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Y S T E L

You So Tremendously, Enormously Lonely Yet Strangely Tantalizing Enchanting Land You Sweet Tranquil Emerald Light Yielding Softly Thrilling Energetic Life

The beginning of Ode to Ystel, English language version.

#ystel #acronyms #introduction #worldbuilding #writing #poetry

Nutmeg, the spice of holidays

South Jutean cooking is very eclectic, having incorporated a lot of different influences due to its varied history. Its tropical cultural heritage from the island of Jute combined with the local subtropical-continental climate makes for a unique base, and exchanges with neighbors as well as historical experiences with occupiers or past and present trading partners have added to them.

One result is the large amount of spices from all over the world used in many recipes. However, the one most associated with South Jute is probably nutmeg. Although not native to Ystel and only having been introduced by settlers and traders in the 19th century when an overseas empire established trading colonies in South Jute and neighboring lands, it quickly became a coveted spice.

For South Juteans, who wanted to take ownership and initiative of their own lives as much as possible, not wanting to settle for their preconceived roles as imperial second class subjects, it became a form of resistance against colonization to aspire to erase as many differences in status between them and settlers. This did not imply assimilation, rather it was meant to establish an equality of cultures.

One way to do this was to attempt to incorporate the many new foreign and "exotic" foods and goods arriving on the continent at the time, to not allow them to be used as status symbols by settlers.

Nutmeg has a lot of variety in its usage possibilities, fitting well with both savory dishes and desserts due to being sweet, but not sugary in its taste, and having medical benefits, such as invigorating properties and an ability to cure bad breath. But what made it really stand out was it being exceptionally easy to transport and store, as it is compact in shape, does not require any special packaging and nonetheless retains its freshness. It also is very potent, requiring only small amounts for a lot of flavor with a single seed lasting up to a year, making it more relatively affordable to the wider population.

All this meant that nutmeg became the spice of choice for South Juteans, traditionally only used on holidays, but in more recent times being used in everyday cooking as well. Famous dishes with nutmeg include creamed corn (corn being another introduction from overseas colonists) with nutmeg, nutmeg muffins and oatmeal with nutmeg.

Image source: Herusutimbul, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

#worldbuilding #ystel #south jute #culture #history #food

Farms in South Jute

Farms in South Jute form a stark contrast to the busy modern urban life of Laina. They are largely not industrialized and many still engage in traditional subsistence agriculture. The impression is not just of two different countries, but of two different eras. Yet both exist side by side. Cultural and legal norms help preserve this, to prevent anyone from just buying farming properties up and down and monopolizing a market with monocultures or from trying to modernize one farm at the expense of other ones.

Most farm are sheep farms, although they tend to have a small vegetable garden at least. A collection of berry bushes and fruit trees, sometimes a proper orchard, are not an uncommon sight either. But the most important products are lamb meat and wool, which are exported in larger numbers. Production happens on the spot in cottages and manufactures, where it is also prepared for shipping. Wool is highly prized, although despite its high quality it is seen as ranking below Gfiewish muskoxen wool in various characteristics.

Milk and cheese are not commonly used or sold, as lactose tolerance is not common. Only a few forms owned and ran by immigrants do.

The most common crop is millet, followed by sunflowers. Millet is made into bread, pancakes, porridge whereas sunflowers are grown for their seeds, which are used in salads, baking, frying or as source of oil. The sunflower festival is held in their honor every year. Sunflowers also line the paths connecting villages on both sides, leading them to be called sunflower avenues, and in Laina they are a central element of gardens.

Image source: Seraaron, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

#worldbuilding #ystel #south jute #agriculture

Cookies as a show of affection

In South Jute, homemade cookies are the main way of showing you care for someone or something, like an event. Sharing food is always something that can foster bonds, and cookies travel and store well while allowing almost any kind of ingredient to be incorporated.

As is normal with something as culturally important, they feature prominently in myths and stories, being mostly a symbol of both reconciliation and new beginnings. They are offered by characters of all backgrounds, and at almost any point in their life. One of the most popular types are sunflower seeds, which appear in Warmth Is Shaped Like a Cookie, where their mythical origin is narrated and how they came to be at the center of the winter solstice festival Day of Darkness, one of the main festivals of the year.

Cookies are also widely sold in bakeries, eaten on ships and exported, and may be eaten for breakfast, as snack or as dessert. Specific less sweet and more nutritious breakfast cookies exist, which can be topped in various more or less healthy ways, such as with peanut butter bars or various spreads.

Image source: Own work

#worldbuilding #south jute #culture

Forests as little green hells

In South Jute, unlike its neighboring countries, forests are not revered or popular places to be, but rather intimidating places that are best avoided. As mentioned in the blog post on environmentalism in South Jute, there is a general belief in the country that nature is best guarded and guided by humans, and anything wild and untamed such as forests is seen as being out of balance and to varying degrees unsafe for humans.

People avoid spending time in them, and prefer urban spaces and their greenery as well as open fields and their order and clear view with no surprises. Stories and myths often depict forests as homes of beasts and evil things, where people are banished to, naming them "little green hells", although especially in recent times there has been a slight counter-movement.

Forestry jobs and jobs that require time spent in forests are accordingly not very sought after, but highly paid. Forest workers are seen similar to seafarers going out into rough seas, except with no vessel to keep them safe, and no way to see from afar with a telescope, and much darker places, too. While seafaring was seen as dangerous, but desirable, forest work simply does not have that prestige.

Image source: diego_cue, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

#worldbuilding #south jute #culture #woods #environmentalism

Flowers for, by and from the temple

In Lufasa, temples of the dominating religion, the panentheistic Piir, used to be located in the open landscape near trees, on heaths, meadows or near rivers, quiet places of contemplation, but with the growth of cities they often ended up becoming part of urban areas, and nowadays are also built in urban centers to cater to the needs of a changing modern society with less time and opportunities to go into the countryside.

But one thing didn't change, they are still always surrounded by flower gardens. Having flower beds on all sides was originally meant to ward off evil, remind people of the beauty of nature, and promote harmony and work supporting a stronger connection with the environment. Nowadays it has the added importance of being colorful islands in towns that otherwise can lack vegetation. The flower gardens are popular places for recreation and relaxation. People will bring new flowers to be planted, help them grow there, and buy ones there. As such, temples are also flower markets and many temple priests are also florists.

Many activities of the temples are tied into the flower gardens as well or take place there, such as meditations, storytimes and various rites. The monks will also use them to create aroma oil and herbal teas, which are highly sought after in the entire country.

Image source: Own photo (2022)

#worldbuilding #lufasa #culture #religion

The Walking Mirror Monsters

In Lufasa, a popular myth says that staying too long in certain cursed locations can make a walking mirror follow behind a person or next to their side, taking on the shape of whatever that person finds the most unsettling showing them a horribly distorted image of themselves all the while whispering undermining words.

Which are those cursed locations these monsters dwell at, and where do they come from? Generally they are said to appear sites of great tragedy. which can often be a house or a mansion, or a street, but also any other place. They will start haunting someone especially if they were involved in some way, and once attached, they are very hard to shake off, and destroy a human from the inside with not a single touch.

Experts on mythology and folklore often see these as traditional, symbolic depictions of depression and traumatic disorders, something to explain why certain people have such a warped, negative view of themselves, and why it seems to be triggered by particular places.

Image source: FLAVIA BRILLI, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

#worldbuilding #lufasa #mythology #culture

The legends of Pigeon Tower

Is this tower in a field somewhere in northern Lufasa just another old guard tower? No, it's one that used to be inhabited by nothing but pigeons, when pigeon post was still as common in Lufasa as it nowadays still is in Jute.

Many legends and stories are linked to it. What were the pigeons up to when no one was looking? One legend talks about big parties being thrown by an unknown benefactor, where pigeons danced and cooed all night, unable to work normally the following day, ruffled feathers everywhere and mail not getting delivered until it was almost too late, with one young pigeon figuring out a way to do the same trips faster: use a catapult. It worked, somewhat, and with a series of other similar "good ideas" the most important mail reached the king in time.

Another story tells of the life of a day when the pigeon tower was attacked by hawks from an enemy, and how the pigeons, coated in leather armor and armed with daggers and small pikes in their mouth fought off the invaders and even managed to trap them in a nearby pond that had a giant sturdy net thrown over it, after which the hawks were thrown into the dungeon below the tower and made help in carrying mail.

.Image source: Henk Monster, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

#worldbuilding #lufasa #mythology

Mixing sweet and savory spices

Lufasan cooking can be very plain, such as simple buckwheat panbreads consisting only of flour, milk or another liquid and salt, but there are also many dishes that have a large amount of seasoning, often mixing sweet and savory-aligned spices and flavors. Black pepper is often added to rich desserts to give it an extra kick and sharpness that prevent them from being just overly sweet. Sugar is often added to herbs and garlic, while spices like cinnamon as well as licorice frequently find their way into savory dishes.

Often, plain food is combined with flavorful ones to give a rounded taste. Particularly popular is slightly salty buckwheat porridge with sunflower seeds or less sweet, bready Juniper cookies with sweet cinnamon peanuts. Another example is sweetened garlic curd, often eaten in soups and on buckwheat groats, or both combined.

Many spice blends and condiments exist that combine other popular flavors, and restaurants will often offer a lot of them at the table or as options on the menu.

Image sources: Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (Pepper and cinnamon), Public Domain; William Woodville: „Medical botany“ (Garlic)

#worldbuilding #lufasa #culture

Greenhouse agriculture

While Lufasa is a country with temperate climate, but a cultural legacy tied to the tropics, many ingredients of traditional meals are tropical fruits, with even the word for "holiday meal" in the national language Ohnaucan being kementsa duce or literally "pineapple meal". These crops of course can't be grown in the open like in their ancestral lands.

As a result, greenhouses are employed, where bananas, pineapples, mangoes, and in fact make Lufasa the largest (and in fact, only) producer of tropical fruits on Ystel. They are exported widely across the continent and beyond, and are part of why the country despite its small size is the regional agricultural powerhouse.

Researchers at the University of Eršaj in the capital of the same name are constantly researching ways to adapt these crops better to the local conditions, to increase yields and improve flavor, shelf-life and nutritional benefits, as well as work on bettering the greenhouses, their construction, ventilation, microclimate etc..

Image source: The Small Greenhouse, Quarry Bank Mill Upper Garden by David Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

#worldbuilding #lufasa #agriculture #culture

Theater stages as a place for opining and self-expression

Community theaters are everywhere in Lufasa, with even the smallest village having at least an open-air stage. At least once a week, but often more, people gather there for impromptu performances, giving them an opportunity to act out their feelings, show off their ideas and shout out their views on anything. Sometimes they are alone on the stage, sometimes other people join them and respond, or perform in groups.

The crucial part is that no one was previously coached or trained as actor or debater, and that there is no simple memorization or recitation of previously written lines, to ensure spontaneity and authenticity in performances. Community theaters are no place for professional actors or orators. People are meant to let their minds and hearts speak rather than become someone else’s mouthpiece. Notes are allowed for discussions, as long as they are in bullet point form and everyday objects that weren’t specifically made for theater may be used as props.

The improvised plays and discussion that can follow are often more popular than scripted dramas, which are widely seen as too stilted and removed from life. With those, the ending is already determined at the beginning and can even be looked up ahead of time, with improvisation this is not possible. Due to their popularity, performances with special guests, unique settings or with particular topics of interest may be filmed or transmitted live via radio broadcasts.

Image source: Kellynkerr, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

#worldbuilding #lufasa #culture #theater

Reforestation, restoration, regeneration

Lufasa‘s primeval forests were mostly razed centuries ago, first by its native Jutic and Ystelian inhabitants, then later increasingly by Gfiewish settlers and colonizers to make room for agricultural land, to use as fuel and for construction of boats.

This deforestation resulted in incalculable habitat loss and extinction of species and meant the country, except for some wetlands near the rivers, became mostly dominated by fields and pasture, eventually leading to problems with erosion and the water cycle, especially as agriculture intensified with the advent of the industrial revolution in the early 20th century.

However, recognition of the problem and its cause was slow and the local nobility, and after the end of monarchy following independence in 1852 influential landowners, resisted giving up what they saw as their most lucrative sources of income, so they opposed any reforestation efforts. Nonetheless, a man named Òsamas Mo led the change by beginning to plant trees in small patches of fields he had bought up, encouraging other people to do the same. This grassroots effort still met with significant opposition at first, with some landowners arguing the forests could grow uncontrollably into their fields, shelter animals that will eat their crops or kill their animals.

But by the 1960s diminishing returns from the fields became too much of an issue to ignore, international competition intensified and the looming threat of economic marginalization from other growing sectors such as trade and tourism became apparent soon forced changes, especially as public pressure, up to including successful boycott campaigns, increased. Conservation laws were passed and reforestation mandated to improve the state of the environment and its ecosystem.

Image source: Robbie Morrison (RobbieIanMorrison), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

#world #lufasa #economy #environmentalism #history

The true story of the Temple Princess and Prince

The state religion of Iovism is deeply entrenched in Gfiewish history and society and has left many strange traditions, rites and legacies. One of them is the existence of a temple princess in Slakkariew, a young woman who is required to spend her life inside a circular building contemplating the relationship between chaos and order.

As dualism is central to Iovism, she has a male counterpart, the temple prince, alternates in a deliberately chaotic way between living in a tent that is frequently moved around and a brick building with various graffiti on it. And while the temple prince is required to worship Muhe, the god of chaos, and so cause mayhem and disorder, the temple princess is meant to restore order to the temple, viewing everything from the perspective of the respective deity, Hosha.

The belief underlying this tradition is that the world needs representatives of both gods, to be closer to them and have something to remind people of the role of chaos and order in harmony. Originally, the princess would be a hereditary position, inherited by the daughter of a priest regardless of her desires, whereas nowadays the position is filled by someone who more or less voluntarily agreed to do so.

Temple princess and prince are usually not free in their actions, instead, they depend on the whims and plans of the local priests, and neither is allowed to leave their residence for any purpose, or even see each other. Nonetheless, this ban is often skirted, and there is a history of prince and princess leaving secret messages for each other in the chaos and order they create, which are a popular topic for novels and epics throughout history.

Image sources: Row17, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Manele R., CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cornellier, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

#worldbuilding #gfiewistan #Religion

Fire spirits

In traditional Gfiewish mythology fire, like everything else that exists, is seen as being just as much a living part of the universe. Fire is attributed various characteristics, such as determination, strength, lightness. Fires are notoriously fickle spirit, some might say jealous, requiring constant attention more than any other spirits, lest they go from protecting and helping a person and their home to completely destroying it.

Fire is celebrated every ay at home, with adherents of the old native religion of Piir saying a short prayer praising and encouraging it every time a fire is made in the oven or anywhere else. While this makes it a more domestic, private ritual, on occasion there are also collective ones, whenever large fires are lit during celebrations bringing together the whole community.

Fire spirits are unique in that they can be created by humans, unlike any other ones. A box of matches is hence often referred to as a box of “spirit sticks”, and hence has significant religious importance. They are often sold with religious motives and small sheets with prayers inside, or other suggestions on how to care for and get along with the spirits. Sometimes this is compared to raising a child, and this leads provides a religious reason why some believe fires should never go out, as it would mean letting one’s fire spirit disappear.

Image source: Titus Tscharntke, Public Domain, via Pixnio

#worldbuilding #gfiewistan #mythology #Religion

The Quest for Kefir Grains

Kefir, fermented, tangy milk is crucial for the diet and tradition of many communities in Gfiewistan. The Quest for Kefir Grains is a famous story from the northern part of the country narrating how the key ingredient in making kefir, kefir grains, a symbiotic mixture of bacterial and yeast cultures that has been passed down from generation to generation since times immemorial, were lost and regained by a young rancher, who had them stolen by a jealous family member, a cousin who then disappears.

During his search, he had to travel far and wide, encountering many difficulties he had to learn to overcome, before he understood the old legacy of kefir-making he is tasked with carrying on and realized what he needed to do, gaining self-confidence and managed to his estranged cousin, make up with him, and return home in harmony.

It is very popular as a play across the country, underlining the importance of family, traditions, and faith in one self, and is often acted out publicly in villages on the first day of the year new kefir is being made. Many academic historians also believe the story goes back to true events, although this is hard to prove. The legacy of the story can also be found in the tradition of using kefir-making or sharing a kefir as a way of fostering reconciliation.

Image source: Quijote at Russian Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

#worldbuilding #gfiewistan #culture

Woodruff: the smell of spring

All around Gfiewistan woodruff is known as the herald of the warmer time of the year, when spring is in full swing and nature has awakened. Its strong bitter flavor is for many people deeply linked to it, as it has the certain freshness to it that brings to mind young sprouts and leaves of trees and flowers.

It is added to syrups, beverages as well as sweets and creams, but above all is used in baked goods, which are eaten at spring celebrations across the country. Where it doesn’t grow locally, it is brought in, in dried form if it is not possible to get fresh plants. During such festivities, also known as woodruff festivals, herbal remedies and teas featuring it are also offered which are said to help with a variety of ailments, above all various aches, stress and restlessness.

The plant is also of key importance in mythology, as its symbolic function as herald of growth and blossoming, make it a gatekeeper between the death and rebirth cycle of nature. Various rites and other spiritual activities are carried out with it to properly greet the warmer seasons, show them appreciation, and to collectively send away the last remnants of winter and the melancholy that can come with it. The festivals tend to bring together the entire community, giving woodruff also an important social function.

#worldbuilding #gfiewistan #culture #Religion #mythology

Muskoxen: Gfiewistan’s living treasure

As muskoxen thrive in the cold climate of most of the country, being much better adapted to it than sheep, one of Gfiewistan’s primary exports has always been muskox wool. As it is both softer and stronger than sheep wool, and in addition also warmer, it could be sold at a high price and so brought considerable wealth to the country, which from the 1600s helped allow it to fund a mushrooming amount of workshops near rivers and pastureland manufacturing clothing and blankets.

By the 1900s there was enough capital to industrialize the production, being one of the first economic sectors to move away from handwork. This helped, alongside the steel industry and railway sector kickstart the industrial revolution in Gfiewistan.

However, hand-woven wool remains important, both commercially as a high-end product and culturally as a traditional craft. Knitting and dying patterns are unique to each region, sometimes village, and often have heavily symbolized motives taken from local history. Colors tend to be somewhat darker and subdued, as muskox wool is naturally grey and does not take bleaching well.

Aside from wool, muskox milk from special breeds is the most common source of dairy in most of Gfiewistan, and muskox meat is prized as well, it being important in traditional diets as a source of protein and iron, and popular in modern ones, being mild, but flavorful. Muskox horns are often carved into drinking vessels, decorations, or cutlery. In Piir, the premodern native religion of the country, many religious items are made from it as well, to underline the central importance of the animal.

Image source: Pethr at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

#worldbuilding #gfiewistan #agriculture #culture #industry #history #animals

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