Major cities:

• Grikaa. The capital and largest city of Chaatai, built on the western shore of the Throat of the Sea. It's connected, a few km to the north, to the greatest harbor in Tagra. It hosts the Palace of Archons and most of the Guildhalls.
• Yakak'ratu. The southernmost of Chaatai's major cities. Its region consists mostly of pastures for krukaa and other animals, and has a long history of rebellion and messianic uprisings.
• Ki'akrai. Located in a rather dry region to the southwest of Grikaa. It's the location of 'Au'a's greatest temple; the population counts only a few thousands of permanent residents, but it's compounded by a much greater number of pilgrims.
• K'igachi. Chaatai's second largest city, west of Grikaa. The northern plain in which it's located is the country's agricultural heartland, especially for podocarps from whose fruits a prized wine is made.
• !I!ai. A city on the northwestern coast of Chaatai, concentrating most of the country's whaling and penguin hatcheries. It has ancient fortifications built on artificial peninsulas.

When the Republic of Chaatai was installed, roughly 300 years before the present of Tagra, all free citizens were assigned to 30 Guilds, each under the auspice of a particular aspect of 'Au'a, and each performing a particular function in the Republic's society and economy, ranging from humble occupations such as penguin breeders and candlemakers, to more refined roles such as notaries and natural philosophers. Each Guild counts Lesser Members – i.e., everyone who is legally authorized to perform a certain function – and Major Members, who serve as administrators, teachers, and political representatives for their Guild. Periodically, the Major Members of each Guild choose among themselves (the method may vary) an Archon; the 30 Archons sit in the Parliament at Grikaa and form the main government body of the Republic.

Guilds have lodges in all major population centers that provide food and shelter to its members. Some buildings, streets, shops, etc. may be owned by a particular Guild and therefore be accessible only to its members. Membership in a Guild is traditionally mostly hereditary, but not automatically so: a new member must be formally authorized by a Major Member to join their Guild. An individual may also change Guild in the course of their life (though not belong to both at the same time), but this is rare and difficult.

All adult citizens who don't belong to any Guild at all effectively form an underclass with no political representation at all. Guildless people work in the most dangerous or degrading tasks, or as personal servants or day laborers for Guild members. (Penalties for unauthorized craftswork are severe.) As a matter of law, all such people must be allowed to join any Guild, if they are deemed worthy; but in practice, learning from scratch the craft and etiquette of a Guild is not an easy task.

This system has been stable for centuries, but the recent developments of industrialization are threatening it. For one, the demand for many traditional crafts is falling, making the relevant Guilds smaller and more insular. Most importantly, operating machines is not the proper function of any established Guild, and therefore this work is performed only by a growing and increasingly restless underclass.

Also see: Cosmology

The traditional Chaatai religion is based on the worship of a god called 'Au'a, whose name is etymologically linked to the Sun ('au'u) and the upper regions of the cosmos. In fact, 'Au'a is worshipped in a variety of “aspects” representing the different ways he is involved with the material world, which makes the Chaatai religion monotheistic in theory, but polytheistic in practice. Churches and shrines are always dedicated to, and offerings made to, a specific aspect of 'Au'a, such as 'Au'a the oath-enforcer, 'Au'a the child-rearer, 'Au'a the sun-burner, 'Au'a the snow-melter, and so on. There are 30 traditional aspects of 'Au'a, each of which is associated to a particular Guild, though the exact list may vary depending on the region. The worship of 'Au'a is more concerned with orthopraxy (keeping correct conduct and rites) than with orthodoxy (holding correct beliefs).

Traditionally, Chaatai philosophers have conceived of Tagra and the surrounding sea as a flat disk occupying the central section of a cosmic sphere (referred to as t'aakai'a, literally “all-around”). The universal history is seen as an epochal development from chaos to order. In the beginning, t'aakai'a is fully chaotic; a spark of order appears at the upper pole of the sphere, and gradually moves down. Common matter and life can only exist in the narrow interface between the upper order (the fixed stars are perfectly ordered matter; the planets, with their cyclic motions, are only slightly more chaotic) and the lower chaos (which is responsible for wellsprings and eruptions). Tagra is now at the broadest point, but moving down it will restrict until it disappears at the lower pole, leaving behind a crystalline cosmos – perfectly ordered, but dead. Opinion differs on what happens next: the ordered universe may be eternal, or it may degrade back into full chaos, or the transition zone may bounce back toward the upper pole, now converting order into chaos. 'Au'a may be conceived as “t'aakai'a's soul”, and his aspects as the regular-but-dynamic processes of the transition zone.

In present times, it is well known that Tagra is a continent at the pole of a spherical Earth. The chaos-to-order paradigm nevertheless persists, only encouraged by the recent discovery of biological evolution. This fatalistically progressive worldview is considered passive and complacent by the more restless elements of Chaatai society; these, without necessarily abandoning the worship of 'Au'a, may prefer alternative cosmologies, such as the Kru'u manichaean warfare or the Takrakaya world-Being construction.

Heterodox variants of the cult of 'Au'a are increasingly popular among the urban guildless or otherwise estranged population of Chaatai. They hold that creation is fatally flawed, and doomed to a circle of decay, which might require either withdrawal from the greater society, or its complete destruction to pave the way for a new creation. Their adherents are known as !aik'ukyu or, literally, “the renouncers”, as they abandon their social role and their previous relations. Often renouncers deliberatey break social and religious taboos, for example by consuming milk and eggs or having inappropriate sexual relations, and practice extreme asceticism and flagellation. They are often accused of violence and sabotage, though only a few sects approve or systematically practice such things.

Also see: Chaatai language

The chaatai language is the one generally used on this wiki to refer to all 'ikra-specific concepts, including “'ikra” and “tagra” (literally “person” and “world”, respectively).