The Picts

The Picts are an indigeonus people found in the very northern part of Britain, refered to my many after the Roman name: Caledonia. They are closely related to the other British peoples, though they are closer if anything to the Hibernians in the sense they were never conquered by the Roman Empire. Their own region was through many of the northern islands and the region up from the Forth-Clyde isthmus through the Highlands. They got their name from the Romans who called them the Picti, due to their skin being 'painted' in blue designs, though likely tattooed with tradtional Pict designs.
To the south west the islands & land is now controlled by the invading Scotti of Ul Aiad out of Dal Riada & Strathclyde, and the south east is controlled by the Angles out of Northumbria. The Picts regularly end up having both trade and the odd raid with both these, though they seem to have more in common with the Scotti.
The Picts are a mysterious people to most outsiders. They prefer to hit hard & fast taking what they want id they can't trade for it. They respect those who can put up a decent fight and are sometimes hired as local scouts and / or mercenaries by those that border them. Most are willing to do this as it provides extra resources for themselves & their communities. Most of them are hardy people with simple tastes and a strong arm. Most of their neighbours find them somewhat primitive superstitious lot, especially by the Angles. They can be a nuisence too by taking to boats and commiting pirate raids at sea to others.
They are ancient with many of their beliefs still tied to variants of gods that seem to predate most other Brittonic peoples but referred to as basically analogus in every way. They are ruled by a king and a noble class. They regularly use a symbol of two entwined double disks and a Z-rod. Some scholars postulate that this is ancient in design and represents the physical & spiritual worlds entwined but separated by a world serpent of some type.
Never conquered by the Romans, they thrived being cut off from the problems of such a huge monolithic empire, and kept to their own. Irregular skirmishes by both sides led to the building of Hadrians Wall that still stands to this day. The exact reason it was built is unknown. Many say it shows the extent of the empire and that there is nothing beyond worth conquering. Others though, say that it was built to keep ancient creatures from attacking from the north and to look out for the return of one particular ancient entity that now lies buried in the Highlands and in the process of waking after thousands of years of sleep, dead but dreaming.
These, they say, seem to point to one of the reasons the Romans left and to them sending the ill-fated 9th Legion north to put down some supposed rebellion in Caledonia. If this is the case many are afraid what may be lurking north of the wall.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

The Picts speak a form of Brythonic unique to their own region.

Culture and cultural heritage

The Picts seem to be a Celtic, or at least a Proto-Celtic people, sharing many common cultural traditions with the Welsh & Cornish, and some wih the Gaels & Gauls.

Average technological level

The Picts are at an Iron Age level with some steel working taking place.

Common Dress code

Thewy dressed in woolen & linen based clothing usually having one or two colours in it in simple desins such as squares or lines. They would have elements of leather mixed in and the odd bit of metal jewellery mixed in too, and the odd practical metal bits & pieces where necessary.

Art & Architecture

The Picts used silver & gold adornments and used stone symbol stones. Many of these use a double disc & z-symbol symbol on these as a regular motif. They regularly built crannog housing & building of wood and reeds on lochs & other bodies of water.  This helped protect them from enemies. Sometimes these were built on land as & where necessary. Standing stones *including stone circles) are irregularly maintained, and usually buried the dead (especially high ranking people) in mounds. Some where buried in water courses to show the connection to the underworld.

Foods & Cuisine

Cereal crops such as wheat, barley, oats & rye, along with cabbage, kale, onions & leeks, peas & beans, and turnip are regularly consumed. Wild garlic, watercress & nettles seem to be used too. Horses, sheep, and cattle are bred too, as well as fishing are practised as & when they can.

Funerary and Memorial customs

Most are buried in mounds and related graves with some cremation taking place though the latter is rare. The nobility are usually buried in elaborate mounds and with their kin.

Common Myths and Legends

A rare myth has been circulated amongst the Scotti to the south west, and the Angles in the south east. They have been told that an ancient serpent of chaos, death and destruction has started to awaken deep in the Highlands. Individuals right up to whole clans of the Picts have started to make their way to a valley where there is a circular set of standing stones carved with the double disc and Z-rod, and a cave to the west lies. It is a couple of south of Loch Ness and they all have marked themselves with the same design claiming that when this serpent arrises, then any invaders & all those of impure blood will fall. The Picts will rise and flow over the lands like a tsunami claiming it for their own. Their druids are seeing visions of it and the vast majority of the Picts are digging in with their druids claiming it is an ancient world serpent coming back to destroy everything for all men. The latter also state that they see a number of other serpents waking bound to the elemental forces, and two have already awoke to the east & to the distant soutrh east under a city.

Ideals

Gender Ideals

Primarily split into traditional masculine & feminine definitions there were a few that broke these 'social norns' and a few powerful individuals coiuld hold ranks & offices or hold positions that normally belonged to the other gender.

Relationship Ideals

The Picts preferred to be straight with others, and expected everyone to keep their word for better or ill.