Tundarians
The beautiful, and cruel people of the Southold Sultanate
Over the long spine of mountains of Southwall, there is a Sultanate, that goes by the name of Southhold - the land of sands.The Sultanat sprawls its territories from Vektor woods on the west, to the frozen desolate Frosthold on the east, and from Tundar taiga on north, to the Sandstorm coast on the south.
This is the land of the rough, but culturised Tundarians.
The mix of the territorial climates in the Sultanate, caused the culture of people to change from place to place, but not vastly, and they are still following the Galtonian (Capitol of Southold) tendentions in culture and other important life directions.
Harsh conditions of living made this people adaptive, tough, resilient and resistant.But no climate can take away the beauty of the Southhold.
Naming Traditions
Feminine names
Females tend to be called with melodic, playful names, no matter the race, to underline the beauty and mystery of a south belle.
Usual names for females:
Aaleyah, Daneen, Fadilah, Hidaya, Jahara, Jamella, Maleeka, Qadira, Rihana
Masculine names
Males are called mostly with sharp, powerfull and strong names, to underline the authority and power (even if there is none), it has to sound deep and menacing in a way.
Usual names: Abbas, Barakah, Eisa, Farran, Haroun, Hakkan, Jedidaiah, Jericho,Zero.
Unisex names
Unfortunately, tundarians keep straight separation, and only give names according to gender.
Though if a creature is born without one, they tend to give them names according to natural surrounding events they are born in:
Sand, Rain, Storm, Frost, Thunder, Hail
Family names
Family names are kept by generations, and each time when men are supposed to officially state your name, they mention their father's name, grandfather's name, and grand-grandfather's name in addition to your family name, same goes for the females, but in this case they call mother's, grandmother's..... etc. And as a result you get something like : Hazile et Salim et Fetea et Karum Simehhendi, but if the meeting is is not official they go by just the first name.
Usual family names:
Uruta, Silliminha, Serukka, Elemian, Cathendi, Welledren, Aheth, Elmeenha, Strikkaril
Other names
Wasim, Tarique, Moosha, Hekkar, Selitta, Ashira, Alitia
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
The populus of the Southold speaks in common (Mirian)language, though there are words and expressions that are absent in literature Mirian, and they have a specific accent to pronoucement of all the words, which makes the language sound more fluid, or even melodic.The language also changed a lot, due to the influence of Sun and Forest elves, since they are representing large part of population.
Culture and cultural heritage
Poets, musicians, acrhitects, and other creators are respected and treated as elite members of society, as intelligence of the land.
And by that the flow of the beautiful music, prose, poetry other forms of art is almost unstopable.For that fact, Galton is called a "Capitol of 1000 muses", and it is always entertaining to pay a visit to such a glorious place.
But the culture is not limited only by capitol, there are artists across whole Sultanate,writers, singers, sculptors, performers and other various entrepreneurs are spread widely through the land.The Tundarian art is respected and adored on all the toerritories of the continent and has a high level of demand on it.
Shared customary codes and values
Due to the strictness of laws, and harsh punishments for the breakers of ones, Tundarians follow the law as they would follow a pesonal code.But there are always exclusions of the rules, and there are lawbreakers, smugglers, bootleggers, thieves, assasins.
As in for values, local folks are very appreciative to the cultural legacy of the land, art, music, poetry, other embodiments of people's creativity.
Average technological level
As the Tundarians tend to focus on culture and not progress, they are not the leading folk on the continent in case of technology.But they are traders, and quite wealthy people and most of technologies that are present in Southold are borrowed, or bought from other developers,from other countries and inventors.And that fact brings galton to a moderately advanced technology level, almost equal to average.
Common Etiquette rules
The relations between nobles and peasants, as in most of the territiories of the continent remain almost the same,but in Southold, in schools, children are taught how to speak to the nobles of the Sultanat and outsider nobles aswell. Disrespectfull behaviour in presence of a noble may cause a lot of trouble to the person that is not aware of the etiquette.
For example simple greeting, which is in most kingdoms is a handshake, is not applicable in Tundarians society: to greet a person you have to show both of your palms opened to them, and then to bow, if its a new aquaintance, or if the subject of your greeting is a noble.Though if it is a noble the bow that you perform, should be deeper then usual.
In closer relationships, people put the right hand on each others shoulder, and say "Delie"- which means "I'm glad".
Besides that there is a lot of traditions in Southold to follow, and truly only one that is born in there might know them all.
Common Dress code
Due to the climate, which is sporadic and changes from one region to another, clothes change aswell.
In hot central area it is usually colorful, or white robes, both for men and women,and the only differennce between sexes is the hairdresses.
But indoors both garbs are changed to more fitting, though not less colorfull clothes.
In cold areas it is usually furs, and warm fur lined leather clothes, decorated by natural goods,such as carved teeth of wild animals.
In subtropical and mountain areas, where climate is not extremely harsh, dresses tend to be more opened.
Females wear garbs with exposed belly area, and cleavage, also short skirts, with exposed leggs.And decorate themselves with silver and gold bracelets and other jewelery.
Males, still wear mostly robes, but sometimes you can spot a inticate shirts, and tuniques, with symbols of the house or the deities that are worshipped.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
There is a tradition which every citizen of the Southold if following each day, at noon daily they all walk out out of their houses, to look up into the sky and say "Enie"(which means "Thank you") to the sun and the sky, for the new day.
But there is also a cruel part to this folks, they take part in public executions, such as stone people to death, and consider it quite entertaining.
When it comes to lising all the traditions that they have, local and global traditions differ, and hard to track.For example: in Frosthold there is a tradition of "Kettua"(Snowtrack), on the first snowfall of the year, people draw figures and pictures on the snow to greet the winter.And in subtropical part- in Vektor forests,that is not a tradition at all.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
The brth traditions of the Tundarians are simplistic but still hold a ritualistic part to them.When the child is born, it has to be shown to the sun or the moon, as soon as it is born,and from that superstition, they have definitions as "Suntouched" or "Moontouched".
Suntouched (children shown to the sun, born in daylight) are expected to be more happy and energetic.
Moontouched (children shown to the moon, born in moonlight) are expected to be more enigmatic and phylosophycal.
The name on birth is given by the oldest living member of the family, if present, if not its given by the person delivering the childbirth.
Coming of Age Rites
For men and women the ceremonies of coming of age are different.
Men when reach a certain age, they help to forge a blade at the local blacksmith, which later becomes their own.In addition to that, men make a single cut on the forearm area with the new blade, to establish a bond, between it and the weilder.
For females, however they make a wedding dress with help of their mother or a professional weaver, even if noble, you still have to make it, by your own hands.The dress remains untill the occasion.
Funerary and Memorial customs
For the funeral matter, nothing really changed for the Thundarians, they were creamting their deceased people long before undead issue happened.But the rites are served differently, for different casts of people.
Simple folks get to disperse the ashes, in the early morning before the sun comes up, and the nobles get to store the urns of the ancestors in family crypts.
The funerals though take long time and there is a period of mourning which lasts 33 days after cremation, the family that lost someone wears black for that period of time and dont drink alcohol, or amuse themselves.
Common Taboos
Folklore and laws are the enforcers of local taboos: Do not steal, do not kill, do not betray- are the most dispicable taboos that could be broken.
But also there are sacred grounds that a Tundarian can not enter- such as Keliah Temple, Pilfered grounds (in southwall mountains) as it is considered cradle of all life in the legends of the people
Common Myths and Legends
Speaking of the Legends, there is a vast amount of written legends, as well as unwritten.Tales of the Southold are printed and handwritten in books and told across the continent and beyond.Such legends as "Drimmlock and the seven lives", "Porcellain heart", "Conqueror of the souls", are the classics of the folklore and are oftenly told to children before bedtime.
Historical figures
There were several historical major figures in Southold, Sirius Ashtear- the establisher oif the Mage Guild,the liberator and reformator of the magical laws of the land. Carim Veltarim - the establisher of the capitol city of Galton and the main architect for whole city, and other cities aswell. Zero Fiionill - the greatest general and the most famous centaur alive, conqueror and tactitian, that led Galton's golden army to the many victories,and so on.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Unlike most os the world, the beauty of people in Southold is brought up to pedestal, and admiring the physical body is a part of a culture.
A perfect man expected be fit, slim, but masculine, short black hair,brown eyes, tanned skin, not too tall and not too small, also decorative piercing of ears is concidered normal, aswell as tatoos.
A perfect woman expected to be miniature, long and lush black hair, deep grey or blue eyes, tanned skin, and lush hips. Also females use various golden jewelery, to underline the beauty of the body, such as tall neck collars made of gold to highlight the long neck etc.
Gender Ideals
In common sense each male and female has to have some form of a talent, and Southold is considered a "Forge of art and culture"
Men are almost all good shortsword wielders,(mostly scimitar), also from childhood, they are trained in poetry in schools or noble houses.An average Thundarian man is expected to be stoic, endurant, but also enlighted and talented at least in something.
Females, on the other hand, are trained in singing and dancing starting in early years of childhood, which is considered a local tradition.Later on when adulthood comes, they get to pick what kind of craft they want to develop skill in.
Average Thundarian female is expected to be one of the most mysterious and enthralling women on the continent, also talented and skillfull.
Courtship Ideals
When it comes to the Courtship, amongst the peasants and simple folk, the courtesy traditions are interesting: When a male wants to go out with a woman, he writes a poem and brings flowers (which are expensive and rare in most of the regions),comes to the maidens living place, and reads the poem.If lady has interest in the cavalier,she replies with a song.If not... she repiles with a pumpkin thrown out the window beneath his legs.
After a long period of courtesy, man has to ask for blessings from parents of the beloved, if blessings are given they may marry.
As in case of nobles- it's less romantic, more conservative and almost always, it's a premade marriages that were made, sometimes even before the birth of both parts of the marriage.
Relationship Ideals
In relationships, which mostly tend to be ortodoxal in southold, man is a protector and getter, and a female is a soothing presence in house, keeper of balance, and moral stability in family.Due to the large amount of slaves traffic, even the most poor families have slaves, and use them to maintain households, farms, and it does cover the responsibilities of housekeeping outside of the families duties.
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