Lussan

Ranis Dlabin, Lussan ambassador to Louisia

Lussans are a relatively homogenous ethnicity, almost exclusively settled on their sizeable native island and some very small islands near it. Instead of venturing outwards and trading with other nations or spreading out into the ocean on boats, the Lussans turned inward. Entering the immense, labyrinthine cave system further inland, the Lussans quickly learned to map out these tunnels. Traveling under the surface of Paan Atta, they avoid dangerous natural conditions and creatures. Navigating with sound, touch, and muscle memory is taught to children from a young age, as they travel underground with their caretakers. The majority of Lussans use specialized sticks/canes to get a feel for the surfaces around them with much less risk.

There is a misconception, a stereotype held by distant outsiders, that Lussans live in caves all day long. Luckily, in more recent times this idea is fading, slowly yet surely.

Lussans spend the majority of their time aboveground, eating, making fires, cooking, talking, foraging, hunting, fishing, and much more. They go underground for travel, as shelter from intense weather, and sometimes to sleep.

## Naming Traditions

### Unisex names

As in the majority of cultures of Paan Atta, Lussan personal names are not gender specific. Sounds are favored that are vocal rather than blown, sounds that bounce off of cave walls rather than hissing off one's lips and falling a short distance to the ground. Sounds such as "f", "p", "s", "k", "c", ch, "z", zh, dj, "j", "h", "g" and "v" are uncommon or not present in the Lussan language.

### Family names

Family names are longer and more common than personal names. Unlike in other cultures, they are taken whenever someone becomes part of a family through blood, adoption, living conditions, or found-family-type acceptance. This change can happen at any age, but the family the person is entering almost always initiates the change.

## Culture

### Art and architecture

Lussan wallpaintings, murals, and frescoes are the lifeblood of homes, buildings, and sacred caves. Over the millennia, the style has changed, but the passion has never wavered. Most common are pastoral scenes and familial depictions. Animal motifs are common, as are stylized and ageless faces.

Homes are plaster-walled and made to be painted by occupants. When a home is bought, inherited, or restored, it is highly taboo to remove or obscure previous paintings. Instead, these are added onto, embellished, and/or worked around.

### Major language groups and dialects

The Lussan language has a notable lack of geographical dialectical differences, but many youths have begun to take up a more cosmopolitan, less formal, so-called 'radio dialect' due to global influences in the media. This is slowly becoming more acceptable professionally and less of a rebellious manner of speech.

### Shared customary codes and values

Lussan pride runs deeper than the island's caves, and thus romance with those from other cultures is looked down upon, as are both inward and outward migration. Diplomacy is an auspicious and admirable profession, but great discipline is expected. The diplomat, the ambassador to other cultures, must make sure their cultural pride, speech, and appearance are not marred or diluted by the influence of outsiders. Those in professional contact with foreigners are trained more rigorously, thoroughly, and extensively by Lussans than by any other culture.

### Common Etiquette rules

Lussans will announce, introduce, and greet one another as soon as they begin to approach someone, even from a distance. This custom is related to the caverns, but applicable at all times, above and below the ground.

There are no touch-based greetings or friendly gestures, and when other cultures present them to a Lussan it is almost always viewed as sleazy, overly friendly, or crudely flirtatious.

### Foods & Cuisine

The Lussan diet is quite diverse: including both freshwater and saltwater fish, as well as insects, crustaceans, edible plants, small to medium game, and salamanders from both above and below ground.

### Birth & Baptismal Rites

Children are ideally birthed below ground since their eyes are closed and they are fragile and vulnerable. They are kept in the shelter of the caves until their eyes are consistently open and they start to move independently. Personal names are given when the eyes open.

### Funerary and Memorial customs

The eyes of the dead are closed as quickly as possible. Since their eyes are closed just like those of newborn babies, they too are taken to the caverns. There, in special, well-ventilated caves near the surface where the sun peeks through holes and gaps, they are burned. Their loved ones lay near the pyre solemnly and ideally sleep one night next to it before cleaning the space and eating again.

### Common Myths and Legends

It is said that the Cave Olms are the souls of those who died before their eyes opened, now eyeless and without speech, forever navigating dark subterranean rivers for their next meal.

## Ideals

### Beauty Ideals

The height of beauty in Lussan culture focuses on the lips, especially on a wider lower lip and a rounded, petal-like shape. Jawlines, noses, clothing, and makeup ideally accentuate the lips. Unlike many other cultures of Paan Atta, Lussans almost always have their faces painted white (with varying levels of translucency) for skin protection, visibility, cultural pride, local pride, and beauty. Their lips are often painted in a different color from their face, which varies based on season, location, time period, regional differences, age, marital/familial status, and more.

For thousands of years, Lussans have been shaving the back of their heads with single blades to feel the minute, yet deeply important changes to air patterns in caverns. Flexible but strong fabric slippers, since ancient times, have kept Lussan feet warm and safe but allowed a natural feel for and grip upon the cave floor.

### Courtship Ideals

Courtships are ideally practiced in caves, the deeper the better, due to their sacredness, safety, and ability to focus on the voice (which reflects the mind and soul) rather than on appearances and the body. There are specific age, socialization-based seasonal rituals conducted in caves where groups come together to introduce youths and then give them some distance. This courtship continues almost entirely in the caves with youths scheduling when and where to meet again, rarely seeing one another in the light until the relationship becomes more clear. Adults looking for love have separate events and locations for obvious reasons but follow the same tradition albeit a bit more loosely as their families direct them less.

### Relationship Ideals

In a relationship, the ideal love language is seen as fixing the other person's appearance, whether through social/political honor or through applying/adjusting their facial paint, their clothes, their hair, or their shoes. Those in a relationship also wash one another as a show of trust and connection. Ideally, this will occur in underground, moving bodies of water. As a sign of devotion, many will find ingredients for paint and/or mix and apply it for their love.