The Ugradon Basin Society, called Continent Ten in the Gellodan Prehistoric Classification, was a primitive elven society in the broad rivers, meres, and lakes of the then-Everflow basin in northwestern Balebu.

Structure

Continent-Ten was a n ultimately predominantly agrarian population. It settled from a hunter-gardener and pastoralist folk into first small village clusters, and then actual small cities. This urbanized population lived primarily from agriculture, notably grain and pulses; the primary animal husbanded were pigs.

The smallest social unit, the only distinction beneath that of settlement community aparentance in this relatively egalitarian and homogeneous society, was that of the friendship group. These groups formed households together, and were formed of course within the (subrace-specific) communnity, but they typically did not have particular kinship.

A separate class was that of the warrior aristocrats, who formed gollenaed, strong friendship groups of their own. These were somewhat more mobile, and somewhat more pastoralist; their main interaction with the urban farmers was through economic influence, the violent extraction of labor through debt-service, and in the military sphere.

Politics

The settlements gradually formed governments of their own, typically representative/direct democracies with some assembly system. The aristocrats interacted with them through social networks, and in times of war by raising small armies of followers; and they typically had an indirect political relationship, though this often also happened purely through a small number of elected offices which the urban population chose out of the gollenid ranks. For instance, the city of Hallenorn had a leader in religious and military affairs, a kind of small king, who was not necessarily always from the same gollenad and of course not hereditary; it was usually simply the most able, most powerful, aristocrat to gain the title.

The aristocrats formed the loose Council of Ugradon to meet and socialize among themselves, rule themselves, and establish foreign policy and direction for the entire region.

History

Loose, simple settlements began congregating into clusters around 15'200. These then became cities, focusing on the riverside and trade roads south around 14'500. The cities gradually became larger and developed democratic systems of government.

First ships from overseas (from the centralizing Empire began arriving in 13'900, greatly favoring the cities on the riverside. This directly led to a great increase in wealth and power of said cities, and a growth in outside influence. The aristocrats were among the first to adopt these powerful elven visitors' customs, learning their language and making alliances with them, thereby asserting themselves as the ruling layer. This directly paved the way for the advent of houses and integration into the Empire by 13'300.