Tusum

Tusum is the most powerful political entity in the known world. It is located in central eastern Vouza, spanning from the easternmost edge of the Toxic Forest to Uror and Tsudun in the west, and from the Escus Plateau in the south to Rorin in the north.

Culture

  • Highly values knowledge and learning; even peasant children have some mnemonic training
  • Pre-Collapse books are valued at ten hares (10cp) per page.
  • Chronicles are recorded for virtually everything by the Imperial Archivists
  • Meritocratic process for advancing through the prestigious Imperial Archival Service; Grand Archivists are second only to the Emperor in prestige, and even dukes must bow to them
  • Semi-hereditary duchies (emperor appoints a successor, but typically appoints the previous duke's nominee, who is also usually their child).
  • Dukes can be assassinated and usurped during the Assassination Festival; however, the family of a duke may not be harmed, and failing to support the family of the previous duke will result in a duke's dismissal by the Emperor.
  • Economic activity focuses on pseudo-noble Merchant Houses, who form contracts with dukes to deal with a given good or service
  • Contracts cannot be altered once issued, but can last at most 20 years
  • Contracts will not be renewed if a Merchant House's militia fails to answer the call of their duke
  • The Holy Knights of Arka form the Emperor's own militia; they are another meritocratic organization and their prestige comes only after the Archival Service. Disobeying the Knights, unless you are an archivist, is likely to result in immediate death.
  • Uses honorifics to indicate relative status:
    • udori: speaker is much lower status (very polite)
    • udor: speaker is somewhat lower status (a polite default; it is not unusual to hear two people both call each other udor)
    • udo: speakers are of equal status (used for friends, siblings, and other intimates; moderately impolite with strangers except in radical subcultures)
    • udok: speaker is of higher status (used for children and servants; when used with anyone else, is considered quite rude)
    • udoki: speaker is of much higher status (sign of contempt; extremely rude with anyone, and rarely used)

Cuisine

  • Staple crops: sunflowers, maize, chili peppers, beans, tomatoes, pears, plums
  • Meats: horseclaw, horseclaw egg

Basic dishes:

  • Rowestin bread (sunflower seed + maize)
  • seasoned horseclaw (chili, salt, sesame oil, black pepper, sunflower seeds, egg)
  • whiskey (from maize)
  • trip-soup (horseclaw blood, vinegar, pears, sometimes honey), served with rowestin bread
  • egg dumplings
  • horseclaw sausage
  • fermented honey
  • tomato stew, including beans, celery, mushrooms, and mint. served with rowestin bread.
  • tomatoes, horseclaw meat, and eggs served over flatbread
  • cabbage, chopped hard-boiled egg, and tomato paste wrapped in a very thin flatbread
  • chili peppers stuffed with rowestin bread, eggs, almonds, and pears
  • a snack mixture of sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and caramel
  • rowestin bread stuffed with horseclaw meat, roasted crickets, and mushrooms
  • flatbread stuffed with plum jam and horseclaw liver paste
  • roasted maize cooked with chili powder.

Religion

  • The White Goddess - Udosa
  • The Red God - Kemrur
  • The Green God - Rurrog
  • The Yellow Goddess - Asea
  • The Blue God - Daera
  • Thata, the Beautiful Merchant
  • Arka, the Virtuous Knight
  • Otaug, the Dragon Owl

Dakyaem, the Crafty Midwife

  • Appears as an anthropomophic goat, wearing a midwife's apron
  • Brings children from the spirit world to mortal parents and helps to deliver them safely
  • She provides contraceptives and abortifacients, and aids in hiding the parentage of scandalous children
  • She is a patron to prostitutes, mistresses, parents, and orphans
  • She is associated with goats and honeysuckle

Bauyele, the Imperial Throne

  • Appears as a giant goldfish, swimming through the air
  • Is the collective power of the Imperial House Bauyele, and is particularly associated with Kuryukdag I, the first Emperor of Tusum
  • Particularly associated with offerings of alcohol

Azako, the Life of the Desert

  • Depicted as a ring of flame surrounding a tiny eye opening out of nothing
  • The will of the desert is mercurial and hard to read
  • Shrines to Azako require frequent cleaning as sand builds up on the floor
  • Considered reclusive and difficult to contact; other local spirits are often used as intercessors
  • Believed to prefer the blood sacrifice of snakes as an offering