Talk:Kingdom of Emlyn

This page is not a complete culture write up, but rather a collection of ideas combed from other sources and discussions with the local leaders and lore masters. If you have questions or suggestions regarding this page, contact Lara in Discord.

Social Order

A strong sense of honor and the precepts of the code of virtue (Dana & The Seven), is the moral compass for those of Emlyn. Whatever they feel is the right, virtuous path, is not only the one they tread, but the one they feel others should follow as well—even if such steadfast devotion to their sense of right can in turn lead to conflict with others.

Those of Emlyn’s aim, of abiding by what they feel is right is met by a variety of ways.

For example, some may choose to reside in the catacombs of Port Leon and harness the magic of old that derives deep within the vast ancient vaults below the city. None who follow such a path would outright say they are creating and harboring magical weapons of Mass-Destruction, however that is ultimately the result of such pursuits. These individuals would be adept at knowing the elemental focal points within the catacombs (wind, water, fire, earth), though their specialty would likely fall into one domain. They would also likely have studied the ancient texts in the underground library. They would do this attempting to protecting the world against the abuse of magic.

Others may seek fulfillment by keeping the feral evils of the realm at bay. Utilizing skills those of Emlyn are known to have as “masters of the wild,” such as tracking to hunt down rogue ogres, humans and beasts so that they do not infiltrate their territory or overrun the mainland.

No matter the direct path one of Emlyn may take, their sense of righteousness strongly dictates their path in life. They as a people believe themselves to be gatekeepers between the dead and the living. They detest the undead. In fact, it is this very belief which has prompted their custom of burying their dead out at sea—so that the dead may pass and not rise—in turn, becoming something unnatural.

They are so dead set on their ideals and beliefs, they can often come across to others as judgement and rigid. Their unbending nature in actuality can be seen as both a strength and weakness.

World View

The ancient people of Emlyn saw the world as a place on the borders of possibility, as both mysterious and familiar. They accepted magic and the Otherworld as easily as the grass and trees. They accepted wonderous occurances and strange things found in the fields. They loved hearing tales of mysterious places far away and of great heroes long ago. If those great heroes turned up one day out of the mists looking for lodging, they were welcomed.

Much of that would change with the arrival of the Andals and the introduction of the Thorn King religion who would set the premise that magic and the supernatural were things to be feared and destroyed rather then embraced and welcomed.

Yet both their ancient and modern world view formed a people who don't expect the world to be completely predictable, nor do they seek an explanation for everything. Those of Emlyn accepted this approach to the world, and would find our mechanistic world-view strange – and probably amusing. The how and why of the world is arcane and better left alone. Their attitude to magic and wonders was, “Practitioners may meddle with that sort of thing, but while a warrior isn’t surprised by it, he doesn’t ask questions about it either.”

This doesn’t mean that they don't care what happened to them. They care very much for their honor, their clan, and their reputations; everything that is important to the common man of Emlyn, particularly to the hero, is important personally.

The day-to-day reality of their life is very real and more concerned with their dealings with other people of Emlyn than with the gods, spirits, or other magical beings. The worst thing that could happen to a hero of Emlyn is to be thought poorly of by his peers; he would genuinely prefer death.

While most of Emlyn consider restrain a virtue They have the ability to throw themselves into their endeavors, to give all they had to what they were doing. While they are not a naturally generous people, when they do give, they give with both hands. “If the brown leaves falling in the woods were gold, if the waves of the sea were silver, Finn would have given away the whole of it.”

Those of Emlyn live as if their history and lore is real and truthful, not simply a collection of fables or parabels. Theirs is not a sanitized world-view: if a woman claimed to discovered the image of her true love in a raven tearing at a bloody carcass in the snow she would be beleived. It is perhaps easy to understand, with hindsight, how the ancient people of Emlyn were so easily converted to the religion of the Thorn King, and why even today they are quick to beleive in the reality of the supernatural.

They find nothing in the natural world disgusting, or shameful. The only shameful things were human behaviors – refusing a fair fight, telling lies (as opposed to speaking less than the whole truth), dishonoring one's family, king or god, et cetera. While they beleive there were many joys to be found, but even the greatest joys were touched with sadness. A story might be thigh-slappingly funny in the middle, it often ended on a down-note; the hero could be struck down in his prime, or live to melancholy old age to tell the stories of great days gone by to the next generation.

The greatest wish of a hero was that the story of his deeds would live on; thus storytellers and bards are highly honored and lavishly reward. It is also easy for the common person of Cuiveinen to tell what stories originated in Emlyn verses those of Midrvegr, Raeyithia or Andus.

Negative Traits

Much like their capital city of Caerleon, the people of Emlyn tend to hide their true selves. They tend to be wary of strangers at first. Most often they are not open-handed with gifts or their gold. While their appearance is rarely shabby, their clothing, homes and personal items do not reflect their personal wealth.

The Gesa

The gesa is a kind of personal taboo, a magical restriction or demand such as “Must be first to draw a weapon” or “Must not be woken from sleep.” If gesas were broken, swift and unpleasant retribution would inevitably follow. Those who would be heroes spent a lot of time trying to discover what their gesas are, and trying to do the best they could in the world before their gesas or disasters overtook them. The more heroic and important a person was, the more gesas surrounded him.

Often a hero has to choose between his gesas and his king or his friends. If he choses to break a gesa, then he is knowingly inviting some doom on himself. If he chose not to, then he had to live with himself after betraying his honor. Sometimes circumstances forced the breaking of a gesa, especially in the case of death gesas when certain conditions had to be fulfilled before someone could die; a hero would try to keep these conditions secret, but they couldn’t be avoided forever.

Family

Fostering

The custom of fosterage is wide-spread among the warrior classes. It isn't considered appropriate for parents to bring up their own children once they’d reached the age of reason, so parents choose suitable foster-parents (often blood relatives) and arranged for the child to live with them from the age of approximately seven years old. The children live with their foster-parents until aimsir togu, “the age of choice,” – 14 for a girl and 17 for a boy. At that age they could return home, remain with the foster-parents, or marry. During their fosterage they learned music, poetry, literature, fidchell, hurley, and the skills of war and single combat from their foster-parents and the clergy. They also absorbed the values of the community and the importance of honor. The ties formed at this time often last a lifetime. The relationship between the foster-parents and the child was often very close, and foster-brothers and-sisters were as close as blood relatives. Almost every Emlyn hero was fostered, and exceptions were so rare as to be notable.

It has even become a tradition for newly arriving travelers to be accepted as foster-children for a year or so, regardless of the traveler's age. This is especially true when a native family has few or no children of their own.