Nalukka

**Nalukka** were inter-tribal social organizations in Barau based on particular interests or activities such as singing, dancing, cooking, and esoterica. Nalukka were typically sex-segregated and, although their membership was not secret, they often developed pageantry around secret knowledge that would form the core of the group. Some activities were viewed as inappropriate for the formation of Nalukka, notably hunting and forestry which were strictly the domain of the tribal unit.

## History

### Origins

In the forest regions of Barau where swidden agriculture was the primary mode of sustenance, tribes and families would move around cyclically as soil nutrients were depleted. Along the way, tribes would occasionally pass along the same path and, if relations were friendly, both groups would stop to share news and trade before moving on. Many tribes would share familial ties, which made it appropriate for men and women to mingle freely, but separately. Friendships could form from these interactions and connections could be maintained over a distance by intermediary relationships. Information flowing along these lines of communication was often confidential and concerned with marriages, deaths, and children, so only trusted friends would be included in the chain of messages.

Over time, as lines of communications became vast webs of tangential relationships, practices around recognizing a friend of a friend became formalized. Pass phrases, handshakes, or secret knowledge could be used to confirm that strangers shared a common network of friends and lower the strict rules of propriety that governed interactions social interactions. For example, among the Black Okra of the Veloyvu in northern Ganon, a sorority of women who shared advice on how to cook stews and organized the import of parsley, members carried a small piece of honey candy; when members met on the road they would exchange their sweets, sit, and suck on the candy while they spoke, then get up to follow their respective families once the candy was gone.

## Features

* Badges, handshakes, pass phrases to indicate and confirm membership
* Later printed folios and pamphlets distributed at larger meetings
* Religious ties to specific deities or powers

## Notable organizations

**Kuruttu Catalam** (Blind Corpse Society) was an influential Nalukka organized around the practice of murder. Because killing humans was conceptually linked to hunting, it was generally considered a negative association and members generally did not advertise their participation. According to the society's history of itself, it was formed by two women with abusive husbands who agreed to murder the other's spouse. Although not the only Nalukka to engage in this behavior, Kuruttu Catalam is widely known through the "Handbook of Murder" which was published in various countries after the 8th century. The book is almost entirely apocryphal, but captured the imagination of various peoples who feared the presence of hidden assassins. Some of the references indicate an author who was familiar with Ganon customs, even if they were never initiated into the Kuruttu Catalam or any other Nalukka.

## Legacy

**Mukamaṟṟa** (lit. "faceless") is a political philosophy in some states in Barau which promotes consensus-based decision making and avoids attribution of responsibility to individuals.