Huria

Huria
Huria takes up most of the north. The word huria literally means "westward", hura being west.

The country consists of nine provinces: North, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, northwest, and center.

Its most significant neighbor is Iria, which controls much of its eastern shore. The two have a neutral relationship.

Culture
Hurian culture differs from one province to another, but they all are matriarchal. The north is more strictly matriarchal than the south, while the west is a secluded realm of myth and sorcery in contrast to the open and relatively multicultural east. The northwestern area is where most of Huria's mythic history takes place, and it's known that some song-houses there even have High Folk blood in their lineage.

Hurians have some very elaborate customs, for example with introductions.

Government
The Hurian government is a democratic monarchy, ruled by a High Queen. Every town, city and village has its own chief and each of the nine provinces has a Warden. There are three councils that advise the Queen, and can even challenge her decisions: the Council of Wardens, which consists of all nine wardens; the Council of Greatmothers, which consists of all Greatmothers in Huria; and the Council of Priests, which consists of all High Priests.

Chiefs in villages, towns, and cities are elected by the adult female residents. Wardens are elected together by a Regional Council of Greatmothers (consisting of every greatmother in the province) and a Regional Council of Chiefs (consisting of every chief in the province).

The High Queen rules all of Huria, and a successor is chosen by the old High Queen while she still lives. Both the Council of Wardens and the Council of Greatmothers can influence the decision and even challenge it. A new High Queen is always elected from among the Airinna: Women who have forfeited their song-house in order to receive education from the High Queen and to eventually serve her as officials. Some of them are gifted to her when very young and are raised by her, while some only join in their later years - though for an adult woman to become a Airinna is a rarity. In a sense the High Queen and the Airinna form a songless house together. An Airinna may also become a Jekaterinna, a high-ranking government official who has forfeited her chance of becoming a High Queen.

Men are mostly absent from politics. In principle they can become Chiefs and Wardens, and even enter the council of Grandmothers as Holders, but in practice it rarely happens. Some do serve the High queen as Arja, high-ranking government officials, but they have to be hand-picked by the queen herself and are thus exceedingly rare compared to the Airinna and Jekaterinna.

Objectivity is prized above everything else in Hurian leadership. All rulers, from the smallest village chief to the High Queen herself, go through a symbolic rebirth. They take on a new name and identity to rid them of their affiliation to their former song-house and to ensure their neutrality in all matters. They are allowed to have lovers, but not to get married or too attached. Any children they have are to be kept strictly separate from them, which usually means gifting them to song-houses or god-houses.

Religion
The Hurian religion is polytheistic.

God-Houses
Every god has its own God-House, which work in a similar manner to song-houses. A person can either bind themselves to a god-house, similar to how men do when marrying, or join it and entirely forfeit their old song-house. Joining also means forfeiting one's right to legally get married.

All god-houses have a High Priest. However they choose one varies from one god-house to another.

Some god-houses have gendered restrictions for binding oneself, joining, or the specific duties one can undertake - but some have none, which makes them some of the most egalitarian institutions in Huria.

Due to their song-house-like nature, god-houses are a safe haven for the disowned or those wanting to escape their song-house. Unwanted children are also often given to god-houses, who raise them as their own.

Gods
The God of Healing

Her house is entirely gender-equal.

Via songs, incantations, and sacrifices her devotees can stop bleeding, take away pain, and so on. A common sacrifice is one's own blood.

Her devotees are forbidden from killing human beings; the punishment for the bound is disowning, while the joined face mutilation or and exile or even death. Some leeway is given in the case of dying patients, whose suffering can be ended if no cure is possible.

The God of Songs

Her devotees form the Great House of Songs, tasked with keeping all the songs in the land, past and present. House-songs, common-songs, war-songs, god-songs - every song is kept safe for the generations to come. Some song-houses have faded into history with no living members for centuries, yet their history will never disappear with them.

The God of War

Her house has a strict divide between the bound and the joined. Those who join are taught to become berserkers, the most feared of all warriors in the land.

Song-houses
Song-houses are what Hurians call their clans. There are roughly a hundred of them, and even the smallest usually have hundreds of members.

Blood relations don't matter when it comes to song-house membership. Like the name suggests, a song-house is a group of people that sing the same songs. A child is taught the songs of their mother and, by extension, joins their mother's song-house - but were a child to be separated from their mother and found her years later as an adult, they wouldn't be considered a member of her song-house until they'd been taught to sing the right songs. More than that, a child's mother is considered to be the one who taught them to sing and not necessarily the one who gave birth to them. Due to this, adoption is relatively common and adopted children are considered to be no less worthy than biological ones. It's even technically possible to join a song-house as an adult, though such an event is rare.

When men marry, they move to their wife's household but don't stop being a member of their song-house. Instead they are considered bound to their new song-house. A marriage into one's own song-house is heavily discouraged, and the descendants of the same great grandmother may not marry under any circumstances. Because some smaller villages basically consist of members of a single song-house, sometimes men have to travel far away from their home in order to get married.

Each song-house is governed by a greatmother, who is chosen by the former greatmother before her death. In case a greatmother dies without choosing a heir, all adult women in the family gather together to elect a new one. It is possible for a man to take up the position if there is no sufficient female heir, though he is called "Holder" to signify that he is only holding the position until a sufficient female heir is found.

Most house-songs are hundreds, even thousands of years old. Some describe historical events, some offer advice, some are just silly or entertaining without any real purpose. There are strict rules to which songs can be sung, or even taught, to members of other song-houses.

In each house there is a Song-Keeper, or several, who is bound to the God of Songs. Her job is to remember every single song, to teach them to the children, and to make new songs if the need arises. She also evaluates any new songs that other song-house members make to decide whether they are fit to be made into house-songs.

It is possible to disown a member of a song-house, though only a Greatmother - or in some cases a Holder - can make such a decision. A disowned person is no longer considered to be related to anyone in their song-house; they are now a songless stranger, forbidden from singing the melodies of their mother. Some Songless ironically become bards, unbound by conventional rules of singing the house-songs of others, and travel around Huria performing the songs they have learned on their journeys.

History
There is very little history in Huria that has been written down, yet its mythos is long and rich, captured in thousands upon thousands of house-songs, common-songs, and stories.

The birth of culture
In a tribe of beast-like humans, an unnamed woman gave birth to twins: A boy and a girl. Food was scarce, so the girl was left out in the wilds to die. She was saved by a Greatmother of the High Folk, who took her in as a daughter and named her Aijimaa. Among the High Folk she was taught the ways of culture, such as singing and smithcraft.

At the same time the boy, Kaaruna, grew up to be a strong leader of his tribe. When harsh winters ravaged the land, Kaaruna lead his tribe to the mountains to seek help from Greatmother Aijimaa. She initially refused, but Aijimaa asked to help the tribe herself. The Greatmother accepted her plea and banished her, ordering her to marry Kaaruna and start a song-house of her own. Her house, Jia'an, was the very first among humans.

She lived a long and fruitful life, teaching the newly born house Jia'an the ways of culture and making it the greatest tribe in the land. Eventually eight of her nine daughter went on to start their own legendary song-houses: Maarua, Lai'a, Saevi, Katta, Jia'me, Eianaya'a, Hijaami, and Raane.

Language
Hura (west) - Hurela (northwest)

Eela (north) - Irela (northeast)

Ira (east) - Iraia (southeast)

Aia (south) - Huraia (southwest)