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===Languages=== | ===Languages=== | ||
The national language of Takatta Loa is known as Insuo Loa, and is spoken as a native language by almost every citizen of Takatta Loa, although several dialects do exist. However, there are several smaller languages spoken throughout the nation. These tend to be the descendents of the Pre-Loa Polynesian languages spoken by the modern day Non-Loa Polynesians, as well as the language spoken by the Ancestral Loa, who still speak it as a mother tongue. [[Kiravic Coscivian|Coscivian]] is also widely taught in Loa schools, and most Loa have a rudimentary knowledge of Coscivian. It is the largest second language with around 40 million Loa reporting proficiency in Coscivian. However, most Loa don't use it in everyday life, mostly when communicating in business settings with Kiravian or [[Paulastra|Paulastran]] nationals, or when consuming Coscivian media. As such, few Loa can hold a conversation in Coscivian with the majority of Loa who claim proficiency having a limited knowledge learned from social media and schooling. Arabic is the third largest second language in Takatta Loa, spoken primarily by Loa Muslims, with around 25 million people speaking Arabic as a second language. There has also been a movement to revive the pre-Loa mainland languages, to limited success. It has mostly gained traction among the Safa Loa and the Highland groups. Old Safa has been adopted as a second language by around 40,000 people and a third language by 160,000 people since revival efforts began in 1995. There are around 1,000 people with Old Safa as a native language. Paiyatulu, a formerly extinct language in the northern highlands, has been the most successful, being adopted by 600,000 people and has been acknowledged as a regional language in the Kanu’aua Region, the first instance of an officially recognized regional language in Takatta Loa. There has also been an effort to revitalize the Polynesian scripts that were in use until around 1830, though this has seen limited success. Only Paiyatulu has implemented a non Loa script due to the presence of multiple phonemes not found in the Loa script | The national language of Takatta Loa is known as Insuo Loa, and is spoken as a native language by almost every citizen of Takatta Loa, although several dialects do exist. However, there are several smaller languages spoken throughout the nation. These tend to be the descendents of the Pre-Loa Polynesian languages spoken by the modern day Non-Loa Polynesians, as well as the language spoken by the Ancestral Loa, who still speak it as a mother tongue. [[Kiravic Coscivian|Coscivian]] is also widely taught in Loa schools, and most Loa have a rudimentary knowledge of Coscivian. It is the largest second language with around 40 million Loa reporting proficiency in Coscivian. However, most Loa don't use it in everyday life, mostly when communicating in business settings with Kiravian or [[Paulastra|Paulastran]] nationals, or when consuming Coscivian media. As such, few Loa can hold a conversation in Coscivian with the majority of Loa who claim proficiency having a limited knowledge learned from social media and schooling. Arabic is the third largest second language in Takatta Loa, spoken primarily by Loa Muslims, with around 25 million people speaking Arabic as a second language. There has also been a movement to revive the pre-Loa mainland languages, to limited success. It has mostly gained traction among the Safa Loa and the Highland groups. Old Safa has been adopted as a second language by around 40,000 people and a third language by 160,000 people since revival efforts began in 1995. There are around 1,000 people with Old Safa as a native language. Paiyatulu, a formerly extinct language in the northern highlands, has been the most successful, being adopted by 600,000 people and has been acknowledged as a regional language in the Kanu’aua Region, the first instance of an officially recognized regional language in Takatta Loa. There has also been an effort to revitalize the Polynesian scripts that were in use until around 1830, though this has seen limited success. Only Paiyatulu has implemented a non Loa script due to the presence of multiple phonemes not found in the Loa script | ||
===Religion=== | ===Religion=== | ||
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Religion in Takatta Loa is divided between the indigenous Kapuhenasa and Shi'ite Islam. 70% of the population follows the Kapuhenasa, the state religion, while 28% follow Islam. This large Muslim minority is largely due to historical tolerance between the indigenous faith and Islam, with the Kapuhenasa being in part descended from the teachings of a Kiravian Sufi saint. The other 2% of religions consist largely of [[Antecedent and Consensus Movements]], a new religious movement from the 50s and 70s, and a blend of Catholicism, indigenous Polynesian faiths and agnosticism. Atheism and polytheism are technically illegal in Takatta Loa but this has never been harshly enforced. | |||
===Education=== | ===Education=== | ||
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==Culture and Society== | ==Culture and Society== | ||
===Language=== | |||
====Insuo Loa==== | |||
Insuo Loa is the official and national language of Takatta Loa, spoken by 99.9% of the population as their first language. It is a Polynesian language, considered its own distinct branch descended from the Polynesian Strait Branch unlike the mainland Polynesians who constitute the Vallosian Branch. It developed in the Loa Islands from around 800 CE to 1500 CE and is written in the Loa Script, developed in the 1700s by the Imperial Regime in response to the mainland scripts. It drew influence primarily from the script used in the [[Kapuhenasa#Anahuenna|Anahuenna]] and from Arabic. It is a semi logo-syllabic script, with around 100 logographic characters representing particles, articles, pronouns and determiners, and approximately 59 syllabic characters, although there are 15 variants that are modified from three syllables to account for sounds that are viewed as "variants" on other sounds, such as the velar nasal being represented as a variant of the alveolar nasal and the glottal fricative being a variant on the fricative labial. These are not allophones however, as Insuo Loa has no allophones. Each syllabic further has a special form for how it joins to its nearby syllables, similar to Arabic. This means that there are around 309 characters, syllabics and their variants. | |||
Its phonology has similarities to other Polynesian languages and to Proto-Polynesian but with two exceptions being the uvular trill and palatal fricative. Further, it lost the glide and gained an additional alveolar plosive. It could also be interpreted as keeping its l/r distinction with both the alveolar lateral and the uvular trill being present, but this is contested by linguistic scholars. It also allows for several end consonants which are extremely uncommon in Polynesian languages. This is attributed to the relative isolation of the Loa leading to significant divergences in language phonology and morphology. | |||
===Attitudes and worldview=== | ===Attitudes and worldview=== | ||
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===Religion=== | ===Religion=== | ||
====Kapuhenasa==== | |||
The Kapuhenasa is the majority religion in Takatta Loa, with around 70% of the population professing it to be their only religion. However, around 87% of the population says that they engage in Kapuhenasa practices, with around half of all Muslims engaging with the Kapuhenasa in a religious sense. It developed throughout the late 1700s and 1800s, and came to be called Kapuhenasa first in 1866. It originated from the teachings of Saȳd Kamáv Istiklav, a [[Kiravia|Kiravian]] Sufi mystic. His followers consisted largely of indigenous philosophers and shamans, and so they adapted Sufi ideas to their native religion and philosophical tradition, creating the syncretic and highly eclectic Kapuhenasa. | |||
It is a monistic and transtheistic, pseudo-polytheistic religion although followers of the Kapuhenasa view it as monotheistic and the state of Takatta Loa recognizes it as monotheistic. It views creation as being a cycle of reincarnation into a mundane world of illusions and deceit. Only through the practices of the religion can one break the cycle and achieve eternity as a divine spirit, which is often referred to as "dwelling in the splendors of Mystery’s End". The aforementioned 'Mystery' is the mundane world, while the Lord Beyond (‘’Oala’’) is the state of eternity that the Loa aspire towards. However, the Loa seldom worship ‘’Oala’’ itself, instead choosing to worship the Eternal Spirits, those who have achieved unity with divinity and return to the earthly world to assist the faithful. These spirits, called Lualoa, are the predominant element of the Kapuhenasa, with spirit possession being a very common practice to achieve clarity, banish spiritual disease and promote health. | |||
Religious practices are largely communal, with the Loa meeting in boat roofed buildings to sing hymns in praise of divinity and be communally possessed by the spirit of the shrine to receive spiritual peace and sanctity. There are also home shrines, usually of a particularly devout ancestor, which receives prayer and worship. Finally, there are the medicine spirits, which are prescribed by diviners and shamans to assist believers who are plagued by some spiritual ailment. However, these are the practices largely associated with laity. The clergy, consisting of diviners, shamans and truth seekers all tend to practice a form of worship that more closely follows the liturgy of the Kapuhenasa. Lay followers also recite from and strive to embody the precepts, but to a less rigorous and contemplative degree. | |||
The liturgy consists of the Anahuenna (Book of Poems) and the Anareano (Books of Ecdysis). The former consists of hymns in praise of “Mystery’s End” and was written long before the Kapuhenasa as a religion came to be, and before the Loa Empire conquered mainland Takatta Loa. As such, it is largely valued for the general beauty of its poetry and for its philosophical value as the only surviving example of the “Imago” philosophical tradition. The Anareano is a large collection of poems, theological and philosophical discourses and parables composed by notable Loa shamans, philosophers and holymen in regards to the questions of truth, transformation and liminality. It is notably focused on “ecdysis”, a term used by the Loa for general change and philosophically as a transformation of the self from mundane matter to supramundane divinity. Hence, they are called the Books of Ecdysis. | |||
====Islam==== | |||
Islam is the largest minority religion at around 28% of the population of Takatta Loa, with the vast majority of Muslims following Zaydism with a strong emphasis on Sufism and other mystical traditions. Despite the immense differences between the Kapuhenasa and Islam, there is very rarely any religious discrimination, dispute or violence. A large part of this is due to the mutual mystical practices of the two faiths, with the Kapuhenasa in particular being descended from a Sufi mystic named Saȳd Kamáv Istiklav, although the Kapuhenasa disavows any connection to Islam, viewing the two faiths as having arrived at the same conclusion of faith and mystery. Islam in Takatta Loa arrived during the 18th century with the arrival of Haśem Xosséın and Saȳd Kamáv Istiklav, approximately 1701 and 1718 respectively. Haśem spread Islam in a more traditional way and had an immense impact in the upper Masa riverlands, with the descendants of those converts becoming the [[Safa Loa]]. | |||
Islam is the distinguishing feature of the Safa Loa, who derive their name from the Arabic word for ‘purity’. However, they only comprise 79% of all Muslims, with the other 21% being from other Muslim converts, both recent and historical. During the turmoil of Loafication, the people who would become the Safa were given special leeway and were not pressured to abandon the elements of their culture tied to faith, which were privileges other Muslim groups were not given. Many Muslims outside of the Safa were pressured to convert to the Kapuhenasa, while many deliberately migrated to the lands of the Safa and ended up assimilating into the Safa. As such, despite Islam originally being widely dispersed, it has become concentrated in the lands the Safa inhabit. In the modern day, the Muslims in Takatta Loa experience steady growth equivalent to non-Muslims and enjoy peaceful interactions with the majority population and many accommodations for their faith are made such as calls to prayer being broadcast in Muslim majority areas, the option to be tried by Sharia law and a state funded Muslim news station. | |||
===Arts and Literature=== | ===Arts and Literature=== | ||