Umite

Customs

Female Recognition

Being a female in the Umi Empire gives you more recognition and power. It is a common custom for females to be greeted first before any male members are acknowledged, if acknowledged at all. To be male and not acknowledged is not taken as an insult, as most males understand their roles and positions in society. To greet the male member of the party (regardless of knowing if they are from the same household) is an insult to the female’s household. These types of insults can lead to quarrels between houses which can ultimately cause both houses to be shamed. When houses accuse each other, the imperial courts get involved. They investigate by talking to witnesses and looking at the houses’ past dealings to decide what happened. Typically, this result in the insulted house being given a payment from the offending house, which has bankrupted lesser houses.

Food & Drink

Fish Industry

The Umi Empire is widely known for its fish markets and a large surplus of seafood. Because of the cities being primarily coastal, they use the ocean as their main source of resources. The industry is one of the empire’s main sources of income, along with unique food choices.

Sushi

Raw fish combined with rice, seaweed, vegetables, and other ingredients as a meal is the most common type of food in Umi. Sushi chefs will train for years to master the perfect sushi dish. Sushi is food that, if not prepared correctly, can cause a lifetime of dishonor to the chef and their family.

Geography

Poreru Islands

The northern hemisphere of Nisumari (Poreru Nisumari) is a group of tropical islands known as the Junarite Kingdom. An explorer by the name of Opiva Shipwright of the Umi Empire had discovered them, believing they were the Vroth empire after getting lost in a storm. Through exploration of the islands, Opiva learned they were far north of the desert island and had stumbled upon the new land. Being a proud Umite, she claimed the islands under the Umi Empire. However, this did not go over easily with the natives. Opiva and her crew were asked to leave as the islands were already claimed by the Junarite tribes and if she was to continue, they would see her actions as a threat. Opiva, thinking she was superior to the primitive natives, did not take their warning seriously. She had two of her four ships begin construction of a coastal fort while her other two ships were to return to Umi with news of their discovery.After informing her empress of her discovery and claiming the islands for Umi, the empress ordered more ships to be sent to the islands for settlement. The empress instructed Opiva to lead the expedition and ensure their people reached their destination in one piece. After a long journey, Opiva returned to the islands with eight ships, five civilian transports, and three military vessels. Upon her arrival, she expected to find a thriving settlement but found only death and ruin. The settlement had been burned to the ground in what appeared to have been a battle. Upon her arrival, she found out that her crew had been killed by the natives, and there were no survivors. The Poreru Island War started and the Umi Empire conquered the Junarite tribes, renaming the islands the Junarite Kingdoms.

However, in 1282, the Junarite Kingdoms won their independence because of the invention of AGE vessels.

Religion

They believe in all gods, including the minor deities. Everything has energy flowing through it. These different energies are gods, no matter how big or small they are all worshipped.

Umites primarily worship the energy of their ancestors. Umites ask their ancestors and those they have lost in their lifetime to watch over them and help them stay safe. They create shrines in their houses to honor those whose life force has returned to Izan (Gaia).

Ever Life Eternal

The Ever Life Eternal is the largest religion in the Umi Empire. The Izanians, followers of the Ever Life Eternal, worship Izan the god of all life. They believe that Izan’s energy, known as Ga, flows through all living beings. From the dirt they walk on to the birds in the sky to themselves, Ga is within all life. With this connection, the belief is that everything is a massive network of energy that is composed of one entity. To sever the flow from a living being is to cut off the connection with Izan, corrupting their Ga and corrupting it into Ecro. Ecro is believed to be pure negative energy, the opposite of Izan’s energy, Ga. People do not have to die to have their Ga severed from Izan. Beings that perform deeds that the Ever Life Eternal deems wrong to cause the being’s connection with Izan to weaken. Performing enough Ecro focused deeds brings the being closer to becoming separated from the whole. Once severed, there are two ways to convert the being’s Ecro back into Ga. The more humane way is to get the being to perform acts of kindness and selflessness. Doing so slowly purifies their Ecro back into Ga. The temple monitors the beings and decides when their energy has been purified. The other method is to destroy the vessel that holds the Ecro as it releases the energy into the atmosphere where it is naturally purified. There are kingdoms in Umi that are governed by the Ever Life Eternal Temple as the ruling family is devout followers. Those who turn their Ga into Ecro can be killed unless they repent and do enough good deeds to purify themselves. Kingdoms that follow this path are more conservative and have strict laws. The citizens who are not followers of the Ever Life Eternal live their lives in fear.

Society

The Umite culture is mostly geographically within the Umi Empire. A matriarchal empire since the empire was first formed. Every ten years, the citizens of the empire vote as to which imperial family will rule. To become an imperial family, a female citizen of the Umi Empire must represent the family.

Since its founding, a female empress has always ruled the Umi Empire. The reasoning is that men are seen as having more physical strength, which takes away from their mental strength. This leads to poor choices and rash thoughtless actions which cause more harm than good. Women are intelligent because physical strength does not overshadow their mental strength. They are more in touch with their emotional sides, therefore can control them better, which lets them make more solid decisions.A man having ruling power shows that the government uses physical harshness over intellectual systems. They hold the matriarchal system to such a high standard that women are seen as superior beings over men. So much so that most, while noblemen are taught to read, they are rarely taught to write. A man who can write is based on their family’s profession such as scribes, bookmakers, and other professions that require it. A woman writing for a man is an act of selfless kindness.

Imperial Vote

After becoming an Umi citizen, if you wish to run for Empress, a member of your family must be of at least twenty years of age and must own land within the Umi Empire. If proof of ownership can be shown, the size of the land does not matter. Otherwise, any family is eligible to run. If your family is promoted or funded without breaking any laws, it does not matter how it happens.

The year leading up to the Imperial Vote is full of families trying to convince their neighbors to vote for them in the coming Imperial Vote. Many families are bankrupt or forced to flee the Empire for both being threatened by the competition or for breaking the law in order to get ahead. Ultimately, halfway through the year, the families who can still run become the imperial families. The selection of imperial families marks the end of participation for all other families.

To be eligible to be one of the imperial families, your family must get at least 20% of the votes. The families under that percent are disqualified. The rest of the year, the imperial families try to convince all the Empire to vote for them.

Voting System

The census committee keeps track of the votes. Every time there is an important vote, the committee travels the empire collecting votes from all the citizens. A simple ledger system that has the list of every citizen in the specific region of the empire is used to make sure no one is voting more than once. The citizens are given an official document of which they are required to sign and mark who they are voting for. Those who can’t read or write are read the document in private soundproof wagons. They make an X for their name with the census member signature indicating proof of the private signing. Once all the votes have been collected, they are returned to the census committee’s headquarters and counted.

Highly trained soldiers protect the census committee to ensure safety. The soldiers are the census committee’s personal military and only report to the census committee. The only person who is not a member of the census committee who can give orders to the census committee or their troops is the Empress. She has limited power over the voting and imperial systems, and cannot change any related laws or regulations.

Umi Citizenship

To be recognized as a citizen of Umi, you must register your name and family name with the Umi Census Organization. When you register, you declare you are not affiliated with any significant power except for the Umi Empire and its kingdoms. This forgoes any ownership of land, property, or other possessions that reside outside of the Umi Empire. You can only retain ownership of physical belongings that can be transferred to Umi territory.

Traditions

The Umite culture does not promote or encourage any traditions, as it is believed that traditions hold people back. Instead, they accept change and flow with the changing of time. No tradition or ritual can be celebrated every year in the same way in Umite culture, although smaller ones may exist in individual groups. Except for the Festival of Change, where once a year the Empress holds a festival all about change. It celebrates giving up old traditions and changing them for new ones. The location, theme, and overall appearance and feel are different every year. The only standard traditional part of the festival is that it happens once a year. Even the date when the festival will happen changes yearly.

Some years, the Empress will give a random kingdom with in the Umi Empire the duty to organize and host the festival. Being selected for this task is an extreme honor and shows to the kingdom that they have favor with the Empire. However, organizing a festival like any done in the past ten years’ results in shaming the kingdom and Empire and losing favor with the Empire. It can go as far as having the royal family of the kingdom, removed from power and a new family takes their place.