Anor
The Anor are the humans who lives in the forest beyond the hunting grounds of Oloseth during the days of the Dragon Kings. They primarily live in Ravepeakia and Diguardia. The Anor culture is most famously the one in which Queen Annali grew up in, and much of the pride the Anor feel in their ethnicity stems from being the people who overcame the Dragon Kings.
A member of the Anor culture is Anorian.
Naming Traditions
Feminine names
Annali, Avaryn, Liniana, Marlene, Hanna, Manu, Liese, Eike, Marita, Gertraud, Bet, Josephine, Reinhilde, Mechtilde, Kriemhilde, Auguste, Rike, Elisa, Esther, Janina, Gisa, Nina, Juliane, Jeltje, Lys, Antje, Mareike, Jip, Minke, Jeltsje, Heike, Antje, Fenne, Nine, Inka, Dieuwke, Femke
Masculine names
Philipp, Arke, Emil, Diethelm, Frank, Leonhard, Ruprecht, Meinhard, Wibo, Ale, Clemens, Emanuel, Guido, Gisbert, Helmfried, Hartmann, Körbl, Wilfried, Heike, Reimund, Alle, Ane, Heiko, Lubbert, Adde, Eilert, Isa, Ane, Wibo, Isa, Kay, Adde, Siet, Gerrit, Lubbert, Heiko, Dieuwe, Wide, Rein, Ese
Family names
Strobel, Müller, Senft, Böhler, Brahms, Haupt, Hase, Schwartz, Brant, Aukema, Alkema, Anema, Antema, Reinders, Alserda, Hoekstra, Baarda, Wieren
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Their language, Anorian, is a rhythmic language. It uses an alphabet writing system, with characters composed of half-loops, dots, and half-circles.
Common Etiquette rules
Anorian meals are intimate affairs. Even in Anorian restaurants, booths attempt to close out as much of the rest of society as possible. If there are more than five people at the table, the Anorians count it crowded. Simultaneously, good manners require a diner to use minimal space while eating and effect the people around them as little as possible. There is rarely a sharing of entrees. Each participant at a meal gets their portion, and everyone keeps their plates to themselves.
Some of the Anorian delicacies include: pungent and salty raw skipjack herring soup with salt and cinnamon, salty and savory curried boar, savory stewed beef with cinnamon and salt, savory and sour stewed skipjack herring, and sour and pungent curried ocean sunfish with salt and cinnamon.
Deserts include: apple pie, strawberries and cream, pineapple as a very special treat, cheesecake with strawberries on top, and strawberry pudding.
The most common alcoholic beverages are: strong brandy made with salt, lemon, and lime that's amber in hue, pineapple wine made with strawberry that is dark red in color, strong strawberry brandy made with lime and cinnamon that's amber in hue, and a light beer made with hops.
Common Dress code
Anorian men typically wear shirts, pants, and turn shoes. When dressing up, their outfits are closer to those of the Drakman culture, showing the lasting impact of the Dragon Kings even on the culture that overthrew them.
Anorian women typically wear dresses, knee-high boots, and hats.
Common colors include dark red, light purple, and white. Decoration tends towards feather decorations.
For jewelry, gold is the most common metal used and amethyst is the most common jewel. Typically the Anorian wear necklaces, and rings. The more formal the occasion, the less jewelry Anorian women wear, and the more Anorian men do.
Art & Architecture
Buildings have walls made of wide bricks decorated with strips of metal, and roofs are flat and made of ceramic tiles. Doors are made of light wood and carved with simple shapes. Windows are large and wide. For decoration, statues stand outside doorways.
For instruments, the Anor often play zinc twin flutes trimmed with silver, oak heavy drums skinned with squirrel hide, and large gilded harps.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
For religious occasions, the Anor typically gather in grand halls.
Songbirds are a status symbol among this people, and wealthy families will have caged birds as pets within their homes. The wealthiest among them build grand apiaries. Even among the peasants, songbirds are treated with great respect, and are given seed to eat during all but the hardest of seasons. See also the Nesting Festival.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
A week after the birth of a baby, its head is sprinkled with water to symbolize the new life and call upon the blessing of Thalae to cover the child's life.
Coming of Age Rites
Anorian children come of age when they complete a special project. Typically this occurs around the child's 15th birthday, but the actual time can vary. The nature of the project that the child must complete is left to the child themselves to determine. There is a gender bias in this rite, as girls tend toward intellectual projects (papers, speeches, poems, or recitations) while boys more often complete projects involving the creation of something (furniture, art, jewelry, weapons). The project, when it is completed, is shown in the middle of the child's home town. For both the project and the child, this is their Testing. For three days, from sunrise to sundown, their work is subject to the scrutiny of their people, as is the child themselves. When the three days have passed, the leader of the settlement passes judgement on whether the child has completed a project worthy of the legacy of the Anor. If they have, they are welcomed into the community as a full-fledged adult. If they have not, they must try again. The criteria of what projects are "worthy of the legacy of the Anor" is entirely vague and is not the same in any two places. In larger cities, these projects are often demonstrated in batches.
Because of the fear that so many humans have with regards to public speaking, there has developed in most settlements an allowance for the family of the child to accompany them during their Testing. However, the child cannot simply hide behind their loved ones. Any who attend the Testing may ask for the child, and no other, to answer to them by asking a question of the "creator". For example, if a persistent critic of a child's oak rocking chair asks about the technique used to slope the rocker's legs, the child's father might step forward and give an answer in place of his shy daughter. But if, at the conclusion of his response, the critic asks, "And what does the chair's creator have to say about this?" then the father can no longer answer in place of his child, and she must instead speak up herself in answer.
With the rise of the adventuring profession, some have begun to undertake projects of an adventuring nature. This typically involves the retrieval of a rare and/or expensive artifact.
For many children, their Testing is a chance to prove themselves worthy of advanced training within a profession. Many of Diguardia's largest guild have dedicated scouts who attend Testings in search of talented young adults who could benefit their guild.
Funerary and Memorial customs
Funerals are very solemn affairs. Attendees wear all black and a cleric preaches a sermon before the body of the deceased is lowered into the ground, within a coffin.
Common Taboos
The Anor do not discuss mental illness. Conditions such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and more are typically treated as the evil magic of some monster. Those who suffer from these conditions tend to be called cursed, and are kept as pariahs for fear that their curse might rub off on those they interact with. For this reason, mental health is very rarely addressed, and those who suffer do so in silence.
Common Myths and Legends
The greatest of the Anorian myths and legends are those of Queen Annali and the Dragon Slayers. The Anor take great pride in being the segment of humanity that overthrew the Dragon Kings (though plenty of the Slayers weren't Anorian).
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Physically, there is a lingering ideal set by works of art featuring Annali for women. That is to say, pale skin, long dark hair, and blue eyes are held in high esteem. Beyond these physical ideals, however, the more important part of a woman's charm is seen to be her intellectual and magical ability. Though true mages are uncommon in Chaia, all cultured Anorian women are expected to be able to perform minor spells with the help of magic items.
Physically, a man's beauty is a measure of his beard. While the dwarves to the east of the Anor grow long, bushy facial hair, an Anorian keeps his beard pristine and trimmed. Many nobles will style their beards elaborately, while those without the time for design settle for respectable uniformity. Just as beauty is focused on more than just looks for women, however, so it is for men as well. A man who can produce something with his hands is most esteemed in Anorian culture. Craftsmen are seen as the ideal hard workers of Diguardia's industry. All cultured young men among the Anor will have spent time sharpening a skill of this sort. Nobles tend to prefer skills such as painting or goldsmithing to those of masonry or carpentry.
Gender Ideals
The Anor are egalitarian, due in part to the legend of Queen Annali. Both men and women can inherit land and titles on equal footing. There are still gender differences, however. While both women and men are regarded as capable of being adventurers, there is an expectation that women will follow more of the path of magic where men follow more of the path of the rogue or the warrior. A martially focused woman is regarded as an oddity, and most people would assume that the women had some form of magic under-girding their fighting. Similarly, a man who pursues the path of magic is seen as somewhat effeminate or alternatively people tend to worry that a male caster might act rashly out of anger.
Relationship Ideals
Marriage is viewed in Diguardia as deserving to be based on love. Part of this is due to the legacy of Queen Annali who never married, despite the political benefits that could have been gained from offering her hand in marriage to another. Of course, this is not to say that the nobility do not manage to arrange marriages nonetheless, they simply have to be more discreet or risk disapproval.
Major organizations
Diguardia and Ravepeakia.
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