The Valaisien

The Valaisien (the people of the Empire of Valais) share many common cultural, religious, and social customs and identifiers, which typically augment or transcend racial legacies or regional traditions. Whether human, Loxodon, or Volgari (goblins), the Valaisien identify first as citizens and then as their ethnic heritage and local affiliation.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Imperial is dominant language of the Valais, spoken and understood from one end of the Empire to the other. It still uses many loan words and idioms from Lalange, and shares the same alphabet.
Lalange was the language of the Empire of the Sun, or the so-called Carolingian Dynasty. It is still used in legal documents and spoken by the nobility and most folk of Matelot heritage, though it has fallen largely out of use by the common Paysan folk.
Lingua Santa is the official language of the Pentic Church, and it is said to date before the Carolingian Era. Very few non-clergy are fluent in it, except goblins...see below.
Lingua Volgare (Volgare, for short) is the native tongue of goblins, who so identify with its use that they refer to themselves as "The Volgari." While derived from Lingua Santa, Volgare is a rough-and-ready workaday language that often borrows from both Lalange and Imperial and has a much more extensive non-religious vocabulary than its more narrowly-focused holy counterpart.

Culture and cultural heritage

The Valaisien see themselves as inheritors of the Empire of the Sun, even though their achievements and society pale in comparison to the monumental architecture and refined society of the Carolingians.

Shared customary codes and values

The Valaisien (the people of Valais) venerate the ideals of chivalry, set down in what is called the Arunic Code. This idealized model of behavior emphasizes ten virtues of the ideal individual: prudence, loyalty, largesse, justice, independence, gallantry, franchise, cunning, compassion, and ambition. It is only the rare individual that can fully live up to this perfect standard, however, and those who achieve it (or at least seem to in the eyes of the people) are revered as heroes and called “paladins.” Nobles and low-born alike keep extensive lists of their bloodlines, tracing back connections to ancient, obscure, and sometimes fictional paladins of the past.
Much of the identity of the Empire of Valais is derived from collective reverence to the Arunic Code, but for at least the last fifty years, the virtues have become much more a theoretical ideal than any sort of practical reality. To be sure, most nobles and many knights and soldiers pay at least lip service to the Code, but most realize that treachery, deceit, and power politics are what is needed to remain at the top of the social strata. In practice, the mantra is: “Pray in the light, but stab in the dark.”

The Arunic Code

1.Protect yourself and defend those under your care. (Prudence)
2.Never betray your lord or your vassals. (Loyalty)
3.Keep only what you need and give the rest to the less fortunate. (Largesse)
4.Obey the law and bring to justice those who flout it. (Justice)
5.Be prepared to blaze your own trail, if need be. (Independence)
6.Be bold and courageous, whether in love or war. (Gallantry)
7.Know your station and uphold your rights and obligations. (Franchise)
8.Know the difference between bravery and stupidity. Look for other ways. (Cunning)
9.You owe respect to the righteous poor. You have a duty to care for the weak. (Compassion)
10.Never be lazy. Find a goal and achieve it. (Ambition)

Art & Architecture

Most houses and common buildings are timber-framed with wattle-and-daub or stucco infill. Stone is reserved for military fortifications, temples in larger cities, and the occasional bridge, although much stonework knowledge and engineering expertise has been lost.