The Nenmaran People
The Nenmarans live their "personness" with all the basic elements we humans do, yet with a different cast. Nenmarans are neither better nor worse than we, but their minor yet significant differences from us will help us better understand ourselves. Become a part of the Nenmaran community, and find that you will have lost not one bit of your essential self, and will have freed parts of that self even you never knew existed.
Physical attributes of the Nenmarans
They have a deep natural golden pigment to their skin. Their blood is a deep orange, and so they sometimes have an orange tint to them, especially when they are blushing.
Nenmarans are tall and their facial features are long except for their eyes. They are generally about 1¾ meters tall (just under 6 feet), with some variation either way. The women are generally just slightly taller than the men.
Their eyes are large, in contrast to their bodies and faces, and look like just larger versions of human eyes. Their retinas receive so much light that they need practially no artificial light, and can see in color at night. Their irises have beautiful streaks of browns and yellows running from their pupils to the edge of their irises. In daylight, their irises close down to pinhole size, which also provides extremely sharp focus. Their eyes glow at night, like a cat or a deer but more so, due to the abundant light sensitive tissue inside. Although their eyes have such a high degree of sensitivity, they are not bothered by glare, as their individual retinal cells adjust to the relative light coming in from different objects to provide optimal vision unaided.
The Nemarans have no fingernails, but the skin all around the tips of their fingers is of the same texture as the palm side.
Gender differences are not an issue in anything, except for female/male pairing for family establishment. Nenmarans treat matters of sex in a fashion that is neither vulgar nor clinical. They are very open physically in matters involving exposed bodies, such as bathing, excretion, or other events, but unchaste or lustful behavior in any form is virtually unheard of anywhere on Nenmar.
The men have no foreskin on their penises, but the shape down to the end makes them appear as uncircumcised human men. They can produce an erection at will, but also can enjoy sex as much as any person. Except for those features and temperaments shared by all Nenmarans, including the similar features shared by all Nemaran men and women, they are comparable to human men in all other aspects.
The women, although completely female in all aspects, have a physiological variation from human women in that they can extend and retract their vaginas from their bodies voluntarily. Although their vaginas might appear to be male organs while extended they are not, as they are muscular and not vascular—a Nemaran woman can move her extended vagina around like an elephant's trunk. The urethra extends out with the vagina, and this allows the cultural practices of both men and women discussed later in this section. Nemaran women can ovulate at will, and do not menstrate. They have no pain at childbirth, as their extended vaginas can stretch to near tranparent thinness with no damage to the tissue. Their breasts are comparable to human women, except their areolas are a slightly greater proportion to the total breast, to about the same extent that Nenmaran eyes are a greater proportion to the total face (the same with Nenmaran men).
Temperament of the Nenmarans
Although not necessarily "peaceful" in the idealistic sense, Nenmarans are usually less emotionally uptight. However, rather than being mellow, their strong feelings are reflected in a quiet but definitely powerful sense. This is partly due to the high sensitivity of their eyes and their appreciation for subtlety, such as seeing beauty in small threads of color in the fabric of their clothing. All Nenmarans let their thoughts and emotions flow freely, and there are no social or political repercussions from their doing so. They occasionally display a characteristic outburst, which though neither violent toward others nor destructive of things around them, leaves those around the individual no doubt that he or she is having what humans would call a temper tantrum. Nenmarans of all ages carry this characteristic, and it's not considered "childish" for an adult to exhibit such an outburst, as it is an expression of genuine feeling.
Language of the Nenmarans
The Nenmaran language is based on nouns rather than verbs. Their words carry the thing acted upon and the thing acting upon it, with meaning and action conveyed through variations on the root noun—this is called "loading" the noun. It is a very efficient language, but the speaker must speak more slowly than with a verb based human language, as each word carries a great deal of information and the listener also needs time to take in what is being said. This is much in harmony with the usual level temperament of Nenmarans. Besides vocabulary, one must learn to "conjugate" nouns to speak proper Nenmaran. The language uses very soft sounding words. Most contain smooth consonant sounds such as m, n, r, l, and f, which resemble the rolling hill terrain in which the Nenmarans live. They also often use other non-harsh consonant sounds such as j, s, and h. there are 30 letters in the Nenmaran alphabet, most of which area variations of the consonant sounds used, and some additional vowels. However, like some human languages, they also represent additional sounds through combinations of some letters, sometimes in groups of three. There is no punctuation and no accent marks in written Nenmaran, as the loaded nouns carry all of that information. Nenmaran is read starting at the upper left as in many human languages, and then in an order indicated by each successive word being read. For example, the first word will indicate which word to read next, which might not necessarily be the word exactly to the right on the same line, but the indicated word will not be more than three words by three lines away in any direction. The Nenmarans can read rapidly, as their large eyes easily cover the territory on a page containing the current "next" word. In this way, an idea often can be written once and referred to several times without rewriting the idea. This makes for very efficient reading and even further reduces the space needed for written communication.
Cultural practices of the Nenmarans
The group of Nenmaran people who adopt Perry (Nennef) live in a small village with no other significant settlements within a day's walk in any direction. Their culture is very extended family oriented, but not necessarily tribal in the sense of having a firm hierarchy of leaders. Strategic decisions affecting the community as a whole are made corporately by all adults in the village. There is no vying for the "floor" or talking over one another—rather one had better one's thoughts prepared, as all will be invited to speak in turn. The more experienced adults are allowed time to share their perspectives, but age is not a driving factor in this. It also is no shame to be older and have less experience in some matters, for example in travel if one's lifetime of duties was closer to the village.
Gender is not an issue either. There is no effort by men or women to try to dominate each other in any way. The men are very laid back, even to the extent of appearing lazy to humans—but they all are far from lazy, and the average Nenmaran could match the average human in productivity, and their appearance to the uninitiated human eye is very misleading. Each Nenmaran is known for his or her particular trade or industrial specialty, but each is equally involved in the daily life of his or her own family including proper rearing of their children. This allows each adult to uniquely influence domestic life, and they all leave on it their individual imprints.
Lust is unheard of among Nenmarans. This includes power, wealth, sex, and fame. This is not because they are naïve, but rather because they are not. Everything belongs to a particular person. For example, one could borrow a neighbor's harvesting tools and use them for the day, but they are still one's neighbor's and no one would expect other than the return of the tools at the end of the day. The Nenmarans have a special "action noun" in their language for this, which is much less intense than the stronger Nenmaran noun used for relationships, "possession."
Nenmaran women are very possessive of their loved ones. Among humans this could be tragically destructive, but not among Nenmarans. The women do the initial possessing, and the men and children reciprocate. The Nenmaran woman is the anchor of each family, though not domineering in any way. Her loved ones are not threatened by her "possession" of them, as neither their freedom nor their individuality is dampened by it. The "possession" provides an intangible but very real seal around the family, and also fuels its activities.
"Possession" between Nenmaran men and women is the rough equivalent of marriage among humans—it is with one partner and for life. A woman will choose the man she wishes to possess, informs him of her intention, then sets a time to declare it in a public assembly that effectively makes them married. This would be scary to the point of panic among human men, but not with Nenmarans. The man has the perfect right to refuse with no repercussions—but refusal occurs rarely, as the the woman "listens" for his acceptance of her prior to advancing her intentions. Neither gender "puts the make" on the other or tries to be manipulative, as is done among humans; and naturally there is no social pressure to do so. There is no courtship in the human sense, not even the most informal variety. Nenmarans just "listen" to each other intensely—it is a skill as pronounced as their eyes.
After the possession announcement assembly, those attending it return to their daily business. The couple takes up temporary residence in an available room in (usually) the woman's parents' house, until they can either prepare an empty house or build a new one for them to occupy as their own. Preparing their house is the couple's immediate primary task, to which they are expected to focus their attention. Nenmaran house building is roughly analogous to a honeymoon among humans.
The listening skill mentioned earlier is prevalent globally throughout Nenmaran culture. All Nenmarans listen to each other in this way. It also greatly increases the transfer of information per word rate, which when added to the noun based Nenmaran language, transmits faithfully and fully in a few words what would take several explanatory sentences or paragraphs in a human language. Nenmarans are taught from birth to "listen" to others. There are very few fights among Nenmaran children, not because they don't disagree with each other, but because when they do disagree in any degree, they instinctively stop speaking and intensely "listen" to each other. With their large eyes, the are so adept at detecting the slightest body language signals that what one says is meaningful to the other from the other's perspective. Listening is a central element of Nenmaran culture and practice.
Childbirth is a wholly festive occasion for the entire community. As it is not a painful experience for the mother, it is customary for a number of relatives and close friends to gather in the family's house to witness the birth. Although Nenmaran women are very possessive of their children, as a gesture of mutual communal trust, the mother picks up the newborn immediately after birth and herself hands it to the nearest person—it doesn't matter who that person is. The newborn is then handed around the room and held high by each person in turn. The more nimble-reflexed persons might might toss the newborn to each other, while the mother expels and disposes of the afterbirth herself (midwives are unheard of on Nenmar, as they are not needed). After everyone in the room has had an opportunity to hold the newborn, and the mother has had an opportunity to clean herself, the child is handed back to the mother—and she "possesses" her newborn until it is of age to leave and be on his or her own.
Diet of the Nenmarans
Nenmarans don't have set corporate meal times as is the custom in most human cultures. There is no breakfast time, no lunch break, no evening meal time. They do not have dinner tables in their houses. They do not cook their food—there is no need to. Their staple diet is a plant that grows in the wild on Nenmar, which they call "siffut," meaning simply "something to eat." This plant could be described as a cross between wheat and lettuce. It can be plucked and nibbled, the stem sliced and eaten by the handful from a bowl or bag, and the grain can be eaten in the same way. Sliffut is very nutritious and healthy, and no one seems to ever tire of its taste and texture. The Nenmarans graze on it throughout the day as they go about their business.
Daily Routines of the Nenmarans
The rapid rotation of the planet Nenmar and the Nenmarans' ability to see effectively at night, leaves little practical meaning between night and day. They sleep when they get tired and get up when they are rested. Different individuals work on different length work/sleep cycles, but the average percentage of time spent awake is roughly the same as for humans. There are no rigid schedules—only productivity goals set for each individual through listening and consensus negotiation.
Music and wit
Nenmarans don't have music and entertainment the way humans do. They sing short little melodies while they walk or work, but nothing formal or written down. Nenmarans also have a very dry humor, subtle but sharp wit—very smart in a very entertaining way.
Clothing and style
The fabric used for Nenmaran clothing is made from fibers extracted from the inedible parts of sliffut stalks and and water plants collected from nearby marshes. This raw material is taken to the residence lofts of people who have textile processing equipment in their houses. There it is separated into its individual fibers. These fibers can be long and strong for their size—they can be flexed indefinitely without losing strength or breaking. The fibers also can be dyed to just about any color. When woven together, the resultant fabric is very absorbent and comfortable on one's body. Depending on the weave, the fibers can be used for not only clothing, but also curtains, table cloths, and rugs.
The Nenmarans take advantage of the fine texture of the fibers to create beautiful (once you become accustomed to seeing things through Nenmaran perspectives) patterns and figures. Some weavers even include landscapes in their fabric patterns. The detail is endless, and everything is woven—printed fabrics are unheard of anywhere on Nenmar. With their large eyes, the Nenmarans never tire of the intricate work day in and day out. It would take an advanced graphics based computer to equal the quality and detail in Nenmaran woven fabric patterns. Each pattern is a type of "signature" of the person who made it—and the talent is endless.
Both men and women wear the same basic style of clothing. They have no need for different styles, as their extensive artistic needs are met in the patterns themselves. The Nenmarans wear only one layer of clothing, no underwear. They wear a shirt and a pair of trousers, and the only difference between men's and women's clothing is the tailoring to fit the respective shapes of their bodies. The clothing is of a pullover style, and the nature of the fibers allows each piece to be adjusted and secured with a series of "tucks" at places such as the belt line and down the top front of the shirt. The trousers have a fly tuck that is used by both men and women for the purpose of "groundmarking," which is using one's urine stream to write a word on the ground for those nearby to read.
Groundmarking! They do what? Whatever for?
The practice has been established on Nenmar for millennia, and is an integral part of Nenmaran culture. No one knows exactly how it became customary, but most Nenmaran scholars believe groundmarking began as an early form of writing during a time when much of the terrain was more rocky. By the time clay tablets and paper became common on Nenmar, groundmarking had evolved into a social institution beyond its initial practical uses. Groundmarking among Nenmarans today is roughly analogous to shaking hands among humans, except for obvious reasons it's done only when outside. It's actually impolite for a Nenmaran not to groundmark when having a meaningful discussion with someone. Nenmaran groundmarks last only a few hours at the most, as they are obliterated by the torrential morning or evening rains that fall daily on all the inhabited parts of the planet.
Conclusion
Chances are good that most humans would be okay with most Nenmarans, if not actually liking them—that is after overcoming natural human xenophobia, especially regarding aliens. After all, Nenmarans and humans are made of much of the same genetic stuff, thanks to the Cosmic Storm.
