Kylorne Tribal Period

The Kylorne Tribal Period, or simply the Tribal Period, is a worldwide age used in the historiography of Kylorne. This age is defined by a general lack of large cities or infrastructure, a relative lack of international trade and communication, and an inability for states to exert power beyond their immediate population centers. Most states of the Tribal Period take the form of small nomadic bands, independent villages, city-states, or are simply larger states that had fallen into decline or crisis prior to the onset of the Tribal Period; likewise, the term "tribe" is used to describe the rudimentary state of most political entities of the era.

The period lasted approximately one IRL month, from the start of the Kylorne server on June 25, 2022 until July 28, 2022.

Causes
The historical records of many places in Kylorne cite a common period of crisis in the years preceding the Tribal Period. Common among them are an increase in natural disasters such as floods and diseases, and the outbreak of large numbers of undead and other monsters that caused havoc among the more developed states of the day. However, it is not apparent to academics as to why these events all happened within a short period of time, and how they affected such a large area.

It is thought that the crisis may have only applied to more advanced civilizations, and many itinerant or low-density populations were less affected. Historians consider that those peoples that had effectively been living in conditions similar to the Tribal Period prior to its onset were more adaptable to the changing world, or were already more resilient and thus went unaffected.

Effects on Society
The crises of the period's onset rendered the limited existing infrastructure of the world less useful or useless altogether, as well as depopulating many major cities. Tribal states and other political entities of the time were unable to recruit large populations to serve in armies or other enforcement of power; state borderlands became far blurrier as the world beyond most towns became and stayed an uncontrollable frontier. Travel was reduced, save for a few plucky individual cartographers and nomads that regularly make the rounds across Kylorne.

An inability to enforce borders, as well as food shortages, led to the Tribal Period becoming an age of migration. The earliest subsection of the period saw many people groups travel far across Kylorne in search of new and better places to settle. Monsters- notably tree spirits and reanimated skeletons- as well as hostile animals, killed dozens of these desperate settlers in their attempts to set up camps and villages in the wilderness. Still others died of hunger, wandering far and wide in search of food in vain.

Many peoples also lacked the ability to trade and communicate. The destruction of large amounts of material wealth and the death of many skilled communicators meant that many of the few remaining leaders were unable to mediate communication between different tribes. One of the most infamous instances of this has been the interactions between the tribes of the Sanemi Kingdom, who upon being visited by foreigners were greeted in a uniquely unintelligible language and attacked over mere misunderstandings.

Conflicts of the Tribal Period
A number of conflicts between tribes broke out as a result of rearranged settlement patterns and conflict over land claimed by multiple parties. One such occurrence is the Skirmish of the Ukori Fields between the Itairae and a native Lverstwrynnite tribe, a classic example of the common, petty, and low-scale fighting that occurred during this time. Another instance of misunderstandings leading to violence is a recorded instance of an unnamed hungry settler looking for food, who stumbled upon the village of Udongajete and was chased off by the local Nkondo.