Naga (The Bird Series)

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Naga is a fictional sentient race based on the Asian mythology of Nāga that appear in the Korean fantasy novel The Bird That Drinks Tears and its sequel The Bird That Drinks Blood, written by a Korean writer Lee Yeongdo.

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[edit] Physical Characteristics

Nagas are reptiles, and their physical characteristic resemble snakes in particular. Their body structure and size is that of a human, but they are cold-blooded and their body is covered with scales. When nagas are shocked in other ways emotionally troubled, their scales rise and dash, shattering into each other. This would be similar to human goosebumps.

Just like snakes, nagas have infra-red visions and can see the world in the form of heats instead of colours and lights. This makes them advantaged over other kind of people in certain condition, such as when finding hot-blooded animals in the dark or camouflaging colors. This is a very similar concept to the specie Yautja that appear in film and comic series Predator.

As nagas are reptiles and cold-blooded, their mental and physical ability depend on the temperature of their surrounding. This is why they only live at the farmost South of the continent, where the temperature is significantly warmer.

[edit] Neerm and other telekinetic abilities

Nagas have unique telekinetic ability. For one thing, they are able to communicate using their mind. This is called neerm, and a verb for this is neer, neering. This is a process of opening the mind and directing a single stream of thought or intention to the mind of others, just as talking is opening the mouth and directing a strand of thought, translated in sounds, to the ear of others. So when a naga are mentally silent with no neerm to neer, it would be said that the naga has 'closed his/her mind'. Neerm has its own limits too, for example you cannot neerm to person too far away. But neerm has advantages over normal talking, for example it can be heard through walls. Because it is a mental process, neerm be very delicately used to neer at only one person in the very large crowd, or project a memory or picture at another nagas. Such a complicated neering can only be used by nagas who have very high mental talents, and takes up lots of mental energy, it seems.

There are few other uses of their telekinetic ability, such as controlling animals with their own will. Yet when all nagas can neerm, only some nagas have the ability to control animals. The inheritance is quite random, so this ability seem to be something similar to a human's hitchhiker's thumbs. This is useful in a communication method called snake-talking. A group of snakes are mentally connected to an another group of snakes. Then when a naga directs this group of the snakes into a shape that resembles this text, this text will be transferred to the other group of the snakes. This way, nagas can communicate to other nagas far away as long as they have a set of snakes that is linked to the snakes they have.

Because nagas have neerm, and because they are almost deaf, they do not talk vocal. However, their writing system is still based on a vocal language. It would be quite impossible to express a mental form of intention into a physical form of writing. Because of this, nagas learn the speaking-way too, even though it is extremely seldom used. However, when nagas do talk, they have a quite strikingly beautiful voice. For example, when humans first heard Ryun’s voice, they though he was a princess turned into a beast by an evil devil.

[edit] Debate over the physical appearance

There have been many debates concerning the existence, or non-existence, of many human-features present in naga body among the fan-fic drawers. Nagas may, or may not, have body hair. Nagas may, or may not, have ears or other physical features that are shaped like one. Naga women may, or may not have breasts or some other body structure that is shaped as such. People in the non-human structure side argue that their images of nagas are more biologically correct. People who support more humanoid structure argue back with quotes from the book. There are mentions of nagas having toenails and fingernails at least, and also a mention of an ornament that was very similar to human earings, which indicates the possibility of the existence of ears.

Some fans do comment that the author Lee Yeongdo likes the readers to use their imagination, as he himself often said, and it may be that he deliberately does not mention the existence, or the non-existence, of these features.

[edit] Mental Characteristics

Nagas are characteristicly extremely rational. They will not hesitate when they are left to choose between a more realistic profit and a moral dignity. They are not easily afraid or subduced, even less fooled. They are the masters of double metaphors, hidden meanings in subtle conversations, deceptions and backstabbings.

[edit] Culture

Nagas have very pleasant and peaceful lives compared to the other three races that dwell above the Limit Line. They claim Keyboren, a giant jungle which covers the half of the world. Food is all around them in a form of wild animals in Keyboren, and they do not even have to saw or tender. They do not have a need to wage war against each other, for they give fewer offspring and there are plenty food and space. This abundance of life and peace in their lives allows the nagas a room to afford luxuries and develop grand cultures, it seems.

Because nagas cannot see visual lights and can only see the world as temperatures, they do not paint pictures. They have to write texts in ink and in very large letters, as ink absorbs heat allowing its shape to be recognized by a naga's eyes. When they want more delicate texts or blueprints they carve lines on a metal sheet, and water will be poured over it to be read. Nagas do enjoy many forms of art such as musical, sculpture, and specially dancing. Dancing is a common leisure for the highclass of the nagas society, a way for people to show off their artistic abilities. When nagas dance they hold metallic rodes, which are heated at the end when dancing. With these dancers will play with the heat and the movement of the air as the rodes scorch the air nearby, which is a great treat to another naga’s eyes.

When nagas appaud, they do not clap as sound is no use to them. Instead, they sprinkle water on a brazier nearby. The explosion of heat when cold water meets hot coals will look very bright on a naga’s eyes. When someone says 'The braziers have all cooled' it indicates that the person has done such a great job, people have sprinkled so much water on the braziers they have almost cooled down, therefore making it a great praise.

Because the nagas depend on the forest for their food and survive, they traditionally love trees. It would be not unlike the worshipping of sheeps in the nomadic Jewish culture, or Asian religions and traditional favour of rice as they depend on rice to survive. Because of this, nagas call trees as their friends, treat them as equal as they would treat another naga, and are horrified by the idea of destroying trees. For this nagas have learned to use stone as their building and furniture materials. For example, the whole city of Hatengrazew was made out of white stones, probably limestones or marbles. Trees are very rarely cut down, but after a grand ritual and a tree funeral. Such wooden products from one are considered as an extreme luxury.

Nagas use the same language as the other three races. However, the remains of their older, independent language still survive in bits and pieces. Such examples are words such as Vyienaga, -grazew and Shozain-te-shyictol.

[edit] Heart Extraction

Heart Extraction is a very important ritual that every naga must participate at the coming of the age, when they are 22 years old. Each year when the star, Shanagi, hides behind the moon, all nagas who have reached their age will go to the city's heart tower and Guardians will extract their heart. When they do so, they become almost immortal, and will casually survive through losing few limbs or organs. Not only that, they also gain infinite regeneration ability that allows them to grow back almost any body features. All nagas are obligated go through the heart extraction. If a naga refuses, they are stripped off of all rights as a naga being, and are mocked as vyienaga, which translates that it looks like a naga but it is not worthy to be considered one. Vienagas are outcasts and are ruthlessly hunted down, killed and sometimes even eaten.

The extracted hearts are stored in separate heart bottles, and are put in the walls of the heart towers. Another job of the Guardians is to look after the heart bottles, and remove the hearts when the owner dies.

[edit] Weapons

The nagas did not have wars for centuries, and their body is a weapon itself. However, they do make some kinds of weapon to practice as leisure. A typical naga weapon is scyker, a traditional scimitar-sword.

[edit] Clothing

Nagas are cold-blooded, poikilothermic. They do not need clothing to keep themselves warm. Also because their body is almost immotal, they do not need protective clothing. So, beings as they are, nagas use clothing as decorations. Their clothes are very complicated, highly artistic, and do not follow normal rules of clothing, such as existence of upper and lower garments. It is mentioned they may even have left and right garments, or front and back garments.

As the nagas can only see heat, it seems that they do not concern themselves about colours or patterns the fabrics. Instead, in higher classes, clothing will be embedded with metals or sawed at the end of the fabrics with fine metal wires, etc. Because metals absorb and release heat, metal embeddings would look highly decorative in another naga's eyes. Because of the same reason metal necklaces, bracelets and earrings are popular too. Brass seems to be preferred as a decorative metal.

[edit] Food

The nagas devour live animals alive. In cities they would be normally served with mice that are easy to breed and eat. When they are in the forest, they will eat anything as big as an anteater. The nagas cannot taste. However, they do have a form of delicacy. They like to eat animals that have a pleasing odor or are docile so they can be 'delighted at the process of eating', or are very rare so they can be 'pleased at the fact they ate a rare treat'. For example, an otter is extremely hard to catch and is considered a delicacy by the nagas.

[edit] Religion

Nagas serve The Goddess Who Leaves No Trail, or water. The Guardians, who control and tend the heart tower and its hearts, are also the priests of The Goddess. They are called the Bridesgrooms of the Goddess, and seem to keep very close contact with the Goddess. Only a male can become a Guardian. They live in the heart towers, and vow to sleep with no woman, as the Goddess is their future wife in the afterlife. The Guardian is basically the only statue a man can gain.

[edit] Society

The nagas live in giant cities. All naga cities have a word grazew at the end of their names, so grazew seem to mean city in the old naga language. All cities are formed around a heart tower, because heart towers are religious and political center of the naga society. The largest city of all is Hatengrazew, where main characters of The Bird That Drinks Tears such as Ryun Pei, Samo Pei, Galotec and Viass Markerow come from. However, each naga cities are independent and Hatengrazew holds no direct influence over other cities.

The women rule the naga society. This may be because the women and the men have lost their gap of physical ability through the power that the heart extraction provides and men lost their role as a physical muscle that protect women and children. So, the women are classified as higher beings, and the men's somewhat a lower form of nagas.

All nagas do not recognize and acknowledge the concept of father. They know that such thing exists, but they believe that the sperm men give women is just like every other ingredient a women needs to birth a child, such as food, water and air. They think it is the mother who is important, and are not very interested in who the father is in the first place.

[edit] Clans

The naga society is formed with great families/clans, made with the women. A clan mistress or a house mistress leads each family. The men do not have a right to retain a family name after they have reached the adulthood, or gain statue or a fixed dwelling place. So they remain wonderers, roaming around the great jungle of Keyboren. Yet, men are allowed to visit any house of the clans and if they choose to, sleep with women there. The men staying at the house of the clan are very important recourse to the clan, as in the naga society women gain higher statue and respect the more children they bear to their clan. So women would strive to lure men to their houses and make them lodge. The power of the clan is often measured by how many men are lodging at the clan's house.

[edit] Significant naga characters that appear in the Bird Series

  • Ryun Pei
  • Samo Pei
  • Galotec
  • Yosvi
  • Karu
  • Svaachi
  • Viass Markerow
  • Somero Markerow
  • Karindol Markerow