What is Scarrae?
Scarrae is our word for people who navigate the world in a perceptive, sensory-aware, layered way.
What they are building
Scarrae is a word from the language known as Scots. It refers to reflected moonlight. That’s a perfect vibe for how we use it. In our use, it refers to a type of perception and the people who operate by it. We can’t list all the ways it might express. We’re still figuring that out, and, like all living systems, it’s evolving. All we’ve done is apply a word. It isn’t the only word. But it seems to fill a need. Once you get a sense for it, we think you’ll agree, it kinda fits.
What caught our attention
The word was first used in the books of our very own Jonah Mick (That’s me, by the way.) My writing is all about perception and using stories to map aspects of reality that are hard to describe directly. Scarrae fits exactly that. Not moonlight, not reflection, the reflection of the moonlight; barely detectable unless you’re paying attention, but undeniable once you see it. In the research for my books, I kept encountering people who seemed to naturally embody these traits across cultures, geographies, lifestyles. And I wondered… maybe this is something real. As that developed, I explored, what if those scattered and marginalized few were to stop telling themselves the story their Mother Culture was whispering, and like the Roma, say, “We are our own people! We are amongst you, but not the same.” Then I encountered people saying the same thing: neurodivergent manifestos, values-based ethics, circular economies, and shadow systems growing right amidst the decaying elements of our calcified culture. I just gave them a name.
My books are a speculative journey through how this people may actually develop. As with any multicultural people, their languages would blend. So I looked to existing slangs, pidgins, creoles and discovered once again, more than a few of these exist amongst intercultural groups. While not all rise to the level of a full creole, they certainly become a linguistic register that signals in-group, supplies the ‘codec’ if you will, for how the words should be taken. I actually live in one between Japan and the US. I discovered another between Scots and Appalachia. These became the foundation for the fictional Scarrae language. But then a bizarre thing started happening. People in my circles, beta readers, friends, began to adopt Scarrae words where they fit better than their native words. And in that numinous interplay between art and life, Scarrae as an IRL register emerged. It is still evolving. I don’t own it. Words and patterns are added, change on their own. And weirdest of all, similar concepts show up across unrelated cultures. All the more evidence that Gang ben riss, ken furja: You have to go into the gaps to perceive the opportunities.