Aetheri

Aetheri is a country on the planet of Eoroe. It is mainly populated by spirits, as well as a variety of immigrant monsters and humans. Known characters living in Aetheri include Liya, Numair, Yoshi, Shinobu, and Helygen. Aetheri is a parliamentary representative democracy, with the current parliamentary leader (known in-universe as a Cynn) being Numair d'Escala. There are two major cities, Escalus and Ryvar.

## Physical features

Aetheri is currently mostly comprised of large, flat, fertile plains, that also features a river running through it. Previously there were gigantic trees, growing over a dozen stories tall. However, during the war, all of the trees burned, giving way to the ashy soil now present. There is a problem with flooding, without the trees to hold the soil and keep the shape of the land.

Aetheri tends to have mild summers that come with plenty of rain, and harsher winters.

The animals native to Aetheri include kuuv, suoki, laar, huurtai, rit, and dhuullena.

## History

Aetheri has existed for over 7000 years. The pre-war years are characterized by the constant fighting against the thyft.

### The Great War and Revolution

What Aetherians refer to as the Great War was an attempt to establish colonies off-world, where the thyft would no longer be a danger to spirits. An alliance with the Reifa was formed, who also wanted a more suitable place to settle than their own world. Aetheri also allied with dragons, but less is known about them.

The war began going downhill when Aetheri realized they didn't have the magical capability to open a permanent portal to Earth. This meant getting supplies and troops across worlds was going to be a hassle. As a solution, someone came up with a theory that if Aetheri could physically attach Eoroe to Earth, it would be much easier to open a portal.

Two things happen: Magic users under the direction of the Cynn attempt to move their world, and a large group of thyft begin killing anyone they can get their hands on.

Very quickly, the Aetherians and the Reifa realize they have destroyed the reifa's homeworld (as well as an infinite amount of other ones). The Reifa are withdrawn from the war effort and from their homes in the city to discuss how they can't go home.

The Reifa had been contributing signifcantly to the daily efforts against the thyft, and those in the Palace were distracted by the catastobe that was now their troops on Earth, so the ordinary people were defensely against the thyft. Someone took it into their hands to light a fire in the trees beyond the city's borders to ward off the thyft, or rid them of their habitat, or something. But by morning, the fire had gotten out of hand and there was nothing that could be done to stop it. The people began fireproofing the borders of the city and sending word down the river to other settlements. The Palace still had done nothing to help, sowing the seeds of discontent.

And then the famine started as food began to run low, and the Cynn did not want to open the stores of food inside the palace. People knew there was food inside the palace. This cumulated in a riot of over 1000 people, ending in a couple hundred civilian casualties.

Escala got the idea to do a coup, and his strong sense of justice and logical reasoning eventually turned people to his idea. It was also his idea for Cuppra to do the whole murder part, as they were already allowed in their presence as an *ethkarin*. Cuppra did it, despite their reservations. They were never really a killer.

Escala lead the revolt after that, and people stormed into the palace in quite the bloody act. The entire royal family, several noble houses, as well as hundreds and hundreds of soldiers were killed as result. That accomplished, food stores were opened up and there was enough while people created and expanded existing food making processes in the city. Russi appears, and reveals the construct she had made out of dragon bones and earth to capture sunlight and solve the whole cloud of smoke problem.

Escala became the new Cynn, because he gave out good directions during the revolt and proceeded to continue giving out good directions as asked. He created the ettaldhmi to temper the Cynn's power. The end.

### Exiting Isolation

After that whole fiasco with attempting to colonize Earth, Aetheri just kind of left everyone alone for 7000 years, and when they looked at Earth again there were humans *everywhere* and they had *technology*. It wasn't until Cynn Rhys walked into a post World War One Allies meeting to explain that he was from another world that Aetheri officially left its isolation.

## Culture

### Art

There is a general concept that art should be functional. After the war, certain art forms seemed to stagnate, such as visual arts. However, the influence of other cultures as Aetheri becomes more culturally diverse has given many forms of art a boost. The creation of constructs helped inspire the visual design scene as well. Aetheri has an old, strong literatary tradition, which includes specially spelled books that convey sensory experiences to the reader, in an augmented reality-like fashion. Traditionally, theatre has not been seen as a serious art form. Aetherian music emphasizes acoustics, utilizing custom instruments and unique acoustics of a space to give each person a unique experience to each listener. It is a highly experimental scene.

### Gender

The Aetherian language has one pronoun, *tha*, and does not distinguish gender at all. Gender straight up does not exist. This means that when Aetheri interacted with Earth after its period of isolation, they clashed with everyone on this. Aetherians find referring to peoples genitals rude, and assuming someone's genitals are rude. This means some spirits choose to opt out by using Aetherian pronouns in English, while others choose pronouns they would not be assigned conventionally. Others choose one but get cross if you imply anything about them beyond using the pronoun for its grammatical function, and still others don't care.

#### Yllur

Being yllur is a not uncommon experience, comparable to being transgender. But because of the lack of social concept of gender, yllur does not include any social transitioning, only change in the different aspects of the body to make the spirit more comfortable.

### Religion

The spirits of Aetheri do not have a unified religion for several reasons. On one hand, they have magic and have been able to do things that nature does, like heal and destroy and make pretty things. On the other, spirits are a prey species, and never assumed their world was created for them.

There is quite a bit of superstition and personification, however. Patterns like Luck and Fate are personified, and superstitious rituals exist to try and affect them.

### Family

Aetherians make the distinction between family through blood (*dhnuulcym)* and chosen family (*luomcym*). Your chosen family is often considered more important than your blood family, which creates a culture that's usually more likely to leave toxic familial relationships, but also more likely to cut off members for arbitrary reasons. This is more common in the "upper class" families such as d'Ubis, du Russi, and d'Escala. These cast off members, interestingly, find chosen families with immigrants that feel a similar amount of disconnectedness and isolation.

The word for the person who brings you up, despite their blood relation to you, is *seradh*. The word for specifically one of your blood parents, *dhyrr*, implies a certain distance. The same is true for the word for blood children (*cylt*) and raised children (*iuorin*). Seradh and iuorin often have nicknames for each other. A good example is Helygen and Numair, who call each other Helly and Mari respectively.

Marriage is not legally binding in Aetheri. It is often accompanied with the couple (or group) acquiring their own home, signalling that they are officially out of the dating pool for good. Nobility are often in arranged marriages to help strengthen ties with other old families. The nobility are expected to have affairs, and are open about it. Lower classes consider this opposite to the point of marriage.

A symbolic length of cloth called the *nilaqudh* is tied together during the ceremony, and left tied until one of the members dies. Part of the nilaqudh is often used to wrap the bones of the deceased. Handmade leather necklaces decorated with beads and threads (*malldhya*) are worn nearly always, similar to wedding rings.

### Death

Aetherians are very aware of their own mortality. They also, with the help of magic, are aware of what happens after death, which is usually nothing but sometimes ghosts. But even ghosts will disappear, and the state of absolute nothingness (*muunn*) is considered the last stage of consciousness. Death is associated with stillness and quiet, so most permanent resting places are far from where people live.

Traditionally, there is a decade of burial (*rudh-ieir*) that lets most of the body decompose until the bones, the most lasting part of a person, remains. After rudh-ieir the bones are exhumed, placed in a shroud, and placed in an ossuary, or placed inside some kind of container and buried in what the family considers a good spot.

Red is the mourning colour, and usually the loved ones will keep an object, piece of clothing, etc., to remind them of that person. Mourning is private and personal, traditionally including quietly sharing stories of the deceased.

Terrible criminals are the exception. They are cremated completely and have their ashes scattered.

### Healthcare and Disability

Healthcare by licensed healers is mostly subsidized by the government. People pay in to keep costs low when you need it.

There is a general push for people to get the help they need, mostly because magical diseases can have disastrous effects on the person and, occasionally, bystanders. Mental health is far less stigmatized than on Earth, as well as physical disability. Medical devices such as prosthesis, wheelchairs, canes, and others, are currently in an innovation period. These devices are being made to be more useful, elegant, magically conservative, and customizable.

## Government

The Cynn has two main roles. The first is akin to the speaker of the house or parliamentary leader, leading the *Ettaldhmi*, which translates to the assembly, and managing international relations. The previous Cynn, Cynn Rhys, expanded the Cynns powers to international relations when he remade contact with Earth. The Cynn needs the Ettaldhmi's cooperation for everything but international affairs, which includes negotiating trade agreements and treaties, and establishing immigration law. The Cynn can retire at any time, though the Ettaldhmi has the final say on their replacement.

The Ettaldhmi acts similar to a caucus, with 30 elected members. However, they get to stay on for as long as they like with no term limit. They draft federal law, and occasionally act as a Supreme Court to establish what is meant by laws, as well as to prosecute the Cynn if needed.

### International Relations

Aetheri has decent relations with its only neighbouring country, the Laith Territories, as before Aetheri broke its isolation, the Laith were Aetheri's only option for trade. Aetheri also has good relations with Enodia, and Earth. Aetheri exports quarried stone, precious metals, spellwork, metalwork, glasswork, alcohol, among others. It imports things like textiles, wood, dyes, spices, honey, cane sugar, and others. It has strict regulations on trade.

Some Aetherians are isolationists, sometimes also called traditionalists, believe very strongly in staying self sufficient and cutting off contact from outsiders. Strict isolationists, like those on the Ettaldhmi, object to reaching out to other worlds even with the objection to limit the slave trade. These isolationists are in the minority.

## Immigration

To immigrate to Aetheri, you need to apply at a port of entry, and name a sponsor who lives in Aetheri to be responsible for your actions, if you get into trouble. The sponsor and sponsored person then must live within a certain, unspecified distance of each other until the sponsored person becomes a full citizen. This is half the immigrants age when they immigrated to Aetheri, rounded to the nearest year, up to 50 years. After that, they must not leave Aetheri for too long, or they forfeit their visa. The amount of time required to forfeit the visa is arbitrary and completely up to those manning the boarder.

A naturalized immigrant is a different category from a native-born citizen. It is debated over whether or not a naturalized citizen should be able to sponsor another immigrant. They are currently legally allowed, but can get declined for arbitrary reasons.

While there are a limited amount of visas available each year to prevent strain on Aetheri's resources, there are several loopholes. One is through specific employment, such as a healer with specific clientele, and academic appointment, which is how Shinobu immigrated, with the University as her sponsor. Another loophole is for magic users whose magic is potentially dangerous if left un-mastered. This is how Liya got Helly as a sponsor. The Cynn also has the ability to grant emergency visas, a power that Numair does not like to exploit.

## References

1. ↑ http://tape-hiss.tumblr.com/post/163645974629/its-tape-hiss-time-again-this-months-feature
2. ↑ https://thephooka.tumblr.com/post/9406948782/awesomesauce-that-youre-finally-taking-one-step
3. ↑ http://tape-hiss.tumblr.com/post/171713915153/hello-this-months-tape-hiss-is-an-aetherian#notes
4. ↑ http://tape-hiss.tumblr.com/post/115186204363/a-lot-of-questions-get-thrown-toward-the-strange
5. ↑ http://tape-hiss.tumblr.com/post/97843555953/i-miss-my-goddoghter-send-pictures-soon-anyhow
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Medicine and Magic
7. ↑ https://tape-hiss.tumblr.com/post/48431128985/constructs-in-aetheri
8. ↑ https://tellonym.me/thephooka/answer/3072119928
9. ↑ https://thephooka.tumblr.com/post/119574880985/you-asked-for-it-so-preface-the-whole-discussion
10. ↑ http://tape-hiss.tumblr.com/post/143126687603/what-are-the-common-religions-of-aetheri-if-any
11. ↑ Aetherians and Family
12. ↑ http://tape-hiss.tumblr.com/post/76745575399
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 http://tape-hiss.tumblr.com/post/161217410553/death-and-aetheri
14. ↑ http://tape-hiss.tumblr.com/post/45392877019/mini-tape-hiss-thursday
15. ↑ Aetherian Government
16. ↑ https://tape-hiss.tumblr.com/post/184433354684/may-i-ask-what-kind-of-goods-atheri
17. ↑ https://tape-hiss.tumblr.com/post/184161860995/the-cynn-is-like-a-king-right-why-dont-they
18. ↑ http://tape-hiss.tumblr.com/post/167776990876/aetherian-immigration