Text about the meaning behind symbolism:
Those are "ctherik", or "familial charms" for lack of better terms, they are long wooden rectangle slabs. Sometimes they're so long they get segmented and tied together with ropes so they flow better in the wind/easier to pass through. They are a thing in southern valley, and may vary in how they're displayed and made depending on the ethnic group. but that's another story.
The first one is the piece his family gave to Tamtam before he immigrated to kaar’kchir. on it, is carved his generation. which includes the litter of his sisters and himself at the bottom. It's an important gift, taken from a long strand it used to be tied to, a token so he always remembers who he is and where he comes from. That he is always welcome back home.
It can also act as a protective symbol to give, as if he dies out there, that his body cant be send back to his family, they cannot do their traditional burial. Thus in mirih culture (southern valley group), this means he cannot rejoin the cycle. the token can act as a guidance for his soul. It is said that if you're far away from home the ctherik, your soul won't wander away and get lost, because the ctherik will make it remember to come back home. You cannot rejoin the cycle, however now you're acting as a protective spirit of the home to watch over your people.
Kapone, (second eldest sister) while giving it as protection out of genuine care, also just hoped that this thing will make tamtam remember the culture he's from because she's aware of how kaar'kchir is notorious for making immigrants "lose their identity" to conform to the place better. Funnily enough, kaar'kchir is a huge mix of various kyhuine cultures, and now more recently some maanul ones too.
The second ctherik (which does not exist in world) is a small ctherik, with only 1 member on it and the bottom having a crack. This one just represents when Tamtam slowly isolated himself from his own family, giving them radio silence for extended periods of time. not answering any letters anymore, not visiting them. In his world there's only him. The crack is for when he cut ties completely. After years of just making the worst decisions over and over.
The crack is about how he can never come back to them. He is not welcome home anymore. (He could be if he worked on himself a lot, but in his brain, it's over)
He feels immense shame whenever he looked at the ctherik he was gifted, so much so he hides it in a container under where he sleeps. It used to be hung in his dorm near the window at all time.
The closest thing to a family he has after is kaahmir's, which he gets invited to spend holidays at. But even then he feels like a disgusting parasite among them, the cultural difference doesn't help in terms of making him feel out of place.
Maanul part and why its half stylized to western knaan'tak art proportions, the individual who was wounded was a western maanul of knaan'tak ethnic group. Tamtam visited these coasts years later. Despite it being under red troupes control he still went. The art found there impacted him.
This is a sort of call back/flashback to him using gunpowder invention for the first time. Tamtam created naahrun prototype (which looked like a bâton à feu back then) and kunsip (gunpowder). The person he shot was from bronze talons (previous name before red troupes). He was a mere front messenger back then for section 4.
Looking back at it he's not proud, even in the moment right after he was in shock. "i just hurt someone with this thing I never used on a living being prior".
there's forever the guilt of it that follows him everywhere. it doesn't help that his inventions was picked up by kaar'kchir, that section 4 weaponry sector lived a huge resurgence because of it, that what he invented led to the death of so many people. Naahrun was made when he was around 16-17 for human age equivalent.
fun fact, maanuls and kyhuines, cry by secreting a bunch of mucus from the tahofah holes and their mouth. tears from eyes are not natural behavior and are associated with certain sicknesses.
They're little toys tamtam had. But they're a little modified to be a couple. He yearns to interact and seek physical comfort, however, he can't because of the mental barriers he made.
A lot of relationships he had in his adult life were bad, and sometimes violent towards him. But the dolls are gentle with each others, contrasting with the violence of the rest of the piece. They're idealized figures of what he wish for, if that sounds clear.
They're also made out of ceramic because all his current relationships are so fragile.
its burned paper for self destructive habits, and the blood of the maanul is smeared on it for how the guilt follows him around.
In temples of kaar'kchir, you can write down things you feel guilty about, stuff that haunts you, and mistakes you've done. They're hung in a special room and burned at the end of the first lunar year during a holiday for symbolism.
While tamtam isn't that religious, he still went there to write a bunch because just writing it down his thoughts would help sometimes. He wrote them in south valley conlang (at least in how it should look like cause I'm not doing conlang ever im scared) so no one can understand reading unless they know. Kaar'kchir uses their own modified calligraphy for info.
Little charms they make in kaar'kchir new years, tamtam and kaah made a few together when he lived at his family's home. The thing with those is while making them, you make a wish for your loved ones ,but you don't say it, if you do it says that your wish will not happen. doing the final ties seals the wish. They're made with the family, while they sit around and chatter about things that happened this first moon lunar year.
no interesting meaning apart from me wanting to mention it
kaar'kchir currency the equivalent of alot of coins for us, they're as long as your thumb for reference. Money is not universal, but kaar'kchir is one of the places that works with this system. The more decorated the more the metal tube cost. fun fact tamtam is broke financially
metal ball where you put tea in it then into the outer, its from kaah's family
He had a pet of it, they're notoriously known to bite and be snappy by waving their tail flags. Which does fit tamtam, as he's snappy because he doesn't know how to express distress apart from pushing people away.
It was a pet as a child, he doesn't have it as an adult because these guys live 3 years.
i want to write more but im shy now, goodbye thank you for reading
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