Yelamu

Republic of Yelamu 以衣力阿毛烏 毛烏微衣去毛阿 微阿良衣破 Yelamu Muwékma-warép
Flag Emblem
Motto: "毛阿去 微阿良衣破 土伊二良伊禰伊去毛阿" "Mak-warép tiirinikma" "Our land awakens"
Anthem: Spirit of the Land
Abbreviation 鷸 Jeongmian: 흘 heul
Capital	Točayune
Largest city	Petlenuk
Official languages	Yelamese
Recognised national languages	Wawa
Recognised regional languages	Kulanapan, Suisun, Yamani
Ethnic groups	65% Yelamese, 13% Kulanapo, xx% Suisun, xx% Yamani, xx% other
Religion	58% Kuksu, 20% irreligious, 17% Tathaism, 5% other
Demonym(s)	Yelamese
Government	Federal parliamentary constitutional republic
Legislature	Muwekma Tah-ruk
Area
•	174,253 km2 (67,279 sq mi)
Population
• 2021 estimate	39,038,223
• Density	224/km2 (580.2/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2021 estimate
• Total	圓934.1 billion
• Per capita	圓23,928
GDP (nominal)	2021 estimate
• Total	圓660.7 billion
• Per capita	圓16,925
HDI	0.815 very high
Currency	Yelamese irek (艾)
Time zone	UTC+5
Driving side	left

Yelamu (Yelamese: 以衣力阿毛烏), officially the Republic of Yelamu (Yelamese: 以衣力阿毛烏 毛烏微衣去毛阿 微阿良衣破, Yelamu Muwékma-warép; Kulanapan: 禰阿破与么阿毛阿二, Yelamu Napo'amaa), is a sovereign country in west central Yeongju, bordering Hachuabsh to the north, Aibapatikket to the east, Chewamstuu to the southeast, Chamakam to the south, and Thunderbird Bay, part of the Eastern Ocean, to the west. It has a population of 39 million and covers an area of 174,253 square kilometers, divided on a federal basis into five provinces and three autonomous regions.

(history blurb)

Following a gold rush the Kingdom of Yelamu became a joint protectorate of Jeongmi, Meisaan, and Fusen from 1860 to the Kuhma Rebellion in 1896, after which it became a Hachuabshi protectorate. Hachuabsh directly annexed Yelamu in 1912, ending the kingdom, and ruled it as a colony until the Great Eulhae War. Yelamu regained its independence in the Revolution of 1943, part of the larger Hachuabshi Revolutions, and after a brief civil war in which nationalists prevailed over communists the modern Republic of Yelamu was established. The newly independent state enjoyed a brief economic boom through the 1950s but due to its proximity to the now-communist power of Hachuabsh its position was precarious; it entered a period of economic and political turmoil in the 1960s leading to military rule and internal conflict from 1970 to 1987. The military regime was overthrown and democracy restored in the mostly peaceful Revolution of 1987, resulting in a new constitution that inaugurated the current Second Republic.

Yelamu has an upper-middle-income economy, one of the largest in Yeongju, and a relatively high standard of living. It enjoys good metrics in XXX, but still suffers from XXX. It is a member of the Congress of Nations, the Central Yeongju League, and the Thunderbird Bay Union.

Etymology

Yelamu's Cheonjean characters are 鷸灣 (Fusenese: Ichiwan, Jeongmian: Heulman, Meisaani: Yuhtwāan). 鷸 can refer to various types of birds including seabirds like snipes or sandpipers, or to a falcon, while 灣 is a riverbend or a bay, in this case referring to the Kawetka Bay that defines Yelamu's geography. 鷸灣 can thus be translated either as "sandpiper bay" referring to the large flocks of seabirds sailors would have seen in Kawetka Bay's tidal flats and salt marshes, or as "falcon bay", referring to the totemic animal of the former Kingdom of Yelamu.

History

Ancient era

The proto-Penutian peoples, ancestors of the Yelamese, Suisun, and Yamani ethnic groups, migrated from what is now Taniilux and Iyuaschi and began settling in what is now lowland Yelamu around 2400 BCE, likely introducing bronze-working to the area and displacing the earlier proto-Hokan peoples to the highlands where they became the ancestors of the Kulanapan ethnicity. The Penutian population then steadily increased over the next millennium as they adopted new agricultural crops, most importantly maize and potatoes. From 1100-700 BCE, Yelamu was in the sphere of influence of the S'kayuq civilization based in modern-day Hachuabsh and was subjected to slave raids and colonization but also became part of a maritime trading network stimulated by the introduction of ocean-going canoes. After the S'kayuq collapse, several of their now-abandoned settlements and outposts in Yelamu were taken over by locals and became the basis of many of Yelamu's first native city-states.

Classical era

A depiction of a classical-era city-state centered around its ceremonial shellmound.

From 850 to 1000 CE, the coastal lowland city-states fell under the rule of the P'udilabš Kingdom, also based in modern northern Hachuabsh, as tributary states. The P'udilabš brought Yelamu into the cultural and economic sphere of Thunderbird Bay for the first time and introduced the Yeongja script, the first non-pictographic writing system used in Yelamu and still used to this day, as well as cultural practices like the potlatch and totem pole. After 1000, the P'udilabš empire fell to Hadalan pirate raids and Nimiipu nomadic invasions from modern-day Yakaleikin.

Medieval era

One of these Nimiipu groups, the Winnemem (ancestors of the modern Suisun), established their own kingdom in Yelamu that lasted from 1050 to 1300. The Winnemem Kingdom was the first large state based in Yelamu, the first to cover most of Yelamu's present territory, the first settled Yelamese state to be based in the highlands rather than the lowlands, and the first large state to embrace Kuksu as an official religion, representing a reorientation away from maritime Thunderbird Bay and towards agrarian central Yeongju. However, links to Thunderbird Bay were maintained by Hadalan traders and raiders who set up outposts and sometimes founded or conquered cities in the coastal lowlands where Winnemem control was weaker, and later by Yudeokese traders who introduced the Wawa language as a regional lingua franca and became the ancestors of the Wawa Tilikum ethnic group.

The Winnemem kingdom eroded from the south, losing effective control over the Kulanapo highlands in the southwest by 1200. At the same time the trade with Thunderbird Bay made the coastal city-states increasingly wealthy, to which the Winnemem responded by increasing their tribute obligations higher and higher in an attempt to shore up their faltering power. Around 1250, the city-states formed a confederation and successfully rebelled against Winnemem suzerainty, expelling them from the coast. The general of the coalition forces, a Hadalan mercenary, then declared himself king over the cities and forcibly united them, founding the Kingdom of Yelamu and the Raven dynasty. The Kulanapan clans took advantage of the chaos by invading and conquering the southern valleys from Winnemem and uniting into a kingdom of their own. The Kingdom of Yelamu gradually conquered the remnants of Winnemem over the next fifty years.

The "two states" era, with Yelamu in the north and Kulanapo in the south, lasted for the next two centuries from 1300 to 1500. Yelamu was a more urbanized and centralized hereditary monarchy while Kulanapo was a more decentralized elective monarchy; Yelamu's greater wealth and organization was balanced out by Kulanapo's greater military prowess. Another key difference between the two kingdoms, which would eventually prove to be Kulanapo's undoing, was that in Yelamu the clan aristocracy and the priesthood of the Kuksu societies largely overlapped while in Kulanapo they were distinct and rival power centers; in Yelamu the Kuksu societies were a tool of the state, while in Kulanapo they increasingly functioned as a parallel state in themselves.

The Kuksu priests in Kulanapo exploited the custom by which they could sacrifice the king in times of great crisis as a political tool until by the end of the 1400s they had institutionalized the sacrifice of the king every year. Around 1500 the Kulanapan nobility rebelled against the priesthood and in the ensuing civil war appealed to Yelamu for aid in exchange for fealty. The ensuing Yelamese intervention was a success and they established suzerainty over Kulanapo, effectively uniting most of present-day Yelamu under the rule of one kingdom for the first time since the high point of Winnemem rule 400 years earlier.

Kingdom of Yelamu

A Coyote-era gold and shell pendant of the royal insignia.

Members of the royal family from the Falcon dynasty.

The period after unification from 1500 to 1650 is known as the age of the "Coyote kings" in reference to the ruling dynasty, who sought to marginalize the power of the Kuksu societies while co-opting their ceremonies and performances by instead promulgating a cult of the king as a descendant or incarnation of the creator god Coyote. Due to the works of art, architecture, literature, and theatre the Coyote Kings supported to enhance their prestige and power, this period is considered a golden age in Yelamese culture (even literally so as it saw the first widespread use of gold in Yelamese art) and much of Yelamu's current cultural heritage such as Yelamese opera has its roots in this period. It was also a high point for Yelamese political and military power and Yelamu was able to expand beyond its borders to periodically subjugate or extract tribute from parts of neighboring countries. Domestically the era was defined by the flourishing of the Kawetka Bay region and the steady rollback of land ownership by Kulanapan, Suisun, and Yamani clans in the interior valleys, mostly restricting those groups to the highlands and causing the valleys to become almost entirely Yelamese-speaking by 1700.

This golden age came to an end over the course of the 1600s as Yelamu failed to take advantage of and was thus marginalized by the growing importance of trade with Sinju, and lost power and wealth relative to both the growing Jeongmian colonial empire to the south and the rising Gwuqíl Clique in Hachuabsh to the north. After a series of disastrous military defeats to the Gwuqíl and Jeongmians, beating Yelamu back to its former and current borders, the Coyote dynasty was overthrown by an aristocratic rebellion in 1650 and replaced by the Falcon dynasty, so named for their claim of descent from the mythical falcon-hero Kaknu.

The Falcons reversed the Coyotes' centralizing policies, ending the royal cult, rehabilitating the Kuksu societies, and returning power to the aristocratic clans. The result was a steady weakening of state authority, and the monarchs increasingly turned their focus from ruling to ever-more-elaborate Kuksu rituals, spectacles, and potlatches; Yelamu during this period has been called a theatre state. Another effect of the state's weakening was that Wawa Tilikum merchants became increasingly central to the economy, and Wawa effectively replaced Yelamese as the official language by 1800. After 1800, power increasingly fell into the hands of the Hummingbird clan of royal in-laws and administrators, regarded as corrupt and diverting state resources towards their own advancement.

Colonial era

Triple Protectorate

Meisaani prospectors during the Triple Protectorate.

The Kuhma Rebellion.

The Yelamese Gold Rush occurred in 1855 when gold was discovered in the __ Valley, prompting an influx of prospectors and traders from Sinjuan countries and their colonies into the region. These foreigners entered without authorization and disregarded the Yelamese royal authorities, who attempted to expel them by force. When several of their citizens were killed, the colonial powers of Jeongmi, Meisaan, and Fusen responded by launching a punitive expedition against Yelamu in 1860, whose outdated forces were quickly defeated, and compelling the king to accept an unequal treaty that ceded Petlenuk at the mouth of Kawetka Bay as a treaty port, and granted the colonial powers such wide-ranging commercial and diplomatic privileges that Yelamu effectively became their joint protectorate, a status that was formalized into the official Triple Protectorate with another treaty in 1867.

The colonial powers focused on extracting gold, fur, and timber... While there was economic development, famously exemplified by Petlenuk becoming the first city in Yeongju with a streetcar system...

In 1896, anger over the erosion of Yelamese sovereignty and culture boiled over into the Kuhma Rebellion, first organized by Kuksu societies and quickly becoming a millenarian mass movement that compelled the king to support them and renounce the protectorate; the foreign powers were expelled from the whole country except Petlenuk, which was besieged by the Kuhmas. Sensing an opportunity to expand its influence, the rising imperial power of Hachuabsh directly to Yelamu's north dispatched a military intervention to relieve Petlenuk and disperse the Kuhmas. However, the expedition went on to exceed the terms agreed upon by the protectorate powers, proceeding on to Tochayune, deposing the king, and replacing him with a new one who was compelled to sign a treaty adding Hachuabsh as a protector, though it remained unrecognized by the other three powers. Following the Kuhma Rebellion, the Kuksu societies that had been a cornerstone of Yelamese society for centuries were suppressed.

Hachuabshi rule

The signing of the Yelamese Declaration of Independence in 1943.

The Hachuabshi occupation of Yelamu contributed to the outbreak of the Meisaan-Hachuabsh War in 1901; after Hachuabsh emerged victorious, its occupation of Yelamu was formally recognized by Sinju and it officially replaced Meisaan as one of the three protectorate powers, though Meisaan was allowed to keep its concession in Petlenuk. The period between 1901 and 1912, known as the Second Protectorate, was characterized by increasing Hachuabshi domination relative to both the other three protectorate powers and the Yelamese royal government itself, with the official terms of its treaties with them increasingly disregarded. In 1912 the Hachuabshi ambassador to Yelamu was assassinated; blaming the king, Hachuabsh sent forces to depose him and occupy the country, and a few weeks later outright annexed Yelamu into the Hachuabshi Empire. This overriding of the protectorate treaties was hugely controversial and a major contributing factor to the escalating tensions between imperial powers in western Yeongju that lead to the Bangju War a decade later.

Hachuabshi policy was to assimilate Yelamu to the rest of the empire culturally and economically, abolishing the traditional clans, suppressing the Yelamese language in favor of mandating the use of Hwulshucid, imposing the state religion of Qaw̓qsism at the expense of Kuksu and Tathaism, and rapidly modernizing the colony's economy and infrastructure, especially with regard to agriculture and food production in the interest of making Yelamu a breadbasket for the Hachuabshi Empire. In contrast, the highland areas populated by ethnic minorities were left more autonomous but less developed, and ethnic minorities were given favored status over ethnic Yelamese by the colonial administration. A Yelamese independence movement built up, culminating in the failed Uprising of 1921, during the broader Bangju War, that was harshly suppressed under allegations that it had been incited by Hachuabsh's Taniiluxan enemies. The nationalist leaders of the independence movement were forced to flee abroad and operated in exile thereafter, while maintaining a smaller clandestine network in Yelamu, with the foreign concessions in Petlenuk serving as a crucial link between the two. The ascension of the far-right Shweabe regime in 1940 brought a new wave of repression as efforts to forcibly assimilate the Yelamese into Hachuabshi culture intensified, motivated by the ideology of Hachuabshi Yeongjuism.

At the start of the Great Eulhae War in 1935, the successful Hachuabshi invasion of the Jeongmian colonies to the south was launched from Yelamu; Hachuabshi forces also seized the Petlenuk concessions at the same time. Yelamu saw little direct fighting for most of Eulhae but was still profoundly affected by the war; it was a major staging area for Hachuabshi troops, and much of the population was forcibly conscripted to serve in the military or wartime industries, inflaming the independence movement. The Hachuabshi regime deported much of the Wawa Tilikum population on death marches to camps in Yakaleikin as part of the Wawa Genocide, killing tens of thousands from Yelamu alone, and also engaged in harsh reprisals against suspected separatists.

In 1942, dissatisfaction across the Hachuabshi Empire boiled over into the Waq̓waq̓us revolution, a wave of socialist-led mass strikes demanding the end of the war. In Yelamu these were quickly joined by Yelamese nationalists, now able to return from exile and operate openly, demanding independence. The communists and nationalists joined together in the Provisional Government of Yelamu to declare independence, and amidst the fall of the Hachuabshi imperial government expelled the remaining imperial forces, in the Yelamese Revolution of 1943. However, cooperation between the communists and nationalists in the Provisional Government soon broke down, with the communists seeking to align with the new Socialist Commonwealth of Hachuabsh and the nationalists rejecting this as just a continued form of foreign domination. The tension culminated in the short but bitter Yelamese Civil War, which ended with nationalist victory and the suppression of the communists. During the course of the revolution and civil war, most of the population of Hachuabshi settlers was expelled from Yelamu, as was much of the population of the Nachesne minority who, despite being native to the north coast of Yelamu, were seen as ethnically Hachuabshi and therefore suspect.

Republic of Yelamu

First Republic

The Kawetka Bridge, completed in 1957, is considered a symbol of Yelamese independence and modernity.

The independent Republic of Yelamu was founded in 1944 with a democratic, nationalist, mixed-economy, and unitary constitution. Shortly afterwards it became a founding member of the Congress of Nations in 1945. The new state found itself on the frontlines with the newly-formed Socialist Commonwealth of Hachuabsh, now one of the strongest communist powers in the world, contributing to political tension and paranoia over "Hachuabshi re-colonization", increasing importance and power of the newly-formed military (led by veterans of the independence struggle), and a wave of Sinjuan investment and foreign aid that, combined with the colonial-era industry and infrastructure that was now in Yelamese hands and relatively undamaged by Eulhae, sparked an economic boom in the decade after independence. However the benefits mostly accrued to the already-wealthier ethnic-Yelamese-populated coastal lowlands while the minority-populated highlands were left behind. The first decade also saw a revival of the traditional culture that had been suppressed during colonization, including the Kuksu religion, as an assertion of national pride.

In 1959, the economy stagnated; seeking to revive it, the government attempted to attract foreign investment by amending the constitution to lift its restrictions on foreign ownership. This sparked mass protests, including the first major revival of communist activity since the revolution, until the military intervened, dispersing the protests while also dismissing the offending government and handing power to an interim government until new elections were held. Despite being barred from running, the communist revival continued to gain ground in the context of continuing economic stagnation, especially among the ethnic minorities, with Hachuabshi support and funding.

Political tensions reached a head in the latter half of the 1960s, as decolonization in Yeongju was followed by a wave of communist revolutions and insurgencies. Fearing contagion, the government declared a state of emergency in 1968. In response, Hachuabshi-backed communist guerillas declared open revolt, demanding independence for the ethnic minority regions, and began a long-running guerrilla insurgency in the Kulanapo conflict and Yamani conflict. By 1970, the government began moving towards ending the state of emergency and negotiating a peace, prompting the military to overthrow it, with covert Sinjuan backing, and assume power.

Military rule

A counterinsurgency operation in Kulanapo.

Clashes during the Revolution of 1987.

Under military rule much of the constitution was suspended, including democratic processes and civil liberties as well as restrictions on foreign ownership; the ensuing wave of new Sinjuan investment fueled a new economic upturn, though many allege that the benefits mostly went to those foreign corporations. The military government also sought to aggressively develop rural and minority areas that had been previously left behind to counter guerrilla influence, helping to start narrowing the economic gap between regions, though in some cases the heavy-handed measures taken increased support for the guerrillas instead. The Kulanapo and Yamani insurgencies continued throughout the years of military rule, mostly at a low level with occasional flare-ups, with continued Hachuabshi assistance. Between 1970 and 1987, about a thousand suspected communist sympathizers or opposition members were extrajudicially executed or disappeared by the government, while many more fled the country.

In 1976 and 1982 the military allowed elections, and in both cases no party won a majority and the fragile coalitions fell apart after a few months, at which point the military resumed power once again. The economy stagnated again at the start of the 1980s and then downturned sharply in the middle of the decade, at the same time as the insurgencies escalated, fueling discontent and civil resistance against the regime. The democracy movement culminated in the Yelamese Revolution of 1987, a mostly peaceful mass uprising that compelled the military government to allow democratic elections later that year, which were won by the Himmetka opposition coalition.

Second Republic

Yelamu adopted a new constitution inspired by the revolution in 1989. Among the changes made was the country's conversion from a unitary state to a federal state as well as strengthened protections for civil liberties and minority linguistic and cultural rights, providing the framework for a negotiated settlement in the Kulanapo and Yamani conflicts and the creation of the Autonomous Regions in the Petlenuk Accords of 1992. The end of the insurgencies in turn paved the way for normalization of relations with Hachuabsh in 1994, and ensuing greater regional ties and integration with the strengthening of the Thunderbird Bay Union and Central Yeongju League (the latter bringing with it a new wave of immigration to Yelamu from poorer countries in Yeongju). Petlenuk hosted the 2005 Samo Games and the event was considered a successful showcase for a peaceful and democratic Yelamu despite budget overruns and allegations of financial misconduct.

In the 2010s, the worsening of relations between Hachuabsh and Sinju after a period of thaw allowed for the resurgence of Huššištak after two decades of domination by Himmetka, with the former campaigning for resuming a hardline stance against Hachuabsh and the OSDMA while the latter advocates for continued rapprochement (especially in light of the extensive and lucrative economic ties that have developed between the two countries since 1994), bringing political polarization back to a high point.

Geography

Yelamu can be divided into four geographic regions, running across the country in bands roughly from north to south: the coastal lowlands, the western highlands, the central valley, and the eastern mountains.

Administrative divisions

Yelamu is a federal state made up of eight constituent entities: five provinces and three autonomous regions.

Name	Type	Capital	Population	Area
Akkastay Piri (阿去二阿私土阿以)	Province
Kakuntay Piri (去阿去烏禰土阿以)	Province
Kawetka Piri (去阿微衣土去阿)	Province	Petlenuk
Kulanapo Ussepiri (去烏力阿禰阿破与)	Autonomous region	Shodakai
Rammay Piri (良阿毛二阿以)	Province	Točayune
Suisun Ussepiri (私烏伊私烏禰)	Autonomous region
Yakmuntay Piri (以阿去毛烏禰土阿以)	Province
Yamani Ussepiri (以阿毛阿禰伊)	Autonomous region

Flora and fauna

The coast redwood, the tallest tree species on Tiandi, is native to Yelamu.

A sea otter.

In 1993, Yelamu adopted an official national animal, the coyote, national bird, the peregrine falcon, and national tree, the coast redwood. The coyote and falcon are widespread throughout Yeongju and were chosen for their spiritual significance in the Kuksu religion, in which the coyote spirit is believed to be the creator deity while the mythological hero Kaknu took the form of a falcon. In contrast, the redwood is unique to Yelamu, and to a lesser extent its immediate neighbors; it is Tiandi's tallest species of tree, and as such is widely considered a distinctive symbol of national pride. The bald eagle and red-crowned hummingbird also have official protected status in recognition of their spiritual role in Kuksu cosmogony.

Other characteristic animals of Yelamu include the mountain lion, bobcat, black bear, gray fox, tule elk, mule deer... Marine wildlife found off the Yelamese coast includes the sea lion, sea otter, elephant seal, humpback whale... Yelamu is an important bird migration pathway and as such many species of birds can be found there at different times of the year, including...

Government

The Muwekma Tah-ruk (House of the People).

Politics

Since independence Yelamu has been dominated by two parties, the conservative and Yelamese nationalist Huššištak Party on the right and the social-democratic and pan-Yeongjuan Himmetka Party on the left.

Foreign relations

In addition to the Congress of Nations, Yelamu is also a member of the Central Yeongju League and the Thunderbird Bay Union, the only country to be part of both organizations. Foreign policy has become a polarizing political issue in the last decade, with Huššištak advocating a hawkish anti-Hachuabsh and pro-Sinju stance while Himmetka is more dovish and favors continued rapprochement with Hachuabsh.

Demographics

Largest cities

Petlenuk, the largest city in Yelamu.

Four of the top five and seven of the top ten largest cities are part of the Kawetka Bay urban agglomeration, which holds almost half of Yelamu's population.

Ethnicity

According to the 2018 census, 65% of the population is ethnically Yelamese (以衣力阿毛烏-土烏世, yelamu-tuš), 27% belongs to the four recognized national minorities, and 8% are of foreign origin, mostly Yeongjuan and Sinjuan. The national minorities, defined in the 1989 constitution as ethnic groups indigenous to Yelamu with distinctive cultural and linguistic rights, are the Kulanapan people making up 13% of the population, the Yamani people at 7%, the Suisun people at 4%, and the Wawa Tilikum at 3%. The former three each have their own autonomous region designated as a national homeland; each group makes up a majority in its autonomous region and in turn the majority of Kulanapans and Yamani live in their autonomous regions, though there are about as many Suisun in the rest of Yelamu as in the Suisun region. The Wawa Tilikum, in contrast, do not have a designated homeland within Yelamu as they mostly live as a minority in larger urban areas.

The largest community of foreign origin in the country is from neighboring Chewamstuu and includes both native Chewamstese and Bisaeng (ethnic Jeongmians). A large wave of immigrants from Chewamstuu moved to Yelamu after the independence of the former in the 1960s and a steady trickle of both legal and illegal immigration has continued since then, mostly for economic reasons; remittances from Yelamu are important to Chewamstuu's economy. There are also large numbers of more recent immigrants and guest workers from other countries in Yeongju, particularly Mokelumni, Mnishala, and Ninahzad, attracted by Yelamu’s relatively strong economy and eligible for extradited visas through programs of the Central Yeongju League. There is also a small community of Sinjuan origin; while only a small number of the Sinjuan community that lived in Yelamu before Eulhae remained in the country by independence, since then their numbers have been bolstered by the aforementioned Jeongmian Bisaeng leaving Chewamstuu as well as Ahwaimuwu and Hallaiha. Finally, there are smaller numbers of ethnic Yahuimilcans and immigrants from other countries in the Central Yeongju League and Thunderbird Bay Union.

Language

As specified by the constitution, the official language of Yelamu on the national level is Yelamese (以衣力阿毛烏 禰与二禰与, yelamu noono), a Tumkalan language closely related to Mokelumnian, with which it forms the Mutsun languages, and more distantly related to Chewamstese, Nimipuutímt, Yudeokese, and Gitsanese. 70% of the population speaks Yelamese as a first language and upwards of 95% is proficient in it. Three minority languages also have constitutionally protected co-official status in their respective regions: the Tumkalan languages of Suisun and Yamani, and the Ipalic language of Kulanapan. This protected status guarantees their equal stature in administration and education in those regions, and stands in contrast to the pre-revolutionary linguistic policy of suppression and forced assimilation of minority languages. All languages in Yelamu are written in the Yeongja script.

The Wawa language (微阿微阿), a creole member of the Tumkalan language family of which Yelamese is a part, has a unique position: it is not official in any specific region but has a recognized and protected semi-official status nationwide as both the language of the Wawa Tilikum minority and the historic lingua franca of the Thunderbird Bay region and literary language of Yelamu. Many schools and universities teach it as an optional subject, typically for the purpose of studying classical literature in the original language. Several television and radio stations in Yelamu broadcast in Wawa, typically those with a pan-Thunderbird Bay orientation, and it is fairly commonly used as a second language of business for Yelamese companies. It is estimated that about half of the population of Yelamu can speak Wawa.

The Yelamese language itself has several dialects: ...

In addition to the small number of native speakers, about a third of Yelamese can speak Jeongmian as a second or third language. Smaller numbers speak Hwulshucid (especially among older generations), Meisaani, Fusenese, and Chamakamese, while Chewamstese, Mokelumnian, Mnishalan, and Ninahzadian are spoken by immigrant communities.

Religion

An artistic depiction of a Kuksu ceremony.

The predominant religious tradition in Yelamu is Kuksu (去烏去私烏), a shamanistic religion focused on communing with the spirit world, including the eponymous healer spirit Kuksu, the trickster and creator deity Coyote, and the culture hero Kaknu, through elaborate narrative dance ceremonies performed by masked members of secret societies or lodges called kuhmas. A majority of the population across all ethnicities identify as followers of Kuksu, with about a tenth of those being fully initiated members of a kuhma. Most Yelamese, even if they identify as members of another or no religion, participate in Kuksu-linked ceremonies for births, rites of passage, weddings, and funerals, and often on holidays as well. Kuhmas remain highly influential in Yelamese society, functioning as fraternal orders that perform charity and cultural events for the community and form social, economic, and political networks between their members. The secret nature of their membership has been cited as a driver of class inequality and corruption in Yelamu, and similarly their usual male-only membership has been cited as a driver of gender inequality, though today there are increasing, if small, numbers of mixed-gender or all-female kuhmas; the division of Kuksu open to female participation is known as Hesi.

The largest religious minority in Yelamu are Tathaists (though in practice Tathaism and Kuksu significantly overlap, with most Tathaists also taking part in Kuksu rituals and many Kuksuists treating the Tathagata as another spirit), with most following Ekayana Tathaism.

Culture

Architecture

A traditional Yelamese house.

Many Yelamese settlements were traditionally built atop or around shellmounds, accumulations of shells and other food waste and organic materials as well as intentionally buried grave goods and artifacts (though typically not bodies, which are instead cremated) that can reach tens of meters in height over hundreds of years. In more recent centuries, due to Thunderbird Bay influence, shellmounds have often been marked by totem poles or other monolithic art.

Another typical feature of Yelamese settlements is the tuupentak, a roundhouse or sweat lodge usually built partially underground and used as an assembly hall for the community, especially for Kuksu dances and ceremonies but also for secular gatherings, as well as for ritual purification prior to such events. Tuupentaks were the largest building and center of community life in most pre-modern Yelamese towns and, following a period of suppression during the colonial era, are once again widely frequented for Kuksu rituals and secular celebrations and performances, with larger cities having dozens or even hundreds of tuupentaks.

Vernacular architecture traditionally consists of dome-shaped houses made from woven mats of tule reed or, in the north and highlands, conical wood-framed houses of redwood bark.

Cuisine

Clams and mussels with ‘eneesmin (berry salad) and šetnen.

'Attuš-heksen (elderberry tea-boiled quail eggs), a popular snack.

Maize and acorns, typically ground into flour and then baked into bread (šetnen) or boiled into porridge (pattih) or soup, are the traditional staple foods of the Yelamese diet and a foundational element of its cuisine. Amaranth and chia are also used as grains. With a large proportion of the population living near the sea or rivers, seafood and waterfowl are commonly eaten, especially salmon, shellfish, and duck. Venison (ṭoot) and quail are common game food, and meats are typically wood-smoked or slow-roasted in earth ovens, or cured for the winter months, and served with berries, mushrooms, nuts, greens, or seeds. Floral and herbal teas and ciders are popular drinks.

Contemporary cuisine has absorbed a great deal of foreign influence, especially from Jeongmi, Meisaan, and Yahuimilco, and tomatoes, potatoes, avocadoes, chilis, beef, pork, chicken, and rice are now also common ingredients, while acorn flour is now often made into noodles, dumplings, tlaxcallis, or jelly. Like its southern neighbors, Yelamu has become a major producer and consumer of grape wine.

Fashion

A Yelamese family in traditional costume.

Holidays

The Yelamese New Year ('Etweekne Warép, literally "turning of the land") is celebrated on the winter solstice.

Music

The originally Chomanese sakwixeyok subculture and musical genre became popular as an anti-government counterculture during the military regime, to the point that it was officially banned; it enjoyed an explosion of popularity after the restoration of democracy, becoming symbolic of the newly liberal atmosphere, and became the dominant mainstream genre through the 1990s before fading in popularity.

Performing arts

A dancer.

Yelamu has a rich tradition of dance and drama based on their use as integral components of Kuksu ceremonies, which feature elaborate re-enactments of mythological stories. Secular theatre started taking shape in the XXth century when historical and fictional stories began to be performed alongside mythological ones. Combined with Sinjuan influence in the 19th and 20th century, this culminated in Yelamese opera, internationally renowned for its dramatic dances and elaborate costumes. In addition to this "high" drama, a "low" tradition of popular theatre also exists, typically comedic and burlesque retellings of Coyote myths.

Folk dance...

Sports

Rowing a three-person tule boat.

Rowing is a Yelamese national sport, traditionally done in small tule boats but more recently in larger Thunderbird Bay-style canoes, Ahwaimuwese-style tomols, or Meisaani-style dragon boats. The originally Mokelumnian sport of poscoi a we'a, a mixed-gender variant of cuju similar to the Chomanese pahsaheman, is also popular in Yelamu, while cuju itself and baseball have been gaining ground with cultural globalization.

Visual arts

A fully feathered basket.

Basketry is the most prized Yelamese folk art tradition. Tule reeds are tightly woven into intricately detailed geometric patterns that often have symbolic meanings or are distinctive to particular groups and areas; these patterns have become ubiquitous across other forms of Yelamese art as well. Shells, beads, and feathers are also added, and when taken to the most elaborate extent result in the famous fully feathered baskets. In addition to its own native, largely geometric and non-figurative art style, Yelamese visual art has also been heavily influenced by the art of Thunderbird Bay and adopted many of its styles, such as formline shapes, and mediums, such as sculpture and textiles.