Raft dwellers

Life on the sea

I am taking the egg with me!

— Yusif

In the middle of the Svajan sea, about midway between the Varil archipelagus and the coasts of Kithanda, there is a cluster of diminutive corals atols, formed around the remnants of an extinct and submerged volcano crater.
This is the home of one of the most reclusive of the makarids lineages. When the Makarids diaspora dispersed after the death of Makahar, Faiq and his two children set sail on their old fishing boat towards some draconic ruins in the middle of the sea, soon followed by Yusif and what would have hatched as the last of Makahar direct descendants.
They found what they expected to be a palace almost completely in ruins, but managed to find enough shelter and survive in hiding for several years and from this first nucleus and the addition of shipwrecks survivors and mutinee sailors, a substantial community was born and thrived despite the scarcity of natural resources.

Life of restraint

Do you know how long a tree like this takes to grow? We only have 35 of them!

— an elder to a unruly child

The land available in this archipelago is so little that early on the settlers decided to let most of it to fully grow instead of falling trees to make space for building on the land. They used instead what wood could be gathered from the little patches of forest and salvaged from the sea to build huts on rafts and platforms that extend outside of the mainland into the sea.
They also spend most of their lives on boat, roaming the sea to gather whatever resources can be found from wreckages and discarded items from passing ships.

Life as a treasure

Lord of the sea, accept the git of this new life in your hoard

— a Sea Dragon priest

Because of their lifestyle, most of them are fervent worshippers of the The Sea Dragon cult, considering themselves both custodians and integral part of the Sea Dragon's treasure.
It is considered sinful, inside this community, to leave the sea for more than short periods of time, as they believe themselves to be owned by their god and leaving the Sea Dragon's realm would be like stealing from them.

The Sea Dragon sect

Due to the scarcity of resources available, the Raft people don't have the availability of ever new and marvellous things to donate to their divinity.
For this reason they integrated body modifications and body art in their ritual and religious practices, making their own body artworks worthy of their god's treasure.
While a lot of Makarids clans use tattoos and body painting to enhance the aspect of their natural markings and thus show their pride in their ancestry, none perfected these practices as the Raft dwellers, whose works of body art is coveted by many and virtually unreachable for anyone who's not a member of the community.
Nudity is as well commonly practiced both because of the scarcity of textile materials and because of their will to show off their artwork.