Terra Preta

The land

Flat ground under dense evergreen rainforest, 73 m up; brooks and springs in the folds of the ground; far from any sea; hot and wet the year round.

Cover

dense evergreen rainforest

Elevation

73 m

Relief

flat ground

Fresh water

brooks and springs in the folds of the ground

The sea

far from any sea

Climate

hot and wet the year round

The patch

about 1.85 km north to south and 1.85 km across; 1,853 m north to south, 1,849 m east to west, 3.43 km²

Centre

3.9917°S 63.9917°W

What the land offers a builder

Of this land: timber, bamboo, living plant, earth, stone, hide, bone, cloth, rope, fire. The land allows: ground, stilts, canopy.

Now

Heavy rain and warm here, 23:27 local, the rains, as always, full dark.

The wild

Animals here this month: jaguar (feeding), puma (denning), white-tailed deer (calving), peccary (calving), brocket deer (calving), harpy eagle (nesting).

The lay of the land

• The inner grove (grove): a close stand of straight trunks with deep leaf litter below
• The low thicket (thicket): a dense tangle of low branches that turns the cold gusts

What stands here

THE LONGHOUSE — on the inner grove. House-sized, about 6 m. Timber, bamboo, stone. On the ground.
"A low timber longhouse under a pitched bamboo roof with smoke rising from the ridge"
A roof of bamboo atop the top: pitched low to shed rain and heavy gusts. A hearth of stone inside the centre: set with flat stones to hold the embers through the night. A doorway of timber facing the south: fitted with a heavy latch on the leeward side. A storage rack of timber along the north side, hung with dry provisions, cordage, and spare gear.
Of this land: timber, bamboo, stone.

THE STOREHOUSE — beside the low thicket. Small, about 4 m. Timber, rope. On the ground.
"A tight-walled timber storehouse raised clear of the damp with a rope roof"
A roof of rope atop the top: weighted with flat stones against high winds. A shelves of timber inside the inside: lined with dry bins for winter stores.
Of this land: timber, rope.

The story, as Daphne S. tells it

Of the place

• Broad Bench Hold was laid out by Daphne Sterling, who marked the inner grove first and set the longhouse to face out of the prevailing weather.

Of the people

• They keep a dry stack of fuel beside the longhouse and share the first meal at the hearth with any traveller who crosses the inner grove. (heard when a people lives here)
• Before winter sets in they check the lashings and stones of the storehouse and sing the names of the first four who came. (heard when a people lives here)

The people

THE PEOPLE OF TERRA PRETA — gardeners, hunters, and gatherers, settled, in long houses.
Names from their own tongue. They hold the forest sacred.
They keep: the feast at the clearing; burial in the fire; moving every seven years; the long house kept warm for guests; winter stories.
They like bamboo, living plant, monkey, and dawn. They dislike frost, wind, and stone. Open to strangers.
Their words: hearth lamtee, river or sea kuyo, winter or the rains wunnaãtã, the dead wuikõe, home teõrunpa, stranger yãwe, feast tiirõ, child õreupi, old one põnã, the place Enihau, the beast lãwã, the sky kuwã.
Founders: four. Lore: 2 lines.

Ways

gardening, hunting, gathering

Settlement

settled

Kinship

long houses

Marriage

either

Naming

given names

To strangers

open

They hold sacred

the forest

They keep

the feast at the clearing; burial in the fire; moving every seven years; the long house kept warm for guests; winter stories

They like

bamboo, living plant, monkey and dawn

They dislike

frost, wind and stone

Founders

4

Counted

4 named folk, a household of 0, 0 born here, 0 died here

Founded

9 November 2026

Their words

hearth lamtee, river or sea kuyo, winter or the rains wunnaãtã, the dead wuikõe, home teõrunpa, stranger yãwe, feast tiirõ, child õreupi, old one põnã, the place Enihau, the beast lãwã, the sky kuwã.

Their lore

• They keep a dry stack of fuel beside the longhouse and share the first meal at the hearth with any traveller who crosses the inner grove.
• Before winter sets in they check the lashings and stones of the storehouse and sing the names of the first four who came.

Named folk

The chronicle

Every line is a record the land wrote; the names in quotes are the owner's words. What the chronicle does not say did not happen.

Year 1

The annals: 2 calving seen; 1 first roof; 1 founders; 1 people founded; 1 tracks; 1 ways changed.

• The rains, as always, the first year of Terra Preta: the first roof went up at Terra Preta: the longhouse. kept
• The rains, as always, the first year of Terra Preta: young wild boar on the spot, a day old.
• The rains, as always, the first year of Terra Preta: the ways of the people changed: name. kept
• The rains, as always, the first year of Broad Bench Hold: wild boar tracks across the low thicket.
• The rains, as always, the first year of Broad Bench Hold: wild boar calving on the spot.
• The rains, as always, the first year of Broad Bench Hold: four came to Broad Bench Hold and lit the hearth. The net-mender "Reipãlo", the fire-keeper "Reyãmleo", the keeper of the store "Yakõoni", the keeper of the shrine "Kiarimu". kept
• The rains, as always, the first year of Broad Bench Hold: Daphne Sterling called a people to Broad Bench Hold: the people of Broad Bench Hold. kept

Here now

the net-mender "Reipãlo" (folk) · the fire-keeper "Reyãmleo" (folk) · the keeper of the store "Yakõoni" (folk) · the keeper of the shrine "Kiarimu" (folk)