Litou

"I have to say, it's very strange not seeing you in black, Claus." Ray grinned as the Magistrate stepped out of the changing room, wearing bleached-white shorts. "The sun is blinding off of your upper body."
"Very funny. Where's the raft?" It hadn't even been on Claus's mind to visit the foothills, but Ray had spotted an advertisement for rapids rafting in a journal she had picked up in Patino, and now they were both standing awkwardly in their bathing suits, the roar of the river just to the side. He had been an avid swimmer as a child, but the waters of Lake Sonnemoor were placid and unthreatening; the Inix here was furious, crashing over rocks and charging through the narrows with a speed he more associated with power-wagons than water.
Ray noticed his gaze. "Second thoughts? From my oh-so-brave Magister willing to jump into the fray with his metal stick?" The marshal stepped forward, putting her head just under his face with a coy look. "And here I thought you were an exemplar of the brave knight-errant, willing to challenge the world for your ideals."
Claus sighed, poking Ray in the forehead. "There's ideals, and then there's nonsense. But I think our guide is here." Two women were pushing a wooden raft from the boathouse behind them, heavy logs tied together with leather straps, moving on a set of rollers. Two of the logs in the raft were hollowed out, evidently where the rafters would sit, with two sets of oars mounted on locks next to the seats. With a grunt, the guides pushed the raft into the water. 
The closer one put a hand in the water, then turned and called out. "River's on it's way up, we need to get moving soon before he shows his teeth." She motioned for the two to hop into the raft. 
"There is no possible way a raft like that can be controllable through the rapids." Upon closer inspection of the watercraft, Claus felt some of the blood draining from his face. "We're just going to get smashed into the rocks with that thing."
The woman laughed. "Out in the rest of Etoile, Magistrate, you would be a master of the world around you, but here you seem no braver than a Litou girl hopping in the river for the first time. Come now! We've done this before, and you won't earn a carving if you can't get your feet wet."
Ray was already in the raft, giving the oar an exploratory twist. "Claus, if you don't get in the raft, I'm going to tell your mother about how you're afraid of water and terrified of drowning."
The magistrate stepped onto the raft, sitting heavily into the indicated seat. "If we drown here, this is your fault, Ray."
The Litou woman sighed. "Everyone is responsible for their own fates, Magistrate. But ours won't be to drown today." The two guides were already in position in the raft and pushed off from the ramp, with only the roaring river ahead. "Let's see what Father Inix has in store for us today!"

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

If the Litou had their own language in the past, it is in the realm of pre-history, with no memory of extant speakers and no written works. In the petty kingdom era, they spoke a variant of the common Saibh trading language, a pidgin amalgamation of the dominant languages along the northwestern shore of the continent. In the unified era, all Litou speak and write standard Etoilean.

Culture and cultural heritage

The Litou maintain a fairly unique cultural artifact - a massive collection of 'family' carvings. While not every Litou person is a woodcarver, all are asked to carve at least one 'thing' to represent them at some point in their lives. These carvings are stored in a communal repository that represents a massive family tree - any Litou person can trace their ancestral lineage through a series of carvings made by their parents, grandparents, and so forth, stretching back over hundreds of years of generations, though they may not be able to interpret any of the markings on the sculptures themselves. This repository is recognized by the Principality as a uniquely valuable cultural relic, and the old longhouse where these carvings were stored was recently rebuilt at the behest of The Academy of Etoile as a working museum and catalog, for safe storage.
This aspect of Litou culture has also inadvertently created another ritual - when a Litou person wants to permanently divorce themselves from Litou society (as has happened multiple times in the recent past, with younger folks simply wanting to 'be Etoilean'), they make their family carving and publicly destroy it, a visible renunciation of their old society.

Shared customary codes and values

The Litou are a small community situated in the foothills of the Inix River, just above the Inix Floodplains, though still considered in the District of Patino, the Machine City. Though part of the Principality, the Litou have historically kept to themselves, maintaining a distance from the agrarian culture that has farmed the neighboring floodplains for hundreds of years.
In the past, the Litou were fishers and hunters, selling leather and woodwork crafts to passing traders. The principal cultural value is that of self-sufficiency; the Litou have never requested assistance and are stereotyped as standoff-ish and wary of outsiders, and especially suspicious of what they would consider 'indolence' - the idea that someone could maintain a livelihood simply by sitting and waiting for crops to grow (or, in the modern context, the idea that you could support yourself without strenuous physical effort). The work itself, the traipsing about the hills hunting game, the spending of hours carving and carefully lathing wood art; the effort itself creates value, as opposed to the result. 
In the modern era, this specific concept of value is hopelessly retrograde in the face of ever-advancing Progress. Most Litou have migrated to Patino due to the huge demand for workers in the Lower Ward manufactories, and the Litou that remain on their lands manage a white-water rafting tourism trade, having somewhat assimilated into what could be considered 'standard' Etoilean culture.

Average technological level

The rapids of the Inix river in the upper foothills are hazardous and incompatible with large scale Power generation; the closest power recharge wheel for Power-Wagons is in the floodplains, well out of the foothills proper. Litou villages, historically rather simple wooden construction in the hills and prone to inadvertent fires, have instead been rebuilt to modern Etoilean standard, establishing running water and sewage disposal.

Art & Architecture

Litou crafts are well known for their brutal simplicity, compared to the current trends in Principality of Etoile sculpture and artwork. A modern wood carving of a tree made by an artisan of the Etoile Capital City would feature obsessively intricate detail work across all the inlays, with even individual leaves highlighted to display skill of craft. In contrast, a similar carving by a Litou craftsman would be heavily abstracted, with only the barest hint of leaves and sometimes only a vague resemblance to a tree itself. This is not to say the carving is of low quality; instead, Litou artwork is focused on presenting a conceptual idea of the subject matter at hand. 
Abstract art styles have existed at the fringe of The Academy of Etoile as well, but there, the abstraction serves a pretense of provoking thought and reflection on the nature of what's being presented, with a focus on being open to interpretation. Litou artwork is more blunt in its effect, typically leaving very little room for alternate interpretations.

Common Taboos

A historical taboo has existed with the Litou that prohibits them from farming, or, in their words, being 'indolent'. Litou culture gathered, fished, and hunted, trading for crops rather than growing them. This is only historical; such a taboo in the modern era of Progress is seen as laughable.

Related Locations

• Inix Floodplains