Tagra

Major cities:

• Grikaa (the capital)
• Yakak'ratu
• Ki'akrai
• K'igachi
• !I!ai

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 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.

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. They work in the most dangerous or degrading tasks, or as servants 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.

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 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).