Akashiren Flower Language

Akashiren Flower Language is a cultural language, created by encoding meaning to certain flowers prominent in Akashiren culture through social context. This flower language is not only used in communication between the Akashiren people, but is also used to inspire compositions in the gardens of the upper class and to find deeper meanings in Akashiren styles of fortune telling.
Akashiren flower language tends to have multiple meanings stacked on top of each other, meant to be discerned through context. Traditionally, the meanings aren't positive but neutral at best, like saying “I am your foe’s foe” instead of saying “I am your ally”. However, due to cultural imports alternative meanings have been introduced and adapted over the history of the custom. Purists and conservatives staunchly ignore positive meanings whenever possible.
== Origin ==
The Akashiren tradition of gardening has become a method to compose more complex messages for viewers to discern. It’s become not just a way for the upper classes to “send a message” to their rivals and brag about their gardens, but also a way for the Akashiren people to be a little less direct when swords are not the preferred style of communication.
== Flowers meanings ==
=== Azure Bluet === 
The azure bluet is one of the flowers that were imported to Akashiro with the formation of Soralea. It represents “unity” and “strength in many”, due to being many smaller flowers in one bunch.
Due to the colder climate, it doesn’t grow naturally in Akashiro’s mountains. However, they can be found growing in the plains of Morimoto.
=== Dandelions === 
Dandelions or "Tanto no Ryōn" (lit. “Dragon’s Tooth”, named so after the shape of its leaves) in the Akashiren language, represents concepts related to ego and greed. People usually place them or plant them in front of other people's property or houses as an insult or to tell them "You are greedy / showing off too much / you’re getting too full of yourself / don’t think you are any-one/thing".
When the crowns of the dandelions mature into blowballs, the dandelion also takes on the meaning of “fleetingness” and “fragility”. There is an Akashiren story about a man who gets tricked by an evil spirit into protecting a dandelion from getting blown away, which ends in tragedy.
=== Lily of the Valley === 
Lily of the Valley in Akashiren gardening represents the sentiment of “A wish of death” This is due to its poisonous nature, despite its harmless and cute appearance. This death in question, doesn’t necessarily have to be the recipient’s, but could just as well be interpreted as a “wish for suicide”.
=== Oxeye Daisy === 
To give someone an oxeye daisy is the equivalent of saying; “your days are numbered”. This meaning is derived from the fact that the oxeye daisy has easily pluckable and countable petals. Therefore, if your flower already have a lot of petals plucked, it is implied that the recipient should pay special attention to the amount of petals your daisy has left. It might be a hint to something happening in the coming days.
=== Poppy === 
Due to the poppy’s lack of scent, it often represents concepts of "two-facedness", "uncertainty", "disappointment", "broken promises" and "failed expectations".
Gifting someone this flower is the cultural equivalent of asking them if they are a “friend or foe”. It's therefore not typically given as a gift to loved ones. However, among the youth the poppy has become a symbol of love, where giving one would be a part of the question; “lovers, or enemies”.
When the highly hallucinogenic drug “Ikirutaka” and its source became known, it also became a symbol for “hedonism”, “sloth”, “dreams”, and “numbing of pains”, due to its high impact on the soul, mind, and body.
=== Torchflower === 
The Torchflower represents the fires of the soul. This includes “passion”, as well as “wrath”.
Due to its rarity, this flower is a common gift among the upper class to confess and/or propose to their future spouses. As such, it also represents the concept of “love” and "desire".
=== Tulips === 
==== Orange Tulip ====
“The Poor Man’s Torchflower". Inspired by the traditions of the upper class, the lower classes of Akashiro sought an affordable look-a-like to the auspicious fire-like flower.
Because of its status as a substitute, deliberate usage of this flower is an insult akin to saying “you are poor” among the upper class. This in turn has developed a stigma and shame around this flower among the lower classes, although cases where the recipient has been understanding of the economic situation of the sender, it is usually seen as an insult, or a mark of shame.
==== White Tulip ====
White tulips are a symbol of lies. While to some it might just mean "a white lie", for others it represents "deceit" and "subterfuge", "falsehoods" and "false intentions", which are all included under the umbrella of meanings. Do note that in contrast to the meaning of the poppy of an "expectation that doesn't come to pass", the white tulip would represent "the hidden intention to never let the expectation come to pass in the first place".
It has this meaning because white tulips make light grey dye, as to hint towards something dark in it that "corrupts" or "contaminates" the white and beautiful truth. Its name, “white tulip”, also is a lie, since it cannot, nor had any intention to, produce white dye despite its name and appearance.
This flower is often left at the doorsteps of someone's household as a way to call them a liar, much like how dandelions are used.
Category:Akashiro