Natures Dominance

What it is and means

Nature is untamable; at any point, it can have its way. In the broadest terms, Natures Dominance is the conception that nature is, and will always be, more powerful than any intelligent being could be, become, have control of, or manufacture.

This is most predominate with the Thanul, or nature retaking a settled area. An example would be when Basilisk find a settlement and make their home there, then their natural predator, the Katozjen , comes to hunt them, also attacking the people of that settlement in the process. The people would be forced out of the village, and other animals, plants, and erosion would take the unkept settlement. It does not have to be an infestation of dangerous animals that begins the process of Thanul, it can also be a great storm, earthquake, heavy spark weather (see Climate & Weather) or other phenomena. For smaller events such as infestation or large storms, it is the poorer and more secluded areas that fall to nature. Richer and more populated areas put up more of a fight, rebuilding or repelling whatever seeks to claim their territory.

Even if a settlement has high power manufactured weapons that can decimate large areas into a smoldering crater in an instant, if the creature attacking them can either avoid, alter, or even withstand the weapon, what use is it. Moreover, as each individual is different, one weapon that may work wonders on most creatures can, and eventually will, be made mute by a single being, or species, who happens to be unaffected by it.

What is considered nature

Some say nature is a free thinking entity, others think it chaos incarnate, and more still see it as merely a concept of their own design. Whatever it happens to be, it is classified as the aspects of the world which rela (see Creatures) have little to no control over.

Aspects of a Thanul

Thanul is the process in which nature reclaims an area. This reclamation can last for a few minutes as a sandstorm passes over and destroys an area or for years as dangerous creatures move in and overrun a settlement after a drought weakens the people. Thanul is defined in four separate stages: Invasion, Overtaking, Prominence, and loss. Not all aspects of Thanul have to be met, but it is in all of them that a settlement is lost.

The first aspect of Thanul is the Invasion. This is the initial effort of reverting a given settlement to nature. This can be wild beasts or plants coming to live in or growing in a settlement. This can also be weather or other natural phenomenon that threatens the safety of the people. People are often able to stave off any progression of Thanul at this stage, rebuking any infestation and repulsing any damages caused by weather or distortions.

If the first aspect of Thanul proves too much for a settlement to handle, the second, Overtaking, comes to actuation. Overtaking is when the people of a given settlement are forced out of what they deemed their territory and home. The evicted leave mostly by choice, les they face a harsh environment that they have no hope in defending against.

The third, Occupancy, is the aspect in which more parts of nature take claim of a settlement. This is usually when other animals and plants grow in the settlement, but can also be a prolonged or permanent change in climate, terrain, or density of Suzal (see The Soul). People are still able to reclaim their land at this point, only having to rebuild or kill and or remove nel (see Creatures) that had moved in.

The fourth and final aspect of Thanul is Loss. This occurs when the settlement is unrecoverable for any given time. No matter how the people may try to reclaim their land, they are powerless to do so. The new weather can be unbearable to live in or the creatures to dangerous. Whatever the case, it is impossible to live within the settlement with any semblance of safety.

How it's handled

Every culture have their own methods of dealing with Natures Dominance. Some try their best to fight it, others give in and become nomadic, moving wherever nature guides them. For those that choose to hold their structures and territory, it becomes quite costly. And though nomadic peoples are free from the burden of having to repel and rebuild, they have no one place to call their own and children end up growing up constantly on the move, which puts a strain on both them and their parents.

Settlements who fight back the constant onslaught of Natures Dominance have created a myriad of methods to deal with it. The most successful method is to build their settlements in areas that are out of the way of most apex predators that could pose a threat to their stability and out of the hotspots of other dangers. The largest, most prominent, and oldest modern cities are placed in harsh climates where there is little life. This can be on top of mountains, in frozen wastelands, deserts, caustic areas, etc.

Some peoples have learned to deal with this by making buildings that are not so easily to degrade. They make several cities that they rotate around to as nature pushes them out. This is, or at least is assumed to be, most evident with the remnants of the Ruined world, whose buildings have stood tall even before modern recorded history.

With more research and development of deadlier weapons, many large cities, such as Kexist, are able to stave off the Overtaking for thousands of years, some believing they have developed such deadly weapons that they were invisible.

Additionaly, occupations have been created to deal with the intrusiveness and unyielding avarice of nature, such as the Intermediary. These professions are often dangerous or difficult, having to deal with deadly creatures and the uncertainty of weather.

And lo, I beheld before me the unyielding wrath and unfathomable might of what I could ever have a dying dream of combating. It stood mightily before us, unharmed and undaunted despite our efforts, its eyes alight with rage. We had prepared for this day, for when our lowly village would be forced to stave off the wild, when we would have to use natural capability, augmentation, and mechanized tools of war to fend what was ours. Alas, all was in vein, all in Yon [(See Kanøu)] would fall before it. Many of its kind had we dispatched, their encroachment seeming to falter and recede. We'd had imagined ourselves the dominating force, that we had control over all 'round us. But here we stand, our fellows fleeing from their homes, abandoning all that generations had strived for. This was the second, the overtaking, there was naught any could do to repel what would come later. No one, not our greatest warriors nor our most terrible of weapons could contests Natures Dominance.

— Nameless warrior from Modyr