What Your Character Knows About Carcosa
- There are 13 'races'. They are: Black Men, Blue Men,
Bone Men, Brown Men, Dolm Men, Green Men, Jale Men,
Orange Men, Purple Men, Red Men, Ulfire Men, White
Men, and Yellow Men. These are not the skin tones of the
ethnicities of Earth, but are colors pronounced and vivid.
- "Ulfire to be wild and painful, and jale dreamlike,
feverish, and voluptuous. (David Lindsay, A Voyage
to Arcturus, chapter 6: Joiwind)
- Dolm stand[s] in the same relation to jale as green to
red. It is a compound of ulfire and blue. (David Lindsay,
A Voyage to Arcturus, chapter 18: Haunte)
- Bone Men are transparent, with only their bones
opaque.
- Facial features are mostly identical, most resembling
Native Americans or a mix of Asian/Caucasian features.
- The races cannot interbreed.
- The different races shun each other out of fear of being
enslaved and/or sacrificed.
- Bone Men are more shunned than most.
- Jale Men are said to have a talent for sorcery.
- There are beings called the Great Old Ones. Some
worship them as Gods, and are called Men of Chaos, or
Chaotic. Some fear and hate them, and see men (and the
laws of men) as morally superior. They are called the Men
of the Laws, or Lawful
- There are many other races on Carcosa, most of which
are dying out. They are sometimes called such things as
Old Ones, Elder Ones and such. Few know much about
them.
- There are also monsters and demons, which can be
summoned by sorcerers.
- Men see themselves as weak and as less knowledgeable
than other races, and are inclined to fatalism.
- Actual historical knowledge is limited.
- Curiosity is considered dangerous, and sometimes un-
lawful.
- From a 21st century perspective, Carcosan culture seems
degraded (like the Natives of Skull Island in the recent
version of King Kong).
- There are roughly three types of culture among men:
Barbarians, Villagers, Nomads. Villagers are the vast
majority.
- The largest political unit is the Village-state, with a
population of less than 500.
- Childhood ends in the pre-teen years, (10 12) and is in
no way idealized. Old Age is likewise a vulnerable time.
- Governments are absolutist, with excess servility toward
a ruler, who is usually an egomaniac (all the rulers are
Qadaffis, or Neros) with vast pretensions.
- Carcosan Men exist at a subsistence level of hunting and
gathering. Agriculture is rare and pitiful when it occurs.
- Most Carcosans are insectivores, whose diet is mainly
made up of insects.
- Arms and Armor technology is very advanced,
comparatively. Assume a 1300 AD level of arms
technology for the villages. Other technology is more like
the early Dark Ages, circa 500 - 700 AD.
- Villages can mint coins and produce jewelry.
- Carcosan Village agriculture is confined to roots, tubers
and various ugly squashes. They have to be cooked
extensively to be palatable.
- The only alcoholic beverage is a type of mead, made
from the honey of certain cultivated bee-like insects. It is
fantastically expensive and intended for the elite.
- Drug use, through herbs or ground-up insects, is the main
intoxicant of the non-elite. Such drug use makes you more
passive and lethargic, and is frowned on by the elites. Drug
use among the elites is confined to stimulants and exotic
hallucinogens.
- Dinosaur meat is very highly prized, but dangerous to
hunt and sometimes to consume, if it is tainted by toxins.
Crustaceans and eels from the seas, ditto.
- Carcosan housing relies on adobe like brick.
Hemispheres are a common architectural design. Most
homes consist of single domes or, for the elite, halls or
square buildings with an interior courtyard.
- All Carcosan languages of men are derived from the
same root and are mutually intelligible, though with thick
accents (nearly dialects) among the 13 races.
- Because of the impossibility of inbreeding, slaves from
other races are desirable as concubines, as they produce no
heirs. Purple-men women are highly prized for this
purpose, as are Green-men women. There is an active slave
trade, perhaps more than any other sort of product.
- The society of Carcosan men is highly sexist and
patriarchal. Women are regarded as property, (albeit highly
valued) who have few, if any, rights. Exceptions can and do
exist.