SILENCE
THE HISTORY
The previous emperor of the country that founded Kou, the father of Hakutoku and Koutoku, was born mute. At the time, Kou was not yet an empire, and was nowhere near as impressive as it was in the manga. The emperor was undeterred by his inability to speak, despite the fact that a good part of the court looked down on him.
As an only child, there was no one else to inherit the throne, and as such the manners and traditions of the small royal court changed as the mute emperor ascended to power and gained respect by governing with a just and fair hand.
As the emperor did not speak, no one else in the court did. It was looked upon as disrespect, and other methods of communicating were devised. Eventually, it became almost an entire other language, made up of a mixture of body language, the written word, and the movements of a fan.
Courtiers would fold elegant origami messages to pass, with each noble family eventually carrying papers with their own signature pattern. Origami became a necessary skill, as decorations of paper began to replace the customary flowers and gold.
The motion of a hand being opened could symbolise a request, a bow could symbolise apology. A fan being loudly snapped open meant admonishment, whilst rapidly fluttering the fan meant disapproval. For more complex messages, courtiers would pass origami messages.
The movements and footsteps of the courtiers became quieter and quieter, until there was near silence in the royal court, with the only noises being the snap of a fan being opened and the rustle of silk.
No noise came from the palace, while outside the court the common peoples continued to speak and laugh as merrily as ever. The royal court became one of silence, where one only spoke in privacy and with trusted family, friends, or retainers.
With the reign of Hakutoku however, the rules became a little more lax to allow for some noise. It was no longer a deed deserving punishment, but it was still heavily disapproved of and looked down upon. This was of course because of the numerous newcomers from the other countries they were merging with.
A/N:
Yaaay
I have made a whole new culture. ^^ don't worry this isn't taking time from Chokers. It's prewritten up till Hakuei, so I'm just going to take my time and torture you all.
(Well tbh it's so that you don't get sad when I don't manage to update Chokers at the appropriate time.)
Feel free to leave feed back.
FireLark