Briven
Culture
Common Dress code
For the Briven, clothing should match an individual's occupation during the day, but can be as little as they want during their free time. Despite this public nudity is still frowned upon, as showing off an individual's entire body at once is just a call for attention and should be ignored. Men and women alike can wear whatever clothes they wish, so long as it fits their occupation, which really confuses other cultures.
Art & Architecture
As stated previously the Briven find beauty in exaggeration of the natural world, and seek to encapsulate it in their artworks and architecture. Briven villages and towns often blend into the terrain or stand out as sore thumbs, depending on the area (a town built at the base of a mountain would look like a cluster of hills within a crater). Many popular artworks of the Briven, including their legends and a few novels focus on the exaggeration of the natural elements, often with nature overrunning 'eyesore' cities, which appear mostly dwarvern in nature.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
New born Briven children are brought before a Dryad in a Steelwood Grove to be blessed by the Triad and receive divine protections. They are given to the Dryad and her druid attendants, whom place the babe on a stump situated in a shallow pool of moon water, and paint over it with a paint made of clay. These markings remain for a week and glow softly, before vanishing and blessing the child. After this the child belongs to the Triad, in mind, body and soul.
Coming of Age Rites
When a Briven child reaches the age of twelve they are considered to have reached adulthood, and undergo the 'Steelwood Vigil', where they remain on vigil in a Steelwood Grove overnight and listen to the words and chants of the druids, while also keeping an eye/ear out for majical monsters. After completing this Vigil they receive a Steelwood amulet with the crest of the Triad upon it, to symbolise that they are now adults.
Funerary and Memorial customs
For the Briven their remains must be returned to the earth that sustained them, and are buried in secretive groves guarded by the Druids of the Triad. Here their bodies decay and return to the earth, where the Druids move the nutrients around and spread them out, to keep the lands healthy. Before the body is taken away the last Rites are held for the deceased, where their friends and family gather to celebrate their life and service to the Triad, an event that lasts a few hours.
Common Taboos
Aethrite is a twisted creation of a diseased nation that got what it deserved in the eyes of the Briven, and to utilise it in any way is considered an atrocity. Instead of utilising this material many Briven Nobles use Steelwood weapons and armour imbued with power from the Dryads, as to further in debt themselves to the Triad and serve them better. Additionally it is completely out of the question for a Briven to return to Bridevein Pass or the town named after it, as that is where their age of darkness and struggle began, where their hubris punished them.
Historical figures
Queen Marguerite
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
To the Briven, beauty is found in exaggeration, which can be seen from their people to their architecture, though not in the way many would interpret. For the Briven taking something natural and exaggerating it enhances it's beauty, though only to a certain extent, so buildings made from wood are exaggerated into looking like trees or bushes, short folk wear clothing that makes them seem shorter, people with specific hair colours might dye them or add another colour in to make their natural colour more dominant.
Gender Ideals
For the Briven, their people's long and dark history has resulted in a divide unseen in most other ethnic groups, they lean towards matriarchy as, for centuries, their male population was eternally dying in wars and struggles to keep them alive. Now feminine individuals are seen as wise and leaders, though they do not always dominate, as plenty of males have risen to power and had their voices heard. Specifically, though, for the Briven, Majic is a masculine pursuit as, if the man ends up destroying themselves in pursuit of power then the collective losses little.
Courtship Ideals
When an individual wants to attempt to begin a relationship with another, the traditional method of doing so is to first approach the eldest sibling of the individual, as for many families the father was either dead or gone for long periods of time, and the Eldest sibling would be left in charge of their younger kin. This sibling does not have to grant permission, though if they do not the new couple will not be considered a part of the family any longer, which can be detrimental in Briven society. If permission is granted, however, and the couple decides on getting married under the guidance of the Triad, they are both adopted into each other's families.
Relationship Ideals
For the Briven romantic relationships are a deep commitment between individuals, one that should not be taken lightly. Married individuals often have an aspect of their partner either tattooed onto them in an exaggerated manner with a gemstone pairing implanted within the artwork, or even have an Engrave Shaman exaggerate a part of their natural form to resemble their partner. Common methods of this include a cluster of hair strands being a different colour, a different eye colour/shape, a different nose, frame, skin texture etc.
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