Oceos'lo'kaiian (oh-shee-os-lo-kai-an)
"I was born from the great jungle, and borne again into the great eversoul. We are wanderers, dreamers, and distant travelers. We have come from beyond and before, amongst many and few. And just who are you?"
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Oceos'lo'kai loosely translates to "The Land of the Sea," and best describes their mystifying manner of speech. Scholars have linked their language back to early renditions of Meinong particularly due to the abundance of "ho'omaha," or "pauses." in their phrasing.
Even when translated however, their phrasing seems to be a mish mashing of words strung together in esoteric meaning that even the most learned scholars find hard ot translate. Through careful cross-analysis of the Sandtongue jargon and Vulkarn language, the meanings behind the words can be parsed and somewhat understood.
Culture and cultural heritage
The seafaring, mariner peoples of the east, who carry with them a diverse and multifaceted spiritual belief system, and the boundless energy and desire for adventure. They can be best described, as one Aristolian scholar has put it, as "multicultural hippie pirates."
They are a peoples of many different backgrounds, all having descended from the human nomadic tribes which ventured through the Meino'ng Jungle. They carry with them the awe-inspiring tales of adventure and mystery often associated with the tangled mass of vines that serves as a backdrop to their coastal communities.
They enjoy the art of poetry, storytelling, and other oral traditions and their manner of speech is alluring to the ear as each phrase seems to come out as a rhythmatic pattern like song.
Shared customary codes and values
Oceos'lo'kaiians believe in personal freedom above all else. They are not bound by things like duty, honor, or commitment, and instead try to focus on spending their lives according to their own personal ethics. There is also a strong emphasis on survival of the fittest; for out on the tides of the Eversoul Ocean, anything is possible. Everything from wandering pirate mauradeers to traveling circus troupes, Oceos'lo'kaiians tend to organize themselves around a shared creed amongst found families aboard sea vessels; every ship is its own unqiue subculture.
Oceos'lo'kaiians are also strong supporters of the power of community, efficiently organizing themselves by identifying each individual's specialist talent(s) and incorporating them into the crew. A great captain knows how to make each person count.
Average technological level
Oceos'lo'kaiians lack the centralized power structures which allow for being a major world power, but what they lack in tech and power they make up for with communication and information. Oceos'lo'kaiians make for natural smugglers, and their involvement in political subterfuge is well documented.
Common Etiquette rules
Oceos'lo'kaiians have very fluid personalities and are very adaptable to most situations. Though they will at first display their usual loud and boisterous selves, a wise Oceos'lo'kaiian reads the room and adopts the gesticulations made by the people they surround themselves with. One particular pet peeve of Lithosians everywhere is the Oceos'lo'kaiian habit of mimicry, often adding their complex hand gestures into their own metacarpal lexicon without a clear understanding of it's meaning.
Common Dress code
Being an islander peoples, Oceos'lo'kaiians were very light clothing crafted from the fibers of jungle palms, often adorned with sea shells, whales' teeth, and assorted jewels. They are very big fans of exotic clothing from across the seas, and will often incorporate the clothing of other cultures into their styles, usually repurposing them to be more comfortable for sea travel or hot, humid weather.
In some of the outlying islands in the Sea of Free Men, clothing is entirely optional.
Art & Architecture
There are three primary architectural styles associated with the Oceos'lo'kai. The most distinct being the La'Taos style of the Era of Dusk. This style incorporates wood taken from the trees of the Meino'ng Jungle and treated to craft curved rooftops and pagodas. Coastal communities along the Eversoul Ocean are created primarily in this style. The secondary style is adapted from Meinong building techniques which use animal leathers, bones, and canvas to create large houses which can contain several families at once. And the last architectural style is adapted from Tokage ship-building techniques. This last style which is now uniquely Oceos'lo'kaiian, is exhibited in their shipbuilding. Entire communities of people live upon massive galleons and spend most of their enitre lives on the water.
Oceos'lo'kaiians are also world famous for their arts and oral traditions. Their best known exports are decorated pearls, sea shells, and whale's teeth. This is due large in part to the fact that this is what their currency is based off of and Oceos'lo'kaiians landing in a foreign port sell them for gold in order to take part in the appropriate currency systems. Other arts include dance, storytelling, poetry, weaving, and the mysterious "love arts."
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
Oceos'lo'kaiians are particularly fond of festivals and celebrations and will take part in one at any opportunity they get. They are especially excitable about festivals from lands they have never been to before and enthusiatically take part with much vigor.
In their own culture on the small coastal communities that make up the eastern bays and coasts of Ardras love festivals are celebrated on what seems like every other day of the week and even the wisest of Lithosian scholars cannot make sense of the haphazard calendar that the Oceos'lo'kaiians keep, often leading to the speculation that these festivals happen essentially "whenever they want to." An abundance of seafood and exotic spices, sauces, and creams are prepared. Shrimp is an especially favorite staple during these festivals, in addition to aphrodisatic foods like oysters, figs, and pineapples. Stories are told, games are played, and various people show off treasures and collections of goods found from other lands. In the later hours of the evening, couples declothe and race off to their own private spots along the beaches and consumate their love.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
The villages that make up the coastal communities of Oceos'lo'kai are held sacred as the proper birthing place for all Oceos'lo'kai. A common saying, "the ocean is vast, but the jungle calls you home," is an homage to their descendency from the Meino'ng Jungle. It is appropriate, though never forced, for an Oceos'lo'kaiian woman to give birth in the village she was born in. These coastal communities are full of midwives who are always eager to help adventurous young women through the process, emotionally and physically. It is not uncommon for these women to settle in the village for a few years to care for and nurture the young child, though it is also not uncommon for them to leave the child in the care of the village elders until they are old enough to adventure out into the world on their own.
Coming of Age Rites
Most Oceos'lo'kaiians consider themselves adults around the age of fourteen to fifteen, and though there are no official rites or rituals associated with the occasion, the most common case is that the young teen will have some sort of falling out with their caretaker, feel a call to adventure, or be driven by finding a lost parent; sparking a journey that will take many of them a lifetime.
A wise Oceos'lo'kaiian guardian will understand that this is a rite that all children will go through and smile warmly as they see them disappear over the horizon.
Funerary and Memorial customs
Oceos'lo'kaiians are a people of the sea and a strong sense of pondering life's greater mysteries. Death is a personal journey into the soul and they believe that the soul transcends the mortal body into the Star Ocean, a vast and majestic oceanscape of sea and sky inhabited will all the stars in the heavens reflected on the surface of an endless ocean.
The many who die at sea in conflict are said to inhabit this realm, enjoying life just as they did in life, but in ethereal form. It is believed that the ocean depths hold passageways into the Star Ocean, and many stories are filled with A'nuiism spirits and their interactions with the denizens of this world.
Those who are fortunate enough to be given a send off are cast away on a small boat surrounded by their favorite things in life, should they need them in the Star Ocean. The boat is given to the sea and left to the will of the spirits.
Common Taboos
Oceos'lo'kaiians are an explorative people who adapt to new situations and easily incorporate the mannerisms and habits of the people around them into their own traits. That being said, they are most often at fault for breaching other cultures' taboos, mistakenly using a gesture that considered good in one part of the world and insulting in another. Oceos'lo'kaiians don't hold many taboos of their own and are very open-minded.
Common Myths and Legends
Historical figures
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Beauty to the Oceos'lo'kaiians is a matter of the soul, not the body. They appreciate people with good and adventurous ambitions, loving those who aspire to create things of beauty or profoundness. To them, the body is a temporary and continuously changing vessel, and so they put little regard on physical beauty.
However, they do very much love to adorn themselves with jewelry, shells, and other gleaming trinkets, particularly amontgst women. They think of it more akin to the decoration of a sacred temple, with the body as the vehicle through which the soul navigates the world.
Gender Ideals
In Oceos'lo'kai gender is a fluid concept, and one can go through many genders throughout their life, or identify as having none at all. Those who identify as feminine enjoy covering themselves in many gleaming and glittering pieces of jewelry in addition to practicing the supple art of gesticulation, to add emphasis to their words and meaning. Those who identify as masculine are often expected to take ambitious leadership roles and blaze a path forward towards their goals. Of course, there are no cemented roles in which any one individual may take up, and none are ever forced upon them; instead these traits and qualities are ones that naturally develop over time.
Courtship Ideals
Love is held in high regard as one of the primary concepts to which Oceos'lo'kaiians ascribe to. To them, love is free and is given freely as a gift to the universe around them; it is a naturally occuring force to which the peoples are bound to. To love deeply is a common Oceos'lo'kaiian trait.
Oceos'lo'kaiians are prone to celebrate "love festivals," though no one is entirely certain the exact dating of when these festivals occur and the most erudite of Lithosian scholars believe they are held "whenever they feel like it." These festivals include heavy drinking and the use of mind-altering substances to enhance the experience. Their beaches are lit up with massive bonfires and a cornucopia of foods, primarily seafood, are presented for feasting.
Lovers dance madly against the flickering flames of the bonfires, and when one lover's eyes meet the other's, they make off down the shore away from the crowds to consumate the moment of love together.
Relationship Ideals
Oceos'lo'kaiians are polygamous and can have many different partners at the same time and are not limited by gender to whom they consumate their love with. Dyed strings around their wrists with decorative shells are used to symbolize a relationship; couples will cut a length of string long enough to make two wristbands and decorate them by tying in a variety of totems, knickknacks, shells, or other trinkets into the weave. The two matching wristbands are worn by the lovers until their time together is through.
Oceos'lo'kaiians are very flighty when it comes to relationships and they do not enjoy being bogged down by a commitment to another person. The wristbands serve as a memento to their time together in leiu of a commited relationship. As they get older however, these sea peoples often settle back in their home towns with an "aloa'ipo," a life partner whom they have come to rely on over the years and the two live out the remainders of their lives in peace.
Major organizations
Oceos'lo'kaiians thrive on the seas and away from the laws and politics of the mainland. Their way of life includes piracy, shamanism, and absolute freedom.
Encompassed species
Related Organizations
Languages spoken