Wupani

"The wupani are like sea folk of every continent. When you live and die on the slightest whims of nature, when your livelihood conceals beings the size of villages with tentacles and teeth, when that livelihood may rise up and erase your entire settlement with storms or mountain-waves, you start to believe in things like luck or superstition. You also tend to produce generations of brave folk unafraid of anything they can reasonably punch. You also get a folk with a certain love of rum." ~Abide Baht Mig, of Abide and Seak's Bizarre Bazaar

Naming Traditions

Feminine names

Mahala Nelly Aurinda Lenora Cordelia Parthenia Emmeline Theodosia Bethany Felicia Cicely Florence Letitia Nellie Mabel Amity Permelia Miranda Ella Nelly

Masculine names

Emmett Lysander Ivan Emory Cornelius Clinton Edgar Obadiah Balthasar Leander Jonathan Julius Wilfred Cuthbert Virgil Mark Geoffrey Artemus Zachariah Theodore

Family names

Catchpole Goodall Brattle Flint Sterling Latimer Dickinson Barman Sackville Hogwood Nunn Atwood Blundy Featherstone Fisher Wrayburn Philpott Mortimer Sawyer Barclay

Other names

Sailors will often introduce themselves by their ship. For instance, a sailor on the Vanquisher will often introduce himself as, "Emmett Catchpole O'Vanquisher." If Emmett was captain of the vessel, his introduction would likely be, "Vanquisher's Captain Emmett Catchpole"

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Wupani have a thick regional accent that borrows words from nearly every other language. Each ship has a slightly different accent, and communicating with outsiders can be difficult for the saltiest of the sea dogs.

Culture and cultural heritage

Wupani get around, and their culture often appropriates and absorbs trends from the Islanders as well as the rest of Maecodia. Strange, exotic customs and cults come and go, or persist in small pockets of wupani society.

Shared customary codes and values

All wupani revere the sea, even those too far inland to see it every day. They have a healthy respect for the power of nature and a healthy fear of its capriciousness. They are also often swayed by new fashion or ideological movements, as they find it easier than most humans to wrap their minds around things greater than themselves.

Kingdoms at Sea, Cantons on Shore

Wupani believe that ships on the oceans are monarchies run by a sovereign captain that makes its own laws and its own decisions. When docked, these vessels become part of the canton again and are subject to what laws exist. Homes are generally treated as docked ships. The exceptions to this rule are the pirate ships, and sometimes the privateers. These vessels more often function as democracies with a captain chosen for battle but with every other decision being made by vote. This is because of the fact that mutineers on regular ships are considered treasonous, and therefore executed when they are caught, but pirate ships already carry a death sentence and any captain abusing a crew of hardened killers finds that sleep does not come easily.

Common Etiquette rules

Wupani mind their own business. They are competetive, but their competitions are more for fun than victory and they play fast and loose with the rules. Likewise, telling tales is a grand wupani tradition, and the validity of these wild stories is almost never questioned.

Common Dress code

If the eldermearans are the first to set new fashions, the wupani are the second. They wear layers of wool, cotton, or canvas, with thick rawhide for durability. It is also highly fashionable to wear oilskin overcoats and hats, particularly at sea.

Art & Architecture

Wupani often recycle materials, so both their art and their architecture is usually made out of clamshell, driftwood, or from decommissioned or wrecked ships. They are famous for lacquer painting and cuttlebones.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

See Wupan Superstitions

Birth & Baptismal Rites

A birth on a ship is considered a good omen for the child, and these children will be known as shipborn or seaborn. Either at sea or on shore, women give birth in tubs and the deed is celebrated with a night of drinking and partying. Friendly fights are common, particularly involving the new father. A necklace of teeth is fashioned by the mother from all of the ones knocked free by the father.

Funerary and Memorial customs

Wupani follow the same customs as most of the rest of Maecodian. Deaths at sea are either buried at sea with a normal Maecodian funeral taking place with no body, or the bodies are wrapped and stored for the voyage home.

Common Taboos

Wupani rarely call each other a liar, they disdain cowardice, and they prefer not to pry into the business of others.

Common Myths and Legends

Wupani believe in a primordial sea-god, something of a Ferneth but for all of the oceans. This mighty titan is often blamed for extreme weather events. While it is known by many names, it's true name is Aler'Avaczeth.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

Wupani tend to be on the shorter side, and a bit wide. They tend to have tanned to brown skin, dark or reddish hair, and the men pride themselves on their beards. They prize athleticism and strength, though they also admire grace of movement.

Gender Ideals

Men and women fulfill mostly the same place in society, with men somewhat more often gravitating out to sea and women more often staying ashore.

Courtship Ideals

Courtship in Wupan centers around gift exchanges and storytelling. One suitor will find a gift for the other and give it in a private moment, telling the tale of how they came by the item. Unless the item in question was acquired in an interesting or adventurous way, these tales are almost always fabrications and accepted on their merits as a story rather than any relationship to the truth. The suitors will also often stretch out the telling of the tale in order to maximize the time spent in each others' company. When the story is over, they are expected to go their separate ways until the next time.

Relationship Ideals

Vessels tend to be one-gender affairs, though all-female crews are nearly as numerous as all-male crews. There is a belief that mixing the genders can cause disharmony. As with most things in wupani society, this is reflected in shore life as well and the men and women maintain divided households. They sleep in separate beds, maintain separate bedrooms and outhouses, and the more affluent will maintain separate kitchens. They also tend to maintain separate finances. Ideally, the courtship never stops, where nights are spent sitting fireside, telling stories, and exchanging gifts.