Harsitem: Difference between revisions

In the [[Medial Coscivian economy]], ''harsitem'' filled occupational roles as {{wp|gong farmer}}s, street sweepers, {{wp|butcher}}s, drain cleaners, and trash collectors, which pre-{{wp|germ theory}} Kiravians understood to be insalubrious and prone to disease, even though they misidentified the mechanismata thereof. They were also enjoined to dispose of animal carcasses and bury people who had died from disease. To contain the spread of disease, ''harsitem'' were forced to live in hamlets (called ''harsitka'' in Kiravic-speaking regions) a good distance from the villages, and to use separate water sources and generally conduct their dealings with "clean" people from a distance or through intermediaries (usually from the 'filtering' subcaste of village menials or ''[[urom]]''). In some locales, ''harsitem'' were barred from the main village and field paths and required to use designated 'service paths' to access parts of the villages and towns they served in. Compliance with these norms was enforced by the agricultural castes, who would withhold pay (usually in the form of food and beer) or retaliate against violations with group violence. The ''harsitka'' usually included small family plots for farming or gardening, but were, as a rule, not self-sufficient in food and heavily dependent on the goodwill of the clean villages with which they were associated. Although they were involved in the burial of normals, ''harsitem'' were usually buried in separate cemeteries. As the rural Kiravian economy gradually became monetised, ''harsitem'' working as day labourers gained more opportunities to earn money as day labourers, but were still subject to heavy discrimination and were usually assigned to the most dangerous,, unhealthy, and unpleasant jobs.  

Naturally, ''harsitem'' could only marry other ''harsitem''. In many cases, children born with deformities might be sent out of the village to be raised in the ''harsitka'', and 'clean'-born people with chronic diseases might be similarly sent to dwell among the ''harsitem'', thus enlarging these populations, often beyond their meagre means.