Javarti

Javarti is a planet in the Mola solar system. It is 1.041 AU from its sun. A year on Javarti lasts as long as 398.4407 Earth days. The planet rotates on its axis a total of 203.32 times per year. The Javarti calendar divides the year into 16 months. Javarti has one moon, Nelta, which completes a cycle every 12.8257 days.

The sapient inhabitants, called iltis, are humanoids who stand at 6'2" (male) or 6' (female). They have skin that has a silvery lustre to it. Their ears are large and wing-shaped, at the side of the head. The rubber-like matter that grows out of their scalp and forms a moustache and beard on males is actually a substance called renga, growing out of the skin of all members of the rengadzi class of animals. Each ilti gets 42 chromosomes from her/his mother and 42 from her/his father. Females have an XX karyotype and males have an XY karyotype.

Javarti has eight continents: in the western hemisphere are Yeyza, Palsavi, Ambinjo, and Zaghambo; and in the eastern hemisphere are Qalvayna, Stokhüda, Lasto, and Kedja.

The Javarti people are avid exporters and importers of products who love acquiring things. A Javarti will buy a lot for his or her home, furnishing it elaborately.

Although Javarti is a giant in the world of exports, exporting everything from blenders to video games to exercise machines, it is not a site of invention and innovation. Their own inventions tend to be derivative of other products. They do, however, have one thing going for them that they can export that is uniquely Javarti: their native plants and animals. Such fruits as the jata, kündu, semilti and tabeymu form an important source of national income, as do such other plants as the vegetable mükaysta, the grain ghaylva, the ratxi (a source of fiber) and the juli, whose leaves produce the intoxicant juliksa. Exported animals include rengadzi species like the dzolmu and kono, popular as pets and farm animals, and the txiva, a popular type of seafood.

The Javartis cultivate many of their own plants. Fruits include the tetramerous kaga; the aggregate, bubble-shaped ükha; the wavy-bumped jata; the soyko (a xylocarp like the coconut, with brown outside and cream inside); the kündu, with diagonal bumpy waves on its outside; the cherry-shaped semilti, with many tiny seeds inside; the peachy, beige-yellow tabeymu with a creamy inside; the translucent red jopasenti which has a somewhat phallic shape with two triangular bracts sticking out on the sides; the bindu, with several rod-shaped segments forming thhe outside; the green, hops-looking güri; the snail-shell noyka; the tübo, a round, green berry suggesting an apple or pomegranate with a red inside; the orange, curved qilti; the telme, which is of similar shape to a telme but has a ribbed, orange-yellow outside and a yellow inside; buckshot berries, tiny black berries that grow on a grapelike vine and resemble buckshot; the ombasa, a berry with a blue color, a pointed bottom, and seeds on the outside; the aggregate pink txigü on a stalk; the beige, aggregate azendü; and the phallic tayga. Vegetables inlude the asparagus-like, thin vümu, the qaqoxü, a wavy-patterned squash-like vegetable that is botanically a fruit; the echeverria- or rose-like vegetables such as the alko, roga and dzosotu; the kohlrabi-like khordu; the stalky mükaysta with edible, little round leaves; the leafy garza; and the luzdi (a sausage-shaped tuber); the asanvi (two-lobed white tuber, also cultivated for its sugar); the zbarka, a top-heavy fregetable with a green, ribbed outside and an orange inside; the isegeyza, which looks like a zbarka but is smaller and has a twisted stem; the U-turn curved fregetable called a mirqixi; a boomerang-shaped fregetable called a khasto; the zdaveki, a succulent with many leaves with a star-shaped cross-section; the oyja, a green bulb; the eskixi, a white vegetable that resembles a turnip; the üghi, a tuber with a serpentine shape; the vamalpi, resembling a many-fingered hand; the algazengha, similar to a vamalpi but having two "thumbs" and a spiral indentation in the "palm" of the hand; the cactus-like khoyrüdo; the fern-like geyloyba whose tips resemble snailed fiddleheads; the inxukhügha, with its many branches of edible needles; the kübiti, with its stalks and florets; the sausage-shaped pitxi; the xomeylo, a heart-shaped orange tuber; the zazgadi, a six-leaved, maple-like leaf vegetable; the asta, similar to a zazgadi but with five leaves; the xemelkha, a leaf vegetable with long, thin lobes on both sides of the stem; and the khoykhü, a tree that produces edible needles. The three most important olvas (an order of pseudograins) are ghaylva, temni and zdanka. The vervi, the boyra, and the skolta are grown for their nuts. Sweets can be made from the strong-odored, strong-tasting bark of the jaqavaya; the tsentu, a flower that attracts white foam from zbaspis; and the amboxa, whose dark brown "cattails" are eaten with sugar. Ratxi, with its magenta, bird-of-paradise-like flowers, and the reed-like lilvas, with their tufty white fibers, are the main fiber plants of Javarti. The neküstu, with its rhomboid shape, is an important hardwood tree; other trees include the djinkhi, with its triangular needle bundles at the ends of its branches; the talto; and the boldüsa, with its samaras. Ornamental flowers include the yellow-and-purple zdikhi; the spadix-and-spathe yellow-and-white tsanqa; the orange, lily-like djestini; the lavender, orchid-olike impadza; the tsazdü, with eight yellow, stomach-looking petals; the dzivüdza, with fuzzy yellow petals at its tip; the red panto, with many long, thin petals; the lavender, bottom-heavy, bulbous gilpi; and the seven-petaled zendomepa. Joysana, with its leaves that start out straight up than wilt out at the ends and its white flowers, is grown for its infusion. The mirga is a tall, billowing tree that produces seed-pods with green, triangular seeds packed with protein -- the equivalent of legumes in the Javarti biosphere. Juli, with its white, four-petaled flowers, is grown for its depressant drug juliksa (similar to drinking kava). Wild plants include the ango, a tropical tree; the nalpozgita, a tropical epiphyte that looks something like a giant oak leaf; sthe aqi, an ornamental herbaceous plant with leaves of three; the deadly, thistle-like skopadzo; and the aquatic, lilypad-like qatoyla with its white flower.

Domesticated rengadzis include the dzolmu, a pet that lives on scraps; the nüsta, a small, furry pet with a beaver-like tail that fills much the same role as a guinea pig or hamster; the ghotxo; cultivated for its meat and well as shaven for its heavy coat of renga; the kono, a carnivorous pet that can also pull ploughs and chase wild quarry; and the dapalvu, an indulgently delicious creature. Domesticated khüvas (the ornithologue, or bird-analogue, bioswath on Javarti) include the egg-laying pongha with its oval torso; and the squat, short-tailed edible maqi; the red, long-tailed mapaya; and the small, almond-shaped serpa; species of küntes, one order of khüvas, include the gabo, the tutura, and the kilghizi. Mesqidzis (an order of khüvas with hooves and furry down, are often hunted for sport; these include the pokhayra with its snipe-like beak; the proud and stubborn pümü with its thick, toucan-like beak; the long-necked, laughing djakimi; the short-legged poskakhi; the humped ghidami with its curved neck; and the long-eared gelmi. The münetxi, a khüva, is often kept for its ability to pollinate bigger flowers, while the tibo, a snouted kheski (six-legged insectologue), pollinates most smaller flowers and is often raised for this purpose by farmers.

Javarti cuisine pulls mainly on the culinary strength of its native animals and plants (plus the occasional mushroom). Fruits, vegetables, olvas, nuts, meat, seafood and mirgas are the main food-groups in the Javarti diet. Culinary fruits include the kaga, ükha, jata, soyko, kündu, semilti, tabeymu, jopasenti, bindu, gürim tübo, telme, qilti, buckshot berry, ombasa, txigü, azendü, and tayga, all eaten as snacks, desserts, juiced, or as flavorings or parts of sweets. Many dishes included mixed vegetables or meat, seafood or qasa mixed with vegetables. Qaqoxü fills the role of cucumber or squash in these dishes, while alkos, rogas and dzosotus have a more leaf-vegetable-like or Brussels-sprout-like texture. Garza is popular as a leaf vegetable, the standard salad herb of Javarti. Other leaf vegetables include zazgadi and asta. Mükaysta is often eaten as a main course. Vümu can be eaten alone but is more often mixed with other vegetables. Kübiti is eaten for both its florets and its stalks. Pickled vümu, or azgi, is used whenever a pickled vegetable is called for in a recipe. Khordu is usually eaten alone but can be sliced up. And luzdi is eaten baked, mashed, fried, steamed, candied or as chips. All-vegetable dishes include vegetable soup; salted luzdi; ubali (oval-shaped pieces of luzdi baked on a sheet and then turned upside-down so the unexposed side is facing up and topped with sweet toppings); Seylvi's special (mükaysta with sliced roga and sliced qaqoxü alko, riga and dzosotu with azgi); and khaba (baked luzdi with azgi and qaqoxü). Needles of the inxukhügha and khoykhü are often dipped into sauce. A casserole made woth txeyndi and mashed eskixi is called laxkala.

The rengadzi animals most often eaten are the ghotxo (whose meat is called vuri), the dapalvu (whose meat is called palvu), the zayma (a seal-like creature renowned for its blubber called dzesti), the squirrel-like maskhi; the meyleyga, with resembles a marsupial rabbit, a bilby perhaps, with renga; and the pürmo (a favorite hunting target). The marine rengadzi called a tümpuü was historically eaten for its blubber, but this has gone out of fashion. Edible khüvas include the maqi (whose meat is called üngolu), the pongha (whose meat is called jinkhu), the wild, sharp-nosed, arrow-tailed vilkha, the ring-necked arvu, the bumpy-nosed matürvi, and the large, plesiosaur-necked djilghano. Popular seafood includes the armadillo-shelled, wobbling txiva with antennae and barbels; the ampoyla, which looks like a cross betweem a sea slug and a caterpillar; the six-legged, triangular zgendi; the crustaceologue keygügi with its external gills; the butterflyfish-like oyxoto; and such types of lonkho (a four-legged, meaty, flat-bodied class of animal) as the lobster-bodied, moustached, white-eyed ampova; the dzasta (a barbeled, bell-curve-and-its-mirror shaped creature) and the chunky poynu, with bumps going down its back. The armadillo-like algiski is the most-eaten zighridzi (grainy-skinned chordologue). Some creatures have special terms for the meat of their young: a baby ghotxo is a pingha, and pingha meat is called ezbü a baby dapalvu is called a vanonda, and vanonda meat is called khepa; a maqi under two years is called a rezda, and rezda meat is called urarsa; and a pongha under three years is called a dardü, and dardü meat is called tsatxi. Vuri and palvu steaks are revered as high-class eat-out dining. Ground vuri is known as rurzi. Sausages of palvu in ghotxo intestine are called ghiburta, and sausages of khüva in dapalvu intestine are called djavu. Burtanga is sliced sausage filled with palvu blood in zayma intestine and seasoned with salt then set out to dry for three days. Lunch meat includes layba (vilkha organ meats with salt, cut into circles), bubu poqa (pongha organ meats mixed in a blender with pongha eggs and cooked in juices), and malmoyvi (dapalvu organ meats cooked in pongha fat and a hot sauce, leaving red circle-shaped bumps all over the finished product). Nuggets and sticks of various meats and seafoods are popular as well, especially ülqo (jinkhu sticks). The ribcages of pürmos are called jandi, and come at high price in most restaurants. Smoked dzasta strips are called isti, while smoked poynu strips are called saymüla and salted poynu strips are called noymi. The Javartis were also the inventors of qasa, a form of meat grown without brains or even heads. Qasa is fertilized with the genes of the animals it replicates, and looks and tastes just like meat or seafood, but without the ethical questions that surround raising and killing animals. Vegetarians often eat qasa, but some, the azoöproteinarians, forgo any form of animal protein, and there is even a word in LIE, "aqasarian", for people who specifically avoid eating qasa. Qasa exists for vuri, palvu, dzesti, pürmo, üngolu, jinkhu, vilkha, arvu, matürvi, djilghano, txiva, ampoyla, zgendi and most lokho species, as well as such foreign meats as pork, chicken, tapir, wenschar, fezina, shrimp, lusbukhet, lusbef and lusifes. All pet food for carnivorous pets on Javarti is now made with qasa.

Among the olvas, ghaylva is considered something like a miracle crop. This one millet-like plant, with its characteristic pairs of leaves facing each other, produces so many foods for the Javartis. Its flour made into boyla (a substance like dough), the boyla can be cooked flat on an oven to make makho or cooked with yeast to make qünsi. When it is toasted, you get ghaylva tortillas, or eyndja. An eyndja folded once like a taco and filled with food is called a dalpa. Filled with meat and mirgas and then double-cooked flat, a noykümba is made. An eyndja cooked, filled with fruits and then double-cooked produces a sweet known as a djoysa. Boyla pressed on the outside of a bowl becomes banda and is very full and thick, like a chalupa. Banda wrapped in a semicircle around meat and dzosotu becomes a jipibu, while banda in burrito shape and filled with vegetables is called a tayna. Seafood bandas are called qotoru. An eyndja cut into triangular chips is called a dendi; when this chip is topped with mirga and vegetables with possibly some khüva as well, the result is called a taylanü. When cooked with water, like pasta, an orange food called turtayna results. Turtayna can be cut into rectangular strips (sapatu), thick but long rectangles (gaynda), thin, cubical pieces (oyti), long, spaghetti-like noodles (lemitxi), something like lemitxi but even thinner (sutxi), something like lemitxi but very thin (djurna), scalloped pieces (pimiki), triangles (khusu), bowtie shapes (viqi), bagel shapes (bovoru), small rings (txodja), arches (kaymi) or giant balls of savory fillings (djineystu). The ultimate ghaylva dish is omposto, a semircircular "ball" of cooked boyla with a hole at the top, through which one can see such fillings as meat, seafood, vegetables and mirga. Another important olva is temni, with its two broad leaves per stock and its full head of grain. Temni produces ghoynkha under most cooking conditions, which tastes like bread. When steamed it yields a pasta-like dish called txeyndi. The most popular form of txeyndi is karmanda, which resembles macaroni, although the chow-mein-like singu is also a big hit at most restaurants. A bubbly form of temni, cooked with extra yeast in a closed oven, is guysi. There is also the rice-cake-like ghoso, made from the thin, pretty-flowered olva known as zdanka. Straight zdanka grain tastes a lot like orzo, and zdanka grains uncooked can even be sprinkled onto desserts.

Several dishes combine meat/qasa with plants. Mükaysta with vuri is one of the most famous Javarti dishes. Teja combines ground palvu with alko, roga and qikhu (a paste made from mirgas). Gen. Laykeynxa's jinkhu consists of jinkhu with qaqoxü, dzosotu, mükaysta, asanvi and azgi. Xadaxa consists of asanvis and arvu with nuts and qikhu. Garza, vümu, qaqoxü, asanvi, eggs and zayma baked in a "pie" is known as axilgha. Turtayna with sausage on boyla is known as tsalba. Eggs with turtayna, or Ritxi's Breakfast, is a popular breakfast food in rural areas.

Mirgas can be eaten straight, or as paste (qikhu), or roasted (ketidji).

Sugar from the asanvi flavors candies like the spice drops and oyju (the latter of which is made from juli nectar allowed to ferment and then hardened). Many treats, such as alkos, roga, garza and luzdis, are allowed to caramelize and then they are sevred as desserts. The caramel extracted from them makes caramel candies like those sold by Brach's. Fermented caramel (called ampinya) is popular too. Kagas, ükhas, jatas, semiltis and tabeymus are often allowed to ferment and then eaten as liqueur candies. Sugar is also often extracted from the soyko and made into cookies. Soyko and zdanka cookies are called jitepas (nakhanxas if covered with ground soyko and ango seeds), while soyko and temni cookies in bagel shape are called ogolos. Djüntas resemble doughnuts and are baked out of ghaylva. Temni also makes such cakes as toqusa, a square, coffee-cake-like cake made with sugar and jaqavaya; koxibi, a tropical square cake covered with crushed soyko and skoltas; and supoya, a cake with white frosting and buckshot berries. Popular pies include jopasenti pie, tübo pie, azendü pie, ombasa pie, and buckshot berry pie, all made with temni.

Water is the most important drink on Javarti, but there are others. The juices of kagas, ükha, jatas, kündus, semiltis, tabeymus and taygas are all commonly drunk. Txalza, or soyko "milk" is common in rural areas, and served at thatched buildings called alpas. The infusion of the joysana plant, called joysana itself, is extracted from the leaves of the plant. Another popular infusion is xoyva, brewed from ango leaves. The intoxicating infusion of aqi leaves is called tempapeyka. Soda is served at basically every establishment across the planet. Wines are fermented from ükha, semilti and tayga; soyko wine is called quva. Ghaylva produces a 20% alcoholic drink called marxa. The most popular marxa brands are Kilenxe, Loto's, Azbirma, Portü, Zarita and Tseji. Zbomü is another alcoholic drink, brewed from zdanka and known for its urine-yellow color. Zbomü is 44% alcoholic, and popular brands include Ozdi, Tarayka, Nenvu and Xalülgha. Fermented tsanqa nectar is known as tsoyleyza.

Being the world traders that they are, the Javartis are not content to eat and drink only their own plants, animals and mushrooms. Important fruits include bananas, pineapples, apples, grapes and oranges; imported vegetables include potatoes, tomatoes, beans and onions; other imported plants include coffee, tea, wheat, barley, rice, ba e monu, marijuana, pham, oezha, camoscas, poppies, roses and a plant called nidu. Nidu, found on many planets (the LIE name is from Bodusian), can be made into a curd much like tofu. Potatoes are sometimes substituted for luzdis, whereas nidu is cooked into soft, dalpa-like pieces of food called belayvas. Belayvas can be wrapped around various savory fillings like a taco. A more burrito-like nidu wrap is called a pampa. Pampas are filled with all sorts of fillings, such as eggs, palvu, jinkhu, arvu, alko, azgi, dzosotu, luzdi, garza, zayma and mirgas. A nidu crêpe is called a saypaxü. Popular foreign animals include salmon, shrimp, pigs, sheep, chicken and ducks.

Informal, formal and luxury restaurants are established across Javarti. At many of the luxury restaurants, people can be pedicured while eating, or eat in a hot tub. You may have the opportunity of eating with some sexy women, ilti or non-ilti. (Luxury restaurants with men have been less in demand.) There are also nude restaurants, where everyone eats naked and adult films are shown. Restaurants called ambültas serve mostly breakfast; fast food restaurants serve lots of nidu wraps, tsalba, axilgha and sweets. Bars serve all alcoholic drinks, while at a xoyvelpa you can drink xoyva (and buy snacks). Künghis are the bohemian establishments that specialize in joysana. Candy stores sell candy exclusively, while grocery stores sell all sorts of food. A grocery store has the meat and qasa up front, the vegetables to the back right of the meat, the fruit behind the vegetables, the nuts and snacks at the center, carbohydrates at the very back, seafood and seafood qasa to the back left of the meat, mixed foods behind the seafood and seafood qasa, beverages and drugs behind the nuts and snacks, and non-foods (such as diapers) in front of the nuts and snacks. Because of the way an ilti's brain processes knowledge of food groups, Javartis have an intuitive, inborn understanding of where everything in a grocery store is, and will not get lost in the grocery store. Javartis eat three meals a day. When they eat at home, their entire families join together thrice a day to eat, seated at the large tables in their luxurious rooms. More often though, they are eating out, or some members of the family will be eating out and others will be eating in. At the beginning of each home or formal restaurant meal, a cloth serviette is placed to the left side of the food and used to wipe. At the right is a red, square towel called an orpü, used exclusively for cleaning up spills. Javarti meals start with a drink before each course, and end with a drink. Kitchens, dining rooms and restaurants are equipped not only with froks, knives, spoons and chopsticks, but also siltis. A silti is a long utensil with a dome-shaped end covered with velcro-like spikes that allow food to stick to it. Foods eaten with the silti include ubali, layba, bubu poqa, malmoyvi, nuggets, ülqo, djoysa, banda, omposto, guysi, and belayvas.

The Javarti calendar divides the year into 16 months, whose names are taken from Pridubasta: