Ondeet Dichotomy

The very form of government is called a dichotomy - elements of two peoples joined in one realm, one polity. That so many of the sayings of Ondeetiens are the either/or form speaks of this joining. "Two is wisdom" cautions us to consider multiple views, to shift mere knowledge into wisdom, understanding, comprehension. It is significant that there s no one Ondeetien language - it takes that of the tunnelstriders plus that of the skystriders together to express all that is Ondeetien. To stray too far from the interface is considered somehow wrong - skyswimmers, those who would fly - why, that's dangerous. And groundswimmers - that alludes to the fact that water underlies almost all land, and to delve too deep can drown a dwarf, or a whole dwarven community.

"Otherworldly" can include meanings like 'holy', 'set apart', 'exceptional'... or just 'dead'. Dwarves tend to cremate their dead, and 'to stain the sky' is to pass on to afterlife, or just to die. Men tend to bury their dead, so 'to stain the ground' is for them both to pass out of sight, and to enrich the other realm. 'Bad dwarves make good [insert any vegetable]' refers to the old dwarven superstition that a dwarf who dies underground and stays there must be somehow cursed. Some of the great underground architecture stems from nothing more than a desire to rescue bodies from a cave-in, so they can be committed to the sky in proper cremation. To call a man 'a real jewel' when alive is attributing to him knowledge/wisdom beyond his born limits. To call a deceased man 'an eventual gem' is the fond imagining that he will be recycled by the earth in ages to come as some grand, wonderful treasure.

"It takes both to swim the sea" refers to a need for both man's wood and dwarves' metalwork to make a good ship. While few Ondeetien dwarves go to sea, it is said they do so in spirit in every ship's spike, every rope-pulley, even the lead ballast.

The orientation of each race can be seen right on maps. Dwarves prefer to name valleys rather than the rivers that typically run through them. Men will label a great plain as one feature; dwarves most likely differentiate the expanse's various 'valleys' 'or watersheds - even though a traveler might not be able to tell he was traveling 'over a ridgeline' between two such. Men describe their wealth in the flatland, where comes food and easy travel. Dwarves think of those fields of grain as but rude necessities, and the ragged ranges of wilderness above are the seat of their lives, their pleasant habitat. A human family who has come across ill fortune has 'met their downfall' while a failed dwarven enterprise is 'outcast'. The selfsame phrase might be polar opposites between the races - a glum man is 'downcast' while that is said of a dwarf optimistically seeking his fortune. When the same human family turns to better times things are 'looking up' where that might be said of a dwarven group facing impending doom and ruin. Someone of either race who misspeaks is said to have the other race's tongue in his mouth. Yet because each generally esteems the other highly, to thus say 'eh, he was talking dwarven-tongued' has more of a spin of possible correctness even though an utterance sounded wrong, than a derogatory or dismissive view of being stumble-tongued. That is a basis for a general positive attitude in Ondeet, this willingness to consider other views, other speech, other opinions. To be too set in one's ways or intolerant of others is said to 'be alone in one's head'. In that respect, the phrase in other lands for a traitor or confused person "he is double-minded' carries no ill meaning in Ondeet.

How do these differing peoples work as one in government? Well, there is a basic attitude of leaving one another alone for starters. One would not meddle in affairs not your own - and that stretches to neighboring communities of one's own kind as well as across the dirt/air boundary. One's own group provides administrative or legislative force, while a different group must be judges of either law or ruler. Many other nations' groups consider it unjust to be ruled by any other than *their* group. In Ondeet having a boss or lord or captain who is of the other race is counted useful, preferable, and honorable. The 'token dwarf' is not an insult, but maybe admission that say a farming town council doesn't HAVE a pool of dwarves to draw from, so that one old dwarven smith who retired there is all the diversity they could expect to attain. Variety for variety's sake is a weakness of Ondeetien society - in some such situations say the old smith might have no real value in governance, so he would be encouraged to nod sagely in meetings and slurp his ale, where those too eager to have all viewpoints represented might push their own old fellow into decisionmaking -- to their own detriment when he had never held a plow beyond the day he forged it.

Ondeetien folk are no angels - one stereotypically stubborn dwarf might still wind up in a drunken brawl with a stereotypically proud human - it's just that in Ondeet that's less likely to erupt into a town-wide dwarf vs. man feud than in some places across Guildworld. Mixing racial traits is not all sunshine and roses. In some nations one might fault a dwarf as overly touchy "but at least he's honest". In Ondeet perhaps he's touchy AND a brazen liar. Elsewhere a human might easily be labelled a staggering drunkard "but at least he's loyal". The same drunk in Ondeet might also be a venal backstabbing traitor. So a summary proverb: "None be pure, none quite right - natures blend, but also fight."

And because somebody will ask - Ondeetien Dwarves and Humans are not mutually fertile, so there isn't going to be some perfect hybrid. Best we just enjoy the differences and use them for strength.