Nomaien

Statistics

Height:

• Females - 5'7
• Males - 5'11

Lifespan:
Diet:
Sentient: yes
Body Structure: humanoid
Locomotion: bipedal
Home world:
Language:
Major Cities:
Level of Technology:

Appearance

Nomaiens have a range of body markings that vary in location and colour depending on what part of the planet they're from.
Close to the equator they have small spots decorating their legs that tend to be several shades darker than their skin tone.
In the northern desert, they have some small blotches that run from behind their ear, down the front of their neck, and then down their sides, terminating at their lower back. These blotches are black.
Western desert dwellers have facial markings that are usually reddish in colour.

Reproduction

Nomaien women don’t reproduce easily. It’s rare for a woman to have more than two children. Back when they were still nomads moving from watering hole to watering hole, it became clear to them that love between a man and a woman was becoming rarer as the years passed. The women were finding it easier to find love among their own gender. Marriage was becoming less frequent. This came to the attention of the Queen. The end result of this was the present system. When a woman decides to have a child, she finds a suitable man and they come to an agreement. Sometimes they marry if they find that they like each other enough. Most often, they stay together for a time agreed upon. For reproduction, they seek the other gender; for love, they most often look within their own. This holds true for males and females. Among the royalty of the planet, marriages are required and are often arranged. When a Nomaien marries, it’s for life.

The women have vastly greater appetites for food than the men do, though why is a secret they keep to themselves.

Anatomy

Strangely, one of the more erogenous zones on a woman’s body is the pulse points on their wrists.

Because of the extreme temperatures on their world, they don’t tolerate being in cold climates very well. Most will be perpetually cold if they leave their world, so not many do so unless absolutely necessary.

Ideals

Tan skin is prevalent, though there have been some with a more Caucasian skin tone (though those are usually sehashi or related to one). Blond hair is highly prized and darker tones to be less attractive.

Marriage

When a woman formally chooses a man as her mate, she uses the phrase Janshe rak tor el hanesse akarin emesyo, (man’s name) sha ne. It translates to I name this man (mans’ name) and I lay my claim to him by ancient rite. A man’s response translates as I accept your claim on me and swear to have no other for as long as you'll have me.

Art

In the marketplaces, items that can be acquired most easily are: simple undecorated earthenware dishes and containers, sand art, food, clothing, weaponry, and exquisitely designed jewelry.

Culture

Their sense of humor is very odd and seems morbid to off-worlders. What they think of as funny is often not something anyone else finds humorous.

Nomaie is a desert world with little in the way of bodies of water, so they don’t know how to swim. They have a name for themselves that isn’t used off world. They find the term Nomaien crude but useable.

Personal space is highly valued. Nomaiens have very sensitive skin and skin-to-skin contact makes them very vulnerable. It affects them the way that drugs affect other species. It can be addictive. This evolved as a survival mechanism that allowed mothers to identify their children (or vice versa), which is very useful in the natural dark of the night or in the artificial dark of a sandstorm when the winds howl making vocal and visual communication impossible.

A related survival trait is a nearly mystical sense of direction. While they’re on their home world, they can tell exactly where they are, but once they leave its surface, even going up to one of the moons, they lose this ability. No one is entirely sure why.

As far as men go, it’s considered inappropriate to discuss women when in the company of women. It’s rude for them to look a woman in the eyes unless they’re related.

Nomaien women never wear their hair loose except when they’re being very intimate with another person.

They don’t have any stigma against crazy people.

An offer of sharing food is tantamount to offering to share one’s bed.

They take life debts very seriously. Saving another person’s life on Nomaie incurs a life debt that can be discharged in a couple of different ways, but the most common is repayment in kind, saving their savior’s life, though they can also meet a requirement set by the savior if payment in kind isn’t possible. This requirement must be worth a life and cannot be something frivolous such as asking for a drink to be brought. The saved person does technically belong to the person who saved them and that person can ask the saved to do virtually anything. While indebted, the saved cannot physically harm their savior, though they are allowed to defend themselves if the savior tries to seriously hurt them. A person under a life debt is not permitted to marry, hold official positions, bear or produce offspring, or really do much of anything until the debt is discharged. The only exception is if they marry or produce offspring with the one who holds their life debt, though this is rare.

Government

They are a matriarchal monarchy.

Currently, the reigning queen is Hashaare'n ii Kantahar. Her consort is Chanse'iki ni Jalan. They have three children: Hinal'a, Yulan'iki and Jalon’g. Hinal'a is married and has children of her own (Tanlek'o and Jarele'yen). The heir to the throne isn’t necessarily the eldest daughter as younger ones have been known to inherit. Daughters have also been passed over in favor of granddaughters. The queen is referred to as Her Revered Majesty, while her mate is called Honored Consort. The consort is always male.

Society

On Nomaie, the gender numbers aren’t any where near equal. Nomaien women tend to regard their male counterparts as inferior, though male siblings are generally exempt from this treatment. Nomaien twins have a deep psychic connection and when one is bothered by something, it intrudes on the other one. This is especially true of opposite gender twins. Those kinds of twins are sacred to the Nomaien people. They cannot lie to each other. The women treat strangers coldly and strange men even more so. The men are far more tolerant. When a woman finds a male to her liking, she does everything in her power to get that man. Physical contact in public between members of the opposite genders is taboo, though similar contact between members of the same gender is perfectly fine. There is no taboo on same sex pairings; in fact, they tend to be more common

Technology

They are capable of space travel, though it’s rarely used. Largely, they use a series of interplanetary portals when they need to travel around in their star system.

Linguistics

There are two dialects of the Nomaien language. The ancient dialect is only used these days in rituals. There is a more modern version that is used for every day speech. A third dialect isn’t really a language, but it’s the vocabulary that they draw their personal names from.

Vocabulary

Alonon - damn
Frasohr - white
Huohak - seek
Huoyi - star
Hurrei - strong
Hursihu - storm

Istusihu - wind

Laiik - small
Lakaie - ember

Naheu - child
Nahu - bring
Nahurak - bringer
Nonei’a - stars
Nue - hand
Nueohak - courting
Nuko - season

Rutyo - queen
Rutyeu - princess

Shaiek - desert
Tatrun - sand
Tuneityaheon’a - friends
Utyaie - fire

Vevin - Nomaien equivalent to a puppy dog

Expressions

Tehone’tyu - expression; like hell

May you find happiness at the end of your journey - a traditional Nomaien goodbye

Mythology

They venerate the world spirit, a female entity they simply call Nomaie. Even though they know how the universe works and that the sun will rise and set without any of their help, it is an ancient ritual of theirs to sing the sun into the sky every morning and sing it to sleep every night. It is their way of honoring their less enlightened past.

Nomaiens also believe in reincarnation. They believe that their actions in life don’t necessarily determine what life they are born into next, as there are documented cases of Nomaiens being reincarnated in other species. These are seen as learning experiences. In deep meditative states a Nomaien can access their past lives if they choose, though most don’t unless they seek guidance. Nomaien sehashi have nearly conscious access to these memories, especially if they were awakened as sehashi in those past lives.
Nomaiens believe there are 7 hells.