Xuni Migration Period

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The Xuni Migration Period is a name given by scholars to the period between the 8th and 5th centuries BCE, when the Mañi people acquired the technology to construct ships with crab-claw sails and outriggers, used it to raid the coast of Soltenna and Akulanen, and used the wealth and power to spread inland. Before the Migration Period, archeologists believe that power in Mañi culture was based on gift-giving. Polities, ranging from villages to confederations of cities, were governed by the ruler who had the ability to distribute the most valuable gifts. The arrival of traders from Nagu with considerable wealth destabilized this system, as there was now evidence that even the most powerful rulers were less wealthy than the merchants from across the sea. The Mañi culture's response to this social upheaval was to begin raiding to provide increasingly profligate gifts. Armies of raiders became armies which confederations could use to turn others into tributaries or even subjects. This period ended with the First Xuni-Kwang War in 521 BCE, in which the Kwang armies stopped the Mañic expansion.

Culture

Gender

Much like ancestral North Akulanen culture, there were 3 genders: men, women, and third gender (zam). Children were not gendered until puberty. Only people who ejaculate could become men, and only people who menstruate could become women. Gender is not expected to change as an adult, for any reason.

Marriage was allowed only between people of different genders.

A woman's family is expected to provide a dowry of tools and housewares (e.g. cooking pots) to her spouse. A zam's family is expected to provide a dowry of cloth goods to zeir spouse (e.g. clothing, sailcloth, blankets). In the case of marriage between a woman and a zam, the woman's family was expected to provide more goods or goods of higher value. Men brought livestock, personal weapons, and goods used aboard a ship.

High-status people were allowed to have multiple spouses, although the expected dowry decreases with each additional spouse. A man could be married to both women and zams, and likewise, a zam could be married to both men and women. Only women of very high status could have multiple spouses; this was rare, but not unheard of. However, there is no evidence of women with spouses of both other genders, and some taboos against this are recorded.

In order to preserve the family's wealth and possessions, cross-cousin marriage was common among poorer families. In some communities this effectively became line breeding.

All genders received tattoos after puberty. Women had their ears pierced after puberty, and had their septums pierced after marriage. Women (but not zams) received tattoos after the birth of each child, and men received tattoos after each battle during which they achieved a kill.

TBD: coming of age ritual by gender, labor divisions by gender

Moiety

Migration period Xuni culture was split into two moieties, bat and tapir. (The shark and snake moieties arose later.) Moieties were inherited matrilineally and were exogamous. People were not allowed to eat the flesh of their animal totem.

Marriage is restricted to two people of different moieties.

Tattoo, earring, and septum piercing style differs for each moiety.

TBD: something about moiety and work TBD

Kinship

Marriage or sexual relations between parallel cousins, siblings, parent and child, or cross cousins of the same moiety were considered incestuous and extremely taboo. Marriage between cross cousins of different moieties is not considered incest, nor is marriage between an aunt and her brother's or zibling's child, or between an uncle and his sister's or zibling's child (assuming that the spouses are of different moieties).

TBD: kinship language something about matrilineality/matrilocality, internal organization of the family

Naming

Time

Games

The game oha (and thus the entire tanni category of games) originated in the Xuni migration period.

TBD something about string figures

TBD:

  • Disability
  • Ethnicity
  • Food
  • Belief
  • Art