Ancient Shi'Ji Civilization

The Shi'Ji civilization is a civilization of peoples native to the [INSERT CONTINENT]. Earliest records of its existence date to the year 2105 BCE where the Shi'Ji established the city of Shi'Ksut. Shi'Jian population expanded over the next three hundred years, expanding outward, creating tribal villages, spread throughout the [INSERT REGION].

Leadership
The Shi'Jian are ruled by a tribal society in which a chief rules over the other people. The chief inherits his position through birth from a previous chief or through marriage with a current chief's daughter or other method. Chiefs rule over all, leading the warriors and armies and leading the people. Other high ranking officials include the shaman, who is a religious leader. Shamans are high priests within the Shi'Jian civilization and communicate with the spirit world. He may work closely with the chieftan and provide spiritual advise to decisions. A third member of leadership is the head elite warrior, a highly skilled general and leader of the warriors and army.

Military
The current Shi'Jian military is made up of trained warriors who have great skill in archery. Warriors are trained since adolescence to fight with various weapons and some hand to hand combat. The warrior classes use archery, spears, daggers, throwing daggers, flaming torches and staffs.

Culture
Shi'Ji believe in spiritism, shamanism and ancestor worship, believing in the spirit world and afterlife. Shi'Ji follow different rituals for different ceremonial situations especially during birth and death. After the death of a person, the body is burned in a cremation ritual designed to first release the soul and burn away the physical body to allow for the soul to rise into the sky and join the spirit world with the Spirit People.

Shi'Ji have deep beliefs in astrology, tracking the stars, sun and moons and use these beliefs to create accurate calenders to track time. Shi'Jian calenders are quite accurate throughout the year and predict seasonal pattterns, stars and constellations and when they appear and moon patterns. Shi'Jian architecture goes along with astrological beliefs, requiring the positioning of temples, holy sites, burial and crematory grounds and other places to be alligned with stars and constellations.

The Shi'Ji train adolescent youth the ways of the warrior and of the four War Spirits. All males must go through warrior training to become recognized as grown men in the end of their training. The ending ceremony for completed warriors involves the blessing of the four war spirits and the branding of their symbols into the skin of the back of each warrior. Following warrior training, they are released to go along in life with skills to help the society in daily work, whether it be building, hunting, farming, teaching or other jobs.

Religion
Shi'Ji religion is a mix of shamanism, spiritism and veneration of the dead. Shi'Jian people believe in the Great Spirit, an energy that controls life, death, light and darkness. The Great Spirit rules over the spirit world. There are many lower spirits that control other things such as elements and emotionals. Elemental spirits control the earth, water, wind and fire while lower spirits control love, anger, fear and individual weather patterns including lightning, cold, heat, winter, summer, spring and fall. Shi'Jian also worship the Spirit People, ancient holy deceased ancestors of the Shi'Ji who watch over the living tribes during the night. Stars are believed to be the Spirit People that come out at night to watch over and protect the Shi'Ji while they sleep.

The Shi'Ji also believe in the Star People, long ancient inhabitants of the planet who evolved into a greater form and left the physical world to live in the stars with the Spirit People. Star People return to planet to aid in watching over the Shi'Ji. The Star People will come back to evolve the Shi'Ji so they can leave the planet and join the Spirit People in the end of the physical world in the undetermined future. Star People visit the planet in great moving lights, some are unexplained orbs and strobes while others are used to describe meteor showers and comets. Star People every hundred years take a chosen Shi'Ji with them into the stars and darkness of the sky at night and bring them back to the Spirit People. Some Shi'Ji who return from the stars bring back visions and prophecies learned from the Star People and Spirit People to tell the Shi'Ji.

Language
(UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

The Shi'Ji speak Shi'Sit, literally meaning "star speak". The name Shi'Ji means "star people" hence their religious beliefs regarding the spirit world, astronomy and the stars.