Final Frontier (Sideways Earth)

The harshness of Northwest Asia close to the arctic circle and in the shadow of the impassable Himalayan Mountains, gave rise to the "Polynesian" peoples. From what we would call Thailand and Vietnam arose a hardy tribe of fishermen and hunters much like what we call "Eskimos" in our universe. Limited resources in the northern tundra, though, would lead them to travel to the islands we call Indonesia in primitive boats used for fishing and hunting whales. Over about a thousand years they would populate islands and continents all the way to what "Wonderland" (named Magalhasia by the Portuguese) to the idyllic islands of "Southland."

Polar Pioneers
As the ice age came to a close, wandering tribes closest to the receding glaciers migrated to the coastal waters of the Indian Ocean. The northern parts of this ocean have been labeled the "Arctic Sea" by some. No further travel north was possible due to the imposing Himalayan mountains, so the "Indians" settled in what is areas north of China. Being of separate tribes from the beginnings of the ice age wanderings, the northwest Asians had little interaction with their cousins in the south. Instead, they exploited the resources of the north, including ample fish and other wildlife found there. They learned how to live in the prolonged nights of the winter, but never developed a civilization that could defend itself from invasion. Luckily, of course, few of their southern cousins wanted to invade.

Life in the tundra was a challenge met proudly for millennia, for these tribes counted their land as sacred. Religions based on the sage advice of honored ancestors arose which helped to bond them in times of stress. Fishing and hunting were both a way of survival and a way to a full life.

more to come ...

Indonesia
As wonderful as life was based on the worship of the past, factions among the Indians eventually began to listen to stories of paradise to the south in the untouched islands. The Chinese were content with the resources of central Asia in those days, and had given rise to the Korean and Japanese cultures nearer home. There furthest explorations had been to the Philippines. And so, the islands beckoned not only fishermen, but their families and friends. Over the centuries, the islands became home to hundreds of millions of what would be called "Indonesians" or "Indians" for short. The islands of Indonesia were diverse in both fauna and flora, becoming more diverse the further south the explorers went. With plentiful resources in countless islands, the mainland soon lost much of its population to "greener pastures."

more to come...

Eastland
The first wave of migration from the mainland to the islands ended in the settlement of the southern shores of the island continent called "Eastland" by the Indonesians. Though large, the mountains in the south created a temperate desert the Eastlanders called "the outback." in the central part of the main continent. On the other end of the continent, hardy tribesmen developed a society based on the ancient ways of the ancestors.

more to come ...

Polynesia
more to come...

Wonderland
more to come...