Crypterran
By: Roisin Meyer
Name of Region
The name of Region is Crypterran. Crypterran means " Hidden Land". Crypterran is broken up into 4 city-states. These 4 city-states are the aquatans, the monteans, the amatheons, and the brahmapeans.
Relative Location on current map
Crypterran is located in the beautiful, tall mountains of the Himalayas. It is a small valley along the side of the Brahmaputra river that flows from the Himalayas, down to India. The city-states are spread along the river in little cities.
Time Period of Study
Cyrpterranean civilization first began around 3000 bce and ended in 200 bce. In 2800 years, Crypterran evolved in the arts, drama, literature, religion, and architecture.
Famous Landmarks
Overtime, Crypterraneans had their own kind of architecture. They soon made many landmarks to honor the buddha.
- One great landmark is a statue of the buddha craved from some rock from in the cliffs and mountains of the Himalayas. The buddha sits cross-legged and meditating. He is surrounded in gold. A stone tiger sits calmly next to him.
- Another great landmark is a large temple carved into the mountains, called the litheon temple. This temple has pictures of myths and ledgends of the gods painted in gold on the outside of the temple. Inside, 12 statues of the gods stand in a row. They are each ten feet tall. Gold and treasures are scattered around their feet. Ivory ornaments decorate the walls.
- Another lanmark is the cave of the kings. The cave of the kings is a cave in which every good king was buried with his treasures.
- In the center of Aquatan, a large step pyramid is standing. This was built by a powerful king named Wang Buhhuchi. He built the large step pyramid to honor him after his death. It took 30 years to build. 4,000 men were forced to build it.
- Another landmark is a large stone library. This library, in Brahmapia, holds the information of myths, ledgends, history, and battles.
- One more Landmark is the Chin Academy, built by Chin Wan, a buddhist monk. The academy taught theoism.
- A palace stands at the front of the city, behind tall protective walls. This is where the king lives. Gold is etched into the walls. This palace is carved right from stone in the mountain. In the back of the palace, there is large palace garden. Crypterraneans believe that thegods live in the garden, so it is a sacred place. Many animals that are called sacred roam in this garden. Nobody, but the royal family can go in.
- All the city buildings were close together, so they weren't outside that much. That was good because it was really cold.
- They also developed a large sewage system spread throughout each city. All the waste emptied out into a stream nearby.
Jobs and Responsibilities of Women
Women:
- Cooked
- Hunted
- took care of the children
- Was in charge of the household
- held religious cerimonies
- Made clothing
- Weaved
- could be a queen
Jobs and Responsibilities of Girls
Girls:
- Helped their mothers
- went to school
- learned to hunt
- learned to cook
- Took care of the domestic animals
- Gathered fruit and berries from fruit giving trees and bushes
Jobs and Responsibilities of Men
Men:
- Fished
- Taught the children
- Made canoes
- Fought in the Army
- built structures
- Could be a king
Jobs and Responsibilities of Boys
Boys:
- learned to fish
- went to school
- helped in canoe making
- sheperded over the domestic animals
Terrain and Environment
Crypterran is in a valley by the Brahmaputra river. Behind the river, there is a coniferous forest filled with pine, spruce, fir, and hemlock trees. Many wildlife thrives in these forests too. There are musk deer, takins, red pandas, tigers, snow lepards, and asian elephants. Many large fish live in the river. Most plants in the area grow close to the ground becuase of the very cold tempuratures. A lot of snow and precipitation falls each year. As the snow melts, it creates many streams, rivers, and bodies of water. In the winter, the average tempurature is 33 degrees fahrenheit, while in the summer the average tempurature is 56 degrees fahrenheit.
Government
Aquatan is the capital of Crypterran and is also where the king lived. The government of Crypterran is a monoarchy. The king lives in the palace with his wife, the queen. The king makes up the rules, but the queen has to approve of the rules. Each city stat had a cheif to look after them and to enforce the kings laws. Each city had their own values. Aquatan's values changed over time, because the kings had different opinions of what the city should value. The Amatheons valued religion, art, and architecture. The Aquatans valued government, education, and architecture. The Monteans valued phyisical strength, government, and hardwork. Brahmapia valued art, traditions, and trade. The cheif in each city goes to the palace once a year to get their pay from the king.
Religion
The main religion in Crypterran is Buddhism, becuause they got their influence from Ancient China and Ancient India. The Crypterraneans also added a little twist to buddhism by adding their own gods. There was Amante, Marqua, Aertous, Terratio, Sublumit, Aurlumi, Lumalbi, Buddha( The Buddha was considered a god), and Zoen. Amante was the goddess of love, marrige, beauty, and poetry. Marqua was the goddess of the sea, phrophocies, and all water. Aertous was the god of the sky and weather. His sacred animal was a takin. Terratio was the goddess of the earth, hospitality, and harvest. Sublumit was the god of the afterlife, death, violence, fear, anger, and all things bad. Aurlumi was the god of the sun, minerals, and most wanted desires. His sacred animal was the tiger. Lumalbi was the goddess of the moon, stars, young women, and wisdom. Her sacred animal was the snow lepard. Buddha was the king of all the gods. He was the god of peace, meditation, kings, kindness, elders, music, and heroes. His sacred animal was the elephant. Zoen was the goddess of the hunt, all creatures, archery, maidens, architecture, and health. These gods were believed to be perfect and peaceful. They gave the Crypterraneans free will to do what ever they pleased as long as they worshipped the gods and goddess. There were also many buddhist monistatries on the outside of the cities where it was peaceful and quite to worship the Buddha. Buddhists want to reach enlightenment and nirvarna. They believe in reincarnation and Karma. Karma means that what goes around comes around. In the kings palace, there is a golden gate leading to the sacred garden of the Buddha. Many tropical plants flourished in the garden as well as many trees and fruits. Sacred animals like the tiger, snow lepard, and the elephant roamed throughout the garden. A large shrine stands in the middle of the garden with a staue of the Buddha. Crypterraneans believed that you could talk to the buddha in there by using meditation. Only the royal family could go inside the shrine. At every house, a small statue of the buddha would sit in the family's worship place in their house. They believed that the buddha would ward off evil spirits.
Family holy statue
Statue of Buddha
Sacred garden of the buddha
Famous people
There are many famous people in Crypterran. Here are just a few:
- Chin Wa- a buddhist monk who supported education and started the first school in Crypterran. He taught theoisim.
- Ne Wang- a powerful king that was among the favorite kings of the Crypterrans time period. He built the litheon temple to honor the gods. He was facinated by nature and wildlife. He made the patron god of his city, Marqua. Unfortunatly, he was killed by his son-in-law, Shang wu, who rose to power.
- Shang wu- Another powerful king, but very cruel. He forced all the men in a Aquatan and Montean to build his very own step pyramid to honor himself. He called himself a god. He was the least popular king.
- Qin lu- An architectual engineer who worked for the king. He worked for 3 kings ( La ming, Ne wang, and Shang wu). He designed the litheon temple, for Ne wang and the step pyramid for Shang wu. He was executed by Shang wu. He was accused of plotting against the king.
Traditional Clothing
Since it was very cold, Crypterraneans wore clothes of musk deer skin. The fur on the inside kept them warm. They ususally wore long deer-skin pants, long-sleeved shirt, and moccasins. Women and girls embroiderd colorful threads in their clothes for decoration. If women wanted, they could wear a dress out of deer skin. Most women and girls wore some kind of jewelery wether it was bracelets or necklaces or headbands. On one speacial occasion called the zotion festival, women wore beautiful dresses made of red silk, traded from China on the other side of the mountains. Over the dress, women wore a cloak made from their favorite animal's skin. Sometimes, royalty wore cloaks made of a snow lepard's skin. Men wore also wore long deer-skin pants, long-sleeved shirt, and moccasins. Boys wore the same thing. Men also had to wear a headress with takin horns attched to it. They believed that they would have the blessing of Aertous if they wore it, since the takin is Aertous' sacred animal. The crown the king wore was a gold headress. On the inside, there was tiger fur. On the top, an elephant's tusk was placed. They believe that it held the presence of Buddha.
Why is Crypterran famous?
Crypterran was very peaceful and they traded. They are famous for their fine animal skins and furs. Many other civilizations were in favor of silk, but when Crypterran started trading beautiful, thick furs, the desires turned to the furs, not the silk. Crypterraneans traded with the indus river vally civilization for cotton cloth and seals. They traded with China for silk, paper, and language. Crypterranean language is very simalar to chinese language. They also traded with Anceint Greeks who were traveling along the silk road. Crypteraneans favored glass from the anceint greeks. They also traded ideas and got their religion from the buddhists in India. That is what they were famous for.