Utari
The Utari people primarily live on the Utari Islands and on the west coast of the island of Kitlineq. They are cousins to the Hoshimoto Utari of the island of Hoshimoto, and support them in their ongoing resistance to the Yanjin occupation of the island.
The Utari are organized into extended family groups that they call Kurinu. Each kurinu is led by an Atsurai, who is typically the oldest member of the family. The Atsurai is responsible for guiding the kurinu, and making important decisions for the well-being of the group. Each kurinu will typically be allied with three to five others with whom they traditionally intermarry (one never marries within their own kurinu). These extended groupings are called Furukarui, and they interlock with each other to connect all the Utari together, as no kurinu has exactly the same furukarui as any other.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Main Article: Itak
The Utari language is called Itak. It has multiple dialects associated with the various regions where they live. The most signficant of these are the dialects associated with the Utari Islands, the dialect of Hoshimoto, and the Kitlineq dialect.
Foods & Cuisine
Like many cultures in the Great Ring, Utari cuisine depends on seafood. Utari cuisine strives to preserve the natural flavors of the food, and tends towards minimal cooking and preparation, and a meal will usually consist of a series of small courses, each featuring a single ingredient. They strive to have the freshest ingredients possible, and disdain dried or preserved foods as only worthwhile during a famine.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
The Utari believe in allowing hair to grow long, and only cutting or shaving it for certain life-altering occasions, such as becoming an adult in their community, marrying, or for the death of a loved one. At these times, they will ceremonially remove all the hair from their head, including eyebrows and eyelashes, to symbolize that their life is so altered by the change that it constitutes a rebirth. The Utari wear their hair and beards in intricate braids, and weave ornaments such as beads into their hair.
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