Zhiha

Dami Pagor, Zhiha ambassador to Louisia, and an excellent example of the Zhiha’s skilled metalworking.

The Zhiha are an imperialistic culture with a strong and impressive metalworking and mining tradition. Mineworkers, in theory, are venerated for the sacrifice of their bodies for the good of the Zhiha, of expansion, and of their Gods. Mineworkers have access to several societal benefits and assistance programs. Their veneration is something a bit similar to how other lands admire their military.

Mineworkers are easily identified by their metal, crystal, and mineral jewelry are worn whenever they are outside of the mines. A common, simple yet flashy miner style is a ring made purely of carved crystal all the way around and through.

To some distant lands, they export large quantities of both raw mined materials and finished products. However, to the nations nearest to them they have varying degrees of hostility, hoping to take all land and resources within reasonable distance into their possession.

## Naming Traditions

### Unisex names

As in the majority of cultures of Paan Atta, Zhiha personal names are not gender specific. These generally end in a vowel and are fairly short, with as few as two letters. Examples include Canna, Vaska, Dami, Yu, Adda, and Derlin.

### Family names

Zhiha family names are generally based on the name of an ancestor or familial location of origin. Examples include Pagor, Shapda, Lisava, Gambror, and Teishan. Names are inherited from the birther, as is the norm of those cultures of Paan Atta whose family names are inheritable.

## Culture

### Major language groups and dialects

The Zhiha are greatly ethnically diverse, despite being ruthlessly expansionist they do not believe in assimilation. Instead, it is believed that anyone becoming part of (or immigrating to) Zhiha land becomes socially Zhiha and may fight or mine just as well as any. Many languages are spoken across different regions. The languages of island nations conquered millennia before, or weeks ago, have equally living, spoken, and remembered languages.

The Zhiha language also has many varying dialects, pidgins, and creoles as a consequence of this. For diplomacy and governance, the Koruda (capital) dialect is the standard.

*According to Wikipedia, "A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one within a fairly brief period of time: often, a pidgin evolved into a full-fledged language. While the concept is similar to that of a mixed or hybrid language, creoles are often characterized by a tendency to systematize their inherited grammar (e.g., by eliminating irregularities or regularizing the conjugation of otherwise irregular verbs). Like any language, creoles are characterized by a consistent system of grammar, possess large stable vocabularies, and are acquired by children as their native language. These three features distinguish a creole language from a pidgin."*

### Shared customary codes and values

Anything that could be taken as speaking ill of the nation and/or its territories is highly stigmatized.

Those who died in more obviously mining-related ways are venerated locally as well as by their family, keeping their memory alive verbally and visually for generations.

The first individual to set foot on a new territory is also generally well-recorded and praised.

Wasting food is very stigmatized, especially with many items being relatively non-perishable. "Letting your foodstuffs go to the rats" is a common expression generally for slothfulness, waste, neglect, and irreverence. Zhiha-made barrels are renowned for being tightly sealed, nearly gapless, and durable for centuries.

### Common Etiquette rules

Carrying a blade or other weapon unsheathed in a noncombatant situation is incredibly uncouth and untrustworthy.

Telling jokes in/about a situation or location that is at all serious or venerable is incredibly offensive. Zhiha culture does not have a concept of "gallows humor" or "dark humor".

Showing your back to a depiction of a god is blasphemous. (Notable exceptions are made when another person tricks or coerces one into doing so in an attempt to jinx one's life or sic the gods on one as if the gods are kept beasts. The person forcing someone to blaspheme is the one to blame and the one who will suffer the consequences. The victim will not face consequences for an act they had no agency in.)

Placing an object or one's person in a doorway or on a threshold is extremely rude, even if it is off to the side/out of the way.

### Art & Architecture

Zhiha buildings are known for their gable-fronted dormers on gambrel roofs with very visibly curved lower roof slopes and supporting curved soffits, covered with thick tiles. When the rain pours from the roof to the ground, it is generally caught by ingeniously placed, roundly sloping, tiled troughs. These water-catchers can have purposes ranging from decorative to practical and everything in between. They can provide water to nearby plants, or be a habitat for small fish (these fish being either pets or raised for their small amounts of meat as a delicacy).

### Foods & Cuisine

Zhiha cuisine is dense, fortifying, and unadorned. Flavors are interesting and varied, yet never intense. Soldiers, seafarers, and miners are well supplied with portable and densely packed nutrition.

### Birth & Baptismal Rites

Children are generally traditionally birthed in cold, moving water. This is based on reverence and has mythological origins. It is also to keep the birth and the child clean in the water. Cold water, especially if it is moving, is thought by the Zhiha to ease pain, maybe by distracting from it or by numbing the skin slightly.

Names are given when the cord is cut. Sections of the cord are generally preserved by the family for sentimental as well as spiritual/mythological value.