and the pseudo-compass that was made using them was the first example of Askia using the substance, and the first tool that would lead to them becoming masters of the desert Tu.

Magnetofumes are a Special Resource with the sphere of Electromagnetism.

----

Some accomplishments were more or less grand and wide reaching than others. It is now the Revision phase, and you will have two revisions this turn to do with as you please. For the preliminary phases, you can either improve existing designs, bring them to the current age, or make less impactful new things. 

Spoiler: Preliminary Proposals (click to show/hide)

Designs
Chijindum and Chijindum’s Code of Laws: The Great Unifier Chijindum and the laws he committed to writing inspire the Askian people to this day as one of the greatest leaders in early history and the first codified set of laws, as well as being the man credited with the creation of one of the first states.

Magnetofume Compass: Jars, pots, or other tightly fit containers that can hold magnetofumes. When opened slightly, pierced, or otherwise given a hole, the magnetofumes escape and drift north. This is incredibly useful for navigation, and was essential to not getting lost in the vast and rather featureless Tu Desert.

Revisions

Resources and Interactions
Magnetofumes: A thick, gray gas found in holes and vents across Askia with unique electromagnetic properties. At this time, not much is known about it, but it surely has potential. It will persistently drift north when exposed to the air, in defiance of the direction of the wind. This resource has the sphere of Electromagnetism.

[Powder Miner]

The Code of Kings
Ultimately, tribes would not suffice for governance of Chijindum's kingdom forever. The concept of a set of tribes bound by a Code of Law did last for centuries, but the problem was that as the centuries ticked on, as more tribes settled, and most importantly as populations grew, issues of just what territory belonged to who, and of just how urban populations were to be governed, and of general administration began to be raised in ways that Chijindum never could have anticipated. The preeminent chiefs of tribes and villages across the savannahs of Askia met in response to this crisis, at the behest of Konaté, an (indirect) descendant of Chijindum then in power. They revised the Code of Law into what was known as the Code of Kings -- now, instead of tribes, Askia consisted of several vassal kingdoms, with each king having authority over some of the taxes he received and able to initiate his own projects and maintain his own police force. But the kings were all still beholden both to the overall King of Askia, and to the Code of Kings which provided the structure for their kingdoms and which provided a system by which they could expect assistance from the King of Askia in matters, threats, and projects large enough to affect the whole of Askia.

The Code of Kings, and the Kingdom of Kings of Askia that came with it, ultimately provided an answer to the question of administrating such a large area of settled peoples, and it reinforced Chijindum's achievements as a maker of laws, and this concept of a set of central written law and governance became therefore entrenched within Askia far earlier than in most civilizations of the world.

Glass Compasses
The compass bags of Askia had served their purpose for some decades in Chijindum's kingdom and for more time in the period of Askian disunity before that, but there was a deep flaw that ultimately affected their usage: each and every usage of the bags of gas that were the earliest Askian compasses ultimately required gas to be let out of the bags, and it was easy to overdo it and suddenly be out of navigation. In the Desert Tu, this was a death sentence. Many of the people of Askia -- craftsmen, sorcerers, wives and wise-women -- tried to solve the problem, but they were usually unsuccessful. However, one of these attempts led to what would eventually replaced the compass bags of Askia. One woman often regarded as a sorcerer, Ajaratu, experimented with the substance, and when she compressed a bag of magnetofumes, she would discover that this created a liquid which would ripple in fascinating patterns that always aligned with the direction magnetofumes strove towards. Still, carrying a bowl of the substance was not practical; the liquid would frequently spill, and if it was scattered it would return to gaseous form.

Glassmaking is not native to the savannahs of Askia; though the Askians certainly had plenty of sand, they had little reason to attempt to melt it in extremely hot fires, especially before the discovery of iron working, and often preferred to focus on matters of administration to the creation of trinkets. Instead, it was through a trade contact made across the Desert Tu (to the desert's west, this trade-oriented kingdom not being Etroa) that King Djata, the son of Chijindum's nephew, first received glass beads. While they were the kind of trinket that Askians usually preferred to trade for, Djata considered himself as a part of the society of sorcerers and craftsmen that struggled with improving the magnetofumes. These beads were transparent, if imperfectly so, and Djata immediately saw the potential in perhaps trapping some of the by-now well-known liquid form of magnetofumes, magnetofluid behind the transparent substance. He ultimately personally negotiated with some of his trade partner's merchants, and met a glassmaker from that kingdom who he had personally shepherded across that desert, learning his trade.

It was ultimately Djata himself who created the form of compass that would last much longer than the primitive bags of gas the Askians had used before, creating a hollow orb of thick glass and trapping within it magnetofluid. While compressed within the orb, the magnetofluid was unable to revert to gas form, and the ripples and patterns within it allowed for a way of telling the direction that didn't require losing any of the substance. These orbs varied in how they were created to avoid breakage --either being particularly small or particularly heavy and thick-- and the transparency of these orbs increased as glassmaking was refined as time went on, but the base revision of the compass into a much more permanent glass orb of magnetofluid lasted for centuries.

[Man of Paper]

The Code of Kings (1): MoP
Glass Compasses (1): MoP

[Powder Miner]

The Code of Kings (2): MoP, Powder Miner
Glass Compasses (2): MoP, Powder Miner

[m1895]

The Code of Kings (3): MoP, Powder Miner, m1895
Glass Compasses (3): MoP, Powder Miner, m1895

[Light forger]

The Code of Kings (4): MoP, Powder Miner, m1895, Lightforger
Glass Compasses (4): MoP, Powder Miner, m1895, Lightforger

From Unity, Strength. From Magnetgas, Memes.

[Blood_Librarian]

The City State Mandate
Our people grew along with our need for great works. We chafed under the collective rule of Kings, and it came apparent that being united into one whole entity would spell disaster. We are fiercely independent, In that we  had gained from having seperate tribes, comming together splitting apart, warring with eachother and other such measures that many ancient philsophers had been fiercely against the dreaded unification War, the Philosopher king who would be powerful enough to bring Askians together to form one united state, as those wandering philosophers foresaw a slow downfall of the Askian way of life, eroded by petty tyrants masquerading as kings.

The concept of the City State first came to be when Philosophers, warriors and Tyrant Kings had met together along one fo the many endless dunes of of our land, and its idea is simple.
Each city, each place holds its own land. They must follow the Code of Laws as well as the doctrines set by these philosopher kings to deal with other City-states. Beyond that, there are certain restrictions to how a City-State can hold it's own military.

All City-States hold their own local reserves. In charge of the city’s defense, they also fill the role of law enforcement for the government and thus include the police force. However, their small numbers coupled with the political independence of every City-State limits them in all but domestic and local defense affairs.

Outside of the city-states, extra-national threats outside the borders of nation-states force City-states to collectively form the creation of Askian Defense Task Forces, These Task forces are formed along the City State Mandate and are thus they are independent of the City-States, although they ultimately rely upon them for manpower and equipment.

This has several effects: Mainly, conflicts are rarely solved by open conflict, and is instead done through negotiations, or at most covert operations.

The Code of Kings (4): MoP, Powder Miner, m1895, Lightforger
Glass Compasses (5): MoP, Powder Miner, m1895, Lightforger, Blood_Librarian
The City State Mandate (1): Blood_Librarian

[Man of Paper]

The Golden Roads

As views on the divinity of Chijindum grew, those who were devoted to him and the Laws he inscribed on stone tablets sought to follow in his footsteps. This was very literal. Chiites, as they would become known, passed down the tales of Chijindum through spoken and carved/painted/written word. In order to achieve Unity a pilgrim had to first walk the earthly path of Chijindum. The savanna had dirt roads crossing from the old lands of one tribe to another. Stones planted along the roads were marked with a symbol representing the villages being approached as well as the number of stones left to pass before arriving. It was in the desert that the path of Chijindum was harder to follow, and was a large obstacle for early believers. The markerstones could be easily buried, and the lethality of the land required some solution. Over years and years, some pilgrims walked the Earthly Roads enough times to comfortably and reliably travel across the desert. These "Griots" were wandering teachers, spreading the stories of Chijindum as they led pilgrims from one tribe to the next, and were as good as Askia's physical roads.

Chiites thought it their duty to walk The Golden Roads at least once in their life, and this meant a lot of Askians, at least those of the faith, traveled and made some sort of connection to their peers across the land.

----

Trying to get basic roads and desert guides through Chijindum. Could be a stretch, I suspect Twin will state so if it is. If not, there's some religious fluff and the chance at a better connected society and whatnot. Not easy either way, but it's also trying to work off of those boxcars we got, so who knows?

[m1895]

The Code of Kings (3): MoP, Powder Miner, Lightforger
Glass Compasses (5): MoP, Powder Miner, m1895, Lightforger, Blood_Librarian
The City State Mandate (1): Blood_Librarian
The Golden Roads (1): m1895

[Man of Paper]

The Code of Kings (2): Powder Miner, Lightforger
Glass Compasses (5): MoP, Powder Miner, m1895, Lightforger, Blood_Librarian
The City State Mandate (1): Blood_Librarian
The Golden Roads (2): m1895, MoP

[Powder Miner]

The Code of Kings (1): Lightforger
Glass Compasses (5): MoP, Powder Miner, m1895, Lightforger, Blood_Librarian
The City State Mandate (1): Blood_Librarian
The Golden Roads (3): m1895, MoP, Powder Miner

[Doubloon-Seven]

The Code of Kings (1): Lightforger
Glass Compasses (6): MoP, Powder Miner, m1895, Lightforger, Blood_Librarian, D7
The City State Mandate (1): Blood_Librarian
The Golden Roads (4): m1895, MoP, Powder Miner, D7

My New Year's Resolution is to finish votelocking sooner.

[Blood_Librarian]

The Code of Kings (1): Lightforger
Glass Compasses (6): MoP, Powder Miner, m1895, Lightforger, Blood_Librarian, D7
The City State Mandate (1): Blood_Librarian
The Golden Roads (5): m1895, MoP, Powder Miner, D7, Blood_Librarian

[Twinwolf]

Glass Compasses
The compass bags of Askia had served their purpose for some decades in Chijindum's kingdom and for more time in the period of Askian disunity before that, but there was a deep flaw that ultimately affected their usage: each and every usage of the bags of gas that were the earliest Askian compasses ultimately required gas to be let out of the bags, and it was easy to overdo it and suddenly be out of navigation. In the Desert Tu, this was a death sentence. Many of the people of Askia -- craftsmen, sorcerers, wives and wise-women -- tried to solve the problem, but they were usually unsuccessful. However, one of these attempts led to what would eventually replaced the compass bags of Askia. One woman often regarded as a sorcerer, Ajaratu, experimented with the substance, and when she compressed a bag of magnetofumes, she would discover that this created a liquid which would ripple in fascinating patterns that always aligned with the direction magnetofumes strove towards. Still, carrying a bowl of the substance was not practical; the liquid would frequently spill, and if it was scattered it would return to gaseous form.

Glassmaking is not native to the savannahs of Askia; though the Askians certainly had plenty of sand, they had little reason to attempt to melt it in extremely hot fires, especially before the discovery of iron working, and often preferred to focus on matters of administration to the creation of trinkets. Instead, it was through a trade contact made across the Desert Tu (to the desert's west, this trade-oriented kingdom not being Etroa) that King Djata, the son of Chijindum's nephew, first received glass beads. While they were the kind of trinket that Askians usually preferred to trade for, Djata considered himself as a part of the society of sorcerers and craftsmen that struggled with improving the magnetofumes. These beads were transparent, if imperfectly so, and Djata immediately saw the potential in perhaps trapping some of the by-now well-known liquid form of magnetofumes, magnetofluid behind the transparent substance. He ultimately personally negotiated with some of his trade partner's merchants, and met a glassmaker from that kingdom who he had personally shepherded across that desert, learning his trade.

It was ultimately Djata himself who created the form of compass that would last much longer than the primitive bags of gas the Askians had used before, creating a hollow orb of thick glass and trapping within it magnetofluid. While compressed within the orb, the magnetofluid was unable to revert to gas form, and the ripples and patterns within it allowed for a way of telling the direction that didn't require losing any of the substance. These orbs varied in how they were created to avoid breakage --either being particularly small or particularly heavy and thick-- and the transparency of these orbs increased as glassmaking was refined as time went on, but the base revision of the compass into a much more permanent glass orb of magnetofluid lasted for centuries.

Difficulty: Average
Rolls: 5 + 2 + 0 = 7 (Average)

In the lands beyond the Desert Tu was a village, founded by wayfinding sailors from a kingdom across the sea. The tradesmen of Askia made contact with them and rapidly established trade, as both kingdoms had access to distinctly different resources. One such resource, or at least one skill, was glassmaking; the kingdom of Ofal had learned to create glass in a variety of shapes, something not seen in other places. The first caravans between the two traded glasswear for magnetofumic compass bags, equally fascinating to each nation.

King Djata himself orchestrated a trade of skills. A glassmaker came to the kingdom of Chijindum, while a Griot traveled to Ofal with knowledge of Magnetofumes and the Golden Roads. All considered, Djata believed that Askia had gotten the better end of that trade, as the abundance of fine sand in the Tu made the glassmaker’s art simple to practice. It is said that Djata did not dictate the creation of the compass, but worked the glass himself to trap magnetofumes into the orb, compressed so they became magnetofluid, rippling northwards with the same regularity as the gasses drifted. The compass bags were still easier to produce than the glass compasses, but the compasses lasted so much longer that they came into wide use, largely replacing the bags in time as a single compass would last a family for generations.

The Golden Roads

As views on the divinity of Chijindum grew, those who were devoted to him and the Laws he inscribed on stone tablets sought to follow in his footsteps. This was very literal. Chiites, as they would become known, passed down the tales of Chijindum through spoken and carved/painted/written word. In order to achieve Unity a pilgrim had to first walk the earthly path of Chijindum. The savanna had dirt roads crossing from the old lands of one tribe to another. Stones planted along the roads were marked with a symbol representing the villages being approached as well as the number of stones left to pass before arriving. It was in the desert that the path of Chijindum was harder to follow, and was a large obstacle for early believers. The markerstones could be easily buried, and the lethality of the land required some solution. Over years and years, some pilgrims walked the Earthly Roads enough times to comfortably and reliably travel across the desert. These "Griots" were wandering teachers, spreading the stories of Chijindum as they led pilgrims from one tribe to the next, and were as good as Askia's physical roads.

Chiites thought it their duty to walk The Golden Roads at least once in their life, and this meant a lot of Askians, at least those of the faith, traveled and made some sort of connection to their peers across the land.

Difficulty: Average
Rolls: 1 + 6 + 0 = 7 (Average)

Even as time passed and new kings made new laws, Chijindum’s Code remained an example to many, much as Chijindum himself did. At first, it was only those who had been the most devoted to Chijindum who had believed him divine - most had simply seen him as a strong chief. But as time wore on, and the influence of the man’s name and code grew stronger, so to did these beliefs. Eventually, this became the religion of the Golden Road, generations after Chijindum’s death - or rather, Chiites believed, his ascension.

The griots of the Golden Road were men of knowledge, learned both in the laws of Chijindum that he’d carved into stone, and the quieter philosophy he is said to have espoused before and during his rule. They believe that to ascend as their deity did, they must also follow a path of knowledge and discipline. Teachers and philosophers, they spread his teachings through Askia and beyond. They were also renowned for the almost supernatural knowledge of both the Golden Roads and navigation in general; if you had a griot with you, your caravan would never be lost, it was believed.

----

The Classical Era:

Time moved on, and tribes and kingdoms formed and grew. The Kingdom of Askia grew rapidly, with the one super-tribe formed by Chijindum becoming the basis for one of the first cities in the region, followed soon by other Askian peoples. The various territories were each ruled by chiefs, who held some autonomy over their own lands but were ultimately subservient to the overall King of Askia, and would be expected to come to the aid of other Askian chiefs at the King’s behest and in turn expect the aid of the King when required. The Askian Kingdom grew rapidly over the savannah, and some enterprising chiefs started to set up minor outposts around the various oases of the Tu, waypoints and rest stops in the long trek to and from Askia.

It was in these waypoints that the first contact was made with Icona. Warriors from the Western mountains, they made their way into the lowlands with a thirst for battle and land. They encroached on the Tu Desert, raiding outposts for wealth and water. They were remarkably resilient to the desert’s challenges, and as their raids grew ever bolder, were the first true challenge by an outside force faced by Askia. The breaking point came when they started running the griots and tradesmen out of the outposts altogether, and setting up strongholds in the oases. Many whispered that they were unstoppable. The craftsmen and griots of Askia came together, coming up with a way to combat the threat.

You will have one prompt this turn. What military advancement helped turn the tide? The Askians proved that the Icona were not an unstoppable force, running them back to their mountains - but it is up to you how they did this.

Spoiler: Preliminary Proposals (click to show/hide)

Designs
Chijindum and Chijindum’s Code of Laws: The Great Unifier Chijindum and the laws he committed to writing inspire the Askian people to this day as one of the greatest leaders in early history and the first codified set of laws, as well as being the man credited with the creation of one of the first states.
   -The Golden Road: Chijindum’s path is an example to all, and after his death many have elevated him to the level of deity. The griots of the Golden Path are peerless navigators, and the arrival of such a wandering sage is met with reverence and cheer in many communities.

Magnetofume Compass: Jars, pots, or other tightly fit containers that can hold magnetofumes. When opened slightly, pierced, or otherwise given a hole, the magnetofumes escape and drift north. This is incredibly useful for navigation, and was essential to not getting lost in the vast and rather featureless Tu Desert.
   -Magnetoliquid Glass Compass: Compressing magnetofumes into liquid form and capturing it in a glass vessel allows for a much longer lasting tool. Nobody goes far from home without one.

Resources and Interactions
Magnetofumes: A thick, gray gas found in holes and vents across Askia with unique electromagnetic properties. At this time, not much is known about it, but it surely has potential. It will persistently drift north when exposed to the air, in defiance of the direction of the wind. When compressed, magnetofumes turn to a grey liquid called magnetofluid, which ripples to the north. This resource has the sphere of Electromagnetism.

[Maxim_inc]

Voski Horsemen

After the Askian king called up his many vassal kings to fight against the Iconian horde a great many levy's and personal armies arrived at the Askian capital city. Among them were a curious lot not seen in the heartlands of the Savannah, the Voski Horsemen. These nomadic people who live on the farthest reaches of the Askian kingdoms spent many generations taming and domesticating the wild horses of the northern reaches of the Savannah. Carrying their secret weapon, a light recurve bow, and a heavy spear the impatient Voski struck out to deal with the Iconian threat by themselves while the King and his men try to invent some wonder weapon to defeat the Iconians with and quickly came upon a enemy encampment and waited till the dawn to attack. In the morning twilight they charged through the enemy camp with their heavy spears and quickly reformed into a large mass while drawing their bows; riding around the enemy encampment and picking them off one by one with the range of their bows.

The Voski would then move from oasis to oasis wiping out any Iconians they found before returning to Askian capital and presenting the severed heads of the Iconian raid chiefs to the High King. Impressed with the Voski's performance the king would request that a number of Voski remain in the capital to train and keep armed a unit if elite horsemen to act as the kings hand in protecting the land. Being the first to respond to any outside threat as shock troops to break up enemy formations using their heavy spears and then picking off the survivor with their bows.