Jaibu
A jaibu [anglicized pronunciation: /ˈʣɛɪbuː/, /ˈjɛɪbuː/] is a flying flotilla of skycraft used as a skyfaring dwelling-place and a platform for sky tribes to hunt and fish. A jaibu can be of the traditional type that has become widespread in the Pallathantic Region over the past two thousand years or of the hullness type that has arisen only in the past forty years. Traditional jaibus are particularly vulnerable to the elements and great care is taken to observe the weather and the elements continually. When storms are sighted, the leader directs the jaibu to be flown to safety, usually to land on the surface of the earth where refuge can be found with allies in fixed structures or under the earth in caves. This can be a momentous decision as some of the craft are not as readily made skyborne as conventional skycraft. The leader of a jaibu thus must measure the safety of the inhabitants of the jaibu against the future effort to become skyborne again and a potentially inhospitable host on the surface. Most jaibus practice a form of seasonal habitation in the sky during clement spells of weather and habitation on the earth when torrential winds and storms make land-born refuge essential.
The inhabitants of a jaibu are called jaibuvites or jaibu-dwellers.
During the sky migrations of the late Yophenthean Empire, jaibus were a common means for the excess populations of the skyfaring tribes of the Jaggudorns to find place for habitation. Ancient jaibus would fish in the seas where the land-dwelling rulers had not enforced any territorial pretensions and hunt in the wilds of the forests where few rulers held sway. Jaibus would drift around one ddwmir (ca 700m or 2200ft) above the surface of the earth or the sea. Jaibus were eager to adapt Xsyte skybarge technology to make sturdy dwellings for their inhabitants and the Xsytes in turn found the jaibus to be welcome skyfaring skyports on their merchant voyages.
A long tradition of tales and lore surrounds the jaibus and their inhabitants whom the other sky tribes saw as the poorest of their lot. Jaibus were anciently prone to sky piracy, both as the recipients and perpetrators. The jaibu was regarded as a menace by the ancient rulers of the Yophenthean Empire who saw the free-ranging, skyfaring, subsistence-level inhabitants of the jaibu as lawless, ill-bred, and foreign to Yophenthean Civilization. The inhabitants of the jaibus, in turn, saw the Yophentheans as tyrannical and contrary to the laws of nature which permitted one to hunt and fish freely on the range. As the Kalikán and other Thracians pressed their influence over the Pallathantic, up to and including the First Kalikán Empire, many inhabitants of the jaibus found the opportunity to migrate to a land-born life where the lack of uncertainty of the sky made life more bearable.
Today Jaibus persist and are home to some rather daring folk as they were in ancient times. States have consistently enforced their laws to jaibus that enter their sky-space and the presence of skycraft and titancraft vessels means that the ancient freedom of the jaibus is a thing of the past. However, free-roving jaibus exist over the seas of the Pallathantic and Memnosian Seas where the relatively mild climate ensures short but continuous spells of calm weather. Most jaibus have reciprocal agreements of refuge with the skyforces and sky merchant marine worked out with the states neighboring their range whereby they will be accepted as refugees during inclement weather and must in turn provide refuge for the skyforces and sky merchants when needed.
Hullness
In the past thirty years (ca 2715 to 2745), jaibus using the hulls of salvaged titancraft vessels have greatly improved the size and comfort of living quarters for residents. The name hullness is a calque on the word skyness and refers to the resemblance between the great flying islands of Medibgö and elsewhere and the modern flying platforms salvaged from titancraft hulls. A hullness tends towards a vertical layout. Yogona is a fine example of a hullness of greater size and serves as a small emporium of skycraft and skyfaring merchants between the Memnosian Sea and the Pallathantic Sea. In the 2740's, the Aurician Empire and Jhaadi Zhumzur have begun using hullnesses as support bases for their respective skyforces. Aurice first produced the hullness called Eblune in 2742.
Anemotis
The anemotis is a form of magic which sky spellcasters can use to protect a jaibu or a hullness from destructive weather. It differs from a twriagdówrch in that an anemotis is temporary.
Water-Catcher
Water-catchers are essential in jaibus where naturally occurring clean water is otherwise absent. The device is magically enhanced and traps water for drinking, cooking, and sometimes bathing. Without water-catchers, prolonged life in a jaibu would be impossible.
List of Modern Jaibus
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Components of a Jaibu
- Harrouetsa
- a metallic staff that reaches up five meters or more from the central array of a flotilla, a harrouetsa is designed to attract and thus safely redirect lightning away from the occupants and vulnerable components of a jaibu. The electrical charge is directed down its form into the strindozacher which points down below the skycraft assembly to spit the electrical energy into the sea or the earth or back into the atmosphere.
- Strindozacher
- The strindozacher is designed to dissipate and discharge electrical energy captured by a harrouetsa down into the earth, the sea, or the atmosphere. If electrical energy first strikes the strindozacher and not its corresponding harrouetsa above it, the strindozacher will nonetheless deflect the energy downwards.
See Also
Localization
DE: Jäbu, ES: Xebu, FR: Jaibou, IT: Gebu
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