Menaraii

A people dedicated to the goddess of craftsmanship, ingenuity and manufactured beauty, the Menaraii are renowned for the quality and intricacy of the jewellery that they create in their hometown of Gleaming Spire in the Middle Underdark. Whilst the Menaraii create beautiful objects for the sake of their beauty rather than for profit, there is no shortage of merchants and traders who are happy to make the dangerous journey through the Underdark to buy Menaraii goods, often at prices far beyond their actual value, which they can sell on for a significant profit in other areas of the Underdark and the Empire of Turelion above.

Naming Traditions

Family names

Menaraii eschew family names, but instead simply take the second name ‘Sworn of Menara’ whenever they travel beyond the borders of Gleaming Spire, indicating to all they come across that they are one of the Menaraii.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Whilst many of the Menaraii speak Undercommon, the main language of the town of Gleaming Spire and the first language of all Menaraii is actually Celestial, which the Menaraii claim was taught to their ancestors by Menara, so that she could most effectively communicate with and instruct them in the most difficult aspects of crafting with metal and precious stones.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

It is common for Menaraii to give one another gifts of raw materials; gemstones, raw blocks of precious metal, or even salvaged material; or tools used in crafting as gifts, rather than completed, or bespoke made gifts. The reason for this is that the Menaraii consider the creation of beautiful objects more satisfying that the ownership of a beautiful object and indeed, gifting someone with a completed object can be considered rude, see below.
It is also traditional for Menaraii to overtly display objects that they deem to be valuable. After-all, the Menaraii value beauty, and what is beauty if it is hidden away in a chest or vault? This means that the homes of Menaraii and the town of Gleaming Spire can appear gaudy to visitors, especially when compared to other communities in the Underdark, and the Menaraii themselves can appear to be rather extravagant in their dress, as they all wear copious amounts of jewellery.

Religious Customs

As indicated by the collective name used for their people, the Menaraii are bound together by their dedication to the goddess Menara and her love of creating beautiful and fascinating objects. To this end they treat craftsmanship of all kinds with a kind of veneration, verging on adoration when it comes to objects created using precious metals and stones. That does not mean that the Menaraii are greedy or covetous, far from it. Like Menara herself they prize precious objects for their beauty, not their monetary value and it is commonplace for the Menaraii to sell at a drastically reduced price, or even give away objects worth hundreds, if not thousands of gold pieces, in exchange for objects they regard as being more intrinsically beautiful due to their craftsmanship or materials.
Indeed, Menaraii tend not to keep the vast majority of what they make, as they strive to continuously hone their craft to produce another, more beautiful object, and Menaraii will tend to only keep pieces they have crafted that have specific sentimental meanings for them. Aa big driver for this is the teaching of Menara to know when to let things go, so that their beauty can be appreciated by as many beings as possible, as if right for something that has been created to be as aesthetically beautiful as possible. The Menaraii tend to view the hiding away of beautiful objects as an anathema, as surely their beauty needs to be appreciated, not hidden?
This attitude certainly has its indirect advantages for the Menaraii, as it means that their town of Gleaming Spire has become a well visited hub by traders looking to purchase and trade the Menaraii’s handiwork for goods and supplies they need.
The Menaraii view the activity of their daily lives, especially activity geared towards or supporting the production of objects of beauty as being active worship to their deity, rather than reserving a single day each week for religious activity. The two most important days in the Menaraii calendar are the Feasts of the Luna Twins, when Menara’s most beautiful creation, the twin moons of Kelbonnar are celebrated, even though few of the Menaraii have ever been to the surface world and glimpsed them in the flesh.

Coming of Age Rites

On reaching the age of 16, Menaraii children are given an assortment of objects and materials by their parents and relatives, out of which they construct their first object, without supervision from their elders. Whilst it does not necessarily have to take place there, most families take their children to the Temple of Menara at the centre of Gleaming Spire to do this, as if under the direct supervision of Menara herself. What the children choose to make is completely up to them, but many choose to make a piece of jewellery that they will wear for the rest of their lives as a symbol of their coming of age.

Funerary and Memorial customs

When Menaraii die, they are traditionally cremated and their ashes are gathered up and transfigured through magical means into the form of a gemstone. These gemstones are frequently added to necklaces that remain within families for generations, with each stone representing one of their ancestors that has passed through the veil.

Common Taboos

It is regarded as a severe taboo amongst the Menaraii to openly criticise the work of another, something which is regarded as being extremely rude. Instead, there is much more of an emphasis on offering constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement.
It is also generally considered to be taboo to gift someone with a completed object, unless there is a specific practical reason why someone would need it. The reason is that the Menaraii regard being given a completed object as a slight against them, implying that they would be unable to competently make the item themselves.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

For the Menaraii the beauty of an individual is not judged by their physical characteristics, but by the quality with which they undertake their work. This could be the quality of jewellery that a crafts person produces, or the industriousness exhibited by a farmer. Laziness is universally viewed as being one of the most disgusting and off-putting of characteristics amongst the Menaraii.

Gender Ideals

As Menara, the deity the Menaraii are dedicated to is female, women are specifically encouraged into work producing the jewellery and other crafts that are the main exports of their people. As far as the Menaraii are concerned, the blessings of their goddess more readily exemplified and demonstrated in women rather than men. That is not to say that men are barred from craft trades, but they tend towards jobs and careers that ensures the survival and protection of the town of Gleaming Spire and supports the work of the crafts folk.

Related Locations

• Gleaming Spire