This is a good article. Click here for more information.

Difference between revisions of "Jute"

From CWS Planet
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Line 368: Line 368:


[[File:Sitti railway.png|thumbnail|right|Map of the railways in Sitti, the largest city of Jute]]
[[File:Sitti railway.png|thumbnail|right|Map of the railways in Sitti, the largest city of Jute]]
[[File:Sitti airfield.jpeg|thumbnail|Sitti Airfield]]
[[File:Sitti airfield.jpeg|thumbnail|Kosomo Airstrip]]


===Infrastructure===
===Infrastructure===

Revision as of 23:22, 6 April 2021

Confederated Communities of Jute
Nonaf a Jute a tahadovi ifi
of Jute
Flag
Motto: Life is hard, but worth it
Anthem: Mohomi ude savanhude

(Living in harmony with water, land and air)
Island Jute
South Jute
CapitalNo official capital
Largest city Sitti
Official languages Jutean, Jutean Sign Language
Recognised regional languages Jutean, Neviran, Jute Pidgin, Samwati, Klambari, Sgen
Ethnic groups Juteans (45 %)
Mixed (20 %) Neviran (15 %) indigenous minorities (15 %)
Various refugees (5 %).
Demonym Jutean, Jutese (archaic)
Government Confederation of independent, direct democratic communities
 -  Community Leader (with no executive powers, mediative and balancing function) Coconut Beach
Legislature Community Meeting (local, regional and confederal)
Independent since 1872 from the Saruan Empire
 -  Settlement of the island 800 BC 
 -  Development of Saandism 300-200 BC 
 -  Klambari invasion of Coastal Jutean lands, half of the population dead or made to serfs 100 AD 
 -  Emigration of the other half to Ystel to found Laina 100 AD 
 -  Island Coastal Jutean regain independence 970-980 
 -  Return of a sizable amount of the Ystelian population to the island ~1000 
 -  Begin of the colonizing of Jute by the Neviran Empire 1650 
 -  Recovery of independence 1872 
 -  Unification of Island Jute with South Jute 1912 
Area
 -  Island Jute alone 63,297 km2
24,439 sq mi
 -  Island + South Jute 199,006 km² (76,837 sq mi)
Population
 -  2015 estimate 1,860,000
 -  Density 28.12/km2
72.8/sq mi
Gini10
low
HDI 0.69
medium
Currency The Score (see 5 Economy for important details)
Time zone JST (SCT+8)
 -  Summer (DST) not observed (SCT)
Drives on the n/a
Calling code 80
Internet TLD .jt (rarely used)
Location of Jute in Ystel and the Saru Sea, AEIOU members in light green

Jute (IPA: /ju:tɛ/, Jutean: Jute [jute]), officially the (Slightly) Confederated Communities of Jute (Jutean: Nonaf a Jute a tahadovi ifi [nɑnɐf ɐ jute a tɐhɐdɑʋi ifi]), is a loose confederation of communities located in the northeastern Saru Sea and on the northern part of Ystel. A different, archaic name is also "Ratelland", after the national animal, the ratel or honey badger, though it might also be used to refer only to the communities on the Ystelian mainland.

It is home to several ethnic groups. Aside from Coastal and River Juteans, the main and titular ethnicities, the island part of Jute had already been inhabited by Samwati and Klambari, two unrelated cultures. Aside from these native ethnic groups, Nevirans as former colonizers still form a major ethnic group on Jute. The remainder of the population is made up by people of mixed descent and various smaller immigrant groupings.

Altogether, seven languages are recognized on the main island as official or regional languages, and two on the Ystelian part. On the former, the main languages are the two Jutic languages, (Coastal or Standard) Jutean and River Jutean, legally seen as one language, two are the heritage of the colonial era (Neviran and Jute Pidgin), two, Samwati and Klambari, are unrelated indigenous ones and the seventh one is Jutean Sign Language. In South Jute, the main language is South Jutean, with the Sgen language existing as a native minority language.

Known for being home to one of the last independent non-state societies on Sahar, Jute has in its current form existed since 1872, though the political and social system is traditionally said to trace it roots back at least 2,800 years, to the to a tribal system of the first proto-Jutic settlers.

Instead of a government with a sizable formal bureaucracy, the confederation is instead characterized by its widespread, decentralized system of direct democracy and a subdivision into more than 1,500 small, largely autonomous communities, each organized in an egalitarian collectivist manner and grouped together into counties (or boroughs in towns) and regions, as well as an absence of central political institutions with the exception of the confederal assemblies taking place twice a year and the office of the vunamoena a nonafat a Jute ("Leader of the bigger community of Jute"), who functions as a representative of the island in the country as well as abroad, and also as a lawspeaker and leader of the supreme court. This system has its roots in the traditional tribal democracy of Coastal Juteans, which has existed in some form for 2,800 years, with unsuccessful suppression attempts during the colonial era from the 17th to the late 19th century. However, before the re-establishing of independence in 1872, it did not extend to the Klambari and Samwati, who locally still maintain to a degree their own old political and social system.

Etymology

A common folk etymology for "Jute" is to see it as a compound of ju te, or "this onward" in Jutean, referring to the supposed exclamation of the first settlers roughly 3,000 years ago who meant "this shall be our home from now onwards". However, this has been rejected by most contemporary linguists as not being supported by any trustworthy evidence.

More likely, it comes from the jute plant (of the Corchorus genus), in Jutean also jute, with the word later coming to refer to the island as well, and finally acquiring the third meaning "home", especially "home of a population/group of people" in Modern Coastal Jutean.

History

Prehistory

The first settlers on Jute were groups of neolithic cultures reaching the island from Püzimm at about 2,000-3,000 BC. Little is known about their origin and their culture at the time, but they were the predecessors to the Klambari and Samwati minorities that still live on Jute in modern times. Judging by the available evidence, the split must have happened relative early or have already taken place by the time they set foot on the island, and had been in frequent conflict after it. Many buildings, temples and other structures dating from that time appear to have been destroyed in that time as well.

Much later, in about 800 BC, Jutic people, who would later split into Coastal Juteans and River Juteans, arrived from Lahan on the main island, settling down at the central coasts that had after the long time of conflict become mostly uninhabited. They mostly engaged in simple foraging of fruits as coconuts and sweetsops, leafy greens such as jute, herbs, eggs etc. for sustenance, although their diet was frequently supplemented by fish and later on also gardened vegetables, such as sweet potatoes.

A bathing culture that called for daily bathing or swimming in the sea or river, or failing that, showering with water gained from the rain or from another local water source. This was not just a holdover from their previous life in Lahan (being descendants of the Sanju-Juteans), and later mostly on the sea, but also a way to stay connected with their maritime history, the sea and water in general.

Oral history has it furthermore that philosophical musings go back to the first generations of Jutic people, with discussions about the meaning of life and a possible afterlife being lively but ultimately mostly fruitless. Other people participated in small exploring missions, scouting their surroundings. Some went missing or came back wounded, which is said to be one of the main reasons why 'mohomo havandi' or respecting the wilderness and its dangers and attempting to live in harmony with them became such a fundamental part of both Coastal and River Jutean cultures. Some more exploring is also said to have led to the discovery of new herbs that turned out to have medical properties, and the need for a fair distribution is traditionally seen as what gave first rise to a beginning indigenous understanding of arithmetic.

Ancient history

Growing population numbers meant food distribution became an issue, as it was no longer as abundant as before. According to oral history, this is when the understanding of arithmetic began to further improve, and allowed for more sophisticated distribution methods, with some proto-writing emerging to help with sorting, carved into chunks from trees.

In the evening, talking about and remembering the past is said to have eventually become a tradition of story-telling with their own past as subjects,or the monoliths and stone ruins that could be found in some places alongside the central coast of the island. Whereas nowadays they are being linked to Samwati structures destroyed during one of their many conflicts with the Klambari, Coastal Jutean tradition has it that they were there due to a divine cause or were a natural part of the environment. Other explanations claimed a combination. Due to the small size of the communities and relative isolation, the very concept of people from other populations and cultures did not enter stories at the time, the memory of the contact to other groups on Lahan their ancestors having been forgotten or changed beyond recognition. Sparse encounters with the Samwati on the island however likely actually did exist, even though they would have probably been misunderstood as meetings of people from other Jutean communities that just had happened to develop very different customs and clothing. Contact between the different Jutean communities did exist, even if it usually was infrequent as well, and provided additional material for storytelling, which in some form or another still is a popular evening rite today, although the fire has in many places been replaced by an electric or gas lamp.

In addition to storytelling, exploring the local environment, philosophizing and swimming also remained popular activities in ancient times, and a new discovery is supposed to have led to the creation of a better material suitable for proto-writing. Using the long leaves of a specific plant that allowed for the carving of symbols. Soon however, thick, undrinkable liquid squeezed from specific berries was used instead, and pressed on the leaves using a short stick. Thus simple symbolic drawings could become slightly more accurate. Legend also has that the first flute was made when one of the explorers found a thicker branch when looking for leaves to draw on that happened to be hollow inside, and made a sound when blown. This is traditionally seen as the beginning of the flute music that is still so characteristic of folk music on Jute.

Development of math, a philosophy of math and ancient medicine

Some of the Juteans preferred to expand their small numerical system, and give it some fine-tuning, or so goes oral history. Juteans in this later ancient period are said to have started experimenting with bigger numbers and developed some mathematical puzzles as an alternate pastime, meant to stimulate the brain and ability to reason, although this use of math is said to have been deemed a waste of time by some other people, who favored spending time on answering philosophical questions. To which the fans of recreational mathematics are supposed to have said that such use numbers might be of help in answering the questions of life and beyond and that in any case was not useless, that everything in the world has some purpose. However, this conflict is also said to not have lasted too long, as soon both disciplines had started to mix. This would be the start of a philosophy of math that is still recognized as characteristically Jutean nowadays. Questions such as whether there is such a thing as the biggest and smallest number, or whether numbers had some special meaning inherent to them, and if they were all the same or had some special properties differentiating them were among those this new field is said to have attempted to answer. According to a popular legend, after some experimentation with division, a particularly devoted hobby mathematician is supposed to have discovered prime numbers, and then have tried to find a way to be able to calculate them easily, as well as have tried to find other methods to find more prime numbers. These numbers were dubbed "divine numbers", as divinity was assumed to be a state of total purity, mental and otherwise, and these numbers, who seemed to be at the base of all others, were said to be particularly pure.

According to another often told legend, at one point a young woman needed help with a flesh wound on her leg after an accident while exploring. Initial attempts are said to not have improved the situation and only have resulted in ear-piercing screams of pain, after which an older mother of three children is said to have suggested using some herbs she had used when her children couldn't sleep. Thus, a kind of simple anesthesia is supposed to have been discovered and the treatment of the actual wound could begin. The wound is said to have been cleaned as best possible with some fresh water and the oil of a plant used at the time for cleaning, and then stitched with a washed and sharpened bone needle with a string of cleaned spider web attached to it. In the end, the wound was bandaged with some thoroughly cleaned leaves and more cobweb binding them together. The operation is further said to have been a partial success, the woman having survived and being able to continue with her life for the most part. However, she is stated to have remained scarred permanently and retained some pain in her wounded leg, that no painkilling herb could make fully disappear.

The beginnings of Saandism

The population continued to grow, and some communities would have reached hundreds if not close to a thousand inhabitants. At this point, communities splitting into smaller ones likely became more common, as the existing food distribution systems would have increasingly run into trouble with higher population numbers, and the same will have been true for medical care and the communal socializing events. To avoid conflicts from escalating, a common solution is said to have been (and this is backed up by archeological evidence) that a community that decided to split off would rather attempt to seek a new location to settle down on rather than to fight the existing one or challenge them some other way.

However, often trees had to be raided to make room for new settlements, and according to oral history protests against what was called by some a "crime against nature and what is holy" were common. But most communities are said to have soon managed to reach an agreement after some discussion. The compromise that is supposed to have ended the conflict and is in much of Jute still followed identically involved pledging to plant a new tree for every one destroyed, and to have a minute of commemoration every day twice for everything the nature is providing them, during which everyone was also supposed to think about what they could do to better society while respecting the nature, and in the evening to review their day, what they achieved today and what plans they have for tomorrow. Over time, these rituals provided one of the bases for the religion that had long been developing. Saandi na trikki u mohomo harandi - being content with your life through numbers and harmony with wildlife. Guidelines on how to achieve this state of being were soon compiled by the elders and other people. They included moral guidelines on how to live with society and how society benefits the individual, guidelines how to respectfully use wildlife, natural resources and how to achieve the desired mental state by continued study of philosophy and science (which at that point mostly meant mathematics). Poems, songs and carvings with proto-writing were meant to help adherents of the religion remember them.

The end of Ancient Jute

But after many mostly peaceful years, one of the most famous Jutean legends goes, one fateful day some of the explorers met foreign soldiers in the forests, armed with sharp spears and speaking in an entire alien language that is said to have a strangely arrogant and mocking tone. This first contact with what likely were Klambari warriors is said to not have gone well for the Coastal Juteans. Seeing other people like this, threatening but unintelligible shattered their worldview, according to which everyone on Earth spoke a similar language. Stories that told of the existence of entirely different languages had always been dismissed as old fairy tales, and so the explorers in question did not have an appropriate reaction when and went into a kind of shock. Rather than attempting to build up contact and communication, they froze and quickly retreated, never to be seen in the jungle again. Their entire community became similarly shell-shocked, and their culture is said to have fallen into a long time of stagnation, even their communal nightly activities getting less and less, their spirit being broken. Not only is this said to have caused them to lose their curiosity for the world around them, it also is supposed to have led to widespread existential crises and even an epidemic of what nowadays would be described as depression. Local health experts are said to have been often helpless, unable to treat their patients properly. Some communities are also said to have continued a collective spiral downward, enough that they started to raid and attack their surroundings, abandoning their previous pacifist lifestyles. Oral history describes how different leaders are supposed to have emerged in response for the first time in Jutean history, squabbling over the future of the people of the Jutean villages, and how it only added to the crisis.

This would then have been made even worse by attacks from what is traditionally described as "a hostile tribe in the East" (presumably again the Klambari, which to this day live to the east of most of the Coastal Juteans). These attacks clearly must have caused significant damage and casualties, as can be seen in the number of improperly buried human remains and many weapon pieces. Untypical jewelry and clothing remains as well as weapons made from material unavailable near the central coast also indicate that it was an external force invading rather than a violent conflict inside a or between Jutean communities. Oral history says that these could at first still be fought off, barely, but that following them most Juteans were reluctant to build up their villages again, especially after a lone explorer who had decided to take up the long stopped activity of exploration again, warned them of another coming threat, likely a return of the Klambari. After this, many people are said to have decided to leave their old settlements behind and escape on the sea to other lands. The following days are supposed to have been spent gathering resources, saving what could be saved from their cultural and material heritage, and building bigger boats, in a specifically erected workshop. Considering burning down the rest of the village of what is supposed to be Sitti in modern-day Jute, the local population in the end is said to have decided against it, heavy-heartedly leaving the remnants of their home behind as they set sail to find a new one behind the horizon. However, a part of the population decided to stay behind, in the hope that those fleeing would come back soon and help restore the place. This, according to the legend, then proved to be a fatal decision in the end when the invaders from the east did come back, burned down the entire village and made the decimated and weakened remaining population work as serfs on their fields.

After a long journey, the Juteans that had escaped their island home did find some new land in the south on the continent of Ystel. Rather than tropical rainforests, the landscape was dominated by rolling hills of woods and grassland. They debarked near a small valley which had enough space for the first provisional housing. With some repurposed tools and weapons they built the first shed from lumber, which became the new center of their community, protecting their supplies and other belongings as well as themselves from exposure to rain and creating a place where fires could be lit. Around those their tradition of telling stories, adding new ones based on recent events, could be continued, to ensure that their past would not be forgotten. Aside from being a form of oral history, many stories were also dedicated to those that had decided to stay behind, and what might have happened to them. Speculations about future returns were also a common subject.

The last part of the legend details how the first Jutean village on Ystel emerged, which is still widely claimed to be the predecessor of the single bigger town of South Jute, Laina. First, the shed is said to have been expanded into a proper storehouse and community center, then additional new buildings were constructed as shelter and for work, while further resources and foods were being gathered. Fields were prepared as well as fishing trips. A small workshop for the production of new and more effective tools was set up, and slowly, the legend goes, the first South Juteans started to understand some of the basics of metal working, too, starting with copper, after they had made contact with another culture living somewhat further inland. This might have been the Sgen people. In any case this encounter is said to have reinvigorated the curiosity of the inhabitants, and metal and the results of metalworking became the subject of much study and deliberation.

Medieval history

However, generally the South Juteans remained isolated now, apparently having become more cautious after their last bad encounter. They didn't make much contact with other people for a long time, fading into obscurity for most of the world outside of the northeastern part of Ystel, only barely remembered in some ancient stories of the remaining Island Juteans. As the descendants of those captured and made to work as serfs, later liberated peasants, they will have not known much else about their ancestors, having long forgotten their language (it having been replaced with a creole) and many of their customs, having been mostly absorbed by the dominant Klambari culture. According to oral history, they started holding festivals all over the land where they lived in an effort to save their remaining heritage and continue or resume old traditions, trying to interpret the remainders of what they could find in the ruins of the settlements of their ancestors. Using methods of a kind of primitive proto-archeology that, among other things, attempted to decipher their old proto-writing combined with their own oral history, they were able to trace the direction some took when they fled from the invaders of the east. This later led some to seek contact with the population living in Ystel.

The settlement there, due to their relative isolationism and resulting lack of impulses and new ideas from outside had just barely gotten out of the neolithic age, never having managed to get to more advanced metalworking due to the absence of tin and iron. While some of the rest of the world had already been busy building up an industry, huge ships and terrifying war machinery, South Jute had effectively remained an isolated tribe, hiding in their valley and among mountains to avoid outright warfare. According to archeological evidence, records made after writing reached Ystel at around 1300 and oral history South Juteans did make some advances in their knowledge of geography, astronomy and medicine, but lacked any industry or even significant amounts of proto-industry. The population grew, but with many people once again periodically splitting from existing communities and leaving to find other places to settle down when food resources were running out or conflict developed in one way or another.

Despite all the trouble, a sizable amount of people will have remained in the oldest Jutean communities on Ystel and will have so also managed to preserve much of their old cultural heritage, including their religion. Oral history tells how it was a point of pride, with it being seen as the best guide to a better life and improved society by means of rationality and a lifestyle in harmony with nature. Being content with your life through numbers and harmony with wildlife remained the motto of the followers of Saandism, Saandi na tikki u mohomo havandi in modern Jutean. Other age-old traditions could so also be continued, such as the nightly telling of stories, whereas architecture and other arts alongside with more proto-scientific endeavors also started to flourished somewhat whenever the food supply was secured and no other problems required their attention.

Early modern history

This section is empty.

Modern history

This section is empty.

Geography

Geology

Climate

Biodiversity

Politics

Overview

Diagram showing the political structures of Jute

The political system of Jute is an unusual hybrid, a mixture of communitarian social ideals and anti-authoritarian individual liberties. Society is organized in small communities, never larger than 1,000 people. They allow for space and freedom for all its members, but emphasize joint efforts in many areas of life, especially public works and political problems.

Political decisions such as the passing of new laws are either done via a local, regional or confederal referendum, during an assembly called "Meeting of the Community", where aside from discussion of current issues mediation takes place, too. Two experts can be called in for those in case the community leader finds it necessary. While taking part in the meetings is voluntary, and open to everyone above the age of 16, laws and judgments passed by or during it apply of course to everyone. Therefore everyone is, in a way, part of the government, or at least able to be part of it.

A community leader, as the only formal office, begins and leads those meetings formally and is also supposed to help coordinating public works and other joint efforts. Aside from organizing the community, they also are supposed to serve as mediators in conflicts, and are as such also responsible for enforcing law, but do not hold any executive political power on their own. The position of a community leader hence combines representative functions, judgeship, and the office of a lawspeaker.

Origin

This system has its roots in prehistorical times, when being part of close-knit groups of people was necessary for survival. Any attempt to establish a higher authority was seen as a threat to the well-being and safety of the community, and therefore generally stifled before it could gain traction. The island and especially in earlier times its jungles were large enough to separate and even isolate communities and prevent conflicts over land or resources, and the absence of metal further helped prevent social stratification.

A ruling class was installed during the time of Neviran occupation of the island and much of South Jute by elites of the Saruan Empire. Even if stripped of most of their political power, the communal institutions remained otherwise intact and culturally of the highest importance, even considered identity-establishing. Towards the end of the 19th century, many became the origin of a resistance movement that developed into a united anti-colonialist front on the entire island, bringing communities together in a manner that had not previously existed. Initially, the alliance consisted mostly of those in and near the biggest cities at the centrally located coast of the island, but later expanded to include all the communities, and after decolonization became the foundation for a confederation.

However, due to cultural resistance and with much of the island still being covered in jungle, and with few, slow connections (especially over the island and in and to the Ystelian part) Jute still remained very decentralized and continues to be so in modern times.

Electoral system

Winners in an election on all levels need an absolute majority of votes. If no candidate is able to gain enough votes, new elections will be held until one candidate has enough votes. For each round, all previous candidates are allowed to participate, and new ones are allowed to join as well. The system therefore heavily emphasizes consensus-building and candidates that are disliked by a majority are typically not elected, as even in a more crowded field simply getting a relative majority of 20-30 % is not sufficient.

All voting is generally either done publicly on the spot during a Meeting of the Community, or in advance via mail. Voting in-person may or may not be secret or subject to other stipulations or regulations in different communities, however, anything restricting the electorate in any way, directly or indirectly via any kind of test or other requirement beyond the statutory minimum voting age and citizenship requirement are not allowed. Offices are elected every two years.

Administrative Divisions

Infographic showing the responsibilities of the different administrative divisions of Jute. Local community or neighborhood meetings (dark blue), county meetings (light blue), regional meetings (green) and confederal ones (red)

Communities are organized in counties, which make up regions, which together form the confederation of Jute. They have a varying amount of responsibilities and rights, with most of them being held by the first two.

Every region, county and community retains the right to leave the confederation and assert its complete independence again if it votes for it. While this would give them the ability to ignore new or old laws from upper administration levels, it also makes them lose among other things the benefit of the shared defense, foreign and trade policy, likely weakening them and creating a conflict, so this has not happened in history so far.

Local communities

Local assemblies, known as Meeting of the Community, take place every five days, and have the biggest amount of responsibilities. If the settlements forming a community are too far away from each other or have some particularly isolated ones, a community may decide to create sub-communities with their own meetings, and devolve some of these responsibilities to them, based on local needs. However, arbitration and policing must, according to confederal law, remain under the control of the entire community, which then meets in this case only once or twice a month (depending on what the community agreed on) and might or might not typically involve communication via mail rather than in-person attendance. The existence of sub-communities is particularly common in the very sparsely populated regions of South Jute on the Ystelian mainland and Taxonea in the center of the island of Jute.

The "Community Leader" of such local assemblies is usually elected publicly, however an option to vote in advance via mail exists. This also applies to other items voted upon during such meetings. These generally deliberate about issues facing local services, such as primary education, including daycare and kindergarten facilities (where existing) or emergency services (first aid services, fire department and if available, ambulances) and are also responsible for organizing and regulating care of the elderly and the homeless that have no family looking after them. Some also run youth centers and soup kitchens. Housing is mostly community-owned, too, with new buildings requiring the approval of the community meeting. New projects are being discussed every week there, with larger ones such as the construction of public buildings or large repairs after storms or the like being regarded as "common projects", where usually everyone is expected to help out in some way or other, although in accordance with the constitution no one can be coerced.

Additionally, a Meeting of the Community is also responsible for local cleanliness in public spaces and general safety, which involves e.g. street sweeping, waste collections, where necessary stormwater protection, and in larger towns also sewers. The streets themselves (where they exist), and any kind of traffic control also fall under their authority, as does zoning (absent outside of the biggest cities), building codes, permits and parts of the traffic code. Parks and other recreation areas, environmental and historical protection are included as well. More isolated, non-urban communities also tend to maintain their utilities and harbors on the local level.

Counties

However, in most parts of Jute utilities, public transport and facilities like harbors are managed on the next higher administrative level, the county level, by the respective assemblies. They are also responsible for hospitals and secondary education and unemployment assistance, and retraining. Finally, all ordinances that affect several communities at once, as well as a degree of budgeting and collections needed for bigger projects (e.g. hospitals) fall under their domain as well.

The county assemblies take place after the last local meeting of the month, and in most places are not in-person meetings, unlike local community meetings. Instead proposals to the agenda are submitted in advance, which then will be discussed on each local meeting, with each communities (usually around 10 in one county) sending in the result of their vote (combined mail-in and in-person votes) to a county-wide voting committee, where the individual results are officially added up and the final result determined. Elections of county-level Leaders of the Community also work similarly. There are similarities to an electoral college system, however, there are no electors in this system and so any possibility of e.g. a faithless elector is ruled out.

Appeals following local arbitration and any kind of arbitration that has county-wide significance is also usually done there, with the county community leader and two to four co-mediators appointed by them commonly having to form a consensus on the issue, with some exceptions on more fundamental issues.

Regions

Regions of Jute (not showing the region of South Jute) with names and translations

Counties are in turn organized in regions. Regional community meetings work similarly to county meetings, with submissions and issues being discussed in additional sessions every second month after the third monthly local community meeting. These control regional transport and infrastructure, for example trains and railways. Even if a given railway line might extend into other regions, it is managed by the region in which it starts, however railway stations are always managed by the region they are in. Aside from that, any other advanced or specialized hospitals or healthcare centers or institutions are under their authority, as is tertiary education.

Similar to county-level assemblies, politics and laws that affect the entire region, e.g. those concerning regional trade, are decided by them, as are collections, budgets and reserves (including foreign currency reserves) used for various projects and needs, or given to struggling counties in need. They may also send officials into specific counties or communities to control the enforcement of regional laws. A regional community leader, similarly to elections on the county level, is determined by tallying up the vote results of individual communities. The third instance of the court system, for appeals of county court decisions and for arbitration that is relevant for the entire region also exists in this third level of administration. The regional community leader appoints 8-10 additional mediators for each case and a decision is reached with a simple majority vote.

General Meeting

And finally, regions are united in a general community, and a community leader on that level exists as well instead of a prime minister and a president. This assembly is in charge of legislation and oversight of the airfield, air security and monitoring international travel and trade as well as the customs office, and decide on topics covering all of Jute as well as foreign relations, such as trade, diplomacy and defense cooperation and coordination. The court of last resort is also on this highest level of administration, represented by the general community leader and their 14 to 20 appointed mediators, who also decide based on a simple majority vote. The general assemblies happen twice yearly, usually on a different day that is being taken off by most people. In urgent or otherwise exceptional circumstances a third or fourth meeting might be called, or emergency appeals be transmitted to an assembly in session via phone Like with regional and county meetings, discussions happen in local communities separately, based on previously submitted issues, statements and other items to be discussed. Elections of the community leader on the confederal level also work similar to those on the county and regional level. Communities send in the results of their vote, and the results are tallied up. Reruns are done until a candidate has an absolute majority. While historically voting for such a general election happened mostly in-person at local community meetings, similar to other elections, universal mail-in voting has become nowadays the standard, in most communities aided by modern communication technologies for a faster transmission.

Differences in South Jute

South Jute has largely the same communal political system, with some peculiarities. For one, the entire region despite its much larger size consists of only four counties, Northern County, Southern County, Interior County and the town of Laina, owing to the low population.

On the other side, South Jute also has historically, being so far away from the island communities, not taken part in the political life of them and neither been affected much by it and thus largely people there have been making own laws in their citizen assembly, making the region even more autonomous than the local insular ones, since it's not only independent by law, but also by necessity, requiring it to be fully self-sufficient in every aspect. For most of the time, it was largely a very small, separate nation, hidden below the mountains in the north of Ystel, only connected with the island through a common history, language (that eventually developed into what is now known as South Jutean) and some trade.

However, with the advent of more modern technology such as satellite phones, it has been able to grow closer to the other communities again, and has been nominally part of the confederation since 1912, sharing a common foreign policy and diplomatic representation, but due to the ongoing difficulties caused by the distance, it largely retains its capability to govern itself alone and cooperates only sparingly with the other communities. Townspeople now also have the possibility to appeal to the confederal community leader and their court. They have the right to intervene, the distance however still makes this unfeasible and so is mostly restricted to the enforcement of the founding principles and other basic laws.

Law

"Founding principles", adopted in 1872 after independence from the Saruan Empire and first written down 1892, serve as a constitution and thereby the supreme law of the confederation. It lays out basic rights of individuals and communities, such as the right to join and leave the confederation freely (according to regulations set out in specific laws) in the first article, the freedom from slavery, bodily and psychical harm and the right to privacy, free speech, free movement (on the island) and free exercise of religion, in the second one. Of note is that this article also states that "unoccupied land" might be used freely according to "reasonable restrictions" set by local law, and that "coerced" work and contributions are illegal, which effectively renders most systems of taxations used in other places of Sahar illegal on Jute. The country relies on a culture and tradition of collective contributions and sharing of burdens instead, supplemented at times by additional individual contributions.

Article 3 defines citizenship. It is declared to be extended to everyone living in a community belonging to the confederation or joining it, although it is allowed to be refused temporarily to people who recently entered Jute. In the following articles, customary law is established as the legal system on Jute (article 4) and the constitution is enshrined as binding supreme law for all individuals, communities and administrative entities with the ability to sanction those breaking any of it (article 5).

The last four articles lay out the basic working of the political system of Jute, establishing the office of the community leader explained above (article 6), devolving political powers to the biggest degree possible to the lower levels of administration (article 7) while setting up a large barrier to a reversal of that. As a result, "vertical" powersharing between tiers of administrations is severely restricted, whereas "horizontal" sharing of responsibilities between communities is allowed (article 8). To delegate powers to regional or confederal institutions a consensus is required from the tier one below the one that is supposed to acquire additional powers, i.e. for a regional assembly to be granted additional powers all county assemblies constituting it have to vote in favor, and for the confederal assembly to be granted additional powers all regional assemblies have to vote in favor. Amendments are not provided for.

To a large extent, these "founding principles" (also the formal name of the constitution itself) are the reason there aren't many laws or regulations applying to the entirety of the confederation, but there is also a cultural preference to keep law and simple, as all laws have to be memorized by the community leaders who also serve as lawspeakers. Aside from the already mentioned regulations on joining the confederation for individuals (as immigrants) and communities, and additional foundational administrative laws specifying the schedule, form and procedure of meetings there are only nine additional basic laws that are enforced in the entire confederation. These are often printed on posters hung in public or on cards that are given to tourists and other people arriving to Jute. Marked in bold are the laws where a violation is considered more severe.

No bulletproof clothing in peaceful times No sale of fireworks (with exceptions for a few holidays) No guns in public places
No violence (barring self-defense or between consenting people over 18 years) No goods stolen in other nations or outlawed internationally No cars
No gangs No selling of hard drugs, or consumption thereof in public places No use of dynamite or similar, barring approved exceptions

Policing and law enforcement

The involvement of the community leaders is seen as a last resort, and as there is no real separate police like in other nations, neighborhood watches are responsible for the safety of their community. The position of the watchers is rotating every week, and taking over this duty is considered a obligatory community service. Individuals found breaking the constitution or another basic law (excluding the law on fireworks, guns and bulletproof clothing) can be banished or punished otherwise as ordered by the community leader serving as impartial, if the violation was severe enough or if they are a repeat offender and show no will to change their behavior. Most other legislation is generally rather seen as a strong recommendation that one mostly should and is expected to follow, and is not enforced as strongly. Usually in most communities people will seek a dialogue with those breaking them, to offer them a way back into the community. If they still fail to change their ways and do not or are unable to adapt themselves, they might be ordered to leave the community, county, or region.

Prisons on the main inhabited islands or Ystelian mainland do not exist, but violent criminals of the former are usually sent to a specific designated, unsupervised prison island, or handed over to Mermelian authorities in South Jute. In some communities they might also be banished into the wilderness with no tools or supplies, although this being an indirect death penalty in most cases, it is not condoned by the general assembly, but due to isolation and remoteness of the communities in question is usually difficult to stop.

Foreign relations

To preserve peace and friendly relations with other nations, Jute has since regaining its independence often sought alliances and pacts of nonagression with other nations. The most important alliance has historically been one with Nevira, created after long negotiations following the end of their colonial occupation in 1872, after much initial resistance in many parts of the island. Nevira guarantees the security and sovereignty of Jute in exchange for free access to the harbors of the island and South Jute.

Generally, foreign policy however still tends to be mostly neutral with no declared enemies, and no strong alignment with any side, though in recent years there has been a push away from any remainders of isolationism, and towards a policy of multilateralism. To that end, the confederation is a founding member of the AEIOU (Asuran Economic International Oceanic Union), a free trade organization formed in Mermelia on Ystel in 2013, that has since expanded to also include members in Baredina, Asuranesia and on Nagu. Aside from economic and defense cooperation, Jute also tends to emphasize diplomacy through cultural exchange or sports. Uniquely to Jute, skateboarding is considered a form of diplomacy as well.

Military and self-defense

There's no actual organized state-funded military, only some arms enthusiasts and few people who decided to be full-time soldiers are organized in a kind of society (calling themselves "Society of Modern Defense") commonly referred to as "the military". They have no legal privileges and as such e.g. the ban on cars applies to them as well. In general, they are under close scrutiny of most of the rest of the population, which is rather pacifist and suspicious of militaries in general. Therefore, they often have to resort to things like bake sales to cover their expenses. Its motto is "No oone me fa ma dee, letolo vuha nu; ivusaie ilejotof amefati a ilvuhide, u ejotof netumivoti a vuhide." ("The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light").

In case of a threat, which however hasn't often been the case in the history of the confederation, emergency assemblies may take place. First, diplomacy and negotiations will be attempted. If that fails, allies will be asked for support and island defense will be treated as a large public project that is meant to involve the talent of every person on the island. This might include teaching people how to use a weapon, educating others on what may lie ahead in general, full-time soldiers acting as makeshift generals and strategical advisors, paramedics preparing for emergencies, falconers and other animal husbandmen taking care of Jute's "air force" and faunal support forces, and scouts patrolling waters in war canoes, motorboats and ships, usually borrowed from coastal communities. Despite the pacifist leanings of a majority of the population (excluding the Klambari communities), learning self-defense is seen as a important part of education everywhere, especially due to the presence of dangerous animals in many jungles, which have caused the deaths of many people every year. Even jungles with less predatory animals are not necessarily safer, as every year they claim many lives of those who get lost in them. For that reason, orientation in unfamiliar terrain is considered an invaluable and crucial part of self-defense as well.

Special tactics, weapons and armor

Jute uses mostly traditional weaponry and armor upgraded and advanced to modern times, but the "military" also uses common modern armor and weapons. The majority however uses an armor made of extra-strong jute fortified with carbon fiber made from pyrolyzed jute. This makes it both lightweight and effective. The material is also used to improve the abilities of the arrows of crossbows. Last but not least, the "military" has developed so-called graphite bombs. Taking advantage of the conductive abilities of jute carbon fiber, they managed to create a humane weapon that will only disrupt electrical infrastructure and machines, such as power stations or computers and is largely harmless to humans. This results in a usually huge economic damage and severely impacts, if not destroys a significant part of the civil and military infrastructure without any, or in the worst case, very few, human casualties. A special tactic is using the forces of the elements to their advantage, this includes for example the synchronous surfing on special war surfboards of hundreds, if not a thousand of jute carbon fiber-armored warriors on top the waves, although these days this is mostly only used for representative purposes, such as surf board parades on the ocean.

Defensive structures

Six emergency underground stations exist in Jute. All equipped with food, basic medical equipment, necessary supplies and some defensive weaponry and observation technology. The biggest one also has an underground harbor for submarines with a connection to the open sea and all of them have low-tech communication lines, separate from any other existing. The exact location of each station is held secret.

Economy

Important economic sectors

Jute farming and manufacturing of jute products

Consisting of land that has been largely not industrialized, Jute is still dominated by agriculture. The most important crops are coconuts, sweetsops and above all jute, both the fiber and leaves. Historically, jute production used to dominate the nation's economy and was used in all spheres of life. Examples include clothing, building, furniture, paper and culinary uses, among others. Even today, the jute fiber continues to be used in many local products and jute production remains one of the most important parts of the economy, cuisine and culture of Jute.

Other important sectors

However, other economic branches have since then become bigger and more important to the nation's gross national product, most importantly tourism and more recently book publishing, with many international authors from more authoritarian countries with a high amount of censorship selecting to print in Jute due to low regulation and low costs. Paper is traditionally made from jute fibers or banana peels and leaves. The fiber of the latter is also used as raw material in the making of clothes.

Economic system

Large enterprises are unknown in Jute, most of the economy is comprised of semi-public small cooperatives, collectives or public services. It operates locally, on the neighborhood level, overwhelmingly as an informal gift economy, usually market-based, and on larger levels (county, region, island-wide) to varying degrees as a debt-based economy, especially in regional or island-wide commerce.

Currency only exists as foreign currency, brought in by tourists or accumulated through exports. As a result, coins and bills are not commonly used on the island itself. The Score is mostly used as a help to compare the value of goods or services, but doesn't really exist as either coin or bill. Instead, everything bought or consumed is first chalked up (or 'scored' and later re-payed. Anything bought or consumed is something figuratively borrowed, with a social expectation of later repayment. It is a system of redistributing goods that in general heavily relies on trust, and so people deemed untrustworthy or not accepted as part of the local community or wider society are left to either fend for themselves or find a supporting group or community of their own. The specifics vary from county to county and especially region to region and the economy may be subject to different amounts of "market laws" or general regulation.

Science and technology

Jute is generally slow to adopt new technology. This has several reasons. One on side, a perpetual problem is a lack of funds, which has made it all but impossible to cover the island in hi-tech. On the other side, religious and secular concerns about environmental destruction have often led to increased caution and even at times a misleading appearance of opposing modernity in general.

However, even the more conservative mainland part of Jute, South Jute on Ystel, uses satellite phones to communicate nowadays. Regular cell service would be to expensive to build up and maintain, and with limited communication needs in South Jutean communities a single satellite phone can serve a whole village or even an entire community. On Island Jute, hospitals operate on modern knowledge (supplemented by traditional knowledge when applicable) and the use of modern machinery is mostly only depending on budgetary constraints.

Computers are widely used, too, even if they are mostly only available in specific internet/computer cafes in towns or sometimes the local community in the countryside. Whereas the towns have regular network connectivity, the countryside however often has to rely on carrier pigeons to transfer data, usually in the form of small and affordable memory cards. This is often belittled by outsiders, however it has proven to be surprisingly effective and reliable once the pigeons have been trained, with speeds and rates of packet loss that would likely not exceed regular internet connections in secluded parts of many other countries. It is also used for a number of commercial transactions and to facilitate political participation.

In addition, Jute has a decent amount of indigenous innovation, even though it is once again by necessity limited to the low-tech sector. Research at the University of Jute into more efficient and useful solar cookers, simple radio broadcast receivers and senders as well as fridges not requiring electricity, to name some examples, is ongoing.

Map of the railways in Sitti, the largest city of Jute
Kosomo Airstrip

Infrastructure

Communication

With the limited availability of modern communication technology, especially outside of the biggest cities, several traditional means of communication remain in use for mail and other purposes in smaller and the more remote inland communities. Among those are human messengers using boats to visit various riverside communities or dulled arrow-shooting for shorter distances. However, most common and famous is the use of carrier pigeons, which are in fact used in such high amounts, hundreds and hundreds of flocks of pigeons, that it has drawn comparisons to a computer network. As a low-cost, relatively reliable and greener alternative to laying telephone cables everywhere this "avian internet" remains effective and even a point of pride for many, transporting text, or on e.g. memory cards, images or sound to almost every remote corner of the island. With the advent of trains, mail sent between coastal cities could be transported in bulk, however, air mail sent via pigeon remains the fastest option in many cases.

Regular internet access is only available in the biggest cities, mostly in internet cafes, and sometimes other places through a satellite connection. Landlines are also rare and largely restricted to more important public institutions as well as larger businesses, especially those involved in trade. Experimental cell phone networks exist in Sitti and Numudu, in other towns and the countryside, as well as in South Jute satellite phones are sometimes used.

Transport

There are two main railway lines, going from Joonen via Sitti to Numudu and from Sitti to Helele that are used to connect the biggest coastal towns of the island. These have been constructed by colonial powers in the middle and towards the end of the 19th century, with Nevira having built the Sitti-Helele line and the Joonen-Sitti segment, and Balakia the Sitti-Numudu segment. Additionally, several branch lines were constructed, mostly for freight in Numudu and Sitti, but also to connect Numudu with the lake Samwati, where Balakia had built an arms depot and small base on a lake island, and later also a seaplane base. Many of the freight lines are no longer maintained, and have fallen into disuse. The branch line to the lake Samwati still exists and is used to transport people arriving on the lake via seaplane or boat to Numudu, however, with the collapse of the bridge to the lake island trains stop at the shore of the lake. Separate urban mass transit networks barely exist, in Sitti there are no local trains, so every train passing through or ending in the town stop at all local stations. Numudu used to have a small commuter railway network during the times of Balak colonization, however it was largely scrapped when Balakia stopped enforcing its authority except for a secondary line running along the main Numudu-Sitti-Joonen line, ending in southern Numudu, which has additional local stops but is used only by draisines.

Railways on Jute are generally held back by financial problems, however, even with sufficient funding, expansions into the middle of the country would not be approved by the relevant assemblies due to conservation concerns. Cars and other vehicles with combustion engines are banned entirely on the same grounds, with the exclusion of motor boats. With a regular road network being absent outside of major towns, travelling by boat on the rivers is generally the most effective way of transportation when going to and from the towns in the inlands.

Additionally, for larger distances and for urgent transports seaplanes are occasionally used as well, particularly by foreign organizations (such as medical NGOs or companies) and individuals, including representatives of other states on diplomatic visits. The main seaplane base is on Lake Samwati, near the end of the branch line to Numudu. Lake Samwati had already been used by Balaks to land seaplanes, however after the departure of Balak officials the original facilities had to be abandoned due to their maintenance no longer being economically or logistically feasible, and as a result a new, simple water aerodrome was built, featuring simple piers and basic lighting, but no control tower or terminal. Simple shelters exist for passport control and other necessities, and a plain fence prevents unauthorized entry or exit.

For regular aircraft, there is no proper international airport, however an airstrip near Sitti was financed and constructed in 1958 by Thuyoan military engineers, following efforts by a Sonkhai-Thuyoan NGO called Society For Glorious Health Development in the Kothlenosphere persuading local communities and the wider island community of the need for one for medical evacuations and better supply with medicines. This NGO maintained close contacts with the Thuyoan colonial government, and took advantage of the Utogo independence crisis happening in the late 1950s which made the Thuyoan military open to expanding its network of supply bases to better be able to control the airspace and waters around southern Lahan, to assist in defensive operations and the quelling of unrest in Utogo. The strategic location of Jute at the edge of the Saru Sea, the Sea of Lahan and the Asura Ocean, allowing for easier operations into those seas and serving as an alternate refuel and supply stop between Püzimm and Lahan as well as for missions in the outlying islands of Thuyo made the construction of an airstrip attractive on the island.

A site near the biggest town and the Joonen-Sitti-Numudu railway was chosen to serve both miltiary and civilian needs well. To address local concerns over the environmental impact of a tarmac runway, the surface of the runway uses an invention by Balak military engineers in Thuyo, 'prefabricated Hessian surfacing' (PHS), which is jute fiber mixed with asphalt. It is laid on top of a wire grid called 'square mesh track' (SMT), which in turns rests on cleared and compacted earth.

An even more basic airfield consisting exclusively of a grass strip with no lights or facilities exists on Kosomo.

For very small air freight, which aside from mail also includes e.g. memory cards, seeds, tea or medicine, trained carrier pigeons are frequently used, Efforts to combine the power of many pigeons to carry heavier loads are also ongoing, but have so far been a failure.

Energy and water

Electricity, like other services such as healthcare, education or communication, is chiefly done by the lower-level administrations. While local communities in the countryside, especially the more isolated ones, maintain their own electricity network, sometimes in cooperation with any number of neighboring communities, but often mostly independent from any larger grid, urban communities receive their electricity from larger, interconnected grids, maintained by county administrations, which are, with the exception of the isolated single-county town of Etillamme, in joint operations. The largest of these is the Sitti grid, which has the only overland lines of the confederation, connecting the main part of Sitti with its southern part.

Water is handled similarly, however, many communities in the countryside have no water pipes at all, using wells, reservoirs or other sources of water instead. Water pipes are mostly built in cities, but even there many households do not have taps at home and are required to use local pumps.

Demographics

Ethnic groups

A colorful mixture of mostly indigenous Juteans (45 %), pales (20 %) and Neviran (15 %), but also including various other ethnicities (5 %), and indigenous minorities, such as Samwati and Klambari (5 % each) Asylum seekers from all over Sahar also make up a notable minority (also about 5 %).

Urbanisation

About half of the population on the island of Jute proper lives in towns, whereas 90 % of South Jute lives in the sole city of the region.

Largest cities on the island of Jute:

City Metro area population Language
1 Sitti (also known as Jute City) ~380 000 Coastal Jutean, Jute Pidgin, Neviran
2 Samuvu 120 000 Samwati, Jutean (both)
3 Numudu 100 000 Coastal Jutean
4 Amdato 90 000 Klambari, Jutean (both)
5 Helele 60 000 Jute Pidgin, Jutean (both)

Language

Official status of languages in Jute

The official language is Jutean, but other languages are sometimes used for international affairs and business. Jutean legally entails all languages of the Jutic branch of the Saru-Asuran language family spoken on the island. The main language, used in Jute in most official records, courts etc. and by roughly 1,270,000 people as their native language, is Coastal Jutean, often shortened to Jutean.

It is not to be confused with River Jutean, another member of the Jutic branch, spoken mostly inland of the island. Even though not legally recognized as a separate language, it is still recognized as a variety and as such can be used by anyone for all official matters where Coastal Jutean would be used, however, records and laws are usually not available in it, with the exception of those from River Jutean-majority communities and counties. When needed, a translation or an interpreter (for example in courts or community meetings) will be provided. Jutean Sign Language is also legally specified to be a co-official language in the entire confederation. In select regions, Jute Pidgin, Klambari or Samwati also have the status of an official language.

Coastal and River Jutean

Main article: Jutean

First attested in around 300 BC, Coastal Jutean is assumed to have developed after the first ancestors of present day ethnic Juteans arrived at the island at around 1000 BC. The people remaining on the coast would eventually speak what is today referred to as Jutean, or Coastal Jutean (natively mostly referred to as tahiva net, tahivi a net or simply net, IPA /tɐhivi net/ and /tɐhivɐ ɐ net/), whereas the people venturing inside would develop River Jutean (tahosoe val ma, pronounced roughly /taho͡asoɛ vɐl mɐ/). It had no official status until after Jute regained independence 1872, during and prior to the colonial era it was just one of the languages spoken on the island, albeit the most widely spoken one.

Meanwhile, River Jutean remains widely spoken in the inland, particularly along the biggest river of the main island, the Tahonaha, where it is also used as an official language on a local and regional level. Most speakers of River Jutean learn Coastal Jutean early on as well, since monolingual speakers are despite the status of their native language as a legally recognized variety of Jutean at a significant disadvantage later on.

Klambari

Klambari is a language of currently uncertain origin, it is spoken by a traditionally cattle-keeping and hunting society in the mountainous region in the eastern part of the island, with Amdato as the urban center. Klambari speakers are said to have already been living on the island prior to the advent of the Jutic people. Through the creole Klambari-Jutean, spoken by Jutean serfs during the reign of the Klambaris over most of Jute from 50 BC to ~1000 AD, Klambari has had a significant impact on Jutean, particularly on Coastal Jutean, with many loanwords existing, for example sitili ('sword') from Klambari stüdterl ('iron').

Samwati

Samwati is the language of relatively isolated communities in the far north of the island, which are said to predate even the Klambari settlements, and aside from numerous villages also include the second largest town on Jute, Samuvu or Samuru. Much of the language remains unknown, particularly any possible relation to other languages, since its speakers generally avoid contact with the outside world. However, archaeological findings have shown that Samwatians used to occupy a much larger part of the island several thousand years ago, with some ruins found near Sitti being the most prominent evidence for it.

Education

Education is always public, except for a number of private religious and vocational schools, especially in Sitti, Numudu and the Klambari and Samwati-speaking regions, however these are only allowed to be supplementary and are not allowed to replace public education. Primary education is handled by local communities, but may receive aid by higher level administrations, secondary education is under the authority of county administrations (but may also receive aid by regional assemblies and the confederal assembly) and tertiary education is governed by regional assemblies. However, not all local communities have their own primary school, several communities may form a school district.

The sole university on Jute is headquartered in Sitti, with a larger branch in Numudu (political science, international relations, linguistics and area studies) and a smaller one in Laina (temperate agriculture and ecology, animal husbandry), however Samuvu and Amdato both have independent colleges that are important for the training of local priests and a profession known as "community scribes" tasked with chronicling and conserving local history, but are also renowned in all of Jute for their tropical forest gardening, animal husbandry and veterinarian (particularly ethnoveterinarian) departments.

Healthcare

Similar to education, healthcare responsibilities are spread across local, county and regional administration. First aid, care of the elderly and the disabled is always on the local community level, although as with primary schools 'care districts' consisting of several communities may exist, especially in cities. In those, rescue services and ambulances are also delegated to the county level, which is generally not the case in the countryside. Hospitals are always governed by county assemblies, excluding specialized ones and any health resorts or research centers, which are under the authority of regional administrations.

Religion

Overview

Syncretism is very common on Jute. Patronal Saandism, with about a million followers the largest religion, draws from both traditional Saandist and from Qurosist beliefs, but there are also many followers of regular Qurosism in the bigger cities. Especially in the more remote counties and communities, traditional Saandism also is still largely followed. Other native religions are followed by most of the Samwati and a large amount of the Klambari, whereas other world religions such as Iovism have few adherents.

Traditional Saandism

Saandism comes from Saandi, meaning in the old language of Jute 'being content with your life'. The religion combines tenets of science, particularly astronomy and math, curiosity and philosophy with greenism and communitarianism.

Name and central philosophy

The concept of Saandi, referring to a state of contentment with life, where nothing is perceived as bothering anymore, a change is not seen as necessary, is central to the religion. According to oral tradition, it has been a key part of the mentality of Jute since the earliest times. The full name of the religion, also makes clear how this should be achieved, namely na trikki u mohomo harandi, translating to 'through numbers and harmony with wildlife', meaning keeping an interest in the sciences, especially math while taking care of the land around you as well, thereby creating a balanced life in both the immaterial as well as the material world.

Tenets and daily life

Sacrifices are not encouraged, instead a self-reflective prayer twice a day is one of the most important aspects of it. In the morning, a minute of commemoration for everything the nature is providing them. During this, everyone is also supposed to think about what they could do to better themselves and society. In the evening, a review of their day was to take place, what you achieved today and what plans you have for tomorrow. The oldest rule, which initiated discussions on finding a way to respectably live with each other and with nature, was to plant a new tree for every one destroyed, after some trees had to be cut down to make rooms for new farms. Over time, this developed in a somewhat organized religion, complete with a "rulebook" where the elders and others wrote down the guidelines on how to achieve the achieved state of saandi that soon was written down. Important to note is that these weren't strictly "rules", more guidelines, that weren't forcibly enforced. Not following them didn't earn you any punishments, worldly or otherwise (the concept of "hell" was unknown and only later importer by missionaries) but would eventually lead to an alienation from society, and finally, ostracism, which was seen as punishing enough. Not that the book required any overly specific things from you, or didn't allow for any leeway. It contained more general moral guidelines on how to live with society and how society benefits the individual, guidelines how to respectfully use wildlife, natural resources. Any details were to be talked and agreed upon with other members of the community. Elder people could also often explain certain parts of it, and help you try to achieve the desired mental state, which involved continued study of philosophy and science, which at the beginning mostly meant mathematics.

The importance of numbers

Numbers were introduced already very early on to the existing philosophy, and quickly became an object of interest for many people, with mathematical puzzles soon establishing themselves as an esteemed and popular pastime. The discovery of prime numbers only furthered the admiration Ancient Juteans had for them. Those were seen as "divine" numbers because of their special abilities, as at first "divinity" was seen as a state of high "purity" and "originality", of which everything else was supposed to have developed. Even though that view changed a bit over the time, numbers are still hold in high regard, thought of as part of the logical half of the immaterial world, together with philosophical musings, with artistic endeavors, especially those more abstract and less realistic on the other side, similar to mandalas.

Understanding the imperfection of the material world

When the telescope was first invented, scientists of Jute first noticed how the moon, previously thought of an example of an "perfect" material object, "pure" in a way similar to prime numbers, actually was scarred all over the surface, with some larger, some smaller holes. This lead to the development of the tenet "Do not strive to be perfect, for it is neither possible or reasonable. The beauty and goodness of things comes from their imperfection.", meaning it is not the purpose of things of the material world to be as flawless as things of the immaterial one. The state of "purity" the prime numbers have can't be achieved, and neither should it, as it would destroy all things that make the material world worth living.

Qurosism

Main article: Qurosism

Qurosism was introduced by Neviran colonizers that arrived in Jute in the middle of the 17th century and, and so, like the Nevirans themselves, was mostly confined to the biggest coastal cities in Jute, Sitti, Helele, Numudu and other important ports such as Joonen and Etillamme. After independence, only Sitti and Helele, as the main cities of the remaining Neviran population, remained with significant communities.

Qurosism is responsible for the biggest sacral buildings anywhere in Jute, with the temple dedicated to Tali (Jutean: Taesi) in Sitti, known nowadays simply as Moon a Nevilani a Haad or Large Neviran Temple, being the biggest.

Patronal Saandism

During the colonial regime of Nevira, traditional Saandism and Qurosism were subject to a lot of contact and exchange, leading to a syncretic religion combining major elements from both emerging as the most widespread religion in modern Jute, especially on Island Jute. In Patronal Saandism the deities of Qurosism have been to some extent conflated and entirely reinterpreted as supernatural patrons rather than proper gods that aid and guide but did not and do not create. They still are linked to a particular culturally specific gender, however rather than those common in Nevira, these patrons are now linked to Jutean genders.

The creator deity Quuros has been conflated with Tael and Amet, is called Taesi in Jutean (after Neviran Taeźi /täɛʑi/), and seen as the patron of the sehukumo or "nurturer" gender of Jute. Hastur is Astul in Jutean (after Neviran Asŧuw /äsθʉɰ/), and seen as the patron of the netumo or "warrior" gender of Jute. Finally, Kevalen (name possibly related to kevan, the Jutean word for altar) has no real equivalent in Qurosism but has some similarities with Karne, especially in physical appearance and the association with thought. Kevalen is the patron saint of the vamejotimo or "magician" gender in Jute, a kind of third gender that is mostly expected to work solitary or communal jobs and not form a family.

Old Qurosist temples from colonial times, the biggest sacral buildings anywhere on Jute, have mostly been rededicated to these patrons, including the large former Tali temple in Sitti mentioned above.

Samwati religion

This section is empty.

Klambari religion

This section is empty.

Culture and Society

Culture on Jute is better described as being a number of related and unrelated cultures, as the long history of migration to and from the island as well as the relative isolation of many communities, especially of those further away from the coasts. While in modern times peaceful exchange and influence between the different ethnicities, cultures and regions have grown significantly, especially after independence and the arrival of some modern communication technology, there are still many striking differences, especially between the five major cultural groups living in the confederation. The more urban Coastal Jutean communities are due to their plurinational characteristics and history of trade with foreign lands often more cosmopolitan in outlook, whereas the River Jutean communities, being smaller and more secluded, formed mostly by fishers and gatherers are usually more beholden to a much more traditional lifestyle. This is even more true for the particularly reclusive gardening Samwati communities in the northeast, and the hunter and pastoral Klambari communities, also remotely located in the hilly southeastern parts of the island, share the least similarities with Coastal Juteans, in part also due to having the only true warrior cultures in Jute.

Values and traditions

All of Jutean society, including the Samwati and Klambari minorities, is rather anarchistic politically and economically, with powerful political authorities, especially undemocratic ones, generally viewed by locals with suspicion. However, local authorities, such as local assemblies and for Samwati and Klambari communities also certain religious or ceremonial military leaders enjoy a high level of respect, With no actual executive government in place, especially at the higher levels, the Community Leaders in their function as judges or judge panel chairs are the only accepted political authority vested in a single person, an authority that is strictly limited. However, traditions are also widely honored, especially outside of the major coastal cities of Sitti and Numudu. This is widely seen as a way of honoring ancestors, recognizing their wisdom and what they have contributed to society. For the same reason, elders are in all cultures often honored as people with great experience and wisdom as well. Younger people asking them for advice is very common, although less so in modern times with the advent of other sources of information. In Samwati and Klambari communities the religious and ceremonial military leaders also fulfill a similar function as a source of advice and guidance, whereas in Jutean communities the teachings of Saandism are taken to complement the wisdom of elders.

Visible in and reinforced both by the political system and the predominant religions is how the entire population of Jute can generally be described furthermore as being more communitarian than individualistic, although this has been somewhat changing in the more cosmopolitan parts of the major port cities of Sitti and Numudu. Generally, however, many other traditions and rituals are still observed there as well. These help to reinforce communal bonds, a feeling of togetherness that is important to keep up morale for work and certain bigger projects.

However, there are checks on this collectivist organization of society. A certain amount of privacy and freedom is granted to every member of a community in all cultures, but the exact amount as well as the definition of 'privacy' and 'freedom' can vary significantly from community to community and culture to culture. Generally, self-reliance, both on the individual and communal level, is highly valued, although some cultures and communities value one over the other. The more traditionalist, the more communal self-reliance tends to be emphasized and individual self-reliance downplayed, though in River Jutean communities both are usually seen as equally important.

On the other side, mutual aid in and between societies is in Coastal and River Jutean communities widely seen as the even more important guiding principle of society, and is also very important in the other cultures. Ignoring it, for example by not helping one's local community in hard times or unexplained skipping of community meetings is often harshly socially sanctioned in a number of ways ranging from simple shaming or community service to banishment from a community or even the island, as living together in close-knit communities while forming a single imagined confederal community is seen as vital to the survival and independence of the land and its population.

Marriage

This section predominantly deals with the situation in Coastal Jutean communities. You can help by expanding the section to include well-sourced statements on other communities.

Marriage rites on Jute are generally markedly inconspicuous, as marriage is seen as a private thing and as such not celebrated publicly. The word for 'marriage' also translates to 'living together', as a couple is regarded as being married once they move into a new house, and spend the first night together in the same bed. Usually this house is one they have constructed and furnished themselves, although the local community will often assist in doing that. The end of construction work, that is, the end of marriage preparations but a time before the couple is regarded as being married, may or may not be privately or publicly celebrated.

Married couples are also generally still expected to have or adopt children, or at least engage themselves in some voluntary or professional work that benefits the community.

Heirlooms

With this emphasis on communal living and a communitarian worldview that values working for the collective welfare of a community above individual pursuits, accumulating wealth to pass on to your children and your children alone is not just uncommon, but frowned upon, if not seen as anti-social. Therefore, heirlooms tend to be either things with less material and more sentimental value, or something that belongs to a community in general.

As most of the economy works and relies on a cooperative approach, production of goods and the offer of services relies on shared equipment, rendering it a kind of communal heirloom. Communities themselves may treasure particular records (as do most places in other lands), or other artifacts, such as locally made jewelry, weapons with a particular history or tools and machines important for local trades or industries.

A person may also build up an impressive collection of odd looking stones that has their children clueless as to what they should do with it, or have a dried flower commemorating some important life event. In many households books may also be seen as important heirlooms that children should receive, although this is more commonly the case in communities with no libraries of their own or a particularly strong scholarly/scientific tradition.

Traditional gender roles

Three different culture-specific genders exist in most of Jute, particularly in the regions inhabited by Coastal and River Juteans. These are never assigned at birth, instead they are chosen, with biology playing no role whatsoever, by the parents in the first years of a child's life based on characteristics, behavior and preferences, though other members in a community might suggest or even urge the parents in a particular direction.

With society having grown more open and less socially conservative in recent years, it has become common for children to challenge this decision and for this to be accepted socially. While not all parents already pay heed to it when it happens when the child is still young, almost all but the strictest parents allow their children to select the label they identify with the most either after puberty has started or at the very least after that.

The three genders are called netumo ('guard, sentry'), sehukumo ('nurturer, fosterer'), and kove ('inbetween') The latter term has some negative connotations for some people for reasons which might be obvious, which is why vamejo is often preferred instead nowadays.

A nuclear family originally consisted of a netumo and a sehukumo, with kove/vamejo often the people who were supposed to go childless and devote their life for the community, taking over the tasks no one else could or wanted to take over, though nowadays same-gender marriages and families with vamejo are becoming increasingly common, too.

Vamejo originally is a shortening of vamejotimo, meaning 'sorcerer', 'magician' or 'seer', which refers to the fact that, largely barred from forming a family on their own, they tended to group together in smaller clubs or societies. Many of them had ties, or alleged ties, to magical practices, which is why they also came to be called this. Tasks the community expected them to take over usually included things that required staying alone for a longer time, such as fishing in the ocean, exploring the island for e.g. new food sources, threats or other resources, spiritual guides, mathematicians/astronomers. Mathematicians and astronomers were akin to priests in traditional Saandism, and often also worked as judges. Being a judge was and remains a very unpopular profession in particular, due to the difficulty of coming up with judgments that satisfy all parties involved.

Netumo are traditionally the defenders of the family, children and the home against any outside threats. Aside from that, they are also historically the protectors of the village. These required them often to stay at or near home, though, when on watch duty near the edge of the rainforest, they would also usually gather food or fish in a river (hunting was largely unknown) while keeping an eye out for any predators or other dangers that might be lurking in the wilderness. They were also responsible for repairs at the house and other manual tasks, and often also where the people who worked in the forest gardens. In times of trouble, the netumo of a community would usually first consult their spouse and then come together and discuss how to deal with the problem.

Sehukumo were, as the name implies, expected to be the ones nursing, raising and educating (aside from some of the more practical things, which were taught by netumo) the children. When they lacked the capability to breastfeed for biological reasons, they would either have the children be nursed by a relative, friend or leave that task to the other parent. They usually were also responsible for housekeeping and food preparation. Work in gardens, including forest gardens, was seen as a typical task for sehukumos as well.

Cuisine

Cooked jute leaves

Main article: Jutean cuisine

Cuisine on Jute varies as much as culture generally does, possibly even more. The more populated coastal regions have largely pescetarian cuisines, dominated by fresh fish, fruits and vegetables. Fish is less common inland, but leaves of the jute plant, and bananas are staples everywhere aside from the mountainous Klambari-speaking region in the east, where they're not really common. Animal husbandry is more important there, and it is the only community with hunting traditions. On the other side, meat was unknown on the settlements lining the shore for the longest period of time, who have appreciated the versatility of the coconut through the ages.

Architecture

Sport

Surfing, riverboat races and handball (historically, and in some regions in modern times, played with coconuts) are the dominating sports on Jute, although in the Samwati communities gymnastics and martial arts are of higher local importance. While football is the most popular sport among Klambari speakers, they traditionally also hold spearthrowing and a form of archery in high regard.

Media

The coastal communities enjoy a variety of media, such as radio stations, broadcasting in all commonly spoken languages, access to internet portals, newspapers in a variety of languages (Coastal Jutean, Jute Pidgin, Neviran in Sitti and Balak in Numudu) and some magazines (mostly in Coastal Jutean). Print media is the most widely used.

However, the radio has become the most important source of information for the majority of the population living further away from the coasts on the island due to the difficulty of terrain and remoteness of many of those communities, which often makes regular delivery of newspapers difficult and unfeasible. A sizeable portion of the population not being literate, or not being literate in one of the two dominating scripts, compounds the issue. Almost every county has at least one station available in the local language or languages, and where radio stations have no reach either, programming is sometimes distributed in the form of podcasts saved on memory cards carried by pigeons or other messengers.

On South Jute the selection is much more limited, with only Laina having a radio station and only three newspapers existing that are not available everywhere. For some communities, media is not directly available and news arrive via satellite phone or are picked up in a bigger settlement.

Arts

Literature

Literature has a long tradition on Jute, with telling stories in the evening being an age-old part of daily life for the population. (See prehistory) Nowadays it has developed into a rich variety, with a lot of recent novels being popular abroad as well. Other forms of culture are less common, but still enjoy some popularity. Traditional flute music can often be heard in the streets or in the two opera halls of the island

The ancient story-telling tradition on Jute lives on to this day, unchanged in principle but with the stories at times updated. Those ones are called "living stories" (or tahi a ni) and are more like legends with more fantastical elements. Their name comes from their special characteristic of changing over time to stay relevant for any given society, so the story never becomes just something "strange" from the past. Other stories are supposed to be more historically accurate, like ancient historiography. The main topics include building up of the nonafat or civilization of Jute, the exploration of and survival next to the dangerous wilderness, the conflicts inside and between several societies, and often also ninvohi, or the concept of "finding and accepting one's place in the world".

There is also a creation story, called "the waving story" or tahi a saa, called so because it establishes and explains the cyclical (or "waving") view of history. In anthologies it is usually split into a beginning, containing the initial creation of the world, put in front of the other stories as an introduction, and an ending, describing the transition to a new cycle of history, serving as a conclusion.

After the introduction, the first two stories in anthologies are commonly the "living stories" Tahi a ni a netude ("Living story of the frontier"), narrating the mythical prehistory and Tahi a ni a saanude ("Living story of the ocean"), detailing the voyage of the ancestors of Juteans across the ocean and the sea.

Next is usually the Tahi a saanede a iki a hohi ("Story of the first new beach"), which talks about the discovery of the island, and the Tahi a jutaide ("Story of the settlement"), which narrates the settling down at the coast and the building of the first houses, harvests etc. The remainder do not have a set chronological or other kind of order, and their appearance in anthologies is usually up to the editor.

Story Translation of the title Topic
Tahi a Netumode a Saan "Story of Netumo a Saan" A story of a famous semi-mythical guard and proto-community leader
Tahi a nonaf a livunuhide "Stories of the communities of the east" Stories set in different settlements than the most famous ones in the region of modern-day Sitti
Tahi a vatasainide "Story of the Stonepeople" A story about "stonepeople", a Jutean community called so because they were surrounded by mysterious stone ruins
Tahi a nuluade a deletu "Story of the monkey-like siblings" A shorter story about two siblings who behaved like monkeys and what happened to them as a result
Tahi a nihamode nav netude "Story of the elders near the border of civilization" About the wisdom and advice of elders living near the edge of the jungle
Tahi a fivoude u lumode a vanede "Story of storms at sea and the power of nature" A story depicting the dangers someone boating in the ocean can encounter, a cautionary tale
Tahi a tahimode a afuva u hajeohi "Story of the fat, intelligent storyteller" A story teaching listeners not to just judge people by their appearance, a story of empowerment

Visual arts

Music

Theater

Symbols

The jute plant and fiber is in modern times used as a symbol for the island, the confederation, and for many ethnic Juteans, representing important values such as an environment-friendly lifestyle, living in harmony with nature and securing the future for coming generations.

Symbols in general are historically rare on the island among the Coastal and River Juteans. To this day, most communities and other groups are known only by name and, when needed, description, having no emblem of their own. These are reserved for groups, professions and people that operate on a larger scale and therefore need a simple way to be recognized.

Among those are the post service, which has for a long time used red thread tied to the legs of carrier pigeons, as well as two red armlets for human messengers, hospital or medical staff would use a necklace covered in blue or green feathers and members of the county, regional or confederation-wide courts use capes (black or dark grey ones for county courts, red ones for regional courts and blue ones for the confederal courts) that show two hands pressed against each other, signifying both the careful consideration of the courts and the agreement of the parties involved to submit to the ruling.

See also