Kuptii

Naming Traditions

Unisex names

Kuptii has no concept of gender, so names tend to be 1-5 syllables, usually adaptations of the name of an ancestor spirit. In the last century names from Uurdu Ladi or Gui Biaozhun have become popular with Kuptii living closely with Larani or Gui Strati.

Family names

Kuptii do not trace family lines. Each Kuptii instead identifies with their community, be it a village, neighborhood, or Warband. As such, they use those as family names. Those names will be something literal about the community, usually its physical location or purpose. A Kuptii from a village on the Aesko Volcano would have the name Eesko P'e K'ii appended after their given name, to identify them as from "Volcano Village". The issue arises when there is more than one group that uses those names, resulting in confusion. This example is of particular note, as many villages use the surname Volcano Village, resulting in most removing or shifting some syllables to create a mostly unique surname.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

The Kuptii speak the language of the same name. It varies through the islands, mostly on stresses. The further south one goes, the more stress is placed towards the end of the word. The few Kuptii who live on the Peninsula tend to place stress on the first syllable, while those on Apeskii Nye place stress on the last syllable. Kuptii speakers on Anyo Nye, due to the influence of the Gui, avoid stressing any sylable.

Culture and cultural heritage

Kuptii culture is all about animism and being in touch with nature. They also have a disdain for the Setting Sun, as they view it as the source of destructive forces. Those forces themselves are not inherently evil, as eventually, their culture will die, but it is their duty to make it last as long as possible. They have a cultural focus on cycles and morphing those cycles. One cannot change destiny, but one can alter the details. The setting sun heralds the end of the daily cycle, and the end of the cycle is what must be staved off as long as possible. Thus, things that come from the West are to be warded off.

Shared customary codes and values

Kuptii society can be mostly described as wholesome. They manage to actually keep a society based on equal respect, admiration, and cooperation going, even in spite of Lati and Larani society pushing one of competition, betrayal, and ruthlessness.

Average technological level

Kuptii tribal tech is at a pre-stoneworking level. That definition leaves out their great abilities at woodworking, especially with their native druidic movement.

Common Etiquette rules

Common etiquette among Kuptii when meeting someone after a period of not seeing each other is to embrace. For Kuptii being introduced, it is to place their left hand on the other's heart.

Common Dress code

The Kuptii dress in whole pelts. Mixed fabrics and fabrics that take more than one animal are seen as blasphemy against nature, so generally, an outfit will consist of a dress around the waist and little else. The warm climate makes this an easy reality to live, and many non-Kuptii have adopted similar styles of dress, albeit with more ornateness and jewelry.

Art & Architecture

Kuptii art takes the form of symbolic art pieces, woven through nature by their native druids. Their architecture largely consists of trees and other flora molded together to create buildings, usually little more than huts. A notable element in the absence of any window on the western side of a building. Practically, it helps shield against the hurricanes that plague the archipelago, but it has evolved a cultural connotation of shielding against evil spirits.

Birth & Baptismal Rites

When a baby is born, it wil be positioned in a cradle facing the western sky. There it will sit, with only the mother to take care of it, for a day. After that day, if it survives, it will have been rejected by the setting sun, allowed to continue its vain struggle against the end of the world's endless turning.

Funerary and Memorial customs

When a Kuptii dies common custom is for their body to be burned away by volcano heat. A member of their clan/community will carry them as far up to the volcano mouth as possible, and allow the heat to burn their body away. The higher they go, the more intense the heat, and so the faster they will burn. The faster the body burns, the more blessed the clan will be.

Common Taboos

Things that would be taboo in our society would be taboo in theirs.

Common Myths and Legends

There are plenty Kuptii myths and legends, mostly used as fables for children, as moral lessons. Recounted here will be some of the most famous. 

Long ago, on a lazy day, Rock was sleeping with his best friend Shade. Slowly, over the course of the day, Sun pulled Shade away from his friend Rock. Rock awoke and found his friend gone, and mourned and mourned. But then, the next day, Shade came back to him, able to appear because of their nearby friend, Tree. Thus Rock learned that just because his friends weren't always there, doesn't mean they abandoned him. 

The world was always there, but it also wasn't. There was a time when a different world exited in the place of this one, with its own people. But one day, the sun rose and the world was cracked. Each day, it broke more and more, until one day, the sun rose on a broken world. A world that day by day, would knit itself back together. Then day by day, it would break. Break and reform, break and reform, until one day, the world reformed into ours. And one day, it will break again, and we'll be gone. But after us will come a new world, with new people. 

Some Kuptii have begun to believe that the end of The Dark Millenium heralded by the Larani will be the day their world breaks. They don't track years, but they figure if so many of the outlanders believe this day is special, where the world will change, who is not to say this might be the end of the cycle?

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

Kuptii value connection with nature. Physical appearance matters little, it is the accessories one wears and their connection to the spirits that defines how conventionally beautiful a Kuptii is to their society. Someone who wears jewelry wrought with metal or sewn fabrics is seen as unattractive, while those who use whole pelts, laurel wreaths, and wear vines and leaves are seen as beautiful.

Gender Ideals

The Kuptii have no concept of gender. While physical differences are recognized as existing, outside of childbirth, no importance is placed upon them.

Courtship Ideals

Courtship should be a mutual process, as relationships should be unions of love. Political marriages are anathema to them, thus leading to conflict with Lati, who assumed marrying into the tribal hierarchy would keep them loyal.

Relationship Ideals

Relationships among Kuptii should be built on mutual love and respect. Political relationships are a foreign and unwanted concept, and due to the importance Kuptii place on both parties being equal in power dynamics, relationships between Larani are rare. Some Kuptii are folded into relationships with Lati, but this is extremely rare, and most of the time it is against the will of the Kuptii in question.

Major organizations

99.9% if all Kupti alive are in the Kuptii Refuge, a Kingdom in the Empire of Laran.

Druids

The only form of magic practiced by the Kuptii is a learned form of nature magic, the practitioners being referred to as Druids by the Larani. It is a learned art, where over the course of years, the student will learn to live through nature, as if it were a part of them. They are an ascended version of what the Kuptii strive to be. Though it is rare, it is possible for a Kuptii to Ascend. When this occurs, the Druid'sDaemon Prince form will usually be that of a nature spirit, often an incredibly powerful version of a Dryad. They rarely go to the Dameonlands, often staying in the Kuptii Archipelago, living in remote areas, occasionally interacting with mortals who come to seek their aide. They are a known, but not liked part of the island's nature, especially because they break the cultural philosophy about cycles. 

Druids are the closest thing the Kuptii have to royalty, as they often act as governors and clan representatives. On a city council, a Kuptii neighborhood's representative often will be a Kuptii Druid.

Gui Kuptii

While discussed in the article on the Kuptii Refuge, Gui Kuptii take more from Kuptii culture than what is mentioned there. Most Gui Kuptii abandon their cultural gender norms, an all too present reality on Maingye. They also tend to adopt the Kuptii clan system into their own, defining clans not just as lineage but also as community, creating a system of relations from direct family, to blood relations, to community relations, to outsiders. Gui clans tend to be far larger, encompassing an entire city rather than just a neighborhood. While a Kuptii from Endai Jung may feel no kinship with another Kuptii from outside the North Native Quarter, a Gui Kuptii will feel kinship with anyone from the city. The animism of the Kuptii blends interestingly with their emperor worship, where some of the emperors become associated with the ancestor and nature spirits of the Kuptii.

There is also the Larani influence, though it is far less pronounced. The Lati gave up on assimilating the Gui Strati when they first arrived and needing someone to frame themselves against, so they can feel superior (as fascists do) the Larani made no attempt to integrate parts of their culture into the Gui Strati. It still happened, notably with Lati also becoming associated with ancestors, and the ambitious nature of Larani society, but to a much lesser degree.

Encompassed species

• Human

Related Organizations

• Kuptii Refuge

Related Locations

• Kuptii Archipelago