The Farpool (76 page)

Theology and First Things

The aquatic world of Seome is
conventionally subdivided into five great seas (
or’keln
), though there is in fact only one world
ocean.

Each sea is the dominion of one of the
five great nations, water-clans, or tribes (the meaning varies in
context): these are the
kels
.
The kels are both political and familial in nature. In Seomish
mythology-history, each kel is descended from one female ancestor,
countless millennia ago, who was impregnated by God
(
Shooki
or
Schooke
) for the purpose of filling
all the waters with life. The first females are known collectively
as the Five Daughters, and all life on Seome is descended from them
(they are revered as demi-gods.).

Each Daughter begat two offspring (after the
creation of the lower orders), one male and one female. These were
the First Mortals and each kel considers its F.M.s as the ultimate
ancestors of everyone who has lived since, or will ever live. The
F.M.s are the direct parents of the kel.

In Seomish theology, Shooki created and
impregnated the Five Daughters because he was lonely and wished
companionship. Accordingly, three extremely important
religious-moral-ethical concepts in the culture are friendship,
fertility (or appetite) and what could best be described as a kind
of internal tranquility (see
Shoo’kel
). The Seomish are playful and
gregarious by nature, generally promiscuous (within bounds) and
pleasure-seeking. They are not psychologically disposed to
dissatisfaction or self-sacrifice, normally. The universe was
created by the confluence of three great currents, say the
Seomish:
Ke’shoo
,
Ke’lee
, and
Shoo’kel
, or figuratively, love, life and
happiness. This view is applied to many things, especially kel
ancestry, or specifically, which First Mortal most possessed which
trait. It is a subject of endless debate.

The Hierarchies:
Kels
and
Em’kels

The organization of the kel is the most
important hierarchy of all. Each kel differs slightly in certain
details but major similarities remain. For simplicity’s sake, the
House of Omt’or will serve as a good example.

Omt’orkel claims a line of unbroken,
uncontaminated descent from Omt’or, Daughter of Shooki and from its
First Mortals, Kreedake and Pomel. Since descent is figured
matrilineally, the eldest female of the kel is the nominal head of
the family and thus chief of state, designated the
Metahshooklet
, or
Metah
(the One who lives in God). In
most instances, the Metah designates a younger person to take
responsibility for major decisions. In Omt’or, this choice is
traditionally the eldest and most sexually productive female of the
largest em’kel (see below).

Each em’kel selects one male and one
female to represent its interests before the appointed chief, who
is called the
Mektoo
. The
combined assembly of em’kel representatives if called the
Kel’emtah
, or
Kel’em
(literally, the “family of the Mother”).
It meets once every mah in each city of the kel and all kelke
(citizens, members of the family) have the right to petition the
Mektoo at these gatherings for redress of grievances.

In general, the Seomish are not a
terribly political people. Since each member of the kel is
nominally related to everyone else, questions of authority and
patriotism seldom arise. The lines of power and command are clear
and based on age and blood. Seomish law is officially codified in
the mind and memory of the Metah, which the Seomish have learned to
enhance through severe training and regular consumption of special
substances designed to improve memory, called
tekn’een
. These are drugs devised by Seomish
chemists that improve recall and recollection and permit the
application of considerable information to legal and judicial
problems. Only the Metah may take these drugs, which theoretically
assure her infallibility.

Judicial proceedings against
law-breakers are normally the responsibility of the Metah’s staff.
The theory is that since the Metah made the laws—and is in effect
the Law herself—only she can determine if they have been broken.
The most common form of punishment is exile; the moral and social
theory behind this is suspect though because it is believed that
the individual cannot really ever be severed from the kel—his blood
relationship persists, even into exile. Another form of punishment
is an officially sanctioned silence, called the
jee’ot
. On occasion, mutilation is permitted and
in extreme cases, execution by live burial or flotation is
practiced. But these are rare.

Practical enforcement of the laws is usually
left to the em’kel, which is legally and morally responsible for
its members. Although membership in any em’kel is voluntary and
theoretically anyone not in an em’kel could be above the law, in
practice, the Seomish are too gregarious to be loners. Legal
offenses can be dealt with by group censure, usually effective, or
by taking the matter to the Metah.

The em’kel is the basic subdivision of
the Seomish kel. It is a difficult concept to define because it is
so broad and flexible. Simply stated, an em’kel is
any
sub-grouping that considers
itself distinct from the kel at large.

Em’kels can be based on virtually any
distinction: occupation, theological agreement, sexual
compatibility, age, preferred roaming waters, mutual interests of
all kinds. They form and dissolve constantly, gaining and losing
members, but the underlying divisions by interest seem to persist
through the ages. Like-minded people congregate in any culture. The
durability of specific em’kels is remarkable. Many of them are
thousands of
mah
in age,
having developed certain customs and traditions and possessing a
collective heritage that ensures their continuance.

An individual’s first exposure to the em’kel
system is the mandatory five-mah membership in the oldest em’kel of
all: the Kelk’too, or teachers’ em’kel, in effect, an Academy of
Learning. After leaving the Kelk’too, the Seomish child must select
an em’kel to associate with, his first major decision. He soon
learns that the em’kel is his family, and that he is responsible to
them.

If he wants to become a legal adult, and have
the right to form and found his own em’kel, the Seomish child must
prepare himself for the arduous ritual of the Circling, to be
attempted on the occasion of his twentieth birthday. Upon the
successful completion of this rite of passage, most Seomish youth
choose to change em’kels, to emphasize their new status.

Essentially, the em’kel is so organized that
everyone is about equal in stature. It is customary to accord
slightly more deference to the individual (or individuals) who
founded the group. There are rarely any terms of membership and no
penalties upon leaving. One may belong to as many em’kels as
desired. Many people prefer to give their allegiance to one,
however.

Behavior in the em’kel is based on the
fact that all members are equal and deserve love and attention and
respect. Personal problems, in matters of work, sex, health or
whatever, are properly the concern of everyone and most em’kels
hold regular meetings of the membership to air and discuss
grievances. These are called
ke’teeoh
. Other topics that arise are items of
discussion before the Kel’em and the Metah, matters of law
enforcement and how to punish offenders, domestic matters of
expenses, repairs, duties, disputes over the outcomes of games,
blood relationships, roaming protocol and other projects and goals
the em’kel has planned.

Most Seomish em’kels maintain a home
chamber, called an
em’too
,
where the members live and spend time when not otherwise engaged.
Often, the em’too is the place of work as well as sleeping, eating,
etc. The average Seomish probably spends no more than 30-40% of his
day in the em’too, preferring to get out and roam.

The Five Kels

The House of Omt’or

The House of Omt’or is the wealthiest, most
populous and probably the most influential of all the Seomish kels.
The domain of Omt’or is the great sea Omt’orkel, bounded by the
currents of Tchor and the hills of the Serpentines in the east and
south, by the currents of Pomt’or and the house of ice to the west
and north. It occupies most of the northwest and north central
regions on the map.

Omt’or is perhaps most distinguished for the
calm detachment of its people and their grace and elaborate
manners, a result, it is said, of the Great Daughter Omt’or’s
attempt to seduce the Father Shooki.

Omt’or has produced at least half of
Seome’s scientific advances, including the development of
the
tekn’een
drugs. However,
the kel has not been as aggressive as others in applying its
knowledge. In fact, other kels consider Omt’or to be somewhat
arrogant and elitist. But the Omtorish seem content merely to
accumulate and refine their ever-growing store of knowledge. Their
cultural achievements, especially in the scent and echo arts, are
widely copied.

The House of Sk’ort

The Sk’ortel is a warm, sluggish sea that
occupies the southwest part of the map. The domain of the Sk’ort is
principally encompassed by this sea. The eastern boundary is the
lower Serpentines and the Sk’ork current. The western boundary is
sometimes disputed with the Orketish but is usually taken to be a
line extending directly north and south of the vast Klatko Trench
in the equatorial zone.

Many of the other kels look down on the
Skortish as lazy and indolent, though this opinion is unfair. The
warm and occasionally hot, slow-moving waters of the sea contribute
to this feeling of enervation. The Skortish roam less often and
more slowly than any other kel, many preferring to simply float
with the currents. To the others, this is laziness.

The Skortish subdivide themselves into
two great branches: the Tostah and the Kekah. The Tostah are the
smaller of the two, residing mainly in and around the city of
Tostah, near the seething Sk’ortoo lava trench. Many of them make
their living harvesting the valuable coral-like material
ting
, which grows abundantly in the
hot, mineral-rich waters. Their kel-mates, the Kekah, live hundreds
of kilometers to the south among the angular ridges of Kekonk Tenk,
where most of them are renowned as miners, working the immense
veins of ore in the mountains and canyons that encircle that
city.

The Skortish are generally indifferent to the
opinions of their neighbors, particularly the Orketish. They feel
that the other kels do not understand them or don’t want to. The
Skortish pride themselves as great thinkers (though they have
produced few great thoughts) and as connoisseurs of an elegant way
if life based on physical contact rather than roaming. This puts
them at odds with much of Seome.

The House of Ponk’et

The great, ice-cold murky northeastern
sea is called the Ponk’el and is home to the kel Ponk’et. Bounded
to the north by the polar ice pack, to the east by the ridge T’kel,
to the south by the ridge-chain Orkn’t and to the west by the long
sinuous Serpentine, the Ponkti are aloof, relatively militant in
their outlook and generally untrustworthy. They usually keep to
themselves preferring to refine their martial skills. The Ponkti
are renowned as the originators and masters of the deadly dance of
combat called
tuk
.

Because of their self-imposed
isolation, little is known about the Ponkti and this adds to the
climate of uncertainty and fear that has in the past led to
disputes, misunderstandings, even military clashes. Despite this,
the Ponkti do engage in some trade with the rest of Seome, out of
necessity. Their principal economic activity is growing cultures of
the industrial bacterium
terpoh
, which flourish in the caves of the kel’s
only city, Ponk’t (Seomish industry depends almost entirely on
chemical and biological means of shaping, forming and molding
materials, since fire is unknown to them).

The presence of the central religious shrine
of Seome, the Pillars of Shooki, is another source of revenue. The
Ponkti have negotiated a contract which remunerates them for
maintaining this shrine. In return, they permit kel pilgrims from
across Seome to travel unimpeded through Ponkti waters to and from
the shrine. Further profit is made by serving and housing these
pilgrims. It’s a classic example of Ponkti hypocrisy: they are
certain that Shooki ignores the prayers of the pilgrims and view
the visitors as misguided but wealthy fools, ripe for the
plucking.

The House of Eep’kos

This is the smallest kel and in many ways,
the most puzzling. Physiologically similar to other Seomish, the
Eepkostic are in fact breakaway cousins of the Skortish, but many
generations of life in the frigid south polar waters have made them
as different from their ancestors as they can be.

Why did the Eepkostic break from the Skortish
and engineer themselves into a different people? The true answer is
probably that there was a serious inter-family dispute but the
evidence of it has been lost in the dense metaphors of mythical
history which the Eepkostic have created about themselves and their
past. Any recorded documentation of the dispute has been eradicated
and only an apocryphal legend about a vast marine serpent thousands
of kilometers long which cut off a branch of the Skortish from the
main body of the family for centuries because it was so long and
moved so slowly remains. The story states that the stranded cousins
eventually gave up hope that they would ever see their homewaters
again and started a new community under the icepack. This will have
to suffice as history until more facts are known. Ever since this
tale became popular, the Eepkostic consider themselves to have been
singled out by God to endure ten thousand mah of punishment by
isolation and that is why they live as they do. Note that both the
Ponkti and the Eepkostic have formalized a system of beliefs that
places each of them at the center of God’s attention, either
favorable or displeased. Each kel considers itself an elect people;
the Eepkostic view themselves as collective martyrs for all
Seomish.