Gintaras

INTRODUCTION - BEFORE YOU READ

In my visual development class, I was assigned to create some aspects of a fictitious world from a list of prompts.  I chose the prompt of “Magical Amber”.  I have used this world building class to delve deeper into this world and really focus on creating the Gintaras into a more well rounded world.  Gintaras is a walled city based on the culture and landscape of medieval Lithuania.  I have Lithuanian heritage, so I’ve been using my family as a resource along with research to create Gintaras.  I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed creating it.  I had written more about this topic, but I cut it down so it would be faster to read through.

MAGICAL AMBER

The amber that washes onto the shoreline of Gintaras has magical properties that can include healing, adding strength and most importantly acts as a deterrent to all types of spirits.  The size, clarity and color of the amber determines their purpose.  Orange amber is used for protection from spirits.  Yellow amber is used for healing of physical, emotional or psychological wounds.  It cannot heal things like blindness, handicaps, amputation, etc., but it can help with pain associated with these things.  Red amber means strength, whether it is strength of the physical body or the strength of the heart, mind or soul.  Totally clear amber is used as an ultimate deterrent to spirits.

SPIRITS  

Gods are generally neutral to humans, but spirits exist on a spectrum.  Isnaudoti spirits and gods believe humans are part of the system of nature and should be helped and used to push their own status higher in terms of power.  Gamta spirits and gods believe that humans are invasive and that they need to be destroyed.  Gamta spirits will possess humans to use their energy and form to gain power and to destroy other humans.  Gamta spirits want to regain the forest for themselves and for the animals.  

The Gamta - spirits and gods that believe the humans are invasive and should be destroyed.  Gamta will often possess other humans to try and eradicate as many other humans as possible.  

Isnaudoti - spirits and gods that believe the humans can be used to their benefit.  They help the humans so that they can use the humans to gain more power and elevate their status against the Gamta.  

LORE

The lore of this world is based mostly on spirits and monsters that live around the walled city. Lore is not really a religious thing, but passed down from generation to generation.  These folk tales tell more about the history of the people and how one should behave rather than the religion itself.  This is an example of the lore of the people:

THE KING OF OLD AND THE AMBER

Long ago in a far away kingdom there was a king.  He was very handsome and had a beautiful Queen and three wonderful children.  The king loved the queen very much, but at the birth of their fourth child, she passed away.  The king was so distraught, he flung himself into a deep depression.  He was sad for over a year and his advisors and people grew angry at him for not marrying a new wife.  The advisors snuck into his home at night, captured him and his four children and flung them into the sea during a very stormy night.  An Isnaudoti spirit of storms took pity on the king and children, and delivered them miles away to the shore of a small fishing village, which would later be Gintaras.  When they got to the shore, the king and his children gave thanks to the spirit and asked what they could do in return.  The storm spirit told of his village, as small fishing village that was being destroyed by the dark beasts and spirits of the Gamta.  The storm spirit was too weak to fend off all of the attackers, he had been defending the village by himself and was now exhausted.  He asked that the king and children would take pity and fish amber from the ocean and use it to drive off the Gamta. The king and children did as instructed and it worked. The villagers hailed them as heroes. The king eventually married the leader of the village and since then, the entire line of nobility have been derived from one member of that king’s lineage.    

HOW AMBER IS GATHERED

Amber washes up on the outer shore of the city.  A piece of amber can vary in size from as small as a tiny pebble (more common) to as large as an adult’s head.  Members of the poor class called “Netters” walk along the shore with hand held nets and drag the nets through the waves of the sea.  Those who have giant hedgehogs can ride their hogs through the shallows to get a higher view and find amber faster.  

WORK DAY

The City of Gintaras is a walled city.  The reason for the walls is to try and protect the people from both evil and vengeful spirits, invaders and large roaming animals.   The two living sections are divided between the poor class and the rich class.

The poor class have homes constructed from wood cut from the surrounding forests.  The Poor class homes are two to three stories high, usually containing two or three large families.   Families have beds that are pulled out at night and then put away during the day.  Large pieces of cloth are hung from the ceiling to create rooms and separations.  The main source of heat is a stove/ fireplace that is shared by the entire house.  There is a basic system of plumbing and sewers.  There is very little to none greenspace in the poor districts.  The homes are very sparse as no one really stays there during the day.  

Grandparents who have retired usually stay with the young children in the home.  Both parents and children older than 7 work.  If the grandparents cannot afford to retire, the entire family works, usually together. Usually, the entire family is in one profession along the shore.  Early in the morning as soon as the sun breaks, workers from the poor district are pulled in hedge hog carts (very much like a long series of trains).  The workers arrive at the shore line and they are counted for roll for payment at the end of the week.  

There are two main professions for the poor, amber finder and fisher.  Families that are amber finders usually own one or two of the hogs in the train.  Once you get your hog, you and your family take your nets  and go to the shore.  For this example, we will look at the Kavula’s family.  From the two grandparents, there are 4 children and of those 4, 2 have spouses.  From their 4 children, there are 6 grandchildren, ranging in age from 12 to 2.  The two older walk along the shore with the three youngest children (ages 6, 4 and 2).  The oldest 3 (ages 8, 10 and 12) go with their parents.  The 6 adults and oldest 3 wade into the water or ride the hedgehogs and scoop up amber.  After a lot of amber has been collected, the 3rd oldest child and the three smaller children join their grandparents to to the shining house.  They shine the amber so it is ready for carving or ready to sell.  The amount of amber is weighed and for every pound, the family gets paid more.  It is up to the matriarch to collect the pay and divide it between the family.  The 3rd oldest is in charge of walking back and forth between the shining house and the netters to bring amber to their grandparents and cousins and siblings who are shining.  At the end of the day, all the family rests with their hog usually eating an early dinner or snack before going on the amber train.  If they don't rest their hog, it is more likely to be killed on the way back to the home.

After a long day of work, the family creates a meal together, usually the job of the oldest children/youngest adults.  The family will do different leisure activities around the fire, knitting, games, storytelling, sewing, music, etc.  Sometimes, young adults and older children 10-18 years of age will partake in street fighting.  Street fighting is an underground circuit where if the person is good enough, they may be recruited and put through the guard train for free, effectively getting them and some of their family out of the poor district once they get above a higher rank.  

POOR CLASS

The poor class is by far the largest group.  The poor class own very little, often renting their homes from landlords of the middle or noble class.  The poor class is given the most dangerous jobs and are paid very little.  Sometimes, those from the middle class will give farm jobs or field jobs to people of the poor class.  These jobs are the ones that pay the best.  The poor class is seen as disposable to the noble class.  In the poor sections of town, there are  fighting rings sponsored by the military.  These rings are usually looked over by the guards of the city, as talented fighters that rise through the ranks can be picked to be given free training by the guards in the barracks.  This means a free roof over one's head, free meals, free clothes, a free bed and a sense of stability.  Sometimes, there is even a small bit of change that they are given for good or exceptional work.  

RELIGION AND SPIRITS

The main religion in Gintaras is a spirit/god worshiping polytheistic society.  There are numerous gods and spirits, too many to name individually.  The main ones that are worshipped are the god of the sea, goddess of the sky, god of the forest, and goddess of the mountains.  

POSSESSION

Possession is a slow process and can take many weeks, months or even years depending on the level of the spirit.  For the person being possessed, it feels as if you are slowly falling away from yourself, it’s a gentle process if done carefully by the spirit. From the outside it appears as if the person is first losing their empathy, then their personality, then their normal decision making patterns.  It appears as if the person is slowly melting away.  

The Gamta use lower level spirits to infiltrate the city.  They meld into a person and slowly take over.  Once they have gained enough power from holding inside the person, and the person has melted away, they kill the person (usually through suicide) and move onto the next person.  Sometimes, they will use the person, once fully possessed, to go on a murder spree in a suicide mission to eradicate as many humans as possible.  Gamta are ruthless in their treatment of humans.  Gamta will sometimes use higher level spirits to attack the carts of people returning from the shore from netting amber.  They drag the people away from the city deep into the forest.  They use rapid possession, a painful and maddening process for the victim, a process that takes only two weeks to fully drain the human.  

The Isnaudoti with the monks in the form of ritualistic possession. Monks when they start out their training are paired up with a spirit that they will essentially be the power source for all their lives.  Through a meditative possession, the human is slowly drained and the spirit gets stronger.  Before the human is totally lost, the spirit pulls out.  Over decades, residual energy from the possession will stay in the human.  After they die, they might become a low Isnaudoti spirit because of this.  

MONKS AND RELIGION

The monks base level in the religion on how clear amber reacts to you.  If you have enough residual spirit energy, clear amber will float around you.  The highest monk will have a large clear amber stone that floats above their head in between a wooden headdress.  Below them are their advisors, both with high amounts of residual energy.  When a new monk comes in, they shave their head fully.  As they obtain wisdom, they grow their hair out.  If they get possessed by a Gamta, their hair is cut or shaved off and they must restart their training at the beginning and be cleansed by a rapid possession by a Isnaudoti.  

OTHER INFO FROM TALK BY SJ SINDU

• The Poor class is the working class.  They do the most dangerous jobs because they are seen as the most expendable because they are the largest and the fastest growing.  They also have the highest mortality rate because of the dangerous jobs they are forced to undertake (collecting lumber from the dark spirit infested forests, guarding amber carts, amber netting, fishing, etc.  
• Middle class is not much better off than the poor class.  They are usually guards who have achieved some sort of wealth or merchants.  
• Lower nobles are highly rich but do not hold as much power as higher nobles
• Higher nobles are in charge and super rich
• In terms of gender, those who are part of the religious grouping are seen as without gender.  Gender is seen as something that is very human as some spirits may look like a certain gender, they are all without gender.  Sexuality is very fluid, and in the poorer classes no one really cares.  In higher noble statuses where there “needs” to be legitimate heirs, most unions are purposefully for producing the most capable heir.  The noble in charge will often have to marry and produce an heir with the most “capable” partner.  The noble in charge and their partner will often have other lovers that may or may not be of the same or of any gender.  There really is no rules on sex, marriage is really more of exchange or merging of goods and land so both partners rule equally.  

Language

• In world, Gintaras shares language with neighboring cities, but some of the vernacular is different.  

Religion

• Religion is based heavily off of spirits and the amber itself.  Offerings of food and livestock will be given to good spirits.  Amber is used to ward off bad spirits.  It is also based off a lot of folklore and ancient legends.  Legends and superstition really greater depict how one should act rather than the religion itself.  There are some gods, like the god of the sea, goddess of the sky, goddess of the mountains and snow, god of the forest.  

Ability and Disability

• In terms of disability and ability, if you have working arms or legs, you can work in the poor class.  Those who are blind or do not have working arms or legs a generally are given different jobs or work for the religious section.  Those who are blind but can speak, are sometimes given the task of memorizing stories or lore and acting as storytellers in the poor district since many people can’t read.  Those who are deaf, but can see and have working arms and legs can weave or can illuminate or ink in texts.