<br/><strong>Society:</strong><br/><br/><em>Language and Mythology</em><br/><br/>Uchiamas speak a language called Lespa, named after their planet, Lespall. Their writing system is called Ranmo, and is a phonetic system. There are two sets of Ranmo, one is Shin, designed to represent solely the Lespa language, and the other, Moil, is designed to represent languages not native to Lespall, e.g. English.<br/><br/>In Shin, most of the characters made into the Shin have very relevant meanings to their formations of symbols, including their belief in their first couple, Katomano (The Mother) and Sakotori (the Protector of Mother).<br/><br/>The first five characters are the sounds we would call vowels, though perhaps pronounced a little differently. These were, figured the Uchiamas, the five foundations of sound much as there are primary creations of Nature. A (ah) represented Wind, I (ee) was Earth, U (oo) was Water, E (eh) was Fire, and O (o) was the fifth element, Yuri.<br/><br/>The second set of five characters were tribute to The Mother. These symbols represent the mother's part in creation of the world. It must be stressed here the importance of the Circle in Uchiama beliefs. Uchi and Yama are the two sides of the circle, they come together complete the circle. The circle is life, life is the circle. It’s that simple.<br/><br/>When the symbols made to The Mother (K consonant) were created, the lower half of the circle was used, almost as if represent a cradling hand, which is a pictograph most commonly used to represent The Mother. This explains her holding many of her children, Wind, Earth and Water. However, as folklore says, when Katomano gave birth to fire it maimed her fatally, however, she fought long enough to give birth to her last creation, Yuri, who look on sorrow on the Father's grief, and freed her mother's spirit from her fleshed cage. The ko symbol therefore represents the Mother's spirit as it escaped from her body and joined Yuri. Wind, or Kame, and Earth, Kime, also felt the pain, and in anger drove Keme (Fire) away from them. While Kume made sure Keme was kept at bay, Water, Kume, gave her father a gift, placing a trace of her essence in her eyes, allowing her to cry tears for her beloved mate. Keme was forgiven much later, after she spent years atoning for her crime. But to commemorate the gift that Kume gave (or perhaps to punish the crime Keme did) the symbol for fire connected to the mother is that of a Tear drop.<br/><br/>The S set is connected to Sakotori, the first Yama. Her sets are fairly simple, acting as the upper hand (upper part of the circle), almost as guidance to her children, even Keme.  All, ofcourse, except Kome who after her mother's death, became her father's wife, to honour her mother.  Her symbol is shown closest to the hand, almost as if embraced loving by her mate. After she joined with her father, she was given a new name, Kemeyuri. Since her first name was keme, it is the second name Uchiama's use for spirit, Yuri.<br/><br/><br/><em>Duty</em><br/><br/>In Uchiama Society, duty is everything. Everyone has a purpose in society, and everyone has a role to fulfill. No matter if you are a theatre actress, or sinte, or a Warrior woman fighting in the stars, kamarizako, you have a purpose. Every Uchiama has a job to do, and it is her love for her people that drives her to do that duty as best as possible.<br/><br/>This is enforced by the common parlance of the Uchiama folk "As the Sisters pray". The sisters, of course, referring to the Three Sisters of Yuri (Yuri is Soul or Spirit). This saying basically reiterates the feeling engrained in Uchiamas that one should accept what one is given, since it was decided by the Sisters, and who would know better. The Sisters are a MAJOR part of the society, and will be covered in greater length later on, but for now it suffices to state that the Sisters are the last word of Law throughout the whole planet.  Each continent on Lespall has a royal family, and they have a fair amount of control, but the sisters direct even them, and any questioning of the sisters' decision is severely frowned upon.<br/><br/>This doesn't mean of course that everyone is happy with their place.  An Uchiama's future is truly mapped out for them.  What your job will be, who you will marry, and where you'll live will be decided for you by, whom else, the Sisters. Since only a very rare few, ever get to actually meet the sisters, it's not unnatural that an Uchiama at some point feels bitter about their place.  However, discontentment usually is only whispered or mumbled to a trusted soul. Those who do get a bit more open about their unhappiness, are given guidance programs, to help them come to terms with their emotional instability. Some sceptics, however, would call this brainwashing.<br/><br/>However, overall, there are few complaints, since Uchiama's society does not allow for the want of basic needs. No one is unemployed, homeless, or alone.<br/><br/><br/><em>Role of Yama's - Repressed or Revered</em><br/><br/>It is a common misconception by outsiders for certain reasons that Yamas are much like women in certain older Patriarchal cultures on Earth.  Down-trodden and forced to serve their master  and be sex-objects. Nothing could be farther from the truth.<br/><br/>While Yamas, are taught to honour and love their Spouse, Uchis are taught that all Yamas are the direct daughters of Katomano, and therefore are on par with a goddess. Yama's are, in many ways, considered superior to Uchis. For starters, they bring forth the life that keeps the planet thriving and full of life. Almost all magic of healing becomes bestowed upon Yamas (no shock that this magic is called Katojinko), and it is believed the voice and eyes of a Yama can soothe any tortured soul.<br/><br/>Wife abuse is extremely rare, approaching nil. For an Uchi to ever strike a Yama would be a direct attack upon The Mother, and would be a severe error in Uchiama society, repeat offenses resulting in ostracisation. Not that many would, since Uchis grow up being giving information about their future mate, long before ever meeting them often, and are well versed on the thoughts and feelings of the yama they will be with.<br/><br/>Uchi's handle their Yama's like Precious Porcelain dolls, gifts from The Mother, and most times, a Yama needs only to drop one tear drop, to send her Uchi into a frenzy of regret.<br/><br/>Yamas almost have no limit on occupations they can be in, there are even Yama kamarizako (This is rare however, since Uchis are the traditional hunters), however there are many jobs that Yamas do that Uchis do not. Yamas vote on certain things that an Uchi would never be consulted on. In a family, a Yama is considered the wiser of the two, and her wisdom is consulted on all things.<br/><br/>With the romantic level it is also necessary to comment one of the major faults of the Uchiamas' way of life, overpopulation. Uchiama have either no concept or no belief in population control. In early times, this was not especially important as Yamas do not live long anyways. However, slowly but surely, the numbers have crept up, and even the limited life span of them is able to stop the increasing population of the planet.<br/><br/>A great deal of the problem is the fact that, since they live such a short time, Uchiamas feel one should enjoy the time they have, and one of the things they do is make love to their partners. If there was one common favourite hobby all Uchiama's share, its making love. Uchi's and Yama's are able to decide whether to procreate or not during their intercourse, but they find the orgasms to be much more satisfying when children are created during it.<br/><br/>A Yama will give birth to, on average 1-5 children at a time, the children by scale are smaller at birth than humans, so the strain is not as great. Yama's will raise their offspring for the first 5 years of the child's life, at which point they join a respective school for their sex. They, of course, visit their parents, but only on Special days. They will live most of their childhoods in the schools. Yama mothers find this time to be particularly painful, and prefer to have other little ones around to keep them busy, so as to minimize the pain. For that reason, Yamas will attempt to make more babies as soon as they can. And it's not difficult for most Yamas to seduce their mates into going their way.<br/><br/>A Yama will often have 5 to 8 sets of children in her life, depending on the strength and gumption of the Yama. The most babies ever born to a single Yama (that has been recorded anyways) is 70.  Needless to say, she was never lonely on Mother's Day.  A child is raised by both parents.<br/><br/><br/><em>Entertainment</em><br/><br/>On Earth, it is not uncommon for love songs and movies to be aimed at no one  in particular, since people usually are encouraged to dream of romance and in doing so, find their true love.  The major point in mentioning this difference is that Uchiamas CAN NOT SEARCH FOR TRUE LOVE!  They are<span class="bbc_u">assigned</span>it.<br/><br/>Therefore, although there are singers, they tend to either sing folks songs (love stories of couples from ages past) or modern love songs (all dedicated to her yama/uchi)  All movies (Uchiyamas don’t have t.v’s, they have newspapers, radios and movies, but t.v. does not seem important) are mainly romance based, and the actresses are all couples.  If you see an uchi and a yama kiss, they kiss passionately because they are REAL couples.<br/><br/>Another odd note about Uchiyama films is that they tend to be almost pornographic in nature.  All love stories usually end in an intense love-making session in the end, that involves a close up of the parts rubbing as they make a baby.  While stimulating to the audience, they enjoy this mostly as a stimulus of what they should be doing themselves, and not wanting to be with the actresses themselves (okay…that’s what they SAY… ^_~ ).  The sex and reproduction is usually quite real, and these yama/uchi’s are picked from birth to fill those roles, since in order to act in these films your mate must also be in them.<br/><br/>Uchiyama’s love to dance, read and write poetry, and even enjoy fictional books.  Flower arranging is loved by all, and so is practicing the martial art of Lespall, Miki. Miki is traditionally Uchi only, but some yama’s have been taught it by their mates.  Despite this modern thinking, many Uchi and Yama do not find it appropriate for Yama to do it still, and so it’s not usually cultural acceptable for these girls to do it in public.  Yamas love to cook and could do it all day. (note on chores, Uchi’s are in charge of cleaning, and the children as well.)<br/><br/><br/>