Morstein
Lore
When the first elven settlers arrived on the shores of the Commonlands, the Morstein were just like any other settler appearance and culturewise. Their only difference was in class, where at a lack of resources for the amount of elves to live in luxury, the ancient Morstein as a working class were pushed out by the nobles and militaries to live inside the mountains on scraps, forced to labour in caverns and mines to get their hands on rare mushrooms, metals for their extravagant lifestyle and stone for their buildings. Throughout the years their skin was painted ashen, eyes bled wrathful and sickly in crimson and yellow, with their hatered of the nobles that forced them to huddle together in frozen caves yet burning warm in their darkening hearts.Naming Traditions
Feminine names
Belinda, Yvonne, Sieghilde, Edelgard, Reinhilde, Elfrun, Griselda, Klothilde, Saskia, Roswitha.
Masculine names
Volker, Sandro, Hagen, Wedekind, Sieger, Dankrad, Volkhard, Hartmut, Landrich, Siegbald.
Family names
Kohlstein, Dunkelstrom, Stahl, Nachtherz, Dolch, Russheim, Muskete, Todkreiger, Halberdiene, Dämmer.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
High Dyskhari
Culture and cultural heritage
Hunting, metalurgy, alchemy, smithing and mining are all part of the heritage shared by each Morstein Dyskhari. Mining and smithing has been part of their lifestyle ever since they were first forced to live within their caves, where learning to adapt and form what they had became vital to survival.
Hunting joined their cultural practices only a couple generations after living in the mountains, as they finally started to spread out into the wild and build fortifications, structures and homesteads. Something which greatly increased their survivability, foodsupplies and boosted morale as a candelight of hope glowed. Hence, to celebrate the mountain hunting, each young adult is taught to master the rifle and hunt.
The newest addition is alchemy and metalurgy, which started to revolutionise their lifestyle since only two decades years ago. Through teaching their young and schooling their population with these crafts, their metals have both increased in amount and quality, with the imperiums best guns, armour and chemicals being made by the Morstein houses.
Common Dress code
It's common for Morstein Dyskhari to dress warmly in fur lined clothing and other coats and jackets which keeps them warm on a snowy night. It's also more norm than not to wear the colours of black and gold as it represents the flag of the Dyskhari Imperium. It is also usual for them to wear mail shirts on top, gambesons or other lighter armour and weaponry, against the beasts of the mountains.
Art & Architecture
Morstein are reknowned among their fellow elves for creating artwork out of metal and stone. Their statues of past great people can be seen casting a long shadow from their mountainous hollows, where steel, smooth stones and jewels form uncanny resemblances of their ancestors. This reflects on their buildings as well, since they often resemble lodges and hunting huts, but made out of stone and metal rather than wood.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
As a group which lives on the snowy heights of the Dragonmountains, constructs of beauty often involve traits that speak of the individuals health and potential to survive better in their environment. Hence carrying bulk to a healthy amount is a sign of wellfare and that more fat protects against the cold winds. A firm muscularity, combined with scars and older age is also signs of a survivalist.
Gender Ideals
Though one of the two more ancient ethnicities of Dyskhari, the Morstein group is not as matriarchal as most other Dyskhari people. Their lives as slaves to the elements and Sylvhar brought them together to see one another more as equals, where every woman, man and child was valued and taught how to survive. Huddled up in mines and caverns, often with hostile elements in their depths caused empathy, leadership and determination to be more important than strength and size alone.
Courtship Ideals
Due to their past, the Morstein Dyskhari have a different spin on their traditional trial by combat courting. Rather than it being an unconsential rite that only women can decree, the Morstein allows anyone to call the challenge while giving the targeted party the freedom to deny the request. They still do not form family bonds on the regular though and in the rare exceptions it's usually the losing party swearing an oath of servitude to the winner. Most commonly this only happens to nobility as the love servant still has more to gain than lose from it. In addition, Morstein nobility often have around a dozen lovers.
Relationship Ideals
Most Morstein relationship values surround family, where one is expected to be loyal to the death to one another who shares blood. Platonic relationships are less important when it comes to an individual level, with the individuals relationships being less cared for than the collective one, family to family or group to group. Hence, friendships can be made between people of different factions and are often encouraged, if the families are for example allies. Meanwhile it might be forbidden to be friends with individuals of another family, as they are quarreling.
Diverged ethnicities
Encompassed species
Related Organizations
Related Items
Related Locations
Comments