holidays!!! or religious days. specifically for Amusie/Aúzdì.
for a reminder, Amusie is the god in the Lannak religion responsible, in believers' eyes, for the Sekratua. they are associated with morality and justice and the truth! (also as a reminder: I use Amusie because I, obviously, don't believe in the religion. Aúzdì would be used for actual believers!)
while Lannak believers do praise Amusie throughout the year, there are two days a year in which the focus is solely on what they represent.
The Summer Solstice
the truth is often regarded as illuminating. on the longest day of the year, believers often pay homage to that idea by celebrating the truth! often celebrated by promising their words to Amusie rather than Ensinlai (the god of communication)--basically swearing to tell the truth and only the truth, lol.
2. The Winter Solstice
wouldn't Nemcufia, the god of disorder, be more fitting for the darkest day of the year? that would make sense, but instead, they gave it to Amusie. why? well, Amusie is associated with both the truth and Sekratua. Sekratua have powers related to secrets. isn't that simply the obfuscation of truth? on this day, believers typically reflect and give a secret of theirs to Amusie, so they can at least admit the truth to the god of it. it's usually a more solemn celebration than the Summer Solstice celebration, lol.
while this was a celebration begun by Lannacia/Lannak believers, it's celebrated even by non-believers! mostly by Sekratua, but nearly everyone acknowledges the day in some respect :)
there are 10 months, each with 40 days. at the equator, the middle of those months, without much variation, is the full moon. each day is the same length as our days (though each day starts at equatorial sunrise, which only shifts 30 minutes throughout the year). there are 400 days in a year.
the months go by their Common names, even in Eviclon-speaking communities. Cúniz, Sidulú, Cthìa, Cúfúare, Súnique, Sex, Culebin, Calúìt, Cneif, Sidìln. (yes, Sex is the actual name of the month; it was entirely unintentional but is rather funny. the names are the Common numbers 1-10 with the sound /s/ at the front. so. sorta unavoidable if I wanted to keep them consistent. Eviclon-speakers get a laugh out of it, too!) in Revnenge-speaking places, the /s/ sound and C/S at the front is replaced by /r/ and the letter R.
the names of the week are Eviclon translations of an out-dated version of Common (C'm'n). this is in honor of the creator of this calendar, King Calith, who spoke C'm'n. I personally find the Revnenge and Common versions more fun, but, alas, we speak (something akin to) Eviclon. the days of the week are: Sedday, Sowday, Wateday, Groday, Blooday, Plantday, Pollinday, Pikday, Wilday, and Spreaday.
non-work days are typically Groday, Blooday, Plantday, and Wilday.
on the equator, the day starts at sunrise (the time of the sunrise doesn't change much, there; at most its a thirty-minute difference). however, most of the world uses this calendar--do the days for folks in the lower hemisphere start at different times throughout the year?? nope. around the time of this calendar's creation, mechanical technologies were being developed, so when the calendar expanded southwards, those in the south simply used their clocks to keep in-time with the equator.
we can get to day-by-day clock stuff later, bc that's a lot. I pretty much just wanted to share the names of the months :) hope this was interesting!! <3
all the academic parts that are required of the Field students are things all students should learn according to the Standard Education Association. Zlanzgard, alongside the Boulevardians, many Sekratuan nation-states in Lower Saizena, Dole-Krinee, and a few Sekratuan nation-states on the east coast of Upper Saizena, is a part of this association! as the name of the association implies, they come up with the academic/intellectual standard each kid should be at in each level of development.
(also, just for ease of understanding, Guardians are the adults responsible for raising the kids. there are Carehouse Guardians, whose jobs are to be parents and be the center of the kids' home life; and there are Academics Guardians, whose jobs are to teach. the majority of Morphila never meet their birth parents; their parents are their Guardians.)
Home school
for ages 1-4! it's toddler care, lol. they learn how to pay attention when someone is speaking/giving instructions, basic social etiquette, and start learning how to read and count. mostly a lot of playtime and learning appropriate speech, though.
2. Primary school
for ages 5-8! Basic schooling—learn your letters, numbers, colors, ect, when they’re younger, get into reading and basic (basic) mathematics. when they're older, get into complex readings, interpretation, and more complicated mathematics (fractions and long division and whatnot).
for Intelligence and Medical students, their academic coursework is more rigorous. it's basically like taking Advanced Placement or Honors classes.
3. Secondary school
for ages 9-12! In terms of generic learning, the kids would read more advanced books, dive into history, learn math things that would be useful for the future. they learn the most crucial academic things for everyday living.
once again, Intelligence and Medical students experience a more rigorous academic schedule than those in Field. they're also learning the crucial academic things for everyday living, but also the crucial academic things for their possible future job. think pre-calculus, anatomy and physiology courses, more conceptual science classes, deeper literary analysis, etc etc.
here is where they learn everything they need to know about living in society. there are more classes specifically on social etiquette/how to behave appropriately in the army. (reminder: army =/= military!) they learn how to apply for transfers on their own (without help from their Guardians), they learn Base manners, they learn about other cultures in-depth, many learn the basics of another language, they learn about how to apply for various extraneous contracts, etc etc. (what they DON'T learn is how to retire. or how to survive as a retiree. I'll get into the retirement culture in Zlanzgard eventually :D )
secondary school is also when PT is required and basic military customs (addressing superiors by “sir” or their rank, saluting superiors, etc) are introduced. there are new rules in chores and in cleanliness standards for bedrooms and whatnot, and Guardians are expected to be much more strict with the kids.
most kids also find extracurriculars during this time. it’s mostly like martial arts things or high-contact sports or music/dance clubs, but the nerds might pull together something like a chess club or book club. basically this period is “encourage the kids to get as busy as possible, and get used to it”.
4. Graduation school
for ages 13-16!
all of the academic things learned here are busy work. at this point, they should be able to do what they would need to get by in society--at least academically. they don’t really go beyond basic geometry and algebra in math, learn essential sciences (like baby physics, baby chem), learn literary literacy/media literacy, be able to make simple speeches or essays, and understand history (context, actions, consequences, etc etc). they repeat things they did the year before, they’re graded harshly, and they always have at least 3 assignments. just keep 'em busy af.
some do learn more complex things! even in the Field Branch. but that's mostly for those in Espionage. some teachers chose to teach their kids more theoretical math or literary analysis with less obvious practical application--but that's just another “what’s the point? follow my instructions, that’s the point” thing. grad school really is just to beat into these kids a deference for authority, get them to understand their rung on the latter.
once again, the Ints and Med students get no break. this is the calculus and statistics, advanced and practical science, labs and seminars and whatnot. basically college for these guys, for whatever their probably career will be.
they begin basic firearms training, learn more military history, customs, structure, and laws, and (for more future-officers-oriented schools) leadership skills. they’re driven through rough physical conditioning, through combat training, obstacle courses, and endurance tests. this is even for Ints and Med students, and students that plan to go on to work on-base. this training is for everyone.
Carehouse life is basically bootcamp. rooms are changed into barracks, inspections are done with a militaristic precision and specificness, the kids get “leaves” or “passes” that they lose if they mess up, the Guardians pretty much act like drill instructors, most of the time. some Guardians who stick through a group until they graduate, rather than sticking with one age group, are a bit kinder in this stage, but there is a certain expectation of Guardians to be firm.
all kids have to be enrolled in some extracurricular, too. if they can’t decide (which isn't something that happens frequently), martial arts is the go-to.
5. Bootcamp
idk if this technically counts as school, since they are officially in the army, but from 17-18yrs they aren't sent out into their actual jobs. for Field conscripts, it's usually some hands-on training/apprenticeship. for Ints, it's internships and apprenticeships. for Med students, there's something similar to residency/post-graduate training. Med students usually don't leave their "bootcamp" until the end of their first contract!
extra stuff under the cut :)
here, I'd like to point out that although the kids are automatically sent to one school or another in infancy, they always have the option to switch schools. there are tours of other schools, career fairs, shadowing opportunities--even as early as primary school. also, Guardians are constantly assessing their kids to move them to a place that would benefit/interest them more.
also, even once they've graduated (and finished their first work contract) they can go back to school, if they do the proper paperwork for it. if a Field enlistee decides they want to go into the Medical Branch, they can apply to transfer. these sorts of transfers are pretty much always accepted, since morphs are going to be the most productive and willing to do work that they want to do; keeping one in a job that they went through the effort of applying to get out of would be counter-productive.
however, if one decides to transfer to the Intelligence Branch or Medical Branch, it's required that they back to school for--at minimum--two years (could be longer; there are placement tests they have to take before officially transferring), and then do whatever bootcamp is typical for someone in that field. so it's a lot more work, in either case of transferring while still in school or after their conscription, but it is possible and encouraged! :)
overall, this is a education system that tries its best to prepare the kids for 1) functioning appropriately in society and 2) working well even under extreme stress. the requirements are pretty clear--as are the goals of the Guardians' actions. the kids can get annoyed or tired of it, and that is the point. idk. the kids would hate it, but I don't think many look back and believed they learned something for nothing (aHEM American high-school system...).
anyway, I think this is cool, and I hope you do too! see ya!
heyo, let's talk religion! specifically non-Human religion because Human religion is boring.
I call this religion Lannak! buuut it's mostly believed by those that speak Revnenge, where it's called "RBLNAIND". (in Common, just to go all 'round, it's called "Le Linainde".)
so the development of this religion begins when the transformations begin. immediate tensions arose between the humans and the then unnamed other species'. the other humanoids, learning their own bodies and experiencing such aggression and rejection from the humans, weren't hesitant to move away.
in doing so, at least one group of non-humans noticed some things: for all the different types of non-human humanoids, there were similar mutations in nature--mutations that had existed long before they'd arrived. they were merely conforming to the world around them, blending into the nature that already existed.
eventually this group decides that there must be some entities/all-powerful deities aligned with each of the different kinds of mutation, and those entities did not like the Humans because they were not part of the "design" of the established world. they claimed that these deities forced the mutations on them so they would be right in the world, instead of some sore thumb in a world that otherwise makes sense.
eventually the conclusion is this: Humans are pests--bringing themselves and unwelcome advancement into the world without its creators' consensus. they must be gotten rid of to satisfy the entities' expectations for their world.
I like to define religion/spiritual worldviews with a few things, so let's cross those things off one-by-one!
Origin: how did the world begin/come to be?
all life originates from the actions of a collection of eight deities
the rest of the universe is an unknown quantity, but likely controlled/initiated by some entity even bigger than the entities of life, since the universe existed long before life did
Morality: where does morality come from? what makes something moral vs. immoral?
the heart! emotions! which, really, is different to everyone.
however, they don't think the Turakurtz were given the power of magical empathy for no reason; morality comes from learning how others feel about what is being done to them. it doesnt matter if it's fine with YOU, it matters if it's fine for the person NEXT to you. and if there are mixed feelings about it, the moral thing to do is go for the more conservative option!
while they (nor I) believe in Christianity, there is a good passage in the Bible that addresses this idea, which may make it easier to comprehend: "If what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall" (1 Cor 8:13, NIV). don't do anything around another if it makes them do something bad, too. (there's a bunch of extra stuff to that, but that's the gist of it, lol.) take that idea but apply it to morality: don't engage in anything around someone else that they are uncomfortable with.
there are... plenty of pitfalls in this line of thinking (i.e. confronting/challenging societal norms are really difficult), but they don't really have another way of defining morality, so... it works! and that's how they do it :)
Meaning: what is the purpose of life?
while they do believe that intelligent life wasn't supposed to exist on this planet (besides a few animals formed by the god Laraine--we'll get into specific deities later), they can't deny that they still have their intelligence and therefore are intended to be intelligent by the gods of the land
but all the animals before them weren't intelligent--their only job was to live and change and evolve. therefore, that's the intelligent humanoids job, too!
HOWEVER, the deities exploded the strange spaceships!! clearly, they don't want such advanced technology without the creatures of the world developing them themselves.
so why don't they just make the technology?--they know how it was made; the techbology already exists. so... here's the plan: the Humans need to go, alongside all of their technology. it's cheating, knowing how its made based off the outworlders' pre-existing technology. so, in order to advance themselves, the humanoids need to destroy all the technology of the Humans and forget all about it (presumably over the course of a few years).
and, as explained above, the Humans are seen as a parasite to the world. unnatural, needed to be gotten rid of. so, another task of the humanoids' is to aid their deities in ridding the world of the Humans!
TL;DR: 1) get rid of all Humans, 2) get rid of all Human technology/tech based on Human technological principles from the past, 3) live and evolve naturally! (the last of these, ultimately, is the most important)
End: what happens when we die?
this gets more into the gods part of this religion, lol. but prettyyyy much: when you die, your physical body contributes to the continuation of the natural world, but your essence/intelligence will go to the same "place" a specific god resides.
there, the progression of the world can be observed as if they are gods themselves; they see the future, the truths and the secrets and the emotions of every creature on Lvari. they don't have the power of any of the gods, besides the roles the gods themselves give them (if they were good and righteous in their lifetime).
so, everyone goes to the same place, as ethereal entities, but based on their lifetime they get a different role in the afterlife.
time doesn't exist, so it can pass as quickly or as slowly as an individual witnesses.
also! these intelligent soul-entities don't last forever! (if you've watched Coco or read the Warrior Cats series, you'll see where I'm going with this, lol.) once the dead person is forgotten entirely by every living thing on Lvari, they fade from existence entirely. they only count as intelligent beings, something worthy of being in the afterlife, when they're remembered and had an impact (no matter how big) on the other intelligent creatures around them.
I'm sure there are PLENTY more things I could talk about with Lannak, not the least including the different gods, but I'll leave it here for now! I started this post wanting to talk about a historical event and ended up starting with religion; ah how I love to yap 😅
anyway, I hope this was interesting! next time I talk about Lannak it'll probably be about the different deities they acknowledge and praise.
okay, so in the post about Human masks, I talked about affiliations and how all the different humanoid species were the result of those "affiliation" transformations. or... I at least alluded to it. I'm here to expand on that!
these different types/affiliations of things existed even before the Humans got on the planet. in actual, modern Earth taxonomy, the different affiliations would likely be treated as a group in between domain and kingdom. (this is after they're amazed at the sheer amount of extra-ordinary convergent evolution, I would think.) this is because while there are the simple domains like Eukaryota, there can be (and usually are) multiple groups of the same kingdom. for instance, there are the Sinulú Animalia (all the Animalia with traits like Itsus), Sinulú Plantae (all the Plantae with traits like Itsus), and Sinulú Fungi (all the Fungi with traits like Itsus). this layer in taxonomy would be called, rather simply, Affiliam.
anyway! since technically Humans did just show up on their own as a random species, it would be odd to refer to humanoids as a "species"--especially since, for example, Humans can't interbreed with Sekratua. interbreeding is a pretty integral part of the definition of "species" (as I know of it), so humanoids can't be that. but they, similar to homosapiens on Earth, can get up to the "family" classification before diverging spectacularly. humanoids would go into the same genus (aka "homo"), but instead of the same species (aka "sapiens"), they would go into the different affiliations. that's why I refer to humanoids in terms of species! anything else will be referred to by just their name, since Affiliam is so far up the taxonomic chain :)
uhmm I began this for a purpose. there was some goal, but I've rambled science (and probably incorrect science; don't get angry at me, career taxonomists 😰😰) and consequently forgotten. wonderful. EITHER WAY: I hope this was interesting!
I'm writing a lot right now so I'm finding a bunch of concepts that I know I'll have to explain and this is the perfect place to get it all out, so... Here we have systems of measurement!!
The first will be RNAUL'CTUM (or, as called by the Humans that use this system, the nallam system). This doesn't require much explanation: it's (pretty much) just the metric system. (There are a few differences, but they're not extreme enough to go into detail unless specifically requested, lol.)
The second is more interesting, though! It's called Lvari Scientific Units or Llúnìtés Sizìence Luvarì (depending on the language the person using it speaks; the first being Eviclon and the second being Common), and this system is based on measurable, specific quantities of the world. Once again I hate long-long posts so the full explanation is under the cut. Here's the low-down, though:
For time there is "second"
For length there is "mackseen"
For weight there is "jipyne"
For volume there is "chibo"
They still use seconds, though they go by les kúsindc by Common-speakers, but all of the others (length, volume, weight) are something else entirely.
Length first! (Since in-world is was and is the easiest to determine.) While as of now I have yet to speak on Transportau, an important aspect of their character are these things called "floaters". Imagine the particles after an enderman from Minecraft teleports; they're pretty much that. A consistent quality in all floaters is, as discovered, their size. Same width, same length. Upon discovering this fact, the brains behind the shift to the LSU system decided to base their unit of measurement of the lil guys, and tracked down some willing Transportau to measure their lengths. They called this unit "MAZIKA" (its name in the Evnenge language, which is now a mostly dead language). In Revnenge, it would be called "RMAZIKA"; in Common, it came to be called "le marulìn"; in Eviclon, it came to be called "mackseen". One mackseen is equal to approximately 8cm.
Let's do weight next. Weight was trickier, since they unfortunately couldn't weigh a floater, and otherwise there wasn't anything that was noticeably one weight. So they did the next best thing: rocks. They're dense and typically solid, likely to last a while as long as they're protected from external damages, and with, the tools readily available to the people that invented the LSU system, easily replicable. So they found a stone, cut it so that it was a square with one mackseen on each side, made a balanced scale, and declared the unit of weight to be a "JIFLY". In Revnenge, it would be called "RJIFLY"; in Common, it came to be called "le jufoly"; in Eviclon, it came to be called "jipyne". One jipyne is equal to approximately 0.9kg.
And then volume. For this, they once again used the cube they had cut for weight. They did classic chemistry class stuff--put the rock in a graduated vessel of some kind, plopped their rock in, and measured how many inches it moved the water. And this they would call a "TVYUVA". In Revnenge, it would be called "RTVYUVA"; in Common, it came to be called "le chevua"; in Eviclon, it came to be called "chibo". One chibo is equal to approximately 1.12L.
ALSO: both of these systems still use the metric system prefixes (aka "kilo" and "milli" and all them). However the words aren't the same, so here's what they are (format = "metric system prefix: Rev suffix / Com prefix / Eviclon prefix"):
