Pakumbe Untouchable Caste

The Pakumbe caste, also referred to as the untouchable caste, is the bottommost caste of The Telvan Empire's Telvan Caste System.

The Pakumbe are not considered citizens and thus have few legal rights and protections from the Telvan overlords. The choice of career as well as their movements are heavily restricted and regulated. They are typically restricted to the most undesirable and dangerous job, and most end up working in laborious unskilled jobs.

The Pakumbe caste is made up of mostly of the non-telvan populations that the empire has conquered with a small population of Telvans who have committed cultural taboos or are descended from those who have. Historically the caste was made up of telvans who had committed taboos or were considered taboo for one reason or another, but due to the Empire’s conquests the idea of Telvan Pakumbe has become seen as deeply disturbing.

Role in Society

Despite the empire saying that the Sumpa commoner class are the backbone of the Telvan empire it would be more true to say that the Pakumbe are the real backbone as they make up the majority of the labor force.

The Pakumbe caste has grown a lot since the Telvan empire began expanding and conquering past their original star system, and over time they replaced the Sumpa commoner class as the main labor force, allowing the Sumpa caste to become more of a middle class.

How are They Viewed?

The Pakumbe are often stereotyped as hard working, better built for labor than Telvans, and simple minded needing a ruling force like the Empire to guide them out of chaos and into order. Basically, they are stereotyped in ways that justify their position in society and the empire’s actions towards them.

Career Restrictions

In terms of career, they are typically only allowed to do unskilled menial labor jobs like mining or agricultural work as well as other jobs considered undesirable such as gravedigger or butcher.

They may also work as domestic help, but typically members of the Sumpa caste are preferred as they are Telvan. There have also been cases of interpersonal relationships between Pakumbe domestic workers and Lanbe overseers or their family, and this is another reason the Pakumbe have been delegated to more of the fringe jobs where they would not interact often with the Lanbe caste.

Historically they did more of the undesirable jobs, not really allowed into any career that had any form of upward mobility, however as the Sumpa rose to middle class status the Pakumbe were made to take over more of the labor jobs in the mines and fields, without any of the upside of course.

Legal Status

The Pakumbe are very restricted, often being persecuted legally and socially when they break the rules or step out of line. They are legally considered property of their Lanbe overlords and can be sold or gifted at whim.

The Pakumbe are very restricted when it comes to their movement, needing permission and paperwork to travel outside of their place of work and living. Even if they do have the proper paperwork, they still can face harassment and discrimination at best and violent hate crimes at worst.

There are certain areas -mostly government buildings, Lanbe palaces, etc- where the Pakumbe are not allowed and face imprisonment if found there.