Tozzite (Ethnicity)

The Tozzite peninsula is an area of land much homogenized by ancient wars and intermixing. Most of its people are genetically, ethnically Tozzite, with the exception of the Pantanhi peoples in the northeast, who have been isolated for millennia behind a broad, hard band of mountains. They are detailed separately in the 'Pantanhi' entry. Some intermixing along the border regions is seen in some naming conventions and elsewhere. Earth analogs would be Persian Egypt and classical ancient India.

Naming Traditions

Feminine names

Arezu (longed for) , Astora (star), Bahar (spring season), Elaheh (like a goddess), Esta, Estir, Esther, Hester, Ister; (like a star), Fairuza, Firuzeh (triumphant woman), Gulbahar (spring rose), Jaleh (dew-touched), Jazmin (jasmine flower), Kohinoor (mountain diamond), Laleh (tulip flower), Mirian (blessed, magical, name of a major goddess). Mirza (nobleborn), Minu (paradise), Morvarid (pearlescent), Niluphar, Nenuphar (water lily), Noush, Nousha (kind-hearted, also a Kir-Vashti goddess), Parvana (Open sky, the heavens) Pirouze (attentive), Simina (made of silver), Zareena (made of gold)

Masculine names

Ashoram (Like Ashorat, the judge and king Arman (longing), Azer (flame; source of the name of the fire elemental creature) Bahadur (fighter), Cyrus (far-sighted), Darien (wealthy protector), Farzin (educated person), Gaspar (king of treasures), Jahangir (world-ruler Kavah (far-sighted), Kir (essence, spirit) ; Mahtab (moonlight), Naz (proud), Paiman (promise), Sargon (sun prince), Shahnaz (ruler's pride), Simin (Silver), Zaren (Gold) Xerxes, Zerxes (prince of heroes)

Unisex names

Dilshad (joyful), Gul (the rose flower), Nim (reknowned), Omid (hopeful), Roshan (the bright one)

Family names

Attar, Charmchi ('leatherworker'), Darzi ('tailor'), Hashemi, Karimi, Kumar (child prince), Raoh (kingly), Sharma (joy), Shirazi, Zamaan. (Strongly Persian, with Punjab influences)

Other names

Cities: Ctesiphar, Shakosh, Mentushab, Ain Goph, Telemanat

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Tozzites speak Aizhiri, a name given to their language and people in antiquity. It uses a flowery script and unusual syntax that includes both phonetic and symbolic elements; sentences are constructed of letters representing one, two, or three connected sounds - 64 in all - but written language often includes additional symbols known as 'determinatives' to either clarify the meaning of nouns or to make a commentary with additional meaning. You might say 'young, lovely woman' but in writing, only the word for woman is spelled out, with the determinative for swan or rabbit following the word to add cues. Likewise in a famous and popular song, mother-in-law is said but the determinative for donkey is added as an inside joke. These are non-verbalized as such and make the translation of speech a little more difficult, as the determinatives may be included or left out.
An intermediate written form of the language that doesn't use the determinatives and simplifies the dipthongs into an alphabet of 30 symbols is often used in business and mathematical texts for greater exactness.
On the streets of the major cities, many terms have been imported over the years from Khazigiri as well as Pantanhi, leading to a colorful patois full of interesting idioms.

Shared customary codes and values

Tozzite society is highly stratified and has a clear caste system, though the people themselves don't necessarily recognize or enforce this in any official way. Rather, their spiritual philosophy suggests that people who are abjectly poor, visibly diseased, or criminals, whether jailed or released, are somehow reaping the rewards (or curse) of the choices they - or their family - have made. The principle of "Amenat and Amentat" places the highest ruler in the land, the King/Queen or Jahangir/Jahangira, at the top of the pyramid with open demigod status, worthy of actual worship. Royal family are regarded as only infinitesimally less divine than the actual king. Below this level are the territorial Shapur/Shapura, equivalent to Dukes, and their families and advisors, and then the Mirza (same term for male and female), the equivalent of Barons. Rounding out the noble caste are the others of highborn birth, that is, granted noble status or having such status from earlier times.
Of a lower, but still highly respectable status, are the priestly classes, which are many - a high priest naturally enjoys more respect and benefits in society than a clerk or acolyte, and there is some overlap between lower priestly classes and upper merchant classes; a successful trader may be more highly regarded than a rural priestess, but importantly, the rank of the priestess bestows honor on her entire family, while the regard for the merchant applies only to him or her as an individual. Somewhere below priests but above craftsmen are the local militia and police, though many of these are of extended noble birth - the cousins and nieces and fifthborn children of Mirza or Shapur households - and as such enjoy even higher status.
Crafting tradespeople have a lower status than successful merchants, but a higher status than failed or unsuccessful ones; as such, traveling merchants are often viewed with disdain by local craftsmen as it would seem a good merchant would stay put if they were successful, and are only moving from place to place to get away from a lesser reputation in their home town. Educators of children and teachers at universities may have roughly the equivalent status as craftspeople, and professional soldiers not of the noble class are also of an equivalent prestige as the crafting tradespeople. Even new recruits have more status than the unskilled workers below this level.
The day labor class, workers who have limited skillsets of their own, are generally equivalent in caste ranking to the non-working mothers of children in craftsperson families. It should be noted that, while heterosexual relationships are the norm, even in homosexual relationships the female or male who is primarily responsible for children is regarded a little lower than the one working out of the home. Both are far above what is referred to as an itinerant, or travelling worker who follows crop harvests or herds; and an itinerant is massively more respectable than a slave - though rare, slavery for unpaid debts and as recompense for capital crimes is understood as a fact of life in Tozzite cities. Loss of personal freedom is not the same as loss of personhood, importantly; slavery is a punishment, but the slave is not considered property and as such, there is no slave trade or selling of slaves in Tozzite society. And a slave is orders of magnitude more prestigious than a beggar or criminal - begging being considered a crime. Prostitution, mostly ignored or even encouraged in the empire, is the lowest occupation in Toz, and prostitutes are thought of as the lowest form of criminal - male and female prostitutes and those who pay them for sex are subject to imprisonment and the confiscation of property, and as such often end up as work slaves, creating a subclass within the slave caste as well.
Beyond the relative ranking of prestige in the society, certain shared values among all Tozzites include respect for the social order that stems from it; people

Common Etiquette rules

Hospitality is a paramount virtue, even among the poorer classes, and even enemies can expect fair treatment from their host as long as the guest, in turn, is respectful and does not overstay their welcome. Social cues are very important, and one is expected to speak at the level of the caste to which one belongs, or to the one to which you are speaking, whichever is higher. One does not talk down to lower classes, nor use foul language with the priestly or noble classes, without causing a severe breach of etiquette. Likewise the language has a variety of forms for words depending on whether one is addressing a person in their own or a lower caste, which has more familiarity, or a higher caste, which has more formality. Breaches of etiquette are considered serious and family insults may be avenged twofold, by law.

Common Dress code

Tozzites value diaphanous, pure white clothing, dressing themselves like angels despite their lack of belief, as one famous Khazigiri author once pointed out. Bright colors and intricate designs are also favored, if pure white is not available; cleanliness is very much next to godliness and only a slave or worse would wear dirty clothes, though an exception is made for soldiers in the battlefield and aboard ship.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

The Tozzites are generally olive skinned, with red to yellow skin tones ranging from a golden cast to a red clay complexion. They tend to favor the extremes - the most dark, and the most light - rather than tones in between. Likewise they favor coal black, or snow white hair, very long, or very short; very plump, or very slender, though in this they do tend to prefer more curvy female figures and more lean male figures as the ideal in art. The climate across the continent is generally blazing hot and exceptionally dry due both to its geography and the warm currents of the triad sea surrounding most of the landmass, and as such, 'breezy', 'uncluttered' and 'diaphanous' modes of dress and soaring monolithic architectural details are idealized.

Gender Ideals

Both men and women are expected to be strong, clever, and morally upright; their strongly dualistic faith which divides everything into literally 'excellence' and 'garbage' provides a clearer moral compass, perhaps, than the complicated layers of Celestialism and its angels who provide little moral guidance and often seem less divine than mortals. By contrast the deities or 'Kir' of the Tozzites value the pursuit of Vashti ("excellence") over even the accomplishment of actual great things; fate may not allow you to build great temples and monuments but the striving for excellence is the most sacred purpose of a life. Genders are socially quite equal, though their mythologies and folktales are highly romanticized and tend to often feature male rescuers and females in distress; nevertheless the stories of Princess Noush saving the king, and the defeat of the Lich-King Haman Ghor by the cleverness of three handmaidens are both popular and believable, turning that trope around on its end for maximum effect. Literacy is highly valued and recognized as worthy for both genders.

Courtship Ideals

The chastity of young women is forever imperiled by the romanticized virility of the young men pursuing them. Usually the hand of the princess is given to the lad who overcomes through his pure heart and strong morals rather than his guile or his brute strength. Family is the purpose of marriage, and among people with any estate to speak of, it is nearly always arranged rather than based on anything so frivolous as the vague appetites of the heart. As such, the free pauper who can marry whom she or he pleases is also idealized, and an important myth is the story of the king who gave up his wealth and power to bickering relatives that come to ruin, while he finds earthly paradise with a pauper woman - importantly he is restored to power and his wife made queen at the end of the story, so living happily ever after in poverty is not necessarily enough.

Relationship Ideals

Loyalty is expected and betrayal is seen as a significant moral defect at direct odds with Vashti, though the folklore recognizes that a man or a woman may be unhappy with the choices made for them in an arranged marriage. In religious literature, families stay together and friends remain true, but in popular stories including songs and entertainments, the wronged party finds a clever way to accommodate their desires. Certainly in real life, divorce and domestic violence happens - otherwise the stories wouldn't be meaningful or necessary; but the ideal is clear; the hero is never a cheater or a backstabber. 
The worst occupation a person can pursue is not a thief or a murderer, but a prostitute; the philosophy behind this belief is that thieves and even murderers only take physical things, but prostitutes of both sexes steal the excellence from their own and their customers' souls. They are a corruption and a weakness in the eyes of society. Likewise, while sex before marriage is not a topic of polite discussion, it's not a point of particular ire; cheating on a spouse, however, has at times been a crime punishable by death for the married party or parties because of its perception as an insidious corruption of the family, the base unit of spirituality in Toz. Currently it is not considered criminal but is socially shunned, and will readily result in one's exile from all friends and potentially dropping to a lower social caste. 
Divorce, perhaps paradoxically, is not shunned at all, the thought being that if you must partake of the fruits of another person outside your own marriage bed, you should have the courage and willingness to part with your estate, publicly, first - and allow your remaining family to have dignity and a chance of remarrying. It carries a social stigma only if you were the party who decided to wander, but does not come with a loss of social status.

Major organizations

The Tozzite ethnicity is exemplified by the people of Toz, but is also the main ethnic background of the people of Zuahad and Amossa. Baar Zaal tends towards a mix of Pantanhi and Tozzite features and cultural touchpoints.