Maičihan

The Maičihan people live in the Swamp of Illusions in Močavi, backed against the Cloudlocked Mountain Range on the border between Močavi and Nilurra. The swamp that all but the bravest merchants and travelers avoid is full of poisonous plants and animals with many beasts skilled in the ways of illusory magic. This environment has led the Maičican people to become masters in the art of poisons and illusions.
However, such skills have given them a fearful image in the eyes of others. To the people of Močavi, the Maičihans are dangerous, deceptive people that will take your life and everything you own if you cross them. Maičihans who travel to the cities are avoided like the plague and some guards may even bar them from entry, saying that they are "a threat to the safety of the people."
Thus, the Maičihan people remain secluded in the swamps, hidden away from the eyes of others. To those that take the chance to interact with them they are kind, but to those who a rude and try to threaten them or take what is their's they respond in kind.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

The Maičihans speak Čirolan, a sister language to the official language of Močavi, Cirčillian. Speakers of the two languages are able to communicate somewhat because the languages share many cognates, however, it is only reliable in some basic conversations.

Common Dress code

Everyday Wear

Living in a swamp means lots of mosquitos and other bugs. To protect themselves, the Maičihan people generally wear clothes that cover as much skin as possible. Ponchos coated with a waxy substance from native plants are worn to protect against the frequent rains. Most of the cloathing is dull in color, whether its brown, grey, or black very few colors are worn except for accessories.

Accessories

Braided threads and ropes are incorporated into their dress whether it be tying up the hair, looped around the waist, or hanging like tassels from a poncho. These accessories are usually vibrant in color, adding a bit of life to their drab clothes. Jewelry made with illusorite are common and the amount of illusorite someone wears usually denotes their status.

Ceremonial Wear

Unlike their everyday clothes, ceremonial garb is dyed scarlet and purple and embroidered to resemble the scales of the Jacarandole. The clothes are generally more elaborate with tassels and embroidery.

Gender Differences

There aren't many differences between the clothes worn by men and women. There aren't too many styles of clothing and which one someone wears usually chalks up to personal preference.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

Worship of the Jacarandole

Twice a year, the Maičihan people will gather together to thank the Jacarandole for looking after them and protecting them. During this ceremony, the Elder of the Maičihans will wear a mask and poncho in the likeness of the Jacarandole. They will honor those children or deceased who have gone to serve the beast and put on a magnificent array of illusions that cover the entire swamp.

Coming of Age Rites

Maze of Illusions

When a Maičihan child reaches the age of 10 they are made to walk a maze composed of illusions that spans across the Swamp of Illusions. To pass the trial, they must either break their way out of illusion using magic their own abilities in photomancy, their perception, or manage to have enough luck to stumble across the exit.

Dangers

Each maze is different and part of the luck is being put into a maze that is easily broken or simple enough to find the exit. However, even those lucky easy mazes can be dangerous. The mazes don't keep anything from entering them, thus, many dangerous beasts can be trapped in the illusion with the child. Another danger is stumbling across poisonous organisms without realizing it. Before they enter the maze, parents warn their children repeatedly not to eat anything as a small fish could turn out to be a poisonous toad, or a tuille berry could be the deadly badippali berry under the illusion effects.

Outcomes

Unfortunately there are many children who do not manage to pass the trial, falling prey to a beast, becoming ill from eating something, or getting lost, never to be found again. Those that pass are considered to be adults and are taught poison making, while those that die or are lost are said to become the servants of the Jacarandole.

Common Taboos

Because the Jacarandole is considered a deity by the Maičihans, it is a great taboo to kill one and anyone who does will be hunted down and made to take a most torturous poison before being burned. If a Jacarandole attacks someone, it is considered to be an honor as they believe that it has chosen them to serve under it.

Common Myths and Legends

The Jacarandole

The Jacarandole is a species that lives within the Swamp of Illusions that has an innate control over photomancy and melanomancy and is thus a master of creating illusions. The Maičihan people believe consider there to be only one Jacarandole and take it to be the deity of the swamp, living in the Cloudlocked Mountain Range. They believe that the Jacarandole has the power to turn illusion into reality and create worlds from nothing.

Within each gem a drop from the ocean of the Jacarandole's power. A myriad of worlds, fragmented throughout a crystal, twinkling in the sunlight as they wait to be unleashed in ours.

Illusorite

First discovered by the Maičihan people in the Cloudlocked mountains, they believe the mineral to be the shed scales of the Jacarandole given its ability to amplify photomancy magics. Treating it as a sacred item, they mainly use the gem in ceremonies but also wear small amounts of it as jewelry which tends to denot senoirity.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

Males

Young men braid their hair into many small braids and tie it into a high ponytail. Elderly men let their hair and beard grow out and tie it all together in the front to resemble the mane of the Jacarandole.

Females

Young women braid their hair into small braids, putting them into double buns while older women put it into a bun on the top of their head. Elderly women will put their hair into one large braid.

Relationship Ideals

The Maičihans believe that their partner should be someone whose abilities complement their own. Because they live spread about the swamp, it may take a trek to visit someone else in order to get the things they need. Therefore, family units try to be well-rounded: if one partner is good with their hands, then the other need to be good at hunting; if one is capable of using illusions to keep predators away from the home, the other must be able to protect them if it fails. A union of two people who a both good at hunting but do not know how to make clothes or fix what is broken is seen as a failure and the couple will be looked down upon.

Major organizations

Močavi

The Maičihans live in Močavi, however, the government does not treat them as citizens, letting them do whatever they like in the swamp so long as they do not cause any trouble with the other citizens. When the government learned of the Maičihans' discovery of illusorite and the mineral's abilities, they set up a mining operation on the outskirts of the Cloudlocked Mountain Range despite the anger of the Maičihan people.

Tensions between the Močavi government and the Maičihan people have risen due to disputes over the matter and along with their relations with some illicit groups, the government has begun to view them as criminals.

Ezimjena

Unbeknownst to the Maičihan people, some of the people they trade with are members of illicit organizations. The most notable being the Ezimjena , a sex trafficking organization. The organization buys poisons and information about the location of Eziloréa from them.