Society

Each race has a country that they call home. They travel between these countries freely, but home is always home.
With the creation of the Soulforge Alliance, standardized laws were set in place in all five countries. These laws include magical practices.
The laws of physics and the laws of nature are similar to those found on Earth. The only real difference is that they are easily manipulated by anyone with the Gift. The gods also have no difficulty defying these laws, but this is due to their extraterrestrial origin and how they were created in the first place. This ability of theirs is seen as proof of divinity by the mortals and the gods are uninclined to correct them.

Resources

Miltan has the most farmland while the farmable areas in Ayellis are superior. Ju’shal’long has some decent farmland, but not as much as the other two. Silvestri is rich in mineral deposits, particularly in the Tehvir Mountains. The Tesha Mountains in Ayellis have decent deposits of iron. The Griffin Mountains are a rich source of several ores. Each country has different produce and mineral resources.
Clearstone, mined only in Silvestri, is a rare stone with magical properties. A green stone called mawsitsit is also rare and is only found in the Tesha Mountains in Ayellis.

World History

The people of Melphor all evolved there. While there is accord between the species it wasn’t always that way. The Alliance claims that the Forging remade them all into equals but many of the old views and prejudices remain.
The kairyyl are universally reviled in the Alliance even though they’re believed to have been wiped out.
The lunyari typically see themselves as superior given that both Empresses are lunyari. The lunyari in Ayellis are still bitter that Hihaye made her home in Miltan and shows no signs of moving the capital from Miltal to Ayellis where they feel it belongs.
Shai’then are reluctant members of the Alliance. They don’t feel like they have much in common with the others. The separation between their island home and Ardren doesn’t help much.
The centauricorn tend to be a reserved people, so most people views them as snooty.
The humans, naturally, feel superior to everyone. Their country is home to the Dawn Empress.
The naga always feel as though they have something to prove. As a result, they come off as brash.
Civilization began in different places for each species. The kairyyl came to be in their ancestral homeland of Kaishivan. The earliest kairyyl lived in the range called Yuleta’s Mountains.
Sha-Illu’s Valley is the original home of the human species.
Kelphar Island is where the lunyari originate from.
The earliest centauricorn are from the Lankirrinve Delta.
Miltan, Ayellis, Athros, Silvestri, and Ju’shal’long make up what is known as the Soulforge Alliance. They formed as part of a conflict between Miltan and Kaishivan. The shai’then are the most civilized while the lunyari are considered the most magically advanced. As far as weapons go the humans and the centauricorn are evenly matched.
There are two calendars: one used by the Soulforge Alliance and one used on Keltos.
Each species has its own language, but the human language is considered to be the more dominant.
There are ancient versions of the language that only Scholars use.

Religion The people are polytheistic with a large pantheon of gods and goddesses.
There’s technically one religion with many branches. Each god or goddess has at least one temple or shrine dedicated to them. People are free to choose as many or as few deities to follow as they like.
Sacrifices are largely symbolic and done rarely. A petitioner would sacrifice something related to the god or goddess they’re petitioning rather than making a general sacrifice.
Religion is openly available although there are individuals who are known to have the favour of the gods. These people are known as the Touched and they can talk to the gods. While it’s a great honour to be chosen, no one in their right mind would ask for it or falsely claim to be one.
Temples vary widely in design depending on which god or goddess they’re dedicated to.

Fashion

This year the fashion is soft, layered garments. Tops are typically sleeveless though that’s a matter of preference. Stockings and hosiery are a must. Thick necklaces are trendy. Wool is popular as are spotted patterns. Popular colours are burnt orange, green-brown, and tan.
Last year anyone who thought they were trendy wore horrendous and voluminous vibrant yellow garments with a poorly chosen blue-black accent. Baggy trousers and wispy skirts were everywhere. Buttons and lace were staples of the style. Other popular colours were bright green, grey-blue, and deep red.

Conversation

Safe topics include the gods, weather, local history, work, food, and politics.

Education

There’s no formal school for young children. Parents are expected to teach them basic things. They become eligible for a more formalized education at the age of thirteen (or equivalent). Education is sponsored by the Crown and as such is open to all should they desire.
Each species has a different rate of physical and mental development. As such, it’s highly recommended that they attend schooling in their home country if it’s at all possible. If not, the schools will do their best to accommodate the different needs of the students.
Having an education doesn’t necessarily mean that a person can read or that they learned to do so at any point in their lifetime. Some people may have once been literate but lost the skill with lack of practice. There isn’t a great deal of use for literacy except in high society. Reading is taught in school and all students are encouraged to read and practice it, but a lack of reading ability isn’t a social stigma, particularly since books aren’t widely available.
Scholars run the schools. Many towns don’t have dedicated facilities for it so they meet in temples or in a public building. Classes are held on 2 consecutive days out of the 12 day week. Classes are never held on holidays.
School for children ages 13-18 covers broader topics than what their parents would teach, such as history, sums, an in depth study of the gods, and geography. Guilds teach only things specific to their guild. The Academy is a large school in Sunhame that anyone can attend to learn more about things. There is, however, a fee per class to attend. These fees pay the teachers for their time and the fees are generally low.
There are things that are appropriate for each gender to do exclusively. That’s not to say that the pursuit of knowledge is for men only. Women are actively encouraged to learn as much as they can within their means and the more promising students are sponsored to further education. Men are not so fortunate and so the order of Scholars is there to give men who wish to learn, who wish to have some means of employment a means to do so.

Family

Each species defines a family unit a little differently, but a mother, father, and their children are commonly cited. People form partnerships for many reasons depending on their circumstances. Marriages to form alliances between Houses aren’t unheard of. By and large, people marry who they want.
A woman will raise her children up to a certain point before it becomes the father’s responsibility to take over their care. As a rule of thumb, that point is when the infant is weaned, though each situation is different.

Trade and Currency

Trade is the lifeblood of both Keltos and the Alliance.

Conflict

Conflict is minor and mostly diplomatic in nature.
The last war was the War of the Roses, which was 1172 years ago. It destroyed Kaishivan, now known as the Forbidden Lands. It also eradicated several entire species. The cause boils down to jealousy.

Espionage

There’s no one the Soulforge Alliance considers worth spying on. Keltos, on the other hand, keeps a close watch on the Alliance to ensure that they remain hidden.

Food

People eat a lot of grains and vegetables. Fish is a common food for people living along rivers and on the coast. Meat consists of chicken and pork. Beef is a luxury item. Naga eat a lot of rabbits, gazelle, tortoise, and assorted birds.
A centauricorn’s diet involves a lot of meat--primarily mutton--fruit, and bread. They consider shellfish to be a delicacy.
Shai’then eat more fish than anyone else. Fish eggs are a prized treat to them, with certain varieties prized more highly than others. Naga prefer to let the natural flavours of their food speak for themselves and don’t use a lot of seasoning. In sharp contrast, the lunyari enjoy spicy food. Everyone else falls somewhere in the middle.
Communal meals are the norm in human and naga society. Centauricorn eat socially but they don’t stand too close to each other as they consider that to be rude. Dining is a private affair among the lunyari. The shai’then only eat with their close friends. Kairyyl will eat with their families when they’re young, but as they mature they tend to prefer to eat alone. The karshe eat with their extended family unit.
Restaurants exist but taverns are far more common and accessible. Everyone can go there for food and drink. These places are social hubs as well as entertainment houses.
People make a decent living peddling food and drink on the street.
In places where cows are raised milk is a treat and can be bought warm or chilled. Cider, ale, wine, and an assortment of juices (such as apricot nectar) are common beverages. People also drink both hot and chilled tea.
In most places the water is safe to drink, but the Order makes a point of purifying the wells and bodies of water near the towns just to be careful. There were several cases of illness contracted through drinking water and the healers were rather insistent on this tedious if lifesaving process.
Aside from people having life threatening allergies to certain foods, there are things that could cause illness if not outright death to one species while not bothering another. There are some herbs that humans use to season their food that are toxic to centauricorn.

Furnishings

You wouldn’t use the same table for a naga that you would for a centauricorn. Humans, lunyari, kairyyl, and shai’then can use the same basic furniture, although with the latter two allowances would have to be made with their wings and tails. Generally, they use backless chairs and stools.
Naga can sometimes use human furniture but they typically prefer things made for their body shapes, things lower to the ground. A typical naga chair is a large cloth sack stuffed with grain husks. They can comfortably coil their serpentine tails around it and adjust the malleable chair around their humanoid torso.
Centauricorn are, on average, a little taller than most humans. They don’t do a lot of sitting or lying down. Most of their furniture is designed to be roughly level with the middle of their humanoid torso. They can use human furniture although they feel as though they’re using things made for children.
Kairyll things are made with stone and leather to withstand being damaged by their claws. This is especially true in regards to the dracar subtype.