Ethnogenesis
History
Who Were the Nascans?
The Nascans built a civilization in one of the world's most forbidding environments — the hyper-arid coastal desert of southern Peru, where years might pass without measurable rainfall. Their most famous legacy, the Nazca Lines, consists of enormous geoglyphs etched into the desert floor: hummingbirds, monkeys, spiders, and geometric patterns so vast they can only be fully appreciated from the air. Yet the Lines represent just one aspect of a sophisticated culture that developed underground aqueducts to tap subterranean water, produced some of ancient America's most vibrant polychrome pottery, and practiced rituals involving trophy heads taken from enemies or sacrificial victims. Who these people truly were remains partially mysterious — they left no writing — but their material remains testify to remarkable ingenuity and intense religious devotion.
Homeland and Way of Life
The Nazca homeland comprised river valleys cutting through coastal desert between the Andes and the Pacific. Surface water flowed only seasonally when mountain rains fed the rivers; for much of the year, the valleys appeared lifeless. The Nascans responded with the puquios — underground aqueduct systems that tapped subterranean water flows, channeling them to agricultural fields through tunnels lined with river stones. Some of these systems still function today, engineering achievements that made permanent settlement possible where none should have survived.
Agriculture supported populations clustered in valley oases: maize, beans, squash, cotton, and various fruits. Fishing supplemented farming — the rich Pacific waters offshore provided protein. The ceremonial center of Cahuachi, with its adobe mounds and plazas, served as a pilgrimage site where populations gathered for rituals rather than as a true city. Nazca society appears to have been organized around competing chiefdoms sharing religious practices and artistic traditions rather than unified under central authority.
Warfare, Power, and Limits
Trophy heads dominate Nazca art and archaeology. Pottery vessels depict warriors carrying severed heads; actual trophy heads — with holes drilled for carrying cords and mouths pinned shut with cactus spines — have been found in significant numbers. Whether these came from warfare, sacrifice, or ancestor veneration remains debated, but the practice clearly held profound ritual significance. Warriors who obtained heads gained spiritual power; the heads themselves became sacred objects used in ceremonies.
Political organization remains unclear without written records. The absence of massive fortifications or evidence of large-scale warfare suggests competition remained ritualized rather than destructive. Power likely resided in religious specialists who conducted ceremonies, maintained the sacred lines, and mediated with supernatural forces controlling water and fertility.
Beliefs, Customs, and Society
The Nazca Lines themselves offer the clearest window into Nazca belief — though interpretation remains controversial. Created by removing dark surface stones to reveal lighter ground beneath, the geoglyphs depict animals, plants, and geometric shapes across kilometers of desert pampa. Some scholars see astronomical alignments; others suggest the lines formed processional paths for water-related rituals; still others propose they marked underground water sources. Whatever their specific purpose, they clearly required organized labor and shared religious vision sustained across generations.
Nazca pottery achieved extraordinary vibrancy — vessels painted in up to fifteen colors depicting deities, humans, animals, and supernatural beings. Textile production reached similar heights. Both arts served religious purposes, accompanying the dead into tombs that preserved them in the dry desert air. The imagery suggests a pantheon centered on agriculture, water, and fertility — natural preoccupations for people surviving in such an arid environment.
Contacts, Conflicts, and Legacy
Nazca civilization declined around 600-800 CE, possibly due to environmental stress — deforestation may have destabilized the fragile desert ecology, while climate shifts disrupted the water sources on which everything depended. The Wari empire, expanding from the highlands, absorbed Nazca territory in subsequent centuries, carrying forward some artistic traditions while transforming the political landscape. The Nazca Lines survived — too remote and too large for later peoples to destroy — becoming one of archaeology's most enduring mysteries and a testament to what human devotion could achieve in the most unlikely of places.
Abilities
These abilities reflect a civilization where sacrifice generated sacred knowledge and desert survival demanded ingenuity. Destroying units to gain experience cubes captures the Nazca trophy head tradition — lives taken becoming accumulated power and wisdom. Stone substituting for weapons when recruiting infantry represents obsidian and stone-tipped weapons in a metal-scarce environment. Action cubes returning as experience when overcoming adversities reflects the Nazca capacity to transform hardship into lasting knowledge — desert survival teaching lessons that persisted.
Glory gained from building on meadow or desert hexes represents the monumental effort of constructing in marginal landscapes — achievements in harsh terrain that brought prestige and divine favor.
Nascans I
to gain 1 experience cube
and 
.When recruiting each
, you may spend 2 
to pay -1 
, transfer all cubes of your color, drawn from the bag, onto your 
card
on a meadow or desert hex, gain 1
FAQ
In the last round, can I destroy all my units for experience cubes?
The "once per turn" restriction limits you significantly. To destroy 8-10 units, you would need to stretch across that many turns, during which opponents act freely — potentially achieving instant victory while you sacrifice your forces. The ability rewards careful timing, not mass liquidation.
What does transferring drawn cubes onto my government card mean?
Those cubes become experience cubes. Additionally, this means you can safely add experience cubes to the bag before overcoming adversities — when drawn, they return to your government card as experience cubes again, avoiding negative consequences while preserving your accumulated experience.
If I construct a City on a meadow hex, do I gain 1 Glory?
No. A City is not a building. The ability triggers only for buildings — the 24 building tokens on your player mat. Cities and other structures do not qualify.