Regalri (REE GAL RI)
"Can you imagine a whole city flying through the clouds and looking down on everyone beneath you? The Neatherese imagined it, and made it so."The Regalri are at the same time the most often discussed and the least understood branch of the people of Neather as the ruling group of pinnacle society of the Age of Myth they are believed to be largely responsible for the Fall of the Neatherese. Much has been written about them, but relatively little has been written by them, with most surviving sources documenting Regalri actions but likely assuming motives and methods were understood by all. The Regalri (from which the word regal descends) were the masters of trade and warfare from their flying cities which were thought to travel the breadth of the Neatherese territory. Very little of these flying cities' remains have been found, likely due to the damage incurred when something the size of a mountaintop falls to the ground and then is eroded or mined over the course of thousands of years, but several sites in the area now known as the Unresting Fields are thought to have been land based Regalri settlements.
-Varis Holimion , "On the Neatherese," 1488.
Naming Traditions
Feminine names
Very few examples of female names from this group have survived. Women were largely not represented in official records of the time, and when they were it was often by epithets such as "wife of" or "mother of."
Other names
Regalri Neatherese typically appear with very long names in documents. It is generally unclear where the line between name and title was drawn, but the repeated use of very long names in surviving documents seems to indicate that in anyway diminishing a person's name (at least in formal contexts) was a form of insult.
Culture
Culture and cultural heritage
Many modern traditions can be said to have their roots in Neatherese, and thus Regalri culture either as attempt to emulate or intentionally distance themselves from the past, many human kingdoms which are said to have been descended from Neather via Elow often find themselves still attempting to clearly define societal roles based on gender, magic, or faith in the gods.
Average technological level
The Regalri are often referred to as "Masters of the Wind" this is generally (in keeping with what is known about Neatherese traditions) taken to refer to magical prowess. At some point during the height of their empire the Regalri lifted their cities from the ground to travel the "winds of magic" thought to be an airborne equivalent to leylines. Neatherese records describe 36 floating-castles (though other smaller structures may have also been created), and while it seems the initial impetus was the exchange of goods and knowledge, the palaces were quickly weaponized into unstoppable symbols of might and oppression. Of the supposed 36 cities, ruins of fewer than one third have been found.
Common Dress code
Clothing is actually one of the most commonly surviving type Regalri artifacts. Regalri, male and female, wore long robes typically consisting one or more lengths of brightly colored, and often interwoven with precious metals and magic, cloth, belted about the waist. More cloth seems to have indicated a higher status, with Regalri slaves wearing only a single shortened length of cloth.
Art & Architecture
The single most remembered trait of the Regalri was their architecture in the form of flying castle cities and fortresses. Modern magics balk at the idea that such a construction was even possible but it being such a fixture of stories about the Neatherese in general has established such cities firmly within ancient lore. What survives of Regalri architecture exists mostly around craters or calderas, and are thought to be the remains of ports for their flying cities. Evidence suggests that in their day the Regalri would have built massive towers of stone and metal and in contrast to Ilyrian buildings had a light, airy sytle that would not be able to support its own weight without magic.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Very few references remain, but seem to exalt height, displays of wealth, the physical body, and magical prowess. Of particular note is that for the Regalri and the Neatherese as a whole, magical effects that modern mortals might consider disturbing were seen as achievements, this extended to the realm of magical altering of one's own body.
Gender Ideals
It can be inferred from the lack of documentation on them that females had much fewer rights than males in Regalri society. Some texts seem to indicate that the concept of a pure bloodline was very important to the Regalri and some sources hint that women where cloistered away from society in order to maintain said bloodlines.
Statue found in Regalri ruins
c -4000 DR - c. -2000 DR
Type
Geopolitical, State
Parent Organization
Neatherese Civilization
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