Pitau
From Almeopedia
The pitau [ˈpi taw] are the divisions of Jippirasti. They are defined theologically, but they are largely ethnic. (There are subdivisions I am glossing over, as well.)
Etymology: Tžuro pita “division, belief’, from piči ‘follow, believe’; cf. Old Skourene sipt- ‘follow’.
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Sačutu
The Sačutu (‘orthodox’), based in Jippirim, and encompassing modern Šura as well as Tral and Lenda— all western Tžuro states, as well as the Tei.
The Šureni have an acute sense of their historical connection to Babur, and emphasize textual study of the Baburkunim and other religious works, careful observance of the laws of istuja, and theological conservativism. Nothing from the last thousand years, after the Anajati Tej, is authoritative.
On the other hand, the Tžuro have long been an urban and rather tolerant society, and their littoral and agricultural lifestyle is the farthest from the nomadic ways codified by Babur. A terrestrial analogy might be with 18th century France, secure in its Catholicism yet also a modern nation with a tradition of free inquiry. Nomadic Jippirasti respect its scholarship and sense of tradition, but consider its practice too lax.
Fanpita
The Fanpita (‘Fei division’), based in Jaešim, and including Feidal and Fananak, thus including the eastern Tžuro, the Disaynu (eastern Sainor), and the Fei.
The Anajati ruled in Feináe until 2833, and continuted their process of liberalization. They and their successors the Ajedi relaxed the rules of istuja, and learned from the Fei and Qaraus an interest in creation and the ancient history of the iliu. They also emphasized the idea of ongoing communication with Jippir, and developed a tradition of teŋŋiri or saints: celibate teachers, healers, mystics, and prophets. Other Jippirasti consider them perillously lax in some ways, strangely emotional and zealous in others.
They were not permanently divided from the Sačutu till the Sainor conquest of Šura (2790-2988), which brought an influx of refugees from the heartland. The newcomers attempted to recall their strayed brothers to orthodoxy, which angered their hosts and provoked a permanent schism.
The Sainor chose Fanpita when they converted to Jippirasti, and introduced an evangelistic zeal absent from other pitau. The colonists of Fananak spread Fanpita to Arcél. They won many native converts, but these imported of their own beliefs into Fananaki Jippirasti, such as a widespread belief in a parallel spirit world, and the veneration of murky figures, part ancestors, part spirit creatures.
Staji
The Staji (Lenani for ‘orthodox’, known in Tžuro as galun ‘unorthodox’), covering the Lenani states.
The Lenani pride themselves on maintaining the lifestyle celebrated by Babur, without the Tžuro’s accommodations to sedentary life; they also have no scriptural authority beside the Baburkunim.
However, they retain aspects of pre-Jippirasti lifestyle, from tribal tokens to magic to patrilinearity; their tribes (bofama) also venerate paired male and female ‘ancestors’ which are pretty clearly the old gods. And what the Lenani consider a purer understanding of istuja looks to other Jippirasti like carelessness.
Kahon
The Kahon (Tžuro for ‘Carhinno’), covering the Carhinnoi, once the rulers of eastern Dhekhnam and its ktuvoks, now their subjects.
The Carhinnoi have lived under Dhekhnami rule for more than 600 years, and they form its elite cavalry; though they were allowed to retain their faith, it was inevitably adapted to their new circumstances. They do not speak of Kulig, nor of Attafei’s conquest, nor of communion with other Jippirasti; their teachers teach respect for the ktuvoks and the evil of other nations, including Jippirasti ones; the tej is understood to be the Dhekhnami state. The other Jippirasti, despite their own differences, fully return the dislike, considering the Carhinnoi to be dangerous heretics, with many going so far as to claim the Carhinnoi actually blasphemously worship Gelalh (or Kulig) under Jippir's name, which is understandable given the attributes of modern Gelalhát.
The Carhinnoi are almost entirely illiterate; they do not read the Baburkunim but memorize and recite it (with high accuracy). They recognize no other scripture. They have combined the anebe (teachers) and ajenče (celebrants) into a single role, ənep, with a strict hierarchy (which approximates the structure of Gelalhát).
They largely ignore the idea of igosota (expiation), preferring immediate physical punishment for crime. They never adopted the matrilineal family structure of the Tžuro and Lenani, and they are much more concerned with fidelity, considering adultery and fornication to be crimes.
