SCIENCE&ARTWORK | THE HOKU | PRE-STELLAR ERA

THIS ARTICLE IS A STUMP | Last updated June 10th 2026
MINUTIA MIGHT GET CORRECTED AND BUILT UPON OVER TIME

OUR JOURNEY STARTS SOME 400 THOUSAND YEARS AGO...

... Roughly at the same time modern humans appeared on Earth, so did what we now commonly call Avipoda sapiens ("wise bird-feet") appeared on Auot'zae. They have been named like that mainly for their bird-like legs, strong like those of an ostrich, and with toes like a parrot.

 PRE-INDUSTRIAL AGE 
396,000 BCE - 14,500 CE

414,200 BFH - 3 654 BFH

BFH = before the fall of Hokushoku (in 18 154 CE)

INDUSTRIAL PRE-STELLAR STAGE
14,500 CE - 14,975 CE

3 654 BFH - 3 179 BFH

STELLAR STAGE
14,975 CE - TODAY

The ancestral avipodan was very likely a large arboreal generalist of the rainforest, spreading throughout the continent in bursts of forest expansion, with groups being left behind as the trees receeded south each time

THE CREATURE

The Avipodans evolved as a generalist hunter in the rainforests south of the continent of Azapabaet ("Known World"), its genus has spread across different parts of the continent in the past for 2-3 million years already, during hot-house cycles when the rainforests expand much north and south of their usual extension. During the end of the last hot-house event, a new species of Avipodan appeared with the receeding rainforest, the Avipoda sapiens cer ("meridional wise bird-feet"), which much alike its human counterpart, had more cohesive and coordinated groups, as well as developing further knowledge of the natural world compared to its predecessors because of better inter-group communication.

They are roughly humanoid and of similar stature to that of the Earth-human, with a head shaped like a crocs (the ugly shoe), having two eyes in each side of the head, as well possessing four appendages in the side and back of the head for ears, this not only gives them a great sense of depth but also directional hearing.

They have five fingers on the hands and feet - but on the hands, the index finger is located right by the thumb as a sort of second opposable thumb, while the other three fingers have similar length. On the feet, the digits adopt a zygodactyly form (similar to parrot's feet), with a vestigial fifth finger like a spur further up the metatarsus - these adaptations feed a strong belief that avipodans used to be an arboreal species prior to migration out of the rainforests, perhaps living nocturnal or in morning/nightfall for most of its evolutionary path.

The avipodan also has an incredible capability of distinguishing between different hues of yellow and orange, while being pretty much colorblind to greens and light-blues.

SPREADING ACROSS THE WORLD

Soon with the scarcity of the fading hot-house age, the meridional avipodans started splitting and traveling far across the known continent and into the southern continent of Sideeshazaet ("Volcanic Lands"). This southern group splitting so early and developing in isolation across the vast island chains gave origin to southern Avipodan, and later the great islander nations of the south.

In the following hundred millenia after the split, the meridional avipodan had ventured into the territory previously occupied by the tropical avipodan, being much older and more adapted for the drier climate, though the rainforest diseases brought by the meridional variety were quick to wipe out the local population, they had between some 20 and 10 thousand years to interbreed, generating a variety which was more adapted to the dry climate of the inner continent, coming to further spread into Azapabaet. This was a very arduous and slow journey for the northern and central parts of Azapabaet are occupied by deserted and rugged mountainous terrain where food is harder to find. Another hundred millenia after that, one group of meridional avipodans made contact with the oldest group still alive, which quickly disappeared through disease and conflicts for the rich temperate lands of the west. At roughly the same time window, the eastern group ventured to the sea, never to be seen again until much later, spreading across the continent which would be later be known as Jekaazapat ("New World"), and the horizontal migration meant there would be little distinction between the avipodans of the north Azapabaet and those of the new world.

I must give a reference that by the 21st century of our time, the avipodans were yet to reach the furtherst corners of their own world.

It took them much longer to explore their own world because of sheer size and longer distances, this created some interesting technological and cultural disparities between peoples even in the same continent, and there where lots of different peoples at first.

POST-AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

The rapid cooling of the planet in the last 50 thousand years allowed for water to collect on the mountainous region in center of the continent as huge glaciers, feeding river systems which flowed thousands of kilometers to the coast, these rivers collected organic debris and sediments along the way and deposited the material in river deltas, giving origin to vast fertile areas, akin to the Middle East's fertile crescent. The Avipodans established themselves in those more fertile regions and oasis in the following thousands of years, coming to later start an agricultural revolution as the rivers and oasis thickened between 2000 - 5000 CE. The ever creeping ice north of the planet and in mountainous regions had lowered the sea level by several meters, but also created tall glacier walls, cutting passages between the continent of Azapabaet and Jekaazapat.

The temporal and geographic isolation of early communities made for very cohesive cultural groups, the names of older places have barely changed in some 10 000 years

The eastern tribes of the continent discovered agriculture roughly at the same time, in a span of only 2~3 thousand years, this could have been helped by a strong trade of spices and seeds, since all major city states developed a primitive navy which was used to explore the habitable coast of Azapabaet. The western peoples were not only isolated by thousands of years but also by mountain ranges, and thus had to develop agriculture independently, the most sucessfull of them taking advantage of a huge lake fed by a river, with smaller communities further north, with a similar cereal trade.

BRONZE AND IRON AGES

The mastery of metalworking by midlatitude societies granted them the power to exert dominance over vast territories in the ancient world

But the cold climate wouldn't stay forever, the receeding of the glaciers and thus shrinking river fluxes between 13 000 and 10 000 BFH threw the avipodan world into an age of expansionist communities, because with less fertile soil by the century, more land was necessary in order to feed the growing population. During this Ice Age Collapse period we see the rapid fall of several communities that have been stable for thousands of years, and the spawning of wide and expansive kingdoms, also leading to the simplification and absorbing of their neighboring cultures.

During the transition between bronze and iron age, between 7 400 and 6 400 BFH, is where we see the establishment of the classical myths worldwide, inherited and modified from the ancient oral traditions and now properly recorded with the advent of writing.

Even though writing and numerical systems had spread pretty quickly throughout the east, the first kindom to develop it, Mo-Kahikō'shokīqe det-Hōkat ("The Civilized Land of Hōkat"), had centuries of advantage to expand its domain using the new technology, allowing it to organize proper military forces, and economic consistency, because every invention, product, person, and debt could now be tracked through time with outstanding accuracy. Though at first, reserved to higher classes of society. It is this kingdom and its sucessors, which gives the avipodans, their common name throughout the Dominion, "Hoku", meaning "person" in the classical Hukat language. The Hōkat civilization could be compared to what the Phoenicians once were, including the maritimal prowess.

The invention of writing, apart from the unification of peoples and burst of trade, also came with a side effect, by imposing teaching the nomadic tribes their spoken and written language, the eastern peoples spent several centuries trying to assimilate, wipe, and use them as spies and scouts into their neighboring empires and foreign lands, often met with resistance, the nomadic tribes of the steppe served as a sort of cultural and technological bridge between the west and east, finally connected after thousands of years, the nomads of the steppe also occasionally brought pottery and small pieces of bronze and iron technology to the south peoples, strenghtening the equatorial chiefdoms in exchange of the rainforest's goods.

AGE OF SAILING

The development of better sailing technology was originally intended to serve a military purpose, with the inner continent being mountainous and hard to transpose with large armies, an invasion by sea would allow the emerging superpowers to stop skirmishing each other through the steppes. However, once leaked plans arrived to the other side of the Known World, they were used not for maritim warfare, but further developed into long-range sailing, because now, the Gakor Empire could trade directly with the rainforest kingdoms.

Being blocked by the Gakor in between 3775 and 3730 BFH (14,400 ~ 14,424 CE), the Ent'shelari ventured further north, where it made contact with several northern hunter tribes, later using them as an outpost to venture into the far west in an attempt to circumnavigate the world, believing it would be possible to establish a trade with the eastern kingdoms and empires once the Spice Wars were over. Instead arriving at the place later named Port of Queen Ahirama in 3 682 BFH (14,472 CE), the first port in the temperate lands of the New World, where they have met an alternate world of societies isolated from them for nearly 40 thousand years...

The reconnection between East and West societies happened through the steppe tribes as messengers and scouts into the far lands -- with the occasional exchange of goods and technology through the exportations of wealthy and eccentric individuals, trying to figure a commerce route between the two "hemispheres" of the world. This without further development of sailing technology, this connection would remain impractical until very recently, circa ~400 PSE (14,575 CE), when the Ent'Shelari tried to find a way around the maritmal Gagot'ri blockade that lasted 40 years, and this pursue, making contact with the peoples of the south and the New World...

THE CONQUEST OF SIDESSIA

The south continent of Sideeshazaaet (or just Sidessia) is as large as mainland Australia, stretching for twice the extension of Indonesia, composed of 11 great islands and over 20 thousand other islands smaller than 200km

The continent is formed by an extensive chain of volcanic islands, the oldest and largest of those being mainland Sidessia. It has been continuosly inhabited by the Avipoda tropicans for at least 800 thousand years between 180 ~ 997 thosand years PSE, coexisting with the A. sapiens cer and A. sapiens australis between 300 and 180 thousand years PSE, falling during this period due disease and war with the newer more sophisticated groups.

The northernmost part of the continent is very rich in natural resources, both mineral and ecological due the equatorial climate, also sporting a great deal of deserted area like Australia. While the southernmost part of the continent is pretty frigid and deserted like the Fawklands due being inside the polar circle.

Prior to the Age of First Sail (500-400 PSE), there was no such concept as borders to the peoples of Sidessia, since anyone could set sail anywhere with enough skill and resources, and it was often done amongst the chains of islands of the Sidessian sea, conflicts were rather unnecessary since for the relatively small populations that inhabited the area, the islands were everything they needed, although this didn't stop major groups from establishing within a territory and developing rudimentary forms of agriculture for native fruits, cattle, and seaweed, which could be traded with the passing sailors in exchange of few goods, information, or even the trade of slaves and arrangement of mariages to keep the genetic diversity up a few notches.

The sidessian peoples had different levels of technological development with some central and northern tribes even having access to iron smelting thousands of years before bronze was even discovered in Azapabaet, while others remained as neolithic and hunter-gatherer societies.

The arrival of the Ent'Shelari in large ships at the Port of Geva in 385 PSE left a huge mark in Gevan culture and history. Being close but still inferior to the Ent'Shelari naval force, they became allies in the conquest of Sidessia by the northern powers, enslaving the nearby islander nations to work in the mining and farming of goods to be traded in Azapabaet. Soon followed by the Gagot'ri and the Gahel nations, exploring alternative routes to put up a competition agains the Ent'Shelari spice and metal trade, this competion started the Age of Great Navigation in 300 PSE, and this period established the basis on which major superpowers would come and rise prior to the stellar era.

[In terms of technological prowess and sciences, the Hoku of this time across the globe were at an equiparable level to that of 18th century Earth.]

THE CONQUEST AND LIBERATION OF THE NEW WORLD

 The pre-Fall continent of Jekaazapat had the greatest nations by extension since no borders were defined by centuries of war and diplomacy, but by where the major powers felt it would be fair to amongst themselves

Since 400 PSE, exploration fleets have been continuously sent to the new world by both the Ent'Shelari and Gagot'ri, followed by the eastern powers of Hukat, Torera, and Gahel-Nehil for the next 200 years. While in Sidessia those powers were met with shore-expanding armies and metal-working societies, the peoples of the new world could be said to be greatly underpowered and unbeligerant, needless to say that everything the superpowers couldn't have done in Sidessia was done to the new world, becoming a beacon of economic exploration by their ultramarine overlords.

The north mid-latitude location of the continent made it a prime candidate for intense settling waves by rich families and workers following the invention of the steam-powered ship, those families and enterpreuneurs built their fortunes with the industrialization of the countries and the exploration of resources granted by it. The rapid industrialization of the previously purely agricultural and mining center that were the colonies of the new world spiked a wave of armed revolts to try pushing the ultramarine powers off the new world, which could barely put up with an appropriate response due the large distances and amount of resources involved in such long travels.

These revolts also inspired phylosophical and political uprisings back home in the Dahetian empire and its northern colonies, now figthing at a minimum for the liberation of the northern territories and the more radicals for the collapse of Dahet in its entirety, this line of thought is what we currently understand under the banner of Socialism, which given the existence of vast corporate, ultramarine companies, and monarchies, clearly needed to be fought back.

The politico-economical schism between the socialist post-Dahetian states, the Farkade Union, and the eastern continent's vast monarchies, fascists, and capitalist states such as the Hukat Empire and the Ent'Shelari Republic meant instantly that all of their allies along their spheres of influence were constantly pitched against each other in a century-long attempt at destabilizing the other. Blockades, sabotaged supply lines, artificial droughts, population displacements, and chemical warfare permeated the years preluding of the Great War...

- M.O. Valent, 21/12/2022

- M.O. Valent, updated in 10/06/2026