Oojibog

Oojibog (from Korean “uju” [space] “bog” [suit, garments] - The Oojibog is a type of outerwear based on the space suits worn by the original Mars colonists which the native Martians adopted for their own use. The first generation oojibog were treated with reverence and carefully maintained, especially prior to reaching the habitability point with terraforming. Since leaving the colony without your oojibog could have fatal consequences, native Martians adopted an attachment to their bog like a child with a security blanket.
Through the generations, replacement oojibog were fashioned, even when no longer needed to walk safely outside. Without the need for pressurization, oojibog became largely customary attire with a vestigial resemblance to the old space suits. Modern oojibog are usually made of thick textiles and may have several layers. The thick segments are separated by thinner sections around the joints, much like their historical counterparts. The oojibog was once described by early terran colonists as looking like a “deflated space suit fashioned from down comforters”.
The suits are usually a solid color with simple dyes or no dyes at all, although the thinner joint sections may sometimes be a different color from the rest of the suit. Common colors include royal blue, powder blue, rust red, forest green, black, and white. There may be decorative linings on formal or ornate oojibog suits worn by the wealthy or well connected.
The oojibog is often paired with a hood resembling a deflated helmet, called a ooja helma. The ooja helma may or may not have a protective visor like space helmets. The visors are useful for protection from dust and the elements, but can impede respirator use.
The suit works well for thermal insulation during Mars’ cold seasons and some provide additional protection. A few are even fashioned to provide pressure protection for travel to Martian highlands. The reputation of the oojibog as a protective garment has taken on an almost mythical quality in later generations, resulting in superstitions about its protective aura against misfortune and malevolent spirits.
In more traditionalist Martian cultures the oojibog may be compulsory to wear when outdoors, a holdover of the paternalistic mandates when Mars was less habitable. This has become less and less common with increased terranization and a loosening of traditional restrictions, with one major exception. Under radical Nascentist Martian cultures, women are required to wear their oojibog whenever in public. The rationale comes from a complex relationship between the sexes in Martian culture.
With the low population among the first wave of native Martians, women were safeguarded for their reproductive value. Though revered by their male counterparts, this paternalistic protection at best resulted in objectification and otherization, while at its worst led to a loss of agency as the protection became an excuse for oppression. The oojibog became an important symbol of the native Martians’ protective mandates toward women.
When the Martian tribal factions first formed, it was important to protect female tribe members from death by decompression, so the limited number of space suits were prioritized for them, even above warriors defending the tribe. Over time this morphed from prioritization into compulsion as the oojibog became largely ceremonial.
To traditionalists, a woman being seen by non-kin without her oojibog is treated as a great shame to her tribe and family. By one interpretation, it is a failure of the tribe to properly safeguard their women. By another, it is an implication that the particular woman is not worthy of protecting. Either way there is implicit societal pressure for women to wear the oojibog, and in many cases this is backed by the threat of violence from moral guardians or even family members.
There are mixed sentiments among Martian women towards the oojibog. Some do not see it as oppressive, instead embracing it as a part of their cultural identity. Deeply pious Martian women even wholeheartedly subscribe to the protective mandate placed upon them by their culture, and chastise or shame women who do not take the oojibog seriously.
Meanwhile there are progressive elements of Martian society that wish to loosen the oojibog requirements for women. Some Martian women have publicly protested the oojibog by refusing to wear it, which deeply angered traditionalists to the point of violence. Such progressives are labeled as terran subversive seeking to destroy Martian cultural identity.
Oddly enough, Martians are not often concerned about terran women when it comes oojibog wear. In most cases, pressure suits -- especially the bulky combat suits worn by terran military troops -- are similar enough to fulfill the protective mandate. Additionally, Martian men likely hold little concern for protecting the lineage of outsiders, especially when they are several orders of magnitude more numerous in population.
There are many variations to the oojibog, such as shorter sleeves that improve manual dexterity for those engaged in labor outdoors. More formal designs may reduce the ooja helma to a heavy stylized collar instead of a full hood. Another type of traditional headwear often accompanies the oojibog in these cases, such as the (pie hat) or (snoopy cap).
Another variation on the oojibog is the traditional battle attire of native Martian warriors, known as the sauma oojibog (lit. Fighting Oojibog). The sauma oojibog is essentially a standard laborer's oojibog with metal plates affixed as armor. These became standard wear for the better equipped tribal militias during the schism conflicts and even in early anti-colonial conflicts. Sauma oojibog were even still in use during the PAC occupation of Hwasong, though the nature of the insurgency meant that obvious combat uniforms could be detrimental to Martian rebels’ ability to blend in with the civilian population. Many militants either started attaching armor to the inside of the suit or forgoing the sauma oojibog altogether.
Even the standard oojibog has become a useful tool for insurgents, who use the bulky clothing to conceal weapons, including suicide bombs. The oojibog also effectively conceals the wearer's identity and facial expressions when paired with a full ooja helma. Insurgent groups like New Dawn use this to circumvent TASA efforts to track high valued targets. Female oojibog in particular are frequently used by suicide bombers to seem innocuous.
Oojibog also feature heavily in Marigeol, Native Martian wedding ceremonies. Women wear a special wedding oojibog that is typically more expensive and ornate than their regular oojibog. If a woman or her family cannot afford a second oojibog for her wedding, they will temporarily decorate her oojibog for the wedding ceremony. The wedding oojibog usually has additional piping along the seams, thicker sleeves and joints, skirt-like additions, and decorative patterns on the sleeves and ooja helma.
During the wedding, the bride and groom enter a private room. The bride presents her marriage braid, which her husband then takes and ties with his own. She then removes her oojibog, symbolizing that she no longer needs to shield and guard herself from her new husband, for he is just as much kin as her brothers and sisters. The two emerge, the bride once again dressed and with her marriage braid tied to her belt. The groom is not required to wear an oojibog during this ceremony, instead wearing an ornate jumpsuit or some other formal clothing. Some men will anyway, especially if the oojibog is the most formal clothing they own.

Item type

Clothing / Accessory

Related ethnicities

• Native Martian