Sefmir

The Sefmir (the 'children') were four sub-races of the Dsievi, created just before the Magnatas Ritual to continue the growth and population of the Dsievi before the eternal sleep which ended Dsievi reign.

Before the Magnatas Ritual took place, the four Antrachs: Gorlode, Laretta and Mileti and Noroste gathered to fashion new beings from the snow, soil and sand, calling them the Sefmir. Knowing that the other Antrach's theory was inherently flawed, the Antrach Noroste did not ultimately partake in the ritual, sneaking away whilst the Eternal Sleep was on the threshold of completion. Noroste knew the other Antrachs' idea was fundamentally flawed: Gorlode, Laretta and Mileti believed that in the Dsievi's absence, peace would ensue among the land again if others were to inhabit it other than themselves.

List of Sefmir Castes
1) LophisEn

2) AennDoi

3) ThargiCa

4) ZodoVa

List of present-day subcastes
LophisEn subcastes: Pratnum, (pure) Narods

AennDoi subcastes: RoTalathians, Indigo Children

ThargiCa subcastes: Silavians

ZodoVa subcastes: Garjians

A micro-comprehensive history of the early Sefmir from 11,420 Age of Origin to 29,393 Age of Origin
Article by: Dreamer Mandarsis Tocist

From the very outset, the Sefmir are a people that spark a strange wonder when brought to mind. Their legacy was one of an unfathomable, time-buried psychology and anthropology, alien to our own modern humanistic comprehension of nature.

After their respective births via the Magnata Ritual, the four Sefmir “undertook basic survival behaviour like any living organism would”. Although the north-eastern lands of MetoiSophen provided plentiful vitality to the Sefmir, for centuries they wandered the lands together with no sense of direction, desire, or oneness — they would not develop any functioning ideas of society until much later in their legacy. By 14,000 AO they had wandered their way into the southern-most reaches of Zartes as we know it today. (At this point, the Kupousat Strait did not exist between MetoiSophen and Zartes). There were no individualistic desires, no actions unto the desires, and thus no conflict between the Sefmir, as they had no sense of ‘individualism’ yet. They were very much peaceful and untroubled to the extent that they would even appear non-sentient to an outside observer possessing our intellect. For an extensive 20,164 years they did naught but wander as animals. That said, they did possess a degree of conscience that was essentially an awareness of their existence minus a desire to direct or influence that existence to their advantage. The activity of intercourse was forced into adherence with exclusive reproductive systems — it was simply blue to blue, red to red, and black to black, and white to white.

It is obvious, in theory, that the Dsievi had intended to create creatures (Sefmir) of such basicness and simplicity that they grew naturally, however they happened to, hopefully alongside the laws of nature itself. Such a plan could arguably be seen as dangerously experimental, but once given deep, unbiased ponderance, the idea reveals itself to have an incomprehensible amount of wisdom to it. But within the Sefmir, that basic, simplistic state of existence “could and would not remain forever”.

The notion of the Dsievi creating their Sefmir can equate to creating magic ‘putty’ that expands over time within a cast, and as a result, takes on its inherent shape; the reality the Dsievi left behind would ultimately be the cast that shaped the Sefmir as they developed like the ‘putty’. What we are left with, then, is this key understanding: the creatures the Dsievi created may have been pure in essence, but the world they left behind was not.

And so by 20’378 AO, the moulding cast that would ultimately kickstart the Sefmir's wickedness came to be. In their dreams, the millions of sleeping Dsievi had created a collective unconsciousness so powerful that it physically manifested itself into a tangible alternate universe existing entirely in and of itself. This alternate reality would later became known as the 'Scapes’ by Lajentan scholars, and consequentially the entire Enlightened world. Before long, the Sefmir were finding themselves falling into an altered state of consciousness where they would leave their physical body and travel to another “place-time” where they remained vaguely conscious, but the laws of the reality they knew did not apply. This was essentially dreaming as we know it -- however, they did not know so, as the concept was still so new and alien to them.

Ever so gradually, visiting the Scapes became more and more a frequent practice until, by approximately 21’000 AO, the first signs of a culture were beginning to emerge. Eight-thousand years in the making, this culture was still young and not yet self-aware, much like the Sefmir themselves. But nevertheless, the experiences of each Sefmir’s dreams sought a way out. The Sefmir must have wanted to find a way to convert these new, alien, disconnected experiences into something matching their reality. So began the introduction of story-telling.

Currently there was no form of communication that existed beyond eye-contact, a few primitive learned gestures and sex. First came a language system, used by all Sefmir as they spread further northward into the mountains of eastern Zartez. It is estimated that around of 23’600 AO, the LophisEn were the first to develop a rough writing system consisting mostly of lines and circles positioned at different heights and sizes along a tangent. Scholars theorise that the idea for this script system arose from producing certain guttural sounds and assigning illustrations to the shape they imagined it made in the air. What resulted is a set of primitive hieroglyphs that look like variations of sideways water droplets. (Indulging in a brief tangent, this may provide an explanation to scholars regarding the origin of the Pratnum and White Sea Colonies’ national emblem, although not many are inclined to agree, because if this was the case, would not the emblem also be seen in other related nations too? I would put forth the argument that it is only to be seen in Pratnum and the White Sea Colonies because their forefathers, the Lophis’En, rightfully discovered said writing system).

But  regarding further cultural development, the next thing to occur was spoken communication, evolving as the Sefmir remained migrating en-masse westwards across Zartes, numbering close to billions at this point. (It is astonishing to think how such an enormous body of bipeds could remain together while on a continual nomadic march in search of new land. It is easy to conclude that this affinity for crowd-control provides an explanation as to why they became the best animal-herders history has ever seen.) Their language emerged alongside their culture in a collective effort to convey their dreams, from which storytelling emerged. Sadly, this is where we get most accounts of the Dsievi, which are varied and unreliable at best.

Now it was around 26’000 AO and the Sefmir had reached the far western coasts of Zartes, and finding only expansive ocean in which they did not know how to swim, they turned around and wandered the way they came but at a faster rate. Meanwhile, their culture and language was slowly growing, ideas emerging along with their improved storytelling abilities.

It was 28’890 AO and they must have hit the eastern coast, another dead end. The north was much too cold so they swung back south. The first small of the Storms that would later become the Nine Storms War began around 29’100AO, and the Sefmir naturally sought to migrate away from them. South was the direction they took, back the way they had come so long ago. But when they came to the northern reaches of MetoiSophen, they hit yet another dead end, for a new strait of water now separated northern Zartes from MetoiSophen. With yet another dead end, they would have now been confined within a single continent, and awareness of this would have begun to show. Something like claustrophobia must have taken them, for the recovered artifacts from that period are strikingly darker in nature than their earlier counterparts. Essentially, the Sefmir were most likely feeling trapped.

But elsewhere in the world, at this time, was occurring the great downfall of the Monoliths. I’d argue that there is a significance in this, as so many other mysterious changes were occurring synonymously with the 'Monolithian Regression', and many would agree with me.

In any case, an interesting phenomenon soon occurred. Remember, the Sefmir were continually moving as a group northwards, then westwards, rebounding eastwards, then rebounding southwards again much like a rubber ball. The last rebound that occurred on the southern coasts of Zartes ultimately shattered them, like the figurative rubber ball, bounced one too many times. They no longer moved as a single body that numbered in the billions and still manage to live off the land. In 29,300 AO they separated into clumps adhering to skin colour: LophisEn, ZodoVa, ThargiCa and AennDoi; in other words, black, white, red and blue.

For the next ninety-three years, each new ‘caste’ dispersed across Zartes. The Lophis’En expanded across the southern fringes of Zartes where dense forest and light jungles flourished, birthed by a nearby northern tropic. The AennDoi took flight northwards to discover the cold and ice tundra, but also a wealthy supply of seafood which later became a loved commodity, and thus a later source of conflict. The ThargiCa took a long trek west until they worked their way into Siläv and Velisai, which at the time was an extension of Zartes rather than two sister islands. The ZodoVa then filled the remaining land - the center portion of Zartes which stretched from east to west.

For the first time in nineteen-thousand years, the infamous race of one body and mind had been separated, and it would bring along drastic changes in their culture. Gone was the unity that no race in history can match, gone was an innocent disregard of difference, and along came the beginnings of an individualism that would only polarize as time ground onwards.

And now here we are, eons later, obsessed with individualism and self-gain.  

(fictional) Works Cited:

Ejerlvu, Yljenlinei. “Notes on early Sefmir Culture,” Anthropologies in Vitarus, trans. Khannas Glade. Lajenta, LJ: — reproduced, Esseretan, CZ: Esseretan Grand Archives, 151 AA. 109-138.

Glade, Searmas and Khannas. Children of the Dsievi, the Origin Age. Feissil, CZ: Feissilian Archives Scribers, 146AA.

Myellym Nyurosis. “Speculations on the Scapes,” Collective Works on the history of Scapecraft, trans. Searmas Glade. Lajenta, LJ: — reproduced, Esseretan, CZ: Esseretan Grand Archives, 166 AA. 43-50.

Omna, Lassider. “Palagic Geology,” Geology Database of the Known World. Esseretan, CZ: Esseretan Grand Archives, 412 AA. 494-507.

Salviter, Onhanner. The Four Great Castes. Feissil, CZ: Arzo’s & Bucket, 149 AA.

Samner, Zaxipo. A Fruit-Platter of the Past; Artifacts of ancient Vitarus. Cazantia, CZ: Arzo’s & Bucket, 145 TA.

Xadapi, Kanoezi. Inside the Ancients. Ronien, SPO: 119 TA. 88.

Xadapi, Kanoezi. The Great Unknowns: Niche Explorations of the Dsievi. Ronien, SPO: 114 TA. 88.

/u/CaptainJonnypants, 29’300 AO, The Seperation, 2014, Battle-Station of /u/captainjonnypants, A House in ‘straya.

/u/CaptainJonnypants, Zartesva during the ‘Nine Storms War’, 2014, Battle-Station of /u/captainjonnypants, A House in ‘straya.

Early Sefmiric Civilization, Culture and Life: A micro-comprehensive history of the post-seperation Sefmir from 0 to 101 AE
Article by: Dreamer Mandarsis Tokist 

A short note: In official scholarly records, the regression of all Monolithian civilization is what marks the end of the Age of Origin and dawn of the AnimiNexus Era, even though the four known Scape Rends did not begin their production of Dihnvoor and other MinsAnimiNexus entities until 779 years later.

By 1 AE (29’393 AO) the Sefmir had freshly separated into castes respective to their skin colour, spreading across all of Zartes. By no means did any true hostility exist between the castes, but they were nevertheless fractured and vaguely conscious of difference. The LophisEn went on to inhabit the southern coasts, the ThargiCa occupied Velisai and Siläv, the AennDoi bogged down in the northern winter snows and the ZodoVa filled the remaining land in between which is today known as central Zartes.

Both the LophisEn and ThargiCa accelerated in producing technology first and foremost. LophisEn found ways of constructing primitive shelters from the endless supplies from the forests which surrounded them, and the ThargiCa had begun constructing small mud huts engineered to withhold their body heat as they slept. They had little affinity towards infrastructure yet, and so the huts were only big enough to fit a single prone Sefmir laying down with the thick mud walls packed close around them to preserve body heat seeing as they had not yet discovered fire.

The year now is 72 AE, and we have successfully entered orbit to observe the inhabitants of Vita-43b in stealth. The planet is a temperate terra which clearly sustains more conscious life than has ever been seen before. Vita-43b’s north axis faces the outside of its galaxy and the yet un-named gaseous nebula that the solar system resides by. The southern axis, however, provides a view of the arc of galaxy PA2398J and its glaring center, which explains the huge disparity between the religions of tribes either dominantly northern or dominantly southern. Just think of the wonder those primal being must have felt looking into the night sky and seeing either the fierce red glow of the nebula or the glorious white arc of galaxy PA-2398j.

At this time, back on the surface of the planet, the techniques for building these shelters are spreading quickly, passing down from generation to generation, from parent to child, and with each generation the technique is seeing innovation until intelligent, durable and sustainable structures are the norm. The ThargiCa keep their one-man mud enclosures while the LophisEn’s wood and leaf structures expand to hold a ‘squad’ of residents who each pull their weight in keeping the structure up and healthy in the face of nature’s destruction, or they are expelled. Once a squadmate is expelled, it is hard to determine what they will do. It seems to either go one of a few ways. The expelled member may detach themselves completely from the whole tribe and become a lone survivor (not for long), they might end their own life, or they might undergo a certain ritual display. The aim is for the expelled LophisEn to undergo a display or ritual to convince the others that they can in fact pull their weight. This is done in hopes a new squad will take them in if they demonstrate. This soon became an ingrained ritual, ideological to all other LophisEn.

[more needed]