Capitol: Eluan
Insignia:
"Duty, honor, and the crown."
Political Workings:
Before the Great War, Hesgmarde was a monarchy with a council of (primarily) gifteds to approve/disapprove laws presented by the royal family. After the Great War, the political system started to crumble. Now the monarchy exists with a council of wizards bringing with it religious and political authority. Power has shifted to the point of the council itself proposing laws as well as approving/disapproving laws, leaving the king's power to fade to that of a mere figurehead. Tensions have arisen with each new monarch as power continues to strain and shift. Because the king still has the highest level of control over the military, the council must still work to circumvent his will.
Landscape:
The land is series of wave-washed stone tiles and slabs crisscrossed with trinkling water branching through the streets to the Lithe Sea. Much the place is designed with mosaics, stained glass, and murals as the people embrace the stony clefs and rocky waters in which they live. There's a good deal of overgrowth around the towns, routinely cleaned and trimmed by the townbirds.
It is predominately humid and hot throughout the year.
The stable food is beans which grow in the swampy fields between towns.
Values, Traditions and Beliefs:
Hesgmarde deeply values feats of courage and it is a highly ritualistic status-based culture in which every motion and phrase is symbolic.
~Leather cord: All warriors are expected to wear their hair long, pulled up by the leather cord they received at their coming of age ceremony. It is irreplaceable, losing the cord is a sign of dishonor, but replacing it is even more dishonorable for its dishonesty. Someone who's caught having replaced their cord could easily become a social outcast. The cord symbolizes the soul of that warrior, their courage and loyalty.
Wearing hair in a high ponytail is preparation for battle or wartime. Wearing it low is a slightly new trend usually for those who are not primarily warriors but are capable in time of need. Cutting hair is a sign of mourning, dishonor or an unfulfilled pledge.
~Bows: Every greeting is initiated with a ceremonial bow in which a person brings their hand open-palmed to their chest. This is a pledge of goodwill. A pledge of (absolute) loyalty - typically in gratitude and/or to replay a debt - is initiated by a bow with a closed-fist. A pledge of love is initiated by a bow, close-fist, with the index and middle fingers out, close together.
Greetings: Accompanying a ceremonial bow is a status-based greeting:
Nobility: "Long life to you and your kin." [Response] "And may wisdom come with age."
Commoners: "[Name], at your service." [Response] "Yours and your kin."
Someone of a lower status cannot greet someone of a higher status unless that person greets them first. Someone of a higher status is not required by social politeness to give any formal response, any person of a higher status can - and is encouraged to - skip pleasantries with someone of a slower status. Politically, if someone is of a similar status or equal status to not give the proper formal response would be a subtle slap in the face and could easily cause a war (however it usually just ends in a dual).
Political progressively, if someone of a higher status gives the formal response to someone of a lower status it is viewed as a subtle defiance to the entire social structure of Hesgmarde: the wider the status-difference the greater the infraction. This could easily put one in huge political danger and fuel accusations of treason.
~Gemstones: Different gemstones have different, romantic meanings. In Hesgmarde flowers do not have any romantic implications (although they are often exchanged platonically, esp to signal to a person that you wish to become friends or wish to deepen an acquaintance). Lovers exchange symolic gifts which hold gemstones to begin courtship. Most common (to the point of being an empty stereotype like chocolates and promises you don't intend to keep) is for the man to provide an ornamental knife or shield embedded with a gemstone to symbolize their promise to protect and defend the woman, while the woman provides and ornate place or shovel symbolizing her promise to support and defend him and to manage the home in his absence.
However, many couples personalize their gifts to more deeply and more accurately reflect the (pragmatic) expressions of love and support they intend to provide and the role they mean to fulfil. Gems are expected to be as expensive as the household can afford to symbolize their investment in the relationship.
Festivals & Ceremonial Events:
~Draekon Hunts: Draekons are a nuisance animal in Hesgmarde, strongly associated with the water and most likely to appear during draughts. They are raging beasts but are content to hide under the waterbeds as long as they have enough room. Due to the dangers of these creatures in cities and towns, it's traditional to go on draekon hunts every five months and due to the high social pressures to become strong warriors, at the age of fourteen most children recieve their coming of age rite by working together to kill the strongest draekon in the Lithe Sea that year.
Despite the high fatality rate of the ritual, most parents pressure their boys and allow any interested girls to participate because it is necessary to be considered a warrior. There are only two professions that are status-blind allowing both nobility and non-nobility to access higher hospitality, payment and job security based off individual merit rather than birth and these professions are: warrior and bard.
~Water Charming Festival: Nixies and other water-creatures generally find music soothing. Nixies will relax their grip on the sea, rivers and bodies of water and/or provide marine foods, or sea riches to the bard who can sooth them with a beautiful song. But it is a dangerous profession because if they hit a sour note or fail to enchant the nixies in any way with their voice, these creatures will eat them alive. It is uncertain whether nixies are sentient or not, but they have healing properties to those they choose to lend those skills to. Their presence can sooth trauma and recover lost memories over time.
Immediately following the year's harvest, the water charming festival begins, where skilled bards gather through the town playing with all their skill as people and nixies dance. Markets are open and the entire city is out buying and celebrating. Occasionally, the traveling striders or the carnival will pass through, continuing the celebration in Hesgmarde. Food and entertainment is provided by nobility and the festival lasts two to three weeks.
~Funerals: It is traditional to burn the deceased with their weapons and to hire a bard to provide a penchant of mourning for the attendance to chant in echoing resonance. Then the ashes are scattered across the sea but the charred bones are buried in a place of honor.
~Weddings: Takes place in the home the couple intends to live in. Gemstone gifts are exchanged again, with vows. (Look I was romantic with the gemstones I got nothing for the wedding XD)
~Traditional dance Elogio de la feminidad: There is theater-dance performed only by women which relies on telling a story through emotive dance, musical accompaniment and stage movement. There is no speaking throughout the play unless it is a lyrical song (however this is progressive and generally frowned on). Men are not allowed to perform this dance and women will dress for any role that requires a male lead.
Women who perform as men have speaking lines but only in song.
Eventually the traditional dance expanded to allow for men but they could only have speaking roles and couldn't perform dance. Women could have only emotive dance until the man could guess what story she's telling, then she could sing. The man could only dance if the woman takes his hand and leads.
This artform is famous for exploring difference of genders and expression in relationships, identity and usually female-oriented issues and controversies. It is known for relying on platonic relationships of all kinds, allowing men and women to complement each other in performance without any form of romance.
Sometimes characters break gendered roles in an artistic manner to illustrate some form of deviation or taking on of the opposite gender's role in necessity. For instance, a young girl may perform song to illustrate her own agency if no father or male lead is there to support her in the story. Or in other cases to indicate a deepening of connection and empathy. For instance, a rejected male lead may begin an interpretive dance rather than a soliloquy to express his grief. A character may assume the opposite gender's role to indicate isolation from their own sense of identity.
Natural Resources/Technology
Hesgmarde is the home of new wonders being shipped from the North, brilliant fabrics, dyes and music. Their weapons are of the most advanced in the Twelve Kingdoms of Casumbra, including the barbed-sword, acid-fire, the claw-staff -dual-edged and single-edged and more.
Materials needed for this technology is primarily imported from the North and from resources in the Sioan Forest.
Food
Mashed beans on toast with a cheese sauce on top is a popular breakfast meal
Beans are the staple food and mashed beans with melted cheese is the most common side dish.
Draekon porridge is served after a big hunt; it's a spicy meal of chopped draekon meat, peppers, sausage, and lots of beans.
Cheese puto - kakanin (rice cake)
Spicy torta - beefy omelet with diced potatoes and carrots mixed with egg batter and panfried.
Monggo guisado - thick, umami-packed bean stew made from mung beans.
Taisan - incredibly soft and fluffy cake smeared with butter and topped with grated cheese and sugar.
Sago drink is like Filipino boba?
Salabat - sweetened ginger tea good for sore throat
Iskrambol,” or “ice scramble,” is a street food made from powdered milk, shaved ice, pink food coloring.
Coconut macaroons are a classic confection made from sweetened condensed milk, eggs, and desiccated coconut. Is a nutty, sweet and chewy cupcake.
White bean and chorizo chilli
Draekon tostada - toasted tortellini
Fashion
The fashion is colorful and fluttery both more men and women alike. Cascading dresses and layered, shimmering coats are the fashion despite the great heat and impracticality or perhaps because of this making it a matter of pride and prestige. To address the layered nature of the garments in style, designers use very light, semi-transparent fabrics that provide an almost misty, glimmering form accentuated by stiff, opaque fabrics which are typically black or dark colors.
Writing
Hesgmardean script is written in a spiral starting from the center of the page as a general rule. Writing is a complex art and since reading is also made more complex by this standard, only nobility are literate. A particular style of poetry known to Hesgmarde is the expresión del retrato which designs a poem which is drawn in a shape other than the traditional spiral. This can be an object or design which adds thematic layers visually to the written text.
Terms:
Gifteds: Old term for people born with special powers, has religious connotations via traditional association with the word and a gifted's believed purpose to protect and guide other humans as heroes and leaders.
Nixies: A subclass of waterfae that live in and control bodies of water, are soothed by music and capable of healing or soothing mental illnesses.
Townbird: A poor bard, apprentice bard or even a child learning to become a bard who's entrusted with the task of cleaning the town of mud, foliage and murky waters. They use their voice to charm nixies into cleaning their respective bodies of water and clean away foliage for the waterfae. It is worth noting that nixies do not punish children for singing offkey although they do not comply with anything unless soothed properly.
Wizards: Individuals who draw on magical powers very separate from gifted-powers as they are not natural or inborn. Causes fissures in the natural world.
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