Satyr

"Let the Elf build temples to gods he’ll never meet. I’ve got cliffs to climb, songs to finish, and a stew on the fire. The world doesn’t want worship, it wants company." -Bramblehorn Eld, Hearthsong Bard of Lumespire Crag

The Satyrs are a proud, regal race of horned folk dwelling in the soaring, snow-draped crags of The Otherworld's northern regions, where blue crystal lakes shimmer with moonlight and music hums from the very stones. As native denizens of this magickal highland realm, Satyrs are known for their poetic souls, curious wanderlust, and a mastery of the arts unmatched by most mortal kind. Though slow to trust and rarely seen beyond their cliffside cottages and wooded hamlets, Satyrs are responsible for introducing the lute, harp, and a dozen other instruments now treasured across Everwealth. Though outsiders often mistake their gentleness for piety, Satyrs are not worshippers but revelers, devotees of the sublime, the sensory, and the serene. Their cliffside communities value music, sculpture, and craftsmanship with spiritual intensity. Most Satyrs spend their lives composing, painting, climbing, or simply living in deliberate joy. Yet beneath that quiet warmth is a stubborn streak of ancient pride, and when threatened, Satyrs are more than capable of unleashing the fierce, primal force of their homeland’s raw magick. Uniquely, Satyrs are born in one of two forms depending on the time of their birth. Dayborn Satyrs resemble bearded humans from the waist up, with goat legs, bushy tails, and curling horns atop their heads. Nightborn Satyrs, rarer and more reclusive, are humanoid goats in full, furred from crown to heel, with elongated snouts and eyes that shine like duskfire. Though treated equally within Satyr society, many outsiders view the Nightborn with suspicion, mistaking their animalistic appearance for savagery. They are no such thing.

Naming Traditions

Feminine names

• Nyra.
• Callena.
• Ossa.
• Thimari.
• Belaxa.

Masculine names

• Ilios.
• Voren.
• Daskir.
• Fenno.
• Marzak.

Unisex names

• Virel.
• Tassi.
• Ralor.
• Mion.
• Zekka.

Family names

Satyrs do not use surnames in the traditional sense. Instead, they are known by musical titles or locational references. Examples include:

• Of the Seventh Strain.
• Bramblehorn.
• Echo of Cliffshade.
• Windborne.
• Harp-Touched

Other names

Cliffkin (neutral), Horns (colloquial), Goats (slur), Lutebloods (poetic honorific).

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Satyrs speak Sylvarin, a tonal, melodious language with deep roots in song and verse. Every tribe maintains unique dialects tuned like local chords. Common idioms:

• “The chord never lies.”
• “Speak not in stone when the wind listens.”
• “To echo is to endure.”

Culture and cultural heritage

Music and motion shape Satyr identity. Their earliest myths speak of magickal notes hummed by mountaintops, and it’s said the world was once sung into being by a Satyr bard with silver lungs. They craft stone harps into cliff faces, paint on humming bark, and play melodies that can calm storms or shake avalanches. Their sculptures often serve as both memory and map, each figure a symbol, each texture a path.

Shared customary codes and values

• Art is sacred, but perfection is vanity.
• Never interrupt a song in progress.
• Hospitality is a verse written in food, fire, and silence.
• Let the cliff fall before you betray a friend.

Average technological level

Advanced in resonance-based craftsmanship, aerial stonework, and acoustic architecture. Their instruments are magickally tuned and often capable of rudimentary enchantment.

Common Etiquette rules

• Always pause to hear the final note.
• Remove your cloak when entering a home, it’s said to insult the hearth spirits otherwise.
• Never mock another’s voice, no matter how off-key.

Common Dress code

Layered vests, wool-woven sashes, and ornamental bells or coins. Horns are wrapped or gilded for formal occasions. Nightborn often wear cloaks of layered moss or dyed fur.

Art & Architecture

Satyr homes cling to cliffsides or float on tiny sky-islets, suspended by ancient magicks. They favor asymmetrical cottages made of pale stone and polished wood, shaped around natural growth. Architecture echoes music, arched rooftops shaped like waves of sound, windows placed to funnel wind-chimes. Their art is elegant and expressive: carved murals, painted rockfaces, sculpted wind-spirits, and spiral-scribed poetry passed from hand to ear.

Foods & Cuisine

Primarily vegetarian, with a fondness for root pies, honey-wine, snowberries, and skyfruit grown on floating farms. Satyr meals are communal, often accompanied by song. Ritual teas are prepared for guests and elders alike, brewed with mountain herbs and served in carved wooden cups.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

• The Echo Rite: Performed when a Satyr leaves home for long travels. A song is played into a canyon so it may echo until they return.
• Hornbright Festival: A seasonal celebration where Satyrs polish their horns, compose new songs, and exchange crafted gifts.
• The Cliff's Tune: Young Satyrs climb their first peak and carve their “voice” into the stone, a sculptural representation of their spirit’s sound.

Birth & Baptismal Rites

Infants are swaddled in muslin and held under moonlight, where their family sings a naming lullaby. If the child responds with a bleat or hum, it is seen as a sign of good fortune.

Coming of Age Rites

Adolescents must craft their first personal instrument and perform before their community. The piece must be original and reflect who they are becoming.

Funerary and Memorial customs

The dead are wrapped in vines and placed atop high peaks. Songs are played until the wind carries them away. Their name becomes a chord added to the community’s collective melody.

Common Taboos

• Duplicating another’s song without permission.
• Climbing someone else’s home-roots.
• Letting one’s instrument fall into disrepair.
• Using performance as deceit.

Common Myths and Legends

• The Harp of the Hollow Peak: Said to play itself when danger nears.
• The Lute of Thorns: A cursed instrument that sings truth but flays the fingers of liars.
• The Note That Shaped the Moon: A tale of a Satyr who played such a beautiful melody that it carved the crescent moon into the sky.
• The Skybound Twins: Dayborn and Nightborn Satyr lovers turned into a pair of twin floating islands to watch over their people.

Historical figures

• Fenno Harpshadow: Composer of the Great Reconciliation Ballad that ended three Satyr clan feuds.
• Nyra of the Windskin: A sky-isle explorer who mapped the Cloudrift Chimes.
• Tassi Thornstep: A rogue bard whose songs still awaken stone-faced guardians.
• Marzak Hornbright: Inventor of the traveling harp and founder of the Chordbound Guild.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

Long horns with natural curve, artfully trimmed beards (or braided fur), expressive hands, clean hooves, and elegant voice. A Satyr’s worth is often whispered in the tone of their laugh.

Gender Ideals

Fluid. Satyrs value presentation, creativity, and voice over rigid roles. Beauty and strength are both performance.

Courtship Ideals

Song-duels, shared climbing, and crafting duets. A serenade from atop a dangerous crag is a classic romantic gesture.

Relationship Ideals

Satyrs love quietly but deeply. Long partnerships are common, marked by the exchange of instruments or co-composed songs.

Interesting Facts & Folklore:

• Satyrs believe that each song has a soul, and once played, it lives forever in the Otherworld’s winds.
• It’s said that when a Satyr dies, the wind takes their final breath and hums it back through the cliff hollows at dawn.
• Some Satyr harps are strung with threads of crystal from floating islands, able to mimic human speech when played correctly.
• Nightborn Satyrs are sometimes called “Moon-Speakers,” and are believed to dream of places not yet real.

Idioms & Metaphors:

• “He sings from broken strings.” A person who speaks from pain.
• “Her horns touch no wall.” One whose spirit cannot be confined.
• “When the cliffs hum, listen.” Heed subtle warnings.
• “His echo runs ahead of him.” One whose reputation outpaces his truth.
• “She dances on the rimstone.” Someone dancing too close to danger.
• “A harp that chooses its player.” A perfect match, fated or rare.