Giant Nations

The various giantish nations have many variations.

A-senee-ki-wakw

The main crops of the a-senee-ki-wakw are corn, squash, and beans. Sunflowers (for oil), mushrooms, acorns, hickory nuts, butternuts, plums, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and maple trees (for syrup) are also common. They raise sturgeon, pike, and bullhead in their fisheries in deep mountain lakes, deer, bear, moose, squirrel, and rabbit in their game preserves, and duck, grouse, and turkey on their farms. They innately know how to tend these. Their crops, especially the sunflowers, are much larger than usual, with the sunflowers reaching about 20' tall on average. Their livestock and game are slightly larger than usual, except in the case of the sturgeon and turkeys, which are much larger. All of them are much heartier than usual. Their version of nimusti is called m'mijo.

Common bodily modifications include extra arms, sharper senses, and ridges along their spine. Their skin is stony and tough. They also can reshape the landscape by stomping their feet and cause earthquakes if they collectively dance too vigorously.

The a-senee-ki-wakw were once part of a large confederation of nations whose lands stretched across the eastern portion of a continent, but because of their size and earth-shaking carelessness, they were outcast to the mountains. Because they fear further banishing, they avoid other nations.

Their tribes are matriarchal, led by a council of elders of all genders. Children are raised communally and property is owned communally. They believe that every mountain contains their ancestors. When the mountains shake, their ancestors are angry. When the a-senee-ki-wakw dance together, they are rousing their ancestors to war.

After being weaned, an a-senee-ki-wakw child is raised by everyone in the community. They are taught all roles of the community, and they are allowed to naturally gravitate toward the one that suits them most. They reach adulthood with their last growth spurt, around the age of 20, which they force through ritual dancing if they do not have it. In adulthood, they usually have found their role, and few don't find it by the age of 30 at the latest. The major roles include gamekeepers/hunters, fishers, farmers, canoe-makers, pottery-makers, sculptors, masons, diggers, builders, and warriors. Because of their stoneskin, a-senee-ki-wakw do not often wear much clothing, using mostly just leather and furs. Once they reach an age where they are slower, cannot lift as much, or are otherwise impaired, they are welcomed to the elders' circle. Some choose not to do so, focusing on their role for their whole lives if they can.

Courtship is casual for the first few years. Though most relationships are open and many are casual, long-term relationships are not uncommon. These are often celebrated with a coupling ceremony after the third year. Through these, some a-senee-ki-wakw know their biological fathers, but this rarely has much meaning, as the whole tribe cares for the child anyway. After the second year of courting, it becomes more serious in anticipation of a long-term coupling. During this time, the couple are separated for a month, each one taken to live alone to contemplate. If they come back and wish to stay together, they must then live together away from the tribe for a month. If they still wish to remain together, they are considered coupled and a large feast is celebrated with all the tribe.

A-senee-ki-wakw have many festivals in their tribes. Most of them are focused on the ancestors, but they also honor the hunting season, the harvest, and the coming of winter. Personal feast days include births, adulthood ceremonies, eldership, and personal milestones for their role.

Ama-ron

Ama-rons grow rice, corn, abaca, pineapple, coconut, mango, and sugarcane most commonly. They are also ranchers of cattle and oxen. They have an innate sense of what these crops and livestock need, and their ability to speak to both plants and animals to encourage them to grow stems from their poioumenonic energies. Their farms are usually sprawling clearings within massive rain forests. They are known for their russet cattle and oxen and their colorful corn and abacas, especially. Common bodily modifications are prehensile feet or tails, longer arms, stronger vocal chords, or bigger stomachs.

They can also speak to plants and animals in a manner (telling stories) that coax them to grow in specific ways (usually to be larger and more nutritious). They innately know the needs of their crops and livestock. They do not have the same regenerative properties as other giants, but instead have a supernatural attractiveness that influences others to view them positively.

Ama-rons have a strong sense of narratives and can use that to know when a change in weather is coming. They are also able, in the course of storytelling, to temporarily alter their bodies to tell the story, but only if they have a very captivated audience. This limits the ability mostly to performances.

In times of scarcity, ama-roms band together and collectively pool their energies to share with the entire community.

The ama-ron are known for three things amongst the people of the rain forests: their good looks, their love of stories, and their fearsome size. There is one tale that pervades ama-ron society above all others: the tale of their origins, or rather, the tale of their lack of an origin. The name "ama-ron" translates to "father-there," or "father is there." Some claim that this name derives from the name of an ancient chieftain of the ama-ron, used to spread the greatness of their people by association with the great chieftain, but there is no clear answer. What is known is this: amongst the story-loving ama-ron, no stories are more beloved than those that tell of origins, of fathers (or parents in general), or of ancient heroes.

Ama-ron communities are centered on ancestor-worship through storytelling. Elders are revered for their abilities to tell tales of the living past and are given special places of leadership. Parents are revered. Though every ama-ron knows who both of their parents are, there is no marriage or expectation of commitment between ama-rons except in rare circumstances. In many cases, an ama-ron's father is not even the biological father, but one the mother ama-ron picked based on her own preferences. "Father" (ama) can be a role for women or nonbinary people in ama-ron society, and "mother" (ina) is similarly not gendered, though the term is always used for the one who gave birth to an ama-ron, even if that person did not raise the ama-ron.

They hold most property communally except for the rice paddies and the cattle herds, which are controlled by a select few elders. These propertied elders are selected because they deal with the outside world more than others. What they bring in from trading with others is used in part to serve the community, but most of it goes to enrich these elders. They do not recognize a family structure, however; the elders pick their successors. If they do not, the community elects someone.

Children are raised communally after they are weaned. Once they are in their early teens, they are brought to work in the fields or with the herds for the propertied elders until adulthood. Once they are adults, they can choose to remain as paid employees or become part of the community. Adulthood is reached with the final growth spurt. Those who do not naturally have one use kumain (their version of numisti) to achieve one, though their employers might try to delay this. When this happens, the community will sneak the ama-ron off to perform kumain in secret at night.

Community-run farms (focused on the other crops and livestock) are for the benefit of the community or close neighbors. The main elder council controls these, and everyone pitches in either to help herd, farm, or support those who do. No work roles within ama-ron society are gendered, though they have stories of when the merchant elders once tried to impose these roles and failed because of community outrage.

Every community has festivals and feasts. Every crop's harvest has its own festival, and every herd's slaughter has its own festival. There are four storytelling festivals each year: the ancestors' festival, the merchant elders' festival, the community elders' festival, and the new adults' festival. The latter is when those who became an adult since the last festival tell their best stories in competition. The winners get ten oxen each. In the life of an ama-ron, there are many feast days: birthdays (for parents and children), ancestor namesake days (all ama-rons are given three names for different ancestors), adulthood celebrations, and a special day each ama-ron chooses for themselves, for which they have a special story for a special event in their lives. This last one is chosen ten years after adulthood, but can be changed after that if something else special happens.

Ama-ron communities are divided between the rice paddies/cattle fields and the rest of the community. The latter are on the outskirts of their villages. At the heart of each village is a temple of varying size and composition that is dedicated to their ancestors.

Caligorante

The farms of the caligorantes focus on rye, wheat, olives, barley, and oats. They also keep cattle, horses, and pigs, and they farm truffles. They innately know how to tend these, and they build farms in the rolling hill lands where they live in burrows, keeping massive homes within. They have thatch roofs on their non-burrow structures. Their version of numisti is called manger.

Caligorantes have the ability to predict cataclysmic local events (flooding, tornados, fires). They can also make stone crumble with their glare. The most common bodily alterations are stronger bones, extra fingers, and brightly colored hair or skin.

Caligorantes live in feudal societies split between the warriors, the clergy, and the peasants. All lords and kings are warriors first. They have a system of vassalage that requires peasants to work the land and tithe to them and to the clergy. The clergy educate all children in very cruel schools, letting them go home to their families to work the farming seasons. The warriors gain tribute for ostensibly protecting the peasants, though they often raid and rape them instead. The peasants live lives of toil.

Caligorante peasant families are structured such that everyone works the fields. The men are eligible for conscription if a war comes. While many peasant men respect the women in their families or communities, they are viewed overall as little more than property. A warrior, especially a lord, can take a peasant woman any time he wishes. Peasants have four options for life: remain a peasant, join a lord's house as a servant, hope to be chosen to be clergy, or become a bandit. Very rarely, a conscripted peasant will prove so great in combat that they will be knighted and become a warrior, though this is rare.

Clergy preach that it is the will of the Divine that peasants suffer, that warriors die in battle, and that plague, flooding, fire, and storms destroy the lands of the caligorantes. They maintain the massive oppression of the peasant class. They educate, preach, and travel about serving as (very cruel and demanding) medics and secret police.

Warriors levy fees and tribute from peasants in order to fund their houses, weaponry, armor, and horses, ostensibly, but often spend it on drink and sex. They are little better than the bandits they claim to be protecting peasants from, but when a real war breaks out, they lead the cavalry and are a force to be reckoned with.

Bandits are usually run away peasants, disgraced clergy and warriors, and non-caligorantes. They are common in caligorante countries.

Caligorante lords keep massive castles as fortifications. They have catapults and ballistae, archers, and knights to protect them and their wealth, which they take from the peasants. They live in relative comfort, but still a degraded lifestyle with little real sanitation or comfort.

Caligorantes are considered adults by the age of 17, when they reach their last growth spurt. Those who do not hit that last growth spurt must try to force it through violent accidents, but usually, they are caught and outcast. Courtship is violent and cruel, with warriors and clergy taking what women they please. Some peasants have more gentle forms of courtship, usually involving arts, singing, poetry, and dancing, but these can be ended by the whim of a warrior or clergy.

Through the year, there are three main festivals for caligorantes: the lord's birthday, the new year, and harvest. During the lord's birthday, the annual tributes are delivered and the warriors and clergy enjoy a great feast at the expense of the peasants. At the new year, the peasants and warriors get drunk while the clergy pray and fast. Harvest time is when the peasants feast, taking what they can before the clergy calculate their tribute or the warriors come through. Every caligorante celebrates birthdays, adulthood anniversaries, and marriages throughout their lives.

Chahnameed

Chahnameed have enormous, unending appetites, and they are able to drink great quantities of alcohol without getting sick. The most common alterations are big bellies, hands, and feet, animal parts, and razor sharp hairs (for women).

Chahnameed keep small herds of deer and have rabbit farms and oyster beds to tend. They grow maize and keep fisheries. They are also avid hunters. Their fish and deer and rabbits are all much larger than normal and have extra heads. Their farms are tended by the women of the tribe and are kept along rivers and lakes in their cold climes. They innately know how to tend their livestock, crops, and pets. Their version of nimusti is called micuw.

Chahnameed have the power to alter the shape of stones and other small objects through a light touch. They can vanish at will thrice per year for 30 seconds.

Chahnameed live in small family groups with few rules. These family groups are split by gender, but all genders are honored. The women raise their children, tend the crops, and keep the house, while the men do the hunting and other tasks. Children are sent out at the age of 10 to hunt food using their wits. Those who fail are gently brought home and retrained. Those who succeed are given special treats and go on to new training. There is no consideration of gender among children, but in adulthood, they take on a gender. Men are warriors and hunters, women are weavers and fishers, and other genders are mystics and artists.

Chahnameed men do not get married unless tricked into it. A chahnameed woman will stand on the other side of a river or creek and lure the man over. If she tricks him into carrying her across the river while hiding a mortar, pestle, and egg, she is married to him. If she tires of him, she will make a giant doll to leave behind for him and take his canoe and leave. If he follows, she will kill him with her sharp hairs, as this is forbidden. Other genders mix these roles up often.

In chahnameed families, there are several different festivals: the end of hunting season, harvest time, the first thaw, and the first snow. Each of these is celebrated with eating contests. Gluttony is a primary characteristic of chahnameed. Their personal feast days are only birthdays and adulthood ceremonies. Chahnameed love tricks, games, and pranks, and they have special contests at every feast and festival for these. They have reputations as tricksters among other nations, as buffoons or having no manners. Among their families, there are no manners whatsoever, and they do not culturally recognize the etiquette of other nations.

Cormoran

Fee-fi-fo-fum!

The most commonly farmed animals among cormorans are cattle, sheep, oxen, hogs, geese, and goats, which they keep on the mainland near their islands. They grow turnips, greens, and other hearty vegetables as well. They innately know how to tend these livestock and crops. They never, ever grow beans. Their livestock come in wondrous shapes and forms, and many of them have unusual offspring - golden eggs, two-headed calves, piglets that can sing, etc. The farms of cormorans are terraced structures along the sides of mountains or edges of sky islands. At their center are either castles or caves, depending on the clan of the giant. They build their own islands, either by moving their mountains into the sea stone by stone, or by throwing them into the sky and catching the winds. Their version of nimusti is called brathu.

Common alterations include massive waist lines (up to 9' wide), extra digits on hands and feet, and lighter bones. Cormorans can shape stone with their touch, breathe in and out clouds to move them around, and blow down buildings. They are resistant to concussive damage and the cold. They have keen senses of smell.

There are four tribes of cormoran: cormoran, corineus, trencrom, and blunderbore. The first three live on mountainous surface islands, the fourth on mountainous sky islands. Though the cormoran tribe is the largest, the corineus and blunderbore tribes are the oldest. Originally, all cormorans lived on sky islands, but a famine sent many of them fleeing to the surface world to find food. This is when they first encountered beans and discovered their inability to consume them. Those who stayed above were called the blunderbore for their fortitude; those who descended were the corineus. The corineus nation eventually split again, this time into three tribes: the corineus, who were farmers and warriors; the cormorans, who were farmers, raiders, and mystics; and the trencrom, who were cannibals.

The cormorans live in autocratic tribal societies run by a warrior-king and his council of mystics. The corineus live in matriarchal societies run by a council of elders. The trencrom live in autocratic tribal societies run by a warrior-king. And the blunderbore live in a feudal society run by a patriarchal monarchy. Historically, female cormorans, called cormelians, have resisted fiercely the patriarchal status of their nations.

Among the corineus, there is no marriage, only couplings. Courtship is casual and variable. Among the trencrom and cormorans, women are traded as property between families and forced to marry. Among the blunderbore, women have more agency but still must get permission from their families to marry. Courtship among the blunderbore means trading objects from one's hoards.

Cormoran and trencrom children are raised by their mothers and other women in the tribes - and slaves. Among the corineus, all in the tribe care for the children. Among the blunderbores, children are raised either by their families or by servants. When children reach the age of 11 among any tribe, they begin training to take part in the tribe, either from their parents, in a school, or communally. They reach adulthood in their last growth spurt around the age of 19. Those who do not hit their growth spurt force it through having boulders hurled at their head by their friends. At adulthood, they are tested and taken into their chosen role - warrior, raider, farmer, etc. Those that fail have five chances and then are enslaved (trencrom or cormoran), made itinerant (blunderbore), or made to choose a new role (corineus).

Farming is the main part of cormoran societies, but many also focus on raiding the farms of others. Communities of cormorans near each other raid each other in friendly competition, except in times of scarcity.

All cormorans are hoarders. They collect all manner of objects, including gold, silver, and other finery. This attracts attention from others who seek to rob them, and they guard their hoards fiercely. However, they do not hesitate to use their hoards to buy what they need from other nations. As such, they have strong trade between their tribes and other nations.

The festivals of the cormoran tribes are very similar, with a few variations. The main festivals honor the schisms in their past - the Descent and the Diaspora. The former is honored by all, the latter just by the surface giants. These are somber festivals with harp music and dirges. The other festivals vary by tribe, honoring slaughters, victories, harvests, and other notable dates. They are more merry and festive, with contests (hammer tossing, music, drinking) and performances (theatricals, musical, and presentations of curiosities from hoards). Every cormoran has five personal feasts in their lives: birthdays, adulthood ceremonies, first births, hoard celebrations (when one begins their hoard), and a special day of dance and drinking called melyn. Blunderbores also celebrate marriage.

Daidarabotchi

Every daidarabotchi farm is a work of love. They have massive beds of clams and other shellfish along the coasts, which they tend from the mountain homes. They come down each day to gather their giant livestock. They pile used shells on hills to create new mountains. They sleep outdoors, appearing to be an extra mountain, and they do not keep buildings. Instead, they use their size to create lakes, rivers, and hills as part of their homes.

Common alterations include rocky skin, mossy skin, and jeweled skin. The energy of dumaqu fills daidarabotchis and makes them supernaturally attractive once they begin using it as adults. They also become resistant to weather and regenerative. They heal faster than other beings. Daidarabotchis have mild empathy, long distance vision (seeing up to 40 miles), and an inability to become angry. They can sacrifice themselves by pulling out their own jeweled hearts to save their communities in times of scarcity.

Daidarabotchis are mostly isolated giants. Because of their size, they are few, and when they get together, they tend to make the land around them suffer. Because of this, they meet up in small groups only a few times throughout their slightly longer lives. They love the land around them and the world itself, though, and they often spend time communing with it. When they do meet other daidarabotchis, it is cause for celebration, a feast known as yujo. This usually ends in copulation, no matter the genders, and sometimes in reproduction. The parent of a daidarabotchi raises their child alone, and when the child reaches their final growth spurt at the age of 14 (if one does not occur, they engage in taberu - their version of nimusti - until it does), they are sent off on their own. Because of their size, they rarely have problems surviving on their own, and because of their kindness and sharing, communities often welcome them.

Dasamahayodha

In the dasamahayodha communities, farming is largely herding: elephants, horses, antelopes, hares, elk, buffaloes, and boars. They also grow coconuts, palm seed, tropical fruits, and rice. Their farms are large and terraced, with complex irrigation systems. They innately know how to tend their crops and livestock, and they have kept complicated boundaries (rivers, walls, streams, lines of trees, gullies, etc.). They know their boundaries and keep to them carefully.

They are resistant to many diseases. They all have muscle memory from their original ten warriors who founded their species. They practice the art of kanna (their version of nimusti) which combines diet and exercise, to alter their bodies. The most common bodily alterations are to make their bodies more attractive to each other.

The dasamahayodha were once ten great warriors who served their king. After they finished their service and performed great deeds, they built temples to the Divines, and one such Divine honored them by making them into giants and founders of their own tribes.

The largest tribe is the Nandhimithra. They are elephant herders and mahouts, defenders of Divine places, and keepers of tropical orchards. Because they can speak to the elephants, they treat them as equals. The Suranimala tribe are closest to their emperor. They keep the local water reservoir, grow rice, and are known for their weaving and tailoring. They favor long-distance travel by foot, and as such, are perfect messengers. The Gotaimbara live in imbara forests, clearing it for their rice paddies and large farms. The Theraputthabhya protect their coconut groves ferociously. They are more religious and tend toward ascetism. Their warriors are known for rock-hurling. The Mahabharana herd hares, antelopes, elk, and boar. They are known to crush hares as a form of slaughter to prepare them for eating. They are very swift runners. The Velusumanna are mounted warriors who keep massive herds of horses. They are said to be able to break horses no one else can break. They are also known for their cunning and stealth.

The Khanjadeva have one leg slightly longer than the other (which they do through kanna). They herd buffalos, which they slaughter by grabbing by the legs and dashing on the ground when they wish to eat them. The Phussadeva live by the sea and practice archery. They are renowned for their archery skill, shooting arrows through thick hides, solid stone, and even thick iron plates - or water - and still hitting their exact targets. They use conch shells as rallying horns, and the sound of them is like thunder. The Labhiyavasabha live near the mountains and are known for their noble appearances (which they form through kanna). They are earth-movers, landscapers, who built a huge reservoir for their tribe. And the Mahasona keep palm tree orchards to make palm oil and other products. They begin as children to tend these orchards, ripping up the trees bare-handed. They keep a very ancient and honored cemetery.

The social structures of the tribes are all the same. Each tribe is led by a great warrior, even if the warrior is elderly and retired. They serve for life. They select their successor based on their fighting skill; a council of other warriors verifies the choice. The warriors lead the tribe, but the lords lead the country. Each tribe is split into a caste system of lords, warriors, artisans, and servants. The lords serve the emperor, who rules the country. The lords are feudal lords, but they also are often practicing merchants. The warriors run the tribes and have their own councils within the tribe and collectively. The craftsfolk are a small caste. They represent the farmers, herders, gatherers, and makers of the tribes, set the prices for trading, and protect the craftsmen from the lords and merchants, even though they are a lesser caste. The servants are everyone else, and they are the bulk of society.

Children are raised by their families. They begin being educated at the age of six or seven. If they live somewhere with a school, they go to school. If not, the family educates them. At the age of 16, they leave school and begin working at the family farm or the local lord, if they are not a warrior or lord. Those who are warriors train to be warriors from the age of 12. Those who are lords train in special schools and come back to serve as lords at the age of 16. They reach adulthood at the age of 21, when they hit their last growth spurt. If no growth spurt comes, they force it through kanna. At adulthood, they must go to the emperor's court to present themselves to the census if they are a servant of craftsfolk. If they are a warrior, they must present to the census and their local lord. If they are a lord, they must present to the emperor directly.

Courtship rituals vary by tribe and are very complex. Gifts, dances, rituals, contracts, and poetry are usually involved. The woman (or nonbinary) will eventually demand a service of the one seeking their attention. This can be as simple as bringing them fine clothing or even just a night of sex, or it can be as complicated as demanding lotuses from a water reservoir and the water that washed the sword that took the head of their enemy's greatest warrior. There is no courtship between castes. Marriage is commonplace and casual in the servant and artisan castes. Among warriors, it is common to have many spouses. Among lords, marriage is a massive event, and a lord may only marry once, but have many concubines.

Every tribe has their own festivals revolving around their own milestones: victories in battle, their founding, their greatest representatives. They also celebrate the two seasons (dry and rain), and they honor their ancestors at two festivals per year. Personal feast days include birth, matriculation, adulthood, marriage, and death.

Famangomadan

Famangomadans keep ranches in the mountains with a variety of animals, ranging from deer and wild boar to dangerous predators like vasans and crocodiles. No animal is outside of possibility so long as it has blood, because what they truly are is blood farmers. Some keep greenhouses full of dangerous plants as well, though this is rarer. They have an innate ability to know what their collections need, and they build terrariums, zoos, and ranges for them, cultivating their mountain territories to fit any beast.

They are resistant to blood-borne diseases, only feel the worst of pain, and can disjoint their bones without harm. Their version of nimusti is called comer. Common alterations to their bodies include extra heads, extra arms, serpentine scales or fangs, exposed blood vessels, and sharp claws.

The original famangomadans were a pair of brothers, Albadan and Gandalue, two knights who fought over a mountain territory called the Rock of Azufre. Gandalue beheaded his wicked brother Albadan, who cursed Gandalue with his dying breath. Gandalue, made wretched by the curse, turned to a Serpent for help. The Serpent bid him drink the blood of his dead brother. In doing so, Gandalue was transformed into a giant. This story is told at feasts every midwinter, celebrating the longest night of the year.

Famangomadans live in ranches in the mountains with territorial family units. Each family is its own community with its own customs, and they guard their territories fiercely. They kill most who try to take their territories, but they enslave others. When they decide they need more room, they set out to conquer their neighbors. This has led to complex alliances, rivalries, and betrayals throughout their history. Every surviving family has at least ten slaves, mostly other famangomadans, though they do not hesitate to enslave non-giants.

Families are hierarchical and autocratic. The eldest male rules the entire family. His wives and children are his property. His brothers are (or should be) his closest allies and next in line for ruling the territory. Their wives and their children are their property. When a child becomes an adult, they are either sold off as wives or tested to see if they are fit to have their own families. (Children or adults who show signs of gender nonconformity are killed or used as sex slaves.) Adulthood is reached at the last growth spurt (somewhere between 16 and 20). If a final growth spurt does not happen, the famangomadan tries to hurry it along with blooddrinking in secret. If they are caught stealing blood or if they do not have their final growth spurt before they are 21, they are killed as unfit or relegated to permanent slavery, even if the growth spurt finally comes.

Those adult males who pass the test are given a section of the territory to tend and a slave to help them tend it. After a year, they may buy more slaves. After three years, they are allowed to buy a wife and begin having children.

When a family becomes too large for a territory or if there are betrayals or splits, the family goes to war.

Famangomadans celebrate four festivals: the longest night (midwinter), the night of terrors (Halloween), the deadliest night (the first new moon after the summer equinox), and the night of blood (early summer). The Longest Night is a feast where they tell the story of their origins and wives are expected to bed their masters. The Night of Terrors is a night where the famangomadans hunt their slaves for sport. The Deadliest Night is when they feast on the first harvest. And the Night of Blood is when they take the blood they have saved specially over the year and prepared and bathe in it. Only the family patriarch is allowed personal feasts during his life, usually his birthday and any day he finds special. Families sometimes have their own celebrations, but these vary greatly.

Ranches usually featured dozens of lodges, dining halls, bleeding rooms, and slave pits. They are hellish encampments where the patriarch does as he pleases, and all others do as he says. The landscape is warped to his desires and the needs of his herds.

Fomorian

Fomorians have vast estates with massive farms. Grains - especially emmer wheat, barley, and flax - and livestock - oxen, cows, game fowl, fisheries - are common. They keep slaves to tend their farms, but their powers make their crops and livestock very rough and hearty. They keep large fields for grains, aviaries, oxen and cow pastures, and fisheries. Each has a building called a ceanncheathru that is where they are overseen from. Their livestock is especially known for being slightly grotesque, but edible. They innately know what their crops and livestock need.

Fomorians have very high pain resistance. They are resistant to many diseases (but not the plagues) and have a very high pain threshold. They also have more blood than most beings and can bleed for longer without dying. In order to alter their bodies, fomorians practice ithe. Common alterations include goat's heads, single eyes, single arms (long, sinewy, and hideous), visible guts and bowels, single legs, unnerving beauty, deformations of the skin and bones, and hunches.

Fomorians have a poisonous gaze. They have powers over dangerous weather (storms, drought), influencing it but not creating it. They can survive underwater for longer than most species and see in the dark. They can smell sadness.

Fomorians arose from the sea at the dawn of First Shem, it is said, and invaded the first nations they found. They went to war with the tuatha, the fir bolg, and the human nations they interacted with. Any nation that came near their coastal territories were attacked. Great legends have arisen about these wars, and many variations exist. But after hundreds of years of war, a mighty alliance of fey and human nations drove the fomorians out. They left on great ships and sailed away to another land, where they settled on the coasts of a massive wasteland. Legends say some fomorians intermarried with the tuatha.

Children in fomorian society are raised by enslaved people. A child is born and then given to slaves, only nursing from their actual parent for a week. Wet nurses among the enslaved then nurse them. The parents then save their milk for themselves. Once a child is about ten or so, they are brought into the house of a fomorian family - possibly blood family, possibly not - and treated like a poorly kept pet and servant. If they survive this period, they are taken on at the age of 13 or so as apprentices to the family's patriarch if they are considered male or one of the family's wives if they are considered female. If they show gender nonconformity, they are feared and sent to the priestesses.

At the age of 16 or so, they are tested. If they fail, they are enslaved. If they succeed, they are sent to another family to continue their training. When they hit their last growth spurt (usually around the age of 20), they are considered an adult and tested again. This rite ends in enslavement or independence. If they do not hit their last growth spurt, they must try to force it through ritual scarification or tear-drinking. If they are caught doing this, they are enslaved.

All fomorian society answers to a king who is determined through warcraft and treachery. The king rules a mix of autocratic and feudal society, with slaves and lords, serfs and patriarchs. Fomorian men take up to seventeen wives, though the lower their class, the fewer wives they have. Only a king has seventeen wives. Wives have roles in society, occupations relegated to them, including tending the slaves, weaving, mystic arts, healers, and overseeing the herds. Men tend to be craftsmen, overseers of the crops, administrators, builders, and hunters. The enslaved tend the crops and livestock and do all the serving, cleaning, cooking, and hard labor.

The one exception to the gender divide is the warriors. All fomorians are warriors, and the best of them are part of the warrior class that does not recognize gender. All warriors take wives (male or female). The most elite of their warriors wield slings, hurling huge stones for great distances.

Fomorians are sailors as well. They are raiders, pirates, and merchant sailors. Those fomorians who escape the class system usually join a ship to avoid enslavement. Women who become sailors must hide their gender, or at least make a show of doing so. Every ship is led by a gruama, an angry warrior who is dedicated to being the first off the ship in a raid.

Fomorians are tower builders. Their estates have ceanncheathru towers along each field, paddock, fishery, etc. where the fomorian overseers watch over the enslaved workers. They have military towers in their fortifications, and towers in their castles where the king or lords live. Some fomorian cities are merely massive towers built into the sea itself. This is to avoid the massive flooding that happens along their coasts.

Because of their ferocity and hostility, fomorians are much feared by their neighboring nations. In order to keep peace, they get tribute from these nations in the form of cattle, grains, and children (who are enslaved or eaten). If they truly wish to terrorize a nation, they demand the first-born of the king or other ruler of that nation every seven years. These tributes go to the king, who may bestow some of his wealth on some of his vassals, but mostly he keeps them to pay his armies and navies. The fomorian navy is massive. Despite this, fomorians have their own form of hospitality, which they enforce bitterly. If a fomorian leader is found to have failed to meet the rules of hospitality, he and his whole house are enslaved. Neighboring nations sometimes take advantage of this.

There is a persistent legend that there is a prophecy that says the fomorians will be wiped out by one of their own, a child born into triplets. Because of this, triplets are killed at birth or turned into seals (via ithe). The legend claims the triplets will survive because one will be secreted away. Orphaned children are always killed if found.

Fomorians celebrate seven festivals each year. The biggest is the autumn festival (san fhomhar), which is a massive feast where even the enslaved get to eat. The other festivals are the anniversary of their exile (deoraiocht), the king's coronation anniversary, and four festivals based around military victories of the past. Each fomorian celebrates a few feasts in their lives: adulthood, the death of their adoptive parents, and the anniversary of their last marriage.

Gawr (pl. Cewri)

A gawr's farm is a large affair with barley, wheat, rapeseed, sheep, goats, and cattle. They also keep chickens, pigs, and dogs. All of their crops and livestock are larger than normal. They innately know how to care for their crops and livestock.

Cewri are stronger in groups. They gain power as they work together and form bonds that connect them emotionally, allowing them to sense the needs of the others empathically.The most common bodily modifications are to be more attractive to each other. They also have greater endurance. They practice the art of cnoi, their version of nimusti.

Cewri live in worker-led societies. Every major occupation has a representative in the council that runs their country, and this council elects a leader who serves two years as the head of the council. The largest occupations are farmers, miners, smiths, weavers, caretakers, teachers, and musicians, but every occupation (or group of occupations) has representatives numbered based on how many there are of them. Management may not partake in elections or collectives.

Children are raised by their families in cewri society, attending a community school after they are five years old. They are allowed to start working at the age of 16, at which time, they begin training for their specific careers. If they decide they do not like their chosen occupation, they simply go train for another. They reach adulthood at the age of 20, during their last growth spurt. If they don't get their last growth spurt, they force it through collective ceremony. At adulthood, they become full members of their worker collective, gaining all rights of a worker in society. They may run for office, vote, or switch jobs and collectives when they please.

All genders are recognized and respected among the cewri. Courtship is centered around casual dating. Cewri sometimes marry for life-long or long-term partnerships but not always. Many relationships are open and relationships who do not get married are still recognized by the councils.

All workers celebrate personal feasts in their lifetimes: birth, matriculation, first occupation choosing, adulthood, first child, and any personal victories, like winning an election or a new job. The cewri have four major festivals every year: election day (midsummer), the job fair (new year's), harvest, and the first day of spring.

Goegmagot

There are two types of goemagot farms: slave-pits and normal farms. The normal farms have corn, onions, garlic, lentils, and millet as crops and dogs, cows, sheep, goats, and worm beds for livestock. In the slave-pits, they only keep dogs as guards. The rest are sentient beings they have enslaved. In both cases, the primary livestock are eaten, though they eat only sentient beings' cadavers and fetuses. The latter is a terror practice; the former is simply their preferred delicacy.

Goemagots are resistant to heat. They can alter their bodies through the art of lev, their version of nimusti. The most common alterations are extra heads, big bellies, hands, and feet, and animal parts, especially scales. If they break their nose, they cannot reshape it. They never have horns, for they fear those with horns. Goemagots have supernatural prowess and intimidation powers.

There are 24 goemagot tribes, each at war with the others. All of them are part of a massive, autocratic slaving empire. They are slaving raiders, horse-riders, and cannibals. They are feared around the world, and many other cultures have stories of how they had to fight off invasion by the goemagots.

The goemagot tribes answer to an emperor, who rules the strongest tribe. The other tribes are ruled by a warlord. The emperor and warlords each have many wives, who are slaves, and many more children, though they only bestow inheritance on the eldest son. The others are enslaved by the eldest son when he takes over (and therefore, many elder sons are killed by their siblings). They take their sisters as wives if they have not been sold off by the time the son takes over.

Women (or those the tribe decides are women) are raised as slaves and sold off as wives when they are able to bear children (despite this not coinciding with adulthood). Men (or those the tribe decides are men) are raised as warriors. Those who take up other roles are lesser in the eyes of the tribe, barely more than slaves. Slaves take up almost all domestic labor, including raising children. Children are taken into slavery immediately if they are the children of slaves or if they are girls. If they are sons of warriors, they are trained as warriors from the time they learn to walk. Adulthood is reached at the final growth spurt, usually around the age of 16. If they do not reach this by then, they try to force it through eating stolen fetuses in secret. If they are caught or if they fail, they are enslaved. At adulthood, a warrior is tested. If he succeeds, he is given his first slaves (sometimes including a wife, sometimes not).

Gender non-conforming goemagots are feared and killed as soon as they are recognized. Those that survive generally have more powerful mystical energies than other goemagots.

The tribes vie for dominance amongst each other through conquests, slaving raids, and political machinations. There is a rigid hierarchy among the tribes, but there is much movement among those ranks as they fight and politick. Most tribes are nomadic, but the dominant tribe takes over the city in the mountains just beyond the iron gates. The iron gates were built by their enemies and seal away the most powerful emperor of the goemagots. One day he will return and lead them to world domination, it is said. Thus, the emperor lives in a city above the sealed away emperor and tends this unholy ground.

Goemagots use steam-powered machinery in their city, though they eschew it elsewhere. The city is set atop a caldera, which powers their steam engines.

Each tribe celebrates six festivals each year: trading day (new years' day, when the tribes trade slaves peacefully), the emperor's birthday, the first emperor's fall, harvest time (when even slaves eat wel), the night of demons (when the mystics summon their most foul demons to torment the slaves), and a special day for each tribe called founding day. During the life of a goemagot warrior, they celebrate feasts for every special victory, raid, or acquisiton of a wife. Other goemagots do not get feast days.

Goliath

Goliaths are sea-farers who bring agriculture from all over to their lands. Cumin, radishes, purslane, saltwort, sesame, figs, and chestnuts were the commonest crops, and goat, sheep, cattle, deer, boar, pheasant, partridge, quail, francolin, and hare. All of their livestock is known to be larger and stronger than normal. They innately know how to tend these. Their farms are varied, each one unique and featuring a few of the aforementioned crops and livestock, but rarely all of them. They build their farms along rivers and coasts; they often keep fisheries as well. Honey is extremely common and beekeeping is at every farm.

Their strength is much greater than even their size. They are resistant to most forms of mundane physical attack, save for one soft spot on their foreheads that they cannot change. They use the art of tivu, their version of nimusti. The commonest alterations include strengthened hearts, patterns on their skin, and horns. Some faithful will alter their hearts to bear the words of their Divines. They can also empower any weapon they wield to be resistant to impact, so that it can survive being wielded by them. They can give strength to other goliaths in times of desperation, usually in battle.

Goliaths are a hated nation of giants. In their distant past, they conquered several continents, enslaving millions, and even after their downfall, they are hated. They were defeated eventually by a warrior anointed by divine power, who slew their king. Ever since, they have been banished to distant mountain lands, where their culture of conquest lingers, diminished. They still live in an autocratic, imperial society that functions on a slave economy, but they are less likely to try to conquer whole other nations, being disunified. Their homeland is a pentapolis, a region of five cities.

Children in goliath society are raised by the women of the tribe. Once they are able to walk, they begin to be trained to wrestle, fight, and strengthen themselves. By the age of 10, they are taken into training as warriors. They are taught to wield javelins, spears, and clubs, and made to wear heavy armor at almost all times until they reach their final growth spurt around the age of 16 (those who don't force it through rituals of weight gain and lifting) and enter adulthood. Then, men are called into military service for three years. Women may choose between military service for a year and marrying immediately. Other genders are suppressed and forced to conform, though some win their right to be themselves through ritual combat. They become part of the city's religious orders.

Men may take up to five wives, though women are allowed to sleep with whomever they choose. Same-sex pairings are common and allowed, but marriages are not. Children are assumed to belong to the husband of a woman. If she is unwed, the child belongs to her father. Marriages are all arranged to benefit families and tribes, but coupling is casual or romantic, with courtship being heavily focused on showing off one's strength to one's potential partner.

After their required military service, most men choose to become farmers, craftsmen, or merchants. Women are usually required to marry after military service unless they win the right not to through ritual contests of strength. Those who win a reprieve from marriage are allowed to remain unmarried for different lengths of time, depending on the decision of the judge. Very rarely do they get a lifetime reprieve. Unmarried women can do any job a man can. Married women must serve their husbands.

Each city of the pentapolis is run by a warlord, and they are often at war with each other. Every city has its own set of festivals and celebrations, focusing on their own history, founding, victories, and major milestones. Goliaths celebrate personal milestones with personal feasts: birthdays, marriage anniversaries, adulthood anniversaries, and wakes are common among all five cities.

Hewiixi

Hewiixi keep small farms where they keep rabbits, chickens, and goats. They grow corn, pumpkin, squash, amaranth, beans, peyote, and chile. They innately know how to grow and tend these. Though they clear the land they use, they will let it regrow and move their crops every three seasons. Their chile and peyote are known to be especially potent, and their livestock is always brightly and impossibly colorful.

The commonest bodily alterations are to shift the lower half of their bodies to be animalistic. they do not get any sort of hangovers after being inebriated. They practice the art of tachiu, their version of nimusti. Hewiixi have mild empathic powers, singing that can cause intense confusion in others, and the power to soothe others with their laughter.

The hewiixi are a small nation living in small matriarchal groups in coastal mountain regions. Their lives focus on farming and herding, and they rarely engage with other nations. Children are raised communally and brought up to take any role within the community. Every tribe is led by a small council of elders who are no longer able to be warriors, farmers, or herders. Women, men, and other genders are all equal. Adulthood is reached at the final growth spurt at around the age of 18, and those who do not naturally reach this growth spurt trigger it through use of peyote. As adults, hewiixi are encouraged to try many different roles in the tribe until they find the one that pleases them. There is no marriage and parentage is limited to motherhood; few know and fewer care who their fathers are.

Everything is a reason to celebrate in hewiixi tribes. Births, deaths, harvests, hunts, victories, defeats, new discoveries, anniversaries of old discoveries... the whole tribe celebrates something every day with a daily feast. The time of day of the feast is determined by the celebration. Many days have multiple celebrations, but only one feast. As such, the tribe always eats together, even in hard times. In times of famine or scarcity, elders will sacrifice themselves so the tribe may eat; this cannibalism is rare.

Hrimthur

Hrimthurs are alg herders and planters of oats, sugar beets, and root vegetables. They inherently know how to tend these crops and livestock. Their aetherial powers allow them to grow these even in the harshest environments, making them supernaturally hearty. They also engage in ice fishing and have fisheries with similarly hearty stock. Their farms and ranches are huge, complex, built from the ice and snow itself, made to utilize the environment rather than fight it. They use icewalls to protect their territories and hide rivers under the snow to trap invaders.

They are resistant to cold and can heal faster in the cold than other beings. Their frost-formed bodies can be altered through an art form called ata, their version of nimusti. The most common bodily alterations are different colored bodies, crowns of ice, jagged blades from their arms, and extra heads.

They are more powerful during the colder months, most powerful in winter itself. On midwinter day/night, they are nearly invincible. They are known for their power to wield ice weapons, usually forming them from the flowing water or solid ice. During times of scarcity, they can gain strength by eating each other.

Hrimthurs live in large clans. They are ruled by a tyrant called a herre who is usually the strongest, most ruthless male. He will have up to ten wives, who form a political council to support him in clan politics. If his mother was part of a similar council, that council will serve as support as well, mostly for advice, mystic support, and subversive activities. Hrimthurs rule til they die or are forced out. Those who are forced out are traditionally exiled if they are allowed to live. This has led to new clans being formed and great rivalries and feuds.

Children in hrimthur clans are raised by the unwed women. They are taught to fight, farm, herd, and use their natural powers by these women. When they reach the age of 10 or so, they are brought into one of the lodges if they are male. Each lodge belongs to a different occupation within the clan: herders, hunters, warriors, farmers, craftsmen, fishers, sailors, merchants, or scholars. Any other occupation is rarer but there are sometimes specialized lodges within clans. Hrimthurs who choose not to be part of these lodges are left to survive on their own. Female hrimthurs are brought up with the unwed women until old enough to marry. Other genders exist, of course, but are suppressed.

Between the ages of 17 and 20, they reach their final growth spurt. If this does not happen, they are exiled or enslaved. Once it does happen, they are tested in their lodge. If they prove worthy, they are allowed to take a wife and begin their own herd, ranch, farm, etc. If they fail, they must wait a year and try again. Anyone who fails five times is killed, exiled, or enslaved. Slaves are always owned by the herre, though he may allow another to use them.

Women are taken as wives without much choice. They vie for attention in order to get the best husbands, and gossip is common among them about the various characteristics of the men. Before marriage, coupling and even some courtship are not uncommon, but a wife is bestowed, never chosen. A herre or his appointed deputy bestows wives. One must never request a wife, or that woman will be given to someone else. Showing affection before marriage is considered a crime. Brides are selected based on their perceived positive qualities - mystic skill, weaving, child-bearing bodies, sexual skill, cooking and cleaning, fighting skill, wit, poetry, singing, sailing, or medicine. The better one is at any or all of these, the more favored one will be. The herre will give the best to his favored hrimthurs. Of course, personalities sometimes get involved, though none would ever admit it.

The herre must be a powerful, strong warrior, as well as cunning. He may be challenged at any time save on midwinter day/night (infighting on this day is pointless and only leads to the destruction of property and land). Issuing a challenge requires a public declaration in front of at least ten witnesses. Once the challenge is issued, the herre must be informed if he was not present. Once informed, a day must be chosen, and the whole clan gathers for the battle. The battle ends when one is dead or incapacitated. If the herre incapacitates his enemy and does not kill him, he will lose respect, so he must kill. A challenger may show mercy, but this is only a political move if the wife-council (fru rad) is powerful enough to threaten him after herre falls. Sometimes, if a herre is maimed to the point of permanent unconsciousness or significant disability, he is sometimes allowed to live as a display of the challenger's power. This is considered the worst possible fate among hrimthurs.

Once a hrimthur reaches the age when they begin to senesce, they must be ever on guard. Some choose to step down if they feel too weak to continue, naming a powerful successor and retiring to be with their fru rad. In these rare circumstances, they become an elder (aldre) who is revered and feared until too feeble to speak. At this time, they are mercy killed by the fru rad, who then become a dowager council to the new herre.

There are four festivals every year for hrimthurs: midwinter, late thaw, early autumn, and Halloween. Midwinter is their largest festival, and many clans come together to celebrate it. Each herre feasts together, their fru rads feast in their own are. The warriors engage in war games, and the rest of the community engages in sports, games, contests, and feasting. Only slaves must work. The late thaw festival is a final commemoration before the hard months, preparation for the flooding. This is a somber, clanwide festival where the feast is considered a formal affair for the leaders and powerful only, and the rest of the community engages in prayer and fasting. The return of the cool is celebrated in early autumn. Each clan has their own ceremonies for this, most of them revolving around slaughtering a special cow, pig, or alg. Sometimes it involves a big fish if the clan is more focused on that. Halloween is a nationwide celebration. The children camp out in the night and sleep among the herds; the unwed women (jungfru) find someone to sleep with; the leaders stay in with the priests and hear old tales; and the rest of the hrimthurs engage in dark, happy rituals.

Personal feasts among hrimthurs change by class, occupation, and gender. Birth is commonly celebrated by women. Succeeding at becoming a master in a lodge is a major feast. The herre's anniversary of rulership is always celebrated.

Humbaba

In their desert homes, humbabas grow cedar forests, improbably. They create beautiful communities within them, reshaping them and making them vibrant among the barren dunes.

Their cedar forests are truly massive farming communities. They have an innate ability to understand the needs of their crops and livestock, which are usually cedar trees, spices, grains, monkeys, lions, reeds, turtle doves, wood pigeons, and deer. They make their forests very orderly, keeping paths cleanly marked. Because of the solar nourishment they provide their crops and livestock, they usually live longer and come out bigger, more nourishing, and need little water.

Humbabas love music and have their livestock perform for them. They keep monkeys and lions not as food but as companions and servants. They are skilled trainers of animals.

Their version of nimusti is called takul. Their regenerative powers are triggered by a process similar to photosynthesis: if they are injured or diseased, they can rest in the sun for several days to speed up the healing process. Their constitutional powers allow them to survive on little water for great periods of time.

Humbabas have certain takul exercises they favor, depending on their role in their communities. Those who range the deserts seeking water will take on thorny scales over their skin. Those who are warriors often take on lions' paws and bull horns. Those who must patrol the edges of the cedar woods will take on vultures' talons as feet. Those who tend the livestock will have a serpents' head at the end of their tail.

Some rare humbabas choose an abstinent life in order to focus on other pursuits and take on a serpents' head on the end of their phallus. Those who do not are known for their strong libidos which often distract them.

Elder humbabas sometimes alter their bodies to take on a death glare (WIL) or to make their coils sources of hepatoscopy (seeing the future in coiled body parts). Humbabas have powerful auras that let them take energy from the aether around them. In the fields, they gain power from the sun and the flowers and the summer heat In the rivers, the currents soothe and strengthen them. In the reed-beds, they feel the winds and hear the songs. Amongst lions, they are stronger, greater hunters. In palaces and among the enslaved, they gain honorable power and liberate and empower those around them. In the forests and hills, they are powerful and at home, protected and protectors. And even in the afterlife, they shine.

They also have the powers listed above, including supernatural size, strength, agility, thirst resistance, amorousness, photosynthetic regeneration, and takul-derived features. They can sense the needs of their unique livestock and crops, and they have innate skills at training animals. During the worst of times, their elders can and will give of themselves to help the rest of the community.

Humbabas are stronger during the summer (+3 PRO, ATH, STR) and weaker during the winter (-1 PRO, ATH, STR).

Humababas live in farming communities that are cedar forests in the midst of deserts. They tend the trees, cultivate them, and fell them to provide lumber for surrounding regions or for their own homes within the forests. They raise animals as food and servants. Monkeys are trained as heralds, messengers, and gofers. Birds are court servants for humbaba lords, messengers, and spies. Lions are guards and hunters.

Humbaba communities are usually led by an elder who is the lord. This lord is elected by the rest of the community and serves for life or until recalled by a council of advisers picked by the lord. The lord has a special palace built from living cedars where the throne room is filled with the aroma of cedar resin, which constantly strengthens the lord. Those who directly serve the lord are given special treatment in the community, but most are just tenders of the woods and livestock who live with their extended families.

Humbabas are raised by the community from birth. They are sent to live with the lord at court at the age of 10, where they are trained for three years in arts, literature, poetry, music, animal-tending and training, esoteric arts, takul, cooking, and oratory. Then they are sent back to their farms, where they begin work as tenders of the forest for five years. When they reach their final growth spurt (between 15 and 20), they reach adulthood. If they do not have a final growth spurt, they are sent into the desert sun to trigger it supernaturally. As adults, they are allowed to choose their own path: the court, the forest tending, a special role, or leaving on their own.

Courtship is usually an exchange of foods, gifts, fragrances, and arts. It is a complex series of impressive displays, secret connections, and eventually, a wedding feast or a rejection. The gifts used in each courtship are a "sister gift" of something made by a sibling (or parent or aunt or uncle) of the gift-giver, a personal gift that is unique to each humbaba, eca-flour, work boots, sandals, semi-precious stones, and a special bundle of cedar branches washed in solar aether-imbued water. Variations may exist for humbabas with different body types. If a child is not born within three years of marriage, humbabas often bring on other partners. If children are born into a monogamous couple, the couple often turns non-monogamous once the children are grown. Children of non-monogamous groups are the norm.

Hospitality is sacred among humbabas. Sharing bread and water is sacrosanct.

Humbabas enjoy many festivals and feasts. Midsummer is their biggest communal festival. Harvest, spring, and beltane are also important. Each forest has a first tree festival (celebrating the planting of the first tree), a lion festival (honoring the first lion's birth each year), the lord's birthday, and a festival for anniversaries of major victories or achievements. Through the life of a humbaba, they feast birth, marriage, reaching adulthood and deciding a path, and retirement.

Humbabas live in wooden lodges built from living cedars (with some lumber to adjust certain spots). They have huge open air courtyards in the middle for sun, springs for water and bathing in the courtyards, and massive kitchens and libraries. They value arts and words and esotericists.

Inugpasugssuk

Inugpasugssuks live in coastal hunting grounds. They are whalers, seal hunters, and fishers. They have massive fisheries where they fish with their spears. They inherently know how to hunt and tend their animals and prey, and their presence in community near them seems to make them grow in size. Their body lice grow to be the size of arctic lemmings, even. They also have small farms for root vegetables, usually buried under the snow. These vegetables are immensely hearty.

They have eidetic memories, but low proprioception. They also have some resistance to the cold. They use the art of nerivoq, their version of nimusti. Common bodily alterations are furry bodies, wider feet, huge genitalia, or sharper eyesight. Inugpasugssuks have mild telekinetic powers. They can also infuse some memory into small objects and give them to others so that they can carry those memories with them. This is most often used to show people the way out of their massive fisheries.

The first inugpasugssuks were adopted by other giants and turned into their new forms by Divine intervention during a flood. Their confusion during the flood left them with no proprioception. Though they live in floodlands, they are very careful to protect others from the flooding around them, and thus, they are considered protectors and friends by other nations in the area.

Children are very special to inugpasugssuks. They raise them communally, and any orphaned children in the area are adopted, no matter if they are giants or not. These non-giant children do not change species, but do grow larger than other children of their kind. Once a child reaches the age of 12, they are invited to be part of one of the many roles in the community: fishers, hunters, builders, farmers, whalers, sailors, warriors, mystics, etc. Those who do not choose a role are allowed to continue living in the community until they are 20. If they still choose nothing, they are sent out. An inugpasugssuk reaches adulthood at their final growth spurt, around the age of 20, and if they don't reach it, they force it through meditation exercises.

As an adult, every inugpasugssuk must pass a ritual where they wade out into the ocean as far as possible and meditate. If they come back without causing a flood, they are part of the tribe. If they cause a flood and do not protect the village from it, they are banished.

Their tribes are ruled by a council of those they consider the smartest. These pass a series of tests created by the council. To try for the council, one must make a public declaration before the entire town during a council meeting. If one fails to pass the tests, one is banished for a year and a day. If one passes, they have a ten year stint on the council. No one serves for more than ten years until they are past the age of 90, at which point, if they are on the council, they stay for the rest of their lives.

Women among the inugpasugssuks can be leaders, warriors, etc. The only role they are not allowed is whaler, due to bizarre superstitions around whales sexually assaulting female inugpasugssuks. Marriage is unknown among them; sex is not gendered and is enjoyed freely.

Every year sees three festivals in the tribes: midwinter, midsummer, and the annual whaling departure. Each festival is a time of feasts, memory games, bonfires, sex, and drinking. An inugpasugssuk has three major feasts in their life: birth, adulthood, and first child.

Ispolin

Ispolini have a rudimentary farming system, wherein they herd prey animals into their territories and breed them. They inherently know what these animals (mostly deer, bears, and wild boars) need. They keep their herds near the entrances to their caves, tracking them in their territories, but not heavily controlling them. Instead, they keep them mostly wild. This allows them to hunt as well as herd. When they hunt, they bring the meat back to the coldest of the caves within their cavern homes to keep them edible for months.

An ispolin is resistant to cold and meat-borne diseases. They heal slightly faster than other mortal beings, if they are eating enough meat. They are not supernaturally agile like other giants, but instead are known to be sluggish. Their version of nimusti is called yazhte. Common alterations include huge heads, multiple heads (usually with one big eye each), having a single massive hopping leg, and loud voices, but many variations exist.

The mountain folk who live near the ispolini believe them to be the second people to populate the world after chthonians. The ispolini themselves accept this story but have none of their own about their own origins. Instead, ispolini live by a set of rules about the seasons, hunting, and survival in the cold mountains. They fear breaking these rules, for it would mean they are not fit to live in this world. They are compelled by their rules to live in balance with the people around them and the beasts and plants of their territories.

Ispolini live in small families with large hunting territories. Their homes are in caves, which usually have nine large chambers and three small ones: a communal area, a kitchen, food storage, a room for art and storytelling, three bedrooms, and two altar rooms (one for their Divine, one for their ancestors) are the larger rooms, and two bathrooms and a closet are the small. If the family becomes too large for these quarters, they split off and find or build a connected set of caves to live in. Extended families live in close proximity and make up a tribe ruled by a small council of the two best hunters and one elder.

Tribes of ispolini have complex alliances and rivalries, and they often fight over territory. Territory they win is taken and the tribe living there is made into slaves for the family. These slaves can win their freedom by either marrying into the winning tribe, by escaping for three days (a rule that must be abided by), or by buying their freedom. Freed ispolini who do not become part of the winning tribe usually form new tribes (if there are enough of them) or join another tribe they once had an alliance with. A defeated tribe can never be reinstated, however, and all family bonds within that tribe are forgotten unless formed into a new tribe. It is said this tradition arose out of an evolutionary need to avoid incestuous relationships, but it was less complicated in the past.

Within ispolini tribes, there are three recognized genders: muzh (roughly "male"), zhena (roughly "female"), and a third gender called vsichko (literally "all," but the literal translation does not encompass its contextual meaning). Culturally, muzh tend to be warriors, hunters, and rulers. Zhena tend to be gatherers, child-tenders, and weavers. All vsichko, however, are holy people. The vsichko priests are the counterbalance to the rulers' council and have the right to veto their decisions. If the rulers' council objects, the tribe holds a gathering to discuss. Most of these end with a consensus, but sometimes, the tribe splits.

Ispolini children are raised by the zhena. Children are trained at an early age to fit one of the three gender roles, though until they reach adulthood, these roles can change. They reach adulthood at their last growth spurt, which always happens when they turn 19. Once an adult, they must take up the tasks the rulers' council or vsichko demand of them

It is the job of the priests to tend the altar rooms, remember and speak of the ancestors, and make the appropriate yearly sacrifices: one in the spring to protect from blackberry bushes, one in the late summer to cool the world down, one in the fall to begin the hunting season, and one in deep winter to protect from the winter storms. Each sacrifice is a solemn ceremony during which a child, an adult, and an elder are stripped, bathed, and sent into the wild to bring back a deer, a wild boar, or a bear. The animals brought back are skinned, gutted, and deboned. The skins are cleaned and used to bind the elder. The child is soaked in the guts. The adult is caged by the bones. The meat is then cooked and shared with all guests except the three chosen. When the feast is over, one of the chosen is stoned to death and buried under a boulder. Ispolini throw rocks at these boulders when they pass them. The other two chosen are released and given reprieve from ever being the sacrifice again. If one or more of the chosen does not return from the hunt, they are considered to have been the sacrifice for the year. If it turns out they are still alive, the tribe kills them and considers themselves cursed for three generations. Almost always, the sacrifice is the elder, who is chosen because of malady or nearness to death.

All ispolini know that their tribes protect an ancient site with powerful fragments of Divine Law. They keep this site secret from others and kill to protect it. The site is forbidden to be used as hunting or gathering grounds, and the powers the site gives them are forbidden to be used except by the vsichko. The vsichko wield The Law for only three reasons: to protect the tribe, to protect the sacred site, and to see if the sacrifices were accepted. If the sacrifice was made properly and accepted, the one who was killed will be restored and rise from under the boulder after three days. If it failed, the vsichko will kill themself as a replacement sacrifice.

Jentil

Jentilak keep large, sprawling mountainside farms. They keep sheep, cattle, goats, and horses, and they grow potatoes, beans, paprika, grapes, and wheat and barley. They keep fisheries by the sea, especially for cod and tuna. Their livestock and fish are brightly colored and very big, and their crops are very hearty and filling. Their farms are dominated by dolmens, large stone structures.

They have very strong legs and arms. They practice the art of jan (their version of nimusti), which combines diet and exercise, to alter their bodies. The commonest bodily alterations are variations on their body hair, hunchbacks, and animalistic facial features. Jentilak can shape stone to form dolmens and megaliths. They are innately skilled at metallurgy.

Jentilak are builders of dolmens, which dominate their mountainside farms. These dolmens house their ancestors and protect their farms from supernatural energies. They live in matriarchal tribes where everything is held in common and children are raised communally; they are led by a council of the dolmen-builders of the tribe.

Children are taught the crafts of the tribe from a young age and choose their role by the age of 13, when they are taken under the wing of a master of their chosen role - or allowed to study independently. Gender is not important in the tribe. The only division in the tribe is between dolmen-builders and the rest of the tribe, and even then, it is based on respect and understanding rather than dominance and power. Other common crafts are metallurgists, farmers, herders, fishers, and weavers.

Courtship is casual. No one takes a long-term partner until adulthood, and even then it is considered rare to be lifelong. Jentilak reach adulthood during their last growth spurt, which comes around the age of 18. If it doesn't come naturally, it is forced through metallurgic rituals. Adulthood means becoming an independent practitioner of one's role in the tribe. This usually entails a final test, but failure only means having to try again the following year.

Every year sees nine major festivals for jentilak: harvest, dolmen-builders' day (new year), midwinter (when they build straw dolls and dance around the fires), midsummer (for stone-lifting and stone-throwing), the metallurgist's day (Beltane, for trading metal trinkets), and the four days of the ancestors. Every jentilak has feast days through their life: birth, role-taking, adulthood, and retirement. It is said that one day the jentilak will enter a dolmen and never return.

Jenu

Jotunn

Jotnar (sing. jotunn) build huge farms for their crops and livestock. These can vary greatly, but the most common are grains and root vegetables, colorful cattle, multi-headed giant pigs, huge goats, and lots and lots of common chickens. They innately understand how to tend their farm creatures, and they are very skilled at herding and slaughtering. Milking of their animals is a major source of food as well. Mead, however, is their primary art. Beekeeping, brewing, and bartending are their biggest occupations.

They are very resistant to diseases. They are also resistant to infernum and heavenly light. Through an art called eta, their version of nimusti, they are able to alter their bodies. The most common alterations are extra heads (up to nine), supernatural attractiveness, supernatural ugliness, massive hands, and fire or frost breath and hair.

Jotnar are skilled builders. They can survive for longer without air than most beings, and they are able teachers. They can sacrifice their own bodies to give strength to their fellow jotnar in hard times.

Jotnar once lived in matriarchal societies, but outside influences forced them to adapt to changing times. Now they live in autocratic, pre-feudal tribes. Their leaders are warlords. They raise their children semi-communally, with families raising children together but not with the rest of the community. Families are made up of a male and his wives, their unwed siblings, and all of their children. Grandparents stay with the most secure family of their children once their own is diminished.

Wives are called gygnar (singular gygr). They form their own political power that works against the interests of the unwed women (ivithja; ivthjur). These two groups hold most of the power among the common jotnar, and the warlords' family controls the warriors and the elites. Between the three groups, they guide all of jotnar society.

A young jotunn learns from the gygnar and ivthjur until they are ten years old. At this age, they either join the men at work or they are sent exclusively to live with the ivthjur. The ivthjur are kept in a protected compound within the community to keep them from being kidnapped by those compelled by their beauty. Their virginities are well treasured by the men, but most ivthja are eager to lose it and often do, even among themselves. Seldom do the men notice. The leaders of the ivthjur are known for their wisdom, being elder unwed women, women who never were taken husband. They do this by fighting them off fiercely, and they are feared by the men and respected by even the gygnar. The leaders of the gygnar are similarly respected, but they are less often warriors and more often advisors and cunning politicians and administrators. The leaders of the men are all warlords.

Jotnar reach adulthood at their last growth spurt, usually around the age of 21. At this time, they may marry (ivthja becoming gygr; men becoming... men). If they do not hit their last growth spurt, they must leave society for ten years. If they hit it between then and their return, they are allowed back in. If not, they are outcast forever. During this time, many jotnar force the growth spurt through eta.

Among the jotnar tribes are many craftsmen, tradesmen, and farmers who have great power within society despite not being part of the warrior class. They form rudimentary associations and alliances, but they are subject to the authority of the ivthjur (tradesmen, farmers, merchants) or gygnar (craftsmen, herders, hunters). Only the mead maker community - beekeepers, brewers, servers - are independent.

Jotnar hate titans and fight them to the death on sight. The sentiment is usually returned.

The most frequent festivals are to honor different victories or milestones of the tribe. They vary from tribe to tribe. Every ten years, though, the mead makers hold their Tasting Festival, and every jotnar tribe in the world attends if they can. This festival is world-renowned. During the life of a jotunn, there are many feasts, mostly birthdays, marriages and anniversaries, and adulthood ceremonies.

Kua Fu

Kua fu farm the riverlands, building rice paddies, cattle/oxen pastures, and fields of sweet potatoes, peanuts, wheat, tea, sugar, and cotton. They keep pigs and chickens as well. Their most famous crops are their colorful peach orchards, however, which are world famous for flavor, size, and sweetness. They inherently know how to care for these crops and livestock. They are also known for their brightly colored rice, sweet potatoes and pigs, and for their variety of flavors of black tea.

They heal slightly faster when they are full, so they eat copiously when they are injured or sick. They practice an art called chi, which is their version of nimusti. They also innately know how to tend their crops and livestock. Beyond these aforementioned powers, they also have the ability to acquire new powers by gathering rare objects of power around them. They also have the ability to acquire new powers by gathering rare objects of power around them.

Kua fu-shi are the clans of the kua fus. Every kua fu-shi is ruled by a feudal lord and their court. Peasants serve the feudal lords with tribute from their lands. Every peasant family is part of a kua fu-shi, and the collective kua fu-shi are a feudal nation ruled by an overlord. Theirs is a patriarchal society, though women and non-binary kua fus have more rights than in many other feudal societies.

Kua fu warriors train to fight with special wooden clubs made from their peach orchards. When they die, their clubs are buried in their orchards. Kua fu warriors are part of the lords' courts.

Kua fu children are weaned by the age of five. They are taught by their families how to work the farm or work a craft in the village. If they are of a lord's family, they are taught the arts and sciences, court etiquette, diplomacy, and fighting. If they are of a warrior's family, they are trained as warriors. Courtship is based on rank. Nobles have arranged marriages. Warriors have arranged marriages and commonly have multiple wives. Lords are monogamous to avoid problems with succession. Peasant families court with ritual gifts, eating together, and dating, but marriage is forbidden without permission of their lord. Many peasants choose not to get married, even though this means complications when it comes to inheritance, because their lords are so strict about marriages.

Kua fus reach adulthood with their fifth and final growth spurt around the age of 19 or so. If their final growth spurt is delayed, they engage in river-drinking until they have one.

The kua fu-shi recognize nine festivals every year, all of them solar festivals, based on the length of the days and the distance of the sun. Gold coins are given out at every festival, and each festival has a unique set of coins. Festivals involve brightly colored lanterns, costumes, parades, and feasts, held by the lord for his people. The festivals are differentiated by the ritual costumes worn and the themes of the parades, though they vary from clan to clan. Every kua fu celebrates nine feasts in their life as well: birth feast, weaning feast, graduation feast, adulthood feast, (first) marriage feast (or peasant secret non-marriage equivalent), parenthood feast, grandparenthood feast, retirement feast, and death feast (a wake held for the deceased).

Kua fu farms are large, even the peasant farms, and they are all interconnected. At the center of each cluster of farms is a village where craftsmen, merchants, and poor warriors live. The largest farm surrounds the palace of the lord, who has a special complex where the rich warriors live. Every village is also home to a temple to the ancestors.

Maero

Maeros keep farms of massive boars who naturally contain baleblood, which they harvest and drain for their rituals. They grow grains to feed the boars, but they spend most of their time making sure the boars are vicious and inbred. They have huge stone dome buildings that they use as slaughterhouses and barns. They innately know how to use these.

Using their powers over their bodies, maeros can survive being dismembered and put themselves back together, so long as their fingernails remain sharp. They can speak from their dismembered heads for up to ten days. Their nails must be kept sharp by raking them along trees, which wither and die after three such scrapings. They carry stone clubs made from the rocks of their territory, which are stronger within the territory. Their version of nimusti is called kai. Their commonest bodily alterations make them appear to be 10' tall humans with long, bony fingers and long, dirty hair, including body hair.

They are a brutal warrior nation very similar to the Baleful, but they dwell in a remote area in the southern Island Bridge, resentful of anyone who dares enter their territory. They are known for dismembering their enemies (which might be a misunderstanding on how other mortals’ bodies work) and eating raw pigflesh.

Neringa

Neringas keep large slaughterhouses on their farms where they butcher pigs in the most painful possible way to "improve the flavor." They grow barley, wheat, rye, beets, greens, berries, and mushrooms in their massive farming complexes, using manure from their pigs and slaves. They make slaves do most of the work. Their complexes have massive blood and manure gutters running through them alongside irrigation canals. They also keep lake and coastal fisheries. They innately know how to tend these.

They only feel the very worst of pain. They use the art of valgyti, their version of nimusti. The most common bodily variations are thicker skin, paler skin, and fins and gills. Neringas have the power to control predatory / carnivorous animals that have tasted their blood.

The original neringas were people who were trapped on a sand dune spit during high tide and turned to tormenting each other until the tide changed. When they came back, they were altered, turned into the neringas, hungry to cause pain to others. These original neringas enslaved the villagers from their tribes and formed the first neringa farms. They altered the landscape to make the sand dune spit into a massive peninsula. They summoned aquatic predators, fed them their blood, and formed a reef so dangerous only neringas could swim or sail in it.

Neringas live in farming villages, each family having their own complex of slaughterhouses, fields, pens, fisheries, and homes. Each family is ruled by a patriarch. The patriarch represents the family in the village council, which sends a representative to the local lord, who answers to the warlord. Each pays tribute up the chain in the form of food, slaves, or warriors.

Children are raised by their families, with the patriarch representing violent enforcement of rules and his wives representing cruelly reluctant care. Neglect is common. Most nerginas try to run away at least once and are beaten severely. Once they are old enough to talk, they begin training as part of the family. Neringas reach adulthood at their final growth spurt, usually around the age of 15, and if not, they force it through rituals of pain to avoid becoming a slave for life. The oldest male is selected as the heir; he must be warrior and administrator. The other males must be overseers, warriors, and slave-catchers. Women are raised to be wives, who are barely more than slaves, and as such, they treat slaves even worse than the men do. Gender non-conforming neringas are made into slaves if they are caught. Slaves do most of the work around the farm.

In the village, the patriarchs have rank amongst each other, based on prowess, strength, and wealth. The most powerful leads the council and represents them to the lord. The lord is the leader of the most powerful village in the county. The lord represents the county to the warlord, and the counties are ranked by power as well. The most powerful county's leader is the warlord. This is almost always the county located on the main peninsula.

The warlord is the cruelest, most powerful male neringa in the country, and he has the most wives. Wives are bought and sold among families, but they go for more than slaves do and have slightly more rights. They get paid a small stipend by their husbands and may have freedom of the village (or county, or country).

Neringas have grim festivals where they torment slaves for sport and eat great feasts of pig's blood and raw flesh. There are eight of these through the year, each one a major slave-trading day: new year's day, day of the great fire (Beltane), midsummer, Halloween, midfallow, midwinter, and three days which are specific to each village. Feast days are only for the men; festivals are for everyone but slaves. Personal feast days include birthdays, adulthood anniversaries, and various personal victories.

Patagon

Patagones have intricate farms in cold deserts of southeastern Palhur. On these farms, they raise rabbits, fungi, flowers, dogs and wolves, and panthers. The latter are used as guard animals and companions. The others are all raised for food, including some flowers which are dangerous for most beings. Patagones innately know the cyclical needs of all of these living things. Their farms are crystalline structures built into the sides of the cliffs or hills and extending out on lattices with crops being grown on the sides and the livestock usually in fields extending out from the slopes.

They practice jenjinkon, which is their version of nimusti. The most common features are larger feet (better for jumping in low gravity), reflective skin, third eyes, changing skin tones, and insectoid wings. They are also excellent keepers of time and have innate measuring abilities. Their skin is cold to the touch, and those not used to it can be harmed by how cold it is.

The most notable feature of patagon society is that they do not regularly wear clothing, having little need for it unless a radiation storm or dust storm comes through.

Patagones live in three-tiered societies on the edges of deserts. The first tier is the elders, who live in comfort in crystal pods hanging from the sides of cliffs and hills. They rule the community and make the rules. The second tier is the farmers and farmwives who tend the crops and livestock. They are the bulk of patagonian society and live along the edge of the desert and out in the fields. The third tier is the itinerants, who hire on at different farms and have no permanent homes.

In a patagon farm, there are three genders as well: karkan (female), ahal (male), and kahas (literally "three" or "third"). The karkans take care of the fields and crops. The ahals take care of the livestock and buildings. The kahas take care of the children, the defense of the farm, and the rituals. Patagon children are raised by the kahas until they are nine years old, at which time they go to work under one of their parents (as ahal, karkan, kahas, or in rare cases, elder). Once they reach adulthood on their third and final growth spurt (at age 18), they stop being trained and are expected to take their place in the farm hierarchy. Those who have a late last growth spurt are very rare and are always cast out as itinerants.

During the life of a patagon, they celebrate three major feasts: birth, adulthood, and elderhood. Community festivals are based around the phase of the moon and time of year. The first festival is the first full moon of the year, during which patagones dance a communal dance where tiers are forgotten. The second festival is the sixth new moon of the year, during which the patagones sing a communal song, with each tier having their own part. The third festival is the twelfth waning crescent, during which the patagones bathe themselves in moonlight and sand and sleep outside.

Courtship among patagones is based around their tiers - no one is allowed to court outside their tier, or they will be outcast as itinerants. Otherwise, courtship is left up to individuals.

Puntan

Puntans grow rice, taro, sweet potatoes, hot peppers, breadfruit trees, coconut palms (niyok), star gooseberries, sweet turnips, star apples, bananas, and other fruit trees. They are fishers and keep crab beds. They have massive ayuyus (coconut crabs) that they keep for meat and as pets. They inherently know how to tend their crops and animals, and their plants especially have abundant yields. Their farms are small but complex, with irrigation systems, seasonal changes, and natural features which are subtly shaped to keep their crops and livestock.

They can jump miles and miles. They always appear somewhat youthful, even at their eldest. They can alter their bodies through the art of kakno', which is their version of nimusti. The commonest bodily alterations are huge feet, animal parts (especially fish parts or bird parts), and colorful skin and hair (especially rainbow eyebrows). Puntans also have psionic abilities and the ability to speak to the winds.

On their islands, puntans live in matriarchal tribes led by a group of elders. Each tribe is very large, but they are close-knit and live in close quarters. As children, they are raised communally and encouraged to learn everything they can from the rest of the tribe. When they reach adulthood (their last growth spurt is around the age of 25, and if not, they force it through use of kakno'), they narrow down their roles to a half dozen, and by the time they reach their mid-30s, they pick just one.

Roles include but are not limited to fishers, farmers, weavers, pottery-makers, builders, seafarers, and mystics. All genders take part in every role, except pregnant parents, who are primarily caretakers of children and remain so until the child is weaned. Marriage does not exist; coupling is usually temporary and few know or care who their fathers are. Instead, the mother's brother plays a more direct role in raising the child, though the whole tribe participates. When one is interested in another puntan, interest is expressed through gifts of food and colorful clothing.

Puntans like to sail the seas from island to island, though they rarely settle away from their homes. The main division in puntan society is that between the seafarers (who by necessity of their ships were slightly shorter) and the island-dwellers. The seafarers are treated as a subservient class to the islanders, but it is a loose division, and there is crossover.

All puntans honor their ancestors. There are many festivals for honoring ancestors throughout the year, along with harvest and lunar/tidal festivals. In their daily lives, puntans celebrate births and deaths. They believe time is infinite and cyclical, and therefore, they do not believe in anniversaries, as time is not considered linear. They honor the infinite nature of time by always evolving their festivals and feast days.

Si-Te-Cah

Si-te-cah are primarily tule farmers (tule being a common water plant) and duck hunters. They grow this on the edges of their lakes or up river from their near-oceanic raft cities. Those who have moved underwater are fish-herders. Those very few who remain on land are mammoth herders and cave bear hunters. Regardless of their tribe, they have an innate ability to know the needs of their crops and livestock. Their tule beds are multicolored and beautiful. Their fish-herds are mostly cetus and other large fish. Their mammoth herds are known for wild variations like extra heads and eyes.

They can adjust their heights with ease, going from 17' to 6'6" and back, but only once they are fully grown. They heal from wounds slightly faster than others, especially if they are near water). They use the art of tuka, which is their version of nimusti. Bear fur, mammoth tusks, sharp fangs, gills, fins, and paddle-like extra limbs are not uncommon. They also sometimes alter their eyes so they can see in the dark. They never, ever change their hair color, though this is culturally driven.

Si-te-cah live in four different kinds of communities: lake raft cities, ocean raft cities, underwater communities, and land communities.

The si-te-cah are called panunudu si-te-cah. They are the descendants of those driven to the lakes to escape their enemies who had all donned dresses trimmed with si-te-cah hair and become invisible. This war began when the si-te-cah were found to practice ritual cannibalism, which was misunderstood. The oceanic si-te-cah live mostly near the mouths of rivers flowing into the ocean and are called kassa'a si-te-cah. They drifted here from the lakes when the lake communities got too big. Those who live underwater are called tukapu si-te-cah, and they went there from the kassa'a communities out of exploratory curiosity. The land dwellers, the rarest si-te-cah, are called padooa'a si-te-cah, and they live amongst the cave bears and mammoths.

The commonalities between their cultures are how they raise their children, come of age, and their social structures. All si-te-cah children are raised communally, though mostly by the women, until they are old enough (about eight) to take part in the work of the community. At around the age of eight, they apprentice under an uncoupled member of the tribe who teaches them a skill. If they take to the skill, they remain, but if they do not, they switch after a few months. By the age of 15, they are expected to know what their role in the tribe will be. Their next few years before adulthood are spent training and learning with greater focus. At their last growth spurt (around the age of 18 or so), they become adults. (If they do not have their growth spurt by the age of 20, they force it through ritual cannibalism.)

As adults, si-te-cah begin coupling (similar to dating, but less formal). Some few si-te-cah choose permanent partners, but most live with the emotional flow and have many partners over their lives, some at the same time. There is no division of labor by gender except when it comes to childcare.

Each tribe is led by a council of elders. Elders are elected by the adults in the tribe every nine years in a complex political ceremony involving aetherial metapolitics, ritual cannibalism, and debates.

Among the panunudu, the three main occupations are fishers, duck hunters, and tule farmers. The fishers sail out on the lakes and bring back fish every day. The tule farmers go to the shore, where they risk harassment by other local nations, and gather tule from the tule beds, which are massive and colorful and tended with care. The duck hunters go both on shore and out on the lake, using nets, bows, spears, and tule-duck decoys to hunt the massive flocks of ducks in their area. There are also many basketweavers among them.

Among the kassa'a, they practice similar occupations, but their fishers go further into the oceans to fish and some are merchant sailors who trade around the world. There are fewer duck hunters and more fishers among them. They fish using lines and spears more often, and their basketweavers are also barrel makers.

Among the tukapu, the primary occupations are fish-herder, shark hunter, and explorers. They are known for their varied bodies, colorful and giant fish, and ferocity in battle.

Among the padooa'a, the primary roles are cave bear hunter, mammoth herder, and sandalmaker. The former are the warriors of the tribe. They prefer to wear cave bear furs and go even into caves, where their people are said to fear. The mammoth herders live along rivers and keep their herds safe from those around them who hate them. And the latter are the women of the tribe, mostly, who trade with others.

The biggest festival in a si-te-cah community is the season of thaw festival, or Pamaka. This festival honors the flowing of the water, the tides, the currents. Other festivals are all seasonal and involve different harvest, hunts, and anniversaries. The most somber is among the non-padooa'a (who do not celebrate it), and it is the anniversary of being forced off the land. This ceremony is called Namatsatsepogge. During the life of a si-te-cah, the major feasts are birth, first swim, first fishing/hunt, first harvest, first coupling, and ascension to the elder council.

Starkad

Starkads keep large coastal farms that combine land and sea agriculture. They keep aquatic farms, grow crops on land, and herd goats and sheep. They innately understand how to tend to these crops and livestock. Their farms consist of wide lodges where they eat, drink, and find entertainments, massive fields for grazing next to fields for crops, and intricate systems of nets and beds for their fishing areas. Their sheep, goats, and fish are known for their remarkable colors and nutritiousness.

They can take wounds that leave their organs exposed and still recover. They do not have any disease resistance, but they do have pain resistance. They practice the art of spise, their version of nimusti. The commonest alterations are adding multiple arms. They also have the ability to choose their kin or allies and take wounds for them; they must first take these into their home for a night of hospitality before they can do this.

Starkads are said to have three lives, though in truth, they can simply take two wounds that would be fatal to another being and still survive. This includes decapitation, combustion, and crushing. In game terms, it means they can experience a triple-exceptional wound/stun/hit or double-exceptional stun/wound twice before it actually kills them. Their hegnhic power makes their weapons stronger when used defensively (+3 parry, weapons never break), and when defending their homes, their prowess increases (+3). They can turn the reed stalks in their homes into spears as a last resort. Starkads with more than two arms (four is common) use as many swords as they can carry to fight. Starkads are supernaturally impressive to the rich and powerful when in their homes, as a defense against exploiters, invaders, and conmen

They are skilled poets.

Starkads are a warrior nation who fiercely protect their homesteads. They live in massive farms that span along the coastline and include fisheries, scallop beds, grazing lands, and crop fields. Every homestead is a community of at least ten families, usually more, all led by a council of elders with representatives from each family, from any workers not affiliated with the families, and from the outlying communities of non-starkads.

In the past, starkads were raiders, feudalist warriors, knights, and brutally patriarchal. Their lords gave way to merchants, and eventually, they overthrew them. Banded together, the starkad farmer families and workers threw out the lords, the merchants, and the bandits. They built a new society. Their farms produce the food and goods for what they need; they share whatever is left over with non-starkads that live in the area. The main aspect of their former culture that is leftover is the holmgang, a traditional duel fought between starkads who have slighted each other's honor.

Starkad children are raised by their families, going to public community schools at age of seven until they are 20. They reach adulthood with their last growth spurt, between the ages of 18 and 22, and those who mature late are encouraged through communal ceremonies if they choose not to wait. Every starkad is taught history and how to fight, farm, fish, and build, but they are taught other things as well, mostly of their own selection. Starkads who choose not to be farmers or fishers are welcomed among the workers.

Courtship among starkads is varied, ranging from casual relationships, open relationships, or monogamous commitments. Marriage is common and a source of major celebration among the families involved. Other feasts in the life of a starkad are birth, graduation, adulthood, parenthood, and elderhood. Each year sees three festivals, all of them different harvests that differ by community, and one nation-wide celebration of the Liberation from the lords and merchants.

Surtr

Surtrs keep goats, pigs, horses, and giant lizards as livestock, and they grow along the sides of their volcanoes very hearty beans, root vegetables, and grains and oats. Their livestock and crops are supernaturally protected from the heat and toxins of the area until they are slaughtered. Surtrs innately know how to tend these creatures. Their farms are built into the sides of the craters, inside and out, and through cave systems. Within the caves, they also grow various fungi.

They are resistance to heat and smoke and to most common diseases. Surtrs can breathe smoke and ash, sulfuric acid, and other volcanic gases. Heat does not bother them. They use the art of bid, their version of nimusti. The most common bodily modifications are various skin tones, burning hair and skin and eyes, improved eyesight, and metallic hands.

Surtrs can summon flame around their weapons. They can control lava/magma with gestures to a limited degree, and they can speak to fire spirits.

Surtrs are warriors. Their societies are built around being warriors. They are led by warriors. They live in clans made up of smaller family units, each one led by a warrior leader.

Each tribe is led by its best warrior, who may be of any gender. Warriors enjoy privileges within the tribe. Those who are not warriors are ranked by caste: crafts folk, farmers, merchants, and servants. Children are raised by their parents and extended family, and every parent wants their child to be a warrior. At the age of 12, they are tested to see if they might be a warrior. If they fail, they may either choose another caste to test into or wait and test again for a warrior the next year. If they do not test into warriorhood by adulthood, they must choose another caste or leave the tribe. Adulthood is reached at their last growth spurt, around the age of 24, and if not, it is forced through bathing in magma.

If a warrior wants a spouse, they may take one, even if the person is married already. This continues down the castes, with servants only getting spouses if no one else wants the person. Marriage between castes is common; most warriors want servile spouses, for instance. Marriage does not change an individual's caste, which is determined at adulthood permanently, save in rare circumstances. If there is an intracaste marriage, there is usually a courtship ritual that varies by caste: warriors show off their combat skills, crafts folk create extravagant gifts, farmers bring food, merchants give money, and servants perform services.

Surtrs are horse-riders and have massive horses upon which they ride; these are used in raids and warfare. A warrior's horse is his most prized possession.

Surtrs believe that time moves backward, and that what is to be has already been. Thus, they celebrate not what has been, but what is to come. Their festivals celebrate the end of all things, the breaking of the bridge (a moment said to be part of the end of all things when the path between mortality and divinity is destroyed), and the fall of the Divine. Though they honor the Divines, they believe they were destroyed long ahead. They also honor their ancestors, but those are personal feast days - a surtr honors their ancestors by generation three times per year (grandparents, then ten generations back, then 100 generations back).

Titan

Titans are fishermen, and they have massive fish farms. They innately know what their livestock needs and how to find them, using nets as much as fishing lines or traps. Their nourishing powers mean bigger, more healthful fish, and they are known for the strange appeareance of their fish. They reshape their reefs, coasts, and currents to make their farms.

Titans alter their bodies with the weather itself. Changes in the weather often accompany temporary changes in their bodies, and extreme weather can alter them permanently. For instance, flooding can give them the lower body of a serpent or fish. High summer heat can cause them to have shining skin. They can also trigger changes through exercises known as troo, their version of nimusti.

Common bodily alterations include ram's horns or feet (usually worn by warriors), cow's eyes, goat's horns or feet, beards, the features of a golden dog, piercing needles for fingers or hands, golden flesh, widened bodies, wings sprouting from the forehead, blushing cheeks, long flowing hair, or crab claws.

Titans also have supernatural size, strength, agility, constitution, and regenerative properties. Their regenerative properties are triggered by electrical charge. They also have the innate ability to understand the needs of fish.

Moreover, titans have the power of currents (wind or water), navigational powers, seasonal changes to their powers (or rather, changes due to changes in weather each season), and the power to hold lightning in their hands. Other powers that manifest in titans (though not in every titan) include but are not limited to cloud-walking, prophetic powers (seeing patterns), creating memory pools, attunement to the celestial axis around which the heavens revolve, hyper intelligence and memory, improved vision, creating small amounts of light (electrical charge), astronomical understanding, meteorological understanding, martial prowess, temporal anomaly control, blasts of entropy, authoritative speech, control of the sea, and healing touch. These powers derive from their immense capacity for aether.

They cannot pass through bronze gates.

The history of the titans is complex. In the beginning, they lived in matriarchal societies in the clouds, but they went to war with the Divines themselves and were cast down to Shem in a war called the Titanomachy. During their Golden Age (matriarchal age), they lived in bliss among the clouds, but one of their leaders, an elder who learned to combine pattern and temporal aether, wielded a harpe, or stone sickle, to castrate the Storm God (though some versions of this story say it was the opposite - the attack gave the Storm God his phallus, because the harpe sent his body backward in time somehow). Some say Mother Shem herself gave the titan elder this sickle, and some say it was not stone but ailsilver. This began a war, and the titans were said to have (briefly) won, until the Storm Prince, son of the Storm God, the most powerful of all Aeonians (according to the tale), hurled Divine lightning at the heart of the titan cities in the clouds, destroying them all and scattering them along the coasts where they now live.

During this war, some titans did not engage or sided with the Divines, and in doing so, they were allowed to continue living among the clouds. These are the rare titans who can still walk on clouds. The war saw many alliances shift and change, and the stories vary greatly. The titan elder who led the war was overthrown during their brief victory because he resorted to cannibalizing his children for power. He was cast down and made a prisoner in a cave by the sea, but some say he will be released one day to rule once more among the clouds.

In modern times, titans are seafaring folk living along rocky coasts. They farm fish, olives, and storms. Their ships are oar-driven, with golden rudders. Some of their ships can fly and are pulled by massive horses. They live in city-states, each ruled by a small oligarchy of powerful titans. These oligarchs consider themselves to be the descendants of the great titan king who was sealed in the cave, and anyone wishing to become an oligarch must "prove" their ancestry, usually through displays of power. The cloud-dwelling titans who remain in the sky have small, matriarchal villages where they are ruled by councils mostly of women or non-binary titans, each one representing one of the values they say the original titan society ran on: good counsel, divine/social order, fairness, natural law, family, custom, justice, calm judgment (a lack of wrath), proper procedure, and truth. How they defined these varies by village.

In the seafaring communities, the titans keep animals other than fish. Serpents, black doves, drakes, and chollima are the most common. These animals are raised as companions, guards, or messengers. In the clouds, black doves, serpents, chollima, and other birds are very common for the same reasons.

Music is a major part of the life of titans in any environment. Tympanons (hand-held drums), brass cymbals, and chants and dances are parts of most feasts and festivals. Titans celebrate the major events of their past in festivals featuring dramas throughout the year: the remembrance of Titanomachy, the castrating of the Storm God, fall of the titan king, and the annual coming and going of the storm season are the biggest festivals. During their lives, titans feast on birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and a special testing of their ability to walk on clouds (some titans even among the seafarers are born with it). Titans become adults at their final growth spurt, usually around their 18th birthday. Those who don't have a growth spurt electrocute themselves (often by standing out in thunderstorms holding up metal) to gain the power needed to do so.

Titan children are raised by their mothers in seafaring communities. Other parents are sometimes involved, sometimes not. If a parent is a sailor, they are usually gone from the child's life, unless the mother is the sailor, then she takes the child with her on the ships. These children inevitably become sailors. In the clouds, they are raised communally. Courtship is a series of displays of power, bountiful gifts, and bribing the parents. In the clouds, the latter is ceremonial. Along the coasts, it is very seriously taken. Young titans go on quests for grand bribes for the parents of their beloved.

Titan warriors use special weapons imbued with pattern aether. Harpes are very common, but special needle-like swords are often used by high ranking warriors, and sharp cutting blades are used by skilled warriors. Their blades are said to be able to cut fact from fiction.

Toell

Toells are either fishermen or horse-herders. They innately understand what these animals need and are skilled at caring for or catching them. They are also skilled riders. Their skills with nourishing make their horses huge and powerful, and their skills with catching make them able to spot the best fish to catch for their families. Their horses are also known for their wide variety of shades of red.

Toells intentionally develop bodies for combat. They do not have the supernatural regenerative properties of other giants, but instead have innate fighting abilities. Their powerful constitutions are entirely given over to their immense capacity for alcohol. They have acute senses of sight and hearing, and they have supernaturally loud voices. Their version of nimusti is called sooma. Commonly chosen features are more muscles, more agility, horns, tougher skin, better vision or hearing, sharper teeth, sharper and harder nails, bladed nails, spiny tails, or extra arms. Very powerful toells have so much power, they can recover from decapitation, though they do not always like to.

They also have one of three d'qiarsean arts that are culturally shared: vibulaskmine (using horse-bows), viskamine (rock tossing), and maadlus (wrestling). These arts give them incredible skill in these methods of fighting. During times of scarcity, toells fight amongst themselves in ritual manner to generate energies to strengthen them.

Toells live in island societies They live in farming and fishing communities where they protect their territories fiercely. Their king is a common farmer who has equal rights in the community with all others, but special duties in protecting the island. He is usually the one with the greatest rock tossing skills. He has a massive spruce tree as his staff of office. Toells in island communities are kind and helpful, but they are quick to anger. They farm cabbages, make beer, and have massive public saunas.

On the island, young toells are raised communally. They start mock-fighting at a very young age and begin proper training before the age of six. They have four major milestones in training: the rock tossing contest at age ten (winners graduate to the next stage, losers must continue training and combine it with the next stage); the wrestling contest (similar to the rock tossing contest) at age 14; the sailing course (not a contest but a special training course) at age 16; and finally, the graduation tournament at age 18. Each of these is celebrated by a community-wide festival.

Toells have their final growth spurt around the age of 18. Those who don't are tested in trial by combat until they succeed, die, or lose a limb. Those who lose a limb are retired and cared for. Toells with disabilities are honored and cared for, but often treated patronizingly, in the islands.

Other festivals in island society include special anniversaries of victories in battle, repulsing invasions, and honoring the lost toell (those who fall in battle). Their other major festival is the annual beer festival, celebrating at the tapping of the year's brew. The king's birthday is another common feast day. Toells' personal feast days include birth, personal victories, and marriage. Courtship is always a series of fighting contests, mostly ritualistic, ending in the toells who wish to marry being treated to a beer-feast.

Toell ships are massive, but they are designed to rove close to home. They are not long-voyage vessels. Toell farms are huge, focusing on sheep, goats, and hearty crops that survive the cold, rocky climate. Every farm has a training yard for warriors and a beer hall. Breweries are honored and protected as almost sacred amongst the toell islanders.

Tsul'kalu

Tsul' kalu own all of the game in their territories. They hunt deer, rabbit, bear, buffalo, elk, squirrel, possum, and other small game. They keep small fields of corn, squash beans, pumpkin, melons, sunflowers, and tobacco. They innately know how to tend these, and they know their territory very well. They do not alter their crops or game in any way.

Their sight, smell, and hearing are very keen, such that they can hear for many miles. They are resistant to most venoms. They practice agi'a, their version of nimusti. The most common alterations are to be hard to see, animal parts, and large feet.

Along with the aforementioned size, strength, agility, senses, constitution, body shifting, and game / crop tending, they also have the power to be invisible for short periods of time (enough to escape). They have supernatural climbing ability and telepathic powers. Groups of tsul' kalu can create the roar of thunder as they walk.

Among the tsul' kalu, the hunt is the most important thing. They measure the seasons by the hunt, not the harvest. First snow, first thaw, the raining season, and the coming of the birds are their main seasonal changes. They celebrate each with a festival that features the main game of the season.

Tsul' kalu live in matriarchal tribes. They are led by a small group of elders. Their tribes are split not between genders, but between two main roles: hunters and gatherers. Hunters are usually men but not always. Gatherers (farmers) are usually women but not always. These roles are not enforced. Children are raised communally and take part in hunting and gathering until adulthood, at which time they choose their primary role. They reach adulthood at their last growth spurt, around the age of 18. If they do not have a natural growth spurt, they force one through a long path ritual.

Hunters include but are not limited to those who hunt game, warriors, builders, weapon makers, caretakers of children and the elderly, and water collectors. Gatherers include farmers, weavers, artists, singers, drummers, mystics, faith leaders, and teachers.

Though they do not get married, they have long-lasting relationships - though these relationships remain open. Courtship involves the tsul' kalu hunter bringing food to the caretaker of the one they wish to court. Each night, the hunter will stay with their partner and leave food in the morning, using telepathy to know what to bring. If the caretaker is ungrateful, they will bring no gift but will take their partner away with them. If they are grateful, they will show themselves after many nights. If the caretaker is not afraid, they will join the family of their partner, but if the caretaker is afraid, they will take their partner away. If their partner decides not to court them, they simply refuse the food.

Each tribe has a festival of fasting and new dress every year at the end of the last hunting season. During this time, they have massive drum circles and refuse to go to war. If anyone violates this, they are considered eternal enemies and banished or avoided. During the life of a tsul' kalu, they honor their birthdays, adulthood anniversaries, and their ascent into eldership annually.

Uriaș

The farms of the uriasi are settled in the mountainsides away, shaped around the woods. They include cabbage, soy, sugarbeets, and barley, pigs, cattle, and sheep. They are known for their huge livestock and nourishing crops. They know the Name of every crop and livestock they have, and thus how to care for it. Their farms are beautiful and intricate and hard to spot within the forests.

Uriasi have thick skins. They use the art of manca, their version of nimusti. The commonest altered forms are huge hands, longer legs, and sharper eyesight. Uriasi have two extra True Names in case one of theirs gets damaged. They also have the power to create protections on their homes through burning candles.

Known for their kindness, uriasi live in open, matriarchal clans in the mountains. They keep their homes in caves, but have farms throughout the woods near their caves. In their legends, they once ruled the world because they knew Her Name, but they intentionally hid Her Name away and became peaceful farmers to protect the world.

In their clans, children are raised communally and all major property (food, land, water, shelter) is shared. Children choose their role in the clan by the age of 16, and they hit adulthood a few years later at their final growth spurt around the age of 19. If they don't hit their growth spurt, they meditate upon their Names until it happens. Adulthood means taking on new responsibilities for the clan, and they take this very seriously. Courtship is a game of secrets and intimacy that results in many couplings. All relationships among them are open and fatherhood is an unknown concept.

The major roles in a clan are farmer, hunter, guard, weaver, builder, carver, digger, healer, and water-bearer. The elders of each of these roles form a council that runs the clan. Gender is not usually a consideration among uriasi.

Because they live in the mountains, uriasi can see flooding in the valleys. They always go down as a clan and save those affected by the flooding if they can.

Uriasi celebrate seven festivals each year: new year (or "tree-lifting day"), plowing day (or "meeting the human nations day"), gold day (or "countilg the village stores day"), harvest, and three ancestral days. During their lifetimes, uriasi celebrate major feasts for each of their Names. Festivals always include games, meeting with other clans or nations, and feasting.

Velikan

Velikans farm within their vile swamps. These swamps are not like vibrant wetlands, but polluted swamps full of vile energy, brown aether, and other fell energies. As such, they are sources of many diseases, including supernatural ones and ones that should not otherwise be found in a swamp.

Their farms are focused on certain fungi, usually molds and poisonous mushrooms, that they grow in enormous patches or to massive sizes. They use certain massive toadstools as their buildings, hollowing them out and turning them into special huts. Their primary crops are black mold, giant toadstools, various poisonous mushrooms, floating masses of vegetation full of venomous insects, vilely imbued lizards, snakes, and alligators, and fish farms. These crops and livestock are toxic for most species to eat, but velikans and certain others who are resistant to these things can and do eat them. Furthermore, they also raise normal crops like rice, crawfish, and other fish and crustaceans to let them be prepared and then rotted.

The most unpleasant feature of their farms, though, are the disease beds. Bacterial cultures, virus vectors, and infectious fungi are cultivated in special floating greenhouses and insectariums. These they use to alter their bodies with or to harm others with, if they are very angry. Typhus, malaria, yellow fever, West Azeti Fever, dengue fever, lyme disease, cholera, various plagues, amoebic dysentery, salmonella, botulism, and listeria are the most common.

Their flesh is rotting and their muscles atrophy quickly, so they must constantly consume rotting meat, mold, blood, toxins, bile, and other unpleasantness to survive. Their constitutions are complicated by their ability to suffer from a disease without succumbing to it. They trigger their powers through their vile diet and through intentionally contracting diseases instead of exercises.

Velikans contort their bodies with diseases. Every disease reshapes their bodies in different ways, usually adding rotting flesh, vegetation, or extra limbs. They cannot die from disease. It will only make them more fearsome. Velikans can sense poisons, toxins, pollutants, bacteria, fungi, and viruses, as well as other sources of disease and illness, innately. They know when their environment is attuned to creating such things, and if many velikans gather in a vibrant place for more than a season, it will begin to rot.

Velikans can gain strength by cannibalizing each other and often do if needed.

Velikans live in contentious farming communities, focused on individuals who control large ranches within the vile swamps. Each ranch is controlled by the most vicious, powerful velikan, who usually controls what diseases are the focus of the ranch. They are usually a powerful elder, and they control the rest of the velikans through a feudal arrangement, being a lord among serfs. Lords usually bribe powerful velikans to serve them as enforcers, police, military, and advisers.

Newborn velikans are left in the disease beds for a week to see if they survive. They are not nursed, but rather, survive on vile energy produced by whatever they are first infected with. If they live a week and become strong enough to walk, they are put to work. If they cannot walk after a week, they are drowned, left to rot, then eaten. Once a child reaches an age where they can fight for some supremacy amongst the other children, they are taken underwing by an older velikan, who uses them as a personal servant, infects them with various diseases to see what happens, and grooms them to be a lifelong asset. During their final growth spurt, which functions similar to other giantish final growth spurts, they are tested continually with new infections and toxins, distorted beyond recognition. After this, they are an adult. If they never have a final growth spurt, they resort to cannibalism or disease to trigger it, or they are killed, rotted, and eaten.

As adults, velikans usually begin to rebel and attempt to break free of their masters. Most fail and remain in servitude, but some succeed and takeover either a ranch or a whole community.

Velikans have their own special celebrations for themselves. Lords celebrate milestones in their own lives and anniversaries of great events by feasting in front of their servants and bringing in new infections. Major celebrations include their birthday, the anniversary of their taking control of the ranch/community, the anniversary of contracting their favorite disease, and the anniversary of their reaching adulthood. When they die, a conflict ensues for control of the ranch/community. Rivals usually kill, rot, and eat each other.

Velikan lords do not court, but coerce their serfs into coupling. Children of lords are rarely kept or honored except in the later life of the lord, if they want to try to groom their successor. Courtship among serfs is different, focused on matching diseases, and usually involves trading food and courting in secret. It is largely based on physical attraction and useful alliances.

The homes of velikans are usually made of a collection of hollowed out giant toadstools. Each toadstool is a different room or small set of rooms, usually including bedrooms, kitchens, outhouses, dining areas, crafts rooms, disease beds, storage space, punishment areas, and a pantry. The stench in velikan communities is enough to drive most non-locals away.

Velikans who escape the feudal system usually live as mercenaries, fell esotericists, or beggars.

Ysbaddaden

The crops and livestock of ysbadaddens are large versions of wheat, barley, rapeseed, and potatoes, sheep, goats, and cattle. They are known for their improbably anatomied plants and animals. It does not matter what their crops need; ysbadaddens work the land, and it improbably alters to their will. They create fields and farms of impossible qualities - rooms bigger on the inside than the outside, impossible weather, water flowing uphill, paths that go places that couldn't, etc. They often have castles at the heart of their farms that are nearly impossible to reach.

Ysbaddadens are beings whose bodies have impossible possibilities. They are resistant to many diseases, though the common cold will kill them. They practice the art of bwyta, which is their version of nimusti. Though they are born with flesh, skin, and hair, they commonly remove these through bwyta. Commonly, they choose to remove their hair and skin if they are leaders. Others choose supernatural beauty. Ysbadaddens have the power to fashion poisons out of their own blood and spit (though it is not poisonous unless they cause it to be). They gain power from acts of violence against those that support them, making them volatile and dangerous.

Ysbadaddens live in a violent, tyrannical feudal society. Their leaders, bencawrs, are the largest, most ruthless among them. Often, in their families, there will be one ysbadadden who is not violent, who becomes the scapegoat for the rest of the family, called a bwch dihangol.

Ysbadadden children are raised by the bwch dihangol. When they come to the attention of the bencawr, they are taken into service to work the fields, serve in the castle, or perform other menial labors. If they survive to 15 or 16, they usually hit their last growth spurt. At this time, they are pressed either into military or sexual service, unless they are a bwch dihangol. Bwch dihangols are released to work in the community. After five years in the military or sexual service, ysbadaddens are given the chance to earn their freedom and choose their own path. How well they do in these trials determines their role in the community. The best become bencawrs, the worst become slaves.

All feasts and festivals in an ysbadadden community revolve around the bencawr, and they vary from community to community. Powerful ysbadaddens do not court but simply take a partner. Bwch dihangol have complex, beautiful courting rituals involving gifts, singing, special trips, and specific kinds of poetry.