A Bit of History
Cahokia and the Mississippians
Cahokia was the jewel in a much larger setting, namely the Mississippian Culture. It is unknown today if the Mississippians were one cultural group, or several interrelated cultures that shared many commonalities. What is clear is that large, well organized, and planed cities that featured monumental architecture in the form of earthen mounds and open plazas, a hierarchical social system, the appearance of early copper working, and a trade network that stretched from the Mississippi basin to the Great Lakes, Rocky Mountains, Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Ocean.
There are definite signs that the Mississippian cultures were stratified, and that this stratification increased over time. One sign is the scale of the communal projects conducted, namely the construction of large earthen mounds. Someone had to be in charge of projects of this size, and there needed to be a good reason to build such large mounds. Adding to this, the structures found on the mounds or in burials associated with them show a disparity in wealth when compared to other non-mound associated burials from the same eras. This disparity increased as the Mississippian Period advanced.
Mississippian culture also showed signs of specialization of work. Some people were farmers, others craftsman or merchants, and still others religious or political leaders, There seems to have been some confluence of the roles of religious and political leader, while at the same time religious specialists are hinted at in the nature of some of the artifacts found, namely those associated with 'temple mounds'. For our purposes, namely creating a good game, we can dispense with some of the academic arguments swirling around this issue and just go with priest-chieftains (or kings) and a dedicated priesthood.
What we have is a structured and organized society, one that possesses many levels, highly trained specialists, and is ruled by a priesthood and a nobility that share close ties. Perhaps the two are in conflict, as each claims to be the true voice of the gods. All this occurs in far flung city-states surrounded by vast tracks of wilderness that is occupied by 'barbarian' tribes.
A Mississippian City
Mississippian cities were surrounded by fortifications that could be quite complex. For example, at Angel Mounds located on the banks of the Ohio in Southern Indiana, there was a lengthy wooden wall with firing platforms, stockpiled weapons, a double blind entrance, and connections to surrounding bodies of water. The whole wall structure was built on top of a twelve-foot high earthen mound that was faced with poison ivy. Yes, someone had the job of transplanting poison ivy to the earthen mound outside the city. The important structures inside were built on small mounds of earth, and not just to show status or avoid flooding. Should invaders penetrate the city walls, they then had to face elevated and fortified strongpoint throughout the city. Some of these were also walled with double blind entrances (one in particular required a ten foot climb up the mound and then passage through an area where you could be stabbed in front and behind by the protected defenders). Even the common houses featured a "wind break" of reeds that screened the occupants from invaders. Plus, to enter the buildings, one had to practically crawl through a doorway (while a guy you can't see attacks you). What does all this mean? The builders of the Mississippian cities were expecting trouble, despite what some rather shoddy archaeologists claim. There are those who will come up with a thousand excuses why these aren't fortifications, I am here to tell you they are at least fifty percent wrong. There is no reason a screen of reeds could be for privacy, wind blockage, and defense.
The center of the city was the main mound, a tall (often over a hundred feet) stepped earthen mound upon which the priest-king lived. Below this was a broad flat plaza that could serve as a ceremonial gathering place, market, and marshalling field in times of war. In Cahokia at least, a circle of wooden pillars stood in the plaza, possibly as an astronomical calendar. The plaza would also be used for a game called chunkey. This popular gambling and athletic contest survived amongst the First Nations well after European contact, and is also played today by many archaeologists. Chunkey requires a long flat piece of ground, along which a player would roll a hockey-puck sized disc. The object of the game was to throw a spear as close to the stone as possible at the point that it was expected to stop. Great amounts of wealth and prestige would be placed on a game of chunkey, and large intra or inter city competitions could see the losers committing suicide in order to avoid embarrassment or paying their gambling debts.
Beyond this, there would be one or more neighborhoods, depending on the size of the community. Each neighborhood would be served by a small temple structure, smaller plazas, and specialized mounds. The purposes of these specialized mounds are unknown, but they were not platform style mounds like those used for temples, granaries, and higher status citizens. Ridge topped and conical mounds may have been used as watchtowers, but most likely they held ritual import, as several have been found that indicate they were used to bury human sacrifices. In Cahokia proper, a ridge mound contained the bodies of a 'falcon warrior' (a recurrent legendary hero or god in Mississippian art), as well as beheaded men, over thirty young women, and many others who had either been beheaded, stabbed, strangled, or buried alive.
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
For a point of reference, lets look at this same time period around the world. The height of the Mississippian Period covers the Norman invasion of England and the Vinland expeditions. The kingdoms of Aragon and Navarre are united, and the Kingdom of Hungary is founded. The Song Dynasty ruled China and experimented with gunpowder. The Muslim world enters its Golden Age of art, science, and agriculture. In the American Southwest, the Anasazi peoples were growing in population and reaching the heights of their own civilization.
Adventuring in Prehistoric North America
It should be easy for readers in the American South and Midwest to set campaigns there, after all the terrain is right outside their doors. For others, it is a strange landscape populated by unusual animals. To illustrate this, let me tell you a little story. Many years ago I had a friend who was from Senegal, and had been an avid outdoorsman (he was from a wealthy family, and so could afford such a hobby). He wanted to go hiking with me in Southern Indiana, in order to see the local wildlife, especially wolves, bears, and deer. I told him there are no wolves or bear in the wilds of Indiana, at least not anymore. He told me that was fine, but he would like to see something strange, like deer. To a Midwesterner, deer are not that unusual, but to a person who grew up watching lions, elephants, and rhinos in the wild, a deer is a foreign animal.
The Mississippi Valley was a different place in the years before European contact, and that must be kept in mind. At that time, the wildlife included deer, as well as wolves, black bears, bison, bobcats, and catamounts (something like a mountain lion, only without the mountains). The region was heavily forested, and as legends hold it, a squirrel could run from the Atlantic to the Great Plains and never touch the ground. Looking at existing old growth forest, and also at descriptions and sketches made by the earliest European explorers, mature stands of trees could contain individuals sixty or more feet in circumference. Vast areas that are today farmland were boggy, and in some places tending towards swampland.
All this terrain, over a million square miles, was not uninhabited. We still do not know how many people lived there before 1492, or even the number of cultures that made the Mississippi Basin their home. Suffice it to say, that beyond the Mississippians there were several other nations that dwelt along the rivers and built impressive settlements. Some came before the Mississippian Period, such as the Adena and Hopewell peoples, and make for great precursor or fallen empire motifs. That's right folks, you can use this to make a traditional fantasy setting, complete with lost tombs, forgotten cultic centers, and it you stretch it a little even underground complexes (small and rare ones, unless you want to go crazy with it). The non-city building people should not be left out, as every great setting needs its barbarians. One that would make great additions, are the Fort Ancient peoples, who seem to have in at least one case taken over an older mound complex that had been built by the Hopewell. This complex was then turned into a fortified village, perhaps to protect against Mississippian raiders. The Great Serpent Mound is a bit of a mystery, and today archaeologist still are not sure who built it, why it was built, and if it really is a snake.
Food ways were (and in some ways are) centered on the combination of corn, beans and squash, with some fish, mussels, and game. Mostly, meat was the reserve of the higher ranked individuals, though mass consumption of mussels occurred with some frequency (shell middens are a popular and common archaeological artifact that can reach depths of twenty feet). There are no domesticated animals, though some arguments for the presence of turkeys imported from Mesoamerica have been made.
Three Games inspired by the Mississippian Period
Now you know a little bit about the Mississippian period and the culture or cultures that comprised it. You've got your city-state all planed out, a map of the Ohio Valley and a couple of dots drawn on, maybe a name or two. What are you going to do with all this, why just read on, read on.
Travelers from the North
The simplest way to get your players involved in a Mississippian campaign is to start with a setting they are more familiar with, in this case the Viking Era. In 1000 C.E. we see not only the height of the Mississippian period, but also the exploration and settlement of North America by the Norse. It doesn't take much to see the possibilities here, and since history is mute (as in there is no proof, but hey, why not) on contact between the Mississippian peoples and the Norse, lets just get these two together.
For your campaign, begin with a simple voyage of exploration or settlement with a group of people (and they need not all be Norse, Celtic slaves or followers are perfectly reasonable) in longships. They sail up the St. Lawrence River, make a few portages, transverse the Great Lakes, drop a mysterious rune stone or two along the way, and make there way into the Mississippi water shed. From there, you introduce them to the Mississippians, maybe get them involved in power struggles between cities (or for extra fun, intracity political squabbles). In the end, you have a campaign about exploration of a very alien environment and culture, with the players being able to see things through the eyes of familiar outsiders (assuming your group is composed of folks with a Western European cultural background). Plus, you get to play axe wielding "barbarians" frolicking through the more "civilized" city-states, think Robert E. Howard but with more verisimilitude and less implied racism.
War of the Cities
For those with a more martial viewpoint, try a campaign centered on the heroes from one city trying to vanquish their counterparts in another. This can be played as a straight historical, or you can mix in any sort of paranormal abilities or powers you want. Basically, the PCs are the champions of their city, and as such receive a fair number of benefits. They must prove they are worthy by challenging the champions of rival cities, as well as leading raiding or war parties against them. At the same time they need to maintain friendly relations with their allied cities and navigate the complicated maze of diplomatic relationships and rivalries.
For added fun, play this as a super hero game, where each city produces a handful of super-powered champions a generation. This allows for some PCs to play reluctant champions, though chosen by the gods to serve their people, they would rather be off tending the fields or chasing deer. Unfortunately for them, they are blessed, and to not serve is to put all they love at risk. Add a PC who is fanatical about his city to the party, and you have the makings of a good dramatic story.
The People of the Mounds
This information doesn't have to be used in a historical campaign; indeed, fantasy games have a long history of appropriating historical periods for their own use. One of the best uses for the Mississippians, given the foreignness of the culture and technology, would be to use them as the basis for a fantasy race. For example, if instead of drawing your inspiration for elves from Tolkien and Victorian fairies, use the Mississippians instead. The elves live in the wilds, building their cities out of materials easily found in nature, soil, wood, stone, and plants. The soaring walls of their mound cities, the towering mounds themselves, and the odd rites enacted by their priesthoods would all seem very strange and alien to a party of adventurers from a more European styled part of your campaign world.
Unless you are a strict simulationist, there is no reason that the lithic based weapons of the mound elves need be any less effective than the metal weapons and armor of mainstream fantasy technology (we are talking a world of magic, elves, and dragons here). If you want a more 'realistic' approach, I suggest you make metal armor more effective against penetrating Stone Age weapons (spears, arrows, and knives), and the lithic weapons themselves more prone to breakage. Of course the difference between a stone headed warclub and a mace are slight, and using the stats for a mace in most game systems would be a better representation of the weapon's abilities than what is usually listed considered a club.
Next month is October, and I wouldn't be so cliche as to offer you a Halloween inspired column of historical horror, now would I? Until then, shake some history bits onto your gaming salad, and enjoy the crunchy goodness.
