Skrig

The Northern islands hold a vastness of mystery and wealth, though few venture there other than some traders and adventurers. Among those islands, the Whips, there live a peculiar people which may not seem peculiar to themselves, but they are so different in shape and look to all other humans in the world of Sanctuary that many believe they are from another world entirely.

The Skrig are tall and lean, pale skinned as white as the moon, and like the moon they are virtually never seen without the shroud of darkness wrapped around them, great robes of black and brown which cover all but their faces. The Skrig are never known to speak or utter any kind of sound, with etching a very special system of runes being their only form of communication among themselves and when communicating with traders.

The other people groups of Sanctuary would most likely ignore the Skrig entirely, if it weren't for their monopoly on the finest and most widely used consumable product: Cloven, a small round green or brown plant bud which when dried and crushed is burned and smoked in crank-pipes by men and women across Sanctuary. The plants are grown within sprawling hilly fields of the freezing northern islands. The temperatures required to grow Cloven are so low that no other place in the world can facilitate its production. As the Skrig have control of the Northern Isles in their entirety, they alone can produce and export Cloven.

Naming Traditions

Feminine names

No Skrig females have been observed by outsiders and therefore no feminine names have been determined by traders or travelers, though they are eluded to by some runes as those who work the homesteads.

Masculine names

Many of the masculine names, which the Skrig have worked out with the rune system they utilize in their communications with traders from across Sanctuary, contain gutteral 'k' and 'h' sounds. Only a single name seems to be used for a very large group of the males, those working the trading posts along the coasts, referring to themselves as Rha-lihk. It would be terribly confusing for most outsiders, but no actual sound is really passed between them. In the place of a verbal language the Skrig utilize a very deep and complex system of runes scratched out on sheets of leather paper with a specialized tool.

Family names

Unknown

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

The entirety of the Skrig, so far as can be observed, use white leather paper and a small metal tool to scratch out lines of runes for communication.

Culture and cultural heritage

The Skrig are silent and serene. As far as can be seen, the Skrig are an agrarian culture. They tend their fields and grow their crops and, presumably, raise their families.

Shared customary codes and values

From an outsider's perspective, it is very hard to tell what the values and codes of the Skrig may be. What is known, is that they love anything shiny. Gold and silver and gems are their favorite, but they will almost just as easily trade the same amount of goods for a well-polished spoon or rock.

Average technological level

For some reason, the Skrig seem to do everything by hand and body. No beasts of burden or tools of any kind are used in their fields or in the transportation of goods. It is suitible then that the only product they export is so light that a tavern-sized bundle of it would weigh little more than a single plank of wood.

Common Etiquette rules

The Skrig do not seem to be physical in either aggression or affection, either with themselves or with others. A trader who once would do no business without a firm shared touch of the wrists was gravely disappointed when no such etiquette was given him.

Common Dress code

Dark brown and black robes with large hoods. Pale leather sandals and small leather pouches bound around their chests. Nothing more, nothing less.

Art & Architecture

Art: If the Skrig engage in any form of art, it is yet unknown to the world around them.

Architecture: Small stone huts with flat wooden rooves seem to make up the majority of coastal outposts, while some adventurers who have been honored enough to see the further northern habitats, have described them as massively tall, honeycombed structures of some unknown material.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

Customs: The Skrig seem to go out of their way to avoid physical contact with any and all other Skrig and outsiders.

Traditions: No traditions or festivals have been observed, save one. When all the moons are full-faced in their rotation above, the Skrig will bow in reverance for the entire night. Not moving a muscle, even to the point of dying. The next day they are back up at the first light, never uttering a sound, slowly dragging off some of their fellows who may have died in the night. When asked about those dead, they are referred to by a rune resembling a blood-drop. They are a sacrifice. To what or for why are both questions they do not hesitate to ignore completely.

Funerary and Memorial customs

The Skrig have been observed of directly piling up and burning their dead on the day following a Full-faced Moon night. No one could say if this is the usual funerary habit of the Skrig or a special tradition enacted only during this traditional rite.

Common Taboos

Physical contact

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

The Skrig do not seem to care much about their looks. Their bodies are tightly bound with dark robes year-round with only their noses and mouths peaking out from there perpetual hoods.

Gender Ideals

Men work the fields and trading routes, while the women seem to be hidden away further north in their homes. No outsider has been allowed enterance to the furthest reaches of the north and nothing is known of the female Skrig.

Relationship Ideals

The Skrig do not seem to regard themselves in any measure of class or other social structure. Each Skrig does its duty for the day and very rarely interacts with any other Skrig other than by way of pale learther notes.