Ave, Sandum Citizens!
The ancient Egyptians divided their calendar into three seasons, which roughly correspond to the cycles of the farming year on the Nile: Akhet – when the fields flood and are fallow, Peret – when the crops are sown and grow, and Akhet – when the crops mature and are harvested. Shomu, the season which – according to the Egyptian calendar – just ended on V Septembro (5 September), corresponds to our Summer period. The importance of the Egyptian calendar is dated and distant from us, but in a post-Neolithic world in which survival was still a constant threat and farming was the most efficient means by which communities could survive, the timing of the Egyptian calendar to the flooding of the Nile, the growing, and the harvesting of crops is an intriguing invention which is synonymous with Sandum progress.
As a nation-state committed to ‘restart’ the Neolithic, when inequality began to appear, the State of Sandus looks to the past especially, in order to learn more and to exact educated decisions in our policies. As a nation-state which is ‘beginning again’, culture has become one of the most important monuments of the State of Sandus and it has also been the most available. As farming took thousands of years to become the Neolithic Revolution, so too will it take Sandus much time to adopt the skills and knowledge necessary to make successful and meaningful harvests for the Tellus Agrarian Cooperative. In fact, this summer has been eclipsed by Tellus’s news — which is fitting, as this Summer has been as slow as crops growing. Apart from watching and tending to the growing crops, which eventually failed, the State of Sandus has also worked to improve the Sandum culture.
In this past Summer, we have both advanced Sandum culture and advanced the Sandum ethic of agrarian livelihood. We deem it that a part of such an agrarian livelihood is a life lived upon the Middle Path — a path between extremes — and lived humbly. How befitting, then, that some of our monumental cultural achievements in the past Summer have been rather humble. The festivals of Lucaria, Neptunalia, and Furrinalia have been celebrated as a trinity of holidays linked to the sacred gift-giving earth from where the riches come, thereby linking them to the Tellus Agrarian Cooperative. As these Summer holidays have been incorporated into the Sandum culture and due to their link with Tellus, it goes without saying that Sandus has certainly stressed and flexed her agrarian ‘muscle’.
Sandus has also worked to consider the cultural impacts on the relation between Sandus and her Socilivo states. As Kumano has, over the Summer, expressed its intentions to join into an association with Sandus, the Office of the Sôgmô has been observing what this has meant in similar sorts of relationships in antiquity, from Mesopotamia to Athens and Rome. The effects on this can be especially observed in Athens, though the state of Sandus’s relationship with her Socilivançae (Socilivo states) will be radically different. Should Sandus go through with the Socilivo statehood of Kumano, which is expected to be ratified by the end of the month, Sandus will also adopt a holiday dedicated to the building up of relationship with her Socilivo states.
In addition, the Sandum culture has included important mourning definitions of the treisimero, which is the nine (3³) days dedicated to mourning.
As Sandus begins to re-enter the Winter period, a time of cultural construction, it is vital for us to observe what we have accomplished in the Summer, as a period of much activity. We look forward, as we always do, to the turning of the seasons and for the coming Armilustrium.
As a note, we would also like to remind Sandum citizens to fulfil their charity taxes by XXII F Septembro MMXIII.
— Sôgmô Sörgel
sandus.org 
Interesting article. However, there is something that I feel isn’t entirely true. Inequality did not start to exist during the Neolithic Revolution. It is something that has existed in mankind since the beginning of time. During the time when humans were hunters and gatherers, there was a lot of competition over food, decorations and housing.
In fact, if you look at the remains of settlements and human remains they’ve found anywhere between East Africa and East China, early human societies were actually much more inclined to use violence in order to take food and status symbols from others than we are today. Even in isolated tribes today, they say up to a quarter of the men die at the hands of other men in conflicts over food, status and women.
And going by burials, people were divided into different categories based on what they did in life. Some were buried with artifacts, others were not. Some were cremated, others were buried in a fetal position, and yet others were buried face-down or face-up.
The notion of the ‘noble savage’ which seems to underpin part of this article is one that I feel is somewhat false.
The concept of a ‘noble savage’ is not within this article, as the article focuses on the Neolithic — not the Paleolithic in which the concept hails from. Furthermore, whilst there is evidence of minor specialisation in the duties of the Paleolithic peoples, it would be inaccurate and unjustifiable to say that inequality predates the Neolithic. There has been no evidence to suggest such, as those buried are buried with the tools of their life but show no indication of being any more or loss impoverished than anyone else in their clan. The majority of historians believe, based upon sound archaeological evidence, that inequality (in which we discern specifically economic inequality) arose during the period of the Neolithic. Indeed, this is the most common approach taught in history classes, and it is the information which I have learned in not just one history course, but two.
For this, most historians rely on the example established by Çatalhüyük, in which the homes of some (which are a Neolithic invention) were adorned more elaborately than others. This, along with evidence showing the relationship between Çatalhüyük and Mesopotamia, displays a growing inequality amongst Neolithic societies and becomes more apparent as Neolithic societies turn into Near Eastern ancient civilisations.