Mordva

Calm as the ice of their home, the Mordova are a quiet people known for their strong will, detachment from their surroundings, and tendency to survive on the very fringes of human territory. They are relatively sparse and few compared to the Cieran and the Krel, but they are well known for their strength and their knowledge of the far north. They tend to err on the martial side, with many skilled hunters and rangers. All across the Kingdoms, they are known for their cold resolve, skill in combat, and foresight, being hired primarily as scouts and artificers. They overpower The Siren's Song through inner meditation and resistance through strength of mind, inner tranquility and maintain a healthily detached worldview. Of the three major ethnic groups, the Mordova are allowed the least wiggle room in maintaining their bulwark against the charms of the Fae- if a Mordovin tribesman fails to maintain his composure, he is left only with his own will to save him. They also live longer than other ethnicities, up to a hundred years in the presence of a Beacon and a hundred-forty if somehow surviving in the wilderness. None of the great leaders of the Kingdoms are Mordvin, but they command a respect, all the same.

Naming Traditions

Family names

Mordovin last names are derived from their family of origin, with the suffix changing depending on if it’s male or female. An example would be Korolevsky vs Korolevskaya.

Other names

Mordvin names can be patterned after Kazakh, Russian, or Uralic naming conventions. They are almost always a combination of two or more.

Culture

Average technological level

The use of rifling technology, where available, is widespread in Mordvin lands and used often to gain an advantage over The Winter Court. While they also possess highly advanced magic, they most often do not adopt Cieran innovations aside from weapons.

Funerary and Memorial customs

Mordvin funerals tend to be quiet and reflective. Often, the town’s poet will recite what he has written on the life and deeds of the person as they are burned on a pyre, and their family members will take several days to think while other citizens watch over them.

Historical figures

Heiko the Silencer

Ideals

Gender Ideals

The Mordva are relatively egalitarian- they believe women and men are two sides of the same coin. Either side can do whatever they wish, but no matter what they must always sum to the whole.

Major organizations

The Mordva make up a disproportionate number of the region’s stranger professions. They are skilled scouts, planar magicians, monks, and often writers. Their distaste for regimented order means you won’t often find Mordovins attempting to work their way up in politics.

Art - The Mordva see themselves, beyond all else, as accomplished thinkers and artists. While they can certainly appear minimalistic to outsiders, to themselves they have attained perfection. Their Beacons may be stowed in shrines carved of simple stone and kept where neither Fey nor populace can reach them, but the inner walls of their deep mountain monasteries are decorated with long and lengthy carvings on their great philosophers and warriors. Their stories are very old, reaching back before the Sunfade- but as they are written in Mordvin characters and not the Cieran alphabet. Fully deciphering the Mordovin language has been a task many scholars have been dedicated to for centuries, so few of these carvings have been wholly translated. Mordovin music, on the other hand, is typically very somber, heavily featuring chimes, reed flutes, and bowed lyres.
Physical Appearance - Unique among the Kingdoms, Mordvins are the only ethnic group with the capability for black hair. They look about as varied as the Cieran, tending towards black or red hair with brown or gray eyes. As with the other two cultures, Mordovins have very pale skin due to their cloudy homeland. They often possess lean muscle and hardy builds eschewing the bulkier forms of the Krel. Mordovin's heights are also rather varied, ranging from around 5’3” all the way to 6’5” to those with Southern admixture or foreign descendants. Even so, the average Mordvin pales in comparison to the Krel in height but barely edges out of the Cieran. They may also possess light freckling and are unique in that many of them have very slight epicanthic folds.