TaLajat V’Shajjoi (TLVS)

### History

TaLajat V'Shajjoi (TLVS) is the second Shajjik nation. The first being D'Lajat from the continent Tlajjak. D'Lajat fell as the Thyakoi plotted their revenge and brought a winter storm that snowed in nearly every Shajjik in their cave homes. The little Shajjik that lived got on boats and sailed to Uruldu. From there they learned about the green world and discovered many more animals and fauna. Rebuilding their church and setting up plans to free the slaves of Uruldu another crisis hit this new continent. The Thyakoi had returned and ravaged the continent with disaster after disaster. The Shajjik as the nomads they are left the continent yet again in search for a new home setting sails for Asselia.

### Government

The government is set up with the Five Heads of Government.

* Dasajpa - The top leader that controls and directs everything is the Dasajpa. The Dasajpa as said is the head of the country, not only that but is also the head of the religion due to their ability to hear Shajjoi. Dasajpa can have children but only adopted ones, all children birthed even with a legitimate spouse are bastards. It’s also rare that a Dasajpa adopts a child, but if one does it's usually to train them to be a possible Dasajpa. Once a Dasajpa dies the government is temporarily led by the Sasikpa while the Jjajat Yakpa holds an election with all Sasojpa and adopted children of the past Dasajpa.
* Saspa - The Saspa is the Dasajpa’s right hand man. The Saspa does all the smaller scale and tedious work of the lajat. The Saspa keeps up with things such as immigration, religious converts, censuses, economics, and more. The Saspa is also the inbetween man for the Dasoshpa to talk to. If the Saspa thinks it's important enough or they don’t have the power to do what the Dasoshpa needs they will then go to the Dasajpa to convey the message. Otherwise if it’s something small and inconsequential for example like building a new art piece for a city or a small budget change then the Saspa can do it themselves.
* Sasikpa - The Sasikpa is the leader of the Adithpa and co-lead other militias. They control the battlefield and are there for the Aditlako to initiate the new Adithpa. They have the power to promote soldiers and permit clan militias.
* Jjajat Yakpa - The Jjajat Yakpa watches the moon cycle and keeps all the heads of government on track of dates and times. They also keep a census on those who have passed away to the Shajjajat. Jjajat Yakpa attend the funerals of important people like the Dasajpa.
* Dasoshpa - The Dasospha’s role is to visit each major clan and hear what problems they have. The Dasoshpa will then petition for those clans and go to either the Saspa or the DasajpaLead of representation of clans.

### Culture

Clans:

City blocks are set up by clans. Each clan has their trade (blacksmith, farming, arts, etc). Clans are formed more so as a found family. People can marry into clans but friends can also join clans too or even just people looking for work. Most people join clans for work, but as stated sometimes friends come together and form or join a clan just for the sake of being friends. Everybody in such a clan lives next to each other. Clans have underground road networks to each other's houses and jobs. These underground roads only connect to places inside the clan. Every clan has a flag. Every clan has a big house that serves as recreation for the clan.

Games:

   Voyitlajj: A sport that consists of throwing disk shaped rocks down an ice path into a hole. The more disk in the hole the more points. Other players can steal a disk if they never made it to the hole by hitting the other’s disk. Each team starts with 5 disks.

   Adithashoi: A martial game that consists of fighting in a ring with a shield and spear. No healing is allowed. Best two out of three. Players can block once then have to hit five more times with their spear before they can block again.

Adithpa:

Adithpa are warriors trained to vanquish evil in the world. Adithpa live in their own clan near cathedrals to protect them.

Aditlako:

Aditlako starts in the morning with a normal mass. At the end of the mass the people who are ready to become Adithpa come up to the priest and receive a blessing to party the whole day. There are games that were made to prepare Adithpa, but are really just fun little games such as Voyitlajj and Adithashoi. Soon to become Adithpa aren’t supposed to drink alcohol during the holiday but their clansmen can. Once night falls another ceremony is held at the church. The trainee Adithpa one by one receive a Katho for them to eat and a spear. They get nothing else and must go out and not only survive a night but also kill a polar bear. Once they return with proof of a slayed polar bear that is when they become Adithpa, if they do not return a mass funeral is held for the fallen.

Years/Time:

Years in Shajjik culture are arbitrary. A year can last as short as a second and as long as infinity. A new year is started when new people are ready to join the Adithpa, thus starting Aditlako, or when the Dasajpa finds it fit to start a new year.

   Days: Since time is a lot more arbitrary in Shajjik culture, if someone is planning an event they would give their guest sticks ahead of time with grooves already carved into them counting the amount of days until the event. The guest would then cut off a piece of the stick counting down the grooves and on the last groove it meant it is the day of the event.

Passage of Maturity:

   After teens finish schooling, teens must go through a passage of maturity to become adults. Teens must be able to pass three test. The first test is a simple one where the Sasojpa will test teens on their knowledge of Shajjik. After they pass this one they move on to the next test, where the teens must provide for their community. While mostly teens work to do something good for their clans it’s not necessary, and teens can go on to other clans or can even do something for the good of the whole city. What the teens must do for their community can range but are mostly something useful like a new well or a bench. The last test the teens must go through before they become adults is to pull off a successful hunt. If a teen fails any one of these tests they fail and do not become adults. Sometimes teens either choose to never become adults, or just never manage to pass the test and become an unofficial weird category of something like a man-child.

Funeral/Death:

   Death to Shajjik is, while saddening, a very accepted part of life. It’s simply seen as a part of life, just as being birthed is. That being said, the funeral of someone’s life is incredibly important. To start off graveyards are instead dedicated cities to the dead. The belief of the Shajjik is that when a death city, or also known as VakopaLata, is built a ritual is held by the sasojpa.

   The sasojpa starts by gathering incense, originally being the guts of a fish that surprisingly had a sweet smell. Now the fish is rare in this new continent (although sometimes found it’s being reserved for the more important) so the newly discovered flowers have become a new incense. The sasojpa will go to each building of the VakopaLata and spread around sweet smells while chanting a prayer, “L’D’Jjajat niqia, dasvaki ø’dasis x’apro niqia l’jjajat jjoye it.” meaning To the moon you go, we bless this home and let it go to the moon with you.

   The clans still live on in the afterlife so VakopaLata’s are built like normal cities, but there does tend to be more moon decorations engraved in houses and in monuments.

   VakopaLata’s are seen as the closest connection to Shajjajat on earth, as the blessing also sends whatever buildings built in the Vakopalata to Shajjajat. That said, it is incredibly offensive to Shajjiks to do anything harmful to a VakopaLata. Vandalism, raids, destruction, but even sometimes as simple as loitering are examples of offenses to the dead and Shajjoi.

Thyakaven:

   The Thyakaven is a reincarnate of all the past souls of slain Thyakoi. There is only one Thyakaven at a time, if there is even one to begin with. Signs of being the Thyakaven can be seen as early as when they are a child. Early developmental symptoms include killing small wildlife without reason, having a more advanced and speedy speech development, a preference for kø/nø pronouns, frequent hatred despite being calm and collected, lack of temper tantrums, frequently having violent intentions, and homicidal ideations.

   In the event that the Thyakaven has been discovered it is important to immediately give up your child to the Shajjik church. From here the church will raise the child with the purpose to suppress the influence of the Thyakoi and to be able to channel the anger for good. Thyakaven still go to school and go through the passage of maturity as well and live relatively normal lives growing up. When they become adults is when their destiny begins to shape up as Thyakaven will be required to fill in a role. If the Dasajpa dies during a Thyakaven’s adulthood they become the new Dasajpa, if not, then if the Sasikpa dies then the Thyakaven fills that place, and finally if neither are dead then the Thyakaven will just join the Adithpa. To contain the spirits of the Thyakoi the Thyakaven uses plural pronouns such as kø(we) or nø(they) to please them. (not to be confused with dissociative disorders like DID and OSDD).

It’s important to note that the Thyakaven isn’t possessed, the spirits can not physically take control of the body. They can however speak to the Thyakaven and if they are untrained the Thyakoi can begin to influence the Thyakaven. This is why it's important to have the church raise the child as every Sasojpa is trained to deal with Thyakaven in case of such an event.

Despite the violent thoughts and intentions that Thyakaven have, they are more well known for being go-getters, and real strong members of the community. They channel their anger into the problems of their community and mixed with a strong work ethic are able to get a lot of things done.