Baten (BAIT en)

Citizens of Bates

The Baten have lived in their small coastal region where the Ireskanest Sea meets the lowlands of the Crystal Peak. Their home city, Bates, was founded by the Capedians as Old Capedo attempted to expand south beyond Novyum. The Baten take pride in their origins, with many local myths and legends sprouting from this ancient past. While nearly every family, poorest to wealthiest, claim with pride to be genetically Capedian, scholastic evidence would show most modern Baten to be closer to Lakortha stock. When the Republic of Lakorth took the Ireskanest Sea they famously settled in the villagers and built a massive fortress port.

Despite being a port town, the Baten are not a seafaring culture. The old ruins remain, and some fishing is done along the coast out, but the people of Bates have little interest in that life, or the busy shipping lanes to the west. They are, by and far, a farming community. These privately owned farms, tend to be small, broken up by the rolling hills that lead into the mountains, but they can sustain themselves just fine. About a third of the male population works in mines south of the city, mining coal with the Dwarf of the mountains.

Though a land road exists north out of their region it is rarely traveled by any. Most contect with the outside world is done via ship and merchants. The Baten are happy with this. They are very aware of the Novyum Civil War, even seeing navel battles sometimes in the distance, but keep away from such matters. They do not ask which nations lands at their dock for trade; they only ask that peace is maintained on their shores. There is a movement among the youth of Bates, however, that is bringing a longing to them to explore the world beyond their lands. This has troubled the older generations, who try to discourage this sense of adventure. But as a free loving people, they do not stop any wishing to leave or return.

Marriage among the Baten is a grand celebrated affair. They entire town comes out for these weddings. All weddings take place in the old Lakortha fort. The wealthy hold weeklong events. Much of the expenses come down to decorations and event planning as the attendees are expected to bring food to share with all. Even the poorest citizens, who's event many only last a few hours, are celebrated with lavished banquets provided by all. This has led to some lower-class families to have more children and arrange more marriages. The more wedding throughout the year, the more food is passed around to all.

Baten, especially among the wealth, are able to choose their own spouses. This has led to a culture of less 'courting' and more 'dating'. Youth of the region will spend time with several potential mates of a similar age through their teen years. Traditionally it is expected that these teens settle down and marriage in their early twenties, though this age range has extended into the late twenties, as more youths find their independence appealing.

Land owning families live together as a group. Married women coming to live with their husband's family. The larger estates have multiple buildings for some privacy and space. The land and estates are 'owned' by the family as opposed to an individual member. The elder male usually defaults as the head of the family, though exception exist.

Batens have a typical look for Normon. They keep their near universally blonde or sandy blonde hair long and loose around their head. Eyes are often dark shades of brown or blue. Clothing is loose fitting for comfort, made of linen and wool.

Race: Human

Ethnicity: Normon

Homeland: Bates

Alignment: The people of Bates live an independent life far from the politics of the rest of Novyum, this gives them a tendency to favor neutral alignments.

Age: Batens have the average lifespan of humans, living to old age means between 80 to 100 years.

Size: (Medium) The Baten are average height for humans. Their women stand 5 to 5.6 feet tall, with men generally reaching 6 feet.

Language: Though largely disconnected with the people of the Heartlands, they use the Common Tongue as their primary like most of Novyum. They have a strong accent however, though easily understandable, their pronunciation of some letters leads to criticism from other cultures who see them as an ignorant people. This accent is largely based on their pronunciation of vowels being slightly different than traditional Common. They also seem to add 'H' sounds to word at the beginning of sentences that begin with vowels, and 'er' replaces vowels that end a word.