Tiersman

Though very large and biologically diverse, the Tiers have very close connection to one another. There's of course an incredible amount of diversity between tribes and especially the few permanent settlements there but when faced with outside invasion, such as when the Vaylian Empire was stronger, collations sprung up to halt the Empire's advance and (much later) force them out.

Naming Traditions

Family names

It's actually rare to find a Tiersman with a surname. Occationally, you will meet Tiersmen with titles or nicknames that have stuck.
In the warring clans of the Steppe it's tradition that children are called Kø until they're 14 or so. At which point they are expected to distinguish themselves in battle and choose their "war name" which will be used for the remainder of their adult lives.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Tiersmen all speak the same language but in very different dialects. This means that most individuals can, with a little effort, learn their neighbor's language with a little bit of effort but to outsiders, dialects sound wildly different.

• Sönlash is spoken in the deserts of the far north
• Wellsh is spoken primarily by those who live in Dera's Well and Broxreth
• Hylspeak is spoken in Younger Realms
• Drisini is spoken in the Swamp Tier
• Ozmali is spoken in the Steppe
• The Whisper Wood doesn't have a name for their dialect but it is distinct

Culture and cultural heritage

To outsiders all tiersmen seem foreign and strange in a unified way, but the truth is that the continent has many of it's own subcultures that differentiate them from one another.
People from the Bastard Tier (often called "bastards" by other tiersmen) are defined by their hardship. They live in very small, nomadic tribes that roam the bastard Tier. Uniquely, bastards have a cultural adherence to one of the Chthonic gods—Soge. Their worship is very idiosyncratic and violates normal orthodoxy but this has been the way for generations. It seems Soge even permits it. Unlike other tiersmen groups, Bastards tend to be homogenously Salimar. Few other species can withstand the heat of the deserts but as always, humans can be found in small number among their ranks.
Dera's Well is the home of many prideful humans and dwarves who would boast of their magnificent architecture, the likes of which has never been seen elsewhere in the Tiers. Unlike other tiers, Dera's Well is a united nation with a more recognizable societal structure to outsiders. They stress magical excellence and in fact the field of Wizardry was invented by the Wellsh.
To the west of the Well lies the Whisper Wood, the birth place of brownies. The smallest in population of all the peoples in the Tiers and perhaps the world, they live in small clans, usually two or three families related by marriage. Their culture has a mystical connection to the Whisper Wood which is often said to be the resting place of the old gods. Brownies are more prone to soul maladies, specifically lycanthropy, than other Tiersmen and their connection to the Whisper Wood is often cited as the reason.
The Younger Realms were the most effected by Vaylian imperialism. Because of this, their cultural identity is less defined than that of their neighbors. The people here live in the ruined or reclaimed cities and towns of their oppressors' or otherwise have retaken to the ancestral way of nomadic life. The Younger Realms are filled with clans and tribes beyond counting that are in constant conflict with one another.
The Swamp Tier is home to only the hardiest of the kith species. The Irisi are comprised of lizardfolk, strig, salimar, and of course human members. This subculture is by far the most xenophobic of the tiersmen, even being suspicious of their fellows from north or south. Irisi are relatively united as the norm there is to defer to the eldest member of the tribe. This goes from small things in individual communities all the way up to large scale things requiring mass-cooperation.
Massive clans roam the Steppe, almost constantly at war with one another. Battle is an essential part of life in the Steppe, whether it is with another clan or with one of the various areal or subterranean monsters that dwell in the area. Once there were a great many clans that roamed the Steppe but all have been absorbed into one of the big three:

• The Giant-Crow tribe: infamous for their brutal salted earth tactics, these tiersmen take no prisoners and afford no weakness to their allies. From the age they can first hold a bow, children are trained in combat and if by the age of ten or so they have not distinguished themselves in combat, they are usually exiled or fall victim to honor killings. These values and lifestyle mean they have a young population, even by Steppe standards. Most members are human or dwarf with the most significant minority in the clan being svipdag.
• The Maned-Wolf horde: deeply stigmatized for their practice of ancestral cannibalisms, this tribe is lead by its dead. This tribe is about half svipdag who act as primarily as embalmers and curriers of the tribe's dead. Because of svipdags' unique ability to commune with the dead, they preserve their dead elders and great warriors so that their knowledge can be passed down for future generations. Thus there is a caste system for who is allowed to make decisions with Menku ("embalmers") at the top, Shab ("fodder") at the bottom, and the Vulvani ("mother") and Nuri ("warrior") in the middle. Svipdags are the only ones who can be Menku but the other casts are relatively evenly distributed among humans, dwarfs, and yakks.
• The Tembini: named for their founder, these tiersmen revere the elements and practice an ancient art known only to their members. They're fierce fighters but carry no weapons, something completely unique to this culture. Tiersmen often claim that the khan of the Tembini and its founder are one in the same, despite no kith species living that long (Tembini trace their origins to the early Archon Age). The clan also holds very strange beliefs surrounding Hukoreise. The tembini structure their society in an apprentice-master hierarchy. Children are taken from their parents at around the age of 7 or so and placed within a "junta", a kind of class with a teacher who is responsible for 3-6 tembini children. The teacher or "didact" is responsible for training these children in the tembini tradition, caring for their physical and emotional health, and fostering in them a sense of community. When these children have come of age, they re-enter the general society and may even take on students of their own one day. Tembini are definitely the smallest clan but they are certainly not pushovers when it comes to battles in the step, using their mystic arts to control the battlefield to their advantage.

Foods & Cuisine

By far the most strange and difficult thing for outsiders to come to terms with when interacting with acquaintances from the Tiers. Meat in the Tiers is always served raw. It's often still seasoned but most tiersmen find the concept of cooking flesh to be very strange. Because of the nomadic lifestyle so prevalent in the Tiers there's also a long tradition of fermentation for things like vegetables, fruits, and animal milks. Traditional agriculture is uncommon in the Tiers so the most commonly consumed milk is that of horses as they can pull double duty in combat and travel. Meat is similarly exotic because of the megafauna present in the Tiers.

Coming of Age Rites

As mentioned, in the Steppe there's a tradition of children only gaining "true names" once they have distinguished themselves in battle. Dera's Well also has a ceremony for Songblades at the age of fifteen where their seniors and family gather and the Songblades don ceremonial garb to perform a kind of baptism for their blades. A mixture of tea leaves, oils, and spices is brewed by each young Songblade and then the weapons are doused in this mixture. The entire ceremony is conducted in silence until the very end when the Songblade strikes their weapon and declares the name of their weapon. Songblades have a deep, spiritual connection to their weapon and this ceremony is often considered the most important part of their lives.

Funerary and Memorial customs

In Dera's Well, most people observe sky burial. The dead are tied in place on the mountainside and feasted on by carrion birds until only the bones remain. These bones are then recovered and used in the construction of carnariums.
Bastards cremate their dead, usually at the first dawn or dusk following the person's death. No particular importance is placed on the body and it's thought that the dead "rejoin the great dragon".
The Maned-Wolf horde of the Steppe embalm their dead and carry the bodies with them as they travel. These bodies are also a part of ritualistic cannibalism that allows svipdags to commune with their dead.

Historical figures

• Tembi, founder of the Tembini clan in the Steppe and famous for her mastery of the four elements. Little else is known about her as she lived before recorded history.
• Dera, of the eponymous well, not much is known about him except that he was a master swordsmen and that he fought and won several duals with Ashen Blood.
• Tunnon, Archon of Justice, a massive dragon that once ruled the Tiers, he is said to have been the most fair and temperate of the Archons but his title drew the ire of Soge and thus his fate was sealed.
• Synat, Archon of Memory, Tunnon's twin and enforcer, she and her brother brought the other Archons to heel after Topur, Archon of Fire turned one of the tiers to glass. Synat killed Topur and several other Archons before the remainder bent the knee to her and Tunnon and an age of stability came to the Tiers.
• Brox, perhaps the most famous Songblade who ever lived, this dwarf was key to the safety of Dera's Well during the Last Archon War. He negotiated the settlement's neutrality with Tunnon and Soge but Brox fell in love with Zagreus and under his direction, lured Synat into an ambush where she was killed by Zagreus. This was the turning point of the war and Tunnon died not long after.
• Finia, Archon of Sand, claimed to be an elf, like Hukoreise. This obviously drew the trickster god's attention. But when he confronted her, he exposed her as a fraud, a liar, she was merely a human, no matter how powerful she might be. Finia was incensed by this and killed the incarnation of Hukoreise, inciting the war that would ultimately eliminate all Archons.

Ideals

Gender Ideals

In the Tiers women are the only ones permitted to own property and hold the higher positions of authority. They are often referred to as the "braver sex" and are expected to act as such. Hunting parties, diplomatic envoys, even entire armies are often built entirely of women.
Men on the other hand are seen as laborers or craftsmen. They craft weaponry, build structures both permanent and temporary, dig latrines, and cultivate the land. This is not to say they are not present in battle, but when they are it's almost exclusively as a defensive or support force.

Note: People from the Frozen Tier are not tiersmen. For more on this see the "Wenders" article.

Encompassed species

• Brownie
• Lizardfolk
• Salimar
• Strig
• Svipdâg