WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK 0067 0067
Bạn đang xem bản rút gọn của tài liệu. Xem và tải ngay bản đầy đủ của tài liệu tại đây (1.51 MB, 1 trang )
Chapter 3: RACES & REALMS
actually have defined roles and expected activities
(not that they are any less minor).
• With one exception, all penman military units assemble only in times of danger, all citizen recruits
often hastily trained. Immediately following hostilities, all units muster back into civilian life.
• Nok: Penmai nok, the sanid-borne warriors, constitute the military elite and are the only units maintained year-round. (See “The Nok” below.)
• Other Warriors: All other units organize into groups
of ten with a leader bearing the unit’s name with an
additional “ka” denoting that rank (i.e. phunoa-ka).
• Phunoa are groups of peasant spearmen.
• Phonsoel fight with knives.
• Tibadtam use their penman-traditional blow
guns.
There are many everyday civilian occupations among
the Penmai. Within a village, idleness is intolerable and
all Penmai have a task or occupation. A position of high
rank in most villages, the khoakan teachers educate
the young into penman society,. Khonha scouts keep
watchful eyes from lofty heights aboard rhallor balloons, supported by sokhara “seekers” who will actually
venture out on the dangerous ground levels to keep an
eye on threats there. Sauka are farmers who specialize
in fast-growing fruits and vegetables that can mature
before the owning village migrates too far away to harvest them. Sinkha merchants trade all manner of items,
like the ropes and twine made by seouks, the baskets
weaved by flemuu, and the many trinkets fashioned by
femu artisans. Peouk and sakhal specialize in creating
useful tools from bark and branches, respectively.
Customs & Culture
While there are a huge number of distinctions and cultural peculiarities among the Penmai, more than a few adhere
to standards practiced by many other human tribes.
Patriarchs tend to lead Penmai families. Spouses pairbond and tend to mate for life, though separations due
to conflict or strife are not unheard of. Formal marriages
are often arranged, especially among the higher classes,
and are ceremoniously witnessed by the family elders.
Penmai women give birth much like their human
counterparts after a nine-month gestation period (and
usually one child at a time, though twins and rarer triplets sometimes occur). Babies feed on milk provided by
their mothers or by other related or friendly adult females. Mothers and extended-family females rear and
raise any children born; whenever possible, most extended families live in close proximity, as moving away
from one’s family is emotionally troubling for the Pen-
mai and avoided whenever possible, although not culturally forbidden.
Children are taught to speak by parents, but are soon
organized into schools; past the age of three years, all
Penmai children enroll in schools that specialize in
written language, history, or social skills, all of mixed
age groups taught by professional teachers picked from
among the regional elders. Apprenticeships in various
trades commonly begin after ten years of age, which either curtails or ends that child’s education after seven
years.
Penmai refer to surface dwellers as subaorsi or “groundlings.” Since most dangers manifest from ground level,
Penmai have a cultural dislike of it and those upon it by
extension. Penmai are prejudiced to think that groundlings are untrustworthy schemers.
Penmai hate fire more than any other destructive energy. It is among the few forces that drives them closer
toward the ground to escape fumes and smoke.
Coming of Age
Young males come of age at 16 years and females
slightly later at 18. Both undergo considerable intellectual rites of passage to be deemed an adult:
• Recite History: They must recite group and family
histories before an assemblage from memory.
• Demonstrate Mastery: They must successfully prove
understanding and mastery of their schooling in
language, history, and cultural awareness; the elders’
expectations differ for students depending on the
person’s social status and whether or not he or she
stayed in school continuously or was apprenticed to
work after age ten.
• Luktwai Trek: The most important rite is the trek
called luktwai. Organized four times a year by community elders, one can undergo luktwai before or after
one’s age of ascension. All youth undergoing luktwai
must succeed at an elaborate multi-week scavenger
hunt, each youth given individual goals and varied
demands. What youths endure in luktwai and how
they succeed at their goals (and aid or hinder others)
builds a superstitious blueprint of the nigh-adult’s future life in both their dreams and consciousness. Once
a child conquers the goals set in luktwai, that youth
is accepted into society as an adult (and it is rare to
see any Penmai remain unmarried more than a few
months after luktwai).
Penman Diets
Penmai eat a predominantly vegetarian diet, but not
strictly so. They dine on the vegetation most accessible
65
