Hellenistic
Culture
Art & Architecture
Hellenis boasts significantly higher proportions of most kinds of artist than the average ethnicity on Khthon. Their painters are quite skilled and have access to a great many paints due to the number which can be produced in the area. Their poets, lyricists, and playwrights are the envy of all save the remaining elven courts. Apart from the dwarves, no group in Khthon is more skilled in the shaping of stone than the Hellenistic people. Since the dwarves have either a very brutal and minimalistic sense of aesthetics, or no sense of aesthetics at all depending on who you ask, there are very who would name any other as the greatest masons, architects, and statue makers in all the world. Much of the Hellenistic style is reminiscent of that of the ancient sun elves, but their reliance on carving with their own hands instead of singing stone into shape has led to significant divergence, and many would say a more characterful and personal quality.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
There is a great deal of variation among the Hellenistic people as you move from city-state to city-state, and their standards of beauty reflect that. In general, most of the folk living in Hellenis prize strength and fitness, though you could certainly find groups who see those things as beneath a truly beautiful person. Similarly, the majority are attracted to skin tanned by the sun, but there are certainly others who prefer those with less exposure, who see it as the paler their skin, the more beautiful they become. There is unsurprisingly a great deal of overlap between those who prefer fitness and tan and those who desire less definition and lighter pigmentation. The pale skin preferers are more numerous than those who disdain exercise, but they remain a minority. A peculiarity of the people of Hellenis is that they almost universally have no strong feelings on weight as it relates to beauty.
Courtship Ideals
The hyper focus on individualism in Hellenis means that there are very few consistent standards about courtship, and in fact the idea of a consistent standard instead of something determined by and tailored to those involved would be quite shocking to most in Hellenis. There are of course traditions and rituals, and some who take them very seriously, but most view them more as options in a grab bag than sequential requirements.
Relationship Ideals
Hellenis is, perhaps of all Khthon, the most permissive in their outlook on love. Any combination and permutation of individuals associate in any manner one could think of. Most seem to view relationships entirely through the lens of their effects on the self, no allowances are made nor concern given to the others involved, as they are also seen as responsible for their own fulfillment. Despite, or perhaps because of this, those in Hellenis who do decide on a committed or rigid relationship take it incredibly seriously. For some city-states it would be unusual to go a week without the ruler being publicly involved with someone not their spouse and this is viewed as entirely normal. In others, even the whisper of infidelity could spark a war that will last generations, and this is seen as only right and proper.
Related Organizations
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