Worldbuilding Wednesdays: Pre-Civilization Economics

Welcome to Worldbuilding Wednesdays!  Every Wednesday, we spend what is probably far too much time walking through our worldbuilding process.  This week, we're looking at how our three intelligent species will interact with each other culturally.  Spoiler alert: initially, the furries make out like bandits.

What We Have So Far

Each of the three species now has a basic culture that we're basing today's topic on.  Nu humans are the most nomadic of the three; furries, the most culturally diverse; and scalies, the most widespread.  Nu humans, furries, and scalies all share a fondness for cleverness, though they differ in other values.  Humans extol their keen senses and endurance; furries play up their bravery and stealth; and scalies are stoic and willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of a good plan.  All three species are active when the day transitions to and from night.  Their languages differ, but we have already ensured that the way each creature speaks is close enough that each can learn the language of the other.  Last but not least, we've given the species collectively fewer reasons to fight than to cooperate.

Speaking of cooperation...

Trade:  Like Sharing, But Formal

One of the most basic ways that two peoples can cooperate to mutual benefit is through trade.  You would think it would be by engaging in shared projects, but that involves way more planning and organization than someone saying, "I'll give you this food if you give me that cool stick."  This is why almost all cultures that encounter other cultures for the first time have a history of formally giving each other gifts.  This often comes before even learning the language of the other.

Trade is such a universal method of peaceful interaction that our media is filled with symbolism built around the idea.  Take, for example, the end of the classic movie Predator 2.

A classic, we say.

Danny Glover has just bested the titular Predator (2) in single combat when suddenly other Predators appear.  Physically and mentally exhausted, the esteemed Mr. Glover prepares to fight, but the Predators merely remove their fallen comrade.  Then, before the final Predator departs, it pauses and gives him a flintlock pistol.

This probably seems odd out of context, but to briefly explain, Predators are a species that takes pride in hunting only the most dangerous of prey.  Upon completion of a successful hunt, they then take a trophy: most commonly, the skull of the creature.  Watching this final scene, one may be forgiven for thinking that the Predator is giving Mr. Glover a trophy of his own, but that doesn't make sense.  To a Predator, the obvious choice for the trophy would have been the slain alien's skull.  Instead, the Predator gave him a pistol they almost certainly took from another human during a hunt centuries prior.

The conclusion?  The Predator didn't want to give up the skull of their slain companion, which by their rules belonged to Mr. Glover.  So they traded him the pistol for it.

Even creatures that consider humans prey know how to peacefully trade.  This works both ways, of course, and there are innumerable occasions in media where a person will provide food or aid to an animal, and it will later return the favor, because even animals understand the idea of trade: if you take, you should give in return.

It stands to reason that, shortly after realizing that they were dealing with intelligent creatures, our three species would begin to engage in trade.  Given the resources that are available to each, and the fact that this interaction predates even concepts like crafting shelters, most likely the initial trades will be exactly like the pithy example we gave above: "I'll give you this food if you give me that cool stick."

And who has an abundance of sticks?

The Economy is a Shambles

Trade will not solely be on a food-for-stick basis.  Humans will have access to heavy bone; furries will have access to lighter bone and a good deal of skin/fur; and scalies will have access to shells that could potentially be large enough for a humanoid to sleep in.  Each of these materials is incredibly useful to pre-civilized cultures, and will lead to the three collectively developing tool use faster than they would in isolation.  It must be admitted, however, that furries will have a decided advantage, at least initially.  Wood and wood products are the material of choice when it comes to combining or enhancing tools.  Humanity's first tools were shaped bone and chipped stone, but the first tools to give us any kind of mechanical advantage were of wood, such as the atlatl.

Normally, this would be of little significance.  Wood is everywhere, after all.  But on our world, the vast majority of wood takes the form of trees and plants that dwarf their Earthly counterparts.  While it is true that humans (and scalies for that matter) could fell such trees, the effort needed to do so with a shaped rock boggles the mind.  No, any wood used by the ground-dwelling species would likely be that found incidentally, such as branches dropped by windfall.

Furries do not have this problem.  They dwell hundreds of meters up trees, among branches that are of a thickness similar to Earth trees.  What's more, they are the species most adapted to climbing still further, to where the branches are small enough to be snapped off by hand.  While they do not have ready access to stone, they still have plenty of bone, and rollstones (particularly hardy nuts evolved to roll) are of a comparable hardness.  While each species has materials that the others could use, only furries have access to a material that everyone needs for advancement.

At this early point in the development of the species, we can safely assume that this will lead to a power imbalance.  Furries will inevitably get the better end of any trades over time.  While this might seem like a bad thing for worldbuilding purposes, the opposite is likely true.  For starters, the imbalance will be temporary; once stone starts becoming the material of choice (around the point where permanent shelters and houses start developing), scalies and humans will be able to trade evenly for wood, and later still, they'll have enough tool-based advantages to begin collecting wood themselves.  In fact, the imbalance would likely shift in the opposite direction once the species begin to develop past the Stone Age... unless, of course, these creatures, who all value tradition, had a long history of treating furries favorably.  Which leads to another reason that the imbalance is interesting rather than bad- the presence of the imbalance in the first place is our first demonstration of a culture being impacted by the others.  Furries will be better traders than humans and scalies, not because of any natural inclination, but because of generations of furries getting one over on the others.

Trade = Influence

We'll close out this week's discussion by pointing out the fact that this impact works both ways, though not always in obvious ways.  For example, consider our initial arrangement on The Hill.  Humans and scalies occupy the area beneath the trees, while the furries live further up.  Interaction tends to take place at dawn or dusk, when all of the species are active.  Humans will interact with the other two more than the furries and scalies interact with each other, since their period of activity overlaps with each of the others.  Furries and scalies will live closer together, leading both to increased cooperation against the other (humans) and friction, since furries' refuse will drop from the branches and scalies, in turn, will block free access to the ground.

Trade, over time, will lead to each species interacting with, sympathizing with, and ultimately influencing the others.  Furries that don't wish to antagonize scalies will move further into the branches and away from the trunk, where their garbage would rain down on their neighbors.  Furries that want to trade with humans will likely glide or swing from branches to the nearby hilltops, bypassing the scalies.  Both the scalies and the humans will, for their part, begin to associate the values of the furries with the value of trade.  Traders who, like the furries, are quiet and patient, will automatically be considered more savvy.  Behavior will make this increasingly true; as the three different cultures begin to mesh, traders will become known for their calm demeanor and willingness to let silence rule while they consider lucrative deals.

Once craftsmanship becomes a thing, we'll see similar conflations with those artisans that most align with a given cultural background.  Those who craft anything related to traps (and later, engineering) will be assumed to be stoic types who are willing to put themselves in harm's way to make sure something works.  Archers will, of course, be praised for their keen eyesight and extreme hand-eye coordination, but their greatest feats will be associated with the incredible endurance of humans.  Expect this culture's Robin Hood to be a man who proved he was the best archer by, say, being able to fire more hours before collapsing than any other fellow.

Conclusion

At this point, we have a good idea of how the cultures will mix initially.  It will begin with trade.  As the cultures trade, the things they trade for will become associated with the creatures they traded with to get them.  In time, this association will lead to shared values and a slowly merging culture- a melting pot, just as America's initial culture developed.  And, just as America retained several solid "chunks," mini-cultures within the overall zeitgeist, we'll see the cultures of the individual species retain a distinct core.  The result won't be a single homogenous set of cultural traits, but rather a quilt of cultures, each culture's edge melted into the others.  It is that melted section that we're most interested in.

Next week, we'll present one possible mix, based on what we've developed so far.  Until then, happy worldbuilding!