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Native Life
The Daily Routine
The life of a Native is quiet and peaceful, mostly. The majority of the people are Artisans or Fishermen and most of the day by day activity is spent on their trade.
Fishermen are up before dawn and anyone who works directly with them are usually up then as well, but the rest of the population tends to sleep in late and get up about mid-morning. They take a leisurely breakfast, letting themselves get ready for the day ahead over the course of a few hours which segues into an extended mid-day/early afternoon lunch break. The afternoons are when they devote most of their time to their various crafts (art, gardening, medical research, etc). Those who work in the police force or at the hospital tend to have shorter periods of 'getting ready', but supplement this with a decent early afternoon break.
It's around the start of the work day for the rest of the island that the Fishermen take a few hours for themselves to either nap or get various chores and shopping done before they go out for the evening catch. Businesses are very busy in the late afternoon and into the evening, as well, though most non-entertainment venues shut down fairly early: at or around sunset. What food shopping is done is usually only for a day or two ahead instead of for the whole of the week, so there's always a bit of a flurry of activity in the food markets right before sunset as people get things for dinner. General stores that have more limited supplies of food and goods will stay open for a couple hours after sunset.
Entertainment venues and restaurants stay open the latest as the population has a very strong nightlife. Bars in the Second and First District open their doors about an hour after sunset and go strong into the night to about four in the morning when the fishermen are starting to set out for the morning catch. Sex also tends to keep people up late, of course, and the younger crowds enjoy walking the streets of the Second District in groups just to hang out with each other when they have little else to do and no obligations dragging them back to their homes.
How the Natives View the Collars
To wear a Collar is a privilege.
To be bestowed one means that Atia herself has taken a direct interest in one's life and how they live it. For this reason, unused collars are guarded by the Priests of Atia within the heart of her Temple, sealed away. Each and everyone of them 'plain', a blank slate waiting for the wearer to impart some of their soul into it and grant Atia a direct link to their lives.
While it is known that Atia could at any time affect the Natives the way she does the Collared, it is also known that the Collared are the only ones that are regularly affected by her Blessings (what the Collared ignorantly refer to as a 'curse'). Most Natives are just a little bit jealous of the Collared and slightly resentful of how much attention their Goddess gives to them. Many have petitioned to be allowed to wear a collar. All but a handful in living memory have not been given this honor, but there are Urban Legends of the others who have and how drastically their lives and fortunes changed - always for the better, of course.
Time and the Calendars
It should come as no surprise that the Natives of Atia have their own Calendar system and manner of tracking the days. Despite this, most of the Collared conform to their own known calendars and generally assume all things conform to their schedules. Because of the originally more hostile approach the natives had toward the Collared, they happily let the Collared keep to whatever system they wanted and learned it well enough to use it when dealing with the Collared. After Atia "convinced" the Natives to be more friendly to the Collared, the Natives continued using the Collared Calendar when interacting with them and it has served to keep the Collared from looking that much deeper into the important dates in the Native's year.
But that does not mean the Native's don't use their own system otherwise. The Collared come in cycles. Adopting an entirely new system to suit them whenever they come would be chaos for the Natives.
The Native Calendar is similar in that it's divided into 12 months that are each at least 28 days long. The similarities only go about that far, however.
The months of the year are divided into the elemental seasons - the months when each element is considered at it's strongest. As such, the names of the months follow the same naming convention with the name of the element combined with either "waxing", "full", or "waning". Over time they have been turned into single words, but it's worth noting that when the calendar was first laid out the word were separate.
The table above starts with April because the Native Calendar begins April 1st on "Atia's Ascension Day" (aka Atia's birthday).
Other Holidays of the Native year:
31st of Windwan: Anteros' Day
15th of Fireful: Chariot Day
7th of Firewan: Father's Day
5th-9th of Earthful: Thanatos' Festival of Death and Rebirth
1st of Waterwax: Typhoon Day
1st of Waterful: Mid-Season's Sorrow
14th of Waterwan: Valentine's Day (Collared Created, Native Embraced)
The other islands in the chain (Dei, Gryta, etc) have their own Calendar Systems separate from Atia's or the Collared's.
Economy and Other Islands
Having faith in the economy
The economy of Atia is, to say the least, operating in an unorthodox manner compared to what most collared may be familiar with from their home worlds.
For as long as the collared have been on the island, Atia's economy has been as robust and stable as concrete, but all the same it has been a largely unregulated affair since day one. They've never known of inflation, mass-unemployment or widespread discontent over it on the part of the natives. Nearly everyone seems to be able to find a way to make a living, and nearly everyone can find the means to eke out a living with what's available on the island. Even when potential upsets arrive, from characters bringing in an influx of gold to outright wars, things have been quick to return to normal.
The simplest way to explain this state of economic resilience is, frankly, outright divine intervention and the native residents of the island seeing their place as being divinely ordained. The economy is not particularly unregulated, but it is clearly guided more by the hand of the Goddess than through strict government tracking. Because of this, the native side of the economy can take a boost or a blow in order to keep things fit for the needs of the people. Atia and the other gods actively use their powers to push and pull the lives of their subjects in a way that, at least at a very basic level, ensures they aren't rife with insecurity.
Because a large portion of the island's population see this society's order as being divinely ordained, there isn't much in the way of class warfare or major clamors for reform by the residents of the Third at the expense of the First. The native side of the economy keeps humming along no matter what bumps in the road it might run into. Come hell or come heaven, the common stores and the public marketplace in Atia will usually have what anyone is looking for in their daily affairs without any price-hiking opportunists spoiling it for anyone else.
This is not to say it could not change if someone with more familiarity with how to affect the economy directly got into a position of power. But thus far the island has been blessed with politicos that enjoy the status quo that keeps everyone happy.
Exports/imports
Almost no products fall under any major regulatory bans or supervision by authorities. The few that do usually merely require obtaining a license to produce and sell these products, a process that is sometimes more of a formality than anything else. This has led to Atia being something of a hotbed for the production, and shipping, of products that are illegal in other parts of the world; there are no customs authorities worth mentioning in the matter, and the unregulated nature of the island's internal affairs mean that a lot of products such as narcotics easily end up in the ports of Atia. While the faithful collarless often have no interest in such things, it doesn't stop the collared or outside importers from taking advantage.
In the end, this means that Atia's main exports to the outside world, other than some incredible advances in health care, tend to be reflective of the fact that it's an island without care for the common definitions of 'decency' and 'morals'. And its imports tend to reflect the fact that it's an island of sex and little else as the island relies a lot on foreign products (this includes food from Dei) to keep its markets stocked with the items that the residents need in their daily lives. Since the other islands either lack the will or resources to rein in Atia's role as a virtual smuggler's den, this status quo seems to be there to stay.
Whatever Atia's role in the larger economy in the world is, is hard to say. Ships flying the flags of Lethia, Ina, Dei and Gryta aren't uncommon sights in the ports, but so are ships of other flags or even unmarked ones, hinting at a collarless trade beyond the horizon that the collared aren't fully aware of.
The Strength of the Amat
To those in the know, it should be more than obvious that the legal tender of Atia, the 'AMAT' was introduced solely as a means of creating an exchange rate with foreign traders. The barter system would do perfectly well on Atia if it were just Atia, Dei, Gryta, Lethia, and Ina involved in the trading. The island chain is quite self-sufficient and could live in a pre-industrial interconnected state if left to itself. However, the islands are not alone in the world and trade with outside powers has been happening for quite some time.
Thus the Amat was introduced. It allows the Natives to price out their goods on their terms and have an exchange rate on the island that favors them. The Native Bank (and now also the Collared run Bank of Monte Cristo) are both able to exchange nearly any currency in existence into AMAT with little trouble. Their highly accurate accounting methods, the God's active presence, and very strong Health Care Advances provide them with a much stronger base for using it as a near universal currency that rarely fluctuates in value. However, this also comes with the understanding that the lowest possible unit of exchange with an AMAT is literally ONE AMAT. There are no quarter AMAT or tenths of an AMAT.
This helps keep prices on the island fairly low (and not quite perfectly synced up with the IRL American Dollar) because no one wants to spend 4AMAT on a gallon of milk. That would be pretty outrageous.
Imports and Exports
As stated above, Atia imports a great deal of what it needs to survive with an ever-growing population. There isn't enough land to support all the food the Native population needs, nor are there enough animals for them to hunt to properly supplement their heavy diet of Fish.
Imports
Food (wheat, other grains, milk, cheeses, steak, pork, vegetables of every variety, etc)
Industrial needs (high quantity of nails, sheet metal, steel, iron, foreign woods, paper, etc)
Non-Sexual Technological needs (Pre-assembled tech that collared are familiar with as well as individual parts. Microwaves, vacuum-cleaners, and other such household items are much more common than anything very computerized or for personal entertainment uses)
Exports
Health Care (Atians have made some very strong advances in medicine that are not strictly the doing of their Goddess. Many cures, vaccines, and surgical techniques were developed on the island to ensure they wouldn't need to petition their Goddess for help curing relatively common illnesses. When their advances were discovered by foreign interests, Atia was able to leverage it into economic power to control the strength of the AMAT on foreign soil.)
Fish (Due to being an island that relies heavily on the sea for their own meat needs, Atia has a very robust Fishing industry and is able to export excess ocean fish for a tidy profit.)
Sex-Enhancing Narotics (While they may be heavily regulated elsewhere, Atia's views on sex-enhancing drugs and how easy they are to both produce and acquire means there's a healthy business of exporting to shores that have a much harder time getting their hands on such things.)
Sex-Related Items (Everything from sex toys to condoms. Atians are very serious about keeping sex both safe and fun.)
Art (Atians produce a great deal of visual art on a regular basis and not all of it stays on the island.)
Small, Personal-Use Watercrafts (The island boasts a very active ship-yard the the ships there are are some of the sturdiest in existence. However, Aitans focus on smaller 6-10 man crafts for both private use and fishing. They don't have their own large shipping vessels that they send out.)
Sex (Atia doesn't actually 'export' sex directly, but because they are so free with sex on their own shores, it's not uncommon for foreign ships to bring in curious tourists looking to get their nasty on with some of the 'crazy sex people'. They are usually disappointed to find out that they do actually have to pay for that sort of thing and that there is not sex happening in the streets at all times, keeping the amount of sex-tourists that come to the island relatively low. Enough to count as an 'export', but not enough to cause trouble or make it a more important industry to the island's economy.)
Politics Outside the Priesthood
The Day to Day lives of Atians are regulated by a loose set of conduct laws and stricter sex/crimes-against-others laws. The sex laws were created by the Preists of Atia and generally regulated by them as well, but the rest of the laws and regulations the Natives live in accordance with have been created by a council that is run through the Atian Mayor's Office. The courts and legal affairs of Atia - including property regulation, taxation, marriage licenses, etc - are all outside the Preisthood. These are day to day affairs that don't effect the worship of Atia and as such are left to others to regulate.
This means there is a small bit of politics most Atians have to keep up with. Which council member is in favor of re-zoning the lines of the Marketplace could be important to someone who's been trying to get a better tax rate because sales taxes within the Marketplace are less than those outside it.
The Council
The Mayor is ultimately the person to signs a law into existence. While s/he can technically veto it, if the City Council has voted for a law, s/he will usually go with that majority's call. The Mayor is decided on by the Council and keeps the position for no more than 10 years.
The Council consists of representatives from the sub-districts (one each, voted in every two years) and is run by the 3 Head District Representatives (one each from the First, Second, and Third Districts, voted in every 3 years).
The Sub-District Councilors represent smaller groups of people within each district. The majority of the time, the sub-district lines have no effect on the day-to-day lives of the people. They are important only when the Council decides to allow a vote or one of the people within it chooses to speak to their Sub-District Councilor about an issue.
The First District has 4 Sub-District Councilors as there are 4 Sub-Districts within the First: First District East, First District West, Palace District, and the Temple District.
The Second District has 6 Sub-District Councilors as there are 6 Sub-Districts: Second District West, Museum District, Colosseum District, Second District East, Second District South/Shipyard, and the Mirrors District
The Third District has 4 Sub-District Councilors because there are 4 Sub-Districts within the 3rd District: Third District North, Third District South, Third District East, and Third District West
There are 2 additional Sub-District Councilors for Sub-Districts that do not fall within the other Districts:
Marketplace (The Marketplace is considered it's own district and anyone who has a business there must chose in a vote which sub-district they'll be voting under, allowing the business owners to effect changes within the marketplace without compromising their own Sub-District needs.)
Passions District (A newly formed Sub-District due to the new city expansion taking place in the Forest of Passions on the North Shore of the Norther Bay.)
Taxes
Sellers of goods and services (including sex workers) are taxed to various degrees depending on what they offer. This taxation is not passed onto the buyers as the taxes on something could change quickly (due to various factors like availability of the product, the amount of demand, how important it is, etc) and accusations of 'cheating' the buyer could come of it.
Taxes on sexual services are the lowest and half the taxes collected are given directly to the Temple of Atia to spend on needed repairs or food for the Priests and other such things.
Taxes on all other goods and services depend on the good or service in question and how much is already saturating the market. The more difficult it is to sell, the lower the tax. The easier it is the sell, the higher the tax. Taxes collected from this go into the City's Treasury to pay the city workers, police, and other public servants wages.
Taxes are collected monthly by a Tax Assessor.
Changing a Law/Creating
So long as a law is not one that would fall under the Priesthood's direct influence (such as laws about sex), anyone can petition the council to change a law. They need enough support from the people within a Sub-District for the Council member representing those people to vote for it. Support for or against changes to the island's laws can be gathered and lobbied for throughout the year. When at least half the Sub-Districts of a single District (2 for First or Third District, 3 for the Second District) have shown strong support for getting a vote done on a law, the law it taken to all the people of the island to vote for it. This means there are no regular voting cycles outside of voting for the Council Members.
Sex Lives of the Natives
Atia is an island dependent on sex to be sustained. It's also a place with relaxed laws regarding most aspects of life. As such, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the island has a view on sex that elevates and encourages it as a part of one's daily life, collared or native.
The only laws that are strictly enforced as they concern natives are the rules against violence and assault, meaning that sex without consent is treated as a criminal offense. That said, almost nothing is frowned upon as long as no one is hurt (without consent) and Atia is, by extension, almost completely devoid of laws enforcing "decency" and "morals" that collared residents may more familiar with. There are no laws that differentiate the sexes, nor are there any that favor one sexuality over another. And while it's not encouraged, someone can walk naked through the First district without causing a stir, or have sex inside a public building or area without any recourse, legal or ortherwise. In fact, as long as you're not directly obstructing or otherwise directly bothering someone else, you're more likely to have someone asking to join you than you are to have someone asking you to stop.
The opposite of puritan in every sense, it's not uncommon to see a native man embrace a woman in public, or for men to embrace other men or women to embrace other women without shame or recourse. That is not to say that the natives are rampantly ravenous and that there's endless sex on the streets. It simply means that the population is of a free and open-minded spirit, willing to engage in the goods of life that their Goddess encourages them to, and to let others do the same as long as no one's personal boundaries are being infringed upon. Most natives see sex as a normal part of life, and engage in it with a friend or loved one at least once on an almost daily basis. Because sex is seen as such a normal thing, there isn't much in the way of tension or risk attached to it. And while there are, of course, monogamous natives and natives that aren't as freely spirited as others, there are practically no voices arguing for a change in the way of things where everyone is free to do as they wish. Casual sex is the norm, not the exception.
This relaxed attitude also exists in the sex industry, but the laws surrounding the protection of those who work in it are very strict. While it's true that prostitution is legal, brothels can be set up as easily as a corner shop, and just about every kink imaginable can be found there or in the pornographic output of the island, the laws of Atia provide for the protection of sex workers in every way. Due to the religious connotations that sex has on Atia, this really isn't that surprising. Sex is important and making sure it's safe and consensual for everyone involved is of the highest priority.
Sex, even just done for fun, is often seen as a religious and spiritual experience. It is such a part of the native life that not giving a quick prayer or thanks to Atia before, during, or after sex is a rare thing. It's as ingrained to the social consciousness as screaming 'Oh my god! Yes!' at least once in each flick is ingrained to the porno industry.
What may be surprising is that sex is not often involved in matters of business. This is largely due to Harmonia's influence and her lack of emphasis on sex. Signing contracts and entering into business deals are occasionally 'shook on' via sex, but it is not important to the process.
Lastly, and perhaps this is merely a statement of the obvious at this point, but there are no taboos dividing the natives and the collared. Sex between the two groups on the island aren't rare or frowned upon, at least by the native parties despite whatever other views the natives may have about the collared based on their own interactions with them.
The life of a Native is quiet and peaceful, mostly. The majority of the people are Artisans or Fishermen and most of the day by day activity is spent on their trade.
Fishermen are up before dawn and anyone who works directly with them are usually up then as well, but the rest of the population tends to sleep in late and get up about mid-morning. They take a leisurely breakfast, letting themselves get ready for the day ahead over the course of a few hours which segues into an extended mid-day/early afternoon lunch break. The afternoons are when they devote most of their time to their various crafts (art, gardening, medical research, etc). Those who work in the police force or at the hospital tend to have shorter periods of 'getting ready', but supplement this with a decent early afternoon break.
It's around the start of the work day for the rest of the island that the Fishermen take a few hours for themselves to either nap or get various chores and shopping done before they go out for the evening catch. Businesses are very busy in the late afternoon and into the evening, as well, though most non-entertainment venues shut down fairly early: at or around sunset. What food shopping is done is usually only for a day or two ahead instead of for the whole of the week, so there's always a bit of a flurry of activity in the food markets right before sunset as people get things for dinner. General stores that have more limited supplies of food and goods will stay open for a couple hours after sunset.
Entertainment venues and restaurants stay open the latest as the population has a very strong nightlife. Bars in the Second and First District open their doors about an hour after sunset and go strong into the night to about four in the morning when the fishermen are starting to set out for the morning catch. Sex also tends to keep people up late, of course, and the younger crowds enjoy walking the streets of the Second District in groups just to hang out with each other when they have little else to do and no obligations dragging them back to their homes.
How the Natives View the Collars
To wear a Collar is a privilege.
To be bestowed one means that Atia herself has taken a direct interest in one's life and how they live it. For this reason, unused collars are guarded by the Priests of Atia within the heart of her Temple, sealed away. Each and everyone of them 'plain', a blank slate waiting for the wearer to impart some of their soul into it and grant Atia a direct link to their lives.
While it is known that Atia could at any time affect the Natives the way she does the Collared, it is also known that the Collared are the only ones that are regularly affected by her Blessings (what the Collared ignorantly refer to as a 'curse'). Most Natives are just a little bit jealous of the Collared and slightly resentful of how much attention their Goddess gives to them. Many have petitioned to be allowed to wear a collar. All but a handful in living memory have not been given this honor, but there are Urban Legends of the others who have and how drastically their lives and fortunes changed - always for the better, of course.
Time and the Calendars
It should come as no surprise that the Natives of Atia have their own Calendar system and manner of tracking the days. Despite this, most of the Collared conform to their own known calendars and generally assume all things conform to their schedules. Because of the originally more hostile approach the natives had toward the Collared, they happily let the Collared keep to whatever system they wanted and learned it well enough to use it when dealing with the Collared. After Atia "convinced" the Natives to be more friendly to the Collared, the Natives continued using the Collared Calendar when interacting with them and it has served to keep the Collared from looking that much deeper into the important dates in the Native's year.
But that does not mean the Native's don't use their own system otherwise. The Collared come in cycles. Adopting an entirely new system to suit them whenever they come would be chaos for the Natives.
The Native Calendar is similar in that it's divided into 12 months that are each at least 28 days long. The similarities only go about that far, however.
The months of the year are divided into the elemental seasons - the months when each element is considered at it's strongest. As such, the names of the months follow the same naming convention with the name of the element combined with either "waxing", "full", or "waning". Over time they have been turned into single words, but it's worth noting that when the calendar was first laid out the word were separate.
| April | Windful |
| May | Windwan |
| June | Firewax |
| July | Fireful |
| August | Firewan |
| September | Earthwax |
| October | Earthful |
| November | Earthwan |
| December | Waterwax |
| January | Waterful |
| February | Waterwan |
| March | Windwax |
The table above starts with April because the Native Calendar begins April 1st on "Atia's Ascension Day" (aka Atia's birthday).
Other Holidays of the Native year:
31st of Windwan: Anteros' Day
15th of Fireful: Chariot Day
7th of Firewan: Father's Day
5th-9th of Earthful: Thanatos' Festival of Death and Rebirth
1st of Waterwax: Typhoon Day
1st of Waterful: Mid-Season's Sorrow
14th of Waterwan: Valentine's Day (Collared Created, Native Embraced)
The other islands in the chain (Dei, Gryta, etc) have their own Calendar Systems separate from Atia's or the Collared's.
Economy and Other Islands
Having faith in the economy
The economy of Atia is, to say the least, operating in an unorthodox manner compared to what most collared may be familiar with from their home worlds.
For as long as the collared have been on the island, Atia's economy has been as robust and stable as concrete, but all the same it has been a largely unregulated affair since day one. They've never known of inflation, mass-unemployment or widespread discontent over it on the part of the natives. Nearly everyone seems to be able to find a way to make a living, and nearly everyone can find the means to eke out a living with what's available on the island. Even when potential upsets arrive, from characters bringing in an influx of gold to outright wars, things have been quick to return to normal.
The simplest way to explain this state of economic resilience is, frankly, outright divine intervention and the native residents of the island seeing their place as being divinely ordained. The economy is not particularly unregulated, but it is clearly guided more by the hand of the Goddess than through strict government tracking. Because of this, the native side of the economy can take a boost or a blow in order to keep things fit for the needs of the people. Atia and the other gods actively use their powers to push and pull the lives of their subjects in a way that, at least at a very basic level, ensures they aren't rife with insecurity.
Because a large portion of the island's population see this society's order as being divinely ordained, there isn't much in the way of class warfare or major clamors for reform by the residents of the Third at the expense of the First. The native side of the economy keeps humming along no matter what bumps in the road it might run into. Come hell or come heaven, the common stores and the public marketplace in Atia will usually have what anyone is looking for in their daily affairs without any price-hiking opportunists spoiling it for anyone else.
This is not to say it could not change if someone with more familiarity with how to affect the economy directly got into a position of power. But thus far the island has been blessed with politicos that enjoy the status quo that keeps everyone happy.
Exports/imports
Almost no products fall under any major regulatory bans or supervision by authorities. The few that do usually merely require obtaining a license to produce and sell these products, a process that is sometimes more of a formality than anything else. This has led to Atia being something of a hotbed for the production, and shipping, of products that are illegal in other parts of the world; there are no customs authorities worth mentioning in the matter, and the unregulated nature of the island's internal affairs mean that a lot of products such as narcotics easily end up in the ports of Atia. While the faithful collarless often have no interest in such things, it doesn't stop the collared or outside importers from taking advantage.
In the end, this means that Atia's main exports to the outside world, other than some incredible advances in health care, tend to be reflective of the fact that it's an island without care for the common definitions of 'decency' and 'morals'. And its imports tend to reflect the fact that it's an island of sex and little else as the island relies a lot on foreign products (this includes food from Dei) to keep its markets stocked with the items that the residents need in their daily lives. Since the other islands either lack the will or resources to rein in Atia's role as a virtual smuggler's den, this status quo seems to be there to stay.
Whatever Atia's role in the larger economy in the world is, is hard to say. Ships flying the flags of Lethia, Ina, Dei and Gryta aren't uncommon sights in the ports, but so are ships of other flags or even unmarked ones, hinting at a collarless trade beyond the horizon that the collared aren't fully aware of.
The Strength of the Amat
To those in the know, it should be more than obvious that the legal tender of Atia, the 'AMAT' was introduced solely as a means of creating an exchange rate with foreign traders. The barter system would do perfectly well on Atia if it were just Atia, Dei, Gryta, Lethia, and Ina involved in the trading. The island chain is quite self-sufficient and could live in a pre-industrial interconnected state if left to itself. However, the islands are not alone in the world and trade with outside powers has been happening for quite some time.
Thus the Amat was introduced. It allows the Natives to price out their goods on their terms and have an exchange rate on the island that favors them. The Native Bank (and now also the Collared run Bank of Monte Cristo) are both able to exchange nearly any currency in existence into AMAT with little trouble. Their highly accurate accounting methods, the God's active presence, and very strong Health Care Advances provide them with a much stronger base for using it as a near universal currency that rarely fluctuates in value. However, this also comes with the understanding that the lowest possible unit of exchange with an AMAT is literally ONE AMAT. There are no quarter AMAT or tenths of an AMAT.
This helps keep prices on the island fairly low (and not quite perfectly synced up with the IRL American Dollar) because no one wants to spend 4AMAT on a gallon of milk. That would be pretty outrageous.
Imports and Exports
As stated above, Atia imports a great deal of what it needs to survive with an ever-growing population. There isn't enough land to support all the food the Native population needs, nor are there enough animals for them to hunt to properly supplement their heavy diet of Fish.
Imports
Food (wheat, other grains, milk, cheeses, steak, pork, vegetables of every variety, etc)
Industrial needs (high quantity of nails, sheet metal, steel, iron, foreign woods, paper, etc)
Non-Sexual Technological needs (Pre-assembled tech that collared are familiar with as well as individual parts. Microwaves, vacuum-cleaners, and other such household items are much more common than anything very computerized or for personal entertainment uses)
Exports
Health Care (Atians have made some very strong advances in medicine that are not strictly the doing of their Goddess. Many cures, vaccines, and surgical techniques were developed on the island to ensure they wouldn't need to petition their Goddess for help curing relatively common illnesses. When their advances were discovered by foreign interests, Atia was able to leverage it into economic power to control the strength of the AMAT on foreign soil.)
Fish (Due to being an island that relies heavily on the sea for their own meat needs, Atia has a very robust Fishing industry and is able to export excess ocean fish for a tidy profit.)
Sex-Enhancing Narotics (While they may be heavily regulated elsewhere, Atia's views on sex-enhancing drugs and how easy they are to both produce and acquire means there's a healthy business of exporting to shores that have a much harder time getting their hands on such things.)
Sex-Related Items (Everything from sex toys to condoms. Atians are very serious about keeping sex both safe and fun.)
Art (Atians produce a great deal of visual art on a regular basis and not all of it stays on the island.)
Small, Personal-Use Watercrafts (The island boasts a very active ship-yard the the ships there are are some of the sturdiest in existence. However, Aitans focus on smaller 6-10 man crafts for both private use and fishing. They don't have their own large shipping vessels that they send out.)
Sex (Atia doesn't actually 'export' sex directly, but because they are so free with sex on their own shores, it's not uncommon for foreign ships to bring in curious tourists looking to get their nasty on with some of the 'crazy sex people'. They are usually disappointed to find out that they do actually have to pay for that sort of thing and that there is not sex happening in the streets at all times, keeping the amount of sex-tourists that come to the island relatively low. Enough to count as an 'export', but not enough to cause trouble or make it a more important industry to the island's economy.)
Politics Outside the Priesthood
The Day to Day lives of Atians are regulated by a loose set of conduct laws and stricter sex/crimes-against-others laws. The sex laws were created by the Preists of Atia and generally regulated by them as well, but the rest of the laws and regulations the Natives live in accordance with have been created by a council that is run through the Atian Mayor's Office. The courts and legal affairs of Atia - including property regulation, taxation, marriage licenses, etc - are all outside the Preisthood. These are day to day affairs that don't effect the worship of Atia and as such are left to others to regulate.
This means there is a small bit of politics most Atians have to keep up with. Which council member is in favor of re-zoning the lines of the Marketplace could be important to someone who's been trying to get a better tax rate because sales taxes within the Marketplace are less than those outside it.
The Council
The Mayor is ultimately the person to signs a law into existence. While s/he can technically veto it, if the City Council has voted for a law, s/he will usually go with that majority's call. The Mayor is decided on by the Council and keeps the position for no more than 10 years.
The Council consists of representatives from the sub-districts (one each, voted in every two years) and is run by the 3 Head District Representatives (one each from the First, Second, and Third Districts, voted in every 3 years).
The Sub-District Councilors represent smaller groups of people within each district. The majority of the time, the sub-district lines have no effect on the day-to-day lives of the people. They are important only when the Council decides to allow a vote or one of the people within it chooses to speak to their Sub-District Councilor about an issue.
The First District has 4 Sub-District Councilors as there are 4 Sub-Districts within the First: First District East, First District West, Palace District, and the Temple District.
The Second District has 6 Sub-District Councilors as there are 6 Sub-Districts: Second District West, Museum District, Colosseum District, Second District East, Second District South/Shipyard, and the Mirrors District
The Third District has 4 Sub-District Councilors because there are 4 Sub-Districts within the 3rd District: Third District North, Third District South, Third District East, and Third District West
There are 2 additional Sub-District Councilors for Sub-Districts that do not fall within the other Districts:
Marketplace (The Marketplace is considered it's own district and anyone who has a business there must chose in a vote which sub-district they'll be voting under, allowing the business owners to effect changes within the marketplace without compromising their own Sub-District needs.)
Passions District (A newly formed Sub-District due to the new city expansion taking place in the Forest of Passions on the North Shore of the Norther Bay.)
Taxes
Sellers of goods and services (including sex workers) are taxed to various degrees depending on what they offer. This taxation is not passed onto the buyers as the taxes on something could change quickly (due to various factors like availability of the product, the amount of demand, how important it is, etc) and accusations of 'cheating' the buyer could come of it.
Taxes on sexual services are the lowest and half the taxes collected are given directly to the Temple of Atia to spend on needed repairs or food for the Priests and other such things.
Taxes on all other goods and services depend on the good or service in question and how much is already saturating the market. The more difficult it is to sell, the lower the tax. The easier it is the sell, the higher the tax. Taxes collected from this go into the City's Treasury to pay the city workers, police, and other public servants wages.
Taxes are collected monthly by a Tax Assessor.
Changing a Law/Creating
So long as a law is not one that would fall under the Priesthood's direct influence (such as laws about sex), anyone can petition the council to change a law. They need enough support from the people within a Sub-District for the Council member representing those people to vote for it. Support for or against changes to the island's laws can be gathered and lobbied for throughout the year. When at least half the Sub-Districts of a single District (2 for First or Third District, 3 for the Second District) have shown strong support for getting a vote done on a law, the law it taken to all the people of the island to vote for it. This means there are no regular voting cycles outside of voting for the Council Members.
Sex Lives of the Natives
Atia is an island dependent on sex to be sustained. It's also a place with relaxed laws regarding most aspects of life. As such, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the island has a view on sex that elevates and encourages it as a part of one's daily life, collared or native.
The only laws that are strictly enforced as they concern natives are the rules against violence and assault, meaning that sex without consent is treated as a criminal offense. That said, almost nothing is frowned upon as long as no one is hurt (without consent) and Atia is, by extension, almost completely devoid of laws enforcing "decency" and "morals" that collared residents may more familiar with. There are no laws that differentiate the sexes, nor are there any that favor one sexuality over another. And while it's not encouraged, someone can walk naked through the First district without causing a stir, or have sex inside a public building or area without any recourse, legal or ortherwise. In fact, as long as you're not directly obstructing or otherwise directly bothering someone else, you're more likely to have someone asking to join you than you are to have someone asking you to stop.
The opposite of puritan in every sense, it's not uncommon to see a native man embrace a woman in public, or for men to embrace other men or women to embrace other women without shame or recourse. That is not to say that the natives are rampantly ravenous and that there's endless sex on the streets. It simply means that the population is of a free and open-minded spirit, willing to engage in the goods of life that their Goddess encourages them to, and to let others do the same as long as no one's personal boundaries are being infringed upon. Most natives see sex as a normal part of life, and engage in it with a friend or loved one at least once on an almost daily basis. Because sex is seen as such a normal thing, there isn't much in the way of tension or risk attached to it. And while there are, of course, monogamous natives and natives that aren't as freely spirited as others, there are practically no voices arguing for a change in the way of things where everyone is free to do as they wish. Casual sex is the norm, not the exception.
This relaxed attitude also exists in the sex industry, but the laws surrounding the protection of those who work in it are very strict. While it's true that prostitution is legal, brothels can be set up as easily as a corner shop, and just about every kink imaginable can be found there or in the pornographic output of the island, the laws of Atia provide for the protection of sex workers in every way. Due to the religious connotations that sex has on Atia, this really isn't that surprising. Sex is important and making sure it's safe and consensual for everyone involved is of the highest priority.
Sex, even just done for fun, is often seen as a religious and spiritual experience. It is such a part of the native life that not giving a quick prayer or thanks to Atia before, during, or after sex is a rare thing. It's as ingrained to the social consciousness as screaming 'Oh my god! Yes!' at least once in each flick is ingrained to the porno industry.
What may be surprising is that sex is not often involved in matters of business. This is largely due to Harmonia's influence and her lack of emphasis on sex. Signing contracts and entering into business deals are occasionally 'shook on' via sex, but it is not important to the process.
Lastly, and perhaps this is merely a statement of the obvious at this point, but there are no taboos dividing the natives and the collared. Sex between the two groups on the island aren't rare or frowned upon, at least by the native parties despite whatever other views the natives may have about the collared based on their own interactions with them.