For those gamers who don't play Tekumel because they don't have a degree in Linguistics, Anthropology, or whatever else, you may want to skip the Language posts.
The Yirinn peoples are derived from the Yirinn Ak, the Sla Mu, and the Dokirin. Intermingled with these three distinct Ethnicities are the mysterious Khem, entirely unlike the others, being tall, lithe, fair, and capricious/lusty/hot-tempered. While the Khem have found their way into the three Tribes, they are more of a social symbiot, existing separately and keeping alive their own traditions and bloodlines.
The Sla Mu are largely made up of disfigured individuals suffering from endemic birth defects that most often manifest in locomotive disabilities. As a result, the culture has adapted to a sedentary lifestyle filled with artistic, musical, and scribal arts, including religious functions combining all three sub-divisions. They are the preservers of historical accounts and consultants of sage wisdom from before the War in the Heavens and the arrival of the Imperial Vrun.
--Sla Mu priests and priestesses have only euphemistic names for the Creator-Judge, not daring to limit Deity by ascribing only so many traits or natures to It/Him. In many ways the Sla Mu are the anchor to the distant past, when the Yirinn were the freest people upon the globe, and the horse features prominently in tales and iconography, although heroes and demigods are a close second, and receive solemn respect both as historical persons, as well as ideals to be emulated or avoided.
There is an unnamed work that compiles sage expressions, ecstatic utterances, and dream records. Of the many versions which exist in the One Hundred Twenty One Clans (not including the uncounted Dokirin divisions), there is a great degree of similarity (Synoptic).
--What follows is the initial foray into these writings:
Ullem Naharash Ji
My.body.my.spirit.journey.
Digging.Rows.of.Graves.
This.is.an.Efficacious.Saying.
Sulenehem De Ha M'aus
Subtle.matter.my.breath.the.spirit.within.me.working-wind.movement.
Breath.remains.
[and.so].I.abide.
The.Journey.interrupted:.the.husk.is.empty.
Kellos Utaar Di Ehm Iahos
Created.spirit.myself.flowing.subtly.
Above.the.ground.as.I.always.have.been:.emanations.
Commanded.
Purpose-built.to.journey.
My.primary.command:.work.the.subtle.flow.
Resheph Mar Kai Holus
Ranks.of.spirits.subtly.repairing.spiritual.interruptions.wrought.
Legions.of.the.journeyers.
Choirs.
Facilitating.the.flow.of.incarnation.
What conclusions the reader draws from these utterances are entirely their own, and I offer no explanation at present, save that it is an unfolding narrative.
