Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States wrote:App
Civilization name: Early Andamani Civilisation
Civilization location: Lands of Andaman and Malacca, Selat Karimata, Java, Thai Peninsula
Civilization Leader: Prebenura (High Teacher) Mansuukalikon
The Prebenura heads the eNura Hekon, the Teaching School. The School is more a tradition, having sole access to the Grand Alphabet. The writing system of the early Andamani is incredibly complex, almost like a secret code, and it takes years of study and great intelligence to become familiar with it. It is seen as holy, and to try and make a different system of writing is seen has heretical. The pupils of the School are the only ones capable of understanding the alphabet and the counting system, making them incredibly valuable in all parts of society. These Taught, as they are known, help with agriculture, taxation, legal judgements, and trade, among other things. This is the way the central authority exerts control.
Describe culture: Culture-wise, the early Andamani put a lot of faith in symbols and the written word. In their theology, the written word is somthing from the realm of the gods, fundamental to the fabric of the universe, capable of changing and securing the nature of reality. As such, the written word is itself a work of art, entirely separate from the stories that are conveyed by them. Those who can translate the written language of the universe into the spoken word ar held in high regard. It is hard to say where Andamani culture begins and their religion ends, as their love for writing enters sheer veneration. Buildings of culture and writing serve as temples, as do libraries and archives, which hold central positions in Andamani society.
Describe religion: The religion of the Andamani can be called both formal and informal. It is formal, in the sense that only one group, those taught by the School, have the ability to play a significant role in the religion. However, there is no holy book, as all script is inherently holy. These Taught fulfil the role of priest as well as bureaucrat and magistrate, and those positions are not really seperate. There are no religious services, per se, but cultural events are very spiritual events as well, and always center around the written word. The written word, as they say, is the very fabric of reality. In the beginning, the Spirits, essences of reality, wrote the world into being. The water spirits wrote the rivers and the seas, and the woodland spirits wrote the forests and the trees. Still, these spirits communicate to the Andamani through writing. Part of the goal of the School is to unlock the secrets of writing even more, to unlock even more powerful words, symbols of numbers.
Describe history: According to legend, Man was once like an animal, uncaring about its environment and incapable of creation. MeWa, the Spirit of Mischief, came down to Earth and taught the skill of language and writing to the Chief of one of the groups of Man. The man understood but the smallest part of the lessons of MeWa, but with this knowledge he could bring about enormous change. His group built a village, on the site of the current capital of Malacca, and he chose the most intelligent man and his only son to teach what MaWe had taught him. However, not all agreed that just the Chief should have this power, and while the intelligent man stayed true to the will of MaWe, the son left and tried to teach the world, which led to the creation of lesser civilisations.
This is, of course, an origin myth. In reality, the foundations of the early Andamani civilisation are much more practical. Known for their lake-terrace farming in an otherwise quite inhospitable land, the Andamani settled around the sweet water lakes of Borneo, Sumatra and Java for their sustenance. Writing was discovered by one of the city-states, which made them incredibly wealthy and powerful, and allowed it to overwhelm its neighbours. The secret of writing, however, was closely kept by the rulers of the city-state, which led to the foundation of the School. This School would eventually use its spiritual standing and effective control to overshadow the various governments of the city states to become the ruling body in the realm. While local princes and bodies, make laws, technically, true power lies with the bureaucracy.
Accepted, I kinda expected the Indonesian Archipelago to have a cradle of civilization, so it makes sense too