Mesduat is a system of culture-specific non-verbal communication used among the
Rostrans of the
Rostran Archipelago Confederacy, especially among the
Greathouse families. Based on a combination of gestures, posture, positioning choices within a space, fashion, and other factors, the system of Mesduat provides an avenue for
romance and other social intrigues with a built-in facility for discretion and deniability. Rostrans of all stripes will intentionally either misrepresent or simply not discuss Mesduat with outsiders, as mastery of the 'secret signs' must be earned with social trust and long experience.
Writing System
Mesduat has no writing system and, in fact, is intentionally passed down as an oral tradition in lieu of written records because doing so provides the air of mystery that makes it so appealing to the famously stoic Rostran peoples. Sociological studies into the 'silent culture' of the Rostrans gave Mesduat its name, but no single comprehensive account exists as no one well-integated enough with High Rostran and Low Rostran culture to understand Mesduat would then want to spoil that mystery by rendering it exoteric to non-Rostran readers. Indeed, a failure to intuit Mesduat signs incorrectly is often a means by which RAC counter-intelligence forces recognize Bards-Recursant in their midst; Voxelian spies tend to over-educate themselves on the target's culture in preparation for missions and, thus, unintentionally distinguish themselves from tourists and others who will either not see the signs or misinterpret them the majority of the time.
Mesduat does not have a complete grammar and, thus, sits at the boundary of what constitutes a 'language.' A given gesture may convey a broad intention that can be honed down to a more precise meaning through other context clues, but individual 'mands' serve more to set the tone and invite verbal interaction than to convey a complete linguistic meaning in their own right.
As the islands and more distant settlements of the Confederacy are separated by gulfs of sea and
geometry alike, their individual brands of Mesduat have undergone a process similar to allopatric speciation. Thus, the 'social meaning space' of each element of Mesduat is slightly different between regions but with significant overlap; this is similar to how different dialects have slightly different spectral ranges assigned to each color word - the
Iuxat 'blue' is not the same as the
Vozendi 'blue,' for example - but for social intentions rather than matters of qualia. The places where the cultural definition of Mesduat signs do not overlap are an occasional source of offense and misunderstanding. On the other hand, because meanings to the signs of Mesduat can be esoteric, especially to those altogether non-Rostran, these signs are regarded as a source of cultural strength and unity in that they allow for the conveyance of messages that outsiders have little chance of intuiting.
Because it is is socially influenced rather than managed from the heights of legal and academic institutions in the manner of Iuxat, Mesduat is also more fluid and tends to develop new signs in response to pop culture, politics, and regional events. Mesduat trends tend to form within a given generation and ossify among members of that generation by the time its members reach midlife. It may sometimes behoove a participant to use more archaic signs than those of their coevals as a sign in and of itself that one wishes to engage with others in a more formal manner; by adopting the gesures of their parents or grandparents, participants in Mesduat are also reaching for the air of respect that these elders engender, but are also expected to reciprocate in kind.
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