Verse:Chlouvānem Inquisition: Difference between revisions

The name of the Inquisition in Chlouvānem is '''Murkadhānāvi''', meaning "of the Inquisitors", where "Inquisitor", '''murkadhāna''', translates to "black hand". The Inquisitors originally were the first preachers of the Yunyalīlta after the '''''Chlamiṣvatrā'''''<ref>Often translated as "Great Prophet" or "Great Master"; literally "Golden Master".</ref> ''Lelāgṇyāviti'', and their hands, during rituals, were black due to the liturgical use of ''lunīla'' berries. These berries, commonly growing all throughout the wetter eastern half of the Lāmiejāya plain (as a climatic/cultural region, thus including also the Jade Coast and its basins), are not edible but have a dense pitch-black juice that was used in many shamanic rituals - often reinterpreted and passed into early Yunyalīlti ones - and also as a common black dye.<br/>The Inquisition was founded by these preachers as a kind of guild in order to better guard and preserve liturgical texts and set up scientific orders studying the world - in fact, monasteries and temples were the centers of science for two millennia, and even today most of the largest libraries in the whole planet are those of Yunyalīlti temples. The Inquisition then gained political power and became a supranational organization that had influence on every forming Chlouvānem realm - not unlike the Church in European history - until the last century and a half when all Chlouvānem nations were united under a single government - the Inquisition.

'''Chlouvānem''' is a Lahob language with a long history which originated in its current form in the eastern part of the Lāmiejāya-Lāmberah Plain and the Jade Coast (roughly between the lower Lāmiejāya river to the north and Lūlunīkam Lake to the south). With a written history of more than 2000 years, it is the liturgical language of the Yunyalīlta and, due to this importance, has remained the main language used in administration, inter-cultural trade, and arts, for two millennia, in the ever-expanding Yunyalīlti world. It is a central element of self-definition of Chlouvānem people.

The population of the Inquisition is very unequally distributed throughout the national territory. The eastern part of the Lāmiejāya-Lāmberah plain, together with the neighboring Jade Coast and its surroundings, is the most densely populated area on the whole of Calémere, and similar densities may be found in coastal Haikamotē, Hirakaṣṭē, and Kainomatā dioceses in the East. On the other hand, there are many mostly rural areas as well as sparsely populated areas such as the taiga in the far Northeast, the Southern rainforest, and most high mountain chains; the most notable example is perhaps the arid belt of deserts and semi-deserts with little population due to a widespread lack of reliable water sources.<br/>

Many of the most important cities of the Inquisition are on or near the shores of the ''Jahībušanī Sea'' (''jahībušanī ga jariā''<ref>Note the adpositive construction, even if the original name is a genitive (of the probably Kāṃradeši theonym ''Jahībušanā'').</ref>) - the huge marginal sea bordered by the Jade Coast, the eastern part of the Plain, the Near East, and parts of the Far East: among the most important ones there are Līṭhalyinām, Līlta, Taleihǣh, Huñeibāma, Līlekhaitē, and Naiṣambella from west to east, plus the capital Līlasuṃghāṇa that lies inland but on the tidal Lulūnīkam lake (''lulūnīkam ga gūltis''), and Lāltaṣveya which lies on the Lāmiejāya delta.

The heart of Chlouvānem civilization is the huge area usually simply described as the Plain (''dhoya'' in Chlouvānem). There is actually no single accepted name for this huge area, but commonly used ones are "The Great Plain" (''camidhoya'') or "Great Chlouvānem Plain" (''chlǣvānumi camidhoya'', but more commonly found in foreign sources). Another common name is Lāmiejāya-Lāmberah Plain (''lāmiejāyi lāmberi no dhoya''), but it only refers to a part of it.

The Great Plain is basically one of the largest plains on Calémere as well as one of its most densely populated areas; most of it is part of the drainage basins of a few large rivers: two of them, the Lāmiejāya - Calémere's longest river - and the Lirāh, have a common shared delta in the northeastern part of the plain; the other major ones all have a common estuary in the southeast, formed by the outlet of the tidal Lūlunīkam Lake. All of these basins are only divided by a few minor hills, so that the impression is of being in a single, continuous plain which spans, at its largest extents, twenty degrees of latitude and almost forty-five degrees of longitude. The highest relief inside the plain itself is Kahandrāta hill, on the border between the dioceses of Mūrajātana and Pūracikāna, about 940 meters high. However, near the foothills of the Camipāṇḍa mountains, thousands of kilometers away from the sea, the plain terrain reaches similar (and higher) elevations; these are somewhat noticeable in some areas, such as Cambhaugrāya in the northeastern part, where rivers sometimes form gorges and run tens of metres lower than the surrounding terrain.

* the monsonic area, including nearly all of the Lāmiejāya-Lāmberah plain.

* the dry savanna, i.e. the coastal Sand Coast, most of the Western coast, all of the Far West, and parts of the western Lāmiejāya-Lāmberah plain where years are divided roughly evenly between a wet and a dry season, the latter being typically during the winter months. Some sporadic parts along the coast actually have a climate more typical of the "wet savanna".

* the (semi-)arid lands, which include both semi-arid climates (most of the inland Northeast; Tālišulkhān (the southwestern corner of the Lāmiejāya-Lāmberah plain); the inland Southwest; large parts of the West) and mediterranean climates (the Northwest, including the areas around the Tārṣaivumi Gulf and the Little Ivulit).

The final settlement to the emergency situation in the other occupied countries was finally found in the new year, during a summit starting on 6327 (37Ɛ3₁₂), ᘔ māltapārṇāvi, in the city of Mamaikala in the northern Lāmiejāya plain. The treaty signed there on 14 māltapārṇāvi effectively united all of these countries and the Chlouvānem Inquisition in a supranational organization called the ''Union of the Purified States'', more commonly referred to as ''Kaiṣamā'' as the acronym of its Chlouvānem name, ''ekailai ṣarivāṇumi mālyāva''. The Kaiṣamā established a vast border-free space of more than half of the whole continent of Greater Evandor, consisting of 19 countries: the Inquisition, Brono, Qualdomailor, Soenjŏ-tave, Leny-tḥewe, Kŭyŭgwažtov, Džemleštew, Jalašmořea, Pirdoda, Ebed-dowa, Ois-säb, Derbontoo, Berkutave, Enegen-toven, Oempras, Taruebus, Nerekton, Enkorund, and Brydwezon-tavi. Those 19 countries (20 from 6372 (3830₁₂) when Gorjan became independent from the Inquisition)<ref>Note that, in the present context, "(countries of the) former Kaiṣamā" refers to 23 countries: those 20 mentioned here plus three that gained their independence after the Kaiṣamā ended: Fathan (from the Inquisition), Kurešov-tawë (from Enkorund), and Köbüntaw (from Kŭyŭgwažtov).</ref> also shared, due to the Kaiṣamā, a common military force, currency, and external policy, as well as many aspects of a planned economy.<br/>

* Interurban trains (''galamartausirāhe tammeyai''), which are inter-city trains which link more cities of regional importance. In most areas of the densely populated Lāmiejāya-Lāmberah plain, interurban trains typically follow routes parallel to the main high speed lines and are shorter and stop at more stations that interurban trains in other areas of the country, resembling more fast local trains. Local trains in those areas are in fact often shorter shuttle services between a few major towns (which still do often have quite sizable populations compared to other "rural" towns elsewhere) outside the major metro areas.

:: Līlasuṃghāṇa - Taitepamba - Līlta - Lāltaṣveya (an extension to Taleihǣh has been proposed many times but ultimately scrapped because of the too high costs and environmental concerns about another line crossing the Lāmiejāya Delta).

The most common traditional Chlouvānem clothing is that one native of the Lāmiejāya plain, which the Chlouvānem spread alongside their culture in all of the equatorial and tropical areas of the Inquisition. Probably the most famous clothing pieces are the ''jånirāh'' for women and the ''glaɂa'' for men. The ''jånirāh'' is basically a long strip of cloth, usually about five or six meters long, which is wrapped around the waist and draped over the shoulder; the ''helajyā'' is a blouse usually worn together with the ''jånirāh'', underneath it to cover the breasts, but it is sometimes used as a dress on its own.<br/> Men's ''glaɂa'' is a large strip of cloth tied around the waist and covering the legs; many workers do not wear any top, but a ''pajlāka'' - a large cloth, a loose shirt/mantle, unisex, worn top-down from the head and arms, is often worn together with ''glaɂai''. Barechestedness, however, both for men and women, is not particularly bad manners in Chlouvānem society, especially in the southern regions closer to the Equator.<br/>High monks of a few ascetic monastic orders do not wear clothes at all.

* The '''junyahiyunyi jaṃšā''' (Festival of Blossoming Nature), where it is observed, is the second most important festival of the year. It is one of the traditional Chlouvānem festivals, celebrating the beginning of the monsoon season; it is a full celebration of nature, which is not worked for three days. Unlike other major festivals, its date varies depending on the area: most of the eastern part of the Lāmiejāya-Lāmberah plain celebrates it from 8 to 10 mailaheirah (ninth month), and other parts of the Plain and of the Southern Far East celebrate it at different times (but always falling during the last 3/4 days of brausāsena (8th), mailaheirah (9th), or the first 8/9 days of ñaryāyāmyah (10th); dates are however the same every year in most dioceses). Dioceses outside the reach of monsoons do not celebrate it.

Geothermal springs and their associated thermal facilities (''raisa'' is the term for such a place in Chlouvānem) are among the most visited places; these are found in many areas of the Inquisition, but are especially common in the hilly or mountainous areas around the Lāmiejāya-Lāmberah plain, in the Far East, and in the Hokujaši and Aratāram islands in the far northeast; a few of them are present also near the western coast of the jungle, with ''raisai'' around the holy mountain of ''Maichlikaiṭah'' in Ājvalēnia diocese being particularly popular due to the scenic location and for them being somewhat closer than other resorts (even if still more than 20 hours away by train) to major areas such as Līlasuṃghāṇa, Ilēnimarta, or Ajāƾilbādhi. For winter tourism, particularly popular destinations are high-altitude springs (often over 2,000m) in the Camipāṇḍa mountains that often experience high snowfall, providing the experience of bathing in hot water in subzero temperatures to tourist from areas that see few or no snow at all.<br/>

Pupils and students of any school often go to summer camps (''hīliveyadha'', pl. ''-ai'') during the holidays; popular places are the southeastern islands, many coastal areas in the southern rainforest, and hills and mountains along the Camipāṇḍa range, the gigantic mountain range north of the Lāmiejāya plain. Most accomodation structures for summer camps are of standardized form in the whole country, usually five- or six-storied buildings capable of hosting usually more than 200 people (usually there are three or four groups of pupils at a time) in large rooms with either bunk beds or lots of hammocks, two common bathrooms (usually on the first and fourth or on ground and third floor) and a common canteen at ground floor. Most of such camps focus on sporting or artistic activities, but there are also excursions and activities aimed at survivalism.<br/>As an alternative to summer camps, some students choose to spend their summer holidays in a monastery, often practising martial arts and enhancing their religious knowledge. Others help in farms during the summer.