Zeribians and Water

The Zeribians are a culture of the open sea and tiny Eastern Islands.Their settlements are never far from the coast or a stream that can be navigated on a canoe.

Diet

The Zeribian diet comes mainly from aquatic sources. They eat a wide variety of fish, crabs, shrimp, mussels, and even large species like dolphins. They also gather several species of seaweed.

Economics

Fishing is the most widely practiced profession of Zeribians, especially when living in settlements with other ethnicities. They are also known to be better divers. The most significant sourse of income is sea based trade, which Zeribians dominate with their superior naval technology.

Religion and spirituality

Frequent washing is important for Zeribians for both secular and religious reasons. Zeribians bathe or swim daily, usually during their daily life without purposefully thinking about it. Their ritual purity code specifically requires washing in clean natural water before most rituals and to cleanse after any spiritually tainting activities. The fresh water in the Zeribian religion is the home of Idûrfeš, the goddess of birth, fertility, and all the freshwater animals. The sea, on the other hand, is ruled by Feren.

Technology

The Zeribians are most advanced on the areas of technology that has helped them adapt to their watery lifestyle.

Ships
The Zeribian boats and ships of all sizes share a simple basic design, where a hull is connected to a stabilizing outrigger. This makes the boats very light and fast, but also very stable so that they are safe for crossing the open sea.

by Teinesavaii (Wikipedia)

by piqsels

Stilted houses
The Zeribian houses are specialised to be built on wetlands or areas with frequent flooding. In many cities the Zeribians build their dwellings literally on top of the water, and are happy to be able to dock their canoos straight on their front door.

The Zeribian culture wouldn't exist without of the sea that connects them. It was created when the early leading families of Washleng and Old Moon managed to conquer many of the nearby islands, and their way of leading the multi-island kingdoms through alliance and trade became the standard for the unified elite culture of the archipelago.

Zeribian God Idûrfeš

Conservation efforts

Despite how crusial water is for he Zeribians, they haven't traditionally made a lot of effort to protect the water's cleaniness. They had always lived in sparse settlements in areas where rain was more than plentiful. The first large-scale programs where iniated in the 900th century, when the pollution caused by the mining industry around Lake Brass in Der Fem Island was noticed to cause problems for the newly founded capital downstream.