Anarian

Anaria is a large ethnicity group found south of the modern Sesserian empire within the mid world. The peoples there are accustom to the open plans, surrounding mountains and southern breezes from their long rocky coasts. These Anarians are all connected by one common religion, as they cling on to their ancestral roots to Varia's Celestial Army. The Anarians have an unrivaled sense of unity to each other due to these religious ties, and an even more resent unifying hate to their former overlords, the Imperial Sesserian to the north.
After about 400 years of Sesserian rule, the Anarian peoples carried out a successful civil war claiming their ancestral lands as their own and now have split into a 6 state theocracy centered on the Celestial lands of ancestral Anaria.  The Anarian people are now defined by their religious zeal, and fierce strength in the face of oppression.

Naming Traditions

Family names

Family names draw from their Aasimar ancestors first name. The First of their bloodline's first name was taken on as a sort of clan name, only leavening so many generational families, although family is not as important as community, which gives a second communal name, witch comes form the town or community they come from.
Common Ancestral Names are: Makris, Alexiou, Theodoru, Pappas, Georgiou, And Antoniou.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

The Language of the Anarian People is heavy diluted with Old Sesserian phrases and even modern Sesserian dialects due to hundreds of years of cultural genocide while the Anarians where under Sesserian subjugation. The Languages native to Anarians are Celestian and Celestial. Celestian is the more common among the common folk, where as celestial can be found among the clergy. Separate dialects are rare as the Anarian church has attempted to standardize language across their vast lands.

Culture and cultural heritage

Anaria is one of the oldest inhabited areas in the world originally being inhabited by the retiring Aasimar of Varia's celestial army. These Celestial beings where stripped of many of their war-like strengths and given a chance to live a free life. Since then Humans from the north also inhabited the land living closely to the Aasimar inhabitants. Many small groups have grown from this area but all fall under the name Anarian.

Birth & Baptismal Rites

Births are often carried out in religious buildings and are delivered by Clergy folk. Once the baby is delivered they are washed and their forehead is dabbed with paint, one dot for each of Varia's values. A baby is then taken to be blessed by the Lead Cleric of the temple before being returned to the mother. The Cleric blesses the baby by washing their soul of any attached devils or demon corruption, and at this moment a angle may even attach them selves to the baby.

Coming of Age Rites

When a teenager turns 19, A celebration is held as they have become the acceptable age to be sent to battle, or married. This celebration often includes the entire community or town the person is from. The community plans the event at a church where a clergy folk blesses the new adult with the 7 values of Varia, and swears them in as a true Anarian Descendent. This is the marking of them becoming an adult and is often the barrier that would allow them to speak freely at church, leave the community on their own, join a war group, or work most jobs.

Funerary and Memorial customs

After a persons death, they are taken to a pyre and cremated below a open sunny sky. Their ashes are saved and returned to the family. Its common for a  whole community to join in a collective ceremony to help the soul find its way to its after life. After the send off, a moment is held, before a small celebration of life where close family members give anecdotes and cultural dishes are enjoyed.

Historical figures

Azarath is one of the most famous religious figures of the culture. He was an Aasimar cleric who rose above his poor life and became a powerful leader in the war on the mad god, eventually disappearing after following the Mad God into a portal to an unknown place.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

Clothing and the bodies form are often covered and beauty is more often cared in the patterns and colors of clothes, resulting in colorful and full outfits for all. Men and woman both express beauty through there clothes, although women often express beauty with many layered cuts and patterns of fabrics, where men focus on a meraod of color patterns.

Gender Ideals

Gender has always been a important part of the Anarian beliefs both religiously and culturally. Men are believed to be the providers when it comes to goods and money, where woman act as as managers, and facilitators of life, managing the home in al respects down to land ownership. In war and conflict, both genders are expected to provide what's needed for the community. Men and woman may fight on the front, or cook the food for the solders, everyone dose their part.

Relationship Ideals

Relationships are very conservative, with people expressing their love only in private spaces and suppressing them sleeves in public. Friendships and community relationships are seen as bonds of need and equal support. It is expect for people to work together on every task and people are often viewed as conjoined communitys instead of individuals

Major organizations

The Church of Varia, The Anarian Theocracy