Sáikók



Sáikók (Proto-Ka: *Sáikók ) is a cold desert in Southeast Soco. Languages in and around the desert, in Bahisora and the Quvi Peninsula, form a sprachbund, called the Sáikók Sprachbund.

Climate
Sáikók is overall a cold desert and cold steppe (Köppen climate classification BWk, BSk) with a continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa) along the southern mountains.

History
From the 1st to 6th century AIA, most of Sáikók was under the authority of the Tûmm civilisation. The urban areas are overwhelmingly populated by the Tûmm people, while the suburbs, worksites and fields by the Xápék people, who account for the majority of the population.

Literacy among the Tûmm people is not productive, it is solely used for producing copies of older cultural works and for utilitarian purposes. While it is technically illegal for a Xápék person to read or write and the punishment for the "crime of literacy" is harsh, in the beginning of the 6th century, a new kind of slave, an archivist, was established in the Autocracy, who used their literacy for other uses.

The Tûmm civilisation was on the decline apart from the economy by the 5th century, as the country relied solely on slavery as its workforce. Archeologists found that a large part of the Tûmm population was overweight, especially the nobility, indicating that food was widely available to them. On the other hand, Xápék skeletons, reports from archivists and scribes and later depictions from the Há Empire show evidence of food scarcity and famines in the slave population.

This social climate is heated by the Xápék Mine Riots in the 520s and the violent repression by Xápék mercenaries hired by Tûmm generals. A few Xápék tribal chiefs go on hunger strikes periodically, but these manifestations prove unfruitful. With the social crisis worsening, there arise thoughts of equality, equity and even independence among the Xápék people.

Around the year 539 began the War of Emancipation with the open letter to the Tûmm Autocracy To cut trees down and beat snakes.