Cultivation

Any civilization really takes off on the invention of cultivation, and a requirement for high intelligence brains is protein. Long ago, herla were an unstable species, but their intelligence amped up with the adoption of an omnivorous diet, scavenging corpses and looking to high-protein plants like legumes and beans that had evolved to more meatiness.

Each initial race went about meat in a different matter. The forest dwellers scavenged, then learned to set traps and snares. The mountain wanderers, with their re-adapted fangs, became more adept at hunting. The delta populace thrived on frogs and fish in their swampy, shallow river habitat.

With the exodus from the hartlands, the races worked together to keep up their diet until settling finally in a new land. Here, true cultivation began, with the new dirla species selectively breeding the beans and legumes so key to their diet. They also started to herd and breed animals for meat and eggs. These are mostly small game; epika, marsh quail, and cyprus lizards are the most populous breeds.

One thing that dirla are particularly skilled at cultivating is spices, which they guard the secret of carefully. This is so that they can trade for salt and other important goods with other species.

Many plants were developed by dirla and their ancestors to accommodate the growing needs of their evolving minds. Of the three main meat animals they keep, only the marsh quail was domesticated by them. The epika and cyprus lizard were domesticated by the ursaline. Cultivation of previous human fruits and vegetables is common. Rice is gaining ground in recent years as well and serves as a primary grain, though oats and lentils are more traditional. Leafy vegetables are a favorite treat.

Farms are found in most of Maya's Cradle and in the easily irrigated lands around the deltas.