Niechela (nai-CHEL-uh)
Niechelat (plural form of Niechella) are a plains-dwelling people now, but their myths say that they came from the waters to the west. They are of one people, though much divided into the many family-based groups that settled and made their many "villages" in the Western Plains, Central Plains, and Eastern Plains surrounding Falls Lake, beyond the Vanå.
Though there are many family-based groups, called syuth and pronounced see-ooth with the emphasis on the second syllable, there is only one ethnicity of the people that call themselves Far Voyagers. They keep it that way, intermarrying and spreading their family lines through each syuth and having as many children as the couple can support. Each syuth has a distinct herd that they follow, hunting the herds and its predators, keeping the numbers of each in balance.
Naming Traditions
Family names
Family names are invented by the family groups peers. Each family or syuth are named by their peers from the earliest trades they make. Family names are evocative and unique and even two syuth of the name are probably not myie (blood-relations), but are considered fatbit (clan or kin).
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Hamusu is a shared spoken language by the Niechela, and developed during the long journey the Niechela undertook to survive the Cataclysm. It is derived from Kvushpi, and is an abbreviated form of that language.
Culture and cultural heritage
The Niechela had no unified culture before they landed on the coastline. Their time aboard the ship created a mish-mash of the cultures of prior civilizations, all wiped away and begun anew since their landing. Eis, their leader by general acclaim, gathered everyone under the banner of her ideals - That a new land needed a new language, and a new society needed formed. That was three hundred years ago. Now the Hasyuthin acts as the governing body, preserving their cultural heritage and history, and everyone speaks Hamusu.
Shared customary codes and values
The Niechela agree on two precepts that are more important than any government, their wepoit (customs). They are as follows:
Wep Jyay Vouzei
The Custom of Homelands
The Niechela call their world Vouzut - The Great Homeland. It is a shared belief among the Niechelaiz K'vut that all the K'vutan groups that were or are owe their existence to the land and are tied to it, with every homeland to be claimed on this spinning Pai as equal parts of a greater whole. The Niechela recognize that each species is attached to their homeland as much as the K'vut once were, and do not infringe on them as the Zut once did to them.
Wep Jyay Gat
The Custom of Property
The Niechela consider property to be all material goods. They divide ga (property) into multiple categories: Biiz Ga, Myie Ga, Syuth Ga, and Chie Ga, reflecting the four tiers of ownership. There is a fifth category that is Klil Ga, or "free material goods," that is not the property of anyone. If a bi (person) has made and keeps any material good, it is biiz ga and belongs to that person. Any item lost or abandoned is not biiz ga (personal property) but chie ga (community property) and can be owned by any Niechela by virtue of repairing any damage to it, becoming biiz ga of that person or myie ga of the myie that repaired it and will be using it. Syuth ga is any property used by multiple myie and kept in good condition by that syuth as an equally shared responsibility. Klil ga is material goods that have never been property of anyone that are left in the wild places, like trees and plants and wild creatures. In the case of klil ga, if you can take it and make it yours then you have free rights to it. Odder still is that the Niechela see the land klil ga provided it is not settled, but syuth ga or chie ga if it is depending on whether it is in use or not.
Common Dress code
Typically Niechelan bra (clothing) consists of a vyoi and mbum - a type of shirt and pants worn over stei dhi. Young girls and elderly women differentiate themselves by wearing a na, which is a type of dress. Styles and colors vary depending on region.
Art & Architecture
Niechelan art is usually themed around their lifestyle, and worked into their walls, pottery or weaving most often.
Niechelan architecture is simple in appearance and materials but complex in its processes. Using reeds and clay, the Niechela have created a style of architecture unique to them. On a base of gathered loose stones built into a dugout in the ground, men set bricks made of dense clay in the shape of an arch arcing over the stones. Situating the keystones of the arc to be the largest rocks available, their weight forces the clay bricks into each other. The builders then build a low fire over the top of the building and while the outer clay hardens and contracts, a hot coal-fire is burned inside. Wherever the smoke gathers is bored out and turned into the chimney as hot coals are pressed into the opening. A metal scraping tool is heated in the fire, and a strange alchemical paste is painted on the walls. The scraping tool is used along the floor and lower walls as the upper clay walls burst into fire. The flakes of clay that burn off during this process are scraped into the floor-stones. The process leave the walls and floor a brilliant white color, and is called Fire-glazing. As this is a process the Niechela use just to build and solidify their inner and outer walls, painting the glazed walls is considered the least one can do. On the largest buildings, columns ending in a grain-like fan shape support the keystones.
Foods & Cuisine
The Niechelan diet is surprisingly varied but consists of meats that vary by region, as well as certain staples. Root vegetables like potatos and carrots, as well as various types of beans and corn, not to mention their fruit trees of apple, cherry, peach, pear and a type of lime not native to the region. The only grain grown is rice, which is cultivated in stepped fields near each home.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
The Migration
Every year the families of the Niechelai migrate to a new home, the annual migration requires that they gather everything they own, all their herds and beasts as well, and travel for a period of no less than the month of Kurei, the first month of the year.
The Nesting
Like the birds at the end of their long exodus from land, Niechelai roost after their migration. Once at the end of their journey, they choose a new home from among those uninhabited and add their skills to the home, repairing, reinforcing, or rebuilding whatever is needed, and adding on whatever they want to the villa. Among the Niechella, a home is not just a house, but has at least two main family homes and a slew of outbuildings, sheds, workshops and barns. Not all will be in use at any given time, but Niechelai gather multiple families together to increase their chances of survival.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
Births are simple affairs and always celebrated by a sacrifice to the Batui in thanks for the safety of child and mother provided both survived. Husbands are taught the arts of herbalism to increase their ability to keep their wife alive through this ordeal.
Coming of Age Rites
The coming of age rites are differentiated by gender. However, Niechelat recognize two distinct phases of childhood. Young children called jayain and nlun, and nearly grown children called jay and nlu, for boys and girls respectively. The separation is the Rite of Hudhei, the Rite of Changing. The Waz Jyay Hudhei - The Rite of Changing of Hudhei is the first ritual a young child goes through. It is always a dangerous journey, and happens near thirteen years of age.
Funerary and Memorial customs
Funerals are simple pit-fires dug in the fields of a compound. The smoke is seen as the soul leaving the body. The ashes are the body becoming one with the land.
Common Taboos
The Taboos of the Niechelat are simple and relate mostly to marriage and violence. Each caveat of the common culture has an adage or bit of wisdom associated with it.
Marriage is between two individuals
Violence is between two people.
Common Myths and Legends
Niechelai storytellers keep alive a mythological cycle about the beginning of the Kvut.
Since their founding on the shores of Nou Brådh the Niechellat have seen the rise and fall of only one heroic figure: Eis the Wise. Several stories about Eis the Wise have been penned and are in common circulation.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Beauty is simple among the Niechela - while skin, hair, and eye colors vary wildly, long hair is prized by both genders based on how hard it is to keep well-maintained. A woman is considered beautiful if she is fit with strong legs and arms, and a trim waist with wide hips. These traits show a possibility of being both a good hunter and a healthy child-bearer. Men are considered beautiful if their hands, arms, and chest are well-muscled and strong, with dextrous fingers, because crafts would be well-made by them. Long legs are prized by both genders, as their people make long seasonal treks between homes. Facial features are largely a personal choice, but all Niechela see a beauty in large eyes, as it implies a good nightvision capacity.
Gender Ideals
A man among the Niechela should be intelligent but not manipulative, educated but not pedagogual, dextrous but steady, quietly tough and skilled in craftswork but never eager to take up arms.
A woman among the Niechela should be brave but not reckless, strong but not hard, ready to fight but never spoiling for one, and skilled in combat but merciful in killing, strong-willed but not headstrong.
Courtship Ideals
Women choose their partners among the Niechela. Specifically, they look for someone who would be good at raising children and maintaining their home. While still a girl, she takes a mount and makes a journey through the many ineit staying with each family that has an eligible son. During her stay, she speaks with the young man and his parents and tries to grasp the boy's character, usually comparing him to her own father. If the father has done his job, she chooses a man who is better than he is at all that a man does. Usually the girl moves on and goes to the next village and circles back or sends word when she has found her partner to let them know not to wait on her.
Courtship is short among the Niechela. The prospective bride is taken among the village's hunters and taken out to test her skills at riding and tracking game. If the girl passes the women's test, she is allowed private time with her prospective partner to see if their hopes and dreams line up. Generally, nothing sensual or sexual happens yet, because if either go back and report that their goals don't match, the girl moves on and visits different villages to find a new prospective partner. Dreams and goals are held in high esteem by the leaders of the villages, and everyone strives to reach them so no compromises are given at this stage.
If the girl and boy are united with common or compatible dreams, the two are bound in partnership. After vyufe (marriage), the two are gifted with their traveling gear. Usually a young man makes this gift himself, prior to meeting any potential spouse, with little to no help in order to display his skills as a potential mate. The two then travel for one full season, outpacing their neighbors until they either find an unused vi (house, in their language) or viein (houses), and in the latter find a young couple like themselves that they build a friendship with. At that point, they form a new syuth (tribe) of their two myiet (families) and adult life begins.
Relationship Ideals
As mentioned before, goals and dreams are highly prized. Typically men dream of being known for their crafts or fishing or knowledge. Women often dream of taking a particularly fearsome beast or known as a breeder of good beasts, and sometimes as a particularly good trader, called an Usha. The herds and crafts are locality-dependant, and so dreams of being known as a fisherman, or nleta, require being near the rivers. If a girl dreams of herding Thierkbabral in the mountains, the two can't be together. In a good relationship, no one sacrifices their dreams. The Niechela live by that adage.
After settling their new-formed myie (family) into a vi (house) and building a syuth (tribe) with another myie, a woman typically spends her early adult years birthing many children and then takes up arms as a Bratha to hunt and fight. Usually by age thirty the women have born their children and taken up the hunt. The men raise the children and maintain the homes, with the bratha taking goods between villages during the grazing months and raising beasts for mounts and burden-beasts year round.
After a decade of hunting beasts, many women and their men take it on themselves to add to the number of viein, or houses that exist on the plains. Traveling the outer edge of the plains, they build a new vi and plant the various crops a new couple might need before moving on each season. The builders of the vi often take the time to name their creations, carving a place-name into the capstone of the forward arch of the entrance. That place-name remains unchanged until the vi breaks down. In this way, older Niechela achieve a form of longevity beyond death.
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