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The Iron Bible

The Age of Intertribal Conflict

-Zoidians Spread Across the Central Continent

- Increases in Population and Contact with Other Peoples

    Around 50 or more tribes once lived hunter-gatherer lives on the Central Continent. They gradually formed primitive family groups, and created villages as assemblages.

    They developed living customs to match the characteristics of the regions they inhabited, and started to recognise themselves as tribes. Their population was still low relative to the area of the continent, and conflicts surrounding the ownership of territory did not occur.

    However, the progression of living technology eventually changed the hunting and gathering societies into pastoral and agricultural societies.

    Until then, people had used all of their living time to acquire food, but with the arrival of pastoral and agricultural societies it became possible to stockpile food, and a leisure class unconcerned with the production of food was also created. This led to an explosive increase in population, and produced advanced governed societies.

    Kindred races frequently engaged in trade, and their bartering eventually caused the development of a monetary economy using gold coins. Domestic Zoids as a means of transport themselves became commodities, and were provided at a standardised price across the entire continent.

    By this period, each race was conscious that its living area was entirely its own territory, and came to recognise that these territories were something absolute at the foundation of their lives.

    Representatives of this are the Bird Tribe who lived in mountain regions, the Sea Tribe who lived in the ocean, the Sand Tribe who lived in the desert and the Earth Tribe who lived hidden underground.

    Eventually, distinct economic disparities were born between tribal villages through the circulation of currency. The tribes who had superior pastoral and agricultural technology and could produce a variety of appealing living supplies became economically prominent, absorbing the other small tribes.

    And so it became possible to draw a clear power chart of tribal groups on the Central Continent.

    At this point in time, it was domestic Zoids that supported people's lives. They were classified by their various uses, such as transportation, construction work, contests and defence, and many tribes supervised them through public management.

Representative Tribes and Zoid Riders

- The Wind Tribe and Beast-Type Zoids

The Wind Tribe live on high-elevation plateaus, and are thought to be the descendants of a race that constructed an ancient megalithic civilisation.     They have possessed a high level of living technology since antiquity, excelling in megalith transporting and processing technology, and also developed the geometry necessary for this. Their ancient stone waterways for daily use boast an incline of 1/1000, a precision difficult even with modern civil engineering technology, and their houses built from stone are said to have a thousand years of durability. In addition, they were already using natural energy such as windmills in the early days of civilisation.     They have logical thoughts and have considered it a virtue to protect peace and human rights since ancient times, and their personalities are generally gentle.     As physical characteristics, they have black hair and green eyes. They have had little interaction with other races since before recorded history, prospering as a single race and establishing republicanism.     They have domesticated and used small predatory beast Zoids for hunting since antiquity, and through countless generations of artificial selection, they have succeeded in breeding wolf-type Zoids with high intelligence that can understand and follow complex commands from humans.     They use these wolf-type Zoids for all purposes, including transportation, travel, contests and defence, and overcame the ice ages alongside them.     They are said to cherish these domestic Zoids as if they were their own children.

- The Sea Tribe and Fish-Type Zoid

	The race called the "Sea Tribe" as a whole is in actuality a collection of several races.     Their roots can be broadly divided into a northern Viking-like race and a southern fishing tribe.     However, they have had interactions since before recorded history such as dividing marine resources, and shared socially-advanced rules. They cooperated to oppose foreign enemies that threatened their spheres of life, and fostered a sense of companionship between people who gained food from the sea.     Due to later intermingling (after the dawn of history), it is already difficult to distinguish the two based on physical characteristics; as a race they uniformly have black hair, deep blue eyes, and a slight blue tint to their skin.     They have excelled in shipbuilding technology since time immemorial, creating a world map of Zi sooner than any other tribe, and at the same time they possessed a unique calendar that evenly divided the revolution periods of stars necessary for sea voyages.     As one might expect, it was before recorded history that they began the domestication of ray-type Zoids with the goal of having them tow ships, and this let them engage in commercial voyages against the ocean currents and gain profits.     They also levied a sailing tax when other tribes passed through their territory, and at the same time formed armed groups to guard these ships.     Here too they made frequent use of thoroughly tamed fish-type Zoids, and boasted great mobility on the sea.

- The Bird Tribe and Bird-Type Zoids

	A race whose spheres of life are vast primeval forest regions.     They are a peaceful tribe who use trees and their fruits as living provisions, prize harmony with nature, and worship nature deities said to dwell in trees.     They create dwellings atop huge trees, and honour family systems.     They developed technology related to wood processing, created various living necessities using resin as an adhesive, and engaged in trade with other tribes.     They have domesticated bird-type Zoids living in the primeval forests since ancient times, using them for transportation, construction and combat.     In particular, soldiers who performed aerial battles upon bird-type Zoids were worshipped by the people and given the title of "Warrior", and their lineage was inherited only by blood relatives.     In the oldest surviving "Zoid rearing" literature, there is a description of how Zoid trainers tamed Zoids by sleeping and waking up together with them, and one can feel their enthusiasm to tame Zoids at that time.     As for their physical characteristics, they have black or deep grey eyes and blond hair.     In addition, there are surviving accounts saying that at the time considered to be the beginning of civilisation, the primeval forest regions were assailed by changes in climate, and that every time the temperature dropped they would migrate to a different primeval forest region; this is thought to have been performed with the arrival of each season.

- The Insect Tribe and Beetle-Type Zoids

	A tribe that lives on grasslands, which become vast wetlands regions in the rainy season. Getting a grasp on the terrain was impossible in the wetlands regions, and therefore other tribes did not invade these areas. Aided by the fact that wetlands were thought to be a source of plague in ancient times, the tribe were able to continue protecting their spheres of life.     Pursuing the wetlands regions that appeared and disappeared according to the amount of rainfall, they needed to move their places of residence, and thus they never created a huge city-state. While other tribes created large villages and towns and increased their populations, the Insect Tribe members spent their lives constantly moving in small numbers, and therefore their population is low.     They have a history of domesticating and living together with beetle-type Zoids since ancient times.     The extremely hard beetle shells, which would let no shield through, could also be called a precious asset for the tribe. If they clad their bodies in the shells of dead beetles they could use them as invincible armour, and if they processed them into shields or spears, they formed splendid weapons.     In addition, powerful beetles were used for transporting rocks and trees, the material for creating their dwellings, and flying beetles were used for combat.     In times of war they created excellent arrows, spears and shields, and sold them to make a profit. As physical characteristics, they have brown skin, grey hair and blue-green eyes. They worship a rain deity.

- The Fire Tribe and Bird-Type Zoids

	A tribe whose area of residence is in active volcanic zones. These regions never froze over, even in the ice ages, and the tribe has worshipped a fire deity since ancient times.     They have used geothermal energy since antiquity, and developed unique technology such as creating machine tools using steam power to build houses and roads.     Their unity as a tribe is extremely strong, but they are also warlike and have a powerful distrust of other tribes. This personality is derived from their culture, which honours military power and considers strength a virtue, and their society is centred on a caste system based on martial arts.     They have domesticated ferocious archaeopterygiform Zoids and use them as a means of travel, flying around the volcanic zones.     It was impossible for other races to tame these Zoids, and hit-and-run diving tactics using these Zoids were the tribe's specialty strategy.     These archaeopterygiform-type Zoids were by nature primitive as organisms, so increasing their numbers was difficult, and the methods for rearing them were an extremely high-secrecy art even among the Fire Tribe, known only to "Zoid tamers". In addition, those who rode these archaeopterygiform-type Zoids were considered elites and honoured, even among warriors.     They have constructed a number of towns and usually live separately, but in times of war they unite to fight enemies.     As physical characteristics, they have brown skin, black hair and red eyes.

- The Sand Tribe and Reptile-Type Zoids

	The descendants of a great tribe that once created a megalithic civilisation in a vast desert area, building huge cities of stone. Their former civilisation was extremely advanced, and accompanied by other surrounding tribes, they created a huge city-state and wielded great power for a time, but starting around ZAC 1600 their power rapidly declined, the city-state split up and the monolithic culture was lost.     This is thought to be because the temperature in the desert rose at that time due to a change in the sun's thermal radiation activity, causing a serious shortage of domestic water to continue for many years, and because they absorbed too many other races at the same time.     Afterwards, they continued their lives in small villages dotted around the desert.     They created bases of life at oases, and domesticated reptile-type Zoids to make a living.     They bred several species of reptile-type Zoids for transportation, construction work and combat and lived together with them, but they had little interaction with other tribes and continued to live in seclusion in the desert, so little is known about their actual state.     They worship a sun deity, and for physical characteristics they have white hair and black eyes. Since the collapse of the old city-state, they have become exclusive and are shunned by the surrounding tribes.

- The Earth Tribe and Insect-Type Zoids

	Underneath the central mountain zone of the Central Continent are vast underground caverns carved out by the ice ages. The Earth Tribe has lived in these underground caverns since before recorded history, and developed a unique culture. This was a subterranean world beyond the reach of sunlight, but the air temperature was warm and stable all year round due to terrestrial heat, and the deep caves were natural fortresses that would not allow invasion by foreign enemies.     They lived in the depths of the earth and were self-sufficient, but when they needed grains and such they would proceed to the surface in groups to procure and collect the necessary items. However, before they knew it, villages and towns were created by other tribes on the surface, and farmlands became places owned by these tribes. Even so, the Earth Tribe appeared on the surface and stole food from the farmlands just the same as before.     This earned them animosity from the tribes living on the surface, and the Earth Tribe became infamous as a dreadful combat group whose true nature was unknown.     They bred many insect-type Zoids that lived underground, and used them for transporting materials, constructing houses and the work of digging new tunnels.     Socially, they had strong shades of feudal rule, prized loyalty towards family heads, and had great pride, saying "We are the rulers upon Zi!"     As physical characteristics, their skin and eyes are both red-brown. Their hair is orange. They have a latent yearning for the surface, and even justify attacks by armies on other tribes' territories as a means of survival.

- The God Tribe and Divine Beast-Type Zoids

	Their true origins are not clearly understood. Whether they are an ethnic minority that came across from the Dark Continent before recorded history, or whether the race has its roots in people who came from another planet, their origins remain unknown.     They conducted politics with mystical sorcery using fire and light, cured people's illnesses, and predicted volcanic eruptions and natural disasters, and are said to have had powers such as moving rocks with psychokinesis, summoning spirits, and holding conversations with residents of the world of the dead.     They lived in temples, called themselves descendants of the gods, and raised profits in trade with other tribes by selling a variety of practical medicinal herbs. They also possessed extremely large divine beast-type Zoids as guardian deities, and this became one reason they were feared by other tribes.     These divine beast-type Zoids were an ancient species of dinosaur thought to already be extinct on the surface. It is believed that the God Tribe had known since long ago that these supposedly-extinct Zoids had survived in underground lava reservoirs, and had tamed them.     They rarely show themselves in front of other tribes, always wearing masks and never showing their faces, to emphasise their mystique. As for their physical characteristics, their skin is white, and their hair and eyes are both silver.     This can be considered a mutant form of the humans living on Zi.

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Differences in the Monthly Zoids Graphics

    There were quite a few differences between the Zoids Bible, printed and released through the Zoid Core Box, and the Monthly Zoids Graphics, which included pages from the Bible. We'll go through and list those below. The differences are in a bold, italic font.

- Differences

Original Text:

By this period, each race was conscious that its living area was entirely its own territory

Original Text:

the Sand Tribe who lived in the desert and the Earth Tribe who lived hidden underground.

Original Text:

The Wind Tribe and Beast-Type Zoids

Original Text:

They have excelled in shipbuilding technology since time immemorial, creating a world map of Zi sooner than any other tribe

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