Classical Taot people

The Taot peoples are an ethnic group primarily located in East and Central Noco that speak Taot languages.

History


In the start of the 9th millenium, during which the second peak of the World Glaciation starts to end, Classical Taot culture becomes well established around the basin of base of the Koolpallal. The main written language was Classical Taot, but the people spoke a group of closely related dialects with various influences from other Koolpallalian languages and neighbouring language families.

After a few hundred years, most people lived in small towns clustered together and governed by groups of aristocratic families, who asked for taxes in return for protection, as expansionist policies were starting to emerge. People in small villages continued to live with the old system, sharing resources among neighbours. Some of these town clusters, called chiefdoms, began rapidly expanding and conquering other neighbouring chiefdoms. Ultimately, most of the southwestern Koolpallal was governed by two chiefdoms, resulting in the dialects spoken in this area being clearly divided into northern and southern varities.

These chiefdoms continued to expand westwards and split into hundreds of smaller chiefdoms until they reached the western coast of Noco. At this point, many of these town clusters had become so big that they could be considered cities.

Marriage
Marriage in Classical Taot is relatively simple. It is considered the couple's choice to decide, and divorce is akin to a breakup in Western cultures. The Classical Taot people practice polygamy, and anyone apart from one's nen ('mother, aunt, grandmother'), tot ('father, uncle, grandfather'), seenta ('sibling, cousin') or paol ('child, nibling') is considered elligible as a partner, regardless of gender.

Family
The Classical Taot people do not have the concept of family as many cultures do, they only keep track of the people related to them by birth. The functions of families are instead fulfilled by the idea of small villages as a unified group.