Chiran

To them, their culture is that they have no culture. At least on the surface, I know of plenty of practices that give shape to who these people really are. If you can imagine what it would be like to live huddled up in a big village-home, unable to go out in the snow that you can't see over, you can imagine who these people are. That and they have the best games to pass the time, betting notwithstanding.

— Witch of Knowledge

Culture

Like most cultures of the Isazol Ezaldiv , the predominate rela species, Isynx leads to many similarities in culture. Though, due to their more isolated geography, but not so isolated as to barely have a cohesive culture within the nation of Chirath, their ‘culture’ both exists and doesn’t; it doesn’t exist in multiple ways. Aside from the general isolation between villages that leads to different sub-cultures, the greater Chiran culture has been stomped upon by several more prominent peoples.

Scraps of the greater Chiran culture can be seen within their particular ways of seeing to other culture’s rituals, but mostly they are a product of invading ideas, religions, and languages. The most predominant external influence is their more powerful neighbor to the east, Fjakarker, The religious zealotry of the north also has a stranglehold, and the far-flung influence of Republic of Kexist can be felt, like most of the world. However, their idea of self-identity has grown in the past few decades, recovering what they can of their past culture.

Major Language Groups & Dialects

The old languages and dialects of Chiran have been long abandoned in favor of the more worldly used Lald which their large neighbors all but forced upon them. That’s now, even in the past, the influences of Thoos from the north and Haseh from the east peppering their tongues. To linguists, there is enough to make a tiny bit of ancient vocabulary from some of the dead languages with grammatical quirks and words unique to the area such as Hauryr meaning a particularly heavy snow. There are many words for snow.

Shared Customary Codes & Values

The predominant religion is the northerly-adopted Kanøu. That is to say, what the doctrine of ethics and afterlife is for the people as they have kept a number of their rituals and just adapted it to fit within the mythos.
Treatment of the Dead: See Elder Ascension.
Apart from religion, a shared code is that of hospitality. If a stranger were to enter a village-home, one would better believe they’d be invited to the game of Maruzjat that never ends. It is assumed a stranger is there not for ill-intent, but to escape what would be certain burial in frozen outside, especially if they come alone. And one had better not come with evil in mind, for a village is a family and would mean quite the fight if they were to behave poorly.
Standard Greeting: Rubbing muzzles with one another. Some may find this unsanitary, which is true. In fact, it’s purposefully so, to improve the immune system of everyone. The way they see it, it’s better to have a sickness in an expected manner than unexpected. Also, due to their relative isolation, their immune systems tend to be ill-prepared for externally new variants of hostile microorganisms.

Cultural & Technological Level

Like most second-world peoples, the Chiran have a time-lag with the rest of the world. What was a worldwide phenomenon one or three decades ago is currently the talk of village-houses everywhere. Many washed-up stars find renewal touring in Chirath, their music, showmanship, or art new and amazing to the people.

Common Dress Code

Bundle up, it’s cold. While Isynxs do have a natural fur barrier with the cold, their ohbz do not. So, if they want to send them on errands, they dress them up in warm cloth, typically in a style from ten years ago. And for creatures without natural protection from cold, they also get the treatment of layer yourself until it’s hard to move. It’s become so prominent, in fact, that Isynx would want to overheat to wear as many layers as they can.

Taboos

There are three rules: never leave without someone, do not let one’s Ohbz run amok, and never turn down an offered game. The first two are simple, leaving could mean getting lost in a blizzard; unattended ohbz are known to get into microfiche. However, when someone offers to play a game, it’s frowned upon to say no. Even if you're busy, even if you don’t like the game, it’s poor to say no. To this effect, it’s also a bad idea to ask people to play a game one knows they don’t like or don’t have time for. That doesn’t stop the village nuisance to ask anyone and everyone who passes by to a game of maruzjat. They’re generally disliked, driving them to ask more people to play just to have pleasant interactions. Then, they’re disliked more if they ask at the wrong time, shunned, which has them force more people to play with them. It’s a vicious cycle.
Waste: Never, under any circumstance, excrete within smell of the village-home. If you one needs to go, bring a buddy into the woods, mountains, or snowfield and do your business there. If one can’t make it, stuck in a game with the local annoyance for too long, please teleport that waste far, far away. The pipes will be frozen, hot water called in by enchantment or spell, there is no point in spending that precious unfrozen water on taking away excrement.

Peoples of Chirath

Ideals

Beauty

Beauty is fourfold: layers of clothing, fat, muscle, and a pleasant smell. The more layers you have, with as many intricacies as possible, the more you prove you have what it takes to be beautiful and wealthy. Being fat also shows one has enough wealth for food and laziness for warmth, while one must also be muscular to prove themselves in a hunt; it’s a mixing of old and new traditions that don’t exactly fit together. A beer belly with underlying muscles is the favored way of achieving this look. Husky is used as a term of endearment

Smell is incredibly important to everyone in the village-home. If someone stinks from sweat, excrement, stepping in something, the whole village will know about it. It’s hard to escape bad smells in a large enclosed space. If something goes rotten, it’s not just the problem of the neglectful. So, the opposite is true. If one has a pleasant, not overpowering, smell about them, they are more well-received.

Relationship

Relationships are formed polyandrous in the village-homes. Other than siblings, parents, uncles, and cousins, eros relationships are shared by anyone they feel at the time. Everyone in the village is a friend, even those one may not like. Those close in blood are storge love while those ones can’t stand are still philia love. Due to modern globalization, this friendliness can be off-putting to those contacted outside the village-home. Those of Chirath will openly embrace anyone they are so much as an acquaintance with, generally driving more skeptically-focused cultures away. This is a hearth-fire, however, something that both burns and warms as it also means they very easily network. A number of high-profile business people come from a Chiran background. One could imagine this is from being forced to interact with people liked and unliked during past blizzard lock-downs. You will get alone with people if you have nowhere to go. If you don’t, well, the village-home probably wouldn’t have lasted.

Courtship

Courtship isn’t really a thing for the Chiran people. If you and another non-family find love within each other might as well act on that love. This makes them both impulsive and direct with their feelings. Beating around the bush is both a bother and meaningless if you know everyone intimately; if you like someone, just tell them. This means displays are pointless, no need to dance, gussy up, speak eloquently, or anything else since you will know if and when someone likes you. Again, because of globalization, this has been another hearth-fire, attractive and repulsive depending on the person and their background.