Lwait (pronounced like something between light and white, IPA /ˈlʷait/
) is a country in Sasaro, to the northeast of Vegúil. As the country's name suggests, light and optics are extremely important to their culture.
Lwait (pronounced like something between light and white, IPA /ˈlʷait/) is a country in Sasaro, to the northeast of Vegúil. As the country's name suggests, light and optics are extremely important to their culture.
Outside cities, Lwait is mainly forest. There are many places around the country with various naturally-occurring crystals, metals, and other shiny things. The ocean is to the east, and there are mountains to the north and west.
There are plenty of lakes, rivers, and streams. Traditionally, the people of Lwait purified the water in these bodies of water to make them completely transparent; however, today, only a few particularly sacred lakes and streams are purified, due to concerns for the environment (loss of certain microorganisms and plankton and such).
On the plus side, Lwait is one of the best countries in terms of pollution control... except for the smoke they use at particular holidays around sunset.
Most of the inhabitants are descendants of artists from Súiⱥcúil, who came to Lwait seeking a more beautiful place.
The name of the language
Lwait's language, called Lwaitel (pronounced Lwait + syllabic l, IPA /ˈlʷait.l̩/), can be written, spoken, or signed. Sign language is used much more frequently than spoken language.
The language's writing system uses a different character for each half-syllable (which contains a vowel and a consonant in either order). Each character has its own sign, so there is a direct correspondence between speech and sign language (unlike American Sign Language).
The language's writing system is also unique in that it requires four different colors to write it (red, green, blue, and black).
The language was constructed by a single person early in the country's history, for artistic purposes.
Lwait is one of the few countries in Sasaro to have any sort of religion at all. Lwait's religion is polytheistic, worshiping various celestial bodies, with the sun being of course the most important.
Some conservative branches of the religion forbid electric lights, saying that producing light is something only the gods should do. However, the rest of Lwait embraces electric light enough to make the country the top energy user on the planet.
Most religious people pray at sunset; some of the more devout people pray at sunrise as well.
About 70% of the country is religious.
The religion in Lwait is not opposed to science, even about light, and in fact encourages it.
Optics is widely studied as part of the standard curriculum at elementary schools. Astronomy and chemistry are also fairly commonly studied.
Lwait is widely known for their sculptures and architecture, which typically involve large amounts of reflective and transparent materials. Most buildings have plenty of windows; stained-glass windows and windows shaped in such a way as to create rainbows and other interesting patterns are common.
Lwait has a long history of discriminating (for religious reasons particularly) against people who are blind, are colorblind, or have photosensitive epilepsy; however, such people are fighting for their rights and such discrimination is now outlawed. Conversely, tetrachromats and certain types of synaesthetes have often been thought of as being gifted, and historically have typically been made priests.
There are several villages where deafness is the norm.
Lwait's national colors are purple (or, more specifically, lavender), representing beauty, and white, representing light. Its national symbol is a sun with 12 rays, over a purple circle. Its national motto is Lam sakipes! An nalwen swet kat swan taisheyl ("Look! The world around us is beautiful!"); see also the language page.