Keþíans

The keþíans¹ are a predominantly human tribe that rules the kingdom of Keþía in eastern Gráhúlysía. Although found throughout the kingdom, their traditional territory is located around the capital of Lanra and Skorda Lake in the western part of the Lakú Mountains.

Society

Keþíans are ruled by a king or keþirax, whose lineage goes back to Keþírus, the núrakic explorer who founded the kingdom. Their society is divided into three classes; perbúrs² (nobles), zirks³ (commoners) and kleps⁴ (mages).

Culture

Apparel

While monarch and more conservative nobles still wear the kind of clothing Keþírus introduced -heavily inspired by núrakic fashion-, commoners and mages generally wear more traditional clothes, consisting of a woolen short-sleeved tunic worn over a longer-sleeved one, a cloak, wide trousers and sheepskin boots or shoes. Green, white and black colours are favored.
Long beards are common for all men, and women generally wear their hair long, often braided. Dyeing the hair blue using woad, while still uncommon, has slowly been gaining popularity among keþíans, especially warriors.

Language

Keþíans speak a number of closely related dialects collectively known as keþic⁵, which forms the western branch of the brakic⁶ language family along with ótanic⁷, language of the ótani in the western Wild Mountains.
Many of these dialects contain a few words derived from núrakic tongue, introduced by Keþírus, though the royalty and mages also use a ceremonial language called adral , which closely resembles the dialect of núrakic that Keþírus spoke in the fourth century a.Paþ.
Written adral is more divergent, as the letters have been modified over the centuries to the point that a modern núrakic elf would not be able to recognize them at all.

Religion

Deities

Bryk

A deity whose worship long predates the kingdom, primarily a moon god but also associated with magic, shepherding, cheese-making, weaving. He's especially venerated by mages.

Jorgó

A chtonic god associated with healing, usually depicted as a man with a serpent's tail for legs. Jorgó is a syncretic deity, combining elements of Svahirkes, divine serpent of the Núrakic Elves with native traditions, and is mostly worshipped by nobles.

Nirsa

A goddess associated with bears, usually depicted as a woman whose body is painted with ochre and wearing a bear hide. Her worship dates back to the ancestors of dwarven Halinkazíans, who settled in the Lakú Mountains before migrating further west.
Nirsa's sanctuary is a stone circle erected by said dwarves, where her statuette is usually located, except when its paraded throughout the kingdom every three years to bless the fields and livestock.

Sabaz

A sun god combining elements of the núrakic god Basmos and local sun deities. Keþíans believe that Sabaz created the sun along with golden wings in his forge to carry it across the sky, and while he was away, mortals stole some embers from the forge and used them to light their own fires.
A shrine dedicated to the god is located in Lanra, inside which is a fire that has been tended to for centuries.

Siskía

Goddess of the wild, associated with hunting and certain mountain peaks. Hunters, especially when hunting deer, offer libations and prayers to her before and after the hunt to avoid misfortune. She's often depicted accompanied by zartaðas⁸, eleven winged nymphs, each of whom is associated with a certain bird species found in Lakú Mountains.