LGBT+ presentation and rights in Salan

Many categories of sexuality and gender of the English language do not exist in the cultures and languages of Salan. This article may contain some terminology that the people of Salan might not identify with.

The Farens

Sexuality

Most Farens participate in same-sex relationships at some point in their life. Same-sex relationships are promoted for young people as a good way to explore their sexuality, without unwanted preagnancy. However, adults are expected to find an opposite sex partner to start a family with.

Terminology

Farens don't have an explicit word for homosexual. The most common terms used are renfaidin 'androphile, loving men' (heterosexual woman or homosexual man) and maifaidin 'gynephile, loving women' (homosexual woman or heterosexual man). People who still only have homosexual relationships as adults are thought to be a bit like the children, and thus are also called çarinád 'young-spirit, homosexual, childish'.

Gender and sex

The Faren gender roles are quite loose, and gender non-conforming people can usually freely participate in the society. However, trans people often have difficulties being accepted as their true gender, rather than just gender non-conforming individuals of their assigned gender. The Farens don't officially recognise non-binary genders, but some individuals have been known to have identified themselves as neither male nor female.

Visibly intersex people are thought to be disabled, and like other disabled people, they are often thought to be cursed and face discrimination and prejudice. There have been movements trying to stop violence against the disabled, especially abandonment of babies.

The Zeribians

Family ideals

Main article: Zeribian family and kinship
The Zeribian culture is collectivist and emphatises the needs of the family and community over that of the individual. Having a large and succefull family is one of the most important life goals. However, the elité families are usually formed around arranged marriages, that are percieved as necessary responsibilities and business deals, not love. Many popular teachings also promote ascetism that has lead to sex negative attitudes.
The Zeribians have a strictly patrilinear family structure, in which only the firstborn son is necessarily expected to marry and have kids. Many of the other boys will be send away to serve the family in other ways. This often gives them the change to live among the Farens for whom same-sex relationships are quite common, and further away from their families' control. This has lead to a notable subculture of same-sex attracted and otherwise atypically behaving Zeribians in the Faren settlements.

Terminology

Third-gender individuals are called šyrzir (Zeribian 3rd gender), split person (half male, half female). All unusual forms of sexuality are referd to as arigken sag 'unusual, abnormal sleeping'.
Homosexuality is also refered to as redar sag, 'Faren sleeping', because Zeribians think homosexuality is so typical of the Farens.

Gender

The gender roles in the Zeribian culture are strict and dictate much to the individual’s rights and life choises. The men are the leaders of the family and community, and active participants in politics and trade. The women often have less say about their life, and usually end up married and working from home whether they want or not.
Additionally Zeribians recognise a third gender role, called šyrzir This category includes many kinds of people that are unable to fill the traditional male or female role. People who have ambiguous sex characteristics at birth are assigned as šyrzir. People who do not identify with their gender assigned at birth are encouraged to take up the role as children or adulescents. One of the partners in a homosexual relationship is also encouraged to take up the role.
Becoming a šyrzir allowes one to marry a person of any gender, however, it is commonly believed that a family head must be a man, which is why male-šyrzir marriages are more common that female-šyrzir, especially among the elité. Zeribians also practice polygamy, but it’s only common for the rich.
The šyrzir have a respected status in the most communities. Because they are not responsible for raising a family, they often dedicate their life to of study or pefection of their trade, and can become leaders or sages of their community. However, they are not able to choose some professions that are reserved for only male or women.

The Ara people

Gender roles
The Ara culture is based on the ideal where every individual has their predetermined destiny, and one can only find happiness by following that path. The gender roles are quite rigid and spread through the whole society.
They do however recognise, that there are some people, who were born with a fate different from what would have been thought from the gender they seemed to have born in. The Ara think that these individuals should follow their true faith, even if the path is hard. These people are usually accepted as their true gender, and can fully live in the gender including marrying, and taking care of the children. Despite this, finding a suitable mate could be hard.

Sexual life
The Ara youth is allowed to have a period of free sexual life before reaching the marrying age to become more experienced. After this, they are usually married to a spouse chosen by the family. For the people with exclusive same-sex attraction the most viable option is to adopt the opposite sex gender role, which would allow them to marry their preferred gender. Otherwise living with a same-sex partner is thought to be unnatural, and damaging to the ultimate happiness of the person.
Keeping lovers in addition to marriage is quite common in the higher class. The lovers are usually of lower class, and can be same gender if so desired.

The Caač people

The small Caač communities are usually organised around the whole tribe more than the family unit. The Caač practice outmarrying, which means that the girls should find a mate from another tribe than her father's. Other than that, the choise of a good partner is usually left on the partners to decide. Those who do not end up finding a partner, can stay unmarried. It's also common for the people to have multiple partners during their lifetime. Forming strong same-sex bonds is also encouraged. No terminology for committed same-sex sexual relationships seems to exist, or at least is currently undocumented.

The natives of the Eastern Islands

The Natives of the Eastern Islands refers to all the people of the Eastern Islands who are not Zeribians. They are very much not one people, and are very different from each other, and thus only broad tendences can be observed here. Most tribes have far more relaxed attitude towards sex and premarital sex between all genders is quite common. Most of them recognise the šyrzir gender identity like the Zeribians, but for some it can be determined to be a recent influence of the dominant Zeribian culture. Some of the natives also have a distinct warrior class that might be considered a gender category in the sense of how labor is organised between the members of the community. They men usually fish, women gather in the woods, and the warriors of hunt and fight. Capable individuals of all genders can become warriors.

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by Gardiner, E. Norman

Enjoying the view of sparsely-cled
atheletes is a popular pastime

Sexuality

The attitudes towards same-gender attraction and relationships differ a lot based on the community and social class. The elité are expected to follow the social rules more strictly, and thus receive harsher penalties for breaking them, while the low classes are not believed to be able to live up to the same standard.
In the inner islands the consequences homosexuals vary from quiet acceptance, treating it like any extramaritial sex, to less commonly even illegality leading to fines, physical punishments or a forced transition to šyrzir gender. Where Zeribians are living in a close contact with the Farens, they have been influenced by the Faren acceptance of homosexual relationships between youngsters. On the other hand this has lead to more acceptance of homosexuality, making the traditional šyrzir role less popular. But on the other hand the conservativists have seen this as a corruptive outside influence, and are advocating for even harsher prohibition of these “foreign practices”.