Ya'gia'zi Culture Overview

### Geography

The Ya'gia'zi live along the Lei'wei'zu River and 3 artificial lakes: the Alpione Lake, the Mnemonic Lake, and the Zuthia Lake.

### Shelter

Houses are built on top of especially raised plots of land, out of houses sculpted out of clay and dirt, that must be mended or remade eventually. In the winter, large felt blankets are brought out so that people can bear the cold. Due to the limited land from the Chiampas, the houses for Matrimonial families are maintained no matter how destroyed there are, since there isn’t a lot of land that can be used for their economy. It is of great importance that every generation maintains their personal house.

### Family

Generally, Yagiazi people live in the houses they're born into. Families together control and cultivate land, rather than individuals. Therefore, families attempt to present a united front to other families, demonstrating their strength.

When a person dies, they are cremated and their ashes scattered on the family lands, still a present part of their home even in death.

### Gender

Because families control land as a whole and are a single political unit, children are raised by the whole family, which contributes to there being little to no gendered division of labor. In addition, the Yagiazi recognize a gender that is 'outside' of man and woman, and is declared with which braid pattern is in your first armored weaving.

### Food Production

The Yagiazi that live near the Leiweizu River gain food by fishing, shooting waterfowl and stealing their eggs, harvesting wild rice, and by trading up and down the river. The fishing uses large nets pulled along by boats. Wild rice (and other edible water plants) can be found in the slower-moving streams that feed into the Leiweizu river.

Most Yagiazi food production happens in the # artificial lakes, which are made into a chinampa-like system. Through various means, the artificial lakes and surrounding freshwater swamps were dug into systems of mini-canals with mini-islands between them, with the mini-islands fertile land for agriculture, and the canals between resulting in easy access to it all via boat. Using the chinampa system, the Yagiazi cultivate beans, squash, tomatoes, corn, and peas, among other plants.

### Trade

The Yagiazi do not use coinage. Instead, they trade in different weights of dried beans (chinampa area) or wild rice (Leiweizu area). These are weighed using balance scales, usually made out of leather holding a wooden or ceramic bar in place, which in turn holds wooden or ceramic bowls in balance with each other. There is no standard set of weights to weigh the beans; instead, when going to a market, each person brings their own scale and set of iron, copper, bronze, or ceramic weights. That way, the seller and buyer each have their own knowledge about how much is being bought.

### Cooking

The Yagiazi scales and weights (see "Trade") are not standardized generally, but within a household, a similar set of weights and scales might be used, and family recipes calculated using them.

### Music

Instruments are usually ceramic, metallic, or made with the very abundant cane on the banks of the Leiweizu river. Vessel flutes (wind instruments with holes for fingering, but no other exit hole for the air, usually ceramic), reed instruments, drums, and singing are common.

### Metal Access

The Yagiazi have moderately easy access to iron, tin (in the form of Cassiterite), and copper. The iron is specifically bog iron, which forms in swampy regions, which are common near Yagiazi territories. Cassiterite is often visible on river banks, and therefore usually found by the Yagiazi in the Leiweizu River region. Copper is found and smelted commonly, and is used with the tin to form bronze.

### Political Structure

The 14 largest families together control much of the best land, and are considered nobles by foreigners. These families each cast a vote for the Consul, who is the leader of one of the lakes of the Yagiazi, until voted otherwise. The Consul almost always comes from one of the largest families, and sometimes the families give each other rich gifts to get the consulship for one of their members.