Temporal Tuesday: Dances with Wolves

Image by Colin Purrington via Flickr

Dear Readers,

  Imagine with me for a moment something that I think you won't accept as real.  Imagine a world where hominids did not win the evolutionary race to dominance.  It's not the most likely time stream after the hominids develop opposable thumbs, of course, but then the idea that evolution can diverge across time streams might be something you hadn't considered yet.

   When I was earning my second undergraduate degree, the one I got from the University itself, I took a class on evolutionary biology.  The professor cited Anachronism data that showed a time stream where humans' primary evolutionary competitors came to the forefront instead of humans.  This other animal had an intelligent mind, a social mentality, and was a most effective hunter.  This animal was the wolf.  The main reason that wolves and humans did not turn out the other way around in your time stream is right on the edge of your hand; they lacked the opposable thumb.

  Today, imagine a time stream where they did not.  I have (mostly) translated this species' quirks to make the piece more accessible.  The only word I cannot translate is the name "Rolf," though it's curious that this name appears in both wolven as well as German, though they have very different meanings.  Since the wolves are deeply religious, it's been easy to find analogs for other names.  For example, a wolf name meaning "the first wolf" is easily replaced with "Adam."

  Always,

  Dr. John Skylar
  Chairman
  Department of Anachronism
  University of Constantinople

Julie [Orig: "Young One"] clambered up the ramp outside the temple. [Reversed knees would not handle steps well]

Theocracy or Technocracy?

Dear Readers,

I've decided that this week I'll continue to feature neo-Aegean society, since that is the focus of my work right now. Today: neo-Aegean religion, and its unique elements. Remember, of course, that most of what I write here on this subject is in the very early stages of understanding, so there may be inaccuracies or omissions.

Theology in Aegea (I will use this term interchangably with neo-Aegea for this article) is a rather complicated subject. As far as I am able to tell, the most powerful people in Aegean society are the priestly caste, forbidden from intermarriages with the rest of the population. Of course, that motif is rather common across a variety of eras and time streams.

What's peculiar about neo-Aegean society is that these priests seem also to have very tight control over the technology of their civilization. Knowledge, whether practical or philosophical is protected by this priesthood.

At its core, their religion is based on what you would call the "Ancient Greek" pantheon. This makes it remarkably easy to study. How or why this is possible is not something I really understand, but it seems that in the neo-Aegean time stream, this religion re-emerged even though in your time it is quite dormant. There are clear hallmarks, however, that the pantheon has expanded to include certain folk heroes and icons from the intervening time.

It's also curious that the neo-Aegeans seem to have reasonable Augury technology. That certainly raised an eyebrow. Their machinery still relies on the sacrifice of living things, however. Thankfully the University was able to do away with that particular practice.

So, to sum up: religion in Aegea is inspired by Ancient Greece, but with other cultural baggage. It maintains a tight grip on society, with control over much of the available technical knowledge. It has access to advanced Augury technology, unlike your society. And yet the entire society seems to have plunged into a largely faith-based dark age with little scientific advancement. This is a conundrum that I cannot explain at all.

Furthermore, I have some trouble translating the name for their priests. While I find it hard to believe, the linguistic evidence all points to the idea that they will be called something roughly akin to "Engineers." How interesting.

Always,

Dr. John Skylar
Chairman
Department of Anachronism
University of Constantinople