So Charlie’s been begging me to make a post on Oteqashi religion, and since I recently (as in last night recently) made myself something from my conculture’s religious practices, I might as well just start explaining things.
háli antojame… ke fa śanifetesi śiváten, nomantsi ímaf. kitali amuni na śanifetesi ímaf. maánlu qienlalu ímaf.
fa minjesi ujo kitali lohín, fa tarevi ujo kitali lohín. jiolatvi ujo kitasu amuni ímaf, kavimalu ujo marienli amuni fa ometet.
Conculture Question: How does clothing (material, style, etc.) relate to social standing or class?
Anonymousawww yeah it’s not even wednesday! Anyways, let me answer this question for you:
The high religious council has banned most forms of adornment unless they are specifically approved. Approval for a specific unapproved item can be done on a case-by-case basis with the representative in your town, or on a larger scale through the government itself. (This is really just a law that bans most of the religious and ethnic clothing of marginalized communities. It’s pretty messed up.) If you are seen on the street wearing something that isn’t approved- and items that are questionable but approved will be marked with a seal if they are something that is particularly noticeable -you will be arrested.
Still, there are some class markers in their clothing. If you are of lower class it is more likely that your clothing will be made from rougher materials and will obviously have a lower thread count than the clothing made for people in power.
Most clothing is made using the wool of an animal called an anaśen, which is similar to an alpaca, except they are very fat animals and really aren’t all that much like alpacas but I can’t think of a good comparison. But imagine a fat alpaca for the sake of this ask. The wool of the anaśen is taken and then spun very very fine, most of the time as thin as sewing thread unless it is to be used for knitted garments, and woven into very undyed sheets of fabric.
Those who can afford something exquisite sometimes have precious metals woven into the fabric, but that is very very expensive! In order to afford one copy of the outfit that something like a high priest would wear it would cost three year’s salary of the average worker. Most of the wealthy don’t even bother with getting something so extravagant because it is just really ridiculously expensive, but instead rely on getting look-alike garments made with dyed thread woven in to emulate the effect of the color changes in more expensive outfits.
The main color of the fabric is the undyed color of the wool. It’s considered improper to dye most of the material for a garment, as it hides the natural look of the material. Minority ethnic groups usually have less of a problem with dyeing fabrics, but it makes them stick out in urban areas and they are more likely to be apprehended by the authorities, so they will usually dye undergarments rather than stick out if it is of importance that they have a color.
Overcoats and cloaks (as well as pants) are generally made from darker wool, while other garments are made from lighter wools.
Relating back to my wedding ask where I mentioned the colored cloths that are used to decorate town halls: they are not made of wool usually, unless it’s in a poorer community. A material much like silk is readily available in the warmer parts of Kelota where the spiders that produce it live. They’re actually a bit of a pest in the area where they live and there are a ton of them producing their spider silk which is harvested to make cloth. It’s not usually woven as fine as the nicer of the wool garments are, but it makes for a very nice light cloth. It’s considered too nice for to be used in clothing material, although it is definitely a possibility that someone with lots of money at their disposal has used some silk for their own purposes. Each family has a cloth in their traditional color, and they don’t typically get replaced all that often.
Style is where it gets more complicated. There is little difference in clothing between lower and higher classes past the quality material that it is made out of.
The acceptable form of dress as dictated by the church consists of a basic long sleeveless tunic or dress (depends on where you draw the line between each I guess?) called an iśaop. It’s traditionally made from one piece of cloth that has either had a hole cut in it for the neck opening or is wrapped around the wearer. More modern versions are made from two pieces of cloth sewn together, but they haven’t caught on yet. They are mostly shapeless garments that are given shape by wrapping one or more sihap (which translates to scarf, although they are shaped more like shawls or belts [although a belt technically is called a lestanke] depending on where you go) around the waist. Optionally, one can wear pants or hose or leggings underneath their iśaop, and that is called an opaji.
On top of all of this one might wear a cloak, called an osakel. They are made from heavier and coarser wools than other garments and typically include a hood. There is one seam left mostly open which can be clasped closed with a or shifted around to a different side. The hood is more of a cowl scarf attached to the cloak that can be pulled up over the head, so it is easy to move things around according to how it’s most comfortable.
I don’t have the energy tonight to continue or draw you a picture but there there is some writing and stuff take it damn i’ll continue this later
aw man hearing about worldbuilding is sUPER EXCITING how about: can you talk about a major festival or personal ceremony (coming-of-age or marriage or w/e) in one of your concultures? uwu
Well, I talked a lot about coming-of-age ceremonies here, but marriage yes i shall talk about marriage
First: marriage in the Oteqaši society has always been entirely a private affair. The government does not keep track of marriages past who lives with whom, and since Oteqaši don’t typically live together unless they are married or are taking care of a child, that’s typically the closest that one gets to having a record of marriages. That being said, the celebration is typically a small affair for the couple but a big celebration for the community itself.
Days before the actual couple’s ceremony is to take place, the town starts preparing for the festivities. A feast is made, usually consisting of meat pies and stews in the cold season and roasted vegetables and a variety of cheeses and yogurts in the warm season, and all of the food is gathered into the town center, which is a huge gathering hall that is attached to the town’s temple. Lanterns are hung all around the room and fabrics are draped across the ceiling in the colors of the couple (most family lines have a color association which is used to choose the color that they will use in their ceremonies throughout life - sucks if you hate your color). While that is going on, the family of the couple prepare each participant for the days ahead.
It is traditional for the couple to go off into an unknown part of the area, usually out into the wilderness, but in the cities it is typical for the couple to just be dumped on the other side of town for a few days. They are painted from head to toe in intricate design intended to make it easier for the two to “merge” into one larger being. In actuality, the “merging” is really just a part of a later ritual in which the couple paints the other with their color, mixing the two together.
Most of the actual wedding ceremony is the couple sitting together in private while the rest of the community parties it up back home. There is a script that the couple has to follow where they have to argue about basic principles of life and truth (neither of which point of view is actually the one that is religiously considered “correct”, which is the point) until they both come to the conclusion that they were both wrong and that they should agree on the perspective in the middle (which, of course, is the perspective considered religiously “correct”), at which point they return to their community and interrupt the festivities to announce the “truth”. The painting merging happens before they come back to meet with everyone.
The final step to becoming fully married is for both parties to bathe in the sacred bath in the temple and clean themselves of their paint. Then they are given a small tree by the local religious temple person (gender neutral word?????), which is a cutting of the tree that is said to be the place where all life began on the earth, and they plant it together in the surrounding area of the temple.
Every time they come back to the temple they must visit the tree to make sure it is still growing well. It is said that if one’s tree grows well and they take care of it then they both are destined to stay together in the next life.
What's the most interesting feature about one of your conlang's dialects??
wowowowow dialects (◡‿◡✿)
well there is an interesting thing that happens in the formal/religious register where it switches from a mainly SOV word order with secondary OSV to mainly OSV with secondary SOV. it also requires the use of noun suffixes on pronouns and other words that would usually not require a noun suffix and . in the formal register it is also considered improper or rude to use the unmarked present indicative form, so wherever it would be used one has to mark for either a specific mood, tense, aspect, or a combination of the three instead of being able to use the base form of the verb. (There’s more but you only asked for one and I already gave you more oops.)
like in standard Anikele, an example of a simple prayer would be this:
(Fa) Ujo entaluśa śik emine ujo emine ojín —- Evalvi amuni qaše vá. Eše fa kithequ, (fa) kipalen, (fa) vesaśu avín.
Of life-abstract-innumerable-HON in everything of everything question —- Self-animate-SG mine guard allow[lower status -> higher status]. To 1SG IMP-preserve, 1SG IMP-assist, 1SG strong-ADJ make.
But in formal or religious speech it would translate as follows:
Uejo entaluśa śik eminelu uejo eminelu uejo osfavi antoojín —- Evali amunivi qośa qaše váśa. Eše osfavi qośa kithequ vá, qośa osfavi kipalen vá, qośa osfavi vesaśu kiavín vá.
Of life-abstract-innumerable-HON in everything-abstract-innumerable of everything-abstract-innumerable PROG-question —- Self-animate-SG mine-animate-singular 2SG-HON guard allow[lower status -> higher status]. To one-1SG-animate-singular 2SG-HON IMP-preserve allow[lower status -> higher status], one-1SG-animate-singular 2SG-HON IMP-assist allow[lower status -> higher status], one-1SG-animate-singular 2SG-HON strong-ADJ IMP-make allow[lower status -> higher status].
Formal/religious speech is stupidly redundant. Like seriously.
I just wanted to save the hypothetical person I made as example for the conlang name game so I’m saving it on my blog.
