Speraks
The Speraks people are the Dragonborn. The name Speraks originates from Draconic word for dragons in the diminutive case.
The Speraks people face a great deal of prejudice because of their draconic heritage, though they were as much victims of the Dragon Kings as any of the other races of Chaia.
A member of the Speraks people is Speraki.
The Speraki are not known to like outsiders. The racism faced by the dragonborn has, over the centuries, led to a widespread and slightly justified xenophobia among this people. They do, however, tolerate outsiders, as their situation as subjects under a non-Speraki government requires.
Naming Traditions
Feminine names
Pipryeiks, Hebyai, Kwab, Eea, Railkei, Kloubi, Ainduiwai, Akra, Biri, Daar, Farideh, Harann, Flavilar, Jheri, Kava, Korinn, Mishann, Nala, Perra, Raiann, Sora, Surina, Thava, Uadjit
Masculine names
Flwidkwoi, Euwt, Wounski, Faikans, Yaek, Ploumpti, Arjhan, Balasar, Bharash, Donaar, Ghesh. Heskan, Kriv, Medrash, Mehen, Nadarr, Pandjed, Patrin, Rhogar, Shamash, Shedinn, Tarhun, Torinn
Family names
The Speraks use their clan name as their primary name, only using their given names with close friends or members of their clan. These clan names are typically derived from words in Draconic.
These include: Bempleonks, Meindey, Yeenksonks, Layb, and so on.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
The Speraks speak Drakmanish, though most educated Speraks speak are able to read and understand Draconic.
Culture and cultural heritage
The Speraks culture is rooted in the tradition of the Dragon Kings.
Shared customary codes and values
For the Speraki, the clan is the most important part of an individual's life. The clan is the fundamental unit of Speraki life, and always turns inwards before seeking outside help.
Common Etiquette rules
Almost all the dishes of the Speraks are soups, stews, chowders, or finger foods. Because of this, they eat with spoons and their hands. Like the Drakman, the Kobblin are extremely reticent to eat alone.
Common main dishes for the Kobblin include: savory basted horse soup with salt, pungent and salty baked quail soup, bitter and salty bison stew, bitter and sweet basted duck stew, and pungent and sour basted duck eggs.
Desserts include: raspberries, barley cakes, and rice pudding
The most common alcoholic beverages are: weak oat ale made with raspberry that's pale, oat ale made with raspberry that's golden, and oat ale made with raspberry that's fizzy
Common Dress code
Speraki men typically wear long shirts, pantaloons, long gloves, short coats, boots, heavy caps, and sashes.
Speraki women typically wear form-fitting dresses, mittens with thick lining, cloaks with no hood, thigh-high boots, and belts with a thick buckle.
The Speraki dress in colors that match their scales. Typically a Speraki with dull or muddled scale coloring will wear colors that match one of the types of pure dragon scales. Those among the Speraks with more purebred scales, however, will wear muted tones so as to show off the gleam of those scales.
When it comes to jewelry, the Speraki love to drape themselves with the most gleaming of jewels and precious metals.
Art & Architecture
Buildings have walls made of stone slabs with small decorative arches near the roof, and roofs are flat and made of wooden shingles. Doors are made of thick wood and braced with metal. Kobblish houses rarely have windows. For decoration, signs bearing the occupants' names stand out front.
Common instruments include: iron short flute trimmed with copper, and coyote hide oak drums.
Coming of Age Rites
The Speraki typically undergo a coming of age rite when they have weathered ten winters. This ritual involves being separated from their clan family structure and training from the spring to the fall in intensive camps among their peers. These rituals are paramount for establishing a hierarchy within Speraki society, and the actions of a young dragonborn during camp can often shape the rest of their life.
Funerary and Memorial customs
When a Speraki passes away, the first and most important question is the division of their wealth and property. The will and testaments among the Speraki have a reputation for being complex legal documents that require great effort in order to fulfill. Under Speraki law, everything that belonged to a departed dragonborn is open for use by their clan until or unless the conditions surrounding its inheritance are fulfilled. Herein is the reason for the trial wills of the Speraki: that to inherit anything from the departed dragonborn is to deprive their people of its use. Therefore, the Speraki use the wills as an opportunity to ensure that anything taken from the clan is "payed for" by the completion of something benefiting the clan. Of course, the tasks in wills are not always designed for the benefit of the clan, as not all Speraki fully buy into their people's priorities.
Common Taboos
The worst fate for a Speraki is to dishonor one's clan. The dragonborn's first loyalty is to their clan, and bringing harm (whether physically or through a blow to the clan's reputation) to this group is the most abhorrent action a Speraki could be guilty of.
Displays of romantic affection in a public space, outside of the structured giving of gifts, are considered by the Speraks to be revolting. Even married couples quarantine any tender gestures of love for behind closed doors.
Similarly, sex is a topic that does not enter the conversations of dignified Speraks. To discuss such crass matters is to bring a great deal of dishonor upon one's clan.
More dishonorable, however, are the sins of irresponsibility and sloth. To avoid one's obligation to clan or fail to act with the responsibility expected of you is anathema. To purposefully avoid work is equivalent to working towards the harm of the clan.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Beauty for the dragonborn is largely centered around scales and their sheen for both men and women. The closer the coloring matches that of a true dragon, the more desirable one of the Speraks will appear to their kind.
Gender Ideals
Though status among the dragonborn is largely divorced from gender, being instead dependent on the status and wealth of one's family, there are still slight patriarchal tendencies within Speraki culture.
Courtship Ideals
Courtship is centered around gift-giving. The gifting is gender-neutral, and instead based on the status of the parties involved. Paradoxically, the party of lesser status is expected to give gifts more frequently and of a higher quality than the more noble of the courting pair. The first gift is always the responsibility of the more common suitor, whether that suitor is a man or a woman. The ambiguity of status can cause some difficulties, but the structure of Speraki clans helps to forestall the awkwardness that might follow these expectations in less ordered cultures, as each member of the clan has a fairly good understanding of their position.
Relationship Ideals
The ideal Speraki couple displays little to no affection towards one another in public. In the public sphere, their first loyalty is to their clan, above even their loyalty to each other. Gift-giving is the exception to this, as Speraki are expected to regularly shower their partner with lavish jewelry and displays of wealth. Behind closed doors, the couple has the responsibility to sire
Major organizations
Many of the Speraki follow the Daiplotrean faith.
by Locf
Encompassed species
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