History of Northern Fountainhead

Sunrise period (c. 500 BGS – 67 AGS)
The Sunrise period is the earliest period discussed in Xiyeru written history, as part of the ritual recital of lore known as Näjenayon. This tradition spans several millennia of oral tradition, and later includes contemporary historical records and reproduction of older historical almanacs. The classical era of northern Fountainhead is the time period covered by the written historical records of Näjenayon, which claim to begin in the year 570 BGS but which can only be definitely traced to around 500 BGS.

During this period, Xiri developed from Proto-Xiri and Alöbi split into its two dialects.

Horizon period (67 – 655 AGS)
Increasing Xiyeru population towards the end of the Sunrise period led to expansion in search of resources and eventually to the discovery of T'ugü and the Öb, which marks the beginning of the Horizon period. The import of food from T'ugü allowed the population of Udovuʻo to grow more rapidly, and a trade-based economy to emerge in T'ugü. Historical records from this period describe a technological revolution with the development of specialised writing ink, paper, the backstrap loom and subsequent more advanced ships, and various other technologies.

Among the Öb there was unanimous association of the Xiyeru with the Ihk'oxek since they fit the description of ornately decorated giants quite well, though the Xiyeru were not sinister in their intentions, nor did they wield the power to cause the great destruction some people had foretold. The favoured interpretation of Jailgei was that the arrival of the Xiyeru and the implied existence of a world outside T'ugü represented a crossing over point, from a previous world of adequate monotony to one of diversity and discovery. The bringing forth of the sea onto the land was accordingly understood to mean the gift of sailing, the sea and the land need no longer be separate realms. This ushered in a new age of exploration for both the Xiyeru and the Öb, with both cultures later going on to explore Irimri and the islands further east.

In the last couple of centuries of the Horizon period, permanent Xiyeru settlements known as rhávo tódo were established along the northern coast of T'ugü. These settlements served as a home away from home for those staying in T'ugü for extended periods of time, allowing them to spend time with other Xiyeru and practise their culture together. These people were typically traders, explorers, diplomats, and natural philosophers, some of whom spent much of their life in T'ugü before returning home to Udovu’o to raise children and grow old. Many Öb in coastal communities near rhávo tódo moved away from farming cimcim in favour of a broader array of food which made for better trade with Xiyeru.

The rhávo tódo were established on land which the migratory highlands Öb had previously occupied each dry season. This forced families to adopt a fully nomadic lifestyle which T'ugü was not big enough to support sustainably, and so people begun to diffuse further into the hills in the north. The highlands people likely had very little contact with the Xiyeru, most perhaps never even meeting them, but felt the greatest impact to daily life out of any group in T'ugü. The interpretation of Jailgei was less playfully optimistic among the highlands Öb, who naturally met the arrival of the Xiyeru with distrust and held a more conservative view of the changing world in general.

The individual languages spoken throughout this period are much the same as the last, each with their own minor developments. High Alöbi, however, had diverged far enough from Low Alöbi to only be mutually intelligible to those who are very familiar with the other. Ugugo was introduced to T'ugü at the beginning of the period and subsequently evolved and diversified into many regional variants, most of which were still legible to any seasoned scribe by the end of the period.

Exodus period (655 - 861 AGS)
The Exodus period was a transitional period for T'ugü, characterised by large-scale population movement and societal restructuring. The population explosion in Udovu’o eventually led to disaster, a mysterious plague in 655 AGS. This reversed the population growth and disrupted the trade pipeline on which they had become dependent, resulting in a famine lasting 656 - 664 AGS. The contemporary Aéruwe’a, believing the Öb to be the source of the plague, cautiously refused their offer of aid in order to reduce further spread. Ultimately this prevented the complete loss of the Xiyeru culture at the cost of greatly extending the famine. Against the advice of the Aéruwe’a, a significant proportion of the population fled to the rhávo tódo in T'ugü, which soon became large permanent settlements. Political power was subsequently redistributed in Udovu’o, leaving the four minor islands to operate as autonomous political entities, with significantly reduced contact between them.

The mass settlement of the Xiyeru finally drove out most of the High Alöbi speaking semi-nomadic people who had began diffusing into the north-eastern hills in the Horizon period. The migration was accelerated by the popularisation of sailing, which allowed families to hop along the coast until they found somewhere to permanently settle. The people further inland remained nomadic, giving rise to the group of peoples known as the Yaxeb. Settlement continued along the northern coast of the continent throughout the Exodus Period, with the furthest settlements ~1000km east of T'ugü in Irimri. These migrations also unexpectedly encountered extant öboid peoples who spoke entirely unknown languages, ate wild cimcim but did not cultivate it, and had a darker natural skin tone than the canonical Öb. Little is known about these original peoples as they were quickly assimilated into the Yaxeb, but many elements of their languages and cultural practices remained.

By the end of the period, Udovuʼo had returned to its pre-famine population of around 100,000 and the population of T'ugü had exceeded one million, with around 6% being Xiyeru-descended people known broadly as Lavondu "foreign/distant people". The Lavondu continued to practise a variant of the Xiyeru religion and would still frequently visit Udovuʼo, though they now considered Lavdo, a region of T'ugü, their home. Until around 800 AGS, the Lavondu practised Gulon, the act of regularly paying tribute to the Aéruwe’a and each of the five island governors of Udovuʼo by presenting them with valuables and general goods from T'ugü. The name Gulon is a Möxale word meaning "apology" or "compassion" and originates from the practice of sending aid to Udovuʼo after the famine, and as a way of apologising for the disregard for the Aéruwe’a's wisdom shown by their ancestors. The Lavondu took on their moniker themselves, reflecting the belief that they could no longer be considered Xiyeru "true people". This humility was not be confused with a lack of self respect, but rather an expression of their dignity as a separate people. At the end of the Exodus period, the greatest scholars and statesmen among the Lavondu organised to undertake a vast project to restructure society in T'ugü called Käzñon, which included the development of the Öcizñox calendar and the re-establishment of Näjenayon.

During this period, The Alöbi-Xiri mixed language Möxale developed, replacing Xiri as the language of the Lavondu. In Udovuʼo, Xiri remained a lesser dialect with the prestige dialect Ahōtolĭ becoming the new lingua franca. Möxale became the primary language of Näjenayon, since it was a more useful language for the purpose of preservation and accessibility of information. The Ugugo, and what was standard Xiri c. 600 AGS, were also preserved as a liturgical language in some particular texts and religious practices. High and Low Alöbi independently underwent separate vowel shifts, meaning they were now completely separated linguistically and geographically.