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Luban The lands of Luban consists of the Valley in the north. This is the place where the traders come from. Then there are the Riverlands, the heart of Luban, on the river Wyz. South of the Valley are the Highlands, and beyond the mouth of the Wyz are a few Islands. In the northeast are woods, and on the south, along the coast of the Blue Sea, are is the Dreaded Coast with isles and cliffs. There are cities in Luban, but no isolated farms or villages. The people stick together. Alawab is the first city, travelling down the Wyz from Daleth. Each land has its own clans and different ways of life, but the Lubanians are one people with one cultural heritage. They have not been influenced by the Dalethians of the people from Dernian Landis. The biggest difference between the lands is the wealth and the absence of it. The Riverlands are very rich, it is a land of royalty and agricultural wealth. The Valley has some wealth too, because there are many traders and merchants there. The Valley is a traît-d’union between Daleth and the rest of Luban. The Woods and the Highlands are poor. Luban exports “exotic goods” to Daleth (Spices, jewellery, elegant wood, cloth). The technic level of Luban is a little higher than that of Daleth, although the Dalethians have better use for their inventions. The climate of Luban has hot days and cold nights throughout the year. It is very dry and most of the landscape is bare rock, dust, and desert. Plants are rare, although there may be more plants than one might expect. Most settlements of Luban are near the river, many of them are build into the mountainsides. Luban has its own language, see The Luban Language for details. But the spoken language is not enough to understand a Lubanian. The language is stressed with gestures, that may change the words to confuse the spirits. These hidden meanings are also found in the indicators, that reveal the true meaning of a word. The religion has a large part in daily Luban life. The Lubanians believe in spirits. Most of the spirits are bad and the Lubanians are very afraid of them. Their religion is based on this fear and all rituals in the religion are meant to keep the spirits in a good mood or to scare them away. These spirits are everywhere, in plants, animals, stones, in the air, the water, the earth and the fire, even in humans. When something dies, and an evil spirit is caught in the dead body, it is a cause of many problems. Therefore, before killing or dying, a lot of rituals have to be done to get rid of the evil spirit. To prevent spirits from entering daily life, the streets are lined with scare-away-statues, named biriwil, horrible looking statues containing good spirits. They also serve as an altar. The humans prevent themselves by using masks. These masks are either mask out of metal or wood, veils, mud, tattoos or make-up. Each clan has its own way of making masks. It may be that the spirits the Lubanians see are produced by the use of mir’qot, the dried leaves of one of the most popular plants in Luban. It is used as a kind of drug. The leaves are either chewed, or used to make a tea. It is said, the mir’qot is holy and the strong taste of it scares the spirits away. Women are not allowed to use mir’qot; but they may use essences of the mir’qot flowers in perfumes. Plants are rare in Luban. The few plants are all sacred. It is illegal to harm a plant or to eat fruits and vegetables, except the mir’qot and other ritual harvested plants. Because there are only few plants, the palaces and the mansions usually have a garden with artificial plants, among with fantastic fountains, miniature mountain ranges, picturesque pavilions, and so on. The garden is in most cases on the roof. The poor Lubanians usually paint the holy plants on their walls. There are some temples where ritual harvested fruit is available. The houses of the Lubanians resemble labyrinths. The true entrance is hidden behind veils and walls, the stairs go up and down, no wall is longer than 7 paces, there are doors that don’t lead into rooms and rooms without windows or visible doors, on the outer walls some fake windows are painted, and mirrors and glass walls are a traditional part of the interior. All this is necessary to keep the spirits out of the house. Women and children are not allowed to give orders and are supposed to stay in the houses. This is not, as the Luban man can tell you, because the women are suppressed, but to protect them against spirits. Women are not allowed contact with spirits, they are too necessary for the future to risk their lives. But, since the men are under influence of the mir’qot, women have their own way to arrange things. It is even said the women press their husbands to use the mir’qot, so that the women network can stay intact. To prevent evil spirits from entering the marriage, the woman has to be a virgin at the wedding. There are numerous ritual tests to check this. Each clan has its own king (siwagat). Luban is ruled by all the siwagats together. But, in case of democracy, the siwagat that can bribe the most voters is the most powerful. These are usually the siwagats from the Riverlands. Related topics: |