First of all, the language spoken by the people of Océano de la Vida is primarily a pidgin of Bantu and Spanish, with loan words from other worldwide languages. I'm not going to go into their language in any depth, instead all words I've described about the world are either English portmanteaus or the Spanish terms they actually use. Names which I'll start using will be completely made up and have no connection to either of the languages of the pidgin, or they'll be Spanish portmanteaus. I realize the irony of doing this in a forum about conlangs, but I think that the feel of the conworld is more important than getting the language accurate. If you want, think of it as a transliteration of their language rather than what they actually say or what they're actually named. The Spanish is totally accurate though.
Human Settlements of Océano de la Vida
The Tent City is the largest of the human settlements, but it is not the only one. At the time the mindfuck update takes place, there is also an underwater settlement known as Sirena Capitolia and several floating island settlements, the largest of which is known as Montaño. I'll go over how they are constructed and a rough estimate of their population.
The Tent City Revisited
The Tent City is a connected network of gold-tinted Silk tents, about thirty feet high at their highest and generally the size of houses from end to end. Keeping them upright is Aquamarine dust weaved into the corners, and they are also tied to one another with Silk ropes for stability. All four corners are tied to Underwater Islands by Silk Ropes, or to what are known as De Lastre Mundos, Sapphire/Onyx crystals surrounded by Silk. Over time, De Lastre Mundos accumulate mugre, and the oldest are practically underwater islands in their own right (although much smaller and not covered by Oak). Silk is porous enough to allow air to pass through it, so wind does not usually topple Tents. There is a method of making Silk more porous; it's the same process that goes into Globos. Harder silk is more useful for containers or De Lastre Mundos. Anyway:
Connected to Silk tents are Oak boats and rafts, which form a kind of floating makeshift floor. By hanging silk curtains, one can set up makeshift rooms. Tents that are connected to one another will have 10-foot-long holes cut out of their sides, and travel between tents is accomplished by rowing Oak boats. Porous silk that's thin enough will let light in from Mar Tercero, giving the tents an orange glow to them, so light isn't really an issue, although since the discovery of Amber, there's been a trend towards making the tents out of harder Silk and using amber's lightning as a light source.
Because of the stratified nature of the society, Tents of a single caste are all kept together, while other castes will be in other areas of the city, connected with smaller tents that serve as tunnels (although the tunnels aren't really used unless there's a Tormenta Empíreo). A typical caste will have 50-100 tents. While newer members of the caste, slaves, and hedonists will share tents, most of the caste will have their own tent or two, and the oldest members of the caste will have lots of tents.
This isn't necessarily universal; Gran Esclavos and Gran Hedonistas can have their own tents and sometimes there are mixed-caste sections of the city (especially among people who are working on something for the Gran Cacería). Concubinas also keep a loose tent complex of their own, but usually do not live and work there.
Surrounding the Tent City and tied off to it at various points are Oak boats that have light mugre and plants such as Lechugo growing in them. Every caste has their own, since they're extremely easy to grow. There will usually be hard Silk covers for them somewhere inside the boat. During a Tormenta Empíreo, people will cover their crops and bolt the covers in so the mugre isn't destroyed.
While boats are usually paddled either by the person in them or a slave, you'll sometimes see trained pigs pulling a boat behind them. Trained pigs will also ferry Oak, silkrock, and other things. They are essentially the world's beasts of burden.
The process is much slower than paddling, but it's leisurely and cheap labor. Like everything else in a world with 144-hour day cycles, leisure is valued over hurry.
Sirena Capitolia
As I explained before, Sirenas are a caste who have developed extensive meditative techniques so that they can stay underwater indefinitely without feeling as though they are drowning (which they are, except that Agua replenishes oxygen levels). Their culture is built on meditation in a lot of different ways, but I'll cover that later. While they have a tent complex in the Tent City, they practice extreme self-sufficiency, so have built a city underwater as well. On a large underwater island deep beneath the waves they have built a city of rooms of Oak and Oak curtains, with a large spherical Oak room as its centerpiece.
This room is a hundred feet in all directions, and as close as perfectly spherical as they can make it, and carved into the "rock" of the underwater island. Hand-held Amber provides illumination, and the purpose of the room is for group meditation and prayer. Once every Tormenta Empíreo, all Sirena and those wishing to become Sirena will gather in this room and seat themselves on the "floor", "walls" and "ceiling", equally spaced throughout the watery sphere. A large piece of Amber in the center of it illuminates the entire thing with gently shifting patterns of lightning. Unlike everywhere else in the city, no fish are allowed in the Sala de Reflexión at any time.
Growing crops inside the city is not practical, so they use either their section of the Tent City or settlements they have set up on floating islands that have lakes.
Floating Island settlements
Floating islands, as I've explained before, can be between house-sized and city-sized (we're talking modern cities here), depending on how far away from the surface of the ocean they are. Reaching them is done by small silk balloons known as Pequeñas
Allas, or Allas for short (yes I realize the spanish word is "ala", not "alla" but I like this better. Allas is the plural, and Ala is the singular.). At one time there were Oak ladders set in underwater islands, but those were laughably inefficient so they were discontinued. You can still occasionally see Oak poles sticking out of the surface of the water though. They make good landmarks in an otherwise homogenous ocean.To say that Allas allow you to fly is an understatement. Every single person who lives on Océano de la Vida gets at least an hour of flight a day. Gran Hedonistas are renowned for spending full day/night cycles in flight. Wouldn't you?
Human flight (because it deserves its own section really)
An Ala is a system of three silk balloons held apart by three spokes of Silkrock, tied at the ends to an Oak piece that you are attached to. Control is handled by activating Ruby crystals in any of the three balloons, which hits an insulated gold wire, causing the Aquamarine/sapphire dust within a piece of Silk to rise. The angle of the three balloons allows horizontal motion and 2-dimensional turning. Unactivating all crystals will make the balloon slowly sink, as the aquamarine/sapphire dust within returns to normal. The sapphire dust is there to make sure that ordinary sunlight and other heat sources don't cause the aquamarine dust to inflate, but is a small enough amount to not interfere with the Ruby heating setup. Provided that the hard silk around the "wiring" does not break, the entire contraption is also completely waterproof, which is generally a good thing when you're flying over an infinite ocean.
When you strap yourself to an Ala, you are basically in a cloudsilk harness with your stomach pointing towards the ground. Two balloons are in front of you to either side that you control handles with each arm, and one balloon is behind you that you control with your legs. Control is done by pulling levers with your hands, which push a certain amount of ruby crystals to a certain amount of gold wires, causing a certain amount of aquamarine dust to heat up and cause a silk balloon to float. It is possible to angle the two balloons in front of you by changing the orientation of your arms between straight in front of you and out to each side. Doing so controls the speed at which the balloon flies horizontally, while the amount you pull controls the speed at which you fly vertically (also horizontally, but you can correct that via the arm-orientation movement).
Turning, then, can be done by pulling slightly more on one balloon than another. Strafing can be done by moving one of your arms more towards the other arm, which angles the balloon out to that arm's side. The balloon you control with your legs determines your vertical orientation. Your legs are normally slightly apart, allowing a certain amount of rise from the balloon in the back, keeping your vertical orientation level. Pulling your legs apart will take the ruby away from the gold wires entirely, causing the balloon to stop rising and angling your vertical orientation up. Making your legs straight will push the ruby onto the gold wires, causing your orientation to fall into a dive.
There is also a safety feature -- a Silk bag full of Agua strapped to your stomach. If you should fall for some reason and not land in the ocean, the bag will explode, and the Agua will cure your wounds.
Flying can take some getting used to, but is well worth it.
Back to the floating islands
Anyway, these machines will let you reach floating islands, which are hundreds or thousands of feet above the surface of the ocean.
Floating islands, as I've described before, are land masses of Cloudsilk and Silkrock, with lakes and pockets of light mugre. The surface of them is stained a multicolored color from previous Tormenta Empíreos and resemble the color of the fish that swim in the waves below. Yes, I realize I said that they're almost completely white, but this is cooler and makes more sense. The Silkrock and Cloudsilk are still almost completely white themselves though.
Floating Islands are excellent farmland, both because of the amount of natural mugre they have (that's replenished every Tormenta Empíreo) and because there's actual landmass to them. The crops of Océano de la Vida (and there's a reason I keep putting emphasis on Lechugo) have no predators and do not have to compete with weeds, so they practically grow themselves. Largescale farming is done by converting mugre to the light tannish mugre the vegetables need to grow with Aquamarine crystals and harvesting their spores and replanting them methodically in it.
As far as actual cities are concerned, moving Oak to floating islands is prohibitively dificult, so houses are usually built out of Silkrock with Silk tarps stretched across the top. It's important to build on top of silkrock, as foundations laid over Cloudsilk can collapse, so most of a floating island is actually uninhabitable. Floating Islands are excellent places to do complicated craftworking because of the lack of bobbing when on the sea. The silk caste live almost exclusively on floating islands. One problem about building elaborate cities on floating islands is that they do eventually break into pieces and sink, so buildings are kept practical.
Because of their landmass, religious ceremonies and cultural festivals are conducted predominantly on floating islands. There's also psychological comfort to be gained from having firm ground under your feet, even if it's spongy and looks like something out of an acid trip.Now for something more human:
The Caste Economy of Océano de la Vida
Because of the low population and the fact that technology is only needed to advance human comfort rather than basic animal needs, a unique economic system has evolved on Océano de la Vida. To an unenlightened observer, it looks like communism, but the reality is much stranger.
First of all, different skillsets have evolved to belong to different "castes", which are social groups centered around a certain skillset that function a bit like tribes. Members of a caste live together, work together and think of a Caste as their immediate family. There is a hierarchy that is based on how good someone is at a particular skill, which due to immortality is usually the oldest member of the caste.
Those in the highest part of the hierarchy function a bit as leaders, interacting with other castes and having those lower on the hierarchy do work for them. They are also revered somewhat, but the system is nowhere near as formal as though they were royalty.
The majority of a caste belong to the middle of the hierarchy, where they will have their own tents or houses and occasionally slaves and concubinas.
Those who are the least inexperienced will be at the lowest end of the hierarchy, and they must live together in a single tent or house. Hedonists (usually the people who are new to Océano de la Vida) are treated as permanent members of the lowest part of the hierarchy, as long as they remain normal Hedonists. They are taken in by a caste and taught things about the world and taken care of until they inevitably want to do something with their (infinite) lives.
Work and Debt
First of all, anyone who isn't a Hedonist is going to do work in whatever caste they are in. Work keeps the mind occupied and feeds the soul. Ordinary products that are produced are free for all castes to use, though a caste cannot demand that another caste create more than they would normally create unless they incur a "debt" to them. When new technologies are developed by a caste, all castes who wish to use the technology now have a "debt" to that caste.
Debts can be paid off in a variety of ways. The caste in debt(usually the top members in the hierarchy) determines how they wish to pay off this debt. Because of how technology develops over time, every caste will have multiple debts to multiple castes, and other castes will also have debts to them.
What emerges from this is a debt-based system of barter; if the Silk caste has a debt to the Gold Harvester debt but the Clothing-maker caste has a debt to the Silk caste, the Silk caste can request that the Clothing-maker create extra or elaborate clothes for the Gold Harvester caste, solving both debts at once. Debts happen all the time as castes expand their business, which requires additional products than they can normally acquire.
Another way debts can be paid is by turning those low in the hierarchy into slaves. Craftworkers would usually rather focus on their work rather than the manual labor involved in it, so a system of slaves exists so that they can focus on the better parts of their work. If the Oak Shaping caste needs someone to carry logs from the Sirena caste to them, and the Chef caste owes them a debt, they can request that the Chef caste provide them slaves from the low-end members of their hierarchy to do the work they need done. Slaves will live with the new caste for a period of time not to exceed one Tormenta Empíreo, depending on the debt they are paying or incurring. They are free to visit their home caste or do whatever they want really during their off-hours.
Products that a caste makes normally are generally stacked or stored outside of their tent complex. Again, these are free to use for anyone, although they have to be able to get it back to their house via pigs or slaves or their own labor. If a caste is making extra product for another caste to pay off a debt or the other caste is incurring one, then the producing caste must transport the product there, although they'll probably use their own slaves for that endeavor.
Because every caste uses this system of debts and every caste is reliant on every other caste, "prices" are fixed pretty fairly between debts. Slaves are, however, freed at the start of every Tormenta Empíreo according to tradition, and they cannot be made slaves during the next 3-year period unless they volunteer.
Castes aren't necessarily fixed; people are socially encouraged to join new castes every so often, and the older people are practically members of every caste (except some of the newer ones) though treat whichever one they're currently in as their "home caste". Castes develop their technologies and skills partially in order to lure new members in, because having more people at the low end of the hierarchy means they can create more slaves to pay more debts.
Some special individuals that don't fit inside "caste" structures
* Gran Esclavos are those who become highly skilled at manual labor and prefer it over craftworking. When used, they are typically given their own individual tent and can choose the tasks they work on freely. Castes can request them, but since they do not fit into the debt system, it is up to them whether they wish to work for the Caste or not. Castes will often make lavish offers, like having their own slaves and concubinas in order to enlist Gran Esclavos.
* Gran Hedonistas are Hedonists that typically live apart from castes and provide entertainment or un-practical art to their followers, who work as slaves and provide products for them on an informal basis. They are typically very charismatic and extremely popular, sort of like the pop stars of Océano de la Vida. One of them, for example, has turned human flight into an art form, and will perform ridiculous stunts for his audience.
Another group of Gran Hedonistas that Torco and Rainlander will like is known as El Golpeadores de Caras, a group that will violently attack and kill one another, only to be resurrected by Agua. Mock battles, dressed in extravagant Silk clothing with gold or crystal weapons, are especially popular. It's all the fun of a gladatorial arena, without your favorite gladitors dying forever. Because of their art, they have a ridiculously high tolerance of pain. At the time the mindfuck update occurs, they're practically a caste in their own right, as their followers have gone so far as to try to become them.
People who are born on Océano de la Vida / Concubinas
As I've said before, giving birth successully on Océano de la Vida is extremely difficult. Almost all of those born on this world will be female, with a small number born male. It seems to be more likely for males to be born if his two parents are genetically very different from one another, which fortunately isn't too hard to do since the non-natives come from all around the world. This is part of the reason why the "original" population (pre-conquistador) was matriarchal and why there were significantly more women than men.
The true natives age at a factor roughly three times that of earth children. Like everyone else, once they hit a certain age in adulthood, they do not age any further. For the ~36 earth years before they reach puberty, they may be raised in a caste, probably as a Hedonist (although they'll at least live with their family). Once they hit puberty, they are sold to another caste as a Concubina.
Concubinas are essentially sex slaves. Unlike other slaves, they are only freed after 6 Tormenta Empíreos have gone by. There is a sort of unspoken rule that they must be sold to another caste every few months. The reasoning behind this structure, however, is so that they can experience all of Océano de la Vida and get to know (in more ways than one) everyone in it.
Next up?
I have a feeling this post is already too long, but I'm not done with the update yet. Still to come are descriptions of the castes and religions/festivals. I'd also like to go into their technology in a bit more depth.
Thoughts so far?