Familiars
Structure
The Familiars are made up of wandering clans and families, usually in groups as traveling traders or carnivals. Groups can be as small as a single family of just a couple of people or as large as a carnival of a couple hundred, not necessarily related with one another. They gather once a year in spring, near the Cherry Blossom Festival in Mithrana, and have a centralized Council that takes up disputes and makes decisions for the group as a whole. However, enforcement of those decisions can be difficult, as individual Familiar groups are independent and stubborn, and no one's interested in being a cop. The worst penalty is usually being cast out. Otherwise, penalties are usually favors or monetary levies.
Culture
Familiars are travelers, rooted only in the bonds that they have with each other, rarely connected with the cities and towns they pass through. They are usually tieflings, often mischievous, living outside the protection of the law. However, unlike other sorts of traveling groups, elders in Familar society are firm about treating town authorities with respect -- Famliars are regarded in many places as the nice, tame, family-friendly kind of carnival entertainment, and they have cultivated that reputation very much on purpose. They are welcome in many places that traveling folk are not. They are searched and bothered by Roadwardens much less than equivalent groups. If this means submitting to indignities, so be it.
Beyond this expedient attitude, however, Familiars rarely have much native respect for the law. They are independent and rootless and uninterested in living any other way. They see existence within walls as fundamentally flawed and are much less likely to trade freedom for security. They love stories, theatre, dance, performance, and music, and they can throw a hell of a party. They like fun and danger and courage. They do not like snitches, they do not like anyone who puts the group in danger without permission, and calling someone "mean" is probably one of the worse insults, just because kindness and hospitality are so valued.
Public Agenda
Come see us perform! We're so cool and great and safe!
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