Castes and Classes in Saian

Saiännic society was not pre-disposed towards anything resembling formalised castes or classes. Since the stone ages it had lacked any form of aristocracy, being ruled instead by a meritocratic class of shaman-judges called sāsza.
Over time the development of ultra-urban bronze age Saiännic society led to the rise of certain classes which weilded political influence alongside the sāsza and state bureaucrcy, most notably the geiszā, or mercant classes, and the ruvei, military officers. However, both of these unofficial classes were still meritocratically accessible by the citizen at the turn of the Fourth Century.
==Sāszā==
====Origins====
The first sāszā (sing.: sāsza, truth seeker) were shamanic wise men and women who served as guides and arbiters of disputes of the Saiännic tribes. They practised meditation, and prized above all else understanding the world around them. It was they who made the concept of cause and effect a central tenet of Saiännic teaching, and the emphasis they placed on study and understanding prevented the Saiännic peoples from developing the clearly-defined gods and creation myths of other peoples, practising instead a sort of philosophical mysticism.
====Masks====
It was the sāszā who first adopted the famous Saiännic mask. Simple wooden masks, often adorned with feather headdresses, were worn to help the sāsza separate their individual human nature from the pursuit of truth, and to represent the impersonal nature of their judgements and justice. A third eye, representing enlightenment, was typically carved between and above the eyeholes and formed the centre of the design. By the height of the Paranid order, the centre of these eyes were ubiquitously set with a pearl, which came to represent perception, foresight and understanding in Saiännic culture.
According to the records, recoving the mask of the 47th and last Sorosāszīn of Saiël was one of the first tasks that Szaeda set her followers, after she saw the mask in a vision. It apparently had been swept to the island of Chata, from whence it was carried by Yeharene explorers to the city of Sofalss. It was recovered by a Tālmoänni expedition who, accompanied by one hundred warriors from the Tiuannic kingdom of Ur, posed as angels of the Yeharene god of death to recover the mask from Zarak Uraz - thereby triggering the birth of the Sofalssian Orthodoxy. The recovered mask became a prized relic in Tālmoä.
====Paranid Era====
According to legend, at some point Saiännic sailors travelled beyond the isles of the Srasaiägha and discovered the Parana - 'Garden Islands', upon which lived the society of Paran. These had long been a central focus of Saiänic belief, representing an unattainable state of peace and understanding. It was for this reason that the Saiännic peoples scattered the ashes of their dead into the rivers - to flow to the sea, and 'find Paran'.
The islands were apparently incredibly lush, and teemed with life unknown to the mainland. After their discovery they became a place of pilgrimage for especially gifted apprentice sāszā and Saiännic rulers. According to legend even Camur, or one of them, led an expedition from the upper Reisra to visit the islands and achieve immortality. Particularly notable sāszā would have their ashes bourn to Paran to be scattered from its highest point, and a commemorative stone placed at the centre of a meditative tableau for later students to remember them by.
At this time, sāszā began to stratify into ranks as they became the formal government of pre-Beiveïd Saiän. In addition to junior sāszā, there emerged several senior tiers:
*Sāszata: These would normally serve as the chief sāszā of a village. A sāsza was elevated to a sāszat after being examined by a panel of three sāszata. A council of senior sāszata also advised a tribe's sāszīn.
*Sāszīna: A sāszīn was the leader of a Saiännic tribe, the highest court of appeal in disputes, and the wisest of its guides. They were selected from amongst the ranks of a tribe's senior sāszata by a vote, taken by casting polished river stones into a clay bowl.
*Sorosāszīna: Meaning 'Great Truth Finder', the sorosāszīna ruled over the largest of the Saiännic states, the sorosāszīnata. Legend records these as including Saiël, Nanan, Nehan, An, and Ashad.
====Post-Beivei====
The Beivei almost wiped the slate clean across much of southern Saiän. The islands of Paran were drowned and lost (if ever they had existed), and the Paranid order with its neat hierarchies of judge-shamans was not rebuilt. Nisaiännic states that had escaped the devastation, such as Nehan and An, maintained the old order intact.
Although sāszā remained a feature of society across Saiän, their status changed from place to place. In Tālmoä, where historical records are most thorough, they became a semi-detached academic caste of scholars, linguists, archivists and advisors. Whilst many worked in the bureaucracy of the Seraiat government, the government was not comprised exclusively – or even mainly – of formal sāszā.
History records that the Post-Paranist political faction, which was most interested in upholding the traditions of ante-Beiveïd Saiän, lost their last seat on the Kovoseraiat (trans. 'Firsthood Council') around the turn of the Third Century ABV, and had ceased to be formally organised by the year 215 when the onset of the War of the Two Serpents heralded the rise of the Militarist faction.
However several traditions of the sāszā, most significantly that authority figures were masked and impersonal servants of the state, and considered themselves as judges and seekers after truth, carried over into the new order. It is this which is credited with the very early Saiännic development of the concept of 'the state' as an entity distinct from an individual monarch or priesthood. They also carried over the Paranid tradition of numbering their rulers.
==Geiszā==
Write the second section of your page here.
==Ruveia==
Write the second section of your page here.
Category:Politics
Category:Culture
Category:Syan