The Ciaran Commune

The Ciaran Commune is unique compared to other Adairian communes since this commune lies on the outskirts of Kaliq-Hala and unlike many other communes, this one has integrated with the Hilaeleans culture much more. This is evident in their more general acceptance of Hilaeleans as well as some of their cultural iconography shifting to have more Hilealean influence. A member of the Ciaran commune will tend to have tattoos done by Hilealeans, learn blood magic or even show the influence in their commune’s sigil containing icons derived from Hileal.

The Ciaran greatly value Ghri, the Adairan deity of the sun, light and fire, because of a previous Riah’s vision which contained Ghri speaking to them and saying that they represented more than just light, the forge, and blacksmithing. Ghri claimed to also be the deity of colors in this vision. This change would captivate the Ciaran’s beliefs to morph into a melding of the values of Ghri, Adair and Hilael into a single variant belief system. This change does have repercussions for the commune’s relations with everyone around. Adairians do not view them as a true member of their culture while Hileal views them as strange. Their core ideology and beliefs do continue to follow those of Adairian culture, they view Ghri as a greater deity than the rest.

Since the Ciaran are a subset of the Adair culture, many of Adair’s cultural practices are altered to fit the Ciaran’s beliefs. Notably, the Day of Deities is the Day of Ghri and the Ciaran do not celebrate the remaining 5 deities until the following day, since Ghri comes first. The Ciaran’s iteration of the infancy ritual is one of particular interest. As opposed to godly objects, 8 month old babies are to select a color and this color dictates their strongest means of praising Ghri and receiving their blessing. As opposed to the typical Adairian Coming of Age, the Ciaran use the Coming of Age ceremony to present the new adult with their first handcrafted blade to train with.

As mentioned, the Ciaran are not well liked by many Hilaeleans, Adairians and Astorians. With the amount of resentment and intolerance they confront, their continued occupation of a sector of Kaliq-Hala is notable. The Ciaran are highly skilled swordspeople. It is believed that the more you wear your affiliated infancy color, the greater level to which you receive Ghri’s blessing to be highly adept in sword combat. The Ciaran have fought for their occupied region through trial by combat and continue to defend their space today despite what little the impoverished commune has.

All of these cultural influences make Ciaran’s members very unique in appearance. They follow Ghri the way a Hilaelean might follow Deshret. Ciarans are always extremely colorful. They will have dyed hair, tattoos of vibrant colors, and brandish blades of sharp tones. All done simply to be closer to Ghri. Since Ghri is historically the patron of blacksmiths and weapon crafters, the Ciaran are heavily influenced by this as well. Many would venture to the Munir Metalworks in Tahwil but those that cannot make the journey and prepared to face some strange people will happily venture to the Ciaran in Kaliq-Hala for a blade of definite quality and uniqueness.