Aimlowy People

## Aimlowy

The Aimlowy people are a human civilization currently settled in the Southeastern Lands, right next to the Taadži people.

### Basic Information

* Name of the nation in local language: Aimlowy
* Years of existence: year 1, month 4 - present
* Ruling figure's name: Medilkheegooylsywgalyleesoo - Medilkheegoo ('Gift of the Current') son of Galyleesoo
* Founding player's name: amerotz
* Controlling player's name: amerotz
* Languages: Theetiaimlowy (or 'Theeti')

### Unlocked Technology

**Level 1**

* Interaction
	+ Nation's representative
	+ Trade Rules
* Education
	+ Schools
	+ Indoctrination
* Mobility
	+ Animal taming
* Government
	+ Citizens' assembly
	+ Outer urban area
* Inventions
	+ Basic recreation
	+ Stone houses
	+ Basic paths

**Level 2**

* Interaction
	+ Translator Schools
* Education
	+ Apprenticeships
* Government
	+ Identification
* Mobility
	+ Small Boats
* Inventions
	+ Writing

**Level 3**

* Mobility
	+ Sailing Boats

## Language

The Aimlowy people speak ‘Theetiaimlowy” (literally “the language of the Aimlowy”), which they often refer to simply as “Theeti” (i.e. “the language”). Some of the most common words are:

* thateel, man
* iwam, woman
* gal, eye
* leesoo, sea
* bal, tree
* luil, river
* aim, people
* leegyn, black
* lowi, water
* inom, house

Word order is strictly SOV, both in principal and subordinate clauses.

Each sentence consists of three groups (Subject, Object, Verb) and every one of them is a single word built from variuos stems. Each grup may contain another nested SOV group to build more complex sentences.

There are 8 tenses and 4 moods.

Every word may act as a noun, adjective or verb depending on context and its position within the SOV groups.

Some common sayings:

* *naphi tadysiphetegal!* you're as blind as a Taadži!
* *mungool fyphiluil*, to take the river's salt (doing something stupid and useless)
* *balnge inom silumta*, (just) one tree builds you a house

## Most common religion

Like the near Taadži, the Aimlowy believe that they are children of the Sun (E'elee) and the Moon (Thasite), but the main focus of their religion are the gods Leesoo and Luil, the Sea and the River.

### Creation myths

There is no reference text, but rather a series of myths that are widely known and passed through the generations.

#### The world

The Sun and the Moon are the creators of the world and they were there before anything else. They live in the Usalemsam (the 'High Sky'), from which they illuminate the world.

No one knows why E'elee and Thasite created the world, apart from them: it happened and that's everything that the Aimlowy are allowed to know.

They made the Aimlowy people to inhabit it and to tell their parents how it's shaped, since they made it too big to be illuminated at all times without leaving their place.

But when the Aimlowy arrived, they didn't know how to survive, until they encountered Leesoo and Luil, who gave them water and tought them to grow crops, to fish and to travel by sea.

They are angry towards their creators, because they didn't give them the means to survive; but they are thankful for their existence and fear their power.

However, they will encounter the Sun and the Moon again only in the afterlife; in the meantime, they prefer to worship Leesoo and Luil, which guarantee them food and water and were so kind when the Aimlowy arrived.

#### Leeso and Luil

Leesoo and Luil are a side effect of the creation: Thasite cut themselves with a sharp rock, and from their blood Leesoo was born. E'elee cut themselves too while trying to help Thasite, and from E'elee's blood Luil was born. Leeso and Luil quickly reached the world and covered it in water, running away from their parents.

They don't follow their commands and sometimes their parents punish them: the Sea (Leesoo) becomes agitated and destructive by the power of Thasite and the River (Luil) gets deprived of its water by E'elee.

The Aimlowy pray regularly to Luil and Leesoo to ensure that they will give them sustainment, but when they get punished from the Sun and the Moon, they pray them to stop and apologize for Leesoo and Luil. If their prayers don't have effect, they start threatening them and say that they won't tell them about the world in the afterlife if they don't stop the punishment.

#### The afterlife

There will be a time when the Sun and the Moon will have too much power: on that day, Luil and Leesoo will die and evaporate back to their parents. Without food or water, all Aimlowy will arrive in Usalemsam and there each one of them will tell E'elee and Thaseti what happened during their lives and what they learned. They will talk to the Sun at night, and to the Moon during the day, so that they can continue doing their work. When the last Aimlowy will have told their life story, E'elee and Thaseti, now knowing everything about the world, will descend and inspect it personally, to see if what the Aimlowy told is true. By doing so, they will leave it in darkness and they won't be able to come back because of it. The Aimlowy will remain trapped in the now dark Usalemsam for the rest of eternity.

When an Aimlowy dies, before going to Usalemsam they will wait for all the others and in the meantime they will collect their memories and experiences. There is no particular place where they wait, they instead often roam the places they have seen to check if they remember everything correctly. The world each Aimlowy spirit can see reflects the state of the world at the Aimlowy's death and they can't see how it changes because they haven't experienced it. In this stage each Aimlowy spirit is alone, because it's believed that no Aimlowy can die in the same exact moment as another.

### Religious life

#### Prayers

Every citizen can pray for Leesoo and Luil alone and whenever they want, but every prayer to the Sun and the Moon must be done by numerous people, to ensure that they will hear them from far away and to appear stronger when threatening them.

#### The Eleethlowigal

To coordinate these collective prayers there are the so called Eleethlowigal ('They (who) watch the water'), who decide when a prayer is needed. Each town or village has its own Leenthlowigal (singular), but bigger cities may have more, each one representing a part of the population. The capital, Upylilmyloo, has five Eleethlowigal and a chief Leethlowigalemsam ('the High Leethlowigal'). While originally priests, they gained more power during the years and they now detain the power de facto in each city.

Each Leethlowigal is assigned to a Inomlowi ('water house'), in which a water filled basin must be present at all times. They change the water every day to renew Leesoo and Luil's strength. They do this every day at a different hour, following a particular calendar, to make sure that their strength it's equally spreaded throughout the months. In Upylilmyloo, for its special position where the River and the Sea meet, they change the water twice a day, at the sunrise and at the moonrise, the first time with river water, the second time with sea water, so that Luil can resist E'elee and Leesoo can resist Thasite. For very special situations, two water filled vases can be brought from Upylilmyloo to a city to perform this particular ritual. The Leethlowigalemsam lives in Upylilmyloo's Yanaltu, which is believed to be the first Inomlowi and hosts a gigantic ritual bowl.

#### Religious occasions

Special rituals are followed when the power of the Moon and the Sun is believed to be at its maximum: on the Summer's solstice and when there is a full moon.

The first is called Nokune'elee ('Day of the sun'): rituals are performed all day long to weaken E'elee and maintain Luil strong.

The second is called Nokunthasite ('Day of the moon'): this time rituals are performed all night to make Leesoo stronger.

If the two dates coincide, it's considered an exceptionally unlucky day and it's called Usalphu ('Two Skies'). All Nokunthasite and Nokune'elee rituals are performed and there are special prayers for that day only.

When the Sun and the Moon's power are at their minimum the Aimlowy celebrate Nokunluil and Nokunleesoo ('day of Luil' and 'day of Leesoo'). While Nokunluil is a yearly festivity, Nokunleesoo occurs monthly, following the lunar phases. If Nokunluil and Nokunleesoo occur on the same day they call it Silumta ('Building'): in every city a big pire is constructed and burns all day. The pire is mainly made of wood, but every Aimlowy can bring something that he wants to get rid of to give it to the Sun and the Moon; it's believed that since they are both weak they can't do any harm to Luil and Leesoo and the gifts they receive will make them kinder towards the Aimlowy.

The most important festivity occurs when there are eclipses: on this day they believe that E'elee and Thaseti don't care about the Aimlowy and spend time with each other. On this day most social norms are suspended and everyone can enter in the Inomlowi, where often a big and rich 'buffet' is offered all day long. They call it Leekhuinphete ('little night')

## Moral values and principles

### Funerals

Unlike the Taadži, the Aimlowy believe that their body is sacred and must be given to Leesoo and Luil to thank them for everything they provide. This means that after an Aimlowy's death their body is cleaned repeated times and then put on a small ritual boat, which is then burned while drifting away on the nearest body of water. By doing so they give their body to Leeso and Luil, but they also give a part of it to the Sun and the Moon in the sky, hoping that they will receive the gift and be kind to the other Aimlowy. The funeral is often conducted by the Leethlowigal alone and the family and friends conduct special rituals in the defunct's home.

### Slavery and war

They don't have a particular opinion on slavery: it isn't practiced and the Aimlowy believe that it is immoral towards other Aimlowy. However they don't condemn it if it's done by other tribes.

They don't like war: they believe that living in peace is the best thing for everyone, as long as it is actually possible to peacefully coexist with other nations. They will always try to make deals and find alternative ways, but they will declare war if they think there is no other choice.

### Social norms

The Aimlowy don't have strong role distinctions based on gender, but rather based on age: old people are expected to be wise and to serve as examples to the new generations; since they eventually stop working, they are expected to pray more than the others. The kids are educated to be good workers and to serve their city as they can. The adults must work and provide sustainment to their families and contribute to the enrichment of their city and nation. There isn't particular interest in science for the sake of it, but rather to make practical applications. Everyone learns their work and tries to improve their tools and technologies as they can. The only ones allowed to study are the priests and their helpers. They often reason on the myths and the principles on which the world is based.

Their clothes often coincide with their work clothes, if not too dirty and damaged; otherwise, a simple tunic is used by most people. The Eleethlowigal wear shells and stones as ornaments and have elaborated hair styles.

### Curiosities

It's common thing to bring a water bottle filled with fruits when visiting someone for some occasion. The Aimlowy will store it with the others and make a traditional liquor called Eelfoosiwu ('the guest's drink') which is expected to be served the next time the guest will come.

The national hero is Geesenukeelkhafikysilumta ('Geesenukeel the City Builder') who is believed to be the founder of Upylilmyloo and the first one to build an Inomlowi temple, which eventually became Upylilmyloo's Yanaltu (a Inomlowi in Upylilmyloo with a gigantic bowl of water).

## Second language

The second language the Aimlowy's upper class speak is the Taadži language, for its proximity and the relations between the two nations. It's learned mainly by the Eleethlowigal, but travellers and merchants usually have a basic understanding of it.

## Traditions

### Food and beverages

Since the abundant water is not always drinkable as it is, the Aimlowy have developed various brewing techniques and Aimlowy cuisine features a variety of liquors and beers. They usually accompany their meals with a light beer (which they refer to simply as 'Lowi', 'water') and it's common to have a little bit of liquor before going to bed (the so called 'Leegynleekhuin', 'Night Black'). Most dishes involve fish and crabs are considered to be exceptionally good and tasty. They have a kind of bread with berries which is cooked with reeds passing through it in vertical ovens and that is considered very typical.

### Sports

Every Aimlowy knows how to use a canoe and there are often competitive races on the river. Another quite common sport is what they call 'Kheewylwu', which is a variant of the Taadži 'kavvurwo pnze': a delicate object must be brought to the end point using only a stick in the fastest way possible without damaging it in any way. The player may also interfere with their adversaries.

## Art

### Manufacts

Aimlowy art is mainly focused on woodworking and pottery, as the near forest and the river provide lots of wood and clay. They make almost everything out of wood, which they then decorate with simple straight lines and geometric patterns. There are numerous types of vases, bowls and mixed pottery, embellished with shells and by carving curvilinear patterns and knots; they use a technique which involves mixing a wire in the intended shape with the clay and removing it once the clay is cooked to reveal the pattern.

There isn't a big interest in painting, mainly because of the lack of natural pigments in the area.

### Architecture

Aimlowy architecture is simple and very box-like: buildings are designed to be adequate to their function and don't have more than necessary; decoration is limited to simple line patterns and sometimes decorated tiles are glued to the walls.

### Stories

The Aimlowy tradition is exclusively oral and rudimental forms of writing are used only to make basic computations and to write down a few things. They have a lot of stories regarding the creation of the world and the afterlife. One particular cycle of tales is the Inoolsudageesenukeelkhafikysilumta ('The stories of Geesenukeel the City Builder'), which tells the story of the national hero Geesenukeel.

## Government

The Aimlowy are organized in indipendent cities, which all respond to Upylilmyloo in case of matters of particular importance. There is no formal Aimlowy nation, but they do have a common and strong identity.

The power is detained by the Eleethlowigal priests, making the Aimlowy government a theocracy. They don't try to impose their religion on other tribes and they tolerate the Taadži religion, with which they have some points of contact.

### Upylimyloo's Leethlowigalemsam

The current High Priest of Upylilmyloo is Medilkheegoo ('Gift of the Current'). His full name is Medilkheegooylsywgalyleesoo (Medilkheegoo son of Galyleesoo). He became High Priest a year ago and intends to expand Upylilmyloo's territory to the Southern coasts and the inner forests.

Unlike most Aimlowy, he firmly believes in progress and wants to gain contact with other tribes to make his civilization flourish.

He wants to unite all Aimlowy cities under Upylimyloo and to define a clear organization of the state.

He has a personal militia of Leethooaluida at his command to pursue his interests.

### Decisional process

The population has a limited possibility to express its opinions and generally doesn't care. The priests can almost always decide autonomously and justify their decisions with some religious motivation. If a decision makes the population upset, all adult citizens are allowed to discuss a new solution and to vote. If this solution turns out to be bad, the Aimlowy who proposed it is condemned to spend a week on a small boat: they went against the will of Luil and Leesoo, who spoke through the priests, and thus they have to apologize. If they return, it means that the gods forgave them and they can go back to their life. The Aimlowy tend to respect the Eleethlowigal's decisions because they want the gods favour.

### Police

The Eleethlowigal have lately started to reclute what they call 'Leethooaluida' ('helpers') who help them in their religious functions but also act as a form of police. The Leethooaluida take care of the troubles in a discrete way and rarely leave a trace of their acts.

### Punishments and laws

There is no formal law: the Leenthlowigal judges case by case and the same rules apply as for any other decision.

There is no capital punishment, because it's believed that the gods only can decide on someone's life. They will instead send the Aimlowy on a boat and let the gods decide. Other punishments include the confiscation of assets and, in some rare cases, the exile.

## Prejudice

### Taadžis

It's common belief that the near Taadži people are almost totally blind because of their pitch black eyes. The Aimlowy think of the Taadži as friends and admire their intelligence and spirituality, even though their beliefs don't totally match.

### Strangers

As a young nation, they haven't met many tribes yet; they don't mind occasional visitors, but they're suspicious towards foreigners who want to stay. They are allowed to if they are able to build their own house without any help, to prove that they can be useful to the city. The Aimlowy are proud of their culture, but they are curious towards other nations' habits, cuisine and art and if they manage to obtain some exotic artifact they will display it in their house with great pride.

### Other Aimlowys

People with disabilities are considered unlucky and can rely on the help of the community, but they aren't seen very well if they just complain without trying their best to contribute.

Elders who drink too much, while common, are considered useless, but they have really good jokes.

## Flag

There is no Aimlowy flag, since there is no Aimlowy state. Every city has its diamond shaped symbol which can be found on the local Inomlowi. It usually represents the city's position or something special that the city produces.