Cardians

Culture

Culture and cultural heritage

Nobility

Only recently (in the last 10 years) have merchants and mercantile guilds risen to prominence, for the last 1,500 years, Cardia has been a feudal society. Cardians obsess over nobility. Average citizens, especially in The City of Cardia , draw long lists tracing their bloodline back to ancient, obscure, and sometimes fictional nobility. They follow the trends set by their noble lords and look up to their rulers in a way uncommon in Merkia. However, Cardians are all too familiar with the vagaries of fate and fortune. They expect nobles to be poised, betrayed, and the lists to be rewritten several times in any given generation.
Nobility is aspirational to the Cardians. Cardians believe anyone, through luck, chance, treachery, or patience, can become noble and though they don’t talk about it, they assume, that sooner or later, everyone gets their shot at it. Vaslorians believe every man has his place, but Cardians actually believe in upward mobility!

Fate and Fortune

Fortune, the wheel of fortune, the notion that whoever is up, will soon be down, and vice versa, plays a major part in the lives of your average Cardian. They do not believe this is mere chance, they believe the gods act to bring down the mighty and raise up the meek. And the gods are happy to oblige!
Cardians hope the gods for Fortune are watching them, but unless desperate they would never invoke the names of the gods of fortune for fear of abusing the privilege.Tragedies feature prominently in Cardian plays and opera going back centuries. The notion of fate conspiring against our heroes and denying them their true love, is a classic Cardian trope.
Cardians like to gamble, they consider it a sort of virtue. They’re aware that some people overdo it, just as some people drink too much, but these are outliers. The common decks of cards found across Merkia comes from Cardia and originally was an oracular device used by priests of Saint Bonagratia.
This has a lot to do with the Cardian tradition of sailing to distant lands seeking wealth and fortune (through trade when possible, theft when necessary). Risk, is virtuous. The gods reward those who take bold chances. “Fortune Favors The Bold” is a popular saying throughout Merkia, it comes from Cardia.
“Playing your cards right” is another common phrase and one that betrays the Cardian relationship between gambling, fate, and prosperity. The gods will reward you for winning the game, if you can play the hand you were dealt. A Cardian hates a sure thing, doesn’t trust it, many plays and operas revolve around protagonists who deliberately stack the deck against themselves to curry favor with the gods of Fortune. Cardians like long odds.

Love, Romance and Passion

The greatest plays on the Cardian stage are about lovers, and the trials and tribulations they go through. Prior to the Age of Troubadours, love was something that developed slowly over time, starting with affection, between people who were already married. Marriage was a function of society. Not the individual. Everyone, including the husband and the wife, understood that marriage was a tool to strengthen the culture and men and women were expected to do their duty. Marriages were planned and organized for years between families and the wants and desires of the couple in question never entered into it. Cardians invented the idea of romantic love. And specifically the idea of loving someone you’re not supposed to, of being smitten. Of love at first sight. Of unrequited love. Of love that breaks through class and culture.
The greatest heroes in Cardian art are lovers who spurned the expectations of society and followed their heart, often into tragedy. Cardian stories do not end with the lovers together, unless they tragically die shortly thereafter. Living life authentically means following your bliss, following your heart, consequences be damned. But, the god of fortune is also the god of consequences. In the end, everyone gets what’s coming to them. No one here gets out alive.

Violence and Bravery

Spontaneous violence is virtuous. Follow your heart! Don’t think overmuch. If that man insulted you, take of your glove! Slap him! Violence and bravery are close cousins in Cardia, two sides of the same coin. Rare is the opportunity for bravery without violence. Cardians understand the value of duty, and being true to your word, but they do not mythologize it.
A coward in Cardia is someone who thinks something, but does not say it. Who hides their meaning. A brave person is one who says what they think, damn the consequences. It was Lady Tasila who saw the plotting scheming Vieri and exposed him, despite the cost to herself.
Cardians love heroic deaths, though they prefer them to be dramatic, and flamboyant wether in front of an audience, and a solo performance.

Art and Expression

To Cardians art is an end unto itself and one of the pillars of their society. Pursuing it is considered a noble virtue. The noble class are expected to be artists, and often are not! This is where patronage comes from. If you’re a noble, you better either be a great artist, or the sponsor of great artists. Cardians assume that a great artist is someone blessed by the gods! A successful artist is one who makes great art, not one who makes money. Money is considered déclassé. Art costs money, it doesn’t make money. You put money in, you get art out. Artist are, dramatically, expected to die penniless. An artist who died wealthy would be considered a failure because he abandoned art, and pursued commerce.

Common Taboos

Trechary

Deceit, scheming. Planning! Cardians hate planning, they hate administration and bureaucracy and outlines! A writer is expected to sit down and write until the play is over! Don’t plan it out, follow your muse! Discover the work, see where it leads. People who plan overmuch are suspicious. The assassin’s guild is very well organized, an assassination must be planned. It is a (metaphorically) bloodless act. As opposed to murder! Which happens spontaneously and is highly romanticized.
Baron Vieri, Anso’s brother and the Cardian God of Treachery, planned an elaborate scheme to replace Lord Anso, and assume his identity and be the husband to Lady Donisa. Cardians believe Vieri was exposed because of the extent of his planning. His scheme involved so many other people and layers, that it was easy to unravel. If Vieri had been acting in the moment, out of passion, he might have been the hero. The proper life is lived in the moment, in passion, with conviction. The inauthentic life is planned and scheduled.

Cowardice

Violence is the natural result of conflict in Cardia, even squabbling over the bill at a restaurant can erupt into swordplay. The coward is the person who does not back up with words with action. Who shirks from violence and fears the sight of their own blood. How many scars do you have I see none on you. Are you a coward, lady?
The coward is the man who needs a crowd watching to do the right thing. A good Cardian acts, and relies on his wits, even when no one is watching. Raglio The God of Cowardice knew what the right thing to do was, and didn’t act. A great tragic event took place because this god was afraid of getting hurt, and so did not act.

Related Locations

• The City of Cartea