To the south of the Raron Kingdom, past a large stretch of cold
desert, is the town of Kugmak just in front of the mountain range
that bears its name. Kugma is one of the two capital cities of
Ghawle, and it shares many cultural traits with its neighbors to
west in Iwatik.
One of the distinct aspects about Kugma culture is their
understanding of the self. They do not ascribe to the belief in a
single soul in a single body, but recognize many beings inside their
bodies. These groups of beings are called ûûrb (singular ûrb), or
body families.
Naming Traditions
Family Names
Kugma have two different types of families, hû (family) and ûrb
(body family). Hû family names trace a person's lineage as a
line of biological descendents, passed from egg-laying parent to
egg. Sometimes the name is changed to include names from other
parents or relatives, but it's most commonly just the same name
as the egg-laying parent. This name is used to distinguish Kugma
people from each other for resource allocation purposes. While a
body may contain many beings, the body only needs as much as one
body.
Other Names
The ûrb, body family, has a collective chosen name amongst the
beings that inhabit the same physical vessel. This name can
refer to the whole collective with a typical first name, a
meaningful word or phrase, and/or a reference to the collective
as a whole. This name is used by others when it is not known
what being is fronting, controlling the vessel, or it can at
least be an acknowledgement of the plurality of the Kugma
person. When it is clear which members of the body family are
present, it's rude to use the collective name unless referring
to the entire body family.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Kugma people speak languages in the Teshpen family, a vowel- and
fricative-heavy language family. It's also noticeable for the way
that it handles plurals: reduplicating the first part of the first
syllable. Thus words like le, meaning "dog," become lele, to form
"dogs."
Common Dress Code
To show off the multitudes contained in Kugma people's body
families, many different articles are worn. Flowing dresses in
multiple fabrics, many items of jewelry made with different
metals, ear and lip piercings with different gems, short
experimental tops that end in the middle of the abdomen, and
skirts of various lengths can all be used to convey one's unique
combination. One being in a body family might want to wear a skirt
and another wants to wear a longer one, so the vessel wears both.
This also means that, in general, Kugma wear clothes most of the
time, and pure nakedness means losing one's identities into the
void.
Foods & Cuisine
Kugma people love the zhorrork, a particular type of cactus. They
use it for many things, including building materials and needles,
but the nogmûdzhyum, sap, earns it as a staple in Kugma gardens.
The sap can be consumed as is as a sweetener for drinks, or it can
be fermented into an alcoholic beverage, tuf. One does not need a
lot of the sap in order to create enough tuf to intoxify an adult.
Beauty Ideals
Kugma people value an internal sense of appearance that may not
manifest physically. It may be impossible for someone to ever be
perceived as they actually are, if their internal sense of
appearance differs significantly from the vessel's. Thus,
exterior appearances are considered shorthand for physical
appearance, but only one facet of many.
Physical appearance is an outward expression of the
collaborative efforts of many beings in a given vessel. Being
able to express the collective will of multiple people with many
different styles combined in fashionable ways is seen as
attractive. Some Kugma vessels are inhabited with beings with
similar fashion sense, but they could still express their views
eclectically to the same effect.
Gender Ideals
Kugma recognize three basic genders, but among large systems it
is expected for there to be a multitude of genders contained
with a single vessel, and some of them can be contradictory.
Some genders remain constant over time, from initial assignment
until death, but others are more fluid and can change between
them.
Color is an important part of Teshpen language families and is
intimately related with personal identity. There are three color
groups that function as noun classes.
Dikûm is a gender associated with warm colors like red, orange,
and yellow. The traditionally used pronouns for this gender are
ey/em. They are associated with the beginnings of things, such
as growing things or new ideas.
Wûlkyû is associated with cool colors like blues and purples.
They are associated with the ends of things, the decisions. They
are valued for their judgment and leadership abilities.
Individuals often use the pronouns it/it.
Ing is associated with monochromatic colors, white and black.
The most common pronouns ing individuals use are they/them. It
is associated with balance and the connections between things.
Iing are valued for their dialectical approaches to problems.
They often wear bracelets and necklaces in the ing colors.
Courtship Ideals
Common dates with Kugma partners include games meant to getting
to the know the many beings inside each other's body family.
Vessels may interact and be aware of each other, but it isn't
until courtship or other meaningful decisions to become more
involved with each other before it's worth the time and effort
to get to know all of the beings who want to be known.
These games can be as simple as name games (like stating the
name of someone in one vessel and then someone with either the
same first or last letter introduces themselves) or as complex
as entire roleplaying games that include fantastical settings
and harrowing narratives that don't exist in the real world.
This courtship process varies in length. For body families with
only a handful of members who want to interact with each other,
this could take a single afternoon, but for larger body families
this could take weeks or even months.
It is not expected for everyone in a body family to have the
same kinds of relationships with everyone in another. The
different beings inside them can be capable of forming their own
bonds at different rates than others. Most relationships involve
multiple members of a body family entwined with another, but
relationships between body families can be with singular members
connected.
Relationship Ideals
Kugma people are nonmonogamous and often have many concurrent
romantic relationships. Any given couple is not expected to have
certain genders, have certain relationship dynamics, or have
children, necessarily.
Honesty and authenticity are the most important aspects of
relationships. Transparency and trust in what the other person
wants prevents disagreements or misunderstandings later that
could lead to jealousy or disapproval. Jealousy is usually
considered unreasonable, but if the other partner is not open
about their feelings and who they're seeing then it's more
socially acceptable.