Tallfolk
The tallfolk are a near-human people found throughout the land of Chiora. Unlike the other Cruthi peoples they have no clans (none officially at least.), nor do they have any lands or villages to call home. They are not a native folk of Chiora rather they had arrived in a large fleet of cedar canoes from the mysterious lands beyond the dawn to the east. Upon them first landing the clans of the Miurah coast mistook them for an invasion and called the strongest amongst them to repel them. But when the warriors arrived they found not a mighty war-band but a huddled mass of miserable faces. Each one of these people who called themselves Anan'tsika stood at a height to rival the tallest Cruthi. They had lean muscled bodies with light brown skin, black claw on their hands and feet, the teeth of wild cats and the eyes of wild animals. They told of how their lands had been taken by a great army they called only the men with torches and how Chiora was their only option for safety. However they did not find refuge in a safe and peaceful land but a land harsh in her very nature, peopled by a brutal warrior culture and rumbling with the footsteps of savage beasts. The king of Miurah was only willing to spare temporary assistance to them giving them food and directions to safe lands. They endured a deep mistrust from many clans and were attacked often. They wore elaborate wooden armour but the steel weapons of the Cruthi cut through them easily. No matter what they tried no king or chief would give them land of their own and some even banished the strangers from their domains entirely. When hope was at its dimmest the elders among them concluded that in order for their people to survive without land they must become one with the Cruthi. Reluctantly the many different families went their separate ways to find people who might tolerate their presence. Some groups were lucky. In the Mathair river delta they were met with the peaceful Wulver clans who recognising them as a people also bound to rivers viewed them as a sort of kindred, gave them rights to make homes among them and live off the river. Some made it to the Grotto islands in the west where they easily merged with the whaling culture of the islanders. In the great Loroch valley they were accepted for their talent for woodwork and throughout Chiora small populations of them can be found in towns or homesteading with the permission of chiefs. Others however have found no such peace. In the Shaelbennon mountains nomadic bands of Tallfolk wander the lands grazing rustled livestock and fighting off the local clans. Though no matter how their circumstances may be they will always tell you Tallfolk have found a place in Chiora. If it is not their home by now they will make it so yet.
Naming Traditions
Feminine names
Aelrè
Morna
Meri
Runnaq
Masculine names
Hurron
Shulbroc
Kepraechan
Kotaen
Family names
Kaercha
Talnidh
Silkirsh
MacArbeq
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
The old mother tounge of the Tallfolk is scarcely spoken in public life if not for the mistrust of Cruthi then it's lack of usefulness as most Cruthi make no attempt to learn it. They speak Cruthi fluently but with a distinct accent and have even their own version of huntspeech but as a more sign based method.
Culture and cultural heritage
There's is a hunting and atrisan culture centered around a deep love for the natural world. The wild provides them with everything they need from food and clothing to wealth. Children learn to track game and tell poison berries from safe ones before they can walk and are taught to make things of varying usefullness and beauty all obtained from nature. Those cultural aspects have changed very little when they intergrated with the cruthi.
Shared customary codes and values
Reguadless of where in Chiora they may be, they are a people that never take more than they need and ensure that whatever they take from nature is put to the good of the family and wider community. The tougetherness of family and community was important before they fled the dawnlands but now is even greater. For after their exile and in a land as deadly as Chiora they must keep tougether as best they can and keep strong their bond.
Common Dress code
Though they garb themselves in Cruthi great kilts and other such dress, remnants of their old clothing can still be found. Women wear long pelt dresses and brightly coloured shawls of reed cloth. Adorning themselves in jewellery made from painted bone, polished stones and beads made of seashells. Aside from sometimes shirts of buckskin men commonly wear no top but drape over their shoulders long blankets of duffle cloth and furs which they paint in striking designs. In both the fasions of men and women they have encorporated the tartan of the Cruthi but are mostly dyed with colours popular in their homeland many blacks and reds and yellows.
Art & Architecture
Along the river Mathair where they have largely integrated with the Wulver clans their presence can be found in their buildings and woodwork. Once in a while a box shaped timber cabin may be nestled by the waters with a tall totem posted at it's front. While the totems of the Cruthi and Tallfolk are similar it is easy to tell the two apart. Cruthi totems tend to be depictions of single beasts or figures carved in polished stone or lacquered wood, whereas the Tallfolk's totems depict multiple figures and are styled and painted in more complex and elaborate ways. The Tallfolk have also have in common with the Cruthi a tradition of tattooing. Tallfolk tattoo their bodies in black ink as opposed to the blue of woad and have a distinct style. Tattooing among the Tallfolk was used as a way of testing strength and forever encapsulating memories, however as the Tallfolk came to accept the shamanistic faith of Breathan tattooing took on a new spiritual meaning. Tattoos they believe give them strength and display achievement to the world, though it is not uncommon to see Tallfolk tattooed of both blue and black. Their artisanship is famed throughout Chiora in particular their talent for making jewellery and woodworking.
Foods & Cuisine
Back in the dusk lands the Tallfolk's staple was Bear, salmon and ocean fish which they supplemented with root vegetables and other wild game. Whale, pine buffalo and shark were particular favourites and their herbalists were known to produce seasonings that could make even the blandest bowl of maze porridge taste as sweet as fresh honey. They were glad that in Chiora they found no shortage of beast and fish familiar to them and from trade with other dusk land peoples the Cruthi had been exposed to foods such as corn, potatoes and sunchoke. They utilised their traditional cooking methods using Cruthi ingredients in particular along with salmon they began to smoke cure a larger variety of fish and their herbalists began making seasonings out of Chioran wild herbs.
Funerary and Memorial customs
As most Tallfolk now worship the Breathanist faith they cremate their dead however they practice a ceremony before hand in accordance with their old faith. They wrap the deceased in a bear skin and paint their face white. They lay them down on a cedar canoe piled with wildflowers and sweet herbs. A blessing is said to call the gods to the scene and their abdomen is cut open. This allows the spirit to escape the body. Then the relatives sing the favourite song of the deceased and they build the pyre around the canoe. The Breathanist shaman takes over and the pyre is set alight. They celebrate the life of the deceased with a great dinner.
Common Myths and Legends
It was a devine she-bear the elders say that found the first of Anan'tsika children. The children of forest spirits made solid flesh. She nursed them and taught them all of the river and the wild and how to draw strength from the world around them. She instructed her children to...
Make a fire as I showed you and cut me with you're flints. Roast me and eat the flesh from my body and the marrow from my bones. Make blankets from my skin and use my fat to feed yo're fires. In every beast you hunt, every tree you fell and every child born to you're people I will be there. Never once shall I leave you alone.With tears pouring from her eyes her children did so. Since then the worship of bear spirits has been an integral part of their belief. And though the majority of Tallfolk have adopted the gods of Chiora they have never forgotten the bear mother and shrines to her can be found in their homes alongside shrines to the Cruthi gods.
Historical figures
When they first set foot on Chiora it was a man the tale calls Tuuneq that had been given the authority to speak for them all. It was he and a small band of warriors who back in the dusk lands stole into the woods from where their invaders were coming and struck at them. He and his warriors could only do so much to hold back the tide of the men with touches and they saved as many as they could. He had bought them enough time for his people to escape. It was only when he had made landfall on a desolate island that he realised his chief brother had stayed behind to die in his homeland. The people chose to accept Tuuneq as their chief and he thought of a plan. They were surrounded by foes as far as the coast did stretch. He knew none of them would accept them if they sought shelter with them. And yet from the trading of his brother he had been told of the vast land to the west. And so he led them to Chiora
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Both Tallfolk men and women find certain things universally beautiful. Long flowing hair, freckled or roan skin and sharp facial features are seen as attractive overall though other things are unique to either men or women. For example Tallfolk men find women with longer, sharper fangs to be a mark of great beauty, as it seams do Cruthi men. Whereas women Tallfolk seem to find an imposing figure and sharp eyes on a man attractive.
Gender Ideals
Men are expected to be the arm of the tribe thus they are the ones that hunt, forage and do battle. They are also the ones that row the great ceder canoes and build structures. Women however are expected to be the mind of the tribe. Women are the learned ones and keepers of wisdom, they craft tools and garments, make medicines, teach the young and make trade with other peoples. All have a say in tribal councils, familial lines are traced through mothers and both men and women can be village chiefs or familial heads.
Courtship Ideals
Traditionally Tallfolk men court women in secret. They would leave a gift for them to find along with clues as to who their suitor is. When they make themselves known to their desired partner if she accepts his advances she then regularly challenges him to prove his devotion to her. This can range from feats of strength and catching her favourite wild game to learning how to play her favoured instrument. If the man seeks to propose he must do it before the family of his desired partner and while the parents may give approval or disapproval only the woman may accept or decline. Cruthi men and women seem to find this process quite enjoyable as intermarriages are not uncommon.
Major organizations
The most famed and admired organised group of almost exclusively tallfolk is doubtless the 'Children of the long hunt'. A band of mercenary warriors and reivers consisting almost entirely of Tallfolk and those of that blood. They seek one day to plunder enough wealth and win enough favour with a king or chieftain that they may finally have a clan that Tallfolk may call their own. However other such organised groups of tallfolk would be the wandering Tallfolk herders of the Shaelbennon mountains.
Parent ethnicities
Related Organizations
Related Locations
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