The Marble People

"While the Willow People stayed low in their swamps, and the Vine People were content in their fields, the Marble People raised themselves ever higher, and seemingly lived in defiance of the world around them. Perhaps that attitude made the future unavoidable."

The nation of Atalanta had three major people groups in the past, at least three that had some manner of record survive to the modern day. These were the Vine People who lived mostly in the fields and were quick to discover and incorporate agricultural farming, the Willow People, who remained hidden within the swamps and knew to utilize is hidden resources, and the Marble People. 
The Marble People are a bit of an odd group, as we know very little about them outside of how they acted after their prior civilization fell. From sparse records, it appears they lived among the coast and utilized stonework and aquatic architecture primarily, but rapidly rising tides and erosion seemed to have damaged their homes, leading many to fan out into the wider land of Atalanta, where they began to butt heads with the other two peoples, to imperial results.

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History

The Marble People, named for their use of stonework from the naturally forming clay and marble on the coast of Atalanta, was a pre-kingdom people group of Atalanta who had already disseminated among the primary people of Atalanta by 8000 PE. In the few records that have remained, there are a lot of holes when it comes to information about their society and functioning, but a general framework has been pieced together over the millennia.
They seemed to have flourished on the coast, making grand stone structures and settlements that stretched all along the coastline, the cliffs from the higher-elevation mountains to the north of the region, and nearby islands that could be traversed with early boats. They seemed to enjoy philosophizing, jewelry smithing, and fishing.
They fought among their own spread-out peoples for the purpose of presentation and honor among their stone records and frescos. It appears they remained mostly on the coastline, never venturing too far into Atalanta proper, save for the rare hunting trip. While their society spread all along every coastline, north to south, east to west, they remained bothered only with each other, no matter what.
Sometime around 9000 PE, before the Three Kingdom Alliance even began demarcating the Eras, it appears several years of rising tides spelled disaster for many of the Marble People's cities. While they were built skillfully and with powerful intent, they had not discovered a method to predict the rising waters in the future, and their use of stone above any other material made it difficult for them to relocate or adjust for the tides after the fact. A chaotic weather front that ravaged the Atalantan coast seemed to be the final straw for many of the Marble People, who abandoned their shores and cliffside with as many valuables as they could gather for the wide plains and swamps of Atalanta proper.
From there, they officially met the Vine People first and then the Willow People. Their wealth from the shore was markedly more valuable to the Willow People than the Vine People, but the Vine People did benefit from their greater understanding of construction and stonemasonry, which gave the Marble People a moderate foothold for either group, which it used to promote their ideologies and control over either of the peoples.
It wouldn't take long for the ambitious Marble People to become the ruling class of Atalanta a few generations down the line, as old customs of the Vine and Willow people would soon be outlawed, regulated, or discredited, and the three distinctions would be nearly eradicated from records, as an Atalantan ideal became more prevalent. 
While Modern Day Atalantans have no direct knowledge of the Marble Peoples' original intent and attitudes, the aristocratic nobles of the area enjoy claiming a noble and storied past in the Marble People who "civilized" and "educated" the other two people groups and eventually built a powerful nation for them to inherit.

Naming Traditions

Family names

The Marble People seemed to mostly use surnames as a sign of possession or to place Epithets. This is a trait shared with many who descended from Eldtongue speakers, such as Sphinxes and Merfolk. Other than that, most records of Marble People names tend to translate into common to mean singular words that could be interpreted to many qualities. For example, there are records of a leader whose name translates to Pearl but has been often described as Pearl the Shining, Pearl the Secluded, Pearl the Ocean-Born, and Pearl the Coveted.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

The Marble People spoke Eldtongue, an ancient language that seemed to spread most around coastal regions, or from powerful ancient creatures. The most common mortals who speak the language are Merfolk and Sea Elves, although many Aquatic Beastfolk also at least know the language.

Culture and cultural heritage

The main culturally inherited value of the Marble People is that of ownership. Territory, homes, epithets, fame, especially "lesser" people and cultures, to own is to control, to control is to have power, and to have power is to be divine in the eyes of the Marble People. If they will not listen, make them. If they will not serve, break them. If they refuse to become a part of your group willingly, then take them. That is the Marble path of conquest, and many higherups of Atalanta follow similar methods.

Shared customary codes and values

The Marble People valued prestation over all else, it seemed. Most discovered ruins of Marble People settlements show rock carvings, crafted ornaments, or entire wall murals of various personal victories or legends of particular houses and families. Very little is known of their worship stylings or interactions with the other people groups of Atalanta before they sought to control all, as they seemed to prioritize their own legends and existence before anyone else's, even the gods.

Average technological level

While it would be a stretch to call them advanced from a mortal understanding of the word, their skill with stonemasonry and their structures for the sake of presentation alone were leagues ahead of other cultural peers, save for maybe Afallon.

Common Dress code

The Marble People seemed to mostly dress in long, flowing cloaks and robes. While the outfits themselves were rather simplistic, the Marble People's love of ornaments and decorations made them pop out in a myriad of ways.

Art & Architecture

The Marble People's architecture is where they get their designation in the annals of history. They mainly used the eponymous marble, as well as local clay, in order to build largely square homes with various openings and ventilations, as well as roads, directional pillars, piers, and basically any other structure they required, save for using local wood when it was needed.

Foods & Cuisine

The Marble People mainly ate seafood and waterfowl, occasionally using local herbs and fats for their spice content in addition to it.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

The Marble People seemed to honor ornamentation over direct physical beauty. Ornate pieces of jewelry, accessories to simple clothes, intricate tattoos, and a row of pins and rings for long hair were all seen as signs of beauty and wealth over what the body of the individual had going on.

Gender Ideals

It appears that to the Marble People, menial labor and construction was the more masculine duty, while finer crafts and politics were seen as feminine duties, along with the practice of magic being seen as a woman's honor and responsibility in society.

Relationship Ideals

The Marble People appeared to be mostly polyamorous in their original society, with some modern discoveries revealing charts of interconnected partners and schedules spanning 10-12 people. It seems this faded out with their spread over Atalanta as a whole, perhaps to consolidate power and control with fewer variables to worry about.