Skjeimitekann (formerly Kye'itsjuyunn)
Nation: Skjeimitekann Capital: So'onnmikxel Other major cities include: Trautjene'i Kxa'olennatsu Xka'ilemitxautsei Trukjumitrenne Map color: Blue Language(s): Tekann flag: Language thread: Tekann Ruler: His Holiness, Xopenn Population: ~5.5 Million Demographics: 15% Tekann, 25% Tekann mix, 60% Other Languages: Tekann, Mo'opundi, Kokosi, Finotok, (other misc languages of only local use) Capital: So'onnmikxel Currency: the Skokle Natural Resources: Marble, Sandstone, Granite, Salt, Rice, Corn, Flax, Cotton, Fish, Lumber, Iron, Copper, Tin, Zinc, Gold Manufactured Goods: Textiles, Structural and Decorative Stone, Seafood, Refined Metals Government Type: Federal Ecclesiocratic Timarchy Government Stability: Fairly Stable Primary Religion: Hu'ukjuyunn (A Polytheistic Religion Headed by the Gods of Rain, War, and Night) Climate: Marine Tropical to Tropical Arable Land: 39% Terrain: Varies from Coastal, through low-rising hills, to Mountainous Government: The Government of Skjeimitekann is controlled by an ecclesio-militaristic complex. Politics: While the nation is subdivided into semi-independent states, the government owns all the land, which is redistributed in an equal-field system. Each State has control over the creation and enforcement of local policy, where it doesn't conflict with the policies of the church. The central government is is run by a counsel of High Priests and the High Elder Priest, with interpretation and execution of decrees being ratified by a lower counsel. The lower counsel elects the High counsel from its numbers and the High Counsel elects the High Elder Priest (who retains power for the term of his life). Membership in the lower counsel is granted as an honor based on merit in benefiting national economy, military service, and political ability. Military: Skjeimitekann maintains only a small permanent military, composed completely of clerics of the church. The majority of military power is supplied through conscription during times of war. States are not allowed to maintain militias not directly under the influence of the church. All citizens, beginning at a certain age, must spend a portion of the year in military service to train as a soldier. Economy: The economic system of Skjeimitekann resembles the Seigneurial system of New France. All land is owned by the central State Church, which assigns a minister to each region. The minister is responsible for organizing and constructing roads, public buildings, and in times of crisis, commands the militia. Each person is alloted a certain amount of land to farm or develop for production. Taxes are paid to the minister, which are sent on to the central church to be used for funding National projects. Locally, a market economy drives production of goods and services, while nationally, a state socialist style economy redistributes wealth and goods and supports the administration. The Equal-Field system of land distribution is used to balance the draw of cities with an equal draw away. Metropolitan citizens forfeit the use of their alloted land ("donating" it back to the church) in exchange for the opportunity to accumulate greater wealth. They are still taxed for this land, at equal or higher rates than rural citizens, creating a push away from city areas. The Church's central bank adjusts the rates to ensure a zero-sum migration to and from metropolitan areas. Religion: Akjunn is a conglomeration of many different religions that were absorbed into the religion of the ruling tribe. Most of these religions started out as nature religions, very personal with little or no ecclesiastical structure. As the Tekann expanded their power and conquered their neighbors, Akjunn grew and added their gods to the pantheon, either wholly, or as an aspect of another god. This resulted in a hodge-podge collection of shared offices, mangled mythologies, and mutated ceremonies and celebrations. This growth also fostered other changes in Akjunn, such as the shift from a nature religion to that of a tribal style religion and the formation of a hierarchical clerical structure. The centralization of spiritual power removed direct contact with the sacred from the individual and put it into the hands of an intermediate. The growing collection of gods also fell into a power structure ruled over by a triad of gods. These three gods were not left untouched by the evolution of the religion and one, Ximaunn, isn't even originally part of the Tekann tribe's pantheon. Txautsei, the god of rain, ascended after a period of drought that threatened all the peoples of the valley region with famine. With much prayer, the rains came and returned the valley's wealth and other agricultural gods and goddesses were quickly subsumed and their offices dedicated to Txautsei. Also dedicated to his power were the southern winds that bring rain and the southern land-locked sea, from which he sends the rains and good fortune. Marotxi began as a good humored god who granted luck during the hunt. It was only later on that his patronage shifted from hunters to soldiers and his humor replaced by a zealous attention to duty. Until fairly recently, Marotxi led the triad, until less than supernatural forces reorganized the faith to consolidate military power completely into the church. His temples are still the most numerous and largest in the capital city of Skjeimitekann, in which he is said to reside. Ximaunn entered Akjunn when the Tekann conquered the near eastern mountainous tribes. A feared goddess whose serene benevolence is tempered with madness. Her domains include magic, healing, dreams, death, love, the rites of sacrifice, and the northern sea. Time: The Tekann divide time as a series of simultaneous cycles. The day is broken down into 7 long hours (about 4 earth hours each). Each hour is 340 minutes and each minute 85 seconds. In general use, minutes and seconds are never marked or announced, and hours are rung out on bells. The year is broken down into three separate cycles. The common year has seven 51-day months The natural year has three 199-day months and the religious year has eleven 32-33 day months (technically each month is 32.4545454545 days, though this is usually rounded up or down unless precision is required). Mythology of the Tekann: In the beginning, there was only Ximaunn, sleeping under her great black blanket. When she awoke, she lifted the blanket to reveal the earth and shook the dust from it, creating the stars and the heavens. From its great folds, the gods fell to the earth, as did the trees, the animals, and the seas and the fish within them. Over the lands the gods walked, and through the seas, they swam, taking in the marvelous world revealed to them by Ximaunn. The last creature to be shaken from Ximaunn's sleep was humankind. His name was Rajo and he was the favorite of Ximaunn. Three of the gods immediately took interest in this creature. The first to find him was Aset, who grabbed him up and held him to her breast. Her touch hurt him though, as her touch pained everything, and he struggled free of her grasp and and ran into the forests and hid in a cave. The next god to find him was Utxina, who spoke to him and soothed his fears until he came out of the cave and out of the forest. Rajo was happy with Utxina until Aset found him once more. Aset came in the form of a bee and stung Utxina's tongue and chased Rajo until he lost her under the sea. 'Atjel was the third god to see and fall in love with the mortal, Rajo. 'Atjel found him under the sea and Rajo was happy with 'Atjel and they lived in the tides until Aset found him a third time. She came in the form of a ray and stung 'Atjel in the heart, poisoning his love, and chased Rajo. He flew to the clouds, but Aset found him and this time and took him. To keep him from leaving again, she crushed his body and sealed it in river clay and hung it in the heavens. Utxina ran to Ximaunn and woke her. He told her of Aset's actions, but the sting in his tongue poisoned his words, and she disbelieved him. 'Atjel ran to Ximaunn, and she saw that the sting in his heart and was saddened, and made him sleep. Ximaunn awoke and was outraged by Aset's actions and driven mad by the death of her son, Rajo, and the injuries of Utxina and 'Atjel. She commanded all of creature to bring back her child. All of the fish and the seas, the animals and the trees, the earth and the stars, had seen Aset do this and tried to take back the mortal Rajo's body. The earth and the seas reached upward, but could not reach. The stars and the heavens circled and grabbed at it, but it was too slippery. To this day, creation strains to capture Rajo. Utxina brings people together and soothes them with his words, but humans lie and hurt each other with these words. Even asleep, 'Atjel gives love to mankind, but it is a love poisoned by worry and indecision and heartache and regret. Aset is still jealous of mankind, and chases them, hurting them every time she catches them.

For my convenience (rather than opening Calc everytime) I'm posting a list of major and minor gods I will be using: m Rajo m Txautsei rain S. winds S. sea luck agriculture m Marotxi war f Ximaunn magic healing dreams death love sacrifice N. sea m Atjel, the lost god choices love regret m Porajann beauty m Tsejann happiness f Ta'aja mothers m Li'onn fathers fire m Utxina business persuasion slaves f Katori mists prophecy m Majo alcohol pleasure f Patu'e forests time m Tutxan hearth household f Ota'a hunting summer f Rani justice m Nalur lakes streams f Jotxe moon rat f Aset pain misery m Tejinn dawn youth m Rana discord winter m Tjaketero earth service f Kalor earthquakes mountains stoneworkers m Pi'at fields farmers f Mika flowers sky m Kerat fishermen f Natotja barracuda nightmares m Tjeleku beasts of burden loyalty m Motas childbirth compassion f Pajok compass directions f Karem perfection metal m Tenoli possum death sleep f Ajiketo rainbow m Txejar ravens salvage m Nosonn spring breath of life m Kjiri storms misfortune m Panots sun forge f Matel temples scholars writing f Sanim thunder lightning m Xetemi trade travellers f Matinn trees fertility m Sotim trickster music dance f So'unn wind That's quite a pantheon you've got there... Been thinking 'bout this long? ;) I was reading an article on polytheistic conreligions and it kinda inspired me. Thats why this list is only a quick resource for me. I'm planning on writing up mythologies to connect and personify these names into believable gods. Also thinking about opening it up for public writing, since Hu'ukjuyunn is supposed to be a slightly jumbled together results of many religions meeting and being absorbed into one another. (which also explains some of the odder gods). Wow. Just wow. That is going to be a lot of effort!

Tekann Architecture
Ok, I've decided to start drawing up the slack and chose Tekann Architectural style to work on. First on the list is the simple rural family home (rural in that wood is the choice building material in the countryside, whereas stone is more available and safer in the cities, where it predominates). Please note, not all dimensions are to scale in the diagrams and forgive my horrible CAD work in Paint. :) 1) The first step in house building is to clear out the future footprint of the house and lay out the building grid. Since this is a small home, it has only been cleared for 1296 sq ft (each square is 9 sq ft). 1 2) Tekann architecture relies on post-and-beam forms (at least for this type of structure). So the next step is to plant the support posts for the house. Central the the house is the main posts, which will bear the majority of the roof's weight. Two full sized tree trunk are stripped and cleaned and cut, one to a slightly shorter length which will give the roof an angled pitch later. The two main posts are not buried, but rather set upon foundation stones. Surrounding these posts are a series of smaller post which will be set into the ground slightly. 2 3) Next the beams are jointed to the posts (Tekann architecture uses wood jointing and fitted stone rather than using nails, screws, or pins). The main beam rests on the main posts and two (or more) lateral beams are affixed to the smaller posts. Floor construction also begins at this stage. The floors of the buildings are raised off the ground and rest on the posts. This is to keep a good circulation around the house (preventing rot). Part of the floor is sunken back down (usually centrally located in the building), though not quite to the ground. This provides a built in sitting area and work area. 3 4) The roof joists go in, marking out the shape the house will have. The roof actually has a varying pitch, being steeper toward the front of the building and flater toward the rear. Also, interior walls are built, usually having only rudimentary connections to the house's frame via the lateral beams and along the floor. These panels are made from flat boards laid parallel and woven across with small-diameter rope. The rope joins the boards and adds sound-proofing qualities. This type of wall will allow for simple adjustments or removal later should the building be expanded upon or its use change from a residence to a work building. 4 5) The roof is completed by connecting fabric saturated with tree resin to the joists. Thatching is usually placed atop this, applied while the resin is sticky and soft so it will stay in place. (detail not shown). 5 6) Upon completeing the roof, the exterior walls are fastened in a similar fashion as the interior walls, to the lateral beams and floor. Additionally, the binding rope is soaked in resin to increase the weather proofing (this has to be redone occasionally, as the resin becomes brittle over time). During summer months when the weather is more humid, some of the exterior walls are removed to allow better circulation and penetration of the longer summer daylight to the interior. 6 7) The final touches are added as the front exterior wall is put in place and the cast-iron cooking pit is set into the front deck area. Not shown, but in need of mention are door-way closures. Interior doors usually consist of only a few layer of heavy fabric or matting stitched togeter and hung above the door opening. Exterior doors ar similar to the walls, but are made of two small layers of matting with fabric sandwiched between and all parts stitched together and saturated with resin. 7 Again, this example was only of a small dwelling, as most houses are built much larger to accomodate between 10 to 25 people. Coming soon, I'll present a city dwelling, public buildings/areas, and maybe a monumental structure or two. Still trying to figure scale.

Wow, cool. Go attention to detail!

Bonus points if you can guess the two cultures I semi-accidentally swiped design styles from...

Nope, sorry.

Japanese? and...IDK...

I knew you'd get the Japanese. The other half (which I didn't realize until after I'd drawn it) was NorthWest Native American. (Sunken central floor).

It's apparently an Egyptian tomb commonality as well.

*The topographical maps of Kjann-ti-'akoyonn have been temporarily set aside to continue work on architectural styles.* Previously, I described a style of architecture commonly found in the rural areas of Skjeimitekann. I've settled on describing this style as the Southern Style, though by no means did this style of building originate in, nor is it more predominately used in, the Southern regions of the country. Rather, like many names people give to their creations, it came about through a long chain of misnamings and attempts to clarify. The style presented now is the Northern Style, and is more often found in the denser towns and cities, especially the large metropolitan areas. Shown above is the oldest and simplest form of Northern Style architecture. After marking out the dimensions of the house, the central pit(a) is opened up and a large central post(b) is planted in the center. The pit is then partially backfilled and tamped to harden it. Four brackets(c) are attached to the post about 1/3 the way down, fixing to the post using snug carpentry jointing. Stay cabling(e) is set in grooves at the top of the post. These cables are attached to beams(d) (sitting in another set of brackets, not shown) toward the outer end, while the center end of the beam is seated on the brackets at the center post. In primitive buildings, the stay cable consists of thick natural-fiber rope. As time and technology progress, metal link chain and finally steel cable will replace rope, allowing much larger structures. The four beams are stablized using crossbeams (and gussets not shown) (h). Roofing(f) is laid out over the top, resting on the center post and beams/crossbeams. Walls(g) are built around the area under the roof. Walls are not load-bearing and may either be built on the ground using heavier materials or may be suspended from the roof using light materials. The next stage in the evolution to larger and larger dwellings seperates the central post into four with slight inward leans(b). At the top, the posts are connected by a strenthened wooden square to increase rigidity(c). Each post supports only one stay cable and beam, though the beams are still connected by crossbeams. The roofing is again laid over the post and beams, but in this case, a smaller raised section of roof exists near the center(h)(i). This is to aid in venting and allow more light into the central area of the structure, while still averting rainwater from the interior. Multistoried structures become more common as urban areas increase in population and family size. Until other building materials are discovered, these wooden structures are limited in height and width to the length of continuous wood. Later, stone columns replace the central wood post and allow taller (but not wider) structures. And eventually, steel cabling, columns, and posts will allow very tall cable-stayed structures. In this house, the lower walls(m) have been constructed of stone and mortar, though they are decorative and carry none of the building's load. Upper stories are stepped in to allow walls(l) to rest on the lower floor's beam and may be stepped in enough to allow balconies and other outdoor areas.

You've obviously studied and/or have an intense interest in architecture...it' seems the only step left for you would be to build a replica.. 8)

Don't tempt me. popsicle sticks aren't that expensive and I have the Elmer's already :wink:

Clothing
The basic design for Tekann clothing has not changed much in the history of the culture. The articles worn by men and women are less gender specific than in many Earth cultures. sorry for the lack of pictures... I have a few to post, but I just couldn't find anything like what I'm describing in most cases. A corset (well, technically a girdle) of woven strips of bark or leather is worn. On men, this comes up only until the solar plexis region, while on women, it rises higher to provide support. Underneath the corset, a liner of linen or other soft, woven plant fiber, is used to make the outer corset more comfortable and either wick sweat during hot weather, or add insulation during the winter. Cinched around the waist by a belt, a long skirt or a kilt is worn (depending on weather). The skirt or kilt is sewn from plant fiber fabric and hemmed in leather usually (to prevent fraying and add form to the garment). The length of the leg covering depends not only on weather conditions, but is also modified for activity (soldiers and workmen usually wear shorter kilts, while cooking occupations wear the longer skirt). Kilts usually only rise to about mid-thigh, while skirts range between mid claf to full length. The undergarment is usually linen shorts, though during extreme cold, full-length leggings may be used. During the summer months, leather and wood sandals are worn, though mocassin-like leather shoes are sometimes used. In cold or wet conditions, fur-lined leather boots might replace the use of sandals. As far as head wear, there are many variations, but the one I'll describe is basic (cheap paint pic to follow). Taking a rectangular fabric cloth and sewing the two corners at one end together produces a pointed cap with a long neck drape. The length of the drape starts just longer than shoulder length to provide protection of the neck and shoulders from the sun, and are made as long as floor length (though this is unusual). Many neck drapes on caps are given "wings" so that they might be wrapped around the body and act like a light jacket or rain coat. Aside from protection from sunburn, these caps are designed to shed rain and keep the wearer dry. Hats are not worn indoors. Have I skipped anything major?

Have I skipped anything major? Not that I can tell, other than maybe coats of some kind for the upper-body during the cooler part of the year. Very nice post, I specifically like the gender neutrality in the outer-garments.