"Warmth From a Far Sun" (part 6)
Sun-skin law (as the pale ones would define it) is almost a contradiction in terms. Of course, that’s really just a joke on my part, because no one can have a civilization and live and work and love and die without having a complete set of rules by which to live. We do have our rules-our version of laws-though compared to the very strict ways the pale-skins enforced their so-called laws, we are almost anarchists. Again I must say: by comparison.
When a sun-skin violates clan law, and there are some very serious transgressions in our society, he or she must face the consequences. Punishment (and I am specifically thinking of pale-skin prisons) doesn’t happen. The transgressor simply must make restitution to the injured parties. Where restitution isn’t possible, and murder is one of those situations where no amount of payment will bring the dead loved one back, the outcome usually results in removal from the clan. We don’t believe in meeting death with death, because no amount of pain in life can make up for the damage one does to their soul when they kill another.
A murderer, while we are discussing this subject, is damaged in a way that can never be fixed. And I draw a strong distinction between accidental death in moments of extreme emotional distress, and the cold, intentional act of taking another’s life. Of course, you might ask how we tell the difference. All I can say, from my somewhat limited perspective, is that a truly wise leader always knows. Murder is met with banishment, never death. But then the transgressor becomes non-human to their former clan. To return and attempt to mete out revenge for being banished would surely result in being killed in self-defense. I won’t debate the finer points. This method of dealing with the most extreme transgressions has worked for us, unchanged, for a very long time.
Of course there are other offenses we recognize. The offender, once judged, is obligated to repay the ones they have harmed. Return or replace property they may have taken (but our notions of “property” are much different from what I’ve learned about our now-extinct pale-skin cousins). Regardless, our “laws” are not harsh to the offender. Most restitution involves repairing a ruined personal relationship, since that is the thing most often hurt. One would want to reinstate themselves into the good graces of the clan, or most probably find life easier elsewhere. It does happen, though no one has left our clan in my memory.
Clans do not war with each other. We have always depended on others, though our desire for independence keeps it infrequent and at a distance. I do not know what would happen if a starving clan were to be denied food from their neighbors, because I know how desperate dying people can become. Within a family there is a strong drive to care for that family at the exclusion of all others. Should sun-skins become so desperate to survive that they would murder their brothers, then there would be no hope for any of us. In the length and breadth of our history (such as it is), no clan as ever needed to wage war to survive.
In the aftermath of the earth’s destruction wrought by pale-skins over tribal fear and anger, this lesson was never made so real as it is today. No sun-skin could even have conceived of this act.
This is all I have, for now. The next subject she plans to write about is sun-skin spirituality--religion, as it were. What they believe, and what they don't. Because of my own views on the subject, I thought I should take time to think about this before just jumping in. Of course since I wrote this biography initially, I have been writing a great deal of the story itself. As of this morning, over 55,000 words (179 pages, or so).
With respect to sun-skin pronunciation, I have sort of decided that the "e" vowel has an "ay" sound. So "Lena" would be pronounced LAY-na. I've been calling her LEE-na, which if I spelled her name correctly, should be written as "Lina". Whatever. As I've said: We have the technology. I have global search and replace, so it's no big deal.
So, Kivis is pronounced KEE-vis, and Sitka SEET-ka, and Remi RAY-me. I guess the boy Jen would be pronounced JAYN, but I still like the simple JENN. I am not an expert in linguistics, and so far I've avoided making up more than about a dozen sun-skin words. It's just not that interesting to me, and it's not easy, either. The language is mostly incidental to the story, though when sun-skin is translated into English (which all the sun-skin characters are doing), English does come out a little stilted. They don't use contractions, and they find some of their sun-skin words and phrases (sayings, etc.) don't translate well, at all.
So it's onward and upward.
When a sun-skin violates clan law, and there are some very serious transgressions in our society, he or she must face the consequences. Punishment (and I am specifically thinking of pale-skin prisons) doesn’t happen. The transgressor simply must make restitution to the injured parties. Where restitution isn’t possible, and murder is one of those situations where no amount of payment will bring the dead loved one back, the outcome usually results in removal from the clan. We don’t believe in meeting death with death, because no amount of pain in life can make up for the damage one does to their soul when they kill another.
A murderer, while we are discussing this subject, is damaged in a way that can never be fixed. And I draw a strong distinction between accidental death in moments of extreme emotional distress, and the cold, intentional act of taking another’s life. Of course, you might ask how we tell the difference. All I can say, from my somewhat limited perspective, is that a truly wise leader always knows. Murder is met with banishment, never death. But then the transgressor becomes non-human to their former clan. To return and attempt to mete out revenge for being banished would surely result in being killed in self-defense. I won’t debate the finer points. This method of dealing with the most extreme transgressions has worked for us, unchanged, for a very long time.
Of course there are other offenses we recognize. The offender, once judged, is obligated to repay the ones they have harmed. Return or replace property they may have taken (but our notions of “property” are much different from what I’ve learned about our now-extinct pale-skin cousins). Regardless, our “laws” are not harsh to the offender. Most restitution involves repairing a ruined personal relationship, since that is the thing most often hurt. One would want to reinstate themselves into the good graces of the clan, or most probably find life easier elsewhere. It does happen, though no one has left our clan in my memory.
Clans do not war with each other. We have always depended on others, though our desire for independence keeps it infrequent and at a distance. I do not know what would happen if a starving clan were to be denied food from their neighbors, because I know how desperate dying people can become. Within a family there is a strong drive to care for that family at the exclusion of all others. Should sun-skins become so desperate to survive that they would murder their brothers, then there would be no hope for any of us. In the length and breadth of our history (such as it is), no clan as ever needed to wage war to survive.
In the aftermath of the earth’s destruction wrought by pale-skins over tribal fear and anger, this lesson was never made so real as it is today. No sun-skin could even have conceived of this act.
This is all I have, for now. The next subject she plans to write about is sun-skin spirituality--religion, as it were. What they believe, and what they don't. Because of my own views on the subject, I thought I should take time to think about this before just jumping in. Of course since I wrote this biography initially, I have been writing a great deal of the story itself. As of this morning, over 55,000 words (179 pages, or so).
With respect to sun-skin pronunciation, I have sort of decided that the "e" vowel has an "ay" sound. So "Lena" would be pronounced LAY-na. I've been calling her LEE-na, which if I spelled her name correctly, should be written as "Lina". Whatever. As I've said: We have the technology. I have global search and replace, so it's no big deal.
So, Kivis is pronounced KEE-vis, and Sitka SEET-ka, and Remi RAY-me. I guess the boy Jen would be pronounced JAYN, but I still like the simple JENN. I am not an expert in linguistics, and so far I've avoided making up more than about a dozen sun-skin words. It's just not that interesting to me, and it's not easy, either. The language is mostly incidental to the story, though when sun-skin is translated into English (which all the sun-skin characters are doing), English does come out a little stilted. They don't use contractions, and they find some of their sun-skin words and phrases (sayings, etc.) don't translate well, at all.
So it's onward and upward.