Verdan Culture

The Verdan are considered to be "Cultural Chameleons", capable of taking on whatever culture they find themselves engrossed in. Despite this, they still have some of their own traditions that all Verdan inherently share, as new as those may be and as varied as the people are. While they may not remember their history, some things are as ingrained in them as their blood is black.

Naming Traditions

Unisex names

Verdan first names are nearly always unisex as the Verdan are prone to gender mutations throughout their lives. Some Verdan that are given names that are more common to a particular gender will also change their names as they mutate.

Family names

The Verdan often forgo family names, simply due to the free and fluid lifestyle that they lead. In most communities they will create a family name based on the street or community that they call home for the ease of the other cultures around them, or will simply adopt the naming traditions of those other cultures.

The only known exception to this is when two Verdan form a Covenant with each other. They will create a name together that suits them both and will go by it for the rest of their days, however any children that they have will not carry this name. It is unique only to those two Verdan.

Ideals

Relationship Ideals

As with nearly everything in Verdan culture, their relationships are very fluid. As people change it isn't uncommon for couples to split and leave each other for a while and return to each other later, or even never again. The Verdan don't believe in marriage, seeing it as a weak and impractical bond that's ultimately nonsense. Instead, the Verdan make what they call a Commitment to each other. These commitments mean that those Verdan are bonded together until one of them goes through a mutation of any sort, at which point their commitment is considered complete and they can choose to make a commitment to another Verdan if they so choose.

The exception to this is a Covenant. A Covenant is a sacred and magical bond between two Verdan, born of the same chaotic magic that gave them life. Forming a Covenant with another Verdan means that you are pledging yourself to stay with them through whatever chaos has in store for either of you, until the day of your deaths. A Verdan who has made a Covenant with another Verdan can never enter another relationship again.

Very few Covenants have been formed, and none are known to have been broken, so the consequences of such an action are still unknown to the Verdan. All Verdan who have formed a Covenant though have told about the weight that is impressed upon their hearts when they do. It is clear that a great magic is at play in such a significant bond.