Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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prettydragoon wrote: 17 Apr 2021 22:33
elemtilas wrote: 12 Apr 2021 04:37 And a question! -- I find it very positive that age (and presumably wisdom!) is so respected among the Rireinukave (hope I spelled that right!) What if the oldest person at the (metaphorical) table happens to be a male?
Age implies wisdom. For a proto-kave savannah monkey to survive to a ripe old age, she had to be pretty dang clever to escape all the saber-toothed lions and tigers and bears (oh my!).

Ah yes. Since the Rireinukave are functionally a One Gender Race, they had no gender issues before encountering galactics. Biological gender is one of those things that is not mentioned in polite society. Galactics are tacitly assumed to be people, neither female nor male. The idea of people being male is still not quite real to the average Rireinukave, that there can be males that talk and think just like regular people (to the extent that galactics actually do think, anyway).
Those silly Galactics!

But, what happens in impolite society? I don't recall it being mentioned: how are male Galactics, er, handled in Rireinukave society?

I'm just going to go out on a limb and assume that, since you ignored my question [}:D] [}:D] [}:D] , male Rireinukave just don't get any respect in society? Even if an older one were present.

Of course, this also brings up a question: do Rireinukave ever know (or care) who their male relatives are?

In family life, of course, the word of the materfamilias is law. More so in the country than in the cities, but even in the turmoil of urban life, filial piety is highly prized. The young owe obedience to the old, and the old in return owe protection and guidance to the young. And as everyone is both daughter and mother in her time, it all comes out even.

The ways of showing respect are numerous. The elder always gets first choice. When an elder speaks, you do not interrupt. You address an elder with respect; the greater the age difference, the more respect. Nowadays simply bowing more deeply is usually sufficient to show respect. A traditional way to greet one of your grandmothers (or even your mothers-in-law, if you have married into a landed family) is pisuvosi or 'taking the dust': you go down on one knee before her, touch her feet with your right hand, and then touch that same hand to your forehead, lips, and heart.
Now that's proper respect for one's elders!
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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elemtilas wrote: 20 Apr 2021 02:30 Those silly Galactics!

But, what happens in impolite society? I don't recall it being mentioned: how are male Galactics, er, handled in Rireinukave society?
Galactics, whether normal or male [}:D] , are handled very carefully. A little like Western tourists in North Korea. With actual handlers complimentary personal guides provided by the government.
I'm just going to go out on a limb and assume that, since you ignored my question [}:D] [}:D] [}:D] , male Rireinukave just don't get any respect in society? Even if an older one were present.
I'm afraid you assume correctly. Of course, in male husbandry circles the performance of males is studied extensively. Sires that propagate desirable traits are valued especially. But no respect, really.
Of course, this also brings up a question: do Rireinukave ever know (or care) who their male relatives are?
The woman in the street neither knows nor cares. The studhouses, on the other hand, keep extensive records. Mainly to prevent inbreeding.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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prettydragoon wrote: 21 Apr 2021 20:49 Galactics, whether normal or male [}:D] , are handled very carefully. A little like Western tourists in North Korea. With actual handlers complimentary personal guides provided by the government.
What do the "complimentary personal guides" do? What if the male Galactic has a female to watch over him already?

I'm just going to go out on a limb and assume that, since you ignored my question [}:D] [}:D] [}:D] , male Rireinukave just don't get any respect in society? Even if an older one were present.
I'm afraid you assume correctly. Of course, in male husbandry circles the performance of males is studied extensively. Sires that propagate desirable traits are valued especially. But no respect, really.
Fair enough. And don't be afraid!

The woman in the street neither knows nor cares. The studhouses, on the other hand, keep extensive records. Mainly to prevent inbreeding.
Oh, how curious! Have you ever shown us what a male looks like?
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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elemtilas wrote: 21 Apr 2021 20:59
prettydragoon wrote: 21 Apr 2021 20:49 Galactics, whether normal or male [}:D] , are handled very carefully. A little like Western tourists in North Korea. With actual handlers complimentary personal guides provided by the government.
What do the "complimentary personal guides" do? What if the male Galactic has a female to watch over him already?
Why, the complimentary personal guide makes sure your visit runs smoothly and you get the maximum enjoyment out of your Rireinu experience. She will book you tickets to cultural and sporting events, transportation to and from all of your destinations, she will facilitate your meeting local experts in your areas of interest, she will give you the standard tour guide spiel if that is more your speed, or she can regale you with regional folk tales or the latest hot celebrity gossip... really, Jumpspace is the limit. (Yes, the phrase is "sky's the limit" but here it isn't since you can also visit Usa and Minaere, the two other settled worlds of the Rireinu system.) And not report on your every move, of course.

And if a male galactic has a female to watch over him already, then he gets to enter Rireinu. A female chaperone is required for all non-female galactics. Every tour group must have no more than 50% non-female members.
The woman in the street neither knows nor cares. The studhouses, on the other hand, keep extensive records. Mainly to prevent inbreeding.
Oh, how curious! Have you ever shown us what a male looks like?
Not yet, not really, I don't think. In "A good boy" I alluded to males being much shorter, but that seems to be it so far.

So, here's a fairly close visual approximation: Take your stereotypical "caveman". Very hairy, speaks in grunts, not too bright. Take your average hobbit or halfling. Very short, like literally half the height of an adult Human, hairy feet, doesn't hold with "change" and "progress". With a bit of photoshop magic, morph them together, into a cave-hobbit.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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k1234567890y wrote: 23 Feb 2021 04:52 I wonder what would the Rireinu version of this look like: https://www.zompist.com/amercult.html
How to tell if you're Rireinukave

If you're Rireinukave...
  • You believe that freedom of speech was laid down by the All-Mother in the beginning of time.
  • You're familiar with Kane Takesima, Pera Simamatu, Rituno Yuvu (Fruits of the Season), Ereñara Iyo (A Night with Stars), Kemi-takupiñi (Postwoman Kemi), Anorase Anonose (Sunset Sunrise), Eti Hirekitu, Tara Ataruvo, Erehetu (Star Patrol), Emotimano Raku (Flags of Our Mothers), Mike Tovukane, Sari to Tinu (Sari and Tinu), Mo-sivepusa (Annex Mo), Hopu Keñeuke, Aino Esokeña, and, of course, Posu Natuñoto.
  • You know how potesame (stickball), vekusame (kickball), and tañoyora (pole dancing) are played, and you can argue intricate points about their rules. Although tañoyora literally means 'pole dancing', it is a martial art, basically quarterstaff with steel poles. Potesame is much like (field) hockey and vekusame is rather like football (soccer).
  • You expect to have three weeks of vacation a year.
  • You are biologically female. You don't think of yourself as female though, since only the lower animals are female or male. It's just that everyone is expected to have at least one baby. Otherwise, your career prospects are rather limited. Only a mother can be expected to have the mature judgement required in a leadership position.
Mmm, deep fried whatever...
  • You don't think of yourself as religious; venerating the ancestors at the family altar is simply tradition. Even if you follow the way of the Pure Land, since it merely recommends showing respect to all goddesses.
  • Galactic fast food chains are unknown, but there are some native ones, even though they face stiff competition from street hawkers. You think of the likes of McDonald's and KFC etc. as fairly cheap food.
  • You own a telephone and a TV. Your place is not heated in the winter. In fact there is no winter, at least in the regions people actually live. Your place has its own kuriso, or toilet room. If it doesn't also have a bathroom, there is always a bathhouse down the block. What laundry you have, you take it to a professional to clean. You don't kill your own food. You don't have a dirt floor. You either eat at a table sitting on chairs, or sitting cross-legged on the floor.
  • You eat boiled rice with most meals, use poña (fish sauce) as a condiment for much of your food, and eat most things with a spoon. A three-tined fork (ñave) can also be used to load up your spoon.
  • You don't consider dogs, cats, or monkeys to be food. Practically anything else is. Especially if deep fried.
  • A bathroom (sopasoto) always has a shower in it, but not necessarily a bathtub, and definitely not a toilet. The toilet is in a kuriso.
The business of Rireinu is business
  • It seems natural to you that the railways, auto manufacturers, and airlines are privately run. The utilities are private but strictly regulated regional monopolies, which again seems natural.
  • You expect, as a matter of course, that the phones will work. Getting a new phone is routine.
  • The train system is excellent. High-speed trains are the way for intercity travel. Commuter trains and subways run with clockwork precision and are the best way to get around in the cities. The roads are perennially underfunded thanks to the powerful railway lobby, so cars aren't all that useful. You usually don't take a plane except when you're crossing an ocean. You probably have never been to space.
  • You find a two-party system natural. You expect the politicians of both parties to be responsive to business, strong on defense, and concerned with the middle class. You find a multi-party parliamentary system inefficient and comic.
  • Socialism is another one of those galactic ideas that sounds much better in theory than in practice.
  • You usually don't think in terms of race. That's because everyone in the three worlds of Rireinu is a Rireinukave. Except a few galactic diplomats and such.
  • You do not expect you will ever meet a galactic face-to-face in meatspace. Or even in avatarspace really.
  • You take a strong court system for granted, although you won't use it. You know that if you went into business and had problems with a customer, partner, or supplier, you could take them to court-- but you wouldn't, because the system is way too slow, and being involved in a suit isn't exactly good for your reputation.
  • You think a tax level of 30% isn't all that bad, and chances are you don't think so much about it anyway because corporate workers don't have to file their tax returns-- their income taxes are deducted from salary. The only people who gripe about taxes are business owners and the self-employed.
  • You count on excellent medical treatment. You know you're not going to die of cholera or other Crapsack World diseases. You expect very strong measures to be taken to save very ill babies or people in their eighties. You think dying at 75ye. (about 65 Galactic Standard Years) would be a tragedy.
  • You think a lot of problems could be solved if only people would put aside their prejudices and work together.
  • You'd respect someone who speaks Human, Minbari, or Hainish-- but you very likely don't yourself speak them well enough to communicate with a monolingual foreigner. Who are we kidding? You most likely don't know more than one or two words of any galactic language.
  • It's not all that necessary to learn galactic languages anyway. You can travel the system using nothing but Rireinutire-- and who really wants to visit the wretched hive of scum and villainy that is the rest of the galaxy? I mean, honestly?
  • School is free through high school, unless you go to a private school. Colleges charge only a nominal tuition.
  • College is four years long, unless you study medicine (six years). Competition for admission to the better universities is pretty fierce.
Everybody knows that
  • Mustard comes as a paste in plastic tubes or in powdered form in cans. Shaving cream comes in cans. Milk comes in plastic bottles.
  • The year comes first, then the month and date: 2712-4-12. (And you know what happened on that date.)
  • The decimal point is a mid·dot. It is identical in shape to porehuhu, the character used almost exactly like a comma.
  • Numbers larger than seña (1,000,000,000) have names based on the powers of one thousand, so a million times million is called nehosenu (four-AUG-thousand.NOM), a thousand nehosenu is vihosenu (five-AUG-thousand.NOM), etc.
  • You expect marriages to be made for love, not arranged by third parties. Getting married by the District Registrar is the only legal marriage. Each bride has her own miko or lieutenant at the wedding-- a friend or a sibling. And, naturally, a woman gets only one wife at a time.
  • If a woman has sex with another woman, she's had sex. As long as neither is married to somebody else, nor is their age difference too great, nobody cares. But if your lover is young enough to be your daughter, you will be ostracized for being a cradle-robber and disgusting pervert. Unless she is a grandmother herself; at that age the number of years starts to matter less.
  • Once you're introduced to someone, you will call her by name only if she is a peer, subordinate or junior. Anyone who is senior or higher in the socio-economic ladder must be addressed with great respect.
  • You usually wear nothing more than a belt with pouches. Possibly a hat, maybe shoes or sandals. If you go to the beach, you take it off.
  • A hotel room has a private bath. On the other hand, traditional-style inns have cavernous common baths.
  • You do not watch any galactic media.
  • You expect to be able to transact business, or deal with the government, without paying bribes. Of course, some entertaining and gift-giving may be necessary, but you certainly wouldn't consider this a bribe.
  • If a politican has been cheating on her wife, you might question her ability to govern.
  • Just about any store, or street vendor, will take your credit card.
  • A company can fire just about anybody it wants, for cause.
  • Bacon is usually soft and juicy, not crunchy.
Contributions to galactic civilization
  • You went over Rireinu history at school, with the barest mention of galactic history thrown in.
  • World War II was a thing that you know nothing about. The Great War in the early 23rd Century was a total disaster for the planet: ten years of senseless bloodshed, half the flower of the womanhood of the planet slaughtered in the trenches for the overweening pride of half a dozen queens and empresses.
  • Your country has never been conquered by a foreign nation. The Great War led directly to the Unification of Rireinu, and in the five centuries since, the world has grown into one big happy family together.
  • You expect the military to fight wars, not get involved in politics. When you did your conscript year in the Army or the Navy, you learned a healthy disrespect for The Other Service. You probably remember the name of the Commander-in-Charge of your Service at the time, but you may not be able to name her incumbent successor.
  • You think of galactics as basically Rireinukave in funny bodypaint and stage prosthetics. Their being divided in what seems to be moieties called "female" and "male" seems utterly inexplicable, since males are of course non-sapient.
And let's welcome our guests for tonight
  • The people who appear on the most popular talk shows are mostly entertainers, politicians, or rather strange individuals. Authors and artists have special talk shows.
  • Much of media content is gossip about celebrities. Intellectuals often deplore this, but the general public don't seem to care-- the more gossip articles there are in a magazine or tabloid, the better they sell.
  • Comics (ayepiha) are everywhere. There are dozens of weekly ayepiha magazines and almost everyone reads them.
  • You're used to a wide variety of choices for almost anything you buy.
  • You measure things using the traditional rea-poku-toririni system, which works exactly like the metric system, only with different basic units.
  • You are not a farmer.
  • You drive on the left side of the road. You stop at amber lights even if nobody's around. If you're a pedestrian and cars are stopped at an amber light, you will fearlessly cross the street in front of them. (Traffic lights in Rireinu are: amber-- stop, red-- caution, blue-- go.)
  • You consider the Volkswagen Beetle to be a car the size of a medium-sized car.
  • The police in general aren't armed, but all police forces have armed response units.
  • If a person is plumper than the average, it doesn't improve her looks. Being solidly muscular does.
  • The biggest meal of the day is in the evening.
  • The ethnicity people most often make jokes about are the Sumiapakave, people of Sumiapa Province.
  • Sumiapakave are widely considered to be dumb and rather backward; Islanders, tight-fisted and humourless; Westlanders, impractical and talkative; Harukave, rude and loutish. (Unless of course you belong to one of these groups.)
  • There's parts of the city you won't go to unless you're in the company of a knowledgeable local.
Outside Nasakeri (the Haru Ring Road)
  • You feel that your kind of people aren't being listened to enough in Haru.
  • You wouldn't expect both inflation and unemployment to be very high (say, over 5%) at the same time.
  • You say you don't care very much what family someone comes from, but you will when your daughter brings her girlfriend over.
  • The normal thing, when a couple dies, is for their estate to be divided equally between their daughters.
  • Opera and ballet are unknown. Traditional eiha plays are of course the quintessence of Rireinu culture, but the dialogue (in ancient Harutire) is difficult to follow and, aside from one or two performances you were forced to sit through in school, you've never gone to see any.
  • Christmas is unknown to you, unless you speak Human. Also, because the Galactic Standard Year is a fair bit longer than the Rireinu year, there's no telling when Christmas would be.
  • The most important holiday is New Year, which falls on the winter solstice of the northern hemisphere of Rireinu. It is a time for cleaning the house, meeting relatives, and eating well. And lots of fireworks.
  • You are used to not having a state church and the possibility of such a thing has never even occurred to you.
  • You'd be hard pressed to name the capitals or the leaders of even the closest neighbouring galactic nations.
  • You've left a message at the beep.
  • Taxi drivers are generally local residents and they usually do know their way around the city.
  • You think welfare and unemployment payments are necessary, even though you sometimes hear of people cheating. On the other hand, you would be deeply ashamed to take handouts yourself. National Health Insurance and National Pension are a prerequisite for any civilized nation.
  • If you want to be a doctor, you need to get a bachelor's first.
  • You know lawyers exist, but you've never seen one in person.
Space and time
  • If you have an appointment, you'll mutter an excuse if you're five eririni (about 6min 40s) late, and apologize profusely if it's ten eririni. Half a watch (about an hour) late is almost inexcusable.
  • If you're talking to someone, you get uncomfortable if they approach closer than about one rea (50cm).
  • You think it's rude to touch people you're not intimate with. (With family members, you have no qualms about kissing and hugging them in public.) When you're a nameless face in a crowd or jam-packed on a commuter train, however, you have no qualms about pushing and bumping into people.
  • About the only things you expect to bargain for are houses, cars, and antiques. Haggling is largely a matter of finding the hidden point that's the buyer's minimum.
  • Once you're past college, you very rarely simply show up at someone's place. People have to invite each other over-- especially if a meal is involved.
  • You bow to greet people. Once you're past school age, you're expected to know the various methods and degrees of bowing-- from cursory nods to full ninety degrees to groveling on the floor-- and use them properly according to the situation.
  • When you negotiate, you are polite, of course, and you make negotiation a social event. To 'play hardball' is a little rude.
  • If you have a business appointment or interview with someone, you expect to have that person to yourself, and the business shouldn't take more than a watch (about 2h 15min) or so.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by eldin raigmore »

Very nice! Well-done and informative!

.....

Wouldn’t it be the seller’s minimum or the buyer’s maximum?
Not the buyer’s minimum?
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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Well done!

Btw, by "human language" you mean "English" or?
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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eldin raigmore wrote: 20 May 2021 15:07 Very nice! Well-done and informative!

.....

Wouldn’t it be the seller’s minimum or the buyer’s maximum?
Not the buyer’s minimum?
Thank you! ute earo:

D'oh! Even Homer nods. Not to speak of those who carelessly copypaste from her.
k1234567890y wrote: 20 May 2021 16:42 Well done!

Btw, by "human language" you mean "English" or?
Thank you! ute earo:

Yes. The language that Rireinukave call Human is usually English. In-universe, it could just as well be any of a number of Human languages; Interstellar Colonial German, the native language of Captain HA Löffelstein, is one likely alternative. But out-of-universe, it is English (so far, without exception).
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by k1234567890y »

I also have a group of space faring human conpeople(though they speak an a priori), do you think they might meet Rireinukave?
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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k1234567890y wrote: 22 May 2021 17:26 I also have a group of space faring human conpeople(though they speak an a priori), do you think they might meet Rireinukave?
Yes, it is certainly possible. It's a big galaxy, almost anything can happen. There are some Rireinu traders who travel the stars, looking for interesting goods to buy and sell.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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prettydragoon wrote: 22 May 2021 21:04
k1234567890y wrote: 22 May 2021 17:26 I also have a group of space faring human conpeople(though they speak an a priori), do you think they might meet Rireinukave?
Yes, it is certainly possible. It's a big galaxy, almost anything can happen. There are some Rireinu traders who travel the stars, looking for interesting goods to buy and sell.
What sorts of goods would Rireinu sell? And what might they find interesting enough to buy? Clearly, the latest fashions from Paris are not likely to be among them...

Still reading through How to tell if you're Rireinukave. Expect some questions to follow!

I've often wondered what spacefaring folk from these forums would think on meeting the Denê! I know they'd be impressed by Rireinu magic.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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prettydragoon wrote: 22 May 2021 21:04
k1234567890y wrote: 22 May 2021 17:26 I also have a group of space faring human conpeople(though they speak an a priori), do you think they might meet Rireinukave?
Yes, it is certainly possible. It's a big galaxy, almost anything can happen. There are some Rireinu traders who travel the stars, looking for interesting goods to buy and sell.
Do you think we might discuss this in pm, in messages of CWS, on discord or something?
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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elemtilas wrote: 23 May 2021 01:09 What sorts of goods would Rireinu sell? And what might they find interesting enough to buy? Clearly, the latest fashions from Paris are not likely to be among them...
Those are the pertinent questions. Answer them right and you'll make a mint. Or even a cinnamon. But thionite is a big no-no. Whatever that might be, because I definitely have never heard about it before.
Still reading through How to tell if you're Rireinukave. Expect some questions to follow!
Looking forward to that!
I've often wondered what spacefaring folk from these forums would think on meeting the Denê! I know they'd be impressed by Rireinu magic.
That could be interesting!
k1234567890y wrote: 23 May 2021 09:00 Do you think we might discuss this in pm, in messages of CWS, on discord or something?
Absolutely! I think CWS would be most convenient for me.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by eldin raigmore »

If you ever read any Lensman stories, it’s the addictive drug they’re trying to control.

On the other hand sodium dithionite is a real thing.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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eldin raigmore wrote: 24 May 2021 00:35 If you ever read any Lensman stories, it’s the addictive drug they’re trying to control.

On the other hand sodium dithionite is a real thing.
I disavow all knowledge of this, how you say, Lens-man. Only a zwilnik would have the unmitigated gall to suggest otherwise.

Also, not to be confused with thiotimoline.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

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First Secretary Radetzky finds something to read
Misa Pehirove, in The Blue Marigold wrote: But trouble or not, she was a potential client. And yours truly has bills to pay.

So I stood up and bowed, a little unsteady on my feet, as I had been drinking my lunch when she walked in, and offered her a seat and a cigarette.

- No thank you, I only smoke my own. But if I could trouble you for a light?

So saying, she pulled a gold cigarette case from her pouch and extracted from it a purple cigarette. The exact shade of her belt. Always a lady, I offered her a light. After her first puff of smoke, I lit one of mine.

- So. What brings you to my humble office?

Who am I? I’m a private investigator. Says so on my door. Pera Seanava is my name. Danger is my game.

- Seanava-sama, it’s my wife. I think she’s cheating on me.

- From where I’m sitting, seems like she would be a damn fool to do something like that. So. Suppose you tell me everything.

- So you will take my case then?

- My secretary Timo told you all about my rates, yes?

She waggled her head as if to say maybe, but actually said yes.

- Well then. Let us call this a preliminary consultation. You can still convince me to turn you down.
I closed the book and looked at the cover again. Two well-muscled women with assorted scars, facing each other with pistols drawn, in garish colours suggesting neon lights playing on their skin.

- Well. It does seem to be exactly what you promised. I think I’m going to enjoy this. And this is one of the classics of the genre?

My friend Maru Hetiñaha, who had brought me the book, smiled broadly.

- Indeed it is. Misa Pehirove is one of the seminal authors of “girly-girl” detective stories. She and her colleagues found a fertile paddy in the social upheaval of the Unification Era for tales of two-fisted adventurers who were mostly on the side of law and order in goals if not methods. Also, this specific book may be of particular interest to you as a student of our history.

- Oh? And why is that?

- In The Blue Marigold, it turns out that the Big Bad is a lightly painted-over version of Colonel Streiff, the last chief of the infamous Akedavrian Secret Police. She had escaped the revolutionaries who hanged the last Daughter of Heaven off her own Window of Appearances. She was never found, nor was a large portion of the Akedavrian gold reserves. Theories about her disappearance ran wild for decades.

- And do you have a favourite theory about Colonel Streiff, then?

- My theory is quite prosaic, I’m afraid. I do not believe even the fiendish Colonel Streiff could have disappeared so completely that there is no trace of her in any subsequent records, ever, unless she literally disappeared physically. So my theory is that her airship crashed in the middle of the Western Ocean and the Akedavrian gold ended up on the bottom of the Enavihaña Trench, twenty thousand cubits deep.

- Oh well, that is prosaic indeed. But I expect you are most likely correct. It must have been quite difficult to change identities already in those days.

- Yes, even though computers were still a century or so in the future, most governments were keeping fairly close track of their citizens. Mostly for the war effort; most if not all of the belligerent countries had instituted rationing at some point during the war. It would have been very difficult to simply turn up in a town without attracting notice. Which means registration, which means fingerprints. Which would have been filed, then archived, then two centuries later digitised.

- So much for reality then. But in fiction, anything can happen.
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eldin raigmore
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by eldin raigmore »

Does 1st Sec’y Radetzky sometimes have vivid dreams?
Is her dream-persona sometimes named Mary-Sue?
Maybe she can “meet” this P.I. Seanava after all!

….

“Seanava-sama” …
Was the Galactic translator influenced by Japanese?
Or is the 1st Sec’y reading it in the original Rireinutire language, and the “-sama” clitic is her own mental gloss?
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by prettydragoon »

eldin raigmore wrote: 28 Jun 2021 04:02 Does 1st Sec’y Radetzky sometimes have vivid dreams?
Is her dream-persona sometimes named Mary-Sue?
Maybe she can “meet” this P.I. Seanava after all!
Indeed! Also, you are never too old to write fanfic.
“Seanava-sama” …
Was the Galactic translator influenced by Japanese?
Or is the 1st Sec’y reading it in the original Rireinutire language, and the “-sama” clitic is her own mental gloss?
-sama is actually from the original Rireinutire. It's the default form of address for a stranger. Also a kinship term, meaning any member of your mothers' generation other than the birthsister of your birthmother. In Human, usually translated as 'aunt'. Or 'Auntie', when used as a form of address.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by prettydragoon »

Games Rireinukave play

Playing cards

The most common type of playing cards (pevuhima) on Rireinu is the so-called Matusima deck (Matusimañiño, literally 'Matusima system'). This deck (himaviha) consists of 48 unique cards, divided in four suits (ñari) of twelve cards each. The suits are cups (poho), coins (siña), swords (varu), and wands (pote). Each suit has identical ranking: from lowest to highest, pip cards (hamihima) 1-9, marked with the corresponding number of suit symbols, and face cards (muhehima) Maid (piño), Lady (sunu), and Queen (nesi), marked with a figure of a Rireinukave holding the suit symbol.

On the island of Kareruvo, where gambling is the main industry, the designs of the cards have been more heavily stylised than elsewhere. The suit symbols are simplified into almost geometric figures. The pip cards are printed in monochrome, black cups, amber coins, red swords, and blue wands. The face cards are also highly stylised.

It is said that the four suits allude to the Four Goals of Life, pleasure (wine cup), wealth (gold coin), propriety or justice (sword of a knight) and enlightenment (wand or walking stick of an ascetic). In Vanasova, the birthplace of pole dancing, the suit of wands is replaced by the suit of dancing poles (taño).

Another popular type is the so-called Visaneti deck (Visanetiñiño, literally 'Visaneti system'). It is otherwise identical with the Matusima deck, but the suits are horseshoes (etikeña), cannonballs (kori), swords (varu), and axes (peri). Also, the card ranks Maid and Lady are called Warrior (vayuhi) and Colonel (senupiñi) instead.

These cards are used to play many different kinds of games. There are other kinds of playing cards as well, but most of them are only designed for a specific game, often with proprietary rules.

There is also a graphic of the pip cards of a Matusima deck. I have been promised the face cards as well, but I'm not inclined to trust the artist further than I can throw her. We'll just have to wait and see about that.
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Re: Flowering Fields - Snapshots from Rireinu

Post by prettydragoon »

This really is more meta than anything substantive, but it is in its way rather appropriate to the season, the season in question obviously being Lexember.

This is an artist's impression (NSFW) of one hapless conlanger toiling in the word mines of Rireinu (image definitely Not Safe For Work, especially not OSHA compliant). The central character is depicted in an authentic convict uniform for added verisimilitude. So I guess I can after all claim that this image is in fact a 'snapshot from Rireinu' and so does belong in this thread.
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