#bvanu

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The Bvanu People

The Bvanu Gnomecir, commonly called Bvaneim or the Bvanu People, are a diasporic, often nomadic, people who defy easy categorization. They have been alternatively described as a race, an ethnicity, a religion, a society, a school of thought, and/or a neurotype. Bvaneim may embrace or reject any of these labels to varying degrees, but generally agree that the Bvanu People defies reductive categorization into any one of them, opting instead to describe themselves simply as a people.

Literally translated, their name means “children of the knowledge-seekers” and refers to their heritage as descendants of those who fled the destruction of the Gnomec College. The question of “Who Is/Isn’t Bvanu?” is contested within the Bvanu community but generally includes any descendants (adopted or blood-related), any converts to the Bvanu religion, or anyone who can access Bvanu memories through the craft of mnemonec dreaming.

The ethnogenesis of the Bvanu people can be traced back at least to the society of the Gnomec College, though a proto-Bvanu people existed in the region for centuries prior. However, due to the practice of outgathering outlined in the Gnomec Charter and their displacement following the destruction of the College, they can be found across the world with diverse cultural and religious traditions.

Bvanu are more likely to identify as queer than the general population, though whether this is due to an actual higher incidence of queer people or a culture that is just more open & accepting of queer identity is up for debate. There are three widely recognized sexes with corresponding gender roles in Bvanu culture—male, female, and liminal—though transgender & non-trinary identities are generally accepted as well.

The Bvanu neurotype is a neurodivergent spectrum that overlaps (but doesn’t correspond one-to-one) with ADHD & autism. Due to differences in how they process information, Bvaneim commonly experience texture, photo, and frequency sensitivities that can be unpleasant, if not debilitating. A notable example of this is a sensitivity to the hum that emanates from certain energized metals like honeygold; this can make it easier to hear said hum, but can also be overwhelming if exposed to energized metal for too long or in high enough quantities. Differences in neurological makeup are understood to be a part of what enables Bvaneim to practice mnemonec dreaming.

The Bvanu religion is a gnomec-mnemonec tradition, emphasizing knowledge and memory. Bvanu gnomecism revolves primarily around their holy text, the Bvanu Librarium, and study at Bvanu Academia, while their mnemonec practice involves the keeping of commemorative holy days, the wearing of symbolic traditional clothing, and mnemonec dreaming.

They use a lunar-solar calendar with holy days that mark phases of the moon, seasonal/solar events, and historical events they consider significant. The most important Bvanu holy day coincides with an astrological event called the Indigo Moon and memorializes the destruction of the Gnomec College.

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Liminal Sex & Gender

Bvaneim widely recognize a third sex known as liminal sex, with associated gender roles. Though non-Bvanu cultures often consider liminal people intersex, Bvanu culture does not, as the Bvanu concept of endosex is trinary, including male, female, and liminal. The physiology described by this third sex is not exclusive to the Bvanu People (though it may or may not be more common; whether this is the case is highly speculative & hotly debated), it is just not as widely recognized outside Bvanu culture, and when it is, terminology besides liminal may be used.

Liminal individuals are much rarer than male or female ones, and occupy an honored status in Bvanu religious practice due to being seen as possessing a unique spiritual perspective outside binary male/female experiences. According to Bvanu tradition, the first human was created liminal before being split into male and female, and was made in the image of the Bvanu deity, who is often understood to be liminal in nature.

Liminal gender roles include the expectation of “relational balance” & spiritual leadership at the academy.

Sexual liminality may take the form of duality, absence, or fluidity: dual liminals have both male and female sexual organs, and are capable of impregnating & being impregnated, while absent liminals are unable to procreate, and fluid liminals can biologically shift between male, female, or dual/absent over time.

Transphobia within Bvanu communities is uncommon, especially against MTF/FTM trans identities. Where transphobia does appear, it usually centers around gender roles relating to liminal sex, either pressuring LTF/LTM (liminal-to-female/liminal-to-male) trans people who were ALAB (assigned liminal at birth) into liminal gender roles or refusing to allow liminal trans people who were AMAB/AFAB fulfill liminal roles. This discrimination is not condoned by Bvanu teachings, but is an emergent product of intersecting biases, and those doing it may not realize they are doing anything discriminatory. Nevertheless, it happens enough to be a problem.

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The Gnomec College

The Gnomec College was a gnomec institution founded by the society that would become the Bvanu people with the ambitious goal of gathering and storing copies of all existent human knowledge in the world, and sharing that knowledge freely. Its creation and destruction were foundational events for the Bvanu, and its Charter is the basis of the central document of their holy text.

The collegiate charter outlined the goals and parameters by which the institution was to procure, store, and share knowledge.

Through a policy known as outgathering, the College sent gnomecir out to all corners of the world on diplomatic missions to learn all they could from any cultures they encountered about any disciplines their hosts were willing to teach them. This included knowledge about all subjects: science, religion, philosophy, history, mathematics, literature, social sciences, magic, agriculture, architecture, and the arts. These gnomecir then returned to the College with what they had learned to compile this knowledge and put it into practice in a process called ingathering. Collegiate gnomecir also performed research on the College’s campus.

With this knowledge, collegiate gnomecir also developed new disciplines of study, including new technologies and even forms of magic, such as mnemonec dreaming.

The Library of the Gnomec College, commonly referred to as the Gnomec Library, was the largest library in recorded history before it was destroyed, dwarfing the size of even the Rosian Imperial Palace. The campus as a whole was large enough to be its own city.

The Gnomec College was destroyed and more than a million members of its society were massacred by the Beindheit, an anti-gnomec extremist group that came to power in the region. This happened during a rare Indigo Moon, and those who escaped the slaughter did so by following the moon’s strange light to safety, leading to the Indigo Moon becoming a symbol of hope and protection for the Bvanu people. The night the Gnomec College was destroyed is remembered by them every Indigo Moon.

Someday, it is hoped, the Bvanu may be able to return and reestablish a new Gnomec College and fulfill their Charter.

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The Bvanu Librarium

The Bvaneim have never had a single official canon as such, but with the destruction of the Gnomec Library and dispersal of the society that would become the Bvanu people, a limited number of core essential volumes that survived were compiled and all-but-standardized (with some notable variations between traditions) into a bulky collection of book commonly referred to as The Bvanu Librarium, or just The Librarium.

At its core is the Istal, a lengthy text containing the foundational charter of the Gnomec College, a historical record of its founding, and its amendments. There is little disagreement or variation in the text of the Istal across Bvanu traditions.

Built around this core text is a series of volumes collectively known as the Paretek Koleka (or the Collegiate Minutes), consisting of educational texts and transcriptions of key lectures, debates, and commentary that were taught at the Gnomec College. Subjects range from physical and mystical to literary and social crafts, and there are notable variations between traditions on what texts are accepted, which subjects are emphasized or deemphasized, and book order.

Not included in the tome of the Librarium itself, but often implied in any reference to its study, is the metatextual collection known as the Perpetual Minutes: the sum total of a boundless number of texts, and oral & mnemonec traditions which expand, comment on, and exist in conversation with the Istal and Paretek Koleka. The body of the Perpetual Minutes is generally understood to be a continually growing and evolving collection so large that even attempting to catalog it is foolish and impossible; some traditions even go so far as to contend literally all of existence is part of the Perpetual Minutes. Intra- and inter-traditional differences vary far more with this body of work than with the Paretek Koleka. There are, however, a number of familiar and well-known texts and memories whose inclusion most Bvanu can agree on as relevant to gnomec study.

It is the right and duty of all practicing Bvaneim be well-versed in the Librarium, and even contribute to the Perpetual Minutes when they have reached a certain level of mastery. Independent study of the Librarium is highly encouraged, but practice and collective study at Bvanu academies are equally essential parts of the Bvanu gnomec tradition.