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Followers of one religion bounce on their butts with legs crossed. What would they need to wear on their legs to make that comfortable?

Their scripture contrasts three gifts that will end (prophecy, translation, and knowledge) with three that will remain: "faith, hop, and love." This typo in 1 Corinthians 13:13 led some denominations to scrutinize the rest of scripture for jumping, leaping, and the like in order to find instances of gifts of the Spirit. One group ended up adopting a practice resembling the so-called "yogic flying" of real-world Transcendental Meditation. It involves sitting in the lotus position, focusing your mind on your destination, and then hopping on your buttocks and thighs.

In the real world, yogic flying exercises take place in a room filled with mattresses, as shown in videos like this. But in this fictional world, followers of this movement have adopted it as their everyday method of locomotion. Children are trained in it from infancy; instead of crawling before walking, they bottom-shuffle before hopping. In some cases, this results in atrophy of the muscles below the hips, as they are hardly ever used for weight bearing, with most of the work done by the buttock muscles.

Without the mattresses to help with cushioning and restitution, they would have to wear some specialized clothing on their legs. I'm guessing this may take the form of a sack that holds the legs in place, provides some sort of cushioning, has a durable sole layer, and has a pocket for carrying things. What form of legwear would be the most practical?

(No magic please. Tech level can be anywhere from King James era to modern times, as I'm not yet sure when these people adopted this practice.)

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    $\begingroup$ OK! people hop on their tuckuses, who'd have thought adults would do such a thing... but they do look happy in the video, and to each their own. But, this isn't quite a worldbuilding question. There isn't a rule of your world being developed, tested, or utilized. As the author, you are free to design religions as you see fit, including how that religion realizes its clothing. From a purely physics standpoint this question might be answerable: it'll likley involve leather and padding, but those may interfere with efficient hopping. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Sep 12, 2018 at 14:17
  • $\begingroup$ @JBH I had intended this to be mostly about clothing. For future reference, what meta topic if any describes what is on and off topic in clothing? If it helps, I can try to shorten the religious background part. $\endgroup$
    – Damian Yerrick
    Commented Sep 12, 2018 at 14:26
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    $\begingroup$ The problem is that "this typo" would get corrected very quickly (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_Bible) because English translations are -- by definition -- translations -- and this is going to be noticed sooner than later. Thus, it won't be "one religion", but "one tiny sect mocked by everyone else for not looking at the source text. Heck, even Fundamentalists have transliterations and parallel Bibles. $\endgroup$
    – RonJohn
    Commented Sep 12, 2018 at 15:12
  • $\begingroup$ If you believe we needed to mention the word "clothing" we would need a meta or help center entry for every noun in the dictionary. Asking how to design the tenets of your religion is worldbuilding. Asking how that religion would design its outerwear (or paint its walls, or position its pews...) is storybuilding (off-topic). Worse, it's POB. Who's to say the best cloth isn't plastic or aluminum or broken glass? What guides your priests? With the religious backstory the question is IMO OT:TSB. Without the backstory the Q is probably OT:NAW. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Sep 12, 2018 at 16:49
  • $\begingroup$ Leg protection is not that much different - your people will need extra butt protection! I suggest sturdy seat-shaped inflated balloons. $\endgroup$
    – Alexander
    Commented Sep 12, 2018 at 17:07

1 Answer 1

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Chaps

People who walk on their feet wear leather soled shoes. Therefore, people who move on their thighs and calves will use leather 'soled' legs.

FYI. I tried out this motion out and found that mostly the buttocks themselves don't touch the floor--if I'm doing it right, which I might not be because I'm not a Yogi.

enter image description here

PS (Don't google leather chaps with safe-search off...especially if you are at work!)

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    $\begingroup$ I'll give you +1 just for trying the motion. I doubt I can even achieve the lotus position anymore. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Sep 12, 2018 at 17:15
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    $\begingroup$ @JBH I definitely wouldn't say I "achieved the lotus position." I think "flailed on the floor while my co-workers looked on in horror" is a more accurate decision. $\endgroup$
    – kingledion
    Commented Sep 12, 2018 at 20:12

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