Imai Turna

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tán áȿkẹ̇ sánátú kíȿíṙá, sálẹ̇ȿko. ȶámẹ̇dẹ̇ holúmíṙá, ẹ̇ ífá ȿú ẹ̇ káo.
~Welcome to our home, stranger. Mind the forest, the Ífá love the night.

## Ímaí Türna

Ímaí Türna is a small nation surrounded by thick forests and cut through the northwestern edge by a wide river. The nation was founded by humans called the Türna, who first settled in the clearings of the forest and slowly carved out a niche for themselves, thanks to the help(?) of a race of tiny creatures living in the surrounding forest, whose true name is unknown but who the Türna refer to as ífá. Human settlement ends at the south bank of the river - to the Türna's knowledge, the forest north of the river is entirely unpopulated. No one is willing to explore far enough to verify.

The Türna are quite insular, due to their social isolation during the development of their culture. They are generally fascinated with, but wary of, outsiders.

Basic Statistics

## History

### The Wasting Famine

In the early days of the settlement, a famine struck the country. A combination of low rainfall and illness among the livestock resulted in a disastrous yield and a potentially fatal winter. In desperation, the Türna performed a ritual similar to their annual Harvest ritual, to ask that they be allowed to hunt in the forest outside of the typical hunting season. The Ífá did not answer this ritual directly, but rather took the offerings in secret, without enchanting the items left for them - a seemingly reluctant acceptance. The resulting hunt was successful but for one problem - for every white elk they successfully hunted, another Türna fell ill. The symptoms were similar to those of malnurishment, as though the sufferers were unable to benefit from the results of their countrymen's labors. The victims were random, not only hunters but farmers, elders, and children - no group was spared. No one died, but many were never the same after the strange wasting illness swept through their community that winter.

The results of this event were recorded for posterity. Ultimately, it was decided that if a famine this disastrous struck Ímaí Türna again, the ritual should be performed but they should be prepared for the consequences. After this event, the Türna never asked another favor of the Ífá during winter.

## Geography

The geography of Imai Türna is integral to the development of the Türna as a whole. They are heavily isolated, surrounded by thick dangerous woods, in a deep valley, next to a large river. This caused the Türna to be isolated from the outside world for at least 300 years. The valley floor is wide and irrigated enough for a certain degree of agriculture, including grazing land for kalpras, the small goat-like livestock the Türna keep.

## Languages

### Türnalōn

See also: Türnalon (language), Grammar and Sociolinguistics of Türnalon

Türnalōn is the Türnan language (literally translates to "people speak"). It is the only language most Türna know, aside from merchants & others who regularly interface with the outside world.

Türnalōn is synthetic, bordering on polysynthetic. It's difficult to say whether it's a more agglutinative or fusional language, but it leans toward the fusional, with most bound morphemes changing vowel tone, changing the vowel itself, or adding/removing consonants depending on the situation.

Türnalōn is a language developed over a period of about 300 years, when the Türna were isolated within the deep valley and thick forest surrounding their home. Only when other nations settled and began building roads through the forest did the Türna begin to have contact with outsiders. As such, it is a language heavily focused on in-group and out-group signaling, identifying the Türna as separate from the outside world. (Essentially there's "us" and then there's "everybody else", and the language is full of linguistic distinctions between the two.) Türnalōn has 3 modes of speech: informal/inclusive, formal, and exclusive, and there are two forms of plurals, plural and collective, the latter of which has ties to the clusivity system.

The ífá are referred to using a fourth linguistic set, which is much smaller and  more reverent (essentially a form of avoidance speech).

## Politics

### Current Leaders

The Tátaínís /taˈtai̯nis/ family, headed by matriarch Maír Ȿơt /mai̯ɹ ʃoʊ̯t/, are the current leaders/decision-makers. They are a rather easygoing family known for their lavish parties, but are also very politically cautious, unwilling to shake up the status-quo unless necessary.

### Government

Large families in Sentelontẹ̇ (15 or more adults in a single generation) rotate major civil duties every 5 years- it's essentially an oligarchy on a rota. Once families reach the minimum size they can petition to be added to the rotation. These petitions are reviewed and voted on annually by the general citizenry. The period of time a family is in charge is known as a líká: an era. The closest thing to an official name for this leadership role is Tol̖íṙá ẹ̇ȶáíṙa /toˈɾiɾa eɪ̯ˈθaiɾa/, which literally just means "thoughtful family": they're the family doing most of the thinking for the Turna as a whole.

Families must demonstrate a history of community contribution, good decision-making and general upstanding character in making their bid for leadership. This basically means no adult or soon-to-be adult in the current generation has broken any major laws or brought harm to their family or the community at large during their lifetime. Families are added to the "bottom" of the rotation: their rule will begin after the most recently-added family's ends.

The list of families is also reviewed during this election, and families deemed to have become ineligible (either because of size or reputation) are removed from the list. There is no prohibition on re-petitioning, but families must meet the minimum criteria to petition, so if they were kicked out last year, it's unlikely they'll be able to re-petition for a few years more.

History of tol̖íṙá ẹ̇ȶáíṙa
(Era)
Performed the ritual that resulted in the Wasting Famine.
 2

## Religion and culture

### Moral values and principles

Türnans value family, community, their craft/handiwork, and happiness/aesthetics above most other things. They believe personal freedom and independence are important to a point, but must never overshadow communal good. They also have a bad habit of over-stereotyping/over-generalizing basically everything. They essentially see the entire world as Star Trek races - "Türna be like, others be like…" This is reflected throughout their language, where they have an entire mode of speech dedicated to talking about an individual as an extrapolation of a larger group.

In general, it's far more common for Türnan culture to spread outward than for outside cultures to get in, but they're not entirely resistant to change, they just do it very slowly, often one family at a time.

### Thoughts on War and Conquest

The Türna have no interest in expansion or conquest. They simply want to live happily in their forest. However, they are not necessarily pacifistic. They are fierce defenders of their home, and have a border guard made up of archers and foot soldiers who patrol the borders constantly, on the lookout for threats or invaders. The Türnan reaction to a threat is to hunker down - they don't pick fights, and don't invade, but they *will* respond if attacked, and strongly.

#### Prejudices and Ostracism

Türna are not prejudiced against non-Türna, but most are somewhat wary of them. Türnan oral tradition traces this back to their origins - they were apparently driven out of whatever place they originally came from, for reasons lost to time, and this forest is where they settled. As a formerly ostracized people, Türna are naturally on-guard for any future attempts at ostracism, and culturally have taken a bit of a "reject them before they can reject us" approach. That said, outsiders are not shunned, and have been known to marry/bond into Türnan families on occasion.

Among themselves, the Türna have few prejudices. An exception are the monogamous by choice, who are subject to condescension by society at-large. Purely monogamous people are seen as inherently immature, with the attitude that someone with only one spouse "just hasn't found the right person yet" to bond with. An elder who has only ever had one spouse is seen as rather pathetic and sad. In contrast, asexuality and aromanticism, while even more rare than other divergences from the typical pansexuality, are not discriminated against. Someone who remains single their entire life is no sadder than anyone else - it's assumed that they simply chose not to marry at all, regardless of whether they choose to have children outside of marriage. It's the people who *want* to be married, but only to one other person, who are seen as odd and childish.

Türnans see foreign nations who don't practice polyamory as quaint and silly, but not immoral. They *will* tease outsiders about it, and extoll the benefits of their way of life. They're basically an entire nation of that polycule that keeps proselytizing about how polyamory is inherently superior to monogamy without being asked. In most ways, Türnan culture is pretty highly exceptionalist, but in a, "We're still right, but you do you I guess" way rather than an "Assimilate or die" way. They don't care to force others to be like them, they're happy to just be quietly smug about how better than you they are.

### Familial Structure and Lineage

The Türna are very communal - to the point that polyamory and pansexuality are the norm. Monogamy is not looked down upon per-se, but seen as a bit immature: the traditional adult Türnan has 2 partners, usually one man and one woman. (Homosexuality and heterosexuality are rare, but not unheard-of, and people of those persuasions aren't discriminated against, just seen as, well, queer).

The standard Türnan family is made up of 4 adults: a husband, a wife, the husband's husband (bondsman) and the wife's wife (bondswoman), and the children of any male/female pairs within the family. Variations in this setup are relatively commonplace, but the above is essentially the Türnan "nuclear family".

Determining who is the spouse and who is the bondspouse is actually quite simple - the first person someone marries is their spouse, the second person is their bondspouse. It is also not unheard-of for up-to all 4 of the adults in the marriage to be romantically involved, but it's never assumed, and there is no special word for it. Standard Türnan polyamory is essentially two monogamous pairings per person, with an option to romantically co-mingle.

Socially, all adults in the household are parents to all children - a Türnan child has a mother, a father, a bondsmother and a bondsfather. Biologically, Türnan lineage is matrilineal and there is a soft taboo around the concept of biological fatherhood - your father is your mother's husband, period, even if your mother also has a bondsman. Your bondsfather is never your father, *even if everyone knows that, biologically, he is*.

### Traditions

The Forest Festival is held annually, it's a 7-day long event of feasting, song and storytelling, competitive whittling, and feats of strength and cunning, which culminates in a ritual called è híȿtá ífá /e hiʃta Ífá/ - The Finishing. This involves the craftspeople of the village bringing their best creations of the year to the edge of the forest, along with an offering of bread, cheese, and mead. At nightfall, the Ífá leave the forest to consume the food and essentially "bless" the crafts/objects, imbuing them with magical properties.  How the Ífá consume the food is a mystery - logic would dictate that they are far too small to ever do such a thing. The average Ífá is about 1/10 the size of a slice of bread. They are also largely insectoid, and it's a mystery why why they would *want* these things either.

### Religion

Religion is not at all organized. Türnans worship the planet itself (they have named it Āȿterafel /ɔʃˌtɜɹʌˈfɜl/ and use she/her pronouns when referencing it), and see the forces of nature, especially the forest and the river, as divine gifts granted to them by the planet. Türna see the forest as a protector of their people, and the river as their source of nourishment & life. Most aspects of nature get some measure of reverence and animism/anthropomorphism, for example the Türnalon word for wind is áȿtèȿơlú /aʃteˈʃoʊ̯lu/, literally "sky-breath".

#### Ífá

The Ífá are not so much worshiped as feared and respected. Türnans have several spiritual practices involving the Ífá, but they are seen as partners/participants in these endeavors, not objects of worship.

The Ífá are not socialized with: they are too important, and too scary. Although clearly sentient, they are nearly seen as forces of nature rather than a race of people by the Türna. They are also never spoken to directly or individually, only in the form of ritual chants and poems.

As far as the Türna are aware, the Ífá have no spoken language, at least none that they can hear, and communicate instead through what can only be described as telepathy. Essentially, communication with the Ífá is performed largely through careful speech on the part of the Türna, and "vibes" returned from the Ífá. Words are not conveyed, merely strong emotion and clear ideas. When an Ífá imparts an idea to you, it involves suddenly having thoughts & emotions that feel simultaneously familiar and foreign, as though someone else's thoughts and emotions are integrating themselves into your own. It is *not* mind control, as it is easy to differentiate ones own thoughts from those of the Ífá, but it does come with a very compelling urge to agree. One can choose *not* to agree, but it is very uncomfortable to do so - feelings of guilt and malaise tend to follow for a few hours after rejecting a thought from the Ífá.

Basically, Ífá are considered eldritch beings too advanced for human comprehension and avoided when not being specifically invited to rituals. Türnan children are warned against wandering the forest alone and without protection. (Protection comes in the form of charms enchanted by the Ífá themselves - basically a hall pass for the woods worn as a necklace or bracelet.)

### Art

Türna enjoy handcrafts beyond their livelihoods, jewelry making, woodworking and carving, weaving and leatherwork. Türnan homes are predominately wood, and every supporting beam in every structure is elaborately carved, sometimes taking days or weeks to complete. It's traditional for a Türna to begin carving their first beam as they reach maturity, in anticipation of building their own home or adding onto the home of their future spouse.

Türnan milk is blue, as are the small, wooly, ungulate livestock which produces it - both are known as kálprás (although milk, more generally, has another name - ōmʄẹ̇ta). Kálprás milk is one of the main sources of dye in Türnan textiles, along with several native forest flowers, and the reddish-brown clay that makes up a lot of the forest floor. Kálprás wool is a major source of the textiles themselves, as well as grass-made linen.