I. Questions of Place.
Describe the geography of where your society calls home. The South Pacific Simmoland Islands are a group of islands usually situated in the South Pacific. There is the main horseshoe island pair, where the Simmoland nation resides, along with a variety of other islands (grassy, desert, volcano etc) dotted about. The horseshoe island pair is split into two, with a chasm known as "fractured valley" between.
Describe the climate your society deals with. How severe are their seasons? The climate is generally temperate, and there's generally not any extremes of temperature. The islands move about often, meaning the day to day weather may be warmer or colder depending on what latitude the islands are at, but volcanic eruptions keep the area from getting too cold, and when it heats up too much, the resident ice drakes awaken in the mountains, causing ice and snowfall. Otherwise, the weather is fairly normal, and only occasionally does it rain cats and dogs.
What kinds of natural disasters has this society gotten used to? This nation experiences the normal sort of disasters, like earthquakes, tidal waves, flooding, forest fires caused by exploding Seaweed Horrors, but also a few less normal ones. Occasionally the islands shift and move, sometimes vanishing beneath the waves, sometimes surfacing many miles away, inland.
What importance (spiritual or cultural) do people ascribe to the geography? There's little spiritual or cultural importance to the geography as it can change often. As long as it eventually returns to the same location, they're happy.
How do people feel about local landscapes being altered or used for a purpose other than what is traditional? As the local landscape alters itself fairly often, most people don't mind it being used for non-traditional purposes.
What are the most commonly-grown foods? The islands are home to the native Yimber trees, which can be grown for food. When allowed to achieve maturity, the yimber tree regularly produces an abundance of fist-sized, hard-shelled fruit, with succulent inner flesh. This delicious, tender and moreish fruit causes extremely explosive flatulence and diarrhoea, sudden hair loss, partial paralysis of the left elbow and excruciating pain, unless rigorously boiled for several hours, then it only causes explosive flatulence and mildly excruciating pain. This is a staple food of the Simmolandian people.
What are the most commonly-eaten meats? Spider meat is the most commonly eaten, with many varieties of spider being domesticated for food.
What foods are considered exotic or expensive? Beef, lamb, pork products etc are generally the most expensive. Most farmers here deal with native species, so mammal meats and products need to be imported,
What forms of alcohol are common? Rare? The most common type of alcohol is Yodka, a type of distilled spirit made from Yimber fruit.
Is there usually enough food and water for the population? Yes, the island is covered in Yimber trees, and is home to plenty edible animal species.
What is this place's most abundant resource? Spiders. They have a lot of uses and can be found all over the place.
What is its most valuable resource? Spiders. They're very important for a number of industries, and have a number of uses. Fur, silk, venom, meat, carapace etc are all used.
What resource is it most lacking? Mammalian and avian products the least common, due to a lack of many of these species being present. The variety of islands and constant renewal and movement of them mean new resources are being brought in all the time.
How do people travel from one place to another? On the large island, they can generally walk or drive. People may occasionally try and jump the chasm to reach the other side, and are occasionally successful. Travelling to other island in the region is usually done by boat, or by bridges and swimming if the islands are close by.
Are the borders secure? In what way? Apart from water, there are no borders between the islands themselves. You can travel from one nation on the islands to another with relative ease. Travelling to and from the islands and another country is much more difficult. As you get further away from the islands, the weather becomes more unpredictable. The presence of giant squid-like octopodes and islands randomly relocating also deter people from coming here.
How many people live here? About 2 billion humans.
Where in this place do they congregate? Most people live in human settlements, that were settled near rivers and other water sources.
What part of this place do they avoid? Why? People generally avoid the volcanic islands, for obvious reasons. There are also a few islands where less than friendly spider people tribes are situated, so they are also avoided.
What are the most common domesticated animals here? And what are they domesticated for? Spider species are the most commonly domesticated.
The common grassland spider, Simmaranea lagomorphus, is one of the herbivorous species that dwell on the island. They are small, brown creatures that dig burrows. They eat most plant matter, including grasses and the fronds of Kelp Bushes. Domesticated varieties are kept as pets, or as livestock. Particular varieties have been bred for usage in the fur and clothing industry.
The domestic Feathered Hopping Spiders are another species. Spiderlings are yellow and when mature are generally white or brown, but some have been selected for different colouration. These spiders are kept for meat and eggs.
What are the most common wild animals? How are wild animals treated? Spiders are the most common, with ones like the bushy-tailed spider, Vulparanea simmus, which is a carnivorous species. The spider is covered in an orange to red coloured fur and, as it's name suggests, has a tale-like structure on it's abdomen. The generally prey on smaller spider species, such as the common grassland spider, but will occasionally prey on livestock, like domestic Feathered Hopping Spiders.
Apart from spiders, the islands are home to a number of squid species, such as the South Pacific Simmoland Island flying South Pacific Simmoland Island tree squid (not to be confused with the South Pacific Simmoland Island flying squid, which are aquatic relatives that do not live in trees, or the South Pacific Simmoland Island flying tree squid, which are related squid that live in flying trees, or the South Pacific Simmoland Island tree flying squid, which are unrelated, non-native squid that live in native trees or the flying South Pacific Simmoland Island tree squid, which are native squids that live in non-native trees.)
Which animals are likely to be pets? Which ones won't be? Spiders are amongst the most commonly kept pets. Squid generally aren't kept because of the large habitat needed, but some of the smaller squid species can be kept in a large cage.
What are the most common domesticated plants here? And what are they used for? The Yimber has been grown for many years, and there are particular varieties that have been selected to produce better, more elbow-numbing fruit.
What are the most common wild plants here? What are they used for? The forests on the island are mainly comprised of Yimber, with some large fungal and fern trees dotted about. The yimber is relatively tall, when compared to a shrub, is fast growing and with a soft, papery wood unsuitable for use in construction and is used mainly for construction purposes. Young mushrom trees can be used for food, but as they mature they lose flavour and become more woody.
Isolation of the islands have also caused an interesting diversification in plantlike species. Of particular interest is the macroalgae. Some seaweeds use air-filled sacs to remain buoyant in water, a trait which has been expanded upon in simmolandian sea and landweeds. Water is split into oxygen and hydrogen, with the hydrogen being stored in air-tight bladders. This enables landweeds like the Kelp Bushes and creatures like the seaweed horrors to remain upright on land. One unfortunate side-affect of this is that they are highly flammable, and are prone to exploding.