Red Crestians

Red Crest Islands by Naelin

Freshly out of an uncomfortable transition from colony to puppet state of their former rulers, the people of the Red Crest Islands are a culturally beaten nation, very slowly gaining a sense of pride and a defiant spirit against the very strict ruling of their reigning Prince.

Demography

Much like their former rulers in Thaur Island, the nation of Red Crest is formed mostly by furry societarians.
However, the inhabitants of both islands are distinguishable by the different groups of phenotypes that abound in each:
Common phenotype groups in Red Crest include monkeys, bears, marsupials, sloths, moles, platypuses and elephants.

Genders & Social Roles

The following section includes mild discussion of gender-based discrimination

As with most of the Archipelago, Red Crestians use a system of 4-genders to categorize the societal roles of their people, recognizing women, men, neutrals and shifting.
While accepting of their existence, shifting people are generally regarded as lesser by their peers, and stigmatized as dramatic, attention-seeking and unreliable.
Shifting people, especially kids, are usually told to "act more neutral" as to conceal their less-proper identity.

Diplomacy

Shield of Thaur by Naelin

As the recent years of turmoil have left the principality without any connections to continue influencing the Prince, the already cold relationship between the nation of Red Crest and the Kingdom of Merthiorn, now transformed into the Kingdom of Thaur, grew distant despite the shared culture.
While most Thaurine don't harbour any strong feelings for or against the people living in Red Crest, still many of them (especially those that still embrace the fallen Merthiornite Royal Family and reject the rule of Naelin) do consider the Red Crestians as their rightful subordinates, turning their newfound chance at peace a more rocky endeavour.
Besides these immediate neighbours, Red Crest trades mostly with Dhalmain and Karte, the latter of which has gained a rush of favour from the Red Crestians due to its recent civil war, at first from the government supporting the rule Stags, and later from the population in support of the revolution.

Ideology

Tight Manners and Etiquette

After the island was granted "independence" in 2985 E.Alz, the Prince Virgilim started setting policies that tightened the boundaries of what was considered morally acceptable, leading to a culture of shaming and hiding on extreme stark contrast to that of its former coloniser, the very carefree and open Merthiorn.
Though not everyone was on board with the piles of new rules on etiquette, dressing codes and manners, the decades of tight "indecency laws" transformed the culture to accept and promote prudeness.

Burning of Morals

by Naelin

In recent years, especially after the fall of Merthiorn to the High Rust, people got sufficiently fed up with Virgilim's impositions to start fighting back.
Protests and counter-cultures gained force, in no small part influenced by The Circlecrats, a group of philosophers from the City of Vythlan, after their publication of the "Manifesto for the burning of morals".
Both ideologies seem to continue getting stronger and more extreme as time passes, with the more brazen ones being the loudest when it comes to protesting against the many shortcomings and oppressive rulings of the Principality.

Flag of Red Crest

Alternative Demonyms

Crimsons, Crested

Recognized Genders

Woman
Man
Neutral
Shifting

Related Organizations

• Principality of Red Crest

Related Locations

• Red Crest Islands

Naming Conventions

After centuries of colonisation, the Red Crestians "inherited" the naming conventions of the Merthiornite.
Most inhabitants of the nation have either noun-based or custom, original names, though a small minority still use names inherited from their old ancestors before the advent of the Merthiornite rule.
Discrimination against people with native names gradually reduced the use of them into near extintion, though they have become more popular since the fall of Merthiorn.

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Inspired by TJ Trewin's 400 Worldbuilding Prompts

Answering prompt N° 99: "Explain the social manners and etiquette of a society in your world to a newcomer."