Doppelganger societies are usually very heavily classed, and there are differences in how each class lives. However, there are some things that are the same throughout.

Most doppelganger families have preferred identities or species they take on. Some families focus broadly (humans or metahumans) while others are specific (muscular nymphs, feminine humans) or have certain characteristics they look for (blond hair, wings) with no specific qualification. Most prefer forms that are very human in appearance, because that is the most common species and the size range is generally easy to fit into. Some who prefer different animal folk or spirit folk may enjoy a little more variation. A doppelganger who goes against family tradition is often looked down on, but it is rarely to the point of disowning. It's simply considered awkward, or a phase, or a peculiarity. If, however, a lord decrees a form must be taken by the underclasses (this happens occasionally) and one refuses, this is cause for enslavement.

The most common passtime of all doppelgangers is hunting. Their primary goddess is a huntress, and in their eyes, she embodies hunting to one's own needs and wants. She is the embodiment of taking what is rightfully yours, of that which you desire, and so as a huntress, she guides them to hunt as they please. The idea of responsible hunting is seen as a weakness, a sign that one is not strong. Instead, hunters are encouraged to take what they can get. To poach from another's lands is seen as a skill, for it means you made your enemy weaker and got away with it.

Gender among doppelgangers does not follow any biological rules. Doppelgangers determine gender by their own personal identification. As their biologies are subject to change, gender couldn't be tied to it in any consistent way. A female doppelganger in a male-assigned body is still female. Many doppelgangers find they have a preference for certain gendered identities, but some either do not have a preference, prefer androgyny, or prefer fluidity. Among nobles, gender comes with rank--a queen is female no matter what her personal identification is--but ranks can be changed to equivalent ranks in some cases to suit the noble. Among commoners, however, their gender is what they say it is, because it has no legal weight or bearing. Because their language developed alongside beings of other species, it is a gendered language, but it generally doesn't matter what, for instance, pronoun is used. Because of this view of gender, the idea of same-sex marriage is foreign; gender has no bearing on marriage. People marry who they marry. Reproduction is encouraged, and sometimes this means saving up to buy a new identity to make that possible. But it can be temporary.

There are three froms of hunting favored by doppelgangers: bow hunting, trapping, and falconry. In modern eras, sometimes the rifle replaces the bow. Their favored prey are red deer. Roe, sika, and fallow deer are also common. Fox-hunting is enjoyed by the nobility, and hares, rabbits, martens, polecats, and badgers are often hunted by commoners. On rare occasions, boar, bear, and wolf hunting may occur, but these are more for protection, and noble and commoner alike take part. Captured bears are often used in bear-baiting contests; wolves are usually left alone unless they are attacking livestock. Dogs are used in hunting by some nobles or peasants. Every year, there are special hunting days that are ceremonial for honoring the goddess(es) (see below). Professional hunters are called helfarch.

Common among doppelgangers is a love of wine. Aeldian wine is made from special fruits from their gardens and often has a bit of poison in it. It has a slight sting to it and brings hallucinations when one gets drunk off of it. Most doppelgangers sell the fruits of their gardens to the wine-makers just before winter, in order to have a little extra for the hard months. They are paid in a few bottles of last year's vintage and coin. Depending on the way the seasons have gone, prices vary greatly, so the number of coins is variable, but it is law that fruit-selling is two bottles of wine per pound of fruit.

Music and theatre are popular among Aeldians. Whether it is the complex, experimental theatre and music of the ruling classes, or the beautiful, melancholy music and ribald theatre of the underclasses, these are mainstays of their lives. Every family has music, and every community has theatre. Actors are usually members of the lower classes patroned by the nobility. Professional musicians either find patronage or a community, public space, or inn where they can make money. Most families have musicians among them.

Mwyr Aeld is a major forest area, so logging and lumber are major industries. Mining is also a major part of their culture, especially jade, coal, iron, and silver. Logging is done by serfs and peasants who own the land being logged. Mines are worked by slaves, convicts, freefolk, and cynfreddin.

In northern Mwyr Aeld, there is a large lake known as Llyn Cuniaim, where it is said the goddess's steed, a massive dragon with red and green scales, bled and burned a hole in a mountain. The lake, which has red waters from light hitting the rubies found in and around it, is protected by the high king. It is illegal to fish in it or harvest the rubies. All are welcome to swim in it, enjoy its cool waters, and camp or picnic along its shores, if they have the freedom to do so. The south end is favored by nobles, the north by commoners.

Commoners lead very differnet lives from the nobles. There are four kinds of commoners: freedfolk (former slaves or ex-convicts), serfs, peasants, and cyffredin.

Freedfolk (rhyddhau) are the lowest ranks of commoners. They are technically free, but they still carry heavy stigma for their pasts and have limited rights. They cannot hold any governmental office or be part of any court as a servant. They cannot gain any rank in military. They cannot own private property or slaves. And they cannot marry. They usually find themselves taking the worst roles that aren't given to slaves. They also do not have the right to refuse being consumed by a noble. Their lives are only slightly less miserable than that of the slaves, and they often resort to crimes to survive, thus bringing them back into slavery. Most are missing digits or limbs (or eyes, ears, or lips) due to punishments they received for their past crimes or failures as a slave, and rates of alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide, and disappearance among them is high. It is illegal for them to leave the kingdom they are in; if they seek to escape, they are executed. There are no consistent traditions among them.

Serfs are land workers who are legally bound to the land they work. They are considered property of the noble classes, above slaves but only barely. They must do anything their lord demands, have few rights to their own bodies, and are considered part of the landscape--that is, if the land is sold, so are they. In exchange for this, they are given a roof over their heads (though it may not be a very good one), the right to cultivate a small parcel of land for food and their own identity gardens, and the right to marry. Theoretically, they can eventually buy their way out of serfdom, but this is rare to the point that it is considered a fairytale. If a serf has children, their children are bound to the same contract. As such, there are traditions that have arisen among serfs, as they have generational continuity.

Serf children are usually cared for by their parents. If their parents are married, both are involved in the upbringing as much as possible; if not, usually, the birthing parent and their family raises the children. Because of the strenuous demands of serfdom and the watchful eyes of their lords, children are put to work at a young age to "earn their keep". They are not allowed to start their gardens until they are adults, and as such, serf families discourage the desire for other bodies until their children are older. Many fail and die of the need before adulthood. (Average life expectancy for an Aeldian serf is 27.) But when they do start their gardens, there is a small family ceremony that is a cross between a birthday party (which is the only time in their lives they ever recognize such a thing) and a coming-of-age ceremony. The garden plot is cleared by the family the night before, and the recipient spends the night choosing which seeds or cuttings to plant first. In the morning, they all gather for the first planting, and then a solemn prayer and sacrifice is made for the plot. This part lasts several hours. By midday, they are ready to celebrate, gathering for food, drink, and giving of gifts to the recipient. That night, the honoree is encouraged to go out, get drunk, and sleep with someone. For the next few months, they save up to buy a cheap slave to consume. Most serfs only ever buy one new identity and keep it tended in their garden their whole lives. Any other money is saved (futilely) toward buying their freedom.

Those born into serfdom may sign up for the military (either their direct lord's or the high king's) to escape serfdom if they have not become the head of their household. If they serve for two decades, they are made cyffredin. Few survive this long in the military, however. A serf may not have any rank in the military.

Peasants are land workers who own a stake their land, but pay taxes and fees to the lords, who own the rest of the stake in it. The lords put certain limitations on the land's use and require a percentage of the crops and livestock every month, but the peasant has much more freedom than the serf. A serf cannot leave their land; a peasant can sell their stake and go elsewhere at will. A serf's servitude and bondage to the land is passed down, but no wealth is. A peasant may pass down their stake to their children. Peasants may earn enough to buy out their lord's stake. This is rare, but not unheard of. They may also simply buy more of a stake, or stake in extra land, to expand their holdings or percentage of their wealth. They have the right to cultivate their land as they please so long as they meet the requirements of their lords, the right to their own garden plots, the right to marry, the right to trade what they do not owe to their lords, and the right to a defense of their land by their lord. If a peasant joins the military, they may gain rank up to sergeant.

Marriage is important to peasants. Having children outside of marriage for a peasant is considered a shame, and the child will often be sold into serfdom or slavery in order to alleviate that shame. It is vital to peasants to have legitimate children who can be proven to be theirs, so that they may never have their stake in the land challenged by any. Peasants live in fear of losing their land and their rights. Children are raised by their extended family until they are old enough to learn, and then if the peasants can afford it, the children are sent to school. If the peasants cannot afford it, the children are put to work at simple tasks. By the age of 14, all peasant children are working the land and learning how to run it. Most peasant families are very large, and it is tradition that the second oldest child joins the military for a few years in order to earn respect for the family.

Peasants may start their gardens at age 14, and they usually do so with a simple ceremony of prayer and a special meal of fruits and vegetables from the gardens of the rest of the family. They then work to earn a slave; like serfs, they usually only ever have one slave/identity in their lifetime.

Peasants in Mwyr Aeld are known especially for their musical traditions. Serfs stick to simple encouragement and feeding of emotion to assuage any chance of hunger in their children, but peasants use music to soothe feelings and guide them. If a child is starting to yearn too early, there are special songs that are sung to them to calm them. If an adult experiences urges they cannot live with, there are songs on fiddle that they play or listen to to feel better. As such, peasant families usually have several skilled musicians among them. Their music is mournful and often complex, telling stories of their history.

The cynffredin are commoners who are not connected and have no stake in land. They mostly live in the cities. They either work for the lords in other roles (servants, craftsmen, gameskeepers, messengers, etc.) or as merchants and traders or independent craftsfolk. Innkeepers, cooks, butchers, and fishers are very common. Cyffredin have some rights if they work for a lord, but almost none if they do not. They must fight for what they have if they are independent, and they know they can be arrested, taken slave, or consumed at any time at the whim of a lord. Many join the military for some protections, while others make themselves indispensible to the lords or sign on as a specific worker for a lord. Because their roles are so varied, there is little consistency to the traditions of the cynfreddin. Their children are raised in fear, much as any other Aeldian. Because they do not have land, they all must rent space for their gardens, and most spend a significant part of their income on this.

Slavery is a common practice in Mwyr Aeld. Slaves can be doppelgangers, but they are usually other species, used for their identities. The life of a slave is entirely at the whim of their owner. There are no laws governing slave-ownership, save to say that some classes may not own them. Once enslaved, a person can be killed, consumed, sold, butchered, tortured, raped, or otherwise harmed or helped as their owner pleases. Some who are convicted of crimes may be sentenced to slavery, but most are sent to prisons that are actually thorn mazes. If they are caught in the thorns, they are consumed and fed to the local lords. If they survive for the length of their sentence, they are made freefolk.

Most doppelgangers recognize Haeddiannol ("most deserving") as their mother goddess. She is a goddess of the hunt and the source of their pride and status as those who deserve what they want. Legends say she slew another goddess to lead the Aeldians to salvation and allow them to act as they pleasre. Other legends say she betrayed Benplesir, the seductress goddess who helped her birth the first doppelgangers. A third goddess, Neidi ("leap"), is often worshipped, as legends say she was also once Haeddiannol's lover, though the two are said to hate one another now. The Aeldian church centers on worshipping Haeddiannol, but worship of the other two, as well as Duw Gwag, Stelciwr, and Un Gwenwynig, are common throughout the kingdoms among both nobles and commoners. Gofdurgwyn is worshipped by slavers and slave-traders.

Their roles in the Aeldian faith represent different aspects of Aeldian culture and philosophy. Haeddiannol is the driving force of all Aeldians, their birthright to take what they please and do as they please. She gives them the desire to be better than others and the ability to do so. Benplesir is their desirability, pleasure, sexuality, and beauty, their goddess of "love" (desire/lust/sexual dominance) and their right to the bodies of others. Neidi is the one who provides them with the cacophonic music they so love, the one who disrupts and helps them survive, the opportunistic and cruel hunter to Haeddiannol's poacher-hunter persona. Duw Gwag is a war god, a god of power, honored by masculine lords and the military. Stelciwr is a hunter-god, he who stalks the night, the bringer of fear, the one who teaches them to intimidate. Un Gwenwynig is the poisoner, the one who makes the poisonous plants/ And Dofdurgwyn is a smithing god who makes the white chains that control slaves.

The Aeldian church is as much a political power structure as it is a purveyor of faith. It is heavil entwined with the nobility. It is run by a high priest and has a complex hierarchy. There are 12 bishops, one for each kingdom, and then a mix of special religious leaders, monastics, scholars, esotericists, and annointed warriors and assassins and their leadership that make up the internal structure of the church. Priests make up the bulk of the church; there is one in almost every community. The high priest lives in the royal palace and adises the high king. The bishops advise each king/queen. Many dukes, marquesses, and earls also have religious advisers as well, but below that rank the local priest must suffice, as the church does not waste time on lesser nobles.

The church allows for the worship of other divinities only so that they can show how Haeddiannol is superior. Often from the pulpit they tell of how Haeddiannol bested Benplesir and Neidi, how Duw Gwag reveres her, how Stelciwr lusts for her, and how Un Gwenwynig fears her. (They ignore Gofdurgwyn, who is a niche divine in Mwyr Aeld.)

There are some among the Aeldian nation who have a specific worship of one of the other major divines than Haeddiannol. Among nobles, this is usually seen as a quirk or the eccentric nobility (a noblewoman who sees herself as a seductress honoring Benplesir, for instance), a family tradition (a more militaristic duke who honors Duw Gwag), or an intentional choice of someone seeking a specific kind of power (cacosingers who honor Neidi or poisoners who honor Un Gwenwynig). Among commoners, there are some families who have different traditions (some whose land is near a swamp honoring Un Gwenweynig) and some who find a calling (smiths who honor Gofdurgwyn), but most simply show honor to the gods as needed--on a night hunt, give thanks to Haeddiannol and Stelciwr; when at war, call on Duw Gwag; ask for protection from Un Gwwenwynig when plague sweeps through.

In some commuities, especially away from the major power centers of Mwyr Aeld, there are gwrachod ("witches", sing. gwrach) who serve an old tradition. They are mystic women (usually) who help parents and children in the community, are known for their healing arts, and have mystical powers and honor a mother-maiden-crone trinity that is Haeddiannol, Benplesir, and Neidi. The church hates them and persecutes them, but most communities ignore this or hide them from the church because they are useful.

Worship of Haeddiannol requires blood sacrifice. On special holy days (midsummer, harvest day, first frost, and first thaw), slaves across the kingdoms are sacrificed in every church and community. Every year, there are three hunts to honor her: on Calan Gaeaf (Samhain), on Diwrnod o Danau (Beltane), and on Gwledd o Dorthau (Lammas).

On Calan Gaeaf, the high king and high priest ride out together with a select party of nobility to hunt 13 slaves, one each from the kings and one from the high king's own slaves. On this night, it is allowed for any noble riding with a priest or other church figure to hunt any commoner who is not in-doors, in a safe space (the commons in a town, for instance), or wearing an appropriate costume. Costumes for Calan Gaeaf are usually some combination of animal skins to make oneself look horrifying, or being nude and painted red and green. Nobles will often fuck those who go about naked, so some do this intentionally.

On Diwrnod o Danau (day of fires), every noble takes any peasants (the heads of their families, anyway) on their land out on a hunt for deer and other large game. The noble supplies the peasants with bow and arrow or other means of hunting for the day (a kind noble will allow them to keep them, most take them back). Any small game caught is for the peasants to keep, and the large game is brought back to the community to be roasted on the massive bonfires that have been kept alight by the rest of the peasants, commoners, slaves, and some lesser nobles. The large game is blessed by the priests to honor Haeddiannol. Part of the day's purpose is for the nobles to raid land of other nobles and not get caught.

On Gweldd o Dorthau (feast of loaves), commoners gather for a massive feast of bread, honey butter, and salted pork. One of the loaves will have a stone in it, and the one who gets the stone is "hunted" in a mock hunt, then brought to the town commons to be "roasted". This either involves the target having sex with leaders of the community, being splashed with annointed waters by kinder community leaders, or being whipped with harmless, colorful cloth strands by children. At the end of the ceremony, the priest proclaims the hunted the goddess's chosen for the month, and they are allowed special place in church services. Nobles generally ignore this day, unless they want to endear themselves to the commoners by taking part.

Almost all doppelgangers are Aeldians, but there are two smaller nations of doppelgangers found on Shem.

One is the Gemmish, of Mwyr Gemmis, a country long-ago conquered and subsumed into Mwyr Aeld. The descendants of the Gemmish still live as an oppressed minority in Mwyr Aeld. Almost all of them are slaves, but it is considered foul for an Aeldian to consume a Gemmish (it is seen as becoming Gemmish, tainting one's blood, though this is nonsense). The Gemmish were distinct from Aeldians in that they believe that Benplesir was the original goddess who made them, and that they should feed their desires into sex, not consuming. They do not keep gardens or make a habit of consuming identities except in very rare, consensual circumstances where a non-doppelganger falls in love with them and wishes to be made one with them one of them. They have their own customs of more benign kinds of hunting and stories of how they will one day liberate themselves. Their music is less cacophonic and more beautiful, gentle, and even sadder somehow.

The other is the Tolle Leute, the "great people", in Ordnungen in Jesenya. This is where the term doppelganger originated and why the term is the generally used one around the world. Aeldians and Gemmish simply think of themselves as shapeshifters, generally. Tolle Leute take the term doppelganger with pride, and it is among them that Mamddraenen, the Manifest, dwells (her name among them is Mutterdorn). They are a small, isolated nation who use their consuming powers on dying mortals, giving them sweet release before death. They are honored by local communities for their mercy.